Scientist

Alert

Essence

Resource

Type

Power to Experiment

Gains Resources through Experimentation

As an actor, after arrival, you may use this power to prime an experiment next to your fleet. Move up to four of your free ships to your nexus. The number of ships must be at least the cost of your experiment.

At the end of the encounter, reveal and trigger your primed experiment. If the experiment’s “hypothesis” has been met, carry out the “conclusion” and rebound all ships in your nexus. Otherwise, the experiment fails, destroying all ships in your nexus.

Legacy: During warpfall, the invader may either manifest and claim a random pod or transform one of their pods to a random type.

Masters of all fields of study, the Scientists spend nearly their entire lives in the laboratory, searching for questions that few care to ask. According to their hypothesis, gaining dominion through Cosmic Encounters will grant them control over the Cosmos, along with a more expansive budget for their research.

Actor: Arrival

Optional

Wild Flare

At any time, you may discharge this flare to transform all pods in your cache into random pods of any type. Burnout.

Any: Any

Super Flare

If you fail an experiment, you may discharge this flare to untrigger your experiment. Shroud it in your nexus and rebound the ships in your nexus.

Actor: Encounter

Experiments

Ballistics Testing – Cost: 1. Hypothesis: Any fleet is a brigade this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest a random attack pod per brigade.
Mass Spectrometry – Cost: 1. Hypothesis: No more than two different types of pods are discharged this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest and claim a random pod of your chosen type.
Drone Surveillance – Cost: 1. Hypothesis: Any alien discharges a distress pod this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest and claim a random distress pod per distress pod discharged.
Artifact Replication – Cost: 2. Hypothesis: Any alien discharges an artifact pod this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest and claim a random artifact per artifact discharged.
Neutrino Detection – Cost: 2. Hypothesis: Any alien discharges a flare this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest and claim a random flare per flare discharged.
Molecular Reconstruction – Cost: 2. Hypothesis: Two or more different types of pods are discharged this encounter. Conclusion: Transform all pods in your cache into random pods, retaining their original type.
Vacuum Sublimation – Cost: 3. Hypothesis: Three or more different types of pods are discharged this encounter. Conclusion: Transform all pods in your cache into random pods.
Quantum Phase Transition – Cost: 3. Hypothesis: Exactly three different types of pods are discharged this encounter. Conclusion: Transform up to 3 pods in your cache into types of your choice with random aur values.
4D Printing – Cost: 4. Hypothesis: Four or more different types of pods will be discharged this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest and claim a random technology. You may move any or all ships used to pay this cost to that technology.
Rocket Launch – Cost: 4. Hypothesis: Five or more pods will be discharged this encounter. Conclusion: Manifest and claim a random space station.

Modifications

Scientist is my own original alien designed to replace Particle in the Eon Galaxy. This power does not exist in any existing version of Cosmic Encounter. The original alien Particle has a completely different power.
Original Particle has the power of “quantum entanglement.”
Original Particle’s power puts its mark on a planet and then on another planet. It then puts the same number of ships on that planet as the original planet and must maintain the same number of ships on both planets. It must use ships from non-entangled planets to satisfy entanglement requirements.
Scientist’s legacy allows the invader to either manifest a random pod or transform one of their pods to a random one. The legacy can be useful for removing troublesome pods from the match, such as removing Warp Keys for Sadist or Cosmic Zaps for Oligarch. It can also help aliens who struggle with gaining resources to keep their cache stocked. Aliens who can win their first encounter get double the value from this legacy, since it activates each warpfall. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
There is no limit to the number of requests that can be given to one alien, aside from the maximum pool size of 6. This means that there is nothing stopping Assistant from playing favorites and giving all of its requests to one specific alien.

Tips

Scientist’s experiments are never a direct threat to other aliens. However, they can grant Scientist potentially powerful weapons and technology that will make them a threat later.
The more ships Scientist commits to its experiment, the more different types of pods it wants to see. However, note that Scientist can commit more ships than necessary to fool aliens into playing fewer different pod types, such as for the Mass Spectrometry experiment.
Scientist can move more ships than required into its nexus to make the opponent think it is preparing one of its big experiments.
With many of Scientist’s experiments, it can use a pod to gain a pod. For instance, Drone Surveillance can give scientist a distress pod in exchange for a distress pod. If it prompts an opponent or ally to also use a distress pod, it can get more than one. The same is true for flares or artifact pods.
Quantum Phase Transition and Mass Spectrometry can be the most difficult experiments to pull off, since they are more dependent on the actions of other aliens. Since distress pods are usually the last pods discharged in an encounter, they can be the most valuable for getting the desired number.

