Beast
Alert
Destroy
Support
Type
Power of Instinct
Attacks Aliens on Instinct
As an actor, if an enemy discharges a pod, use this power to ravage one of that enemy’s ships.
Legacy: Whenever an alien discharges a pod, that alien must ravage one of their ships.
Standing atop the food pyramid as the apex predators of their homeworld, the Beasts eventually drove every other species on their world to extinction. Their instincts told them to look to the stars to find their next source of prey.
Actor: Any
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As a leader, you may discharge this flare at any time. For the rest of the invasion, your opponent must ravage one of their ships each time they use their power.
Leader: Any
Super Flare
As a leader, at any time, you may discharge this flare. Each time you use your power this invasion, you may snipe one ship instead of ravaging one.
Leader: Any
Modifications
- Original power is called Wrack.
- Originally the power to “injure”. Changed to fit the Beast theme.
- Wrack is a classic alien from the Eon Era with the power to “torture”. This version of the power is based on the FFG version from Cosmic Odyssey.
- Original Super Wrack has a much more complex power, granting it the original Eon power. As a leader, after arrival, it offers a deal to its opponent. If the deal is accepted, the encounter resolves with the deal. If rejected, the enemy must ravage a ship. Super Wrack can attempt the deal as many times as its committed ships, but if all of them fail, Super Wrack loses the encounter. The effect seems a little convoluted for my taste, it’s dependent on the opponent accepting a deal, and it doesn’t fit the new theme well.
- Changed Super Wrack to instead snipe ships when using its power as a leader, making the effect more dangerous and discouraging feint pods even more.
- Beast’s legacy causes all aliens to lose a ship when discharging a pod. The legacy makes feint pods like flares, distress pods, and artifacts much more dangerous to use. It also makes ships much more valuable as a resource, rewarding aliens like Zombie and Doctor. Aliens like Vulture and Aristocrat whose powers involve gaining extra feint pods can be greatly punished, unless they get artifacts or flares that help revive their ships. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Beast’s power guarantees at least one ship will be destroyed, provided the leader doesn’t deploy a stooge. The driver discharged by the leader will result in a ship loss.
- Though you should avoid discharging too many pods with Beast in the enemy fleet, don’t become too afraid to discharge anything. Losing a ship or two can often be worth winning the encounter.
- If your power or cache has a lot of pods worth playing, it can be worth waiting until you are either on Beast’s side or Beast is not participating to discharge them.
Development Notes
- The term “wrack” is a variant spelling of “rack.” It refers to the historical torture instrument that ties down someone’s wrists and ankles and stretches out their body to induce pain or death. It is possibly the most well-known torture device other than the iron maiden, so it is a good choice for an alien name with the theme of torture. The FFG version of the alien changed the theme name to the power to “injure”, which somewhat takes away from the main concept of the name. The original Eon power feels more like torturing since it specifically targets the opponent. The new version of the power targeting all enemies makes it feel more like a wild beast lashing out at anything that moves.
- As a mandatory power that destroys enemy ships who discharge pods, most of the interesting choices regarding Beast’s power are given to other aliens. The main decision Beast has to make is which fleet to assist, since Beast does not attack as a bystander or attack its allies. It makes Beast more of a social power, since it needs to convince other aliens to commission it. Beast is both an attractive ally and unattractive to oppose. Its power provides more of a passive advantage than an active one, restricting the use of artifacts, flares, distress pods, etc.
- I like the power of “instinct” for Beast due to its mandatory nature. It is not thinking about who it attacks. It is simply attacking every time it sees the light from a discharged pod. It reminds me of the type of powerful predators with motion-based vision that are highly sensitive to movement. Or the fictional version where predators can only see things that move. The power feels a lot like dealing with a dangerous beast, requiring enemies to tread cautiously.
- Thematically, Beast is similar to Animal in concept, only with a very different connotation. A “beast” is generally used when referring to a savage or dangerous animal like a bear or a wolf. An animal is a much more innocuous term that could just as easily refer to a snail as a grizzly bear, and it also has the secondary meaning of referring to a “party animal”. I would say the idea behind beast is actually most comparable to my custom alien Raptor, which is also characterized by savagely destroying ships. Beast’s power of instinct lets it destroy pods every time a pod is discharged, while Raptor allows enemies to pacify its savagery by scrapping pods. Raptor’s downside is much more severe than Beast’s, with a tradeoff of being relatively easy or potentially beneficial to avoid. However, Raptor’s power becomes more difficult to avoid without allies, while Beast is about as dangerous either way.
- Powers like Beast make me think about designing a bunch of themed custom alien sets like CEO and FFG have. Having Beast and Bride in the same match would make an interesting “Beauty and the Beast” combo. While Bride and Beast are married, they never have to oppose one another unless forced by destiny, meaning Beast won’t generally be forced to use its power on Bride.