Lawyer
Alert
Resource
Support
Diplomacy
Type
Power to Litigate
Litigates Massacres
As an actor, if a massacre occurs you may use this power to “sue” the the opponent. The winner must pay double compensation this encounter. If you are a sponsor, snatch one pod from your leader equal to your committed ships.
Whenever the opponent would pay compensation, you may use this power to “object.” Your opponent’s compensation is equal to their committed ships minus yours (min. 0).
Legacy: When aliens pay compensation, they must pay an additional 2 pods.
Striking fear into the hearts of wrongdoers with their bombastic finger-pointing, the Laywers show as much mercy on the battlefield as they do in court. Whether facing them head-on or receiving legal counsel, all they approach will find themselves poorer than when they started.
Actor: Crash
Actor: Crash
Optional
Wild Flare
Whenever another player would receive compensation, you may discharge this flare to draft one pod for each pod the payee would receive.
Any: Payoff
Super Flare
Whenever another alien wins an encounter by 10 or more, you may discharge this flare to declare the encounter to be a massacre.
Any: Encounter
Modifications
- Laywer is my own alien and cannot be found in original Cosmic.
- Laywer’s legacy is simply a global increase on compensation, making 3 the minimum number of pods someone will be owed after a massacre. Compensation-focused aliens like Ethic and Hacker can make the most of this one, as well as aliens that can get more encounters like Lightning and Machine. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Lawyer makes all compensation a riskier endeavor when involved, enticing others to invite it if they are concerned about compensation or planning it themselves.
- Inviting Lawyer to sponsor you can deter enemy compensation, but only if the opponent has a strong cache. If you have a weak cache, baiting compensation against Lawyer can be a fantastic idea.
- You can invite Lawyer as a way of baiting compensation, pretending to aim for a deal. If the opponent plays an N and you do not, they might get zero compensation if Lawyer objects.
- It can be worth inviting Lawyer just to keep it away from the enemy fleet.
- Since aliens are more likely to attempt compensation as the defender, inviting Lawyer as the defender can act as a threat to goad the invader into a deal.
- Lawyer’s ability to protect its cache can make it somewhat comparable to Miser. If Lawyer has as many or more ships than you, you will not gain any compensation. There is no reason to play an N pod unless attempting a deal.
Development Notes
- Lawyer was designed to be a Quartermaster for compensation, making compensation more risky overall for everyone except the Lawyer. I wanted to figure out if Lawyer should be able to use its power from any role, as an actor, or only as an sponsor. Thematically, I wanted Lawyer to be an enticing alien to invite as a sponsor, since it makes sense for it to represent its “client.” Allowing it to work as a leader means that it has the base power of being able to gain double compensation. Other aliens like Merchant and Gamer are capable of getting a lot of compensation, so I think this is fine enough as an aspect of its power.
- I considered letting Lawyer probe the doubled compensation and take one pod, but I opted to make it gain pods equal to its committed ships instead. Lawyer will be incentivized to commit more ships, which puts it more at risk. If the leader chooses not to attempt compensation, it has some protection against compensation, but only if Lawyer chooses to object. I considered making the power mandatory, but I think it is more interesting to give Lawyer the option to backstab its client. It is incentivized to object or not depending on its client’s wishes. Since it can speak to its client directly, it should know what its client wants.
- Lawyer is the only power that joins in on compensation when the leader receives it (except perhaps Extortionist), meaning it doesn’t have to worry as much about getting betrayed by its leader “surrendering” with an N.
- I wanted to make sure Lawyer and Extortionist organically work together in the same match. Extortionist would get half of the doubled compensation if not paid with a sniped ship, and then Lawyer would snatch its ships from the loser afterwards. With both aliens in the game, compensation would become highly risky in general, but there would be openings when Lawyer is not involved and enough ships are in play that Extortionist can be paid off without losing bases.
- Another idea I had for this power was the ability for Lawyer to “represent” a leader for a deal. With Lawyer already having two aspects to its power, I didn’t want to tack on a third, especially one that is somewhat unrelated to the central idea.
- As a compensation powerhouse, it is important that Lawyer’s design meshes well with the other compensation-based aliens like Hacker and Ethic. Ethic wants to be on Lawyer’s side since it can gain compensation more often. It might not always want Lawyer as a sponsor, but it will want to make sure Lawyer is at least not in the enemy fleet. Similarly, Hacker will not want Lawyer in the enemy fleet, but it is the only alien capable of taking full compensation from Lawyer. Lawyer cannot object to Hacker taking its pods unless it is on the enemy side. Lawyer and Hacker have to intentionally throw encounters to gain compensation, while Ethic can get it incidentally. It creates plausible deniability for Ethic unless it plays something like a negative pod.
- Still need to playtest this one to make sure it’s both fun to play as and against. Have concerns about it being able to gain too many pods too easily, but I think it is counterbalanced by those pods exclusively coming from losses.
- In most cases, I would expect double compensation to result in drafting a lot of pods, especially if the massacre destroyed 4 or more ships. Since compensation is limited to only the pods in an alien’s cache, the effect will naturally be less meaningful as aliens have smaller caches. The alien that gains compensation might actually lose pods. For instance, if they take the enemy’s entire cache of three pods and Lawyer has four ships in the encounter.
- I wanted to give Lawyer a special offer, but I need to make sure it’s on-brand. Had a restraining order idea that could work, but it seems too complicated for yellow alert. Might come up with something later.