I eventually test out all of my powers, and then integrate them into my set. The other homebrews I really like I will also test at some point. I've authored over 200, and of that I have tested out about 150-160 of them. I'm making mockups of the others I've created to get tested over the next few months. My homemade set of Cosmic has 316 alien powers in it at the moment. As you can imagine, a majority of those are homebrews, and of them, most are my own. I have over 100 homebrews that are thematic... so, there are moon aliens, lucre aliens, tech aliens, and several that are part of closed sets.. like the Lovecraftian Encounter aliens, and those for Cosmic Dune. I'm almost up to 100 aliens that are not dependent on any expansion or variant. I'm hoping to hit that number in the next 12 days (before my 40th birthday!). I don't bother posting all of the ones I've created here.... it would get to be overwhelming... but the new ones I think up that I find interesting- I go ahead and place here.

I'd be interested to hear other people's plans or history of creating new aliens that they actually use, or other homebrews that have made it into their sets.

I used to use Ken Cox's postscripting to print stuff out... it looked a lot like the Eon styles components. My homemade set I use now uses my own templates for everything... but I have started printing FFG-style aliens to add to that set... I just create them in Photoshop with a template I made.

Here's one that is inspired by the old Reverse Cone challenges... if that type of encounter does appear, this alien will still fit in nicely.

ANTIPODE M:Warp: Receives Opposite Rewards

You have the power of Ulterior Motive. As an ally in an encounter, use this power to receive the opposite reward. If you are an offensive ally, you receive rewards of cards from the deck or ships from the warp if your side wins. If you are a defensive ally, you land on the targeted planet if your side wins (coexisting with any ships there).

History: The Antipodes seek a destiny unlike that of their contemporaries. Used to buying when others are selling, the Antipodes would rather invest in their own resources when others prefer to colonize by force. Colonization can occur under more agreeable circumstances - and the Antipodes foster alliances to that end.

Author: Jack Reda

Type: Rules
Experience: Novice

Wild: You may offer a player a colony on one of your planets for allying with you, instead of the normal rewards should your side win.

Super: After you have allied but before cards are played, you may declare what reward you will receive if your side wins.

I like Photon, but i have a question, he discards his entire hand and chooses one card from the discard pile or a quantity equal to his discarded hand?

Jon Gon said:

One card. Hopefully THE card.

So basically, once the 40 (or 00 when he's against A-M/Loser) comes out, Photon's got it made. Of course, the counter-balance to this is that he'll end up drawing new hands a lot more often, causing the draw deck to run out quicker and forcing a reshuffle.

I like it. Put it in "Incursion"!

Re: Sadist -- If you only get 1 token each time you send an opponent's ship or ships to the Warp (my reading of the text), how the heck are you supposed to get 100 or more? If you got 1 token for each ship sent, I could barely see it, but even then it's a very large number.

I've obviously not played the aliens I invented, as there is no official way to combine Tech and Lucre yet. I do have another one I thought of today (for some reason I tend to think of them while vacuuming) that i'll try to post in the next couple of days.

I've sadly only tested one of my aliens, though I've made about ten or a bit more. Unfortunately, I rarely get the board game group together, so I mostly play Cosmic online where you of course can't add homebrew aliens. The alien was Nihilist (my first homebrew), who could remove a ship of his own from the game to cancel all other powers for the turn. It was a rather boring idea in retrospect since he didn't have a power himself, meaning he essentially weakened himself by losing ships in order to bring the other players down to his level and make the game less interesting due to the lack of powers in play. Perhaps he needed a small supplementary ability a la Human's +4 to make him interesting, but I still think it rather "de-Cosmicifies" the game.

I don't really want to add homebrew aliens to my games right now because I still haven't played three or four of the FFG aliens, and only one of the people I've played with knows the game well enough for that sort of added confusion. Someday...

Plus, I don't know how I'd implement the flares without blank cards. I guess I'd have to play without flares.

