Prophet
Alert
Support
Invasion
Destroy
Type
Power to Predict
Predicts Encounter Winner
As a bystander, after arrival, you may use this power to predict whether the invader or defender will win the encounter. If you are correct, establish a base on any planet in any system. If you are incorrect, the winner snipes two of your ships.
Legacy: Before destiny is manifested, the invader may guess which color will be chosen. If they are correct, they gain a bonus of 2. If they are incorrect, they must scrap 1 lucre.
Boasting fantastical claims of an unspeakable cataclysm, the Prophets insist that our only hope is to repent now and turn to them for salvation. Unable to discern whether they’re legitimate or fraudsters, the Federation is keeping an eye on this one in case their claims bear fruit.
Bystander: Arrival
Optional
Wild Flare
During any approach, you may discharge this flare to prime a beacon with a value of 0, 1, or 2. After contact, reveal your beacon. If the number of discharged negotiate pods in the encounter matches your beacon, ravage one ship from each other alien. Otherwise, gift this flare to your leftmost neighbor.
Any: Approach
Super Flare
As a bystander, after approach, if you have not yet used your power this encounter, you may discharge this flare to use your power.
Bystander: Approach
Modifications
- Prophet’s legacy tasks the invader to become mini-Prophets themselves and predict what destiny will be. Lower risk, lower reward than base Prophet, and it’s not nearly as chaotic as everyone suddenly gaining Prophet’s ability when they sit out of an encounter. Since your own destiny cannot be manifested in my Cosmic and wild is its own color, the odds are about 1 in 4 of guessing correctly in a normal match, but the odds increase as the pool empties. Aliens with no lucre have nothing to lose, making it much easier to gain lucre after losing it all. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Prophet has to be careful about overusing its power. While it can passively gain dominion without participating in encounters, its power can easily backfire if it fails too many times.
- Prophet’s power is at its most potent when it has no bases with 2 or fewer ships. In such a scenario, even guessing wrong will not cost it anything. On the other end, Prophet is most at risk when it has at least 2 bases with only one ship. Such times make it highly risky to cast a prediction.
- Aside from uncommon scenarios when both sides lose, Prophet has approximately a 50% chance of being correct each encounter. However, the participants are capable of influencing the results to make it more or less likely Prophet will be right. Aliens are free to throw an encounter in order to sabotage Prophet’s reputation.
Development Notes
- Similar to Oracle, I am a huge fan of Prophet’s theming and how it integrates into its mechanics. Prophet predicts a winner, as if acting as an emissary for a higher power. If it is correct, Prophet is worshiped, granted a church or altar for its great power. If it is wrong, Prophet’s buildings are torn down, in defiance of the false prophet. Prophet’s reputation as a speaker for the divine is dependent on the player’s performance, making for terrific roleplay opportunities.
- Having Prophet’s predictions be public instead of private also adds to the theme while preventing the power from feeling too random. Of course the Prophet would be loud and proud of its predictions. That’s how it gains its reputation.
- I imagine Super Prophet makes sense in a way that it gains even more prestige, allowing people to accept their divinity when they successfully predict the truth closer to the result.
- Prophet can potentially win the game in 5 encounters by guessing randomly. To lose all 20 of its ships through its power alone, it would need to fail 10 predictions. Since the encounter can be influenced by both leaders and supporters, it is unlikely for Prophet to win a match through its power alone.
- If Prophet predicts the invader will win while it has 4 dominion, it can guarantee that no one will win without it sharing the victory, provided it can avoid losing dominion before someone wins. If another alien is trying for a solo win, this predicament can make for an effective stall tactic, forcing the invader to lose until Prophet loses a foreign base. Since victory is determined during upkeep, prophet and the invader(s) will all be awarded victory together, similar to Siren.