To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Alternate Universe expansion set.

PICTURE: They've made it sufficiently different from the other Kevin, and, color-wise, it's not a bad picture at all. He's standing in "false surroundings" even. Can't help but wonder why they didn't pick one where he's truly a Douwd. I mean, the lore takes care of that ("disguises"), but it would have really made him stand out next to the other Kevin. Maybe they're keeping that for another day? (Enhanced Premiere anyone?) A likeable 3.5.

LORE: I love it when the lore uses quotations to achieve a poetic or mythic quality, something inherent in Trek as a whole. It's way better at explaining the game text of both Kevins than the first one ever was. Still, "convergence" would have been a nice concept to slide in there, such as "his thoughts converged on the Husnock" or something. A 3.7 here.

TREK SENSE: Well, Kevin's ability to destroy Events is akin to Amanda's. That is, they have the same qualities and faults. For one, they are both altruistic beings with extreme power who don't like unfair interference from others (read: opponent). Where Amanda's into little things, Kevin destroys large scale things, Events! If he could erase an entire species from existence, he can stop the Klingon Civil War believe me (oops, no, actually, he can't). The problems remain that Kevin could do much more than any of his cards represent, and that some events are good things he would not care to destroy (a Drought Tree?). More on that when I reach the baseline Kevin. As for Convergence, this is where Uxbridge concentrates on one location and sets the entire location aright. Ok, yeah. Works within the limited scope of these cards. 3.6 here.

STOCKABILITY: Well, in many ways, he's not as strong as the real Kevin, but he does get advantages over it too. Convergence won't work on events placed on table, or even on something in between spaceline locations like Q-Net. It won't protect you from The Line Must Be Drawn Here or other counter hosers, as it's still a Kevin Uxbridge. It will, however, blow as many events are are present at the same location. so it's great against pollution decks that like to combine multiple Distortion Fields, Tetryon Fields over Subspace Warp Rifts, and tons of Baryon Buildups. Clean it all up with Convergence. Of course, since the same penalties for playing regular Kevin apply, there may not be much advantage in using this (in many ways) more limited card. Except if you just don't have enough Kevins (an uncommon from a large set) to last you the game. You'd use Convergence on the spaceline stuff, real Kev on the table stuff. Good, but not that good, at 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) A strong showing, but then again, he's a near-omnipotent being.

PICTURE: Shows great contempt by not even facing your way, and the color scheme is excellent. The only real dabs of color (the suit and background wall panel) are green, just like the Event icon, creating nice cohesion to the card. A good 3.8.

LORE: From the specific to the general, which is something I like to see when a card is obviously Federation-specific, but its game text affects everyone. Fair explanation of the game text too. A 3.4.

TREK SENSE: The ultimate red tape card! It's quite possible that because of petty bureaucrats being in charge of personnel transfers and such, you would not get all the resources you needed in the time you needed them. This is represented in the following manner: You report a unique personnel (a good resource), so the bureaucrat ties you up in red tape (hey, you just got something good) and doesn't let you have that resource on top of your draw deck right away (be it a ship, equipment, whatever). It's rather conceptual, so it has a few problems. First, while the card shows only one such bureaucrat, it is meant to represent many. Unfortunate that the specific jerk is the name of the card, but otherwise the lore takes care of that. But those many bureaucrats are working together to make life hell for opposing affiliations. It's quite a coincidence when multiple opposing affiliations all have the same problem, or that your Bajorans don't get a card because your Klingons just reported Gowron. Also, how could a bureaucrat refuse you access to resources like Abandon Mission, or Klingon Death Yell? And why would a unique personnel be the trigger when a guy like Dokachin was more of a ships-and- equipment kind of guy? Falls into conceptual pretty quick, brings the score down to 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: An ok nuisance to bring out early in the game, while personnel are still being reported en masse, though it'll work throughout the match. Basically, it limits your opponent's card draws if they report unique personnel. Decks using lots of mains will be affected, but mission specialist strategies, or Borg decks, really won't be. It's no Dixon Hill's Business Card, but it can be annoying. Of course, with downloads, there are other ways to get cards from your draw deck, so this one's lost a little potency since it came out. Merely a 3.3 now, but not a bad slow-down card nonetheless.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) A little one-sided, but ok.

PICTURE: Real silly looking. The battle section of the Enterprise has always looked a little clunky, and here, the fact that it's firing from the back makes it even more so. To make matters worse, the giant Echo Papa isn't clear at all, and the atmosphere isn't well represented. A blotchy 2.2.

LORE: Well explained, I must say. Gives a good role to Geordi (acting captain) and everything. A good 3.5.

TREK SENSE: It's the above par Trek Sense which will sink this baby in Stockability, but here, we're quite happy. It exposes a cloaked ship at a planet location (because you don't have an atmosphere at space missions). While you might think not requiring a ship at that location would be a problem, the fact that it really only affects the ship as if uncloaked if you attack it as the very next action means there's a ship present. But it also allows for other attacker cards like dilemmas to use the maneuver. More on that below. Of course, the ship is exposed whether you attack it or not - in case you got confused over which warbird was which - so what's happening if no ship executes the LaForge Maneuver? They flew in too close to the planet? Mostly good, but not perfect at 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Anti-cloak cards are usually terrible. This one's no exception. On the one hand, you have to guess your opponent will use cloaking ships (though with Small Cloaking Device in the game now, all affiliations have access to them in some way), and you have to WANT to attack them. Battling strategies could be stimmied by cloaks, so some backup LaForge Maneuvers might be warranted. But it only works at planet missions. But it can't be played on a ship under Engage Cloak. But will your Romulan or Klingon opponents really run from a fight? Buts aplenty. But there are times when hiding really is the best option. Cloakers will usually go invisible if a Borg Ship dilemma approaches. The Collective has assimilated the Maneuver, believe me. Surprise! Not without its uses, but a risk to take out of the binder. A 2.9.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) No download on Geordi? Awwwwwwwww...

PICTURE: The pride he might have felt for Wesley is apparent from the look on his face here, and though the background is a little lame, the costume is interesting. We leave with the impression that Lakanta is a sympathetic character. A 3.4.

LORE: The only thing I really like here is the mention of transcendence (relating to the card The Traveller: Transcendence), though really, they could have used the term vision quest to be more accurate. The rest is a little messy. Species is a confused thing. Is he considered to be human? Or native of Tau Alpha C? The formula "Male of..." would make him human, but then again... And though the release of the cards is reversed, it really should be Lakanta who is a persona of The Traveller and not the other way around. Accordingly, "The Traveller" should be in bold. Heck, the capital "T" on the "The" is nonsense unless we're mentioning a specific personnel card title. Drops to a 2.

