Geek

Alert

Type

Power of Cosplay

Claims to Know It All

As a leader, after destiny manifests, use this power to manifest a random alien bio. Your opponent chooses to allow you to probe either the power name, short bio, or legacy of the manifested bio. Then, you guess the alien it belongs to. If you guess correctly, you may either gain that alien power as your “cosplay” or vaporize it. If your guess is incorrect, your opponent may vaporize any or all of your current cosplay(s). Cosplays are treated as sub-powers. When you gain a new cosplay, vaporize the existing one.

Legacy: At the start of each orientation, a random power is manifested. Each alien probes that power’s legacy. The first alien to successfully guess the alien name of that power gains that power as a cosplay until the end of the campaign.

Originally dismissed as powerless know-nothings, the Geeks’ determination to join the Federation resulted in them developing an encyclopedic knowledge about everything concerning alien powers and Cosmic Encounters. Their knowledge runs so deep that they can even demonstrate usage of powers they fully understand, so long as their omniscience doesn’t come into question.

Leader: Destiny

Mandatory

Wild Flare

Whenever another alien would win the match or an encounter occurs where another alien would win the match if they win the encounter, you may discharge this flare to name any pod. Manifest and claim that pod. Permanently vaporize it during upkeep.

Any: Any or Encounter

Super Flare

When using your power, if your guess is correct, you may discharge this flare to either guess the original name of that alien in the FFG version of Cosmic Encounter or declare the power was not in the FFG version. If you are correct, you may gain the new cosplay without vaporizing your existing one. Otherwise, your opponent may vaporize any or all of your cosplays.

Leader: Destiny

Modifications

Originally the power of “esoterica” who gains the alien power as a “buddy” if guessing correctly. I changed the theme to be about cosplay, to match the atypical fascinations of modern geeks.
Original Wild Geek can use its flare to change the outcome of a match when another alien would win the match by naming a pod that would do so. If another alien has that pod, they must give it to the user. Otherwise, the user has 30 seconds to find it. Since my digital board game doesn’t have a physical search mechanic, I changed the timing to also work during an encounter that would win another alien the match, allowing more potential pods that can change the outcome of a match. I also added the clause to permanently vaporize the flare during upkeep to prevent the user from spamming the same pod over and over.
Original Super Geek can have up to five “buddies” at a time for as long as it keeps playing its flare each destiny phase. I made the choice to add an extra challenge. Super Geek can discharge the flare to name the alien’s original FFG alien name. If they can do so, they will get to use the power in addition to what they already have. My version of Super Geek has no limits and even gets to keep them if it loses its flare, but it will lose any or all of them when it guesses wrong, since even the basic version of the power allows the opponent to vaporize multiple cosplays.
Original Geek has the alien verbally guess aloud the name of the alien. Since my Cosmic requires more technical confirmation, I imagine the guessing process would involve typing into a search bar, similar to one of those Sporcle quizzes. I imagine that a similar mechanic would be used for aspects like Inquisitor’s power.
Bandit’s legacy carries on the process of spinning, only without Bandit’s ability to take the cards for itself. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Geek lives and dies by its encyclopedic knowledge of Cosmic Encounter, specifically my version of Cosmic. Opponents can try and pick the most difficult aspect of the three options to try and confuse Geek.
Once Geek obtains a cosplay, it will not lose it unless its main power is deactivated, it guesses incorrectly, or it chooses to replace its cosplay with a new one. However, you can zap Geek’s main power when it is a leader to temporarily deprive it of its access to its current cosplay. Useful if it has something strong like Virus or Crystal.
When Geek guesses incorrectly, consider if vaporizing its current cosplay will be more harmful or helpful to you in the long-term. You could allow Geek to keep its current cosplay as leverage for a negotiation or more long-term alliance.

