To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Deep Space 9 expansion set.

PICTURE: Sleek and sexy, Pallra is quite the femme fatale in this most Film Noir (or should I say Trek Noir, or even Terok Nor) or all DS9 episodes, "Necessary Evil." The candles add to the mood too. A strong 4.3.

LORE: We get a little of her past, and a little of her present. Nothing too flashy, but it does the job. I do find it a little odd that her full name isn't given in the title (Vaatrik). A 3.

TREK SENSE: All her skills are those of a Civilian, and all are related to her extortionism. Greed and Treachery certainly are. Acquisition also relates to her maintaining a network of contacts like Quark. She had to acquire all that tea after all. Trazko is her goon, so he's meant to be at her side, or just out of sight behind an arras. Reporting for free to her location represents this well. Extortionism, conspiracy to commit murder, collaborating with the enemy... I guess that amounts to her very low Integrity. Cunning should have been higher though. Odo did his Columbo thing with her, and did manage to catch her, but it diminishes his achievement if you make Pallra dumb. Though yeah, the case was summarily solved as we attended to the more interesting murder of Pallra's husband at the hands of someone much closer. Still, 5 is awfully low. Her Strength makes her a pampered woman who needs hired muscle to operate. Mostly well done at 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: Terrible attributes, but the skills aren't that bad. With Acquisition, Greed and Treachery in there, we immediately think of Rules of Acquisition. Indeed, she can use the 33rd, 34th, 35th, 47th and 75th. If you want to use Gold-Pressed Latinum with your Bajorans, you either have to use her or else go for Non-Aligneds to make the most of it. Quark's Bar on your Deep Space 9 has a few things she can do there too, with her reporting real close at the Promenade Shops or even a Cargo Bay. Aside from all those tricks, well, her skills don't match up that well to Bajoran missions, but Treachery does turn up from time to time (and can be found on a subset of Bajoran personnel). Trazko's reporting to her location for free supplies an extra 3 skills and another CIVILIAN (at a Colony perhaps?), so that's always good. Better yet, report the backwards-compatible 2E version "Hired Muscle" to get 1) better skills and 2) a chance to kill a Treachery personnel present by returning to hand. You can then report that Trazko (in hand) once again for free and kill again. A nice little cyclic effect. Thanks 2E! A niche personnel nonetheless, she gets 3.8 with all those tricks.

TOTAL: 15 (75%) And she does like success.

PICTURE: The so-called "fat" Cardassian, he has some presence, though is a bit uncentered in his frame. The background's not distracting, but not interesting either. I do like the look we get at some Cardassian writing free of the usual console panels. An average 3.

LORE: No statement of universality, unfortunately, but the rest is ok. "Legate" is at least useful, while the rest sticks to the facts. Another 3.

TREK SENSE: Parn is meant to be a "typical" legate, I suppose, and both Treachery and Diplomacy are believable for the role. For him specifically, he used his Diplomatic skills to cover up his and Central Command's Treachery. Legates are VIPs, but Cardassian society is so militarily-minded that politicians would still be able to Command ships. Middling Integrity shows a loyalty to the state, but a lot of shades of gray in the way that loyalty is shown. Cunning's high, required in the business of hatiching plots and keeping the Obsidian Order from destroying your career. Strength's good, as all politicians are probably former (or current) military men, but they've left themselves go behind that desk of theirs. Which leaves Archaeology. An odd hobby for all legates to have, and in Parn's case specifically, I don't see how it relates. Did he cover up the Cardassian plot with dirt and a shovel? Too bad because everything else checks out. A 3.3.

STOCKABILITY: When a personnel card has 3 skills, you wish he'd have 4 so you could really use him in mission attempts, or that he'd have 2 so he could count as a support personnnel. Parn has one saving grace in that respect: as a legate, he reports for free to Central Command and has a few other tricks up his sleeve too. Though he has no Honor, playing For Cardassia on him isn't a bad idea (it's just that it'll cost you your card play). See, he has the Treachery to solve Secure Homeworld, but he's also quite cheap when it comes to discarding him later for 15 points. This is for those of us who'd rather keep Legate Damar or Tekeny Ghemor around. (Nothing's stopping you from using Legate Damar's special download on him though.) I wouldn't normally use Going to the Top to download Parn, but if I needed him for this, I might well do so. He can aslo use his title to pass Executive Authorization. There are no other universal legates. As for his specific skills, Archaeology's rather rare in the Cardassian Union, and he's a good universal source for Uncover DNA Clues and (especially) the follow-up Hunt for DNA Program. Diplomacy isn't in demand much on Cardassian missions, so they're well-served even without Parn, but Treachery shows up very often, so as far as skill redundancy goes, he'll fit right in. A pretty good universal at 3.6.

TOTAL: 12.9 (64.5%) Doesn't have too much charm.

PICTURE: Sure, just a non-descript universal, and pretty blurry to boot, but I do like the moment it was pulled from, before Sisko has Starfleet abandon the station in "Call to Arms". You've got the red alert blarring, lots of activity in the background, and a nice splash of color from the ops table. Brings Reese back to a respectable 3.2.

LORE: Universality is acknowledged with a different sentence structure and vocabulary than usual, which is always good. Dates don't impress me much, but I like the pet projects Decipher likes to give its universal science personnel. No doubt they had someone on just such a task working at the station, though I'm surprised it's not someone from an earlier season. Reese is obviously a wartime assignment, he's even got a phaser on him, so why not make it more about detecting Jem'Hadar or something? I like it, but it meshes badly with the pic. A 3.3

TREK SENSE: So it all comes to a head here. I don't dispute that these are the skills of a Starfleet stellar cartographer (Science, Stellar Cartography and Navigation are just what the doctor ordered), but Paxton Reese's picture would seem to inspire something else. At the ops table, I'd have given him a Staff icon to boot. If you're wondering what use Navigation would be to a station-bound personnel, well, he does study the Wormhole, which does affect navigation. Integrity's a bit low for a Starfleet personnel, and Cunning even more so for a scientist. Strength's ok, though during wartime, you might have expected a small hike. Personnel like this have no backstory whatsoever, so they're basically inspired by their picture. The fact that this card concept doesn't really respect that makes me penalize it here (rather than in one of the other categories). A 1.9.

