Gatekeeper

Alert

Destroy

Diplomacy

Type

Power to Screen

Restricts Access to the Warp

Whenever the ship(s) of other alien(s) would be destroyed, except from your nexus, use this power to capture those ships and display them in your nexus.

At the start of each warpfall, before any ships are revived, destroy one ship in your nexus. (if possible).

Special Offer: X influence – Rebound X ships from Gatekeeper’s nexus to their original owner.

Legacy: Enable the Praw if it is not already enabled. Aliens may send their destroyed ships directly to the warp, causing them to lose one base might.

Diligent and honorable, the Gatekeepers have stood tall as the official guardians of the warp since their race developed the means to do so. They have major issues with the various warp-obsessed alien races who keep pestering them for entry.

Any: Any

Mandatory

Wild Flare

When another alien revives a ship via warpfall, you may discharge this flare to ravage one ship of a different alien.

Not Invader: Warpfall

Super Flare

Whenever another alien loses exactly one ship (other than from the effect of this flare), you may discharge this flare to snipe one of that alien’s ships.

Any: Any

Modifications

Gatekeeper is a custom alien I designed based on the classic Cosmic mechanic known as the Praw. Several custom aliens utilize the praw in different ways, and this is my idea to make it work. I needed a replacement for Delegator after I concluded it was just too similar to Emperor for my tastes.
Wild Gatekeeper and Super Gatekeeper are custom ideas I invented to match the power. Wild Gatekeeper destroys one ship each invasion not belonging to the invader, except when it is the invader. It is similar to Wild Grump, being able to destroy a ship each invasion. However, it does allow a little more bullying due to the smaller restriction. Super Gatekeeper makes it so that all other aliens lose at least two ships from losses, with aliens being punished more if they happen to lose only one ship.
The power is similar in concept to FFG’s retrain of Void, which reworks the power to allow ships to be returned from being vaporized as part of a deal. Void still requires winning invasions to capture ships, but it also doesn’t have Gatekeeper’s “leak” that prevents the loss from being permanent.
My original name for this power was “Sentinel”. I realized Gatekeeper was a better fit for the power based on the theme I had in mind. It helps distinguish the power further from the similarly themed Guardian.
Gatekeeper’s legacy encourages sponsors but also discourages powerful sponsors, as taking on at least 2 sponsors gives you a free pod but also gives it to the ally. With aliens like Cavalry or Philanthropist that can assist with pods as a sponsor, there can be a strategic advantage to inviting them. Aliens that greatly benefit from pods like Virus and Merchant can be risky prospects unless inviting them alone, but you miss out on getting the pod yourself if you don’t meet the minimum number. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Gatekeeper prefers for other aliens to lose as many ships as possible. It not only maximizes the benefit of Gatekeeper’s power, but it gives Gatekeeper more options when deciding which ship to allow into the warp.
Gatekeeper needs at least two ships to be destroyed each invasion to gain a “profit” with its power. The first defender generally loses four ships in the first invasion, allowing Gatekeeper to get a good early start if the first invasion is a success.
Warp Keys can be more advantageous for Gatekeeper, since it will often be the only one to gain full advantage of them.
Gatekeeper can intentionally avoid targeting one alien’s ships for screening, effectively vaporizing them as long as enough ships are destroyed each invasion. That alien can potentially still get their ships back, but they would need to successfully negotiate with Gatekeeper for them.

Development Notes

Gatekeeper is perhaps the purest “capture” type of alien that almost exclusively focuses on the benefit of capturing ships. The ships it captures are automatic, though it can influence matches to try and make sure the maximum number of ships are lost. Even though it is a capture-type alien, it is more comparable to Void since it gets no direct benefit from the ships it captures, other than its special offer. Specifically, it is like the FFG retrain of Void who captures ships and can give them back as part of a deal. That version of the power is still win-based, but it has no natural “leak”. I thought the two aspects together might balance out the power to keep it relevant compared to original Void.
Gatekeeper’s capture power operates on a timer, in comparison to other capture aliens like Fungus and Remote. Eventually, every ship will end up in the warp, but this aspect is counterbalanced by the fact that more ships continue to enter the warp each invasion. Unless aliens make a deal or the ships are made impervious, Gatekeeper will keep getting at least one ship in its nexus each invasion. It needs at least two ships for the power to have utility, so it can be quite underwhelming if no one is losing many ships.
The leak clause is the biggest potential issue I see with this power. If aliens are only committing a few ships to bypass Gatekeeper’s power, Gatekeeper might not see much value out of its special offer. However, I think it is important for Gatekeeper’s power to affect every destroyed ship to distinguish it from Void and reflect the theme. My thought for now is that the challenge of ensuring at least two ships are destroyed each invasion is reasonable enough to prevent the power from becoming a non-power.
Gatekeeper vs. Doctor would be a rather poor matchup for Doctor if Gatekeeper simply stole all of Doctor’s work every time a ship was destroyed. To fix this issue, I made sure that Gatekeeper’s power destroys ships from its nexus, allowing Doctor to still use its power once each invasion if ships were destroyed the previous invasion. Though Doctor will get fewer pods, it should still gain a hefty surplus.
Gatekeeper can cause a lot of small problems with aliens whose power relies on the warp. Masochist is slower to get its boon bonus, Warphole can’t leverage its power as effectively, Warpish’s combat power is greatly diminished, Soulbound’s power is delayed in use, and Zombie has to value its ships much more. Powers such as these may need to prioritize negotiating with Gatekeeper, assuming they can get destiny to cooperate. Otherwise, they may need to play nice with Gatekeeper to get it to prioritize their ships in the screening process.
If an alien loses four ships, it will take four invasions for all four ships to be sent back to the warp. During that time, more of that alien’s ships might be lost, as well as ships belonging to other aliens. While ships are in Gatekeeper’s nexus, they cannot be revived, forcing aliens to either negotiate with Gatekeeper to get them back or wait for their ships to return over time.
The core idea behind Gatekeeper is an alien that guards the warp and bars entry. Gatekeepers are historically trained soldiers in charge of opening and closing the gate to allow entry. They are often depicted in medieval fantasy and fiction wearing armor and holding spears or halberds. There are often at least two gatekeepers guarding a single gate so they can put their weapons together to make an “X”, blocking the potential entrant until their identity can be confirmed.
Gatekeeper can usually only keep one or two aliens from having their ships revived, which is another fitting relationship with its name. Gatekeeper is holding back the floodgates, stopping aliens from reviving their ships after they are in the warp.
It is quite fitting that Gatekeeper is the master of the Warp Key. When a Warp Key is used, only ships in the warp will be revived. Any ships left in Gatekeeper’s nexus will remain unchanged.
Many aliens have a special offer as a bonus aspect of the power, but Gatekeeper’s feels like a core aspect of it. It is common in fiction for a Gatekeeper to be bribed to allow passage through the gate. Since they have the right to refuse, there is even potential for roleplay of a “righteous” Gatekeeper that strictly adheres to protocol.
In the context of Cosmic, the Gatekeeper is stopping all destroyed ships from entering the warp until they can be properly screened and inspected. Guarding the warp is them just doing their job, so they don’t have any affiliation with the religious Warpish. The Warpish greatly oppose the Gatekeepers, as they believe all should be welcomed into the loving embrace of the warp.
Super Gatekeeper is very dangerous with Assassin around. Aliens will have two of their ships sniped every invasion. It feels a lot like a corrupt medieval police force. They come investigating the assassination and take the “suspicious” witnesses away for questioning.