Development Notes

Geek is a fantastic idea for a meta power that relies on the information base of the user in the realm of Cosmic. It’s naturally a red alert power since it specifically requires advanced knowledge of Cosmic aliens, and it requires aliens to be flexible with the different powers it receives.
Geek can be considered an alternate version of Reincarnator, where its ability to keep its power is based on its knowledge base instead of whether it wins encounters. As with Reincarnator, its power is mandatory, since Geek’s ego prevents it from shying away from showing off its knowledge. However, when it gets an answer wrong, it’s almost like its power gets zapped. It loses its “geek cred”, robbing it of the power it obtains. It is a wonderfully fitting way for the power to operate, with the knowledge base of the user reflecting the power of the alien. If playing against a Geek who is actually a know-it-all, their power will be virtually impossible to remove without deactivating them.
While a “geek” is oftentimes considered a synonym for a “nerd”, the two are highly distinct classifications. A nerd is studious and gifted in academics and tends to have poor social skills. A geek is characterized by their fixations on certain areas of focus, such as sports, video games, cars, art history, etc. A geek is not necessarily smart when it comes to generalized knowledge, but they are very knowledgeable when it comes to their particular topic of interest. In Cosmic, the Geek represents a being with an extreme fascination of Cosmic aliens, not unlike myself.
Cosplay is a popular concept in geek circles that involves dressing up as fictional characters, with more advanced geeks making highly elaborate costumes with strong attention to small details. In Geek’s case, its cosplay is so detailed that it can replicate the powers themselves, but it loses its power if exposed as a “fake” geek who doesn’t know the character they are cosplaying as. I like the concept much more than the original “buddy” system, which feels a little less applicable. Geeks are generally known for befriending other geeks, rather than getting close to the popular kids because they know a lot about them.
While “esoterica” is a good power name for what Geek does, it doesn’t capture the particular cosplay angle I’m doing for regarding the power of a geek. Esoterica refers to knowledge that is generally obscure or not known by many people. Knowledge of esoterica doesn’t generally make one popular, which is why I don’t think it’s the best fit for the “buddy” mechanic.
I really like the change I made to Super Geek and how it matches the theme of someone being super knowledgeable about Cosmic to know both my version of the game and the original. It’s an extra bit of meta for an already meta power and really captures the idea of a Super Geek. I think letting the user have potentially infinite powers is a fair trade off for needing to have such a strong knowledgebase of information.
It’s important that Geek is never forced to choose the random alien power it manifests since it would replace the previous one, but it is forced to participate in the trivia in order to keep its current power. I think the leader-only timing is a good fit for this mandatory power, since it allows Geek to participate in invasions without using its power but has to maintain its reputation at regular intervals with no ability to skip out. If it used its power sponsor only, it could simply reduce its time spent as a sponsor to protect its power. Possibly a downside on its own, but I think making it mandatory for encounters Geek is forced to make is the best choice.
The biggest issue with this power is the ability for cheating. Since my digital format has no human interface for enforcement, there’s nothing to stop someone from browsing my website during a match and looking up the answers on their phone. It is one of the major pitfalls of any trivia-based alien powers or aspects and requires the user following the honor system. Much of the original game of Cosmic operates on the honor system, with my digital format looking to minimize the need for it as much as possible. I like the idea of Geek too much to remove it for such a reason, but in an official tournament setting there would need to be some supervision to confirm the Geek isn’t looking anything up.
Wild Geek is an interesting concept for a wild flare, as it tasks the user to think of a pod that will help them at the last moment. By expanding the timing of the flare, I cover situations such as Virus winning its final encounter as well as Disease getting a final base via its power. If the user of the Wild Geek flare has extensive knowledge of existing pods, it might be able to name one that can stop each of these events. It’s particularly useful for Wild Geek to know about other flares, since there are so many of them. Attack pods are essentially useless since the driver has already been primed, so the user can’t rely on something simple like the 40 attack pod. I also specify that the chosen flare is permanently vaporized from the Outer Realm. In my Cosmic, the Outer Realm contains infinite attack pods but only one copy of each feint pod, so it cannot rely on manifesting the same flare or Cosmic Zap over and over to solve its problems.
Geek can be compared to other “brainy” aliens like Mind and Genius, but Geek’s intelligence is highly specialized. They’re not particularly intelligent. They just know a lot about Cosmic. I would most compare Geek’s theme to my Fan, another alien that represents a form of fascination with Cosmic Encounter. The difference is in how they apply their appreciation of other aliens and the Federation. Fan is the type of person who wants a celebrity’s autograph, while Geek can tell you every minute detail about that celebrity’s childhood. Fan is incredibly excited to meet one of its fellow aliens in the Federation, while Geek applies that passion to knowing a great deal about them. It’s amusing to consider a Geek can cosplay as a Fan or a Genius.
I appreciate that the Wild flare tasks the user’s knowledge of wild flares, while the legacy tasks knowledge of legacies.
For Super Geek, it’s important to note that some aliens have the same name in both my version and FFG version of Cosmic. Other aliens like Particle don’t exist in my Cosmic, or the power name was swapped like with Usurper and Emperor. For the purpose of this flare, the name is based on the equivalent of the original power. Even though many powers do have tweaks made to them, each power should either have an FFG equivalent or be unique to my Cosmic.
I was debating if the search query for Geek’s guesses should use autocomplete, as I imagine I’d want to use it for Inquisitor’s power to make things easier to find. If no autocomplete exists, Geek can guess wrong by misspelling or mistyping the alien name, which would be on-brand for the power and raise the difficulty since they only get one guess. I could also set it to allow more guesses if the name is mistyped and only accept an invalid guess if it is an actual alien name.