Development Notes

The origin of this power came from trying to figure out the theme and design of Particle. My primary issue with Particle is that it gains two bases at once from its power, at the cost of both being linked. This means that if an alien targets their own system to defeat one of Particle’s bases, they would be taking out two systems instead of just one. However, my Cosmic doesn’t allow the invasion of your own system, since I don’t like how it slows down the pace of the match. I could make an exception for Particle, but I don’t think it fits the theme. Instead, I came up with a completely new idea that manifested into a new essence alien.
My original idea for Scientist was for each of its experiments to manifest a different type of pod, requiring it to spend X encounters researching it like technology. The primary difference would be the manifested pods being a random version of a different type and the ability to choose any valid pod to manifest at any time. I determined the power was too slow, and I didn’t like the idea of a power based around experimentation that cannot fail. With science being based around trial and error, I wanted a “lose condition” for the essence, similar to Nanny.
In order to limit the scope of needing to remember past information, Scientist’s experiments specifically deal with pods discharged during the encounter. This means pods primed during other phases like arrival, warpfall, upkeep, etc. don’t count to this total, which makes it more difficult to reach 4 different types of pods for 4D Printing or 5 pods for Rocket Launch. However, it can also make it easier to make Mass Spectrometry work.
The core of Scientist’s experiments is any alien using different types of pods during an invasion. Since drivers will always be at least one type of pod, anything from N pods to P pods to distress pods to kickers to intimidate pods can increase the total number of pods in an invasion. The cost of the experiment goes up based on the number of different pods Scientist generally wants to use, which makes it easier to remember for other aliens and allows Scientist to fool opponents by risking more ships.
The cost of the experiments are meant to set a risk in relation to the established reward. The Mass Spectrometry experiment is an exception since that one is more difficult to pull off. The user is tasked to risk more ships in hopes of fooling aliens into playing fewer pods.
I consider this power most comparable to my custom alien Myth. Myth is another alien whose essence sets up a win/lose condition that risks Myth’s ships. However, Myth’s power is mandatory, requiring it to always use one of its essence each encounter as a leader. Its essence conditions and rewards are also very different from Scientist’s, with its gimmick based around getting its ships in play so it can return to its “true form” and gain a second power. Myth has a greater need to meet its win conditions, potentially even at the loss of the encounter.
The risk/reward mechanic of Scientist leads me to conclude that Scientist cannot be strictly better or worse than any existing alien at resource generation, so long as the conditions to complete its experiments are not too trivial or impossible. If Scientist gets a bunch of different pod types, it can facilitate its own experiments. Otherwise, it might need to rely on its allies to make them happen, which could be a tough sell since they only benefit Scientist. At most, it could be a gesture of good-faith to promote a more long-term alliance.
Quantum Phase Transition, 4D Printing, and Rocket Launch are the three experiments I would consider most impactful, which is why they have the highest cost. 4D Printing and Rocket Launch are the ones that create a technology and space station, respectively, with the cost of the experiment even going straight into researching the technology for rapid development, as a tradeoff of it being completely random. Quantum Phase Transition lets the user transform three of their pods into random pods of a specific type, allowing it to gain three random flares, artifacts, kickers, or any other type of pod it needs, albeit with random values. Though that one has a lower cost, its condition is one of the most difficult, requiring exactly three types of pods to be discharged. If other aliens are throwing around artifacts, flares, and distress pods, this one can be very tricky to research successfully.
After coming up with the lose condition concept, I think I was able to make a design that captures the spirit of science quite well. Each experiment consists of a hypothesis and a conclusion, using phrases borrowed from the scientific method. Each experiment also costs a certain number of ships, but Scientist can submit more than necessary (max 4) to fool opponents. The hypothesis establishes what Scientist is trying to prove, and the conclusion results from the success of the experiment. If the hypothesis is wrong, the experiment fails, and the conclusion becomes the destruction of the experimenting ships.
One major question regarding this power is whether it should be yellow alert or red. While the power can seem complicated, and other opponents should be aware of the possible experiments, I don’t think any of Scientist’s experiments are dangerous enough to warrant red alert. None of the experiments destroy encounters or ships, or even ravage pods from an enemy cache. They only give Scientist resources, which have the potential to backfire. Since the pods can be of any type, Scientist definitely needs to be at least yellow alert, since everyone should know what all the pods are. I think the rest of it is simple enough that yellow works fine.
Scientist is one of the few aliens capable of generating space stations and technology, though it can be challenging to do so. It is comparable to Engineer and Celestial. Each of those aliens can generate one of the two much more easily, but they are each restrained to one type.
As a power that transforms pods, Scientist could be compared to Alchemist. However, Alchemist can transform its pods freely at the cost of ships, while Scientist has to succeed in its experimentations.
I decided to name each of the experiments after complex-sounding real-world science techniques. I intentionally made Rocket Launch the most plain-sounding to reflect the fervor the Scientists have for space travel.
Even with 300+ Cosmic aliens already in the game (including my own), I am glad to see there are still additional dimensions to explore for designing new aliens, especially with the additional potential from my digital format and unique mechanics.
Scientist as a power cannot easily exist in a physical board game due to the need to transform and manifest pods and other objects. It requires the digital format of my Cosmic that makes such a feat trivial.