Deuce
Alert
Combat
Type
Power of Duality
Primes Two Encounter Pods
As a leader, during approach, use this power to prime an encounter pod from your cache in addition to your driver. After contact, discharge your second pod along with your driver to either add its might to your fleet or replace your driver with it.
You may request a resupply when you only have one encounter pod.
Legacy: All encounter pod might is doubled.
The Deuce believe that all good things come in pairs. Two desserts after every meal, two days off every holiday, and two beheadings to those who wrong them. I guess that’s also why they put two blasters on their flagship.
Leader: Approach
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As an actor, after contact, if you have an attack pod with an aur value that matches a driver, you may discharge this flare to scrap that attack pod and add or subtract that value from the fleet with that driver.
Actor: Contact
Super Flare
After using your power, you may discharge this flare to prime a third pod. The third pod functions the same as your second pod.
Leader: Approach
Modifications
- Original Deuce only discards the weaker pod when playing two attack pods, or the feint if playing an attack pod alongside it. Original Super Deuce discards both.
- Original Deuce employs the rule of dual-pod combat, where trojans take priority over envoys which take priority over brigades. My version gives Deuce a choice after contact, similar to Chosen.
- Changed the super flare since my version has that power baked into its base design. My version of Deuce lets them take on a third personality, increasing their pruning ability and combat potency.
- Deuce’s legacy doubles the might of all encounter pods, dramatically increasing their value in combat. Even though the effect is applied equally, it makes the difference between an 06 and an 08 that much more significant, as a sponsor with max ships now ties instead of surpasses. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Deuce’s power is limited by the power of its cache. As Deuce, stock up on strong pods or use your power to burn through your cache quickly to get a resupply.
- Deuce burns through its cache twice as fast as the average alien. This makes it tough to hold onto flares unless it can draft some more pods.
- Deuce is capable of sacrificing its potency for flexibility by playing an attack and a feint. This gives Deuce the option to burn its negotiate or poison pods without the risk of auto-loss, and it can even swap into them after contact.
- Note how many pods Deuce has in its cache. If it only has one pod, it won’t be able to use its power. But if it’s the defender, it can request a resupply.
- When gunning for negotiation, it’s generally advisable to play an attack pod alongside your N pod, instead of two N pods. This ensures you have the second N for later use and can pivot to an attack if the opponent backstabs you. If you’re guaranteed to lose anyway, you can keep it as-is for compensation.
Development Notes
- The original Deuce power is based around a version of Cosmic that requires aliens to gain a resupply if they have no pods to play. My version gives aliens the option to go into battle with no encounter pod and potentially even win. Giving Deuce normal cache pruning speed makes the focus more on the “two encounter pods” aspect, as well as making negotiate pods more difficult to play out. I opted to go in the opposite direction and make Deuce more adept at handling feints. The double pruning speed could potentially become an issue with Relic, but I think removing the forced resupply mechanic mostly takes care of that issue.
- To fit with the theme of duality, I gave Deuce the option to “change its mind,” as opposed to the more peaceful-minded head always winning for some reason. When both of its heads cooperate, they deliver a powerful double blow.
- I considered enabling dual-pod combat for Deuce’s legacy, but then it would do nothing if dual-pod combat was enabled by the dual-pod dimension. I opted to have encounter might get doubled instead, so dual-pod combat can remain its own thing.
- Super Deuce is powerful but short-lived. It needs to save its super flare for the right moment, as it won’t get many uses of it before it needs a resupply.
- By making use of the 40 and 39 pod, Deuce is capable of reaching a natural might value of 79, 70 if only using attack pods. While this does bring it into Virus’s domain of combat totals, getting both pods at once is unlikely. Deuce is more likely to play two 08s, which brings it more into Calculator or defender Macron territory.
- Deuce’s power has a subtle protection effect, as the second encounter pod is not considered its driver unless Deuce chooses to replace it. This means that Deuce has an out against powers like Calculator or Sorcerer that target its driver. In the former case, it can still get a strong might total even if it gets equalized. In the latter case, the timing lets Deuce negate Sorcerer’s forced negotiate strategy by playing an attack pod as the second pod and replacing it. However, the strategy still has use for Sorcerer since it keeps Deuce from getting the benefit of both attack pods. Deuce can turn the tables by sending an envoy and priming an attack pod as its second pod.
- Super Deuce becomes a trinity as opposed to a duality, but if we consider original Deuce a single entity, the super flare represents it truly developing a second personality.
- If dual-pod combat is enabled, Deuce gets three pods. Super Deuce gets four.