STOCKABILITY: The problem with the Federation is that they have a massive personnel pool, with almost every combination of skills possible. Support personnel remain easy to use and report thanks to Assign Support Personnel, but would you use Paxton Reese when there are plenty of other Navigation, Stellar Cartography and SCIENCE support personnel to choose from? His two skills do show up together on the universal mission Study Badlands, which 2 Reeses can complete alone, and on Navigational Hazards, but otherwise, he's just plain, simple space mission support. Too bad about the lack of any kind of staffing icon and those low attributes too. If there were a DS9-only environment, and there never really was, I might consider him in a different light. For now, he's a lukewarm addition to my collection. A 2.4.

TOTAL: 10.8 (54%) I don't even think the actors have to give their approval for this type of card.

PICTURE: A quite ok pic for a universal Cardassian. The background light adds contrast, and the color palette is definitely "cool Cardassian". How about 3.2?

LORE: First, a statement of universality, and then, the source of Perak's pic. A little dry, but ok. A 3.

TREK SENSE: To me, Perak's skills are a little too arbitrary. If they'd picked a security guard playing dabo on Terok Nor or something, I might have believed Engineer (it's a mining station) and both Treachery and Greed. But a guard trusted by Dukat during the Klingon invasion to keep watch on the Detapa Council? I'd have hoped he would have been more loyal. That, and the Engineer skill isn't as appropriate. As a "typical" Cardassian Security officer, he's not too badly built: a crooked bully who's picked up Engineering experience on a Nor. Just enough Integrity to give him a sense of loyalty to the state, and a focus more on Strength than Cunning. They could have fixed this one by taking another source, but he can't rise above 2.5 as is.

STOCKABILITY: 3 skills doesn't afford special "Assign" status (so what, he can report for free through Ekoor), but 2 of them being classifications certainly helps. After all, the two are linked intimately on the Ore Processing Unit card (either may keep Process Ore working), and 2 Cardassian-only missions require both: Bioweapon Ruse and Establish Station. Greed and Treachery give him access to a little Rules of Acquisition action (33rd and 47th). They add Feldomite Rush and Covert Installation II to those missions especially appropriate for him. A cheap universal source of two key classifications (they are way better than the other two skills when it comes to dilemmas), I think that's how he'll fit in. Manages a 3.5.

TOTAL: 12.2 (61%) Passes the test, but maybe not the loyalty test.

PICTURE: While the background is interesting, and the flower relates to Garak's orchids (the best thing about the card, in my opinion), Garak's face looks a little wide here. That, and the colors don't seem very bright. Picture quality aside, I think it does a good job of presenting a smiling "simple" Garak, and it's pulled from his first appearance, where he used those very adjectives to describe himself. Lands at 3.5.

LORE: First of all, brilliant title. As for that telegraphic lore, it describes Garak only as a tailor and leaves the spy business at mere suspicion. His job, his hobby... and the only piece of spy business alluded to is told in commercial terms. Redeems that last phrase, which I thought too specific to that first Garak episode. A strong 4.

TREK SENSE: The skills are those of Garak as a tailor, not too much more. His cover, if you will. No Treachery, no Obsidian Order, not even Computer Skill. He's a merchant, so Acquisition makes sense. He'd need the skill to survive in a Cardassian-hating Bajoran market. Diplomacy no doubt helps there as well, but can be seen in the way he uses language to get the advantage. Biology and botany are often synonymous in the game, and he needs it to cultivate his orchids. He used to be a gardener too (another plain, simple cover). The Staff icon is a little suspect, since I wouldn't expect a tailor to be able to staff a ship. Something of Garak's true abilities peeking through? Then why that? The card scores points for keeping the replacement theme of Garak's special skills. I like that there's a theme, what can I say. Specifically, this shows how you never knew what the real deal with Garak was. One minute, you might be convinced he was no more than a tailor, but he'd turn out to be a spy after all (Elim or Elim Garak). Think of it as you would a download: If a personnel downloads a hand weapon, for example, that means he or she had the weapon all along. Similarly, Garak was a spy all along. Other personas require either a more elaborate disguise or a change over time. Hopefully. But Garak's disguise is so well assimilated, he can switch between functions and personalities very easily. As a tailor, he's at his most friendly, always helping the doctor, so 7 Integrity works out fine. He's also at his least Cunning, because his front should be ignorant of larger issues. Of course, this isn't really true, is it? He's actually smart enough to hide his true intelligence, even on mission attempts, to keep the illusion going. And 6 Strength is 1 point under his other versions, because he's not supposed to be as lethal. Still, for a non-violent character, that Strength sure is high. Real self creeping through again? One last point before we head into Stockability: The affiliation. This is Garak in exile (this one more than the others), and yet, he's Cardassian. 2E's fixed this by creating the DS9 icon, but in 1E, there's no such thing. Garak doesn't work with his Federation friend(s) unless a Treaty is in play, but that invites other Cardassians to the game, and they don't like Garak much at all. He should probably have been NA and unable to work with [Car] cards. That drop takes the score down to a still respectable 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: Plain, Simple Garak offers your Cardassians a lot of flexibility. He's got a useful skill list that includes old standards like Diplomacy and Biology, and he's the only Cardie with Acquisition (so one of the few that can overcome Arms Deal, for example). But if those skills aren't doing it for you, you don't have to wait until the start of your turn to switch him with either Elim Garak (who has 4 very different skills) or Elim (a better classification and 3 skills, 2 of them doubled). Plus they also have special skills and a different attribute distribution. If you have both Elim and Elim Garak in hand (Quark's Isolinear Rods can download Elim there), you can take advantage of a number of situations as they crop up. Captured needs another SECURITY to function? Ol' Plain'n'Simple becomes Elim and makes the collar. Opponent attempts a mission where your personnel are, becoming Elim gives you control over random selections there. As a simple defensive reaction, any personnel battle initiated against you should make you think of switching to either of the 2 other Garaks - they have higher STRENGTH. And in mission attempts, you can't suspend play once a dilemma is revealed, but you if you have an inkling of what's to come, you can time it so you have the right Garak at the right time. Mr. Garak is perhaps the best "just in case" version you could use for his special skill, so there's him too. And you can always start your turn with Plain, Simple Garak, ready to cut and switch again. In any version, he'll deal quickly and easily with In the Pale Moonlight, but hey, watch out for the 47th Rule. Not as strong as the other Garaks, but allows you to more quickly switch between them. Plus, unique skills. A 3.9.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) Slightly better than one Garak, slightly worse than another.

