Vulture

Alert

Resource

Type

Power to Scavenge

Collects Scrapped Artifacts

Whenever another alien scraps an artifact pod, use this power to claim it.

When scrapping your cache to receive a resupply, you may keep any artifact pods in your cache.

Legacy: All artifact pods are negated when discharged.

With watchful eyes and steel talons, the Vultures are always on alert for shiny things to swoop in and take for themselves. One wonders if they even comprehend the value of the treasures they snatch.

Any: Any

Mandatory

Wild Flare

When another alien sends a flare to their exhaust, you may discharge this flare to swap that flare with this flare, adding that flare to your cache.

Any: Any

Super Flare

Whenever another alien discharges a flare, you may discharge this flare to claim it.

Any: Any

Modifications

Original alien is named ‘Vulch.’ It’s a cool name, but it was made back before actual animal names were used as alien names, so nowadays it stands out as being one of the few aliens that isn’t an actual word. The Prime Galaxy doesn’t actually have a normal animal name (since Fido isn’t Dog), so I picked Vulture to fill that slot.
Original Vulture’s wild flare lets a winner get a pod from the opponent by taking one pod at a time until finding one they like, letting the opponent keep the rest. I gave this effect to Barbarian’s wild flare for being more on-brand.
My Super Vulture is slightly different than the original. The original requires the flares to be sent to the heap. Mine grabs them when they hit the exhaust, meaning after they are played. This effectively makes any flare one-use, unless Super Vulture has already struck that invasion. The original Super Vulture can potentially grab multiple flares in a single invasion, based on the phrasing, whereas mine can only grab one.
Vulture’s legacy puts the kibosh on all artifacts, snatching them away as they are discharged. This means that powers become truly unstoppable since there are no longer zaps, and also Warp Keys become locked, making ship recovery more difficult. It is advisable to play held artifacts before Vulture is eliminated, as they become dead draws afterwards. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Vulture can expect a steady stream of artifacts over the course of a match without drafting a single one. Similar to Filch, they will always be obtained after use, so Vulture may be on the bad end of them before getting them.
Zapping Vulture allows everyone to freely use artifacts for an invasion, though this is potentially a waste of a zap unless coordinated with other aliens or artifacts.
Be wary of using artifacts frivolously if Vulture’s on the prowl. Each one you utilize can be utilized against you soon after.
Every other alien will know what artifacts Vulture is holding if obtained through scavenging. As Vulch, avoid holding onto them for too long to avoid getting struck by compensation or other snatching effects.

Development Notes

Vulture has an “automatic” mandatory power that gains benefits without doing anything. The extra decision comes from how it manages its extra resources. It has to watch out for
One thing I like about my Vulture wild flare is that it essentially lets two aliens “share” a flare. Aliens can keep swapping the same flare between one another each time it is used. Alternatively, after losing a flare, an alien can seek a more useful one. It also avoids messing with artifacts, meaning Vulture isn’t hindered by its own flare. And since Vulture’s super effect is different, Vulture cannot use this flare to grab its super flare, as that would be redundant.
My version of Mutant needs to be especially wary of Vulture, as Mutant has its own unique artifacts it can wield.
Vulture is one of the only artifact-focused aliens in Cosmic, aside from Mesmer. This gives Vulture a wide breadth in terms of how much dominance it can have over snatching those artifacts.