To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for The Dominion expansion set.

PICTURE: An interesting "mirror" to Office of the President, this image also features a discreet appearance by the Office's holder. And though the colors are basically your usual Federation beige, I'm glad for the spash of color in the center (now, that's a WEIRD potted plant). The atmosphere is closer to night than the President's Office's day, which is cool. In the final analysis though, this card's composition is haphazard and cramped. A 3.3.

LORE: Well, there's a lot of talk about the post of Proconsul, but not much about the facility itself. In fact, it really reads like personnel lore. I'm gonna have to give it thumbs down: 1.5.

TREK SENSE: Like Office of the President, I somewhat question the relevance of making the Office Headquarters for the entire Empire. I mean, compare it to larger centers of activity like the Chamber of Ministers or The Great Hall where a lot of personnel move about, and I think you'll see the way to go here was making the Senate HQ. Unfortunately, we've never seen it onscreen so... But the fact that the lore mentions the Senate, and that Decipher felt compelled to create a second Romulan HQ doesn't help ground the choice's appropriateness. That said, let's see who and what can report for free here. HQ cards are an obvious choice, since the decisions these cards represent habitually come from this Office. As for personnel, free reports usually represent personnel that are conceptually "already there". That's why I balk at making a single Office the HQ. I suppose we'll have to look at who visits the Office as much as who occupies it. Well, for that last category, there's of course the Proconsul himself, but also, from the events of Unification, Sela. Senators apparently visit the Proconsul to do some lobbying, makes sense, and since the Romulan Empire is fairly militaristic (which more easily explains the high Shields of this office building), so do the military high-ups (Admirals and Generals). I'm less keen on Tomalak's presence since he's only a Commander and should be on a ship somewhere, not influencing policy on the homeworld like those higher-ranked tacticians. Nice hommage to Picard's nemesis, but that's about it. Close to the middle of the road at 2.9.

SEEDABILITY: It's a good thing Decipher started making some very good Senators after this card came out, 'cuz the personnel that report for free were the slimest of pickings. High-ranked support personnel are still just support personnel (a nice euphemism for personnel with only two skills). And that's just what Alidar Jarok, Movar, Neral, Tomalak and Pardek are. They make up more than half of such personnel, the rest being substantially better, especially Letant, Vreenak and Cretak. The thing is, a lot of these personnel can be reported in some other way. All the support personnel are better kept for use with that Objective, mostly when you need extra Diplomacy. Sela, Tomalak and Vreenak can be downloaded to their ships with Ready Room Door. And Vreenak can also report for free to that other HQ, the Continuing Committee. One advantage is that you can use both HQs simultaneously to get two free reports per turn (so long as you have the personnel in hand), which is a speed boost, but you better tailor your missions to those skills the HQs call up if you want to really do this. If you're only going to seed one, go for the Committee. You can always use the Committee for personnel and the Office for simultaneous HQ card playing, and the Romulans will be interested in Weapons Platforms (who isn't?), Secure Homeworld (a fairly easy objective for them, but not really helped by the Office) and War Room. Nice SHIELDS anyway. And of course, watch out for those infiltrators. Listen, there's a reason most of the personnel in this list are getting low scores... The Office rates a little better at 3.4.

TOTAL: 11.1 (55.5%) The worst HQ?

PICTURE: Omet'iklan has that wounded look in his eyes you'd expect from someone who's seen his share of killing, but that's not really something you'd expect the Jem'Hadar to feel. Ever. Call it handsome nobility then. Not bad, but unimpressive, especially against this unassuming background. A 3.1.

LORE: A little more to say than your standard Jem'Hadar, but nothing very flavorful. You have to understand Jem'Hadar ranks not to be asking yourself the question "who was he assigned to after that?" Stiff and unremarkable, at least the Weyoun clone is identified as #4. A 3 here.

