Siskoid's Rolodex............Deep Space 9 (13)


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

 

#2421-T'Lor, Personnel, Federation, universal, DS9

"Male geologist from Tiburon. Typical of science personnel stationed aboard Deep Space 9. Guarded a Jem'Hadar warship salvaged in Gamma Quadrant."

-SCIENCE, Geology, Computer Skill; Staff icon

-INTEGRITY: 6, CUNNING: 7, STRENGTH: 5

PICTURE: It's nice to see someone from Tiburon in the modern Trek era. The first guy with those ears was Dr. Severin from "The Way to Eden" (groovy), but we see here that, as with many updated alien make-ups, we never noticed his forehead appliances. In my Trek-addled mind, there's a relationship between the idyllic woods in the background here and Severin's Eden, but even if you don't see that, it's good for a geologist to be seen on-planet, and besides, adds some nice color and production value. What could have been an ordinary head shot turns out to be a fairly nice 3.4.

LORE: Very ordinary stuff. No mistakes, but really nothing to make it stand out. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Your typical DS9 geologist would have exactly this combination of skills. Science and Geology are obvious, and since he's not a field geologist (not working on a space station), Computer Skill becomes important for running models, writing reports, sensors, etc. Staff icon is equally fine. I'm a little surprised at the low Integrity, but I guess sometimes junior officers don't have the resolve exhibited by the main cast. Strength could also have been a touch higher, if only to pay homage to "The Ship" (it's mentioned in the lore after all). Not major disappointments though, so he still manages a good 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: A support personnel who may be Assigned like any other, T'Lor is alright, but none of his skills really register as rare (only Geology could be considered uncommon) and his attributes are simply ok. T'Lor can complete Geological Survey alone, although it takes 3 of him to get a full 30 points off the mission. Mineral Survey and Mining Survey also make use of his profile, but not to that extent. So in a universal deck that even uses universal missions, he's got a little more flair. Overall, however, he's solid support, but not much more than that. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) The word that keeps coming up is "ordinary".

#2434-Tahna Los, Personnel, Bajoran, DS9

"Member of Kohn-Ma terrorist group. Wanted for crimes against the Cardassian people. Tried to collapse the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole in 2369."

-CIVILIAN, Resistance, Treachery, Physics, ENGINEER; Staff icon

-INTEGRITY: 3, CUNNING: 7, STRENGTH: 7

PICTURE: Really in your face, which is a great portrayal of Tahna Los, I must say. Color palette of the pic matches than of the template, which is good, but also creates a certain sameness. When all's said and done, we settle on 3.7.

LORE: All good information, but purely biographical, with little room for creativity. A standard 3.

TREK SENSE: The Kohn-Ma are an extremist and still active Resistance cell, and that extremism gets him Treachery and low Integrity. For the cause, he's betrayed a good friend in Kira, for example. Physics and Engineer are required to bomb the wormhole. He can fly a small ship, so a Staff icon makes sense. And since he's not with the military, he's just a Civilian. Cunning and Strength are sensible enough, though I'd have accepted 8s. A simple, but effective design, but not original. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: CIVILIANs are well served in the Bajoran affiliation. For example, one may report for free each turn at the Chamber of Ministers if First Minister Shakaar is there, or to the Promenade Shops if you have Deep Space 9 in play. Keeve Falor makes his attributes 5-9-9, and that's without other Bajoran boosters (add War Room, for example, and he's 5-11-11). Resistance is another skill that affords Bajorans a number of side-abilities, from overcoming Palukoo to triggering Bajoran Resistance Cell's effects, not forgetting downloads to the Brig and The Earring of Li Nalas (add it to the formula above and he's 8-14-14!). ENGINEER and Physics make fine skills for missions and dilemmas alike. And you can build you Bajoran deck with a healthy dose of Treachery, since a good proportion of their personnel have the skill. Thanks to 2E, you can now swap one edition's Tahna for another, giving him a different mix of skills and attributes. Voice of the Kohn-Ma may be a bit better in some ways, and there's nothing truly outstanding about Tahna, but he can fit pretty easily into a Bajoran deck. A 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Not a good guy, but a good enough personnel.

