Tanuki

Alert

Resource

Destroy

Type

Power to Shapeshift

Gets Other Aliens in Trouble

As a leader, after launch, target any bystander and gift that alien your mark as a “leaf” until the next destiny manifests. If any aspect would target your pod(s), ship(s), or nexus, other than aspects used by an alien with a leaf, you may use this power to “shapeshift” into the alien with your leaf. The aspect targets the alien with your leaf instead, and your leaf is vaporized.

Legacy: When the invader would lose ships, that alien may choose a bystander (if available) to lose those ships instead.

Due to spending most of their time imitating the appearance of other races, no one knows how old the Tanukis truly are. With virtually no way to tell one apart from the genuine article, the Federation has to run scrupulous background checks each match to ensure every alien is who they say they are.

Leader: Any

Optional

Wild Flare

Whenever an aspect would target your pod(s) or ship(s), if you do not have a leaf, you may discharge this flare to have the aspect target your left neighbor instead. Then gift your left neighbor this flare.

Any: Any

Super Flare

When gifting your leaf, you may discharge this flare to gift an additional leaf to another alien, including your opponent.

Leader: Any

Modifications

Originally “Evil Twin”. Changed to match my one-word alien power edict, giving it a different theme related to shapeshifting. The original power has a “good twin” that takes the blame for its actions and suffers its losses and penalties. My Tanuki is a mischievous shapeshifter that pretends to be another alien and has them take the fall for its deeds.
Originally has the power to “blame”. Changed to match my theme of Tanuki.
Original Evil Twin uses its power once during launch and can then use its power any number of times until upkeep. My Tanuki uses its power at the time of making another alien suffer penalties instead of itself, and can only use its power once per invasion.
Original Wild Evil Twin can activate when its ships would be targeted or it would pay compensation. I simplified the idea to match the original power. Since it is a one-use effect that gives the left neighbor the benefit, I wanted it to be more flexible.
Original Evil Twin specifically prevents essence from targeting it by using its power. My version prevents anything from targeting its nexus as another option.
Original Evil Twin specifies that when you lose a base, the “good twin” loses the number of ships on that base, rather than a base themselves. My version has no need to specify this mechanic.
Original Super Evil Twin becomes an Evil Triplet, and any losses its suffers are experienced by both of its good twins at once. Since my version works once per invasion, it essentially upgrades the power to work twice per invasion.
Technically, my version of Tanuki can use its power to give someone else a positive effect, like if Doctor tries to revive the target alien’s ships. Original Evil Twin only works with losses and penalties.
Tanuki’s legacy allows the invader to ignore consequences that would cost it ships, allowing every leader to always commit maximum ships without concern. This legacy favors invader-only powers like Mite and Will who can take better advantage of their powers. It also rewards aliens who are skilled at getting commissioned, since they can avoid being targeted by the legacy. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

As a leader, Tanuki has effective immunity from the primary penalties of an encounter. It can dodge either compensation or ship loss depending on whether it wins or loses. However, it can only dodge one aspect per invasion, so a power like Outlaw or Trader can disrupt this immunity.
Since Tanuki can guarantee its ships will not be destroyed as defender, its power is virtually indestructible unless it misuses its power.
Tanuki is effectively immune to compensation, but it can still be worth going for compensation if the alien with the leaf might have some pods you want. Tanuki can even bait compensation by targeting an alien like Clone or Filch, aliens who have known strong pods.
Tanuki can only target one alien at a time with its power. If you can get on Tanuki’s good side or avoid leaping into the lead, you can make another alien a higher priority. Apply a similar strategy as you would against Vacuum.

