Will

Will
Power of choice
Not controlled by destiny
FFG
Wild As the offense, when you draw a player's color from the destiny deck, you may have an encounter with that player in any system, not just his or her home system.
Super You may look at one other player's hand before deciding who to encounter.

Will is an alien with the power of Choice. It can choose which player to encounter regardless of what card it draws from the destiny deck, and may encounter any colony or planet regardless of who it belongs to.

Text

Version: Fantasy Flight (Base game)

You have the power of Choice. As the offense, after you draw from the destiny deck, use this power to encounter any alien on any planet of your choice instead of encountering the alien mandated by the drawn destiny card (for example, you could choose to encounter the Virus' ships on the Mind's planet, even if you were actually directed to have an encounter with the Oracle by the destiny card). Any other effects caused by the drawn destiny card still take place as usual.

"Arising on a cold and barren asteroid, the Wills gave no thought to legal niceties in their relentless struggle to capture the fain rays of a dying star. Unfairly charged with preying upon the weak, they wish only to find locations in which they may spread their solar membranes, unopposed."

Will
Power of choice
not controlled by destiny
Eon
Destiny
Wild If other players fail to make a deal and you are not involved, you dictate the deal within terms allowed by the rules.
Super You can see any one other player's hand before deciding whom to challenge.

Will
Power of choice
not controlled by destiny
Mayfair
Wild You can look at your opponent's hand while drawing for consolation.
Super You may examine all other players' hands before deciding whom to challenge.

Version: Mayfair

You have the power of Choice. You are not bound by the color your turn up from the destiny pile. Instead, you may challenge any other player's base on any planet. If you attack a player's home planet where he has no tokens, he defends with zero as normal. You do not have to attack the player whose home planetary system contains the base you are challenging, but you must challenge using the hyperspace cone or the reverse cone, whichever appears on the Destiny Card you drew. For example, you may challenge the green player's base in the red player's home system.

"Arising on a cold and barren asteroid, the Wills gave no thought to legal niceties in their relentless struggle to capture the faint rays of a dying star. Unfairly charged with preying upon the weak, they wish only to find locations in which they may spread their solar membranes, unopposed."

Version: Eon

You have the power of Choice.You do not pick from the destiny pile. Instead, you may challenge any other player on any planet you wish (for example, you may challenge the Virus' tokens on the Mind's planet).

"Arising on a cold and barren asteroid, the Wills gave no thought to legal niceties in their relentless struggle to capture the faint rays of a dying star. Unfairly charged with preying upon the weak, they wish only to find locations in which they may spread their solar membranes, unopposed."

Version: Cosmic Encounter Online

You have the power of Choice.You are not controlled by Destiny. Instead you may choose the alien you wish to encounter. If you don't make a choice a random alien will be chosen.

"Arising on a cold and barren asteroid, the Wills gave no thought to the legal niceties in their relentless struggle to capture the faint rays of a dying star. Unfairly charged with preying on the weak, they wish only to find locations in which they may spread their solar membranes, unopposed."

Strategy

The real power of the Will is not obvious at first glance. But it has the ability to attack (for instance) the Mind on the Oracle's planet. This means it can pick and choose who it thinks has the weakest hand or weakest defenses. It can even pick off foreign colonies from a player who has too many - an ability shared by very few other aliens.

When the Will is in a game, often the game is prolonged, because it is simply more difficult to get enough foreign colonies to win due to Will's ability to target them and knock them out.

The Will can be crippled with a weak hand, as its power to encounter any player it wants is useless if it doesn't have enough of a fighting chance to win. One way for it to mitigate this is by using negotiates to beef up its hand size via compensation.

Notes

• In FFG's first two printings of Cosmic Encounter, Will's timing strip was printed with "Launch" instead of "Destiny" highlighted, even though its power is used after destiny is drawn during the destiny phase. This was fixed in FFG's 42nd Anniversary Edition.
• The 2018 FAQ clarifies that in order for Will to encounter a player at a planet, the player must either own the planet or have a colony there. This means, for example, Will may not use its power to have an encounter with Virus at one of Mind's planets if Virus does not have a colony on that planet, but Will may have an encounter with Mind at that planet regardless of whether or not Mind has a colony there.