Gorgon
Alert
Control
Type
Power to Petrify
Petrifies Ships In Place
Whenever another alien attempts to move ships from a base that is either in your system or coexisting with one of your bases, use this power to “petrify” those ships. Petrified ships cannot move. Persistent.
Legacy: If a ship moves from a foreign base, it is destroyed.
After beating the Losers in several “Top 10 Most Unattractive Alien” lists across multiple famous fashion magazines, the Gorgons declared war on all who fail to appreciate their beauty. They interpret anyone attempting to leave their presence as a personal attack, even after witnessing many turn to stone upon making eye contact.
Any: Any
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As a leader, after launch, you may discharge this flare to target a planet. All ships on that planet become impervious this invasion but cannot move until upkeep.
Leader: Launch
Super Flare
When your power would be zapped, you may discharge this flare to negate the effect that would zap it.
Any: Any
Modifications
- My version of Gorgon is based around the house rule proposed by the Cosmodex. The original version allows the owner of ships to destroy them in order to “free” them in a roundabout manner. This version of Gorgon essentially vaporizes ships once Gorgon petrifies them, unless Gorgon’s power is deactivated.
- Gorgon’s legacy prevents ships from being moved after they are used to create a foreign base. It incentivizes aliens to send fewer ships as invader and foreward, giving defenders a slight edge. This legacy can most benefit base destroyers, like Extortionist and Bully. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- While it might seem like Gorgon is an alien you don’t want as an ally, this only really applies if you are sending many ships. If you only send one ship, allying with Gorgon is the same as allying with anyone else, as you normally won’t want to remove that ship anyway if you win.
- Negotiating with Gorgon to allow a peaceful victory can be more punishing than losing in a clash, as it will result in a home base becoming unusable, rather than destroyed. While it still grants authority, the ships on it cannot participate in invasions unless destroyed first, and destroying the ships will also cost the base.
- Many overlook the threat Gorgon poses as an invader. If it successfully invades a planet that others have already invaded, it can petrify all ships on that planet. This aspect can have a chilling effect and make aliens less likely to commit more ships while invading in general.
- Gorgon mostly punishes those that invade its own system, giving it an edge as a defender, rather than an invader. Gorgon can be a great defender to sponsor for some easy boons, since invaders and forewards are likely to commit fewer ships than backwards.
- Warp Keys are valuable with Gorgon in play since individual ships can become a more precious resource. With my Cosmic only having one Warp Key in the forge, Gorgon can become a dangerous force if it can hoard it away from others.
Development Notes
- Gorgon is based off the legend of Medusa, the mythological monster stated to be capable of turning men to stone if they look upon her face. Petrification is a fantastic concept for a power, and freezing ships in place is a great implementation of it without dipping back into Cryo’s theme.
- The power definitely feels justified as a red alert alien, since it can be tricky to use effectively despite its power mostly being automatic. Leveraging the power effectively is where the real challenge comes in, as a new player might be quick to perceive it as weak or even harmful as a power.
- Another idea I had for this power is the concept of “petrifying” a fleet’s might after contact. This means that the might calculated after contact cannot be changed during combat. If the power activates, not even combat powers that activate after contact can go into effect if this Gorgon has timing priority.
- Gorgon is a seemingly innocuous power that can appear to be just as much a downside as an upside. Few will want to join it or invite it with many ships as an invader, since winning with those ships will result in them being forced to remain where they are. The effect is mandatory, and the super flare can make it even more absolute (though the flare itself can be negated). Gorgon cannot “go easy” on anyone with its effect, making it less ally-focused. However, it is not less attractive as a defender or backward, since there is no risk of coexistence.
- As mentioned with Locust, I like having a mix of powers that focus more on having allies and more on going alone, provided that an alien’s power is never forced into a situation where they have to go alone with nothing really supporting their effort. Virus is a much better design in that regard than original Locust. Gorgon’s somewhere in between, since it mostly restricts the number of ships aliens will want to commit than whether they want Gorgon as an ally at all.
- Gorgon can be most easily compared with Void and Fungus, other aliens that “capture” mass amounts of enemy ships, making them more unusable than they would be in the warp. Fungus can most easily leverage its captured ships for its own benefit, at the tradeoff of them being the easiest to free. Gorgon and Void don’t get direct benefits from the ships they petrify or vaporize respectively, but they have different activation conditions and parameters. Void can vaporize more ships more easily, it isn’t less attractive as an ally, and the ships it vaporizes are truly lost forever, even if Void is eliminated. Gorgon’s petrified ships can technically be freed, but only by eliminating Gorgon or destroying the ships that are petrified, such as with Brute’s power. Gorgon is less attractive to sponsor as an invader, but it gets a small combat bonus as a defender, since aliens will be looking to commit fewer ships against it. The big advantage that Gorgon seems to have over Void is that it can “vaporize” ships by losing instead of winning, at least as a defender. By throwing a match with compensation, Gorgon can trap all of the ships that try to force their way past, or it can simply overwhelm them with power if they try to skate by committing only one ship each. Forcing them to commit more ships to get past Gorgon’s defenses is the best-case scenario for it.
- Amoeba needs to be very careful about joining forces with Gorgon around, since oozing in many ships could cause major problems if Gorgon ends up on the same planet. Gorgon and Assassin together in the same match can be a dangerous combination psychologically, though Assassin can also free enemy ships from Gorgon’s grip.
- I considered giving Gorgon a special offer to free petrified ships, but it doesn’t quite fit with the theme. If I wanted to take that angle, it would be better to just make the power optional, and I don’t think that captures the spirit of the power as well.
- I believe the way I have my Cosmic structured, ships have to be moved from the planet to the flagship in order to be used by the defender. So if ships cannot be “moved” from a planet, they cannot be used by the defending planet either. However, Gorgon cannot really take advantage of this strategically since they would be trying to invade a planet where they already have a base.