#2447-Taylor Moore, Personnel, Federation, universal, DS9

"Typical of Federation security specialists serving aboard Deep Space 9. Had an encounter with an alien entity personifying Rumpelstiltskin. Likes dabo."

-SECURITY, Leadership, Archaeology; Staff icon

-INTEGRITY: 7, CUNNING: 6, STRENGTH: 8

PICTURE: Great expression on Moore, exasperated and trying to keep his mouth shut while escorting an undesirable. The shadows are a bit patchy, but there're nice, almost vortex-like, lines in the background. Distinctive enough for a 3.4.

LORE: The first phrase takes care of universality, and the last can be something that applies to all those universals. Only the second gives us a more specific instance. Of course, Taylor Moore (name invented) was in a lot more episodes than that, but it's fun to be able to spot a universal's episode easily for once. They probably shouldn't use the word "specialist" though huh? Manages a 3.

TREK SENSE: Your typical DS9 Security guy, he's a staffer that concentrates more on Strength than Cunning, keeping the above average Integrity prevalent in Starfleet. I'm not that keen on his 2 skills, however. Leadership is a sensible skill to give Security personnel, certainly because of its battle implications, but to give it to an extra like this. It just didn't seem like he was a leader, only a follower. Archaeology is also a dubious choice, since your "typical" Security guard probably wouldn't be that interested. I suppose the justification is that Rumpelstiltskin was a character from legend, but Anthropology would have fit just as well and covered dabo and the Bajorans on the station just as well. Missing the mark on skill choice, Taylor Moore can't get more than a 2 here.

STOCKABILITY: A universal SECURITY support personnel, with all that that entails, he's got excellent STRENGTH (well boosted by Lower Decks and War Room), the ability to initiate battles (when the Feds can do so), and the odd skill of Archaeology, which 2E has given more to do. Compared to other SECURITY-minded support guys, he's good enough. Gaffney will work better in a science deck (but requires an AU door), Jenna D'Sora and Obarakeh have the disappointing Music and much lower stats, Joseph Travis and Sito Jaxa has much less useful skills, Marauder's in the Mirror Quadrant, and Sarita Carson has better skills by far but not the high STRENGTH. Only Thomas McClure and maybe Tasha Yar are equivalent-to-better, but they're not universal. So he's got his place when the right deck comes along. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 11.9 (59.5%) Oooh, almost made it!

#2460-Tekeny Ghemor, Personnel, Cardassian, DS9

"Legate. Exposed his status as a dissident to protect Kira Nerys. Has Yarim Fel syndrome. Knows more about the Cardassian government than anyone alive."

-VIP, Leadership x2, Honor x2; May glance at any Cardassian player's [Hidden Agenda] card(s); Command icon

-INTEGRITY: 9, CUNNING: 8, STRENGTH: 7

PICTURE: Sober in color, but Cardassian architecture and fashion tend to complement composition well with their curves. It's the case here, and Ghemor's expression is a sad, resigned one. Nothing flashy, but a solid 3.4.

LORE: Taking equally from his two episodes, the lore is very complete. It even includes 2 useful keywords. A likeable 3.8.

