Dragon
Alert
Destroy
Control
Type
Power to Scorch
Scorches Planets
After destiny, claim the manifested destiny. When there are three charges of the same color, use this power to vaporize those destiny charges and “scorch” a planet in the matching system. All ships on that planet are destroyed, and the planet is vaporized. If rainbow destiny is placed in your sheet, you may treat it as any color.
As the invader, instead of manifesting destiny, you may vaporize a destiny charge other than your own from your nexus to use it as your destiny for the invasion.
If the destiny pool is exhausted when destiny would manifest, vaporize all destiny from your nexus first.
Legacy: When rainbow destiny manifests, the invader must vaporize one of their home planets.
Once thought to be myth, the legendary Dragons have been asleep for eons. Now that they have reawakened, they are primed and ready to ravage the Cosmos with a power believed to be as old as destiny itself.
Any: Destiny
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As the invader, during launch, you may discharge this flare to may destroy one ship on the target planet.
Invader: Launch
Super Flare
After claiming destiny, you may discharge this flare to scorch a planet using two destiny charges instead of three. You may not use rainbow destiny with this flare.
Any: Destiny
Modifications
- Original Wild Dragon can only destroy a defender’s ship on the target planet. Due to the limited timing, I expanded the power to any ship on the target planet.
- Original Dragon can vaporize its own destiny to invade itself, but my Cosmic limits the ability to invade yourself in order to speed up the match. I restricted Dragon to only being able to use other destiny colors, which includes rainbow destiny.
- This version of Dragon is based on the newer FFG version. There are also Eon and Mayfair versions of Dragon that gain lucre when another alien spends lucre. The Eon version has aliens give Dragon their lucre when spending it, while the Mayfair version simply gains one lucre when aliens spend it.
- The original power notably doesn’t specify that planets cannot be destroyed if it would prevent any alien from winning the match. This clause is unnecessary with my alien, but it should probably be mentioned in the FFG version due to the potential for it.
- Dragon’s legacy adds an additional timing for vaporizing planets based on manifesting rainbow destiny. The invader that manifests it is both lucky and unlucky, since they lose one of their own home planets but they get to choose which one. It lets them destroy one of their conquered home planets. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Dragon has limited control over its power due to it being determined by destiny. Since it can use rainbow as “wild” destiny, it can use its power earlier or later. It can also use a destiny during its own invasion to prevent automatically destroying another alien’s planet for a time.
- Though Dragon must destroy planets, including its own, it gets to choose which planet it destroys. This factor means that it will likely opt for planets containing enemy bases. Since Dragon is unlikely to destroy its own bases, allying with it for invasions is the best way to keep your bases safe, aside from destroying Dragon’s power.
- The longer the match goes on, the more planets Dragon will destroy. Theoretically, Dragon will destroy every planet in the match if it goes on long enough, but it will likely destroy about one planet from each alien.
- Dragon can be very effective at deactivating other aliens, since it can target an occupied planet when an alien has already lost two of their home bases.
Development Notes
- The power of Dragon is an interesting combination of Shadow, Locust, and Will. As with Locust, Dragon has the ability to vaporize planets, but the destruction is based on time instead of winning encounters. As with Shadow, Dragon will automatically destroy something destiny, only with more buildup and the addition of destroying its own objects as well. As with Will, Dragon can use the destiny it captures to determine its own destiny, though it cannot choose to target foreign bases and is limited by the charges in its nexus. Though the power combines all three into one alien, none of the individual aspects is the same as any of the three aliens, allowing it to still have its own identity.
- A dragon is a mythical beast, often considered to be one of the strongest in fantasy settings. While their appearance and powers vary across different cultures, they are most known as giant lizards with the ability to fly and breathe fire. I interpret Cosmic dragon as a sleeping beast is awoken by destiny to destroy a planet with its flames, like the ancient legend that prophesizes the return of the dark dragon in the original Fire Emblem. Perhaps it is not literally sleeping due to the strange thematic issue it would have with Sloth, but it could be resting in its cave as it waits for the time to strike.
- After a complete cycle of destiny, every planet should have one destroyed planet, with one charges left from two destiny colors due to wild destiny. The exception would be the destiny charges that Dragon uses during its own turn as an invader, since those can reduce a planet destruction by another cycle.
- While dragons can breathe fire, they aren’t always known for being immune to fire, which would prevent them from bypassing Pyro’s fires in the same way Pyro can. I made Dragon’s flames green to suggest their flames are hotter than Pyro’s, making them capable of scorching an entire planet. Pyro’s flames are similar to Gale’s wind, designed to somehow function in space despite the lack of oxygen. Dragon’s flames burning a planet, while still unrealistic, makes more since due to them existing within a planet’s atmosphere.
- An interesting matchup that would be interesting to see is Locust vs. Dragon vs. Warhead. With three aliens that all specialize in vaporizing planets, it could be difficult for any alien to get enough dominion to win. It would be fun to see if an alien could gain five dominion before every alien is eliminated. We could throw in Ticktock as well to make it even more hectic.
- Locust, Dragon, and Warhead are the three aliens that specialize in vaporizing planets. Thematically, I think it is interesting to have them be one of the most dangerous real animals to an ecosystem, one of the most dangerous mythical animals in fiction, and one of the most dangerous manmade inventions. All three are fitting sources of destruction that originate from unique contexts.
- While Knight and Dragon don’t have any sort of interesting dynamic in a match together, the fact that their mechanics don’t interact in any regard feels evocative of an actual fight between a Knight and a Dragon. Since the fighting takes place in space, it is amusing to consider that Dragons don’t have a combat power, since all of their traditional strengths would be useless in a space battle. It also makes me want to invent a new alien named Princess to add a third alien for the dynamic.
- Dragon and Warhead are more comparable as powers than Locust, since their planet destruction occurs more passively. Dragon’s is based on destiny, while Warhead’s is based on the encounter pods aliens use as drivers. Warhead’s power provides it some minor combat potential, while Dragon’s power gives it some destiny control, giving them some niche secondary bonuses in addition to their primary aim of destroying planets and slowing down the pace of the match.