PICTURE: Treaty graphics are a rip-off, but Plans graphics are rather better. For one thing, the graphic isn't one we see over and over on affiliation cards. It's also a bit more detailed, and the dark background gives off the mysterious shadowy vibes that are appropriate for the intelligence organization. With the Obsidian Order in particular, the Cardassian "hood" is especially creepy and shadowy, and the colors are fun, though of course, not "obsidian". That background is though. A classy 4.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: Plans cards are of course Hidden Agendas, and they deal with Espionage cards. Espionage really should be the purview of the intelligence agencies, and in the Cardassian Union, that's the Obsidian Order. The objective makes Espionage not only more playable, but more sensible. First, if you have an Obsidian Order personnel at a mission, i.e. a spy, the espionage card plays for free (and at any time). In other words, that's what the personnel is there for in the first place. They are specifically trained to do this, so the card can't be nullified. The card also represents more planning on the part of these spies, so they can decide to abandon an Espionage attempt (discard the card) in exchange for some other resource (a card draw). This is pretty mechanical, but makes some sense. Maybe the Order made a deal with Central Command to get the use of a ship in exchange for not spending resources on an Espionage mission. Finally, a new plan may be hatched, and a specific Espionage card can be downloaded. The gist of the card is to make Espionage more flexible, which is exactly what the Order does for its operatives. A clean 4.

STOCKABILITY: The Cardassians can use Espionage cards on Bajoran, Federation and Klingon missions. And they can be used in 2 ways: 1) on off-affiliation missions you seeded yourself, and/or 2) on opponent's missions. When going for the first strategy, you basically increase your mission selection options. You can go off-affiliation a lot to make your opponent think you're using one deck type while actually using another. Of course, the jig is up once you plop down your facility unless you use a non-Cardassian one like Neutral or Klaestron Outpost. Klingon missions are the most reasonable because there's a fair amount of skill overlap between them and the Cardassians, though of course, there are Federation missions for everything (and the meaty Espionage Mission - the Federation homeworld - requires an Espionage card). Bajorans share a lot of missions with the Cardies already, so I wouldn't bother. The trouble here would normally be that it would take longer to gain access to your own missions, so Plans helps out a lot. As long as you have an Obsidian Order personnel present, you can play the right Espionage card there for free, and at any time, and they can't be nullified. If you don't have one in hand, you can discard Plans to download one. Multiple Plans in deck, or even seeded, can get you a bunch of Espionage cards in play real easily. Played on your opponent's missions, you get the same speed, but the problem would normally be that you have no control over what missions your opponent will seed or what affiliation she will play. Plans helps here too, allowing you to recycle Espionage cards by turning them into card draws. Can't use that "on Klingon" Espionage card? Recycle it. You can even draw attention to the wrong mission by playing an Espionage card there (for free) and then simply recycling it from the table. Your opponent need not know you were never really going to go there. Maybe you can initiate a race to complete the mission and send your opponent into your nastiest dilemma combo. Plans don't overcome the basic danger of mission theft however, so you might be stuck turning all your Espionage cards into card draws if all opposing missions are protected by Fair Play. Card draws are good for Cardassians anyway, since they can be used in conjunction with their Nor's Commander's Office or Guest Quarters to get downloads or deck manipulation (Shape-Shift Inhibitor not withstanding). Bottom line: Makes Espionage cards playable for the Cardassians, or at least gives them out in case it's just not doable. A 3.7.

TOTAL: 15.6 (78%) A good plan to make sure some cards don't go directly to the binder.

PICTURE: I like this one at least as much as I liked Plans of the Obsidian Order. The black background is perfect for an intelligence agency's card, and the logo itself is colorful, detailed and interesting, and not something we've seen often or this clearly on the show. The basic stucture of the Romulan icon is there, and those two orange balls just have to be Romulus and Remus. The bird's a bit pale, seemingly drawn in pencil, but its wings look like Romulan letters (compare to the ones in the silver center). I'd love to know what went into this design. Classy AND intriguing: a 4.1.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: It's exactly the same as Plans of the Obsidian Order, but with Romulans taking the place of Cardassians. And since the Romulans are just as duplicitous as the Cardies (actually more!), they're a good group to give an Espionage-manipulation card. The Tal Shiar's Plans have to be a Hidden Agenda, that's for sure. So if you have a Tal Shiar personnel present at a mission, i.e. a spy, the Espionage card plays for free at any time. That's what the spy is there for. And since they're specifically trained for the job, the card cannot then be nullified. Compare to the relatively untrained Picard and company in "Chain of Command". Since it's all about Plans (wheels within wheels), you can abandon the Espionage attempt, redirecting your resources into another card (the card draw). Mechanical yes, but you could imagine the Tal Shiar making a deal with the Senate to get a ship or use of a personnel in exchange for not using up resources on the Espionage mission. And lastly, the Plans may be for a specific Espionage mission, which becomes a download for it. That's a 4.

STOCKABILITY: The Romulans can spy on almost everybody in the Alpha Quadrant. Only the Ferengi are safe, assuming they don't play missions attemptable by other affiliations. The same can be said of the Dominion if you now consider them AQ. But you don't know which affiliation you're gonna go up against when building your deck, do you? So a card to increase the flexibility of your Espionage strategy makes sense. You can stock the most likely Espionage cards (or all of them), and pull them out as required by discarding Plans. Or if in hand, they'll play for free and not necessarily during your card play phase, as long as you have Tal Shiar there. And since Tal Shiar can report for free at the Continuing Committee, and are generally useful for other things, we don't have to get our arm twisted. Got a card you didn't need in hand? Discard it to get a card draw. Or you can even use the Espionage card as a decoy, playing it on a mission you have no intention of attempting, to see if your opponent will race you to the location and rush headfirst into your best dilemma combo. The Tal Shiar are nothing if not sneaky. But with Fair Play out there, you might not have the opportunity to steal any missions, so Espionage cards might be used more realistically to attempt off-affiliation missions you seed yourself. There's Espionage Mission itself that requires the card, though the Romulans do have Selok for that. The Feds generally have a lot of SCIENCE missions that would work well in a Telek R'Mor strategy, and Archaeology missions too. But you could go the Treachery route and include Cardassian missions to the mix. Hey, it's all for free and can't be nullified, so it's almost like you could always attempt that mission (and if you don't have it in hand, download it). If you'd like to include the Dominion, use the Treaty. Lovok Founder has Tal Shiar and can help in your efforts, though he can't use Plans when working for the Dominion alone. As one of the original affiliations (albeit the runt of the lot), the Romulans already have plenty of missions of their own, and mission theft is really a thing of the past, so Espionage cards aren't all that necessary, but Plans does make them more flexible and useable. I think 3.6 is about right.

