Filth
Alert
Control
Destroy
Type
Power to Reek
Cannot Coexist with Others
Whenever you land ship(s) on a planet, use this power to vacate all other aliens’ ships from that planet.
Whenever your fleet receives a base as a reward for winning an encounter, you land on the target planet alone. Other aliens choose a different planet in the same system to land on. When the opposing fleet would receive a base as a reward on one of your established home planets, that planet is “fumigated” instead. Your base is destroyed and the enemy fleet is rebounded.
Legacy: Each alien declares one of their established home planets to be “filthy” and evacuates it. If a fleet would receive a base on a filthy planet as a reward, it is instead fumigated and no longer treated as filthy.
Thirty-seven time winner of the “Most Disgusting Alien” award, the Filth effortlessly protect their title simply by existing. With a ferocious odor capable of extending across an entire planet, even those without a sense of smell struggle to get within a thirty-mile radius of this thing.
Any: Any
Mandatory
Wild Flare
At any time, you may discharge this flare to declare one planet in any system to be “filthy.” All ships must abandon that planet. Burnout.
Any: Any
Super Flare
As the invader, after targeting a planet during launch, you may discharge this flare to evacuate that planet.
Invader: Launch
Modifications
- The original power has an additional clause for making colony deals. My Cosmic doesn’t allow colony deals, only victory through negotiation. Since victory through this means is peaceful, there is no need for an additional clause. It works like a normal peaceful victory.
- Filth’s legacy dictates that all aliens must get a “filthy” planet and abandon it. The planet has to be established, meaning an alien with all but one de-powered planet will be eliminated when Filth is eliminated. This power reduces the total number of planets that aliens will likely wish to target, so powers like Saboteur and Citadel can benefit from this to increase their coverage. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Negotiating with an invading Filth can be a dangerous game. This is because Filth will evacuate the base even if its victory is peaceful.
- Filth’s power activates whenever it lands on a planet. This makes it inadvisable to land on a planet where Filth already has a base, since it can evacuate your base simply by adding more ships to it, which can be done easily by winning as a backward or getting a turn as invader.
- Sponsoring and commissioning Filth is generally low-risk, since you will always get to establish an alternative planet on victory. Note that if Filth targets the planet you land on later and wins, it will be evacuated along with the defender.
- Filth has power both as invader and defender, though not the same power. Each of its planets has to be defeated twice in order to get dominion in its system. Clearing away Filth’s bases outside of encounters is generally the best strategy for dealing with this annoyance. If Filth has certain planets it wants to protect, it can funnel aliens to a specific planet by evacuating it.
Development Notes
- Filth is one of the only powers in the game that “pierces” peaceful victories. If invading Pacifist and Pacifist wins through its power, Filth will establish a base on the planet and evacuate Pacifist regardless. It makes Filth naturally strong against Pacifist, which is an interesting dynamic that does not exist in original Cosmic.
- Similar to Will, Filth can remove bases belonging to someone other than the defender when invading. Will can specifically target whomever it wants, while Filth can only target those who have dominion in the defender’s system. This means that Filth is most threatening as the invader.
- The difficulty with Filth’s design comes from trying to make sure the power is interesting without making it frustrating for other aliens to play against. When Filth’s system is chosen via destiny, aliens have to win twice in order to “pierce its defenses”, creating less incentive to win the first time. Allowing sponsors to populate a different planet when invading is imperative to making sure this alien doesn’t become another Locust. It would actually be worse than Locust in that sense, since it wouldn’t get invites either.