Sadist can be changed to a more appropriate number of tokens as far as FFG is concerned if they somehow see that idea and what to use it for an expansion. As for custom play, just write down how many ships you've defeated. Maybe tone the numbers down a bit to 25, 40, 55, 70 in a 2,3,4,5 player game to win.

More powers:

YEAST [M:FFGfo] Gains Colonies On Frequented Planets. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Budding . After the Alliance Phase, but before encounter cards are revealed, use this power to put a Yeast token on the planet being attacked if you are involved in the encounter as a main player or ally. When there are 5 tokens on a planet it counts as a colony for you. You cannot have 2 colonies on the same planet by ships and tokens.

Your tokens can be attacked by drawing your color if they are on one of your home worlds, or by a Wild or Special Destiny if they are on another player's system. You cannot have allies and cannot play an encounter card when defending tokens. If you lose your power then your tokens count for nothing.

Notes : The recommended experience level for this power is Novice . This is a Resource type power.

History : Drifting aimlessly through the atmospheres of various worlds an even through space, the formerly indiscriminate Yeast have have grown sentient and crafty due to cosmic influences. Now vying to be carried to other worlds through massive heat influxes and darkness left by large battles, the Yeast contend to dwell on as many worlds as possible even through indirect means.

Wild : During your Regroup Phase you may take a ship from the Warp and immediately use it to re-establish a colony on one of your home worlds.

Super : During your Launch Phase of your offensive encounter, you may take Yeast tokens from planets in the same system and move them around as you see fit in the same system.

XENOPHOBE [M:FFGfo] Attacks Cohabiting Colonies. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Distrust . Whenever a player's color is drawn by Destiny who shares a planet with you, you may interrupt the original player's turn in order to encounter the player of the drawn color on any planet of your choice where you both have ships. Neither you nor your opponent may invite or have allies in this encounter, not even Parasite may join. If you win the encounter the player's colony you attacked is sent to the Warp and you receive a ship from the Warp or a card from the Deck for each ship you destroy, if you lose your colony is sent to the Warp and your opponent gains defender for each of his ships; both ways the original player's turn resumes at the Launch Phase.

Notes : The recommended experience level for this power is Advanced . This is a Rules type power.

History : The Xenophobes just don't like having neighbors and would rather be left alone. These aliens don't take a liking to any new aliens on their worlds, and don't like much of any change at all. One thing is for sure though, the Xenophobes will lash out against anyone who has become too close or has worn out their welcome, with fatal results.

Wild : When you flip a player's color of Destiny during your offensive encounter, you may remove one of his colonies to the Warp that shares a planet with you. This counts as a completed successful encounter.

Super : You may send all other players' ships to the Warp upon winning an encounter through use of your poweron a planet you share; gaining a ship from the Warp or cards for each ship you destroy.

INCOGNITO [M:FFGfo] Hides From Opponents. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Cowardice . When you are a main player in an encounter, after encounter cards have been played but before they are revealed you may use this power to hide your ships. When hiding your ships you cannot win or lose the battle and if you are on offense you send your ships back to your colonies, if you are on defense your opponent cohabits the planet with you should he win. If you have allies on your side and lose the battle they go to the Warp as usual. When another player is attacking you on one of your home worlds which you share with another player, or during a Wild or Special Destiny where you have been targeted, you may use this power after alliances have been made to force your opponent to attack a player of your choice who cohabits the planet being attacked.

Notes : The recommended experience level for this power is Advanced . This is a Combat type power.

History : A race of chamleon-like amphibians, the Incognito have made hiding into an artform. Using their natural color blending technique as a tactical offensive and defensive instrument, one never quite knows if these creatures will abandon them when needed the most.

Wild : Whenever you are the defensive main player in an encounter and lose the encounter, you may keep your colony on the planet, your opponent cohabits the planet with you.

Super : When you color is flipped in the Destiny by another player, they must flip again. You may use your power as an ally.

Ok, so here are 4 more powers, now I have one for each letter of the alphabet, and a new Tech idea!

