Demon

Alert

Resource

Control

Invasion

Type

Power to Deceive

Fools Aliens out of Encounters

As a bystander, after arrival, you may use this power to prime an attack pod from your cache. After contact, discharge your primed pod. If a clash occurs and both drivers have more might than your discharged pod, each leader snipes one of your ships. If your scrapped pod is higher than one of the leader’s drivers, you may “deceive” up to four of that leader’s sponsor ships. Capture those ships and display them in your nexus. Replace those committed ships with up to four of your own ships before payoff.

When you request a resupply or your power is deactivated, all of your captured ships are rebounded from your nexus.

Legacy: During warpfall, the invader’s cache is placed in stasis, and they are gifted a free resupply. At the end of upkeep, they must scrap their cache and reclaim their original cache.

These impish creatures of the night love to bend the minds of their enemies to serve them. Though they must effectively trick their victims first, anyone who falls for their ploys become trapped in a vortex of torment until their captors have had their fun. They’re not called Demons for nothing.

Bystander: Contact

Optional

Wild Flare

As a leader, after rally, you may discharge this flare to force one alien you invited to sponsor your fleet. They must send as many ships as you sent, unless it would force them to vacate a base.

Leader: Rally

Super Flare

As a sponsor, after arrival, you may discharge this flare to use your power. You may not exceed gate limits through deception but may sponsor both sides.

Leader: Launch

Modifications

Originally the power to possess. Changed due to the better fit with Doppelganger, which I renamed to Lich.
Demon’s power is based off Cosmic Odyssey’s retrain of the original Demon, who possesses the power to Dominate. The original Demon could possess the caches of any alien other than its opponent when acting as a leader and freely use that cache during its own turn. Changed due original Demon’s power being considered too unfun and powerful.
Super Demon is also based off the retrain of Demon from Cosmic Odyssey, while Wild Demon is based off the original power. Both fit the theme of deception well. Original Super Demon can possess the forge and make a cache of six pods instead of another alien. The retrained Wild Demon can force a player to take compensation from the user instead of the normal target. Then, the user takes the same amount of compensation from the normal target. It’s an interesting effect, reminding me of my Lawyer alien.
Demon’s legacy forces the invader to receive a new, temporary cache each invasion, making compensation and pod drafting worthless, but also avoiding the risk of running out of pods. De-powers aliens that specialize in pod drafting after encounters, such as Clone, Mercenary, and Extortionist. This legacy is based on the original version of Demon, as it fits the concept of a legacy well. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Demon can only use its power as a bystander, so inviting it can be the best defense against getting possessed. If Demon intentionally avoids joining despite being invited, it could be telegraphing that it has a strong attack pod. Consider offering a negotiation with your opponent to avoid a surprise possession from Demon and trick it into wasting its strong pods.
Demon can also be prevented from targeting you if you have no sponsors. Demon’s presence may deter others from sponsoring a leader.
Thanks to Demon’s power, Demon is always technically involved in every encounter unless zapped. It can utilize its power to scrap weak pods from its cache, but this can easily result in getting its own ships sniped. As long as its pod is at least equal to one of the two leaders’ pods, it can avoid the penalty, so there’s usually no harm in scrapping an 08 or a 10 now and again.
Demon’s power being optional allows potential for mind games. Leaders can attempt to play around it, wasting their strongest attack pods, only for Demon to scrap nothing.
When Demon uses its power successfully, it can possess any sponsors from either side, but only up to 4 ships. This also means it can rob sponsors of rewards or bases outright, allowing it to bully one alien or simply mitigate gains for all.
If Demon starts capturing a large number of ships, compensation can be a powerful tool against it. Forcing it to request a resupply will free all of its captured ships.
Since Demons ships can be sniped, it will want to make sure it has more than 2 ships on each of its foreign bases when using its power. Even if uncoordinated, the two leaders may choose to target the same weakened base, and they will likely prioritize foreign bases.

Development Notes

Original Demon is considered infamous and unfun, rivaling the likes of Brute in terms of oppressiveness. Its ability to both gain info and waste an opponent’s hand is simply unparalleled. It was released as a special promo alien, so it didn’t have the same balancing in mind as the original 50 that it was bundled with. With Cosmic Odyssey, they released a retrained version designed to take the same theme but tone down the control aspect. Many players find it much more enjoyable and prefer it to the original, and I like the unique design space it occupies and the way it still reflects the original theme.
Original Demon is a unique blend of Trader and Mind, capable of temporarily taking another alien’s cache and using all of their best pods. It avoids being strictly better than either of them by demanding a completely different playstyle. Mind’s power activates much more often, allowing it to gain information more quickly. In a match with Mind and Demon, Mind will know what’s what long before Demon, but Demon can actually make use of the pods it sees. In terms of Trader, Demon has no simple means of dumping a bad cache. Any pods it takes will only be available that invasion as a leader, hindering its usefulness as a sponsor if it has a bad cache. Demon also cannot use an opponent’s pods against them. Instead, it has more options when deciding whose pods to take, and if it takes a bad cache, it can use the best pods and return the garbage to its original owner. Trader is stuck with anything it trades until it can trade again. I’m curious if my restriction to only let Demon used the possessed cache would make it more reasonable, but I can understand the base power being on the level of Brute.
Demon can deceive either the winning or losing fleet, but it is more likely to deceive the loser, who would often use lower pods. Deceiving the loser will cost Demon ships as well, but it does have the option of deceiving four and committing only one. Taking four enemy ships out of commission may be worth sacrificing one to the warp. Demon can also take advantage of aliens like Virus and Anti-Matter, who often play weak encounter pods due to their powers.
One aspect I like about the retrain is that utilizing the power puts more of a time limit on it. If Demon runs out of pods, it will have to request a resupply to get more, which will free all of its captured ships.
I was aiming to capture the power of lies and lying, since demons are a race known for their deception and wickedness. Satan is perhaps the most well-known demon, also known as the father of lies. There’s also a nice thematic bonus with Demon gaining dominion over others through deception through its great power and trapping them in its nexus, a personal Hell that keeps them out of the warp.
There’s an interesting disconnect that the leaders have when it comes to playing around Demon. The leaders themselves will not be penalized for losing to Demon’s scrapped pod, only their sponsors will. A leader losing to Demon could sow discord between a leader and their sponsors, preventing them from sponsoring again. On the other hand, they may play against Demon simply to prevent it from joining the encounter, since it can otherwise act as a makeshift Parasite, only carrying the risks of losing its own ships and wasting its stronger attack pods on a miss. Even if it scraps a 40, it will waste the pod if both leaders reveal N pods.