TREK SENSE: A Jem'Hadar First from the Gamma quadrant, he has all the right icons in place, and is also justly credited as an Officer. Leadership x2? Now, there I have a problem. That a Jem'Hadar, more or less under the thumb of a Vorta, should have more Leadership than your typical Founder is problematic enough, but this guy? Didn't he have to kill his Second because he kept disobeying orders? Doesn't sound like too charismatic a Leader to me! Just compare him to the heads of state and Captain Kirk-types that usually warrant the skill. Computer Skill is sensible enough for almost any 24th-century denizen, and nothing disproves it here. Astrophysics really isn't proven, so I sort of object, especially that his ideals might have warranted Honor (or Treachery, if you ask Weyoun) instead. A download of Victory Is Life would also have been appropriate, if only it had been on the table when The Dominion expansion came out. As for the special skill, it seems natural for the Jem'Hadar who led his unit against other Jem'Hadar and then killed his Vorta, but it doesn't easily pass beyond the veil of conceptualism. Case in point: The Jem'Hadar he battled had technically LEFT the Dominion and could have been considered Non-Aligned. Bigger case in point: Would you really believe Omet'iklan could lead his unit in a fight against a Founder? Or truly loyal Jem'Hadar? Not easily. So unless you invent all sorts of mitigating factors and rationalizations (as was done to allow Jemmies to attack Odo's runabout once), it just doesn't work. Attributes look good, no probs there. Overall, an unconvincing 2.2.

STOCKABILITY: If your Dominion is going to do battle - and face it, that's one of its strengths - then your battle-related cards shouldn't be wasted by your opponent also playing Dominion. You can access Defensive Measures with some of the Founders, but Omet'iklan has the built-in ability and it has no countdown icon. The battle ability isn't very limited either, affecting all personnel, ships and facilities at his location. As a battler, he's not bad, with his high STRENGTH. He's not a great mission solver, though his Astrophysics is good for universal space missions you might supplement your spaceline with, but he has some dilemma-passing power. 2 Leadership is always better than just one in these cases (Horta, Friendly Fire...), and'll also help against Tribbles. Computer Skill is one of those skills you can never have enough of. And Astrophysics has its uses too. You see the "x2" and "11", and you think: must have. But in Dominion decks, he'll only really be useful if you're running a battle strategy AND your opponent is playing Dominion too. Otherwise, he's just a guy. A good guy, but just a guy nonetheless, and not irreplaceable. A 3.4 from me.

TOTAL: 11.7 (58.5%) As disappointed as Weyoun must've been.

PICTURE: Though the Relay was basically a reuse of the Amargosa Observatory model from Star Trek Generations, I'll always see something part-hubcap, part-tractor wheel. Actually, I really like this image :-). Nice details, the yellow beam piercing through the night (with almost no visible stars to take away from it), and a dynamic composition. A fine 3.6.

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

TREK SENSE: As with any piece of equipment that plays on table then overarches all locations, there's gonna be problems. The Bajoran Wormhole-related function is the one that works best, and still it doesn't work THAT well. It works because there actually are Relays at that location, and though the real function of such devices is to enable subspace communication through the anomaly (totally ignored here), a side-effect was to keep the Wormhole always open just a crack. Of course, that side-effect was brought on by the comet now known as "The Three Vipers", not the Relay itself. Oops. Also, if the Relays can prevent the Wormhole from being downloaded, that implies they are present even before the Wormhole is discovered and opened for the first time, which just doesn't wash. If that was overreaching, what do you think I'm gonna say about the idea of Relays keeping Wormhole interrupts open? First, it requires us to believe that Relays can do what they say they do. Fine then, let's imagine that a ship could jettison a silithium (or whatever technobabble they used in "Destiny") trail while going through a Wormhole, then activating Relays would keep the Wormhole steady for as long as you sent data (just telemetry I guess) through the beam. Fine, but you'd have to react fast since Wormholes are anomalies you fall into unawares as you begin to move (played by opponent). And it would also require your ship to drop off a Relay just before it entered the Wormhole, then another when it came out again. Are ships equipped with these? Runabouts? As you can see, it's quite far-fetched. What's even worse is that if you use a Wormhole yourself (i.e. apparently know its location and destination), you can't use the Relays to make it permanent. It can only be used in the wild chain of procedures mentioned above. That the "space" between two Wormholes be 0 Range when you go through it the first time, then 3 Range once you've made it permanent is likewise unexplained. And I guess shutting off the Relays closes the Wormhole for good. I didn't mention the icons? Well, the Objective card type is a little off since there's really nothing to DO once this card is in play. In a better world, it would have been an Incident. The Hidden Agenda icon is useful within the game, but seeing as the Relays were a joint project between the good guys and the Cardassians, I'd say it wasn't too secret. Of course, the whole "I've got a couple Relays in the hold" strategy is probably the real Hidden Agenda. Bleh. And finally, the Ref icon is something totally outside the realm of Trek Sense, though I'll call it sensical if it actually does counter "cheese". In this case, the particular cheese is "field trips" which can be very annoying, and in fact, deadly with Time Locations and multiple quadrants. Doesn't rate very high. Just a 0.9.