UMBRA [M:FFGfo] Can Force Ship vs. Ship Combat. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Flanking . Whenever you are the main player in an encounter and cards have been played but not revealed you may use this power to declare a "Flank". When doing so both played cards are discarded without being revealed and the totals of each side are factored purely on ships of both main players and allies. During a "Flank" no Reinforcements may be played.

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Expert . This is a Combat type power.

History: Gifted with wings and space-flight capability, the ever-moving Umbra are nocturnal by nature. Hiding from the light of stars on the dark sides of their planets, they are able to move with the darkness and strike any invaders by surprise. Wary must the alien be who thinks the night holds nothing to be feared...

Wild: As a main player in a challenge during the Launch Phase you may use this Flare to prevent alliances on both sides for this encounter. Skip the Alliance Phase entirely.

Super: When in a "Flank" you may sacrifice any number of your ships from any of your colonies and remove an opposing ship on a 1 for 1 basis, sending sacrificed and removed ships to the Warp. After doing so recalculate the totals for both sides.

QUEEN [M:FFGfo] Reproduces Weaker Expendable Ships. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Offspring. At the beginning of any encounter during the Regroup Phase you may use this power to chose a colony of yours on any planet and add an Offspring token into the game for each of your ships on that colony. Tokens produced in this way may be placed any way you want on your existing colonies. These tokens count as ships for all intents and purposes including attack totals, compensation, rewards, and any thing else. In combat you may have up to 4 tokens involved along with 4 of your ships. Any tokens lost to the Warp are removed from the game.

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Advanced . This is a Resources type power.

History: The Queens have been overpopulated for millennial ages, yet seem to never run out of resources. A savage and cannibalistic race of asexual beings, the Queens consider their young to be highly disposable and even a source of nourishment in dire times. With an ever-expanding hoard of their ranks, they just might overrun the cosmos by sheer numbers.

Wild: You may have up to 8 of your ships in the cone during your offensive encounter instead of the normal 4.

Super: You may sacrifice up to as many tokens as you have on a single planet or in the cone on offense to add that many ships of yours from the Warp onto the planet you sacrificed them from or into the cone.

KALEIDOSCOPE [M:FFGfo] Rotates Systems and Player Colors. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Rotation . At the beginning your encounter during the Regroup Phase you may use this power to rotate planet systems to either your right or your left by color, this rotates for everyone. After doing so each player is now the color that was rotated to them; powers are unaffected.

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Expert . This is a Rules type power.

History: Very few powers have come to grips with what the mysterious Kaleidoscope actually are. Shrouded in secrecy, these beings with bright and colorful ships suddenly take the place of their enemies, while their enemies are left dazed and confused in the former place of the Kaleidoscope, much to their dismay. When these aliens arive in a battle, suddenly more than everyone else's heads start spinning.

Wild: You may force everyone to give their flares to the player on their right or left, depending on your choice. Give this card to the Kaleidoscope player if there is one in the game instead of rotating it, if not, discard it.

Super: You may force everyone to give their hand or cards to the player on their right or left, depending on your choice. You also give your hand away.

GRASP [M:FFGfo] Holds Other Player's Reasearching Ships. Christopher Oliveira (Tech)

You have the power to Hijack . Whenever you are a main player in an encounter use this power to capture as many ships from your main opponent's ships researching Tech as you had in the encounter. These ships are now placed on your Tech. When you reveal a completed Tech that is being researched with enemy ships, send those enemy ships to the Warp. If you hijack ships and have no Tech to be researched, hijacked ships are sent to the Warp.

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Novice. This is a Combat type power.

History: Although mind-control and slavery is looked down upon by most civilized and sophisticated races in the cosmos, the Grasp specialize in these areas to manipulate hostile lifeforms into slave-labor. Those who have escaped the clutches of the Grasp recount stories of giant burning hands taking hold of their ship before they lost consciousness and found themselves working on alien machinery...

