Remote
Alert
Control
Support
Type
Power to Control
Controls Bystanders to Gain Sponsors
As a leader, after winning in combat, you may use this power to abduct one enemy ship and display it in your nexus as a remote.
As a leader, after launch, commission, you may use this power to scrap a remote originally belonging to a bystander. That alien must sponsor your fleet this invasion using as many ships as the gate capacity permits.
Legacy: Each invasion, leaders may force one alien to sponsor them. The invader picks first, then the defender. The defender may not choose the same alien as the invader.
After developing to a point where their every need was fulfilled by technology, the Remotes eventually evolved into gelatinous blobs, dependent on their elaborate tech to survive. Having only known convenience and luxury for millennia, they see the ongoing territory disputes as mere recreation. If they aren’t fond of the Cosmos’s current programming, they simply change the channel.
Leader: Combat
Leader: Commission
Optional
Wild Flare
As a leader, after sponsorship, you may discharge this flare to allow your sponsors to commit an additional ship, exceeding the gate capacity.
Leader: Sponsorship
Super Flare
When using your power to capture an enemy ship, you may capture one ship belonging to each alien in the enemy fleet.
Leader: Combat
Modifications
- Remote’s legacy allows leaders to force a bystander to become a sponsor, with no control over the number of ships they must send. Since the invader has priority, it can force a shared win out of someone trying for solo or prevent an alien that would be a massive help for the defense from siding with them. Aliens that like having more sponsors like General and Symbiote Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Remote is a win-based alien that only gets one remote at a time when winning as invader or defender. This makes each attempt as a leader very important. If Remote never wins as a leader, it has no power.
- Though a small benefit, being able to remove at least one ship from play by capturing it is valuable in reducing enemy power. The only way they can get it back is for you to use the remote or your power to be deactivated.
- Saving multiple remotes for an important invasion can be very useful for pulling off a win, especially if you have more dominion than the aliens you target. Since the sponsors have to send maximum ships, it gives you a healthy combat bonus without needing to risk your own ships.
- By chaining your remotes, you can continue gaining a new remote as you use a previous one. Alternatively, you can throw the encounter to weaken aliens you are controlling, sending only one of your ships to mitigate your losses.
Development Notes
- As a win-based, leader-only power, it is imperative that Remote’s power is impactful enough to offset the downside of the timing. Otherwise, it would need to be expanded to be actor-only, or perhaps made to also count after a successful negotiation. I think Remote’s ability to stockpile remotes and save them for the endgame is where the power really shines, and the ability to use old remotes to gain a new one makes it similar to Fungus in potency.
- Compared directly to Fungus, Remote’s benefit is significantly weaker in terms of raw power, and the number of ships it captures is also much less. Original Fungus is even more powerful than mine, since it can be used as a sponsor as well, while Remote is leader-only in both. However, Fungus lacks Remote’s ability to manipulate enemy sponsors, preventing its high totals from being countered by big team-ups. In direct competition, a Remote can capture a Fungus ship and simply take advantage of all that power for its own success. Same with aliens like Animal or Sapient that provide bonuses as a Sponsor. Even getting an alien like Mind on your side can be a huge advantage in a close fight.
- Very fond of the theming behind Remote, as an alien driven by convenience and getting others to do its work for it. The phrasing of “remote” with the power of “control” brings to mind the image of a a television remote. It reminds me of The Kid with the Remote Control, the small boy who controls the massive robot with a tiny device.
- It’s also simple enough to imagine how this power works in-universe, with Remote capturing an enemy ship and tapping into its frequency to send a signal that can control other ships remotely. It’s also simple enough to abstract that sending out the signal burns the transmitter, making the ship useless without access to the original owner’s blueprints. So the ship has to be scrapped after use.