(Illusion)Lynx
The new / special (pink on picture) action is: "Link target. It is assimilated with this piece, and all previous linked units become copies of the new (targeted) unit. Killing, transforming, and inflicting effects on any of the linked unit affects all linked units."
Credit for theme / inspiration - vro29-34k [main_gi].
- It gets the assimilation mechanic going in other direction full of possibilities, but that is what it's here for :) .
- Yes, less movement squares are more expensive.
- Crazy payout / synergy, crazier punishment. Need to carefully evaluate each game, which pieces and at what stage are worth the risk.
Why would you make + strictly worse than base? (assimilate overwrites movesets, though the pink ability could be rendered immune to overwriting)
It's one thing to have a sidegrade, it's another for a tier to be a straight up downgrade, it's yet another for it to also be a strict imbalance
Creativity - 5/5 - Link and assimilate, probably should be limited to one especially if this is a minion.
Theme - 3/5 - The joke is funny at least
Execution - 0/5 - Strict imbalance in the piece itself, and assimilate/link might spiral out of control (though the weakness of link tries to keep it in check)
If I'm reading this wrong and the linked piece actually assimilates the Lynx's moveset and not the other way around, you have what's technically a sidegrade still. In that case I'd rather have the moveset resemble base's moveset, but change the squares like this (keeping all abilities on Range 1 requires resorting to orange using range 1 green squares, or using unstoppable, or making base immobile with junk squares):
base - D is a "junk" ability that does nothing but overwrite D with useless abilities
purple - D is move only
orange - D (alternately F) is standard melee
red - D is yellow swap (alternately, all squares are standard melee)
The wording was meant as reverse direction compared to Gluttony, so the moveset keeps what it had, and only adds new squares onto itself. Base is stronger as + only for pieces that wouldn't have better square to be added on instead of move.
With these in mind:
I would always prefer to add better squares in range 2 then just move. And, maybe not melee, but ranged / magic, so they can threaten squares without needing to die for it (e.g. fireball, archer, ...).
The scenarios I originally thought could be typical:
However, the longer I think about building army with this, the more I find it's too good / exploitable.
You can:
So while it is all nice to combine and imagine on your side, once it stands across the board, and you are on receiving end of it, all fun ends there :) .
Still, the ideas are nice to explore / theorycraft.