TREK SENSE: Another mess. A lot of the details here are the same as those found on The Traveller, including the high Cunning (guy thinks multi-dimensionally) and low Strength (though he looks much more robust in Lakanta form... maybe he's really a pacifist). The Staff icon is also here, though Lakanta didn't fly many ships in the episode. The AU icon is also a throwback from The Traveller, an icon I contested a little when I reviewed that card. Yes, The Traveller/Lakanta is multi-dimensional so could count as AU, but Tau Alpha C sits squarely in our universe, and there's no reason to believe Lakanta comes from another time or reality. It almost feels like the AU icon is here for the same reason it's found on Major Rakal - Decipher's inexperience. As for the new stuff, this Traveller persona is a Civilian (yes) and has one more point of Integrity because he was less self-centered than in his first episode. It was all for Wesley, so Integrity rises. The skill (no reason it shouldn't be TWO skills) is based on Where No One Has Gone Before, and god knows THAT card has its own problems, mostly that the other end of the spaceline isn't as far as the distances The Traveller is capable of going, and excludes travelling to other quadrants. At another time, a special download of WNOHGB might have been the option, but Lakanta makes it work only on the ship he is on. Much closer to what The Traveller could actually do. EXCEPT! That's a skill for the Traveller, not for Lakanta. Lakanta was never aboard a ship. He guided Wesley (so the boost to Wesley works, and since he turned him into a Traveller himself, +4 isn't excessive), so his skills should reflect that somehow. Perhaps even work with his final scene and make him able to "fly" by himself, without a ship. As it stands, a 2.7.

STOCKABILITY: There's not much call for a CIVILIAN with no standard skills, so the special skills have to be real good. The WNOHGB-like ability is limited because of the ever-shrinking spacelines. Used to be, a spaceline was 12 missions long, so a shortcut by the backdoor could be useful. But not only are the other quadrants cutting into that, ships with better RANGE are continually being pumped into the game. And imagine if the Mirror universe and/or TOS cards have their own spaceline as well? Boosting Wesley Crusher, making him 10-12-9 (or 10-14-9 with Robin Lefler) can turn him into a super-personnel, but that'll only work with Feds, wasting the Non-Aligned nature of Lakanta. And while Wesley is a very good mission solver, playing personnel just because they boost HIM is often a waste of card slots. The icons are okay, making him reportable to a number of ships with Crew Reassignment. The Cunning and Integrity are good, even great, but the Strength is a real liability. And let's not forget he's a persona of The Traveller, but there's very little reason to switch the two. I mean, you could use Lakanta's ship and personnel boosting abilities until you needed a quick ride with The Traveller, but I just don't think Lakanta's so useful that you can't just start out with the similarly attributed and staffing Traveller. A 2.9 here.

TOTAL: 11 (55%) Doesn't quite transcend the game.

PICTURE: A pot of gold in a pink blanket that reminds me of a Coalescent Organism. It's ok, but that latinum looks pretty hokey, especially after you've been used to the more ornate latinum on DS9. And pink... it's a great color, isn't it? Every fanboy's favorite, I'm sure. A 2.7.

LORE: Missing something. There's a standard definition of latinum which would have fit fine on the Gold-Pressed Latinum card, but it shows that they weren't expecting to ever make an actual card for Latinum. What's missing is a context for the payoff itself. Where did this happen, and by whose hands. Not what is latinum, but how can it be used. Not a bad definition of latinum, but inappropriate at 2.5.

TREK SENSE: Since only Greedy people care about money (i.e. latinum) - and it's true, you'll only find one case of Greed in the entire money-less Federation - only they may receive a Payoff for attacking and destroying a ship. The card is a little retroactive, since it supposes your Greed personnel was offered the money for the "hit" long before the attack, but that's not too much of a concern (though a Hidden Agenda icon on this puppy might have been more satisfying). There's also the thin problem that the Greed personnel may be a universal at the bowels of the ship rather than its commander. Did the Greedy low-life somehow manipulate the commander into attacking the correct ship? Here the reward makes money equal to points (again, in a better time, Payoff might have provided real Latinum) which isn't that much of a problem, since where there are points, there must be a goal. And the goal is fine: killing Officers aboard the target ship. Why Officers? Was the hit taken out on the captain? Does killing Giusti or someone like that really count for points? If the hit was contracted on a certain personnel, why the points for extra Officers? Or why not be able to kill it in an Away Team battle? And if the more that die the better, why not give points for every single unique personnel aboard? Holes aplenty here, though there's a good foundation. A 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: As long as you're gonna battle, might as well earn points from it, is what I always say. Since destroying opposing ships is a common stall strategy, a little Latinum Payoff probably becomes an automatic card to stock for the war-faring races (i.e., anyone not Federation or Borg - who don't have much Greed anyway). All you need is the Greed personnel aboard one of the attacking ships and you could nab yourself some points. All you need is Greed, which makes this one a natural for Ferengi, but all the affiliations have access to all those NA Greed personnel. Hard to say how many OFFICERs are aboard any single ship, but a number of mains are OFFICER-classification, so there's always a good supply. Ships carrying mega-Away Teams might yield as much as 15 points maybe. Normally not that much though (3-9 points). It's a bonus card for your battling strategy, not much more. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 11.5 (57.5%) Hasn't paid off for Decipher.

PICTURE: I always liked how, in "Lower Decks", the juniors were playing poker the same way the bridge crew was, and what a good idea to use that as the picture for this card. Doesn't look as good as the similar Raise the Stakes, but it's certainly colorful, if a little dark. A 3.6.

LORE: Nice title, and I think it does a fair job of explaining what the card's bonus is for (see below), and that's why I'm going as high as 3.4 here.

TREK SENSE: This card re-enacts the episode "Lower Decks" in a sense, by placing the focus of the story on the junior officers. Of course, it would be complicated to determine just who are those junior officers for each affiliation, so they've copped out (to the detriment of Trek Sense) by saying it's the universals. Now, I don't disagree that universals are often ensigns and crewmen, but we also have universal Lt. Commanders (Hobson), Founders (Founder) and Generals (Hazar). At the same time, ensigns like Wesley, Lefler and Ogawa (pictured) are NOT considered to be bottom feeders. Holograms are thankfully not considered, since they are usually universal by default. In any case, the bonuses are explainable (if not their targets) in this way: The juniors, competing yet cooperating, force themselves to do better if they want to go up in this world. All attributes rise as a result. I'd say that's fair. Cooperation takes care of Integrity, competition of the rest. Not much incentive for the Borg - no, they're going after perfection. Split in the middle, this one gets a 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: All depends on how many universal personnel you're using, but since they usually have lower attributes (closer to 5s and 6s), a little boost isn't a bad thing. Decks that will require Lower Decks include mission specialist decks (a lot of MSs are universal) and Borg decks (all those drones?). In fact, Borg decks probably have the most to gain, keeping drone attributes in the 7s and 9s, rather than the 5s and 7s. That's an important boost, especially to STRENGTH (some people are bloodthirsty when it comes to attacking the Borg). Along the way, you might get a bonus, a universal with an already high attribute, that'll REALLY be high now, or a low INTEGRITY common that can now pass Firestorm. And since it's named as a Captain's Order, it's more easily gotten into play and protected (with Ready Room Door). A good support card at 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.3 (71.5%) The Lower... the higher. Not bad.

PICTURE: Picard's new blue shirt goes well with the card's border color, and his glazed look as he worships that little black pyramid is interesting, but there's nothing here that's particularly crafty. I guess this is where he realizes how dull he would have been in the other timeline. A 3.4.

LORE: The story's told from the perspective of the real Picard, so a little odd, but all the information is there, pretty much. Good choice of adjectives throughout... A 3.2.

TREK SENSE: In this timeline (AU), Picard would have been in the Science section (see the shirt?), working in Astrophysics. That's all there. The Staff icon matches the new rank. Instead of another Science skill, like perhaps Stellar Cartography, he keeps Navigation. I think this makes sense. At the turning point (his getting stabbed through the heart or not), he already has his first assignment handed out: helm officer. He just never picked up much of anything after that except the one science skill. As for the attributes, only the Strength is the same as that of the "real" Picard (same body, same frame, apparently). The rest drops probably because he never had to make any tough choices (for the Integrity) or learned a great variety of skills (for the Cunning). I'm always a little surprised when someone with some difficult scientific skill gets something as low as a 6 here, but he was only an assistant astrophysics officer. Good work, but nothing really special to put this over the top. A 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: Two-skilled personnel are usually the least valued of any personnel cards, especially when they are unique AND part of an affiliation with mission specialists. This is again the case here. While Navigation is always useful, it's also very common. And where Astrophysics is much rarer, it's not so rare in the Federation. You can wax all day about how he can complete missions like Explore Interstellar Matter all by himself, but he certainly isn't the only one (not to mention that's an easy mission with low point value). The only thing setting him apart is the AU icon which can be used to staff the costly Future Enterprise (among others), even better in conjunction with Crew Reassignment. Unfortunately, he's one of 13 AU Feds, so again, he's not the prime choice, for this OR for Cryosatellite... Looks like his main function is for collectors who wanted an uncommon Picard. A 2.5 here.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) This is why Picard didn't want to become this guy.

PICTURE: Aside from the fact that this is as cool as Deanna ever got in TNG, the composition is very interesting. The triangular screen behind her mirrors her own uniform sash, and those same angles appear once again to the right in the play of lights and shadows. This one hits a 4.

LORE: Just the facts, with a non-bold persona (errata says our eyes are faulty on this point). No sparks at an even 3.

TREK SENSE: Ow! This is gonna hurt, I can already feel it... Decipher's inexperience shows on this card. First, it really shouldn't be AU, since she's only a persona of Deanna Troi, one that existed in the "real world". Then, there's the fact that her dual-affiliation nature is strangely handled. Only in the Alternate Universe expansion do we find dual-affiliated personnel who change skills when switching from one affiliation to the other. I like the fact that she's a double-agent mind you. If infiltrators (which she is, come on) is a term that only refers to evil personnel, then the good guys have to be SOMEthing. Though didn't she Issue Secret Orders on the show? (INFILTRATOR!!!) A double-agent is a fair compromise, though she's just as likely to betray the Federation to the Romulans... hmm... that shouldn't be. Anyway, going back to the problems associated with switching skills with affiliations, well, where do those skills "go" when you're playing the other side? For example, was Deanna really INTEGRITY 4 when on the Romulan ship? Certainly acted like she did with Toreth, but was she really? And how come she's smarter as a Romulan? Where does the Cunning go when she "returns to normal"? After all, with all the things she didn't know and had to be told by N'Vek, she really shouldn't be SMARTER, should she? And that Tal Shiar... yes, she posed as a member of the Tal Shiar, but did she really have the skill? Partly. She doesn't have the training, but she does have the authority and some stolen access codes. Empathy is of course true to both versions. Treachery only appears on Rakal. Since this is the "spy" skill, I won't argue. Now, basically, when turning into [Fed], she becomes the Premiere Deanna Troi, except for one thing: she stays VIP! I don't mind the Tal Shiar representative being VIP, but Deanna shouldn't be. Something of a mess at 2.1.

STOCKABILITY: Major Rakal has a lot of things going for her. One is Empathy, a rare skill outside the Federation and useful for dilemma solving, as well as stealing certain missions (and attempting the Romulan New Contact). Another is Tal Shiar, which not only appears on a number of important Romulan missions, but is also used to staff D'deridex Advanced, manipulate Espionage cards via Plans of the Tal Shiar, works well with capturing strategies, report her to Continuing Committee, and attack your own affiliation through Defensive Measures. Yet another advantage is that AU icon which allows her to report (with Crew Reassignment) and staff ships like the Decius. And finally, her dual nature will help the Romulans with mission theft even more! Send her to Diplomatic Conference with any ol' Romulan VIP and the Sisters of Duras for an easy 60 points (3 affiliation icons that, thanks to those personnel, can cooperate until they can switch on the planet). She can also easily steal First Contact which she can complete alone when in Federation mode. Being a persona has its perks, though they be slight. The Federation could use her First Contact self (what, you were planning on using the Premiere version? for shame!) and switch to a Federated Rakal for their own mission stealing or Diplomatic Conference attempt (with maybe The Emissary for the third affiliation). There are a lot more Tal Shiar around now though, including some with a double level of it, and Koval is also a dual-affiliation (Rom/Fed) VIP, so does she become redundant? A little, but that Empathy is still there, so she's still worth a 3.8.

TOTAL: 12.9 (64.5%) At least has SOME collector value (though she seems to be the only rare I can pull out of an AU pack).

PICTURE: This is one defective picture. It would have beed dull enough with it's plain-colored door and mostly hidden Data, without it having those odd purple spots in the bottom half of the frame. What are those? Visible radiation? It just makes the card dirtier than it was ever meant to be. A 1.7.

LORE: Pretty boring, using just the facts, and going so far as giving a non-descript stardate instead of an actual event. The ship where it occured would have been a more interesting detail, for example. And I always find it clumsy when "Away Team" is written in capital letters, as per the game, not usual grammar. Simply a 1.5 here.

TREK SENSE: The only real problem is that this should really be a space/planet dilemma instead of just planet. In fact, there's more of a chance of finding a passageway and a door on a ship, than on a planet. Think of all those missions that occur in the outdoors. Heck, the picture's pulled from a ship scene. Otherwise, the dilemma makes sense. The Door acts as a wall (which it is) that can only be opened by either a Soong-Type Android (no Exocomp here) or up to 4 personnel with total Strength equal or better than 28. The first option works just like in the show, and while you might be disgruntled to find out that STRENGTH 12 android can open the Door alone, but your STRENGTH 13 Jem'Hadar can't, please note that STRENGTH also represents battle prowess which doesn't factor in here. Androids are more resiliant, have a better grip, and don't feel any pain when forcing a door open. The second option is good too, limiting the number of personnel to 4, since the passageway can't accomodate more than 4 people working on the Door. Too many cooks spoil the broth. The dilemma suffers a little from its limits, such as why aren't there other ways of opening the Door: ENGINEERs, Breenzookas, etc., but not that much. Basically a 4.1.

SEEDABILITY: Not a bad wall, especially if you've weeded out the hand weapons before anyone gets there, but not difficult to pass either. Androids aren't necessarily common (though available to all but Borg), and to meet the STRENGTH requirement, you need at least (on average) 4 personnel with STRENGTH 7. The Federation and Ferengi might fall prey to this one. Many of the others won't however. 2 Jem'Hadar with a Rifle or two can easily breeze through, for example. So lead in with Sticky Situation and other STRENGTH-busters, cuz you'll need it. You might want to stop any androids before your opponent gets to this dilemma (Chinese Finger Puzzle? Shot in the Back? each has its problems), then follow it up by something that would benefit from having some 4 personnel go through. Kinda complicated for a redshirt hoser, eh? An average 3.1.

TOTAL: 10.4 (52%) A malfunctioning card...

PICTURE: A good central composition, with the usual absurd Alternate Universe feel. Mrs. Picard is well-lignted from the back as well, giving off an eerie, ghostly glow. A cool 3.7.

LORE: I don't know if I like this one for its almost poetic feel, or if I don't because it's somehow awkward. On the one hand, the "place where ideas and reality intermix" is a good explanation for where the Enterprise was stranded in "Where No One Has Gone Before", and Yvette's quote is nicely cryptic. On the other, Maman Picard isn't the best representation of this concept, nor is the "(Is this)" too appreciated. Muddles the quote. I guess it hits near the center of the grading curve at 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Essentially makes the Traveller's little field trip into a dilemma. Maman Picard has very little to do with this (she's just another hallucination), though her quote has a conceptual relevance to the game text. The dilemma deserves to be AU, of course. But there's really no reason it should only affect Federation ships. Couldn't other affiliations meet up with a Traveller? (Like I said, Maman Picard really has NOTHING to do with the effect. It has to be a Traveller, or Traveller-like effect, that sends the ship away.) New Contact with the Traveller's people isn't even a Federation mission, and the Traveller himself is Non-Aligned. With foresight, this could have said any Federation ship OR if Traveller present. The only reason it's Fed ships-only is that Maman Picard was a Federation citizen herself. Also in the conceptual sphere, we find that your opponent can send your ship to either end of the spaceline (the end and the beginning?). Can't give it over a 2.

SEEDABILITY: Seeded near the center of the spaceline, this could prove a real nuisance to a player. To a FEDERATION player. And that's the whole problem. With 8 affiliations to chose from (9 with NA), you can hardly be sure your opponent will play with Feds. Care to waste a seed slot? Even the Feds make use of Non-Aligned ships now and then, so even there, you're not garanteed a hit. And the dilemma, not having any requirements, has no staying power. It gets discarded after it has its effects (or doesn't, in most cases). And even if it worked on everyone, with the spacelines getting ever shorter, it's not as disastrous as all that. At least Cytherians will make you lose a few turns by not giving you a shortcut to the end of the spaceline. Bleh: 1.2.

TOTAL: 10.1 (50.5%) Unless you and you're opponent have agreed to play specific affiliations beforehand, I doubt you would ever look at this one twice.

PICTURE: Oooh, intense. Kinda creepy really, and the purple shirt... well, we all know how I feel about purple. I hate it! Especially the shade of Hulk's trousers. This is certainly a telepath at work, so I can't really fault it that much, but the background is insipid and the colors rather dull. A 2.8.

LORE: More of a description of the Cairn as a species than a biography of their delegate's leader. Yes, that's right, he was leader of a diplomatic delegation. Nowhere was it said he was the leader of the Cairn. They also could have related him to his daughter... Shoots wide at 1.8.

TREK SENSE: If they really meant him to be an entire people's leader, he would have gotten Leadership, but he doesn't have it. He doesn't deserve it, so that's fine. The Empathy x2 is, we've learned, equal to full telepathy. And since he was a diplomatic delegate, Diplomacy and VIP are warranted. Something relating to just learning to speak would have been nice (and probably original), but nothing interesting here. The Integrity is a good high 8 since he helped Lwaxana out of the goodness of his heart. The Cunning is high enough to lead a delegation (though he spoke slowly, he learned quickly). And the Strength is also indicative of a peaceful people, and a mind geared toward diplomacy. Okay, but far from original. A simple 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Empathy is an important skill mostly because it is rare, and absent from most affiliations. Still, it's required of some nasty dilemmas, most prominently, Cardassian Trap. The Feds have plenty of Empaths, the Romulans have the Major, but what about the rest? That's what the Non-Aligneds are for. Of those, Maques is the only one with Empathy x2, but is that particularly useful? While most cards only require one Empathy, curing Frame of Mind and Reflection Therapy will require 3! Lethean Telepathic Attack requires a double dose. So multiples can be cool. Diplomacy is one of those skills that is never a waste, especially if you're using, quite probably in Maques' case, non-Fed affiliations. Still, Altovar and Soto have better overall skills and classifications, Devinoni has more than just the Diplomacy (they are about equal, Maques a little better due to attributes), and Tarmin recently got a new side-deck to look through. Depends on your needs. Are you gonna fly Gomtuu solo? He's got good Integrity, which may be a plus, other than that... Empathy support personnel that's worth a 3.4.

TOTAL: 11.5 (57.5%) Doesn't make the grade for many reasons.

PICTURE: Though pretty plain color-wise, it's a good action shot. The gun blazes powerfully, and Mickey is well-framed in both the architecture and that coat over his shoulders. It's funny, I remember this guy from a soap opera my mom watched while I was growing up (As the World Turns?). Anyway, a better than average 3.7.

LORE: The story is there, and the lore doesn't try to hide that he's basically a fictional character. He's AU, so it works. A fair 3.3.

TREK SENSE: AU because he was originally a fictional character, but didn't he *really* exist? ("Made real.") He's not from an alternate timeline, other time period, dream or subspace pocket, or wherever else these characters come from. He LOOKS like he's from the past, and his literary (term used lightly) origins certainly seem to place him in an unreal realm of existence. And the Enterprise wasn't able to sense the Royale. Was it in a "subspace pocket" after all? Could be. Yes, a Civilian, though a lot of similar characters have been showing up as Security. That's probably what he should have been. The Treachery is well-deserved, but what about Greed? That motivation could easily have been attributed to Mickey D. Finally, he automatically wins Royale Casino side-games. Hm. Why always win? There's no real evidence that the games were fixed in his favor, I don't think. The link is merely a thematic one (the dilemmas come from the same AU "universe" he does). The attributes are the best thing about this card: the novel was so badly written, there are no shades of gray, so he winds up with an evil Integrity of 1, and isn't very smart either. (Characters are only as smart as their writers.) The Strength of 8 is the human maximum and while he doesn't look so tough, he does come with his own gun ;-). He's easy to pick on, but not that bad. A simple 3.

STOCKABILITY: Well, other than winning self-seeded Royal Casino side-games, I don't see much use for this guy. That particular strategy would have you scoring 5 points for Blackjack (and making opponent lose 5 as well) and 7 from Craps. Dangerous with Writ out there, but otherwise pretty easy points, especially if seeded last to be encountered first. Otherwise, you might lose Mickey to a dilemma (he's Firestorm fodder for example) before you can make it work. Otherwise, he's terrible. CIVILIAN is the worse classification. He's got terrible attributes, except for STRENGTH, but he can't initiate battle in a pinch. Treachery isn't a very interesting skill, and while he'll contribute to a Romulan deck (for example), he's really got little to offer the treacherous affiliations they don't already have. Throw in an AU icon to make Mickey harder to report and you just sealed him in your binder with duct tape. His single use gets him as far as 1.5.

TOTAL: 11.5 (57.5%) They SAID on the show he was a terrible character. Decipher should have listened.

PICTURE: Scotty's pretty beat up here, which is both good and bad. Bad because this character may be too important and revered to be so ragtag. Good because the episode was called "Relics" after all. I'd have to say the card is mostly good because this is the first TNG era shot of him, just as he makes his comeback from transporter land. Colors are on the pastel side, but okay. A 3.4.

LORE: Don't I wish there was more personal information here instead of treating Mr. Scott like a one-time guest star! Looking forward to something cooler in Trouble with Tribbles. In the meantime, we've got pretty standard lore that seems stifled because of Decipher's old copyright agreement. There's also a problem with the name. There's no "Scotty" anywhere (including in the lore), which creates an exception to the standard name rules for use with Blended. Shaky at 2.8.

TREK SENSE: This Mr. Scott lives in the here and now, so no AU icon. He is basically just a Scotty from the one episode ("Relics"), though it could be said he's a "movie era" Scotty. As a captain of engineering, his Command icon is warranted, and as one of the greatest engineers the Federation has ever known, he gets a double dose of Engineer. Problem here: he seemed quite unfamiliar with 24th-century technology, so shouldn't he take a hit in that area? (Maybe he was just THAT good.) Astrophysics, while going well with the Explore Dyson Sphere mission central to the episode, just doesn't strike me as a Scotty skill. Where has he ever really demonstrated aptitude in this science skill? Navigation would have been a better choice of 4th skill here, to go with his taking off in a shuttle at the end. Honor represents his loyalty towards his friends (shown toward Kirk and Spock a number of times, as well as when he decides to help Geordi despite his feeling useless in this new century). Miracle Worker, a skill unique to Scotty, represents his ability to compress repair times considerably, but also includes Transporter Skill. Since he used the transporters to keep himself alive for 75 years, I dare say he deserves the skill, and in miracle form! His reputation as a "miracle worker" makes for a great special (though standard) skill. Attributes are about right for his abilities, moral fiber and age. More good than bad here, for a 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: A powerful common card (the warp pack "gift"), Scotty has a few more functions than just being your usual Federation super-ENGINEER. Of course, there is that too. ENGINEER is likely the best classification available (along with MEDICAL), and two levels of it is excellent. Federation decks in particular can center on ENGINEER - plenty of missions available there. Astrophysics is a good and relatively rare skill, which makes Scotty even more valuable. Honor, not so much in Fed decks. Miracle Worker includes Transporter Skill which is getting better and better. A rare skill now required of a number of nasty dilemmas, plus uses in combination with such cards as Target These Coordinates and Dropping In. Miracle Worker is also equivalent to 3 ENGINEER on the nasty, nasty Duonetic Field dilemma, and finds its way onto Reunion, an extremely difficult to steal mission. It's always fun to reunite Spock, McCoy and Scotty on Mars. Worth a Parallax Arguers at least! Scotty is also mentioned as a requirement for Blended. The attributes are good, though the STRENGTH is a major handicap. Some excellent features, and an easy to find card. 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) Only a few months 'til we can compare him to a younger version.

PICTURE: They might have done better. Mot with a pair of scissors, for example. This pic is hurt by the fact that Mot's clothes are terribly colored. Picard is visible in the foreground, but not very dramatically placed. Aren't there shots of Mot whispering in someone's ear while cutting hair (advising Riker perhaps?) Pretty plain at 2.1.

LORE: Bwahahahahaha! "There was only one thing you could really learn from him"! And they don't tell us what that was, respecting our collective intelligence. It's all there in the game text. Very witty, and brings back fond memories of Mot's few appearances. A near-perfect 4.8 since the title and lore nevertheless lead to questions in the Trek Sense section.

TREK SENSE: "Teaches" the skill of Barbering to a personnel. That's the only useful advice you can get from Mot. Simple enough, but has problems. For example, who's doing the teaching? Mot only works with the Federation, even if you accept he's only there conceptually. It's called MOT's Advice after all. Other barbers? Sure, but does the Dominion really have barbers? Those hairdos look bio-engineered ;-). But no joke, the Borg and Ferengi have little need of Barbering. And it's such a silly skill, who would want to learn it? Why are Founder Leader, Gowron or Geordi LaForge suddenly interested in haute-coiffure? Another problem crops up as to how easy it is to learn. A simple event, huh? Well, I cut my own hair, which only requires a clipper and a shower, but I'm sure a hairdresser will tell you, it's not something everyone can do well. Just look at the three stooges. The card's funny, but so silly as to be unbelievable. Can't go higher than 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: Originally a joke card you could only really use to make cool Terraforming Station decks where you changed all your missions into thief-proof Barbering endeavors, it's gotten some use since First Contact. First, it'll kill a mission specialist. Adding Barbering to a skill box will turn a specialist into a lame two-skill personnel (reeeeaaaaal lame, one of those skills is Barbering), that can't get those mission specialist points. Making a cool Mot-deck might involve playing Parallax Arguers leading to your opponent letting you (or for 5 points, not letting you) play free Mot's Advices, in turn leading to more "cool" stuff. Of course, there are more affiliations WITHOUT a good mission specialist base than have them, so that won't always work. The other function, geared toward your own personnel, would have you add Barbering to one of them and change that skill into something useful with Reflection Therapy. Maybe you don't want to sacrifice any skill on there already. Maybe it's all special skills, and you'd like to add something standard. A little frivolous in many cases (you can't part from that Music or Youth or umpteenth Navigation on the target personnel?). Not so silly anymore, but limited - a 3.2.

TOTAL: 12.5 (62.5%) Barber cards are pretty campy, but at least this one has a use.

PICTURE: A nice color palette compliments this shot of what an outpost would actually look like. They're all in space remember? The choice of Nel Apgar's station is okay here, since the laws of his world weren't those of the Federation. He was definitely Non-Aligned, but this outpost represents a common station used by many species, even aligned ones. There is a minor point about it being in orbit around a planet (not in space as the game text would have it), and again, these are all matters associated with the choice of pic more than strict Trek Sense. A very attractive choice, though slightly askew, at 3.6.

LORE: The lore makes the facility as generic as it can, but it does use the misleading word "station". The second sentence makes odd use of game terms, but those words are useable in normal conversation too, so okay. On the average side at 2.8.

TREK SENSE: Shares the features of most Outposts, and their Trek Sense successes and failures. These include the ridiculous notion that only one Engineer can build the entire thing in a single turn! Just overseeing the last steps? Yeah right. There's also the thing about building/seeding your outpost at an obviously enemy location. The outpost may be neutral, but the personnel there sure aren't. Is there such a thing as true neutrality? Ask Spot, but don't expect an answer. Let's take our cue from the lore. It indicates that, like a Nor, all sorts of people come here (report here). Since it only goes to space locations, you won't have to endure it at your homeworld or other very aligned location. The very low Shields are indicative of a facility that belongs to one of the lesser powers. Lesser powers, might I add, that will let anyone step on their toes (report here). It's such a small facility that you can't repair ships here. No spacedock. Good enough. Not like there are any Neutral ships to speak of anyway. A lot of things make this better (in this category) than regular Outposts, so it gets a 3.1.

SEEDABILITY: Everyone's got their own Outposts, and this thing only has 24 SHIELDS, so who needs it? Well, it's a little more useful than that. Even with the space-only limitation? Yes, even with that. And no repairs? Sure, sure... will you let me finish? The thing with this outpost is that it'll report anyone, from any affiliation. This'll work well with pre-Treaty multi-affiliation strategies, before you can get the right event out. Simply report and beam to a ship before a personnel from another affiliation shows up. The Outpost is perhaps best for Jem'Hadar Alphas reporting to the Alpha quadrant. They, their ships and equipment can all report here, no problem. With Birthing Chambers, this is not limited to Alphas. Your Young Jem'Hadar can become a Gamma as easily as an Alpha. So the Neutral Outpost becomes your foothold in the Alpha quadrant and can be seeded. There are dangers associated with this, such as Ketracel consumption, but it's a valid strategy. And it's a convenient place to report Brunt if all you want to do is use Writ of Accountability! Fellow STCCGer Jay brings up this interersting strategy for most everyone: If you want to use Empok Nor with zero chance that your opponent will commandeer it first, you can seed it without any docking sites. Also seed a Neutral outpost with a Spacedoor, and an Invasive Beam-in. Use the Spacedoor to download an Alpha Attack Ship to the outpost, Memory Wipe it, and use it to gain access to the station. Once you move the ship to a new location, its away team reverts to its original affiliation. When you commandeer Empok Nor, you can download a Docking site to enable the rest of your initial downloads. Pretty nifty, thanks Jay! And if you're really worried about the facility's limitations, there's nothing stopping you from overcoming them with Plasmadyne Relays, Defense System Upgrades and Spacedock. Uses for the Dominion bring this one to a comfortable 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Neutral means you don't have to tell anyone I said any of this.

PICTURE: A clear and bright subject on a dull and dark background. It's just a prop shot, and I could have seen the Cane activated for perhaps more drama. As is, it's classy enough, but this reverse question mark on my retina doesn't really have much appeal. A 1.9.

LORE: Well, according to Star Trek canon, the ophidians are actually creatures, not devices, but the rest of the lore is more correct. No sparks here, a 2.5.

TREK SENSE: An Artifact? This? If it is a living creature, I'm not sure it should be. And at the power level represented, it doesn't really come close to deserving Artifact status. The AU icon may be deserved because there are indications the ophidians are of an extra-dimensional origin, and they do facilitate time travel. The game text seems to work more than I first believed it would. The Devidian Door is in place no matter what (whether it's represented by a card in the game or not), but the Devidians need the ophidian to control it. Control and doubling aren't the same thing, but it's not entirely out of whack. The Cane will allow more people through the Devidian Door, fine (not quite doubling, but hey). And since Devidian Foragers have gone through a conceptual Devidian Door, they might be doubled too, allowing for the Devidians to steal the energy out of twice as many people. Empathic Touch? What's that? Can a broken link lower a score? Sure it can, when it's plain it has nothing to do with the card. This allows for time travel remember? Empathic Touch isn't even something that's clearly stated in the episode. Basically okay, but severe problems keep it at 3.2.