TOTAL: 15.6 (78%) Not the same score distribution, but exactly the same total as the other Plans card.

PICTURE: Galors/Keldons are among the ugliest ship designs in all of Trek, but as far as these things go, they got a better than average one for the flagship (if we can take Dukat's vessel to be the flagship). It's a little gaudier than the Trager with its bright blue emitter, I'll give you that, and it has something of a pot belly from this angle, but it's certainly more distinctive than, say, the Aldara. Levels out at 3.

LORE: From the universal Galor's lore, we already know this is a Type-3, so it doesn't start very promisingly. The next sentence is very dry contextualizing. So the only redeeming value is that it makes Dukat matching commander, though again, it's boringly told. How 'bout a 2.3?

TREK SENSE: Conforms to the standard Galor design as far as staffing and special equipment. No special abilities, so a bit dull. Attributes differ from the universal in that the Shields are 1 point higher, representing how long it lasted against a Klingon barrage before the Defiant came to the rescue. Everything's ok here, it's just not very interesting. A standard no-fault 4.

STOCKABILITY: What might kill the Prakesh is the Prakesh itself... 2nd edition style. For one more staffing (not a big deal), you get higher attributes (WEAPONS 8 and up to 12 SHIELDS in a fight you didn't start). Well, that could be worth the persona switch (with the 1E version reporting to a smaller docking site), and since 1E Dukat's lore mentions he's matching commander of the Prakesh, Log and Plaque would cover either version. The 1E ship goes to 10-10-11, but the 2E ship gets 10-11-11/15. Only slightly better, but it's there nonetheless. Galor armadas would still use the 1E ship to cut on staffing, but for straight mission solving, go ahead and use the backwards-compatible one. Speaking of backwards-compatible cards, only the 1E version could be commanded by Dukat - Liberator and Protector who has a strong discard ability. So that sorta saves the ship a little. Almost replaced wholesale, it gets 2.9.

TOTAL: 12.2 (61%) Not Dukat's only ride anyway.

PICTURE: DS9's version of Senior Staff Meeting, it's a got a strong central composition at the top, but gets a little too busy by the time it comes to the bottom. I wish the characters were a little more animated, because they look positively stonewalled and out of ideas here. That, plus the four required classifications aren't there because two of them are Officers. Turns out it disappoints a little: 2.2.

LORE: The first sentence reads very much like it describes a Senior Staff Meeting, though its title is less memorable. Kind of dull. I do like the second though, which goes right for the second function, even mentioning the card title it plays off of. Again, no real sparks, but no real mistakes either. A 2.8.

TREK SENSE: With enough personnel types weighing in, you can better Prepare for a mission attempt. Personnel types being classifications, of course. Not everyone can bring to bear all of their expertise though, and Sisko's Engineer doesn't count, only actual classifications. You might ask what kind of expertise a Civilian or VIP might have, but commerce and diplomacy are both on show in DS9 and other series. What is more awkward is that the Preparation need not be done by personnel/classifications that have abilities relevant to the mission at hand, or to the dilemma that gets glanced at. The glance though, is much more believable than Senior Staff Meeting's dilemma nullification. Basically, your experts warn you about the potential pitfalls of a particular location, wisely not tying the effect to just planet, or just space missions. Since the title is the opposite of FC's Lack of Preparation, nullifying that card is very natural. Still losing the points though, is mechanical and less satisfying. Sure, you're "cheating" by using a get-out-of-jail-free card, so to speak, but in storyline terms, your personnel should be rewarded for Preparing so well. Better than SSM, that for sure, but some details are still lacking. Finds its way to a 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Though it reads like Senior Staff Meeting, it's more closely related to Scan cards. SSM actually nullifies the first dilemma, but it only works at space missions, and requires 5 specific skills. Preparation requires 4 personnel with 4 separate classifications (any), which is potentially more, but the lack of specificity means no affiliation is particularly disadvantaged when using it. It only just glances at the first seed card (hopefully not an Artifact), but if you know your game theory, you might be able to guess at the rest of the dilemma combo hidden there. Sometimes, simply overcoming the first dilemma can mean you're fairly safe from the rest. The interrupt can also be used to nullify Lack of Preparation. It's a good effect seeing as that dilemma can be used to tailor dilemma targets to a mission's requirements, allowing you to send in patsies to clear dilemmas while crucial personnel are kept safe. This is especially important in the case of missions that require specific personnel and/or ones with very rare skills. You still lose the 10 points, so use Preparation sparingly. In the Zone is a Referee icon card that specifically nullifies any use of Preparation, so if your opponent is using it, you're done for. Just as hosed as if you were using a Scan, which isn't really fair to the first function considering that it only peeks at a single card. Maybe you should just stick to Zefram's Telescope and Ocular Implants for this kind of thing. Doesn't require as many personnel and is infinitely reusable. A big drop to a 1.9.

TOTAL: 10.1 (50.5%) Overall, much worse than Senior Staff Meeting.

PICTURE: The very first Mirror universe image pull (see The Intendent in the doorway?), it's ironic because the MU is now the only place you can use this card at full capacity in peace. It's a nice pic too, suitably atmospheric, with a focus on hauling rocks inside a Nor. A good 3.7.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: I think there should have been a way to Process Ore without a Nor, but let's take this for what it was meant to be, a Cardassian-flavored card and strategy. Still, a tip of the hat to mining/Geology missions might have been nice. For Nor-based ore processing, you need an Ore Processing Unit, you must control the Nor it's on, the station must be at a planet (or Mining Survey) because the ore must come from somewhere, and you must have either an Engineer or a Security personnel present and unopposed to manage things. Mining and Ore Processing are Engineer-related, and since the Cardassians use slave labor, Security must be on watch. So the question is, why one and not both? We could say that if Security is in charge, slaves are used. If Engineer is used, regular Cardassian workers are. Not totally satisfying, since it means Engineer would be a minimum requirement, but that's the best we can do here. Now you're processing ore, what does that mean? Well, this is where it gets conceptual: Cards from hand represent raw ore (concepts not yet put into play) which is put in the discard pile (the smelter). Ore in the smelter is turned into workable metals, again raw material but more refined. This is the bottom of the draw deck (the factory your cards come from). Alternately, the smelter can destroy (place out-of-play) any impure ore (unwanted cards) instead. The final step in the production chain is to draw two cards from the factory, stuff you either made from the metal, paid for with the metal or personnel you attracted through your booming economy. It could also be seen as your replenishing your hand of raw ore, as the mining continues  As with all mechanical effects, it's not totally Trek Sensical, though you can see where it's coming from. For this kind of thing, 3.5 is a high mark.