STOCKABILITY: Counters a fair bit of cheese by turning those pesky Wormholes into permanent access ways. Your opponent may whisk you away to another quadrant, but you can always come back using the required 3 RANGE. That's great, and though there are other ways to come back from a field trip, consider that it takes 2 Wormholes (or one and a Space-Time Portal) to get back the same way you got there, or else you need to consider the different locations you might be sent to. The Gamma quadrant has the Bajoran Wormhole, Time Locations have time travel, and the mirror quadrant has loads of ways, but you must stock them. OWR remains the best way to counter this abusive strategy, and it'll also keep your opponent from recycling her Wormholes and re-using them on all your ships. You never know, the permanent Wormhole may actually benefit you if there are solvable missions on the other side. And though your opponent could use that Wormhole for her own benefit (tricking you into playing Relays so to speak), you can always put the Wormholes OUT-OF-PLAY (that's still unrecyclable) either trapping your opponent on the wrong side of the universe, or keeping her from her goodies on the right side. The Hidden Agenda icon is sneaky in that it allows your opponent to waste her resources this way instead of keeping the Wormholes for herself. The first function shouldn't be discounted either: For Bajoran Wormhole-centred decks, it can be quite annoying not to be allowed to download the second Wormhole (or even the first with The Emissary). Now ignore Computer Crash and get access to that other quadrant as soon as you can. This could be a good reason for the Dominion to use it for example, and the card also covers the Mirror Universe version of the Wormhole. You can never be sure that your opponent will try these tricks on you, and that always hurts a pure counter like this, but thankfully, it's got the Referee icon which means it's easy to get into play (downloads, immune to Computer Crash) and to recycle if things don't work out. A good, but overly defensive 3.9.

TOTAL: 11.2 (56%) Cheese counters rarely make a lot of Trek Sense.

PICTURE: The ultimate space snob's picture shows how haughty he is, but not much else. I suppose the brown bulkhead behind him matches the Dominion color ethic, but his eyes are centered on the card rather than being at ¾ (because of his big head), and that's bad composition. An average 3.2.

LORE: Lots of details for a walk-on part (i.e. a universal), so that's a nice change of pace for the Dominion (check every other Jem'Hadar). His universality is acknowledged ("typical"). "Well-versed in valuable metals" may be a bit of an understatement and is probably the weakest sentence used. Otherwise, no problems. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The Karemma are a little outside the Dominion machine, so Civilian suits Ornithar, though his almost supernatural knowledge of metals (he could tell what Kira's earring was made of on sight) at least merited Science. In fact, if he wasn't a universal, I would have fully expected him to have Geology x2, not just x1. Too bad, that. The Greed is a kind of downplayed Acquisition which suits him - he did accept Quark's deals probably out of Greed. His Integrity's middling, being loyal to the Dominion, but bending a few rules anyway. His Cunning's deserved just for the Geology stuff. But the Strength, the Strength seems a little high for a guy who just strutted onto the Defiant's bridge like some kind of soft aristocrat. The basics work, but let's say he's far from perfect. A 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Ornithar's main use is as a universal SCIENCE for the Dominion. Their only other such personnel is the universal Founder, and since you may be morphing them back and forth between various Founders, a steady SCIENCE may be useful. Indeed, of all of Ornithar's skills, it's the one that actually shows up on Dominion missions with any frequency. His Greed has its uses too, being very rare in the Dominion. Since they do a lot of battling, why not use Latinum Payoff in combination with Ornithar? There's also the 33rd rule for example (nice earring, now fork over the card draws). Geology is fast becoming as important to dilemma passing as Exobiology, so that's a keeper too. The problem with Ornithar though is this: Except for the SCIENCE, he's basically a toned down Inglatu. Inglatu has the same skills, the ever-useful MEDICAL instead of SCIENCE, Acquisition and the same attributes except for the STRENGTH which is at Jem'Hadar level! In all respects superior and still universal. It's up to you if you still use Ornithar for the SCIENCE (and he's immune to Unscientific Method too), but he really takes a drop here. A still useful, but replaceable, 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) And what's with that bird name?

PICTURE: Kinda creepy, huh? A good idea of what the Cardassians can do (never mind the Borg), but otherwise a pretty straight shot of the character. 3.4 here.

LORE: All three sentences make sense, are adequately written and tell some vital facts. Wish it'd explained some of the skills though. No more than a 3.

