Spiff
Alert
Invasion
Resource
Type
Power to Crashland
Gains Bases from Defeat
As a leader, after losing in combat by 10 or more might, use this power to “crashland” during crash. Rescue one of your engaged ships and establish a base with it on the target planet during crash. This encounter counts as a win for both fleets.
Legacy: When a leader loses a combat by 10 or more might, they may crashland.
A race of loners, the Spiff live in a tumultuous and dangerous Cosmos. What they lack in brain and brawn, they make up for in the ability to dive headfirst into danger without a safety net. Results have proven inconsistent.
Leader: Crash
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As a foreward, after your fleet loses an encounter, you may discharge this flare to rescue your engaged ships and establish a base with them on the target planet during crash. Burnout.
Foreward: Crash
Super Flare
As a leader, you may discharge this flare to use your power if you lose an encounter by 5 or more might.
Any: Crash
Modifications
- Spiff was modified to be “Leader Only” rather than “Invader Only.” Spiff’s original power is only designed to help gain colonies from losing. This version adds the additional bonus of ship protection to help preserve Spiff’s power. More useful in My Cosmic since home colonies are more precious of a resource.
- Modified Spiff’s Wild flare to make it a burnout flare so Spiff can more easily obtain it. The original power is identical to the defensive aspect of Spiff’s power in my version, allowing the user to keep one ship on the planet after losing as a defender.
- I added the clause that makes Spiff’s crashlands a victory for both fleets, to allow Spiff to leverage its power into a second invasion without taking away the opponent’s boons or win-based power aspects.
- Spiff’s legacy lets everyone crashland, meaning might is no longer enough to defeat incoming invaders. Strong attack pods and kickers are best utilized as the invader, if at all. This legacy makes it harder to eliminate aliens, but it can be difficult to activate since Spiff can be a tough alien to eliminate. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Spiff serves as an effective counter to aliens that can easily reach crazy high totals like Mirror, Virus, and Warpish. Playing strong attack pods against Spiff is generally a bad idea, especially when Spiff is invading.
- Spiff can take advantage of its power to gain a passive combat bonus. Since the opponent will likely be wary of the power, they may be hesitant to go all-out. Spiff can take advantage of this at the right time by going all-out themselves to just win normally, against someone that might have otherwise had an easy victory.
- Spiff’s power can be underwhelming if not employed during its invasions. As a trade-off, de-powering Spiff can be very difficult. Even if successfully invading Spiff’s planet, it can potentially use its power to keep its home base alive. This degree of stubbornness can make Spiff a poor target to focus down for elimination, unless running an elimination specialist like Locust or Patriot.
- Spiff can commit few ships and commission no sponsors to bait the opponent into playing lower attack pods, allowing it to get an easy victory with a strong pod. Against Warrior or Warpish, it can almost guarantee a crashlanding.
- Negative encounter pods can really be effective in Spiff’s possession to create a wider gap, for when the enemy tries to play it safe by playing mid-range attack pods.
Development Notes
- The major issue with Spiff originally was dealing with the fact that it has an underwhelming invader-only power. Spiff has a lose-based invader-only power, which meant using it during a first encounter will cancel the second. It can certainly be difficult for aliens to deal with, as it opens opportunities for mindgames, but the amount of power it has in relation to how often it can use the power make it less interesting. Spiff using its power as a supporter would just prevent invaders from inviting it, so using it as defender makes for a much better compromise. It fits with the original Calvin and Hobbes reference since Spaceman Spiff is known for getting shot down and surviving.
- Moocher was the alien that convinced me to give Spiff the buff that allows its crashlandings to also count as a victory. Moocher gets a free base during its own campaign, but it has to surrender its turn to do so. Allowing Spiff to get a second invasion after crashlanding first creates an additional risk-reward mechanic for both aliens to consider and potentially gain more as an invader than Moocher. If Spiff loses by less than 10 might, it will also lose its second encounter.
- Spiff has an interesting interaction with Anti-Matter, particularly my version of Anti-Matter. That is to say, with my version, it’s actually possible for Spiff to use its power against Anti-Matter, since highest might still wins. However, it means that the ball is in Spiff’s court, rather than Anti-Matter’s, as the higher the attack it plays, the lower its total score will be. A Spiff with a 40 can be an incredibly powerful adversary against Anti-Matter.