SEEDABILITY: They don't make Artifacts like they used to. A sort of permanent Devidian Foragers-like effect would have been preferable to the lame-duck options available on this card. Okay, sure, it has its uses (despite a broken link that's 7 expansions old), including allowing more personnel through the Devidian Door. If you're using a risky DD maneuver, you can make it pack more punch. Reporting three personnel to anywhere in play actually gives you an Away Team to work with, whether you're battling or trying to solve one more mission to end the game, but make sure you can show the doorway or lose 100-0. Doubling Devidian Foragers will simultaneously rob an opponent of 4 personnel (instead of 2) from her discard pile (hurting Regenerators and Ore Processors) and giving your AU personnel (so it doesn't target anyone) their attributes. While that'll make any personnel a veritable fighting juggernaut (or help considerably with mission attempts), it only works for that one turn. Bleh!!!! If THAT were doubled, it might be a little better, but noooooooooo. These abilities wouldn't be terribly great on a plain Interrupt, but on an Artifact, which you must ACQUIRE (and it's not Equipment, so you can't Starry Night it), it's simply horrible. Don't forget you also need an AU-reporting mechanism to seed it (and/or to get that "Devidian Forager" into play later)... Having no independent use (a use that doesn't require other specific cards), it's stalled at 1.3.

TOTAL: 8.9 (44.5%) Emapthic Touch better be darned useful to save this snake.

PICTURE: Is this image really pulled from the episode? It just looks like a group shot of the actors/stuntmen. They don't seem to be raiding much of anything. Looking at their feet, I don't know if it's a trick of the light, but they look cut out, as if they were superimposed on the right background. If you can call that garage door, the "right" background. I'm not scared. I'm barely interested. A 1.5.

LORE: Not bad, but it does raise some questions pertaining to Trek Sense (as we'll see). By itself, I don't consider it particularly strong, nor do I find it weak. The death toll is a nice touch. A 3.1 for that.

TREK SENSE: This is one of the worst cards as far as Trek Sense goes. For one thing, it's an Outpost Raid, but need not (or cannot) be seeded at an Outpost's location. So if there is none present... They should just have called the card Rogue Borg Raid or something. As is, it only has a 1 in 6 chance (if that) of being an *Outpost* Raid. If it IS an Outpost Raid, opponent gets to choose two personnel to kill unless 82+ STRENGTH is present. Okay, first, why only two personnel? The lore makes it clear that a LOT of personnel died. Sure, there's all those invisible ensigns that have to staff the facility, but only 2 to represent 274 people? If all hands had been lost, maybe. But wait! It doesn't affect the personnel aboard the Outpost! It affects an Away Team or a ship's crew present! So it's a ship raid? Where the personnel physically are just doesn't jibe with the dilemma. "Opponent's choice" isn't that representative either, since these raids seem to kill people that were in the way. Raid, not assassination. The STRENGTH requirement, of course, makes sense. If there is no Outpost, it just becomes a wall that requires 19+ STRENGTH to pass. Why? I don't know. It's no longer what the dilemma says it is, so it could be anything. I surmise it might represent Rogue Borg stragglers who stayed behind while the others went raiding, but why they would have no effect (except stopping personnel) is unexplained. Very, very lame at 0.7.

SEEDABILITY: Killing two personnel of your choice is a very good effect, but you'll have to guess at which mission your opponent will seed his Outpost. When your opponent has homeworlds out, that makes it a better than 1 in 6 chance of choosing well, as would the use of multiple outposts. Chances diminish however when you factor in players who would rather use HQs and other reporting mechanisms than outposts, or Borg players whose outpost is out of reach. Armada users might figure they can blow up an Outpost and hope their opponents will build a new one on the right spot (perhaps by maneuvering the armada so that the right location appears to be the only safe one). Bottom line though, it's a guess. Seeding it under every mission isn't cost effective, since at the wrong place, it becomes nothing more than a redshirt wall, easily passed by any Away Team of medium strength (19 STRENGTH only requires two personnel in the case of some Jem'Hadar, for example). Where an outpost is though, double-death ensues unless there's more than 82 STRENGTH (usually more than 8 personnel!) present. You can't even build your own outpost at the right location to enable the effect. One cool combo that almost escaped me has you discarding Scanner Interference to seed Outpost Raid at your opponent's outpost location. Of course, the mission must be scanned, and you must have the dilemma in hand. I'm afraid this one's only a 2.

TOTAL: 7.3 (36.5%) I can't believe I used to use this regularly when Alternate Universe first came out.

PICTURE: While the unlikely couple isn't so unlikely (they did, after all, eventually get together), I really like the play of red against blue, especially on those two characters: the fiery Klingon and the calm Betazoid. Nice detail coming off Worf's baldric too, and an unintrusive background. A clean 3.8.

LORE: A nice way to say it, overall. The information about the kids isn't particularly à propos, but it is nice information that probably wouldn't have ever made it onto a card. Good thing we were spared Eric Christopher, son of Worf, in our reality ;-). I give it a 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Obviously AU, this dilemma from "Parallels" isn't so obviously a planet dilemma. I'm always mystified by a planet card whose picture was taken from a shipboard scene. As long as parallel universes are at play, why couldn't the romance happen in space? That said, the effects themselves look okay, but lead to a number of questions. Basically, one male and one female present have a "parallel romance" and are stopped while doing so (for a few turns). Their Strength is lowered - I don't know why. Being in love makes them wishy-washy? Really? I have a hard time believing that professionals like Starfleet officers (though I know all personnel don't fall into such a disciplined category) would actually let a romance get in the way for more than a turn. The big question however, is how those personnel are transformed exactly. In the episode, Worf was stopped by an alternate Deanna, not Deanna herself. But in the cards, Deanna would have been turned into alt-Deanna (or Worf into alt-Worf) for the romance to occur. The change doesn't last, but why doesn't it? Grossly problematic. And speaking of gross: how 'bout those match-ups Lursa/Targ, or Wesley/Beverly? No, this one's practically disastrous at 1.5.