TREK SENSE: People in the Resistance obviously had Leaders (and Orta is one), so even if it's a Civilian organization, they would still have Command icon personnel. Orta's in the clear on all those counts. I unfortunately can't make sense of his Science skill. Does hiding in cave systems somehow account for it (like a more general Geology)? I don't think so. Cybernetics for the maintenance of his voice synthesizer might have been more appropriate as a third skill. As for the special skill, it's a litte too wide to be acceptable here. If his hatred of the Cardassians accounts for it, then why aren't they the only targets of his Strength minus? I also wonder how this minus is transmitted. It's not a personal Strength boost, or even rallying the troops, it actually affects opposing personnel. Is he so disfigured that the opposing force (no matter how large) is completely disconcerted? Hard to believe. Then again, that's the best explanation for it. Terrorist sabotage is a more conceptual one. Ehh. Attributes are better, with Cunning perhaps a little exagerated. The Integrity is that of a terrorist, but one we believe to be on the "side of good". Half and half on this one - a 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: The Bajorans aren't exactly pushovers. When it comes to personnel battle, they can hold their own. One of the tools for doing so is Orta whose -1 STRENGTH to all opposing personnel effectively makes him a STRENGTH 9 personnel. (Though math whizes tell me a minus to opposing STRENGTH is better than a boost to your own.) Now, add War Room (+2), Keeve Falor (+2 since he's a CIVILIAN) and Shakaar Edon (another +2), and he's a STRENGTH 15 personnel! And all those boosts also affect the rest of his party. Who needs hand weapons? He can still initiate battle thanks to his Leadership, and I bet both that skill and SCIENCE will come in handy during mission attempts. His CIVILIAN status makes him score double points at a Colony, a Colony he'll defend much more easily with his skills and friends. Well-suited to battle decks. A 3.7.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) And remember, using the Communications drone overlay works great on him ;-).

PICTURE: The Jem'Hadar are almost gargoyle-like in this image, and though I think they almost blend in too well with the background colors, I really like the beach and the way the idea of a Garrison is communicated. A good 3.8. (Yes, despite the third Jem'Hadar who has an absurdly big nose.)

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

TREK SENSE: The idea is as natural as they come - if you set up a Garrison at any particular mission, you can defend that location from would be trespassers, keeping them from solving the mission or from scouting like a big fat wall dilemma. In fact, any affiliation has a right to fight your guys to overcome that "dilemma". This is a little iffy though, since I don't think the Federation would attack a Garrison with so slight a provocation (depending on the urgency of the mission). The Borg would though. So what IS a Garrison? Well, you must keep a certain number of cards at the mission to act as one, or else you have to discard the objective. At a planet, that means soldiers, best exemplified as Jem'Hadar of all kinds and Security personnel. Jem'Hadar are mostly Security anyway, but extending it to Officers (seems natural enough) makes me wonder why other affiliations don't have similar dispensations. Indeed, naming the entire species also allows Young Jem'Hadar (Civilians!) to act as a Garrison. At a space mission, you need a small blockade of 2 staffed ships. That's minuscule if the ships are shuttles, but big enough if they're Galaxy class ships. I'd say the card suffers from the number of different ships and personnel that could be included or excluded from the Garrison, but is otherwise quite good at storytelling. A cool 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: A somewhat cool way of keeping your opponent from attempting a mission or completing a Borg objective, this card nonetheless comes with a heavy price. You have to keep no fewer than 3 SECURITY personnel - or Ketracel-addicted Jem'Hadar - on a planet at all times, or two ships in space. That's a big commitment, and you might actually need a little more than that if you expect your opponent to attack you and bump off one of those cards, discarding Post Garrison in the process. I'm talking hand weapons at the very least! Is the benefit worth the cost? All depends. You can use the objective to keep an opponent from solving his artifact-laden mission, or the one with a lot of points, or your homeworld while you scramble to get what you need to Secure it, or something equally mouth-watering like Search for Weapons. Will your opponent take the bait at your homeworld and allow you to flip HQ: Defend Homeworld for that massive download? A calculated risk. But at a homeworld, one with a Headquarters, you would more readilly have the required personnel present, so it might just be worth it. A heavy stalling engine that certainly won't be for every taste. I think a 3.5.

TOTAL: 15.6 (78%) A lot of good design elements resist the Rolodexer's wrath.

PICTURE: Just looks like some kind of u-boat marooned on a rock doesn't it? In fact, if the lighting wasn't so stark, that's exactly what it would look like. Except maybe the asteroid looks a little fake. Not very attractive, but at least it's in space where all outposts are reputed to be despite their landbound pics. I still have difficulty getting over how dull it is, so a 3.

LORE: Gee, not even a mention of the Dominion in the first phrase? The very generic "Gