Masochist
Alert
Resource
Diplomacy
Type
Power of Pain
Gains Boons from Pain
During any warpfall, use this power to gain a boon for every 4 of your ships in the warp.
If your ship(s) would be revived, you may keep them in the warp. Persistent.
Special Offer: Destroy one of your ships for 1 influence.
Legacy: During warpfall, the invader destroys a ship instead of reviving a ship.
The Masochists are a disciplined race dedicated to the notion of pain being one’s greatest ally. With nerve endings covering every inch of their bodies, they know the sensation better than anyone. When you visit their home planet, ignore the screaming. It’s always in joy.
Any: Warpfall
Optional
Wild Flare
As the invader, instead of reviving a ship during warpfall, you may discharge this flare to destroy one of your ships and draft up to three pods.
Invader: Warpfall
Super Flare
As a leader, during combat, you may discharge this flare to gain an additional might for each of your ships in the warp.
Leader: Combat
Modifications
- Original Masochist is an alt-win alien that simply wins the game if all of its ships are in the warp. Modified to match my “no alt-win aliens” edict.
- Original Masochist’s power is the power to “hurt yourself.” Changed to avoid use of the word “you” in the power, to feel less personal.
- Wild flare modified to match the new power. Original Masochist wild flare forces an alien other than the offense to retrieve a ship, which is actually a counterplay to original Masochist.
- Original Super Masochist can vaporize its ships during warpfall instead of retrieving, which doesn’t help my version. My version copies original Kamikaze’s super flare.
- Masochist’s legacy turns warpfall into a ticking clock as opposed to a minor blessing. Aliens have to be more protective of their ships, as they’ll be losing them at a steady pace even if they don’t lose. In the worst case, aliens may be forced to skip their invasion just to avoid destroying one of their bases. Aliens like Zombie and Horde, who can manage losing ships, enjoy this legacy, though Healer may enjoy it most of all. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Masochist can freely throw away its ships without much concern, as once it gets enough ships in the warp, it can easily get them back when needed.
- Masochist needs to decide whether it wants pods or ships due to its power. By getting ships, it may reduce the amount of boons it gets during future warpfalls. If it doesn’t get ships, it has to take pods, which can be an issue if it doesn’t want a large cache. If Masochist doesn’t need boons, it may be better off not losing ships.
- Masochist doesn’t ever have to revive its ships, effectively making it immune to Warp Keys, Healer’s power, and warpfall. However, as long as the ships remain in the warp, they cannot be used to establish bases. Masochist has to manage its ships wisely to avoid running out of them.
Development Notes
- Original Masochist might be my pick for the worst of the alt-win aliens. Masochist’s power is only used to win the game, meaning a zap is needed specifically to prevent victory. Its power is mutually exclusive to its default win condition, as it is not possible to work towards both goals at once. It is hard-countered by Warp Keys, and aside from those there is virtually nothing aliens can do to stop Masochist from adding ships to the warp. Not to mention, this Masochist isn’t even barred from matches with Healer, an alien that virtually removes its power altogether. Masochist has no power aside from its alt-win condition, so it can be very boring to play if there’s no chance of achieving that condition. It’s also very uninteresting for meta aliens that copy and steal powers. Who wants to reincarnate as original Masochist? Even Genius is better in that regard. There’s virtually nothing I like about original Masochist aside from the attempt at exploring the design space. I could see it being an interesting alternative universal win condition, as opposed to an alien power. Since everyone can individually work towards it, it has more potential than something like original Tick-Tock in that regard.
- My original change to Masochist’s power was to force it to destroy its ships during warpfall instead of retrieving them. Then, if Masochist has fewer free ships than their opponent, Masochist would double the discharge value of its attack pods. The biggest issue with this power was the inherent risk of self-elimination. Since warpfall is the most reliable means of ship revival, requiring that Masochist skip it puts it in a difficult spot, even with the power being persistent.
- My second idea was to use the original power of Kamikaze for Masochist, to destroy its own ships to gain pods. This one worked to an extent, but it only takes into consideration the self-harm aspect of a Masochist. A Masochist would love when anyone sends their ships to the warp, not just themselves.
- My third idea was something of a “lesser” Warpish that uses its own ships instead of everyone’s. I wanted to make sure that it still has its own identity, separate from Warpish. The conclusion I reached was that Masochist’s ability to keep its ships in the warp combined with the fact that it solely uses its own ships for power does give it a noteworthy distinction in comparison to Warpish, but I ultimately determined that it either stepped on Warpish’s toes too much or Warrior’s.
- The idea I determined for now also applies that sense of risk/reward and wanting to have as many ships in the warp as possible. Every warpfall, Masochist gets a boon equal to its ships in the warp. The power is persistent, so it can go as deep as it wants as long as it has enough ships to garrison its bases. In most cases, it will likely max out at 3 boons per encounter.
- Masochist is another alien that raises questions about the logistics of alien powers. The theme is one around self-harm, but the damage is dealt to its ships rather than a living creature. It creates the image of ships as living things that feel pain, or at the very least that ships represent a living soldier of some kind. I interpret it that each ship is being piloted by one alien, so it is easy enough to make a one-to-one creature to ship comparison. Assuming the soldier is also lost to the warp and that soldiers cannot be replaced during a match, I think it makes enough sense.
- Original Masochist is hard-countered by Warp Keys and Healer. My version of Masochist can handle either of these thanks to the clause that lets it avoid revival. Healer still gets paid for its healing despite Masochist keeping its ships in the warp, meaning both aliens benefit somewhat from the dynamic.