Assassin

Alert

Destroy

Type

Power to Execute

Snipes Others’ Ships

Whenever you are not chosen by destiny, use this power to snipe one ship belonging to the defender. If destiny is wild, you may snipe a ship belonging to any other alien.

Legacy: When an alien’s destiny color is chosen, that alien must destroy a ship. When wild destiny is chosen, all aliens must destroy a ship.

Lurking in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment, they strike without warning. They thrive on paranoia and fear, always behind their target. Once the Assassins set their sights on you, your days are numbered.

Not Defender: Destiny

Mandatory

Wild Flare

As a defender, after contact, you may prime this flare as an assassin distress pod.

Defender: Contact

Super Flare

When using your power, you may discharge this flare to revive a ship after sniping.

Not Defender: Destiny

Modifications

Originally named Shadow. Changed to the original name of Assassin.
Modified the wild flare to prime an assassin distress pod, instead of losing a ship to destroy all of the enemy’s ships. It’s similar in result, but it doesn’t guarantee the loss of rewards like Grudge’s flare. A reusable distress pod is an interesting tool.
Assassin’s legacy forces the defender to destroy a ship, unless wild is chosen, forcing everyone to do so. This legacy acts as an anti-warpfall, essentially nullifying the benefits of it and making it harder to keep bases alive. Healer is a big fan. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

There’s no avoiding Assassin’s power. Eventually, everyone’s destiny will be drawn. Try to keep at least three ships on any given base, to create a buffer in case Assassin snipes one of them. A base with one ship is Assassin’s juiciest target, whether home or foreign.
When wild destiny is drawn, Assassin has the opportunity to choose who to snipe. Avoid making yourself a target before the wild destiny has been drawn unless you can defend your bases.
Since enemy aliens have to reinforce their foreign bases to protect against Assassin’s power, other aliens have fewer ships to work with overall, meaning even their free ships are not strictly free. This gives Assassin a significant passive ship advantage. To maintain advantage, Assassin needs to have at least as many ships as the other aliens.
Because of special and wild destiny, even aliens who have already had their destiny manifested three times need to watch out for Assassin’s sneak attack.

Development Notes

Zombie is effectively immune to Assassin’s power, as the sniped ship will be returned next warpfall. However, Zombie still needs to make sure it doesn’t leave any of its bases guarded by only one ship, as bases cannot be revived so easily. Macron no longer creates foreign bases in my version, so Assassin can focus on weakening its powerful home bases instead.
Shadow was originally introduced to FFG Cosmic due to the age rating, but my Cosmic doesn’t have such a restriction. If it’s good enough for Spy X Family, it’s good enough for me.
Assassin’s theme of slow, steady, and targeted destruction feels very appropriate to the theme. Virtually no alien can stop the assassination unless they have a zap, and the freedom to snipe anyone from wild destiny gives the power that extra touch of agency that keeps the power from feeling too passive. FFG Cosmic also has the “special” destinies that target dynamic aspects, but those don’t grant Assassin any additional freedom in choice. Removing those helps reset the destiny pool faster and opens up more possibilities.
Assassin is a pure destroy-type alien, meaning it gains no tangible benefit from its power. It only gains a passive ship/base advantage by taking them away from other aliens.