Scammer

Alert

Resource

Destroy

Type

Power to Swindle

Swindle Ships from Aliens

Whenever your ship(s) would be destroyed, you may use this power to “scam” another alien. That alien may snatch pods from your cache, up to the number of your ships that would be destroyed (min. 1), ravaging an equal number of their ships instead of you. Any of your ships unaffected by your scam are still destroyed. While using this power, you may communicate with the target alien through the voice channel.

Legacy: When a fleet loses, one casualty for each losing alien is suffered by the winning leader instead.

Even more than the Merchants and the Traders, the Swindlers never shy away from the chance to turn a profit. With their big talk and wild promises, any deal you hear from them will sound too good to be true. Chances are, it is.

Any: Any

Optional

Wild Flare

Whenever you would be forced to pay compensation, you may discharge this flare to target another alien to pay compensation instead.

Any: Payoff

Super Flare

When using your power, you may discharge this flare to force the target alien to snatch pods equal to the number of your ships that would be destroyed.

Any: Any

Modifications

Originally named Swindler. Modified to distinguish it further from Trickster.
Original Swindler has the power of Identity Theft. Changed to better fit my version of the power.
Original Swindler is a red alert alien.
Original Swindler’s power allows the user to target another alien during setup. Once per match, Swindler can perform Identity Theft and swap everything with the target alien, including nexus, power, bases, systems, caches, etc. Swindler is considered one of the most unfun and unpopular aliens in Cosmic, as it completely removes agency from one alien in a way they cannot prevent without a Cosmic Zap. Another alien can gain 4 dominion and then lose everything to a Swindler that has 0, with Swindler’s predictive abilities being the entire deciding factor.
My version of Scammer is a slightly modified version of original Sting. Instead of protecting and destroying half of its destroyed ships, it does it to a minimum 1, with any more being determined by the opponent.
Scammer’s legacy forces the winning leader to suffer casualties equal to the number of losing enemies, with losing enemies each protecting a ship. It punishes powers like Virus and Warrior who can take on teams of enemies alone with minimal trouble. Aliens who can incentivize opponents not to side with the enemy like Squee and Grudge can perform much better here. Aliens may also be more likely to commit only one ship as sponsors, since there is no risk of losing it. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Scammer’s scam becomes a question of whether aliens value pods or ships. Aliens may be more likely to accept Scammer’s pods when they have many ships or Scammer’s cache is enticing.
Scammer should be quick to utilize its best pods so it can make use of its cache without losing them to opponents. Alternatively, it can stack up a large cache with boons to make its cache more enticing and protect more ships.
Scammer wants to participate in as many encounters as possible, since it always has something to gain. If it has a weak cache, it can lose encounters to prune it. If it has a strong cache, it can leverage it or entice other aliens to snatch its pods to keep its ships safe.
Scammer has the ability to lie about what pods it is holding to scam people. Unless the opponent snatches the entire remaining cache, they have no way to verify whether they were telling the truth or not.

Development Notes

In terms of Scammer’s theme, I really like the change to put more onus on the target to decide how many ships they lose. It helps the Scammer roleplay as the skeevy dealer trying to upsell their pods and make them sound worthwhile. Scammer’s ability to pick and choose its target at will also helps it to better maximize its protection. I added the voice channel clause to the power specifically so the user could leverage the social aspect to convince the target to take the deal. There may be more aliens like this that would justify this being a more universal mechanic, similar to some powers being Persistent.
Even though it is more harmful to Scammer, I think it needs to be that Scammer’s pods are snatched rather than gifted. Other aliens will not be interested in gaining pods from Scammer if they know Scammer will just be throwing them their most useless dreck. If the pods are snatched, there is a chance they might get something good.
Mechanically, Scammer can be compared to Roach and Ninja, two aliens with similar design spaces. Swindler has the potential to protect more ships than Roach, but it has to give up an equivalent number of pods in exchange. It also lacks Roach’s inherent ability to protect its cache, while Roach lacks the ability to potentially empty its cache faster. Ninja has more freedom in its ability to choose whether to lose pods or ships, since the decision in Swindler’s case is mostly up to the other alien if multiple ships are lost.
Scammer can exclusively target aliens like Zombie or Horde who don’t mind losing ships, essentially handing out free pods for ship immunity. Scammer can also take advantage of aliens like Assassin with mandatory yet minimal ship destruction to chip away at other aliens.
Thematically, Scammer is most comparable to Trader and Trickster. The former captures the idea of the unscrupulous businessman, who talks someone into taking a deal they will later regret. Scammer is the more intentionally dishonest of the two, leaving the target out to dry by having their ships get destroyed, in exchange for possible junk. While both powers can potentially backfire on the user, Scammer will always have the net benefit of protecting at least one ship. Trickster is the reason I renamed the alien from Swindler to Scammer, since a Trickster and a Swindler are near-synonyms, while a Scammer is more specifically someone trying to commit a fraudulent act for money.
It’s possible there could be another clause to allow Scammer to limit the number of pods the opponent can snatch, but I didn’t want to overcomplicate the power bio.
Aliens like Fodder and Volt can take greater advantage of Scammer’s “generosity”, turning one alien’s trash into their treasure.
Scammer can only utilize its power when its ships would be destroyed, making it helpless against the likes of Fungus, Void, etc.