Wild: Whenever you win an encounter as an offensive main player, for each ship you had in the encounter, use this to send as many ships as your main opponent has researching Tech to the Warp.

Super: When you remove the last ship from an opponent's Tech through use of your power, your opponent must discard the Tech. When you reveal a completed Tech card that is being researched with enemy ships, you must place all enemy ships on any other Techs you have being researched, otherwise they are sent to the Warp.

I think Grasp is a great idea... I'd prefer if he captured the ships for winning, rather than just getting them automatically.

I think Umbra would be problematic- since the Umbra player can just count the ships and declare Flanking for an auto win that nothing can be done about. I'd say letting reinforcements be used after would probably balance it enough (there aren't that many in the game). Just my 2 cents.

I must have typed that wrong with Grasp, he is only supposed to gain ships from his enemy's Tech if he wins the encounter. Plz change that if you have added it to the Warp already.

As for the Umbra, the almost auto-win power he has is balanced by it only being as a main player and the fact that experienced players will ally against him to prevent use of his power, or with him for a free ride. Basically he HAS to ask for allies from everyone or he won;t be able to Flank his opponent with all the allies he'll have. I don;t see the power any stronger than Virus.

Now that I think about it, it wouldn't weaken Umbra too much to allow Reinforcement's especially he has some too. He'll still be a very powerful combat power like the Virus.

I'd like to edit Kaleidoscope because I thought of a better way to make it utilize the individual planets in a much more strategic way:

KALEIDOSCOPE [O:FFGfo] Rotates Player Colors, Planets, and Systems. Christopher Oliveira

You have the power of Rotation. During the Regroup Phase of any encounter you may use this power to rotate one of your planets of choice to the player on your right or left. When you rotate a planet the player on your right of left must then rotate the same planet location of their system to the player on the same side of themselves as that side you rotated towards. Example: You move your left-most planet towards the player on your left, now all players must replace their left-most planets with the one being rotated to them from their right. All player's former left-most planets are now replaced by the player their right's. You cannot rotate more than 2 of your own planets.

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Expert. This is a Rules type power.

Wild: You may force everyone to give all of their cards of one type to the player on their right or left, depending on your choice, including yourself. This includes Artifacts, Flare, Attack, Negotiate, etc. Give this card to the Kaleidoscope player if there is one in the game instead of rotating it, if not, discard it.

Super: During your Regroup Phase you may use this power to rotate entire planet systems to either your right or your left by color, this rotates for everyone. After doing so each player is now the color that was rotated to them; powers are unaffected. You cannot rotate entire systems in a certain direction if the new color you would take possession of would not have 3 home colonies to retain your power.

Done! And I agree, this is a much better way to go with it... very nice.

CEREBRUM

Uses contingency card in lost encounters

You have the power of contingency. When you are the main player in an encounter you automatically use this power to choose a second card from your hand and play it face down as your contingency card. If your total score after cards are revealed is lower than your opponent or if you played a negotiate against an attack card you automaticaly play your contingency card instead. Recalculate the outcome of the encounter and return your first card to your hand. The contingency card is discarded and the encounter proceeds as normal. If you have no card that can be used as a contingency card this power has no effect. The contingency card can not be affected by powers affecting your chosen encounter card such as the powers of the mind and sorcerer.

History: The Cerebrum are true masters when dealing with neural nets and organic matrixes and focus all their efforts into creating the ultimate organic calculator capable of predicting all possible outcomes of everything within the universe. With the limitless possibilities of the cosmos the Cerebrum have learned that sound backup plans in case a situation turns for the worse is the only logical way to victory.

Wild Flare: If you are an ally you may switch side after all offers to ally have been accepted or declined.

Super Flare: You may choose wether to use your contingency card or not regardless of the initial outcome of the encounter.

Author: Andreas Lidström

My first go. I think that it is hard comming up with flares, som anny suggestions about modifications is appreciated

This race should be Yellow, I think...

NUDGE [O:TG] Makes Other Players’ Decisions

Game Setup: Place a number of tokens on this sheet equal to the number of players in the game.

