Hammer

Alert

Destroy

Control

Combat

Type

Power to Flatten

Flattens Committed Ships

As a leader, after arrival, you may use this power to “flatten” the committed ships of any or all aliens in the opposing fleet. Each alien’s flattened ships transform into one ship with 1 size, 1 worth, and 1 might. Flattened ships are unaffected by this power.

Whenever your ship(s) are destroyed, you may use this power to target another alien’s unflattened ships in the warp and flatten all of those ships.

Flattened ships remain flattened until “unflattened”. An invader may unflatten a ship during their warpfall instead of reviving a ship, transforming it into the original ships that were flattened. This effect may be used even if this power is lost.

Legacy: When more than one of an alien’s ships are destroyed at once, those ships are flattened. During an invader’s warpfall, the invader may unflatten a flattened ship instead of reviving a ship.

Though once categorized under a different name, the Hammers redefined themselves after their smiths invented a revolutionary weapon. Is unique ability to destroy ships without actually destroying them sparked many a rulings debate among encounters.

Leader: Arrival
Any: Any

Optional

Wild Flare

As a leader, after approach, you may discharge this flare. Your opponent’s committed ships have 1 might and 1 worth until upkeep.

Leader: Approach

Super Flare

When your ship(s) are destroyed, you may discharge this flare to flatten all of one alien’s unflattened ships in the warp.

Invader: Contact

Modifications

Originally Crusher. Changed along with the power name to make the power name less generic and remove redundancy.
Originally the power to crush. Changed along with the power name due to redundancy. Also wanted to better capture the idea of several ships being flattened into one.
Original Crusher can haggle during rally to unflatten ships. I removed this aspect since I don’t like how it fits with the theme. Hammer has the power to flatten, not to unflatten.
Original Crusher unflattens all ships when its power is lost. I changed this to only continue allowing other aliens to unflatten them. Since the power is more based around flattening, it gives the flattened ships a greater sense of permanence and creates less incentive for aliens to deactivate Hammer.
Original Super Crusher can crush a different player’s uncrushed ships in the warp. I found this to be either too excessive or too weak depending on the phrasing, so I simplified it to be usable each time Super Hammer loses ships to flatten all unflattened ships another alien owns in the warp.
Hammer’s legacy invokes the effect that flattens all ships as they are destroyed. It incentivizes aliens not to commit too many ships at once unless they are confident of their victory. Since the ships go to the warp while being flattened, they are effectively going to a slightly weaker version of the Praw, since they can be revived all at once. Aliens that don’t mind committing few ships like Parasite and Merchant can greatly benefit from this one, while aliens like Villager and Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

While committing many ships against Hammer can be dangerous, an alien can commit 4 flattened ships and be effectively immune to the power. It can be worth committing 2 ships instead of one to stack up many flattened ships, without losing too many ships in the process.
An alien can revive a flattened ship that consists of many ships during warpfall. Then, if they get a second encounter, they can unflatten the ship to effectively revive 4 ships in two warpfalls.
As a leader, Hammer will dissuade opponents from committing many ships. This aspect can make it difficult for opponents to gain the ship advantage, which makes M pods more valuable in Hammer’s hands. Potential sponsors can take advantage of Hammer’s passive ship advantage to increase the advantage further.
Hammer has no need to flatten a single ship, since all it does is make that ship immune to future flattening.
Hammer is notoriously difficult to gain compensation or backer boons against, as flattened ships only have one total worth. This can also make it harder to trust for negotiations.

Development Notes

I based the naming of Hammer on the same logic used to name Cudgel. Even though the alien is not itself the tool, it is defined by the tool. Thematically, I see the difference between the two as a distinction in damage type. Cudgel wields a club, which deals blunt damage. Hammer wields a hammer, which deals crushing damage. The blunt damage destroys ships outright, while the crushing damage flattens ship, hampering their functionality. I think it makes since that the more civilized weapon does more “civilized” damage from the Bronze Age.
Due to Hammer’s unique flattening mechanic, it occupies a unique design space that distinguishes it from other aliens, though it is most comparable to aliens with capture powers like Fungus and Remote, as well as aliens that permanently destroy ships like Void. The most notable difference between Hammer and these aliens is that Hammer doesn’t require victory to use its power. It can use it every time it acts as a leader in advance of the encounter. Only aspects like Observer’s power can make a ship immune to flattening, since flattening is a type of transformation, and impervious ships cannot be transformed if the user does not want them to be.
If someone commits 4 ships against Hammer, Hammer can flatten them into 1 ship, resulting in a lasting “loss” of 3 ships. If the opponent wins against Hammer, that alien can unflatten those ships to get them back at the cost of one ship in the warp, which is definitely worth the trade. If the alien loses against Hammer, those ships will have to be revived in addition to being unflattened, adding extra priority to beat Hammer in such a situation. However, most aliens will choose to only commit 1-2 ships against Hammer, making it most dangerous when Hammer is the offense and can choose the enemy base. Worm has to be extra careful about Hammer, since it can have a planet of 16 ships flattened into one. Amoeba can use its power to slide in 3 ships after Hammer’s timing has already passed. Since both activate with the same timing, Amoeba’s power will bypass the effect. It’s fitting that Hammer can effectively flatten a worm but not an amoeba.
I considered giving Hammer a special offer to unflatten ships, but I wanted to keep the power focused on flattening ships rather than unflattening them, the same reason I removed the haggling clause from the original power. Since Hammer is harder to trust for negotiations, I figured it wasn’t the best fit for a special offer either. As something of a tradeoff, I removed the “auto unflatten” effect of Hammer’s power, instead only allowing unflattening to be done during warpfall in place of ship revival. Aliens have to weigh whether it’s more valuable to get potentially 2-4 ships back or revive one ship from the warp. Flattened ships in the warp are the trickiest, since it’s basically like having them in the Praw. It makes the Warp Key and revival effects that much more powerful, and it gives aliens like Zombie a chance to use their normal warpfall.
Hammer is especially punishing to aliens like Warpish and Masochist, since it can dramatically reduce the number of ships in the warp. Both aliens can defend against this effect by avoiding having too many ships in the warp at once. Since Hammer only flattens warp ships when its ships are destroyed, it can also support Hammer to help ensure that never happens.
Though Hammer’s power might seem pointlessly optional, it is important to have the option to not flatten since it might be matched up against aliens that exclusively commit one ship each. Hammer gains nothing from flattening one ship, since the target doesn’t go minus and that ship instead gains flatten immunity.
Even though Hammer doesn’t actually destroy ships, I still classify Hammer as a destroy-type alien since it can force other aliens to sacrifice their warpfall to unflatten ships, resulting in more ships remaining in the warp overall.
I also considered a power name like “Steamroller”, but the implication of it seemed more win-based. A steamroller has to roll over the ships as it drives past them. A hammer seems more like it could be an extension of the flagship.
This power is definitely deserving of the yellow alert title. Aliens are capable of playing around it by committing fewer ships, but they need the experience to understand that’s what they need to do.
The use of the term “hammer” also gives the power a vague reference to communism, since the hammer is one of the primary symbols of the movement. The power even has an effect which “equalizes” ships and increases ship scarcity, so it can definitely be interpreted as intentional.