Fido
Alert
Resource
Support
Type
Power to Fetch
Fetches Scrapped Encounter Pods
After any payoff, you may use this power to offer an encounter pod from any exhaust to any other alien. If it is accepted, the alien claims that pod, and you gain 1 lucre. If rejected, you may claim the pod for yourself or scrap it.
Legacy: At the end of payoff, each alien with pod(s) in their exhaust gains one lucre.
Bright-eyed and shiny-tailed, the energetic Fidos are a race that gets excited by anything shiny that moves. Unfamiliar with the deeper strategy that goes into interplanetary combat, their training taught them to simply lunge after what looks interesting and return it to whomever wants it, in hopes of a treat.
Any: Payoff
Optional
Wild Flare
As a leader, after approach, you may discharge this pod to draft a pod and gift it to your opponent. Then gain one lucre.
Leader: Approach
Super Flare
When using your power, you may discharge this pod to fetch any number of encounter pods in any exhausts and offer each one, one at a time, to aliens of your choice. Gain one lucre for each accepted. Keep or scrap any rejected.
Any: Payoff
Modifications
- Modified the base power and wild flare to be reward-based instead of the bonus being to fabricate a pod. Fido was created before rewards were really a thing. It’s unclear if this is how the power would be if it were made in a later expansion.
- Original Wild flare allows user to take a pod from the “discard pile” and give it to your opponent. My version of Cosmic doesn’t have a discard pile, but my showcase mechanic allows a known pod to still be given, while also allowing the option for a random one. Either way, the user will know what pod they give to their opponent.
- Fido’s legacy encourages pod usage, granting lucre to anyone with at least one pod in their exhaust at the start of upkeep. This can be used to gain anything that lucre can buy, and it also makes it difficult to run out of pods if you don’t want to. Aliens who like having more pods like Fodder and Porcupine really enjoy this legacy. Aliens that like to ambush like Invader and Lightning can also get some value out of it. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Fido has to be careful about which pod it chooses to offer and who to give it to. While it can virtually guarantee a reward by giving an alien their 40 pod back, it may not be wise to do so if they don’t have an answer for that 40.
- Fido is capable of playing favorites to curry favor. Leaders may agree to invite Fido in exchange for a verbal agreement to use their power afterwards.
- Taking a pod from Fido gives an alien the same curse as any other effect that recharges a scrapped pod. Every other alien will know that pod is in the alien’s possession, so they will need to avoid becoming a compensation magnet. Fido themselves can become a compensation magnet, but they could also become compensation repellent if they offer a bunch of lousy pods that get rejected.
- Fido’s power can virtually prevent it from ever needing to draw a new hand. Whether the offered pod is accepted or not, Fido can always get a new pod every encounter. It will never run short unless it chooses to do so.
Development Notes
- Fido completes a special triad of pod reuse when combined with Envy and Clone. Interestingly, if Fido and Envy team up, Envy can gain the power of both Envy and Clone. If Clone and Fido team up, they gain the power of both Envy and Clone. Clone is the most powerful as an individual but has the most limited use of its power. Fido is the opposite, getting the least bang for its buck and the most total bangs.
- Even though it’s common for regular animal names to be alien names, the name “Fido” has a little more gravitas than “Dog,” while also being a bit cutesier in the same vein as Squee. Since dogs have so many pet names, there’s a huge number of options available to get the same effect. Pooch, Rover, Puppy, Hound, and Mutt are all viable options. I think Fido is the best fit for specifically for referring to the “fetching” process.