You have the power to suggest . At any time, you may use this power to make another player’s decision for them. You must discard a token from your sheet to make a single decision; if you have no tokens, this power cannot be used. You can make decisions about (but not limited to): how many ships to launch, who to invite as an ally, who to ally with, what to take for defensive rewards, and use of a power. If there are multiple “parts” to a decision (such as allying with a side and then how many ships to send), they all count as a single decision. You cannot make a decision involving playing a card from one’s hand.

In addition, if you win an encounter as the defense, you may add one more token to your sheet.

History: Proficient psychics, the Nudges have always enjoyed working other “blind” races into a commotion. While they cannot expend their powers infinitely, they hope that they have just enough gas in the tank to force all others into ceding their territory.

Wild: Show this flare to a player about to use an artifact. He may change his mind and return the artifact to his hand; if he does not, he loses two ships to the warp.

Super: Each use of your power allows you to make all decisions for a player for the rest of the encounter.

This is an Expert and Rules power.

Comments: Making other people's decisions is undeniably fun. But I didn't want him to be too powerful (or too much like Magnet and similar aliens), so I used tokens to limit his uses. He also has good reason not to lose on defense.

Also...I don't know where to put this, so I though I'd stick it here...why the heck does Anti-Matter's flare have nothing to do with his power? This made no sense to me, so I whipped up a few ideas for it.

Wild: As a main player, before encounter cards are revealed, you may declare that they will subtract from their respective side’s total.

Super (idea 1): Your opponent’s allies add to the total as usual.

Super (idea 2): Your power becomes optional.

Anti-Matter's flare fits thematically with the "power to negate." I don't remember flares well, but I don't think his is the only one like that, and most are pretty fun. It gives the designers the opportunity to add in more fun card ideas to the deck without overwhelming the deck's consistency with artifacts.

Your Wild idea is more powerful than the alien itself since most of the time it will just be a blind guessing game for the Wild's opponent. Before cards are played might be better timing for it, though I personally wouldn't change the flare at all.

Some edits to some of my own homebrews:

Titan: The only way his power is lost is if there are no ships on his home world. You can only lose as many ships as total ships coming against you on your home world, on a 1 for 1 basis regardless of ship or card or power attack value.

Sadist: Sadist has his own numbered tokens, 4 different "1" tokens, a "5" token, a "10", a "20", and a "40", this allows any number of ships killed to be tallied between 1 and 79 and put on his power card. It takes 12 x the number of players in the game worth of ships killed by the Sadist to win. (24/36/48/60, etc.)

Toomai made a good point, Titan's one homeworld needs to be immune to all planetary effects, especially Omega Missile.

This must be annoying for you Jack...

anyways:

This is what Sadist currently says:

SADIST [M:FFGfo] Send Ships To Warp To Win Christopher Oliveira (Alternate Win)

You have the power of Pain. Whenever you send ships to the Warp as the main player in an encounter or by use of a Flare or Artifact, use this power to receive a token. At the beginning of any player's regroup phase if you have tokens equal to the amount of players besides yourself x25 you win automatically. If you are using 4 planets then it is tokens equal to the amount of players x20. You may still win via the normal method.

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Advanced. This is a Rules type power. Sadist has his own numbered tokens, 4 different "1" tokens, a "5" token, a "10", a "20", and a "40", this allows any number of ships killed to be tallied between 1 and 79 and put on his power card. It takes 12 x the number of players in the game worth of ships killed by the Sadist to win. (24/36/48/60, etc.)

Wild: Whenever you send another player's ships to the Warp, you may draw one card from the Deck for each player during each instance.

This is what it needs to say:

SADIST [M:FFGfo] Send Ships To Warp To Win Christopher Oliveira (Alternate Win)

You have the power of Pain. Whenever you send ships to the Warp as the main player in an encounter or by use of an Artifact, Flare, or Tech, use this power to receive a token for each ship you send to the Warp. It takes 20 + the number of other players in the game x 10 worth of ships killed by the you to win. In a 2/3/4/5/etc. player game it would take you sending 30/40/50/60/etc. ships to the Warp to declare a win. You may still win via the normal method..

