Meek

Alert

Invasion

Type

Power to Submit

Gains Dominion through Loss

As a leader, during payoff after losing an encounter, use this power to gain one dominion as a reward.

As a leader, during payoff after winning an encounter, use this power to lose one dominion as a penalty.

If you make or fail a deal, do not use your power. Persistent.

Legacy: Whenever an alien wins an encounter, they lose one dominion as a reward. Whenever an alien loses an encounter, they gain one dominion as a reward.

The Meek believe that good things come to those who wait. They have resigned themselves to staying under everyone’s radar, biding their time as they wait for the right opportunity. When the dust settles, they believe they alone will be left standing.

Leader: Payoff
Leader: Payoff

Mandatory

Wild Flare

As a sponsor, after losing an encounter, you may discharge this flare to collect compensation from the opponent.

Sponsor: Payoff

Super Flare

As the invader, if your flagship is destroyed, you may discharge this flare to repair your flagship and gain one fuel.

Invader: Upkeep

Modifications

Original alien is named “The Meek”. Changed the name to “Meek” to match my one-name rule.
Originally the power to “yield”. Changed to the power to “submit”, capturing a more submissive version of the idea.
Original The Super Meek can get a second encounter after the first. Mine can be used after losing either of Meek’s encounters, affording it more flexibility as an invader-only loss-based super flare.
Meek’s legacy is similar to Loser’s, encouraging all aliens to lose encounters instead of winning them. However, by taking on the properties of Meek, aliens are not spared the penalties of losing by losing. When winning as the invader, aliens will break even on dominion, while the losing defender will lose their home planet and gain one dominion. If Loser’s legacy and Meek’s legacy are both in effect, losing as the invader will give an alien two dominion, while winning will gain only the loss of ships. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

N pods are perhaps the most valuable type for Meek, as well as Therapy distress pods. If you can force a massacre to occur with you being on the envoy side, you can gain a dominion and compensation at the same time.
As the Meek, opposing aliens will be looking to play N pods against you to force deals. Unlike most aliens, Meek cannot take advantage of this fact by playing attack pods to win. Therefore, N pods are also the biggest counter to Meek, since Meek cannot beat it unless they play their own.
Since opponents are more likely to stop Meek as defenders, Meek should save its N pods for its campaign as the invader.
Meek’s greatest strength is its ability to gain dominion as a defender. Similar to Sneak, the situation is win-win for both aliens involved, allowing Meek to get a free base in exchange for the opponent getting a free base. The situation is also lose-lose, costing a foreign base for both Meek and the invader. Meek may possible lose more since it will be actively losing an existing base rather than a potential one.
Meek never needs to invite sponsors as a leader, since it always wants to lose. The exception is if it needs to protect its final home base.
Since Meek still suffers casualties and wants to lose, it is better for Meek to send few ships unless aiming for compensation. Committing more ships is generally a sign the alien is intending to play an N for compensation, since otherwise it would just be a combat penalty. Meek doesn’t gain much from the mind games either since attack pods will lose to N pods, unless Meek’s fleet can be reduced to 00 might.
Meek is incredibly vulnerable to zaps due to the nature of its power. Meek can’t really play around this aspect, so it needs to convince other aliens that other powers are more worthy of zapping.
Before Meek has won any dominion, it can win as an invader without suffering any penalties. Due to its power, its opponents might even throw the encounter to make it easier.

Development Notes

When first analyzing this power, I was struggling to understand what made it distinct from the Loser, which already a similar power in nature to Anti-Matter. After coming to understand the mechanics, I think Meek is a great addition to Cosmic as an alien that tries to win by losing. Not only is its power mandatory like Anti-Matter, but it is not protected from the losses associated with losing as a leader. In addition, since its power is leader-only, it can still gain dominion normally as a sponsor, much like Loser and Anti-Matter can. Of the three, Loser’s power is the most flexible and useful for mind games, making it the strongest combat power for winning encounters. Anti-Matter receives a small combat bonus, giving it the biggest tangible advantage if competing for the lowest total.
Meek has the potential to suffer from the same issue as Anti-Matter. Opponents of Anti-Matter are usually trying to win, so their weaker pods like 00 and -07 aren’t likely to be useful in most encounters. Therefore, aliens can just save all of their weakest pods for fighting against Anti-Matter. Meanwhile, since Anti-Matter and Meek always want to lose, they don’t get the luxury of saving these pods. Instead, pods with high values like the 30 or 40 are worthless to them, especially in my version where aliens cannot zap themselves. What gives Meek a slight edge over Anti-Matter regarding this problem is Meek’s ability to use N pods. Though it can’t use these pods to win peacefully like Pacifist, Meek can gain compensation and dominion at the same time.
Meek is comparable to Sneak in concept, who gains foreign bases when losing home bases through encounters. Meek has the same type of ability and isn’t even restricted by needing to lose home bases. However, it carries the tradeoff of being unable to win such encounters without losing dominion. The dominion the Sneak gains is not lost so easily.
In my Cosmic, fleets need at least 01 power to initiate a clash. If a fleet has 00 or less power, it will become a stooge, causing it to mimic the behavior of the opposing fleet. This means the -07 pod can potentially be used to stop Meek from gaining dominion via massacre.
Meek’s power could easily become underwhelming if N pods were too strong against it. It would almost make Meek more of an anti-Pacifist that loses to N pods. However, just as Meek is not immune to penalties, neither is any alien who throws an encounter trying to beat it.
Meek’s relationship with sponsors is interesting compared to Anti-Matter and Loser. Anti-Matter actively benefits from sponsors the same way as any other alien. Potentially even more so given the nature of how its power works. Loser’s sponsors will hurt it if using an upset, but it can use sponsors to play mind games or telegraph when it is declaring an upset or not. Meek basically doesn’t need sponsors ever. The only exception would be if one of them has a Cosmic Zap and agrees to join Meek in exchange for using it on them when they win, allowing Meek to use its 40 pod. Meek could set up such a strategy in a private call as a sponsor, though other aliens may be less likely to commission Meek given its invasion power.
The reason the original alien is called “The Meek” is a reference to the famous biblical quote “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The quote is often misinterpreted to mean that the weak and feeble will eventually win in the end, but the original Greek translation of “meek” refers to strength only used for noble purposes. In the context of Meek, it is applying its power through patience and humility that will allow it to win the Cosmic Encounter without invading a single planet.
Meek’s power could potentially be considered an alt-win alien, but I would call it an acceptable form of it considering it’s still engaging with the core mechanics. The alien still needs to put in effort to consistently lose, especially if opponents are actively trying to steal its dominion.