STOCKABILITY: This was such a strong strategy for the Cardassians, it had to be surpremely hosed eventually. Right now, the Cardassians can't use it at full capacity because Reactor Overload could destroy your hard-to-replace OPC. What we're left with is a card-recycling engine that costs you a card from hand to draw a new card. With the card lost being either recycled into the deck for later use, or destroyed totally (though the fate usually reserved for dilemma in your discard pile). You must still have an ENGINEER or SECURITY at the OPC, the first of which reports directly there anyway, and are still in danger from opposing personnel and Tribble decks (Trouble in the Engine Room). The same is true of Empok Nor decks, no matter who controls the station, so this also hurts other affiliations' chance to Process Ore adequately. Thankfully, we still have the Mirror Quadrant. Yes, thanks to either Emblem, the MQ factions can both Process Ore with relative impunity. All it takes to protect you from Reactor Overload is 2 ENGINEER, only one more than what you used to need. The Nor is in another quadrant, so harder to "oppose", and Overseer Odo, an MQ personnel, can download Process Ore, and download early thanks to Defend Homeworld. Once set up, you dont even need to do anything in the MQ other than keep that OPC staffed, while using Process Ore to work your Alpha or Delta Quadrant strategies. At full power, Process Ore returns to the card drawing engine it used to be, getting you 2 cards for the price of one. You might even be tempted to keep cycling those useless dilemmas just to have worry-free cards to discard. Not dead yet, it's a 3.9 right now.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) Reactor Overload is so unfair.

PICTURE: A set shot in keeping with other Site cards, but if one Site would have benefitted from keeping people in it, it's this one. The empty Promenade is really sad, and I wouldn't have minded not seeing the carpet pattern just this once. The focus on the Bajoran Temple is also unwelcome - it's not a Shop after all. The composition and colors are nice mind you, it's just not as exciting as it should be. A 2.1.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: An open port of call to be found on every Nor (Empok Nor had a similar design, so we can assume it's standard operating procedure for the Cardassians), found where else but on the Promenade. Since there's no merchant classification, Civilians fill the role usually and so can report here as shopkeepers. As clientele too, of course, that's what an open port is all about, and so these Civilians may come from any non-Borg affiliation. The Borg aren't really consumers in that sense (though former Borg get discriminated against here). The card is incomplete in the sense that Civilians aren't the only possible customers of any given shop, so why do they get a free pass to the Promenade, while others have the report elsewhere or board the station through the docking sites? That's just for reporting of course, and really, any non-Borg personnel can browse the Shops (i.e. probe). Three things can happen while you walk the Promenade. The first is nothing (no probe result). The second is you buy something at a shop, drawing the browsed (probed) card. In some cases, it could be a thing to be bought (Equipment certainly). In many others, it won't be. In any case, the purchase has to be put into play normally, so may never cross the customer's path at all. It's pretty conceptual. Purchases stimulate the economy? Works for me, though it's still in the conceptual sphere, as are most card management effects. The last possibility is that you get into a brawl, which has happened on occasion on DS9. In such a case, your personnel at this site initiate personnel battle with any opponent present (again, the Borg have other motivations if present - you can't pick a fight with them). A lot more literal, this one. I like the probing icons in both cases. For "shopping", since you get the probe card, they've used three that have the best chance of being found and sold at a Shop. On a metaphorical level, some finds are Events, others are bought on impulse (Interrupts), and of course Equipment represents objects. The Objective isn't a great fit for "brawl" because these are rarely planned, but the Cardassian and Klingon icons are great. See, these bullies are more likely to start a fight, and if you're playing them, you're more likely to probe for a brawl. Some great choices, though the site necessarily has problems to balance it out. Does reach 3.8.

SEEDABILITY: If you own the Nor you seed this on, it becomes your CIVILIAN-reporter (Ops may allow you to download one instead), and if you don't, it's one place you can report your personnel anyway, including ones with Computer Skill so they can go up to Ops to commandeer it. Regardless of who you report here, you can probe for shopping/brawling as long as you have personnel at the Site. It shouldn't be hard to load a deck with Events, Interrupts and Equipment, especially with all the 2E backwards-compatible cards out there, to basically get 2 card draws per turn (your card draw and the probe card). You shouldn't have to twist the Bajorans' arms too much to use the Orb of Prophecy and Change to rig the probe results in your favor (not that its use is limited to that affiliation). You might not need a Brawl result as an incentive to do battle with opposing personnel trying to probe here, but such a result WILL allow you to attack your own affiliation. The Klingons have no need of this, but the Cardassians are the most likely to both seed a Nor. Keeping personnel with high STRENGTH here could dissuade Klingons and Cardassians to not even try to go shopping on your station for fear of starting a fight they cannot win there. A brawl result is more of a hindrance than a help after all. Promenade Shops isn't the best Site, seeing as CIVILIANs aren't usually the most useful personnel, but when you plan for it, or as a back-up free seedling in a non-Nor deck, it can work. Hits 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.13 (70.67%) Coincidentally the same score as the similar Guest Quarters.

PICTURE: A whole universe and yet, it's not very impressive. The effect gets lost in the blue and purple containment field generator. A forgettable 1.5, I'm afraid.