Notes: The recommended experience level for this power is Advanced. This is a Rules type power.

You have your own numbered tokens, 5 different "1" tokens, a "5" token, a "10", a "20", and a "40", this allows any number of ships killed to be tallied between 1 and 79 and put on his power card.

Wild: Whenever you send another player's ships to the Warp, you may draw one card from the Deck for each player during each instance, but not for each ship.

Do you have an email address? I can't use outlook to email you on the Warp...

No worries... changes are made. I can often be reached at jack @ redamedia.com

I'm even more likely to receive geekmail through boardgamegeek.com, sent to The Warp .

VOLTAGE [M:TG] Steals Value Of Opposing Ships

You have the power to drain . As a main player, after encounter cards are revealed, use this power for your opponent’s ships to count towards your total instead of his or her total. In other words, you count your opponent’s ships in your total as if they were yours, while your opponent calculates his or her total as if he or she has no ships in the encounter. Ships allied with your opponent are not affected.

History: A race with electricity running through their veins, the Voltages have always had the upper hand when it comes to technology. They can easily control even the most complicated electrical gadgets, making it difficult for others to get a handle in battle.

Wild: As a main player, after alliances are formed, you may force your opponents to return ships to colonies until there are an equal number of ships on both sides of the encounter.

Super: If you win an encounter, you may take one ship from the warp for each opposing ship you sent to the warp.

This is an Advanced and Combat power.

Comments: He uses your ships as if they're his, not yours. Normally this isn't too much of a big deal, unless you're Macron or Virus or something. (No, Voltage doesn't count Macron's ships as 4 when he uses them, doesn't multiply Virus', etc. Unless Voltage is also Macron or Virus, although I would call that an unfair combo.)

I made a similar but weaker alien once upon a time that, instead of using the opponent's ships, simply ignores them (they don't count to either side). I initially put a DO NOT USE IN A GAME WITH VIRUS stipulation that the Warp removed. How do you feel about your alien versus Virus? It makes the encounter nearly impossible for Virus to win unless you have the most pathetic hand in the world and he has a bunch of allies (and seriously, who would ally with him here, other than Vacuum or Warpish?). Since versus Voltage and Ninja (mine), Virus will have Card x 0, he will always have a zero total plus allies. I guess Virus deserves to be picked on, but it still seems a bit harsh. I don't know. I can't think of another face-off between two aliens that would cause such a helpless situation for one alien. At least with Macron or Virus versus Anti-Matter or Loser, the big guy can attempt to move ships off home planets as fast as possible by constantly allying to improve their defensive odds. With Voltage / Ninja versus Virus, Virus just has to hope that other players will for some reason want to take a huge risk with him while his opponent plays a really low card and invites no one.

By the way, I like your alien a lot more. I always found mine was probably too weak. I'll definitely be adding yours to my set instead once we get blank cards (please be in expansion 1!).

I was thinking of the Voltage vs. Virus situation when I was postulating this guy, and had thought of a way out - Voltage's total would count your ships, but all of your ships together would count as 1 (so instead of 4 vs 4, it's 8 vs 1, while the power "as is" is 8 vs 0). The reason I didn't write it like that is because no one will ever send more than one ship against Voltage anyway, so all his power would do is add 1 to his total.

So yes, Voltage will probably always beat Virus. But I don't think it's all doom and gloom - it gives Virus a chance to play an N or get rid of a bad card, and it's not too different from an Anti-Matter or Loser encounter.

The reason I didn't think Ninja needed the Do Not Use With Virus was the same reason Masochist doesn't have Do No Use With Healer. It's a sucky match up, but it doesn't create conficts and rules conundrums. Ninja and Voltage will certainly beat Virus most of the time, but not automatically.