Development Notes

The original Evil Twin is most comparable original Sting, capable of making one other alien suffer its penalties and losses instead of Evil Twin. Sting can use its power more often in exchange for only losing half of its ships. Scammer, my version of Sting, can exchange a minimum of 1 lost ship in exchange for snatching pods from its cache. The biggest advantage both these aliens have over Evil Twin is the timing, since Evil Twin can only use its power as a leader while they can operate any time they would lose ships. Evil Twin also works with its pods, allowing it to protect its cache from compensation or powers that target its cache. Original Evil Twin can use its power any number of times per invasion, though it usually only needs to use it once unless other powers are involved.
Tanuki is also similar to Vacuum, an alien who punishes others when it loses ships. As with Sting, Vacuum has better timing than Tanuki and can use its power as a sponsor, but Tanuki has a better payoff and more flexibility since it can affect either pods or ships.
There are two primary reasons I wanted to redesign the core concept of Evil Twin. Aside from the two-word alien name, I don’t like how the theme of Evil Twin functions in comparison to the mechanics. If an alien is the evil twin of another alien, though shouldn’t have the ability to freely switch between another aliens at will to become someone else’s evil twin. That seems much more like a doppelganger or shapeshifter, which is what led me to my Tanuki idea. The second issue I have with the main power is how mindless the power can be. In contrast to my Scammer, whose power is derived from convincing your target to give up ships for pods, Evil Twin simply chooses another alien and dumps all of its problems onto them. The only interesting decision is who to target with the power, which is basically the same decision Vacuum makes. I made Tanuki’s power usable once per invasion to make the user more engaged with the match. If Tanuki gets hit with a flare that would snatch one of its pods, it has to weigh whether it is worth using its power now or saving it for potentially losing its ships from the resulting invasion.
A tanuki has no compulsion to shapeshift into people, so I think it makes more sense for the power to be optional. However, there’s really no reason to avoid gifting another alien a leaf, making it pointlessly optional. I resolved both of these factors by changing Tanuki’s use clause to when it chooses to shapeshift and make the target alien pay a penalty. I interpret this scenario as Tanuki having another alien appear to be the target and then transforming back to Tanuki, redirecting the penalty (or reward) to the target. Tanuki never has to “use” its power. It only has to choose who it will target.
The timing of Tanuki’s power is interesting, since it decides after launch who will be punished, before rally. When targeting a bystander, it can be seen as a mark of hostility, dissuading that alien from sponsoring Tanuki. At the same time, Tanuki can use its power as a threat, encouraging others to curry favor with Tanuki to avoid being getting the next leaf. Tanuki also is one of the few powers that ends during the following invasion instead of the current one. This aspect gives Tanuki more freedom in using its power and makes the timing of using require more consideration.
To keep things interesting, I wanted Tanuki’s power to be as flexible as possible, to give it as many options as possible. Since it is red alert, more options will add strategic depth to using it. Tanuki can use its power to stop Nightmare from shrouding a horror in its nexus or . It can even keep Mind from reading its cache, which even Evil Twin cannot do.
Thematically, since Doppelganger doesn’t exist in my Cosmic, Tanuki is most comparable to Mimic and Mask. All three powers relate to imitation, with a few notable distinction. Tanuki only copies the physical appearance of an alien, allowing it to be perceived as the same one, but it cannot use the alien’s power or flares. Mask’s imitations give it the ability to copy the power of the alien and use their flares, but it lacks the magical power to fool others into targeting the original with pod or ship destruction. Mimic imitates the cache size of the opponent, rather than the physical appearance or power. I imagine Mimic is the kind of shapeshifter that alters its physical appearance without altering its color scheme or core characteristics, so that it cannot use its power to deceive others. With Mask being able to call the original a fake, it would make sense it could use its power like Tanuki. However, in Mask’s case, they could easily check for a mask to determine the real one. I imagine there’s just not enough time to do so, so the Federation disqualifies both. Tanuki’s’ disguises are physically flawless, and they use them so quickly there’s no time to verify if they can use the power or not. Tanuki has already turned back to normal before any evidence can be thrown against it, and the Federation has no choice to but to approve the targeting.
In Japanese mythology, a tanuki is a magical racoon dog capable of changing form to look like basically anything. Their mischievous nature leads them to causing trouble and behaving dishonestly, making them a perfect fit for this power. Their shapeshifting is so precise that they can easily impersonate another creature for years without being detected. The leaf used in my power is the tool the tanuki uses for transformation. The symbol is popularized through the video game Animal Crossing, where leaves can transform into furniture and other objects. Tom Nook in that game series is himself a tanuki who wields this power and sells these leaves for money.
Since Tanuki’s power activates during launch, it is not safe from plague artifacts or powers like Assassin that activate beforehand, unless it holds onto its power use from the previous invasion.
I designed the legacy such that it will have no effect if every alien participates in the encounter. It creates an additional wrinkle in the consideration of commissioning sponsors, since getting sponsorships happen after the invader has already committed ships. The invader will have to determine whether they want to risk committing four ships before determining who to commission, which makes it more interesting as a pseudo-Zombie effect.