LORE: Described as well as it can be given we don't know much about the phenomenon. Sticking to its effects rather than its nature was the right choice. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Even on the show, it's hard to gauge what a Protouniverse is. It's snagged from subspace, but not returned there later (not visibly). And when it starts expanding, the feeling is that it's going to replace our universe with itself, but it's returned to the Gamma Quadrant, and that quadrant hasn't been wiped out of existence yet, as far as I know. Maybe it WAS returned to a part of subspace, or perhaps it would only grow to the size of a system and stop there (it's a PROTOuniverse, not an actual universe). That's the direction Decipher went in here, since the Protouniverse can only destroy a ship or facility. In fact, it's less than what was hinted at on the show, where Bajor was also threatened, though perhaps Dax and O'Brien theorized on the side of caution. It takes a while for the universe to expand to an uncontainable size, thus the countdown. It will eventually destroy the ship or facility it's on, and at the very least will damage it. Just like on the show, it was possible to find a way out of this jeopardy, using Astrophysics, Science and doubled Engineer, all skills that relate directly to understanding, containing and transporting the Protouniverse. It was found in "Subspace Seaweed", and I think it keeps its status as an anomaly by necessarily playing on that dilemma. Some great work here, and only the effect seems downplayed, though nothing really contradicts the show. In fact, a lot of it plays on the events of the show. A 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: A one-two punch that's interesting, though it's perhaps predicated on too many things happening. Your opponent must hit "Subspace Seaweed" (without the requisite 3 Navigation), and you must have Protouniverse in hand before the dilemma is nullified at a Science Lab. Well, even if playing with a Nor, your opponent doesn't necessarily have a Science Lab. You might provide him one (you have 6 free sites even if you don't seed a Nor, you know) just so he's tempted to drop the Seaweed on it. And in many cases, there's no Nor to be found at all. So that opposing ship may be limping around with its reduced RANGE for awhile yet. Time enough for you to get the Protouniverse from your deck. From its play, your opponent has 3 turns to come up with 4 skills or else the ship (or Nor) is destroyed. Even if it isn't (the skill package isn't too difficult to come up with), it'll be damaged. A slowed-down ship might not be able to reach the necessary skills, especially if you send it on a fool's errand like Cytherians. A player won't bring a second "Subspace Seaweed" to the Science Lab once you've damaged the Nor, but loading your Battle Bridge side-deck with damage markers heavy on SHIELDS reductions could make the station an easy target for your ships. If the skills aren't present though, destroying a facility takes a heavy toll on the player. Certainly worth stocking if you're seeding the Seaweed, just make sure to weed out the Navigation from the ship's crew before the dilemma hits. A good 4.

TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) A dull pic hurts this otherwise fun card.

PICTURE: Nicely lit, Mond has a mysterious expression that suits his role well. He almost glows in the darkness, a beacon to Sisko toward his path as the Emissary. An intriguing and well-delivered 3.6.

LORE: Starts off with a show of universality, then makes a pitstop before it gives us his role in the DS9 pilot. It's that pitstop that disturbs me. See, there's no evidence that Prylar Mond was at all interested in science, and I've got the feeling that line is just there to anchor his Exobiology skill. It doesn't really have the ring of truth, though I may be imposing some bias on him for being a priest. Priests can definitely be interested in science, in our culture or the Bajorans', but it just doesn't quite work here. The rest being pretty dull, I won't go above 2.4.

TREK SENSE: Prylars aren't high up enough in Bajor's religious hierarchy to be VIPs, so Civilians they must be. I expect they really do universally have Anthropology as a skill, since it represents knowledge of their own culture. Keeping all those prophecies and interpretations in your head does require a great deal of training. It helps that Mond himself extended a hand to an outsider, unafraid of what the Federation (or humanity) meant to Bajor. Exobiology doesn't really work though. Are we to believe that his faith in the Emissary turning out to be human is what made him turn to the skill? His "interest in science" is supposed to explain it, but it's also a distinguishing mark that would tend to set him apart from other Prylars. Since he's representative of the priesthood in general, the skill is just out of place. The attributes are good though, with great devotion to his faith showing up as high Integrity. Both that and Cunning present a man quite able to accept an alien as the Emissary, unlike, say, Winn. And Strength just isn't the priestly way, so along with his age, he did deserve a low score there. As for the Trek Sense score, I'm going with a 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: As a Prylar, he can report to the Bajoran Shrine, and while there, can "conduct services", a useful Process Ore-like mechanic for Bajorans. Until All Good Things, he was the only cheap Prylar to be able to do so, but of course you could always pull the trick with a Vedek or Kai. Still, using a cheap universal support personnel can be more efficient. With AGT though, comes Shandor. He's equally universal and has 3 skills instead of 2. So Mond is still the more efficient conductor of services. As far as reporting him directly to Bajoran ships and going for missions, he won't really apply both his skills to any one Bajoran mission. Cure Blight and Changeling Research, not to forget Historical Research and Aid Fugitives, do require at least one of his skills. Against dilemmas, well, he's got a couple of good ones there, especially Exobiology, which comes up a little more often AND is much too rare in the affiliation. Jabara provides the other universal/support personnel source, and her MEDICAL may be better than his CIVILIAN (though the Bajorans tend to boost their CIVILIANs better), but her Youth isn't as good as his Anthropology. Plus, his attributes are generally better, with exceedingly high INTEGRITY for a universal. I think he can rate 3.4 here.

TOTAL: 12.5 (62.5%) If he's in the bottom 10, it's because the Bajorans have generally fared well up to now.

PICTURE: A fairly static prop shot, though the door seems to be in the process of closing. It's not bad, just not very exciting, and not even that futuristic-looking! The sunlight and jungle foliage in the background give us an small idea of the heat, but an open door with Sisko inside might have added much more to the drama. As is, I'm going with 2.5.

LORE: While nothing untrue is said here, the lore misses the point. It doesn't mention anything about an Officer sacrificing himself as per the game text, nor does it make the dilemma generic enough, all-too-specifically about Orellius instead. Feels incomplete and off the mark. A 1.5.

TREK SENSE: Interesting. The Box exists physically on a planet, and while your personnel attempt the mission, one of your Officers is put inside the box for the duration of the attempt. À la Sisko, he or she is "taking one for the team", being punished for the actions (or perhaps just the presence) of his or her crew. Now, while this is ingenious, it does come up short in a number of ways. Chief among these is that Officers are not necessarily leaders. Would Giusti really be held accountable for an Away Team's actions? Secondly, not all leaders or Officers are noble enough to take it. We're to believe the natives are strong enough to force this penalty on ANY Away Team, no matter their numbers or weapons. The Officer doesn't really come out of there dehydrated either, at least, there's no penalty to be paid other than being stopped. Or is the "stopping" part-time being in the Box, and part-time recovering? I'll buy that. Unfortunately, I can't be as forgiving of the Officer's identity being so vague (and not necessarily always the same person), or of the elusive rationale for a personnel having to stay in the Box. Why is the rest of  the Away Team allowed to keep attempting the mission? The way it worked with O'Brien was that he first "attempted the mission" and THEN Sisko paid the price for it. When no Officer is available, no penalty is paid, but no progress on the mission can be made either. Why? All very confusing... Anyway, the score drops to 1.8 when you take all that into account.

SEEDABILITY: Punishment Box weeds out an OFFICER automatically because it acts as a wall when no OFFICER is present. So a sacrificial lamb must be used. Good follow-ups include Crisis, which requires an OFFICER aboard a ship AND a Leadership personnel to continue; Hazardous Duty and Surprise Assault, both of which require 2 OFFICERs; and maybe No Loose Ends. Better than most walls, but not just because of its filter: It plays on the planet and is activated at the start of any mission attempt. So each time your opponent must begin the attempt, he or she must put someone in the Box. Stop them often enough, and it won't be worth the trouble to return to this planet. A good tool to nab all-too-common OFFICERs, it still suffers from being Away Team's choice. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 9.3 (46.5%) It's not because I'm celebrating the Rolodex' 5th year anniversary that I'm necessarily going to be kind.

PICTURE: Just the old disused probe, but how could you portray the sentient program that became the real dilemma? Dark and without a lot of detail at this resolution, but acceptable. A 3.

LORE: The story is well told, from the initial contact to the nature of the creature, to how it got its colorful name. A fine 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Too bad it can't jump a station, but that's because the game wasn't built around station encounters. It's a ship game, and you attempt missions from ships, so here, Pup uploads to your ship. I like how they've presented its system disruptions. It goes into the engine systems and stops the ship, and when someone fixes the system, it jumps to the Weapons until someone fixes that... only to jump into the Shields and get that system down. Then, it starts all over again. Perhaps a bit simplistic, but ships aren't really that complicated. A more sensical "Pup" could have jumped into transporters, tractor beams and the like, but taking on the attributes insures it'll get the attention it craves. Miles O'Brien can of course nullify it by giving a "doghouse", but only Miles thinks outside the box as well as this. If not Miles, then you need plenty of Computer Skill to solve the problem. The 4 Comps either think of the same plan, or else deal with the software more mercilessly. There are a few bugs since "any Miles" does include Falcon, but otherwise, this is a clever design. The bugs only drive it down to 4.5.

SEEDABILITY: An excellent poison pill to place on a ship, it'll keep a ship disabled in some way until the cure can be brought on board. Not an easy cure either, since 4 Computer Skill is quite the load. Access Denied may even add to that number by one. Any Miles may be easier for the Feds to come up with, but while there are a number of Miles available, the Feds have so many personnel, they can't count on having one of that number. The Non-Aligned Falcon is a hologram not really likely to make an appearance in non-Fed decks either, but the Romulan Chief O'Brien might. Note that it doesn't have requirements, just a cure, so the encountering ship will run smack-dab into the next dilemma. What better way is there to get Abandon Ship! to hit? If it's the next dilemma, RANGE is automatically reduced, and personnel not needed for staffing are placed under mission until rescued... or captured. If you want to run a battle deck, "Pup" is a great dilemma to use. A ship so affected cannot run away from you one turn, cannot hurt you the next, and then has SHIELDS rated at 0 on the next (can you say "direct hit"?). A Scout Encounter in the dilemma combo could be deadly even with the Scouts' low WEAPONS. Other ways of taking advantage of zero SHIELDS include Auto-Destruct Sequence, Outgunned and Romulan Ambush. There's no end to the mischief "Pup" can cause. An excellent 4.7.

TOTAL: 15.7 (78.5%) And so cute!

PICTURE: Though Rano doesn't look that "eager" here, we have to remember that he's escorting the young Jem'Hadar in "The Abandoned" here. That's "eager" for that particular task ;-). The card's very brown, but the angled window does help the composition with some motion. Likeable, if a little nondescript. A 3.2.

LORE: Universality is acknowledged, and he gets a couple of descriptives. Other than that, his job on the station is mentioned, as well as his boss. You don't see a whole lot of that on universals. It's all very functional, with no interesting invention. A 3.

TREK SENSE: The obvious stuff is that he's a universal Security officer, that he's young (so Youth), and that he's at the Staff level. Geology is a mystery though. If he previously worked in a labor camp or in ore processing, we're never told about it. Lore was a blank slate for this kind of thing, so it sticks out like a sore thumb here. No real problems with the attributes, though Cunning seems a bit high for a goon (armchair Geologist or not). Strength's a bit low, but then his Youth may mean he's not fully trained yet. And the slightly low Integrity smacks of the Bajorans' fierce will to use any means necessary sometimes. Not much to go on, so one skill can hurt the score considerably. Ends up at 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: Youth is secondary at best, not really found on Bajoran missions, but Geology is a more frequent requirement (Colony Prep even combines it with SECURITY). There are support personnel that have his skills in other combinations, and unique personnel like Varis Sul and Tora Ziyal, but he has a more useful classification than at least these two. The Bajorans aren't low on SECURITY of course, which shows on their missions. As a cheap and easily reportable source of SECURITY and/or Geology then, he'll garner a 3.1, but he doesn't inspire much more.

TOTAL: 11.7 (58.5%) Universal is as universal does.

PICTURE: I don't know what does it exactly, but I've never liked this guy. Maybe it's the wussy brown costume, the blue hair, or the funeral home background. Maybe all of them together, along with some blurring. In any case, a 1.8 would be fair.

LORE: Interesting that they make him a kind of medical student or intern, though mentioning science tends to cause problems. I do like that it speaks of the rebuilding of Bajor, though it's otherwise fairly plain. A 3.4.

TREK SENSE: A kind of intern or nurse, he's a Medical Staffer with the very natural Biology, and the Youth that goes with being a student. Music isn't mentioned in the lore, but it's not an improbable skill for a Youth to have. Maybe he played music in the labor camps to keep everyone's spirits up. Certainly goes with a caregiver's personality. I don't mind it. The lore goes too far in making him representative of science students, since there's no real claim to that here. Biology is a science, yes, but it's clearly  attached to Medical in this case. He's got the high Integrity of a caregiver, the low Cunning of someone still learning, and Strength that seems to fit his look. No big problems, Rase reaches 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: 3 skills, and 2 of those are extremely limited. I'm talking about Music and Youth, of course, which are excellent for Ooby Dooby, but are otherwise of little use to the Bajorans. MEDICAL/Biology are much better, especially when it comes to dilemmas. I'm afraid few missions fit the bill. Attributes are lukewarm at best. If the Bajorans weren't so low on MEDICAL, he would be an Ooby Dooby dancer, and that's it. Even as things are, I don't see him replacing Jabara or Romara Cal (both support personnel). Just a 2.

TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) The Bajorans hit a new low.

PICTURE: Just a Kressari coming out an airlock, as the species was often used as background extras on DS9. Not a bad shot of the make-up job from a profile, but otherwise undistinguished. A dull, brown 2.8.

LORE: The typical Kressari is a lot like the unique Kressari Zef'No. Or at least he'd like to be. Zef'No was an arms dealer whose cover was selling botanical DNA (a Kressari specialty, we're told). Rax'Na actually is a plant dealer, but he'd like to become an arms dealer. A fun return to the only Kressari storyline, I give the lore a hearty 3.6.

TREK SENSE: The lack of Acquisition (or Greed) is a flaw in this "trader", also preventing him from appearing at the still appropriate Cargo Bay. A Science background is fine, and Biology directly relates to his botanical pursuits. I suppose wanting to become an arms merchant qualifies for Treachery. Astrophysics stands where Navigation probably should, and is rather useless to a dealer of either plant DNA or weapons. A true weapons dealer might have Astrophysics for, you know, star-destroying missiles, but Rax'Na is very far from that. The low Integrity goes with his Treachery, so I won't complain. He hasn't made his wish come true yet, and his Cunning shows him stuck in a rut. The Strength seems to match his bulk. Staff icon's fine. The faulty skill list keeps our Kressari friend at 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: The skills match Collect Sample the most, but he's otherwise a fair collection of skills to supplement the DS9 expansion. He's a SCIENCE with Treachery for going up against Unscientific Method, and he's got skills for both planet and space missions/dilemmas. Both Biology and Astrophysics get plenty of mention on dilemmas, in fact. I don't know that you'd want to use him to specifically protect Zef'No from Hate Crime (or Racial Tension), but he's overall an ok personnel with lame attributes. The three-skill structure isn't too helpful for getting him out easily though. A 3.2.

TOTAL: 12 (60%) Ambitious, but comes up a little short.

PICTURE: The jowly Razka Karn's pic is crisp, and the scrap merchant is caught in a good expression, but the composition is a little side-heavy because of the heavy blacks in the palette. Not exciting, but what's there is good enough. A 3.3.

LORE: Pretty telegraphic for a one-shot character, and it somehow lends him more importance. Not particularly expertly written, we get a lot of information on his current status as a man who does what he has to, and a little more besides with his musical preferences. Enough for a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Razka retains his ties to the Resistance, and is currently hiding out in the Badlands. If that's not enough for double-Navigation, remember that he used to be a fighter pilot too. Fighter pilots routinely had to work on their fighters, so the Engineer may stem from there. Right now, he's using it to run his scrap metal business. The Staff icon also works well for a pilot. On the side, he does a little Smuggling too, as Gul Dukat was only to happy to mention. As for the Music, it seems to have a connoisseur's capacity here, which isn't usual. Maybe he was a frustrated musician? I don't dispute that musical knowledge (as opposed to ability) could get you the skill. It's just not the standard. A criminal with a heart of gold, he's got middling Integrity. The Cunning's a bit harsh however, though I don't have anything substantial to counter it. If he were smarter, I guess he'd have made more luck for himself. Strength is that of a former fighter, now really out-of-shape. A couple of points make me raise an eyebrow, but really nothing that seems wrong. Some kind of matching commander status on a Bajoran Raider might have been nice, but he's been out of the game awhile. A high 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: The Bajorans are kind of low on ENGINEERs, and Razka also adds a number of very useful skills to the mix. There's the double-Navigation for use against Gravimetric Distortion and protection in the Badlands, for example. Smuggling allows him to report/download to the Cargo Bay (more useful than the Ore Processing Unit for Bajorans), use Bribery to avoid point losses or free captives, report a Small Cloaking Device, and may serve on the Calondon for hand weapon cargo runs. With the two last skills, he only needs a tricorder to meet all of Verify Evidence's demands (makes sense, since that's his ship in the pic). He's also got Resistance, certainly useful to the Bajorans for card draws (Bajoran Resistance Tactics), their usual attribute boosts (War Room and The Earring of Li Nalas), working a brig (Holding Cell Door), firing Bajoran Phaser Banks (+4 bonus because he has both required skills), and more. Music is the runt of the litter, though Ressikan Flute and Ooby Dooby are always possibilities (not a common skill in the affiliation). Lame attributes (but as you saw, boostable) round out the card. I'd say all the tricks make him a good choice for inclusion. A 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) I wonder if he plays strategema? ;-)

PICTURE: The not-often seen station Thrusters are a simple, but effective effect. Nothing to cheer at, but ok. The necessary subspace bubble looks like a bad matte job, but it is indeed supposed to be there. At least it's a good angle. A 3.

LORE: The story told in detail and with no real flourishes, except maybe giving the Bajoran name for the wormhole on the second go. A good use of Trek synonyms, and so 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The first effect is directly from the picture, allowing you to move a space facility to another location in the same region with your Thrusters and an assist from a subspace field. A station can't go to warp, so this limited move is in keeping with established facts. It must be a space facility, which covers all Outposts incidently, but not such places as Headquarters and Colonies. And you need 2 Engineers aboard to make this happen (or a double-Engineer like O'Brien), since this skill is required to pull off this trick with the facility's "propulsion". One thing I don't like is that this plays for free, when it was clear it took some time and effort to accomplish in "Emissary". I won't even go into how this can be accomplished at all in the larger Regions like the Neutral Zone. The second function plays on ships' Thrusters, and indeed they do have them, but the idea of simply boosting all your ships' Range for a turn is pretty glib. Thrusters don't really matter on the scale Range is meant to represent, and the subspace stuff is simply what a warp field is. Plus, the idea of boosting ALL ships is just too broad. So some of it works, but a lot doesn't. Levels off at 2.5.

STOCKABILITY: There aren't a lot of reasons to move an Outpost (though escaping The Sheliak comes to mind), but Nors present a few more ideas. For example, you could use a Nor's Science Lab to peek at more than one mission's first dilemma. Or you could put personnel and ships with special abilities where they're sure to do the most good, like at the mouth of the Bajoran Wormhole where incoming ships usually have to stop, or take your facility into battle for a little extra Attack boost. That kind of thing. Of course, you can't leave the Region, so make sure it's long enough to be of use. It does require you to have the ENGINEERS (not hard), but it IS a free Event. Not so free is the boost to all your ships' RANGE for a single turn. It's not a great boost, and you might want to use cards that instead boost specific ships' RANGE permanently, but for armada decks trying to gain on an opponent, it could be of use. Neither function is overly useful, and indeed, only very specific strategies will call for them. Barely reaches 2.6.

TOTAL: 11.2 (56%) The show didn't use this trick very often either.

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