SEEDABILITY: If there's a mix of males and females, it hits, though the effects aren't killers, that's always good. The sure hit can be helped along with Matriarchal Society leading the way (since there are plenty of males in any case). The dilemma acts as a filter, stopping for the equivalent of 3 turns, two personnel at random. These personnel become easy pickings if left behind after the mission attempt (waiting for them to unstop) by marauding Away Teams because of the STRENGTH drain. This strategy can be further helped by stocking Jealous Amanda in your Q-Continuum side-deck, using it to relocate a Parallel Romanced duo to your ambush site. There's always the odd Parallax Arguers that can be played when a "cool" match-up occurs ("cool" including "disturbing" in this context). So, an okay dilemma if you're lucky to get a good random selection, with some staying power and a coolness factor. Easy enough to get into play with AU Door or Space-Time Portal. Oh, and I woudn't worry too much about it being nullified by Jamaharon. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) Run of the mill, but fun.

PICTURE: The screen shot is so crip and clear, I can't help but praise it. The planet looks nice, the beam is visible and the colors are candyrific (I remember two-tone lollypops with these exact colors). Even more fun is the fact that the text is readable at this resolution. "Atmospheric Ionization Scan 927" features an odd piece of numbering: the Tamarian Vessel is 03, and there's a Spacecraft=10. What do these mean? Only the Okudas know I guess. Scores a 3.7.

LORE: Appropriately tells the story, but nothing particular about it - not even a little Tamarian-mode text - to make it better than a 3.

TREK SENSE: Why, oh why can't a ship with a Particle Scattering Device just use that device without the benefit of an enabling card is a little preposterous, but it makes sense that only such a ship would be able to use this here event. Same as in the show, the Particle Scattering Field prevents beaming to and from a planet at the ship's location. Nonsense alert: when you disengage the beam, you lose Particle Scattering ability. It's true! The event discards! And you probably won't have a choice if you plan to beam personnel from that very ship, since it affects all players. So a pretty simple card that has a few shortcomings, so a 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Movable pollution, the PSF only works with two ships - the Darmok and the Tama - but they're Non-Aligned, so useable by all. The Borg can "steal" the ability, but really won't stock a bad probe just in case the other side would be playing with the Tamarian ships. Players who are using them can turn those ships into ambulatory Distrotion Fields to trap unwary Away Teams on planet surfaces, perhaps with a Harvester Virus or other calamity. You just have to be at the right place at the right time. And in a sense it's a little better than Distortion Field because it's a continuous effect, and better than Atmospheric Ionization because it's more powerful. Also, Pattern Enhancers have no effect on it. You unfortunately can't restrain personnel for personnel battle, not for long anyway, because if you want to beam down your own personnel, you'll have to discard the PSF. And that's the big problem: while you're using your ship this way, you have to limit that ship to solving space missions. Somewhat inefficient, though the Scanner Interference download helps a little. A not-so-hot, but not useless 3.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Polluters take note!

PICTURE: Maybe it's because he's being holo-projected, but there's some purplish "garbage" on the black portion of his uniform (a sometimes-seen printing defect). Otherwise, the pic's okay, with a rather cool batch of leaves in the background, offering adequate contrast to his dead eyes, pale skin and cranberry costume. Plus, let's not forget the easter egg: that backwards text in the card's margin that says "Paul is dead", revealing the truth about our man here, while paying hommage to the Beatles. Defect brings it down to a 3.2.

LORE: The "re-creation" bit comes later rather than sooner unlike most holograms, which perhaps re-creates Riker's dawning realization that this was not his friend. It does make for an odd read when the text says Rice was "lost", something the lore never does, especially when dealing with final and permanent character resolutions (such as death, etc.). A lot of information on the real Paul Rice though, and maybe it's a good thing there is no USS Drake card, since it would mean a hologram created by an alien culture would be its matching commander. Overall positive, but with a couple of strange comments. 3.7 here.

TREK SENSE: The main problem with this hologram is that he's Federation affiliation. He was created by a Non-Aligned culture, and controlled by that culture (or really, the automated Minosian remnants of that culture). There's really no reason why he should hang with the Feds (he tried to divert them). Oh? You say he's a Federation re-creation of the Officer they might have made after the meeting with the Minosian one? Well, then, I would take issue with his powers over the Echo Papa. No, this is a flat-out mistake (which we'll find again on the K'Tesh Federation-created Klingon hologram). But let's forget the affiliation now and proceed with the rest of the card's elements: First, holograms usually have a universal icon, because if your computer can handle it, there really is no limit to the number of "copies" of a program you can use at the same time. On the one hand, Paul Rice was modeled as closely as possible on the real one, taking his captainly powers of Leadership (including Officer and the Command icon) into the holographic matrix. As for the Computer Skill, it's a common enough skill in the 24th century, so it can't really be refuted. The Integrity is Federation standard, the Cunning and Strength adequate. I said on the one hand, so here's the other: Paul Rice is also a Minosian hologram, so can call off the Echo Papa weapon where present. After all, he represents a sort of call for diplomacy on Minos, so it wouldn't do for the weapon demonstation to be in effect during bargaining. Of course, in the game, the players have bought Echo Papas already for their personnel. Should Paul Rice be able to control (well, destroy really, or let's say call off permanently) the Killer Drones when they are no longer under the same control as he is? And in any case, there can be no reconciliation between the all-purpose Federation elements, and the more thematic Minosian ones (for example, if you knew the guy was an alien holo, would you let him command your ship as per his staffing icon?). Gets about as far as a 2.1.

STOCKABILITY: Paul Rice has the singular distinction of being a hologram who can command (Chief O'Brien can only "staff") ships. No longer do you have to relegate your Holo-Projected Federation personnel to shuttles, you can use actual ships! That's for those of you who appreciate the comforts of using lots of holograms to tackle dilemmas and opposing Away Teams. After all, they can't die or be assimilated, they can only be deactivated, right? I suppose that's why there are so many holo-hosers out right now. Paul's Leadership and OFFICER are somewhat redundant, but they allows him to initiate battle. And while the Feds can't normally attack much of anyone, a bunch of Fed holograms with Disabled Safety Protocols and Tommyguns (and/or real guns) could be a real pain for the Borg. When I say a bunch, I mean a bunch of Pauls of course, since you're not gonna make much of a dent with Albert Einstein! As for the rest, Computer Skill is a common, but always useful skill. And the Echo Papa thing is cool, but rarely used. Still, those Echo Papas can be nasty. Better safe than sorry, especially for the STRENGTH-vulnerable Feds. Okay stats. A neat enough 3.6.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) Not as highly regarded as the real thing.

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