Philanthropist
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Type
Power of Generosity
Gifts Pods to Other Aliens
As an actor, after arrival, you may use this power to gift a pod from your cache to either leader. If you are a leader, gift the pod to your opponent. If you have no encounter pods after using this power, you may immediately request a resupply from any system.
Legacy: After arrival, the invader must gift a pod to the defender.
Bearing colorful gifts and smiling faces, the Philanthropists have learned to weaponize the greed of their enemies. They expect to have the Cosmos conquered by the next holiday season. After all, who can say no to a thoughtful gift?
Actor: Arrival
Optional
Wild Flare
After any warpfall, you may discharge this flare to sacrifice one ship and gift your power to another alien. Your power replaces theirs until bookkeeping.
Any: Warpfall
Super Flare
After using your power to gift a pod, you may discharge this flare to compel the recipient to use the gifted pod this invasion, if possible.
Actor: Arrival
Modifications
- Changed from power of “giving” to power of “generosity” to give it a more bombastic name.
Tips
- Philanthropist’s power allows it to prune its cache of unwanted pods as long as it’s participating in an invasion. If the user has a bad cache, consider accepting any invitation to get rid of lackluster pods.
- Though Philanthropist can readily use its power selfishly, it can also grant its leader an effective attack pod to help out the fleet as a whole. This can easily backfire if the alien chooses to save it for later, so it is a more effective strategy for Super Philanthropist.
- Philanthropist’s power allows it to partially know what pods other aliens are holding.
- Philanthropist can focus down a target to essentially prevent them from getting a resupply. If their cache gets low enough, Philanthropist can essentially determine what pod they will play, since it’s the only one they have.
- Since Philanthropist can essentially never run out of pods to give away, the only way to avoid getting “attacked” by it is for it to be on your side. If you cannot easily scrap your pods, consider befriending it.
- Philanthropist’s legacy requires the invader to give a pod to the defender, and for the defender to accept it. This can be damaging to both leaders, as it can leave an invader without an encounter pod to play and fill a defender’s cache with junk. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Development Notes
- Philanthropist is the perfect example of the kind of power that seems like an anti-power but is actually anything but. When I first encountered Philanthropist, I was confused as to how the power provides an advantage since it gives away its resources to other aliens without receiving any benefit. I thought it needed to draft a pod in order to make it worth the use. However, after learning about the benefit of cache pruning, I came to realize that Philanthropist’s power is win-win, potentially harming its foes while helping itself.