TREK SENSE: As a Legate, yes, he's definitely a VIP with 2 Leadership and a Command icon. He's very influential, after all. As an exposed dissident, he should probably lose those traits, and by the time he confesses to Kira, he might not even have a purple border anymore. But we'll say he hasn't been exposed (by virtue of that Cardassian template). Honor x2 and extremely high Integrity mean that he still betraying his planet for a greater good. This requires immense sacrifice, especially when he is willing to put himself on the line for a Bajoran! If he's influential among dissidents, it's because he represents an ideal. There are other skills that might have applied (and even room for them), such as Diplomacy or Law, but we don't get them here. We do have an interesting special ability that represents his knowledge of Cardassian agendas. If the players are both playing Cardassians, we might take that to mean (all duplication aside) that they are playing different Cardassian "factions". If you have Ghemor, then he's in with the dissidents. In any case, he knows what all of Cardassia is doing, not just his current "caseload" and can look at so-called Hidden Agendas. When he does so at the expense of a tangentially Cardassian player (i.e. someone who has but one Cardie in play), that may mean that he has access to some Obsidian Order communiqué on the other side's activities. Simple enough to justify, and he has the Cunning to go with that long memory of his. Strength is a bit high though. He's a military man, sure, but now at a desk job, getting on in years, and dying besides. Some flaws, but a strong special ability gets him a high score of 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Excellent attributes, and skills that would give him an advantage stealing or playing Espionage on Federation and Klingon missions, but Ghemor is fairly one-note when it comes to mission solving. He does have a number of tricks, however. Honor x2 gives him access to No Way Out (making him worth an excellent 9 points if killed). He boosts Natima Lang since he's a dissident, and can himself be boosted by Leeta/Rebel Supporter (not an obvious match). I don't think Quark/Resistance Informant is worth bringing in for his ability though, nor Rom/Undercover Spy. As a Legate, he can be downloaded with Going to the Top, report for free to Central Command, and overcomes Executive Authorization. He's also an excellent substitute for Legate Damar when it comes to For Cardassia! Even has the skills to complete Secure Homeworld. And of course, there's the special ability that allows you to peek at your opponent's Hidden Agendas (a great help), but only of they have Cardassian cards in play. The Cardies were more popular before ore processing was curbed, but it'll work against players that have Micro-Wormholed Crell Moset, for example. You might get lucky, just don't count on that. Tekeny Ghemor is certainly a worthy personnel, getting a very good 3.8.

TOTAL: 15.1 (75.5%) Another good Cardassian.

#2473-The Three Vipers, Dilemma, space, DS9

"A shattered comet created a danger to ships and the Bajoran wormhole. The three silithium-laden 'vipers' had to be guided through to the other side, fulfilling a Bajoran prophecy."

-Ship damaged unless ENGINEER and 2 Navigation present. Even if not damaged, crew "stopped" unless SCIENCE, OFFICER and Astrophysics present. Discard dilemma.

PICTURE: A very nice effect, with the comet fragments looking in places like snake heads, so really a case of the effects supporting the dialogue well. A pretty 3.6.

LORE: The lore falls short of the title, being very ordinary indeed. Functional, but lacks the atmosphere of the whole prophecy thing. A plain 3.

TREK SENSE: Well, it's hard to see how The Three Vipers relates to its episode exactly. The title evokes the prophecy, but there's nothing about that here. The dilemma is better called Comet Fragments or some such, but still has no real relationship to the Wormhole (how could it, since it seeds anywhere?). The danger to ships is represented as damage unless the proper level of Navigation is on hand to avoid it (gee, was it moving that fast?), and Engineer to modulate your shields right if any of the comet matter hits you. Either way, there's a second part to the dilemma that's more concerned with preventing the comet from flying through your mission site, thereby delaying (stopping) your attempt. In this case Science and Astrophysics would be handy. The Officer is less obvious, but perhaps used to motivate the troops to do things faster, before the comet ruins everything. Then the Vipers leave on their merry way. Serviceable, but with too slight a relationship to "Destiny". A 2.9 as a result.

SEEDABILITY: A two-in-one dilemma that has an ok (but not great) chance of damaging a ship and/or stopping its crew (though it's not a wall), The Three Vipers could be reinforced with dilemmas that target SCIENCE and ENGINEER to give them more punch. The requirements should be easy to find, especially 2 Navigation and ENGINEER, so don't expect too much success unless you filter out a lot of personnel beforehand. With good companions like Unscientific Method and Make Us Go, you might have a better chance, but The Three Vipers were once more potent. These days, a 3.2.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) I long for something a little more Anthropological.

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