Fungus
Alert
Control
Combat
Support
Type
Power to Adhere
Captures Ships to Gain Might
As a leader, after winning in combat, use this power to “adhere” to the enemy fleet. Abduct all enemy ships and stack them underneath any of your committed ships. If your adhered ships go to the warp, “detach” all stacked ships, separating them in the warp. If your power is deactivated, all stacked ships are rebounded.
As an actor, during combat, use this power. Each committed stacked ship adds 1 might to your fleet.
Legacy: If the defender wins in combat, they abduct all enemy ships, displaying them in the target system. The defender adds 1 might to their fleet from each abducted ship in their system. If the defender loses, all abducted ships in their system are destroyed.
Growing in darkness, amassing in secret, the Fungus oozed out from the furthest depths of the Cosmos to make their bid for absolute power. By amassing themselves onto their targets and taking control of the lifeless husk that remains, they’ve earned a few detractors since their arrival.
Leader: Combat
Actor: Combat
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As the defender, after winning in combat, you may discharge this flare to capture the enemy fleet, stacking them behind your planets. When this flare is scrapped, all captured ships are released.
Defender: Combat
Super Flare
When your ship(s) go to the warp, you may discharge this flare to prevent captured ships from being freed.
Any: Any
Modifications
- Original Fungus’s power works to adhere as an actor. I nerfed the effect to put it more in line with similar win-based powers Void, Cudgel, and Barbarian. The power-granting effect still applies as an actor, allowing it to still get value beyond acting as a leader.
- Fungus’s legacy essentially applies a universal form of the wild flare. However, the trigger for releasing the abducted ships is based on whether the defender keeps winning. The legacy can make defenders very powerful, but one loss sets them back to zero. Invader-only powers like Leviathan and Spiff aren’t too keen on this one. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- When Fungus wins, it adheres to all ships in the enemy fleet, not just the opponent. This means opposing it with many ships can be both wise and foolish. Stopping Fungus from winning ensures it won’t capture anything, but more ships just grants it a bigger meal.
- Fungus can choose to spread out its captured ships to make reasonably powerful ships that pass the Human test on their own, or it can stack all of them to make one big “super” ship. The former is safer but weaker, as each ship has to be destroyed individually for Fungus to lose all of its ships, while the latter gives Fungus a major powerhouse that can also be a glass cannon.
- When targeting the planet during launch, Fungus prefers facing more ships than fewer in most cases. Since each ship only adds 1 might normally, there isn’t much difference between facing 1 or 4 in terms of difficulty. However, capturing 4 ships is a much better reward than capturing 1.
- Fungus has a win-based combat power, meaning if it never wins it has no power. Be warned if you help Fungus: that power may eventually be used on you.
- If ship sniping is on the table, Fungus will need to spread out its captured ships across many ships to avoid getting easily depowered.
- Fungus may wish to keep its adhered ships on foreign bases, making them less likely to be targeted in invasions.
- By winning encounters with stacked ships, Fungus can continue to stack them higher, gaining more power over time. After winning enough, it can become as dangerous as Warpish or Warrior, especially since its power restricts aliens’ access to their ships.
Development Notes
- Fungus is the first alien (and certainly not the last) to employ the ship “capturing” mechanic. It acts as the middle ground between destroying and vaporizing, gaining either temporary or permanent advantages from those ships and depriving their enemies of them for as long as they remain captured.
- If Fungus pulls a miracle victory after getting dogpiled in a 5-alien match, it can end up with 16 extra ships, adding +16 to its future encounters. Fungus really appreciates winning its first encounter, as it helps give it an edge in the second.
- If Fungus manages to gain a peaceful victory, it will still capture its opponent’s ships. Unlike destroying and vaporizing, capturing is still peaceful and doesn’t require the enemy to lose.
- Fungus is highly susceptible to ship sniping, especially if it tries to stack many ships into one ship. Assassin’s power can wipe out any of Fungus’s ships, no matter how many ships are stacked on it. Bully can wipe out several, even if they weren’t involved in combat.
- While Fungus is comparable to Void, it is also worth comparing it to Macron. While a single successful invasion can give Fungus even more firepower than Macron, without the drawback of size, Fungus’s bonus doesn’t apply to all of its ships and requires continuous victories in order to keep its power growing. Macron starts out with +4 on all of its ships, primarily getting a boost as a defender. Fungus has normal ships until it adheres them, making them less universally valuable. If it gets 4 ships with 4 stacks underneath them, it can send all 4 into an encounter, but losing the encounter means losing all 4. In short, Fungus is more agile with more might potential, while Macron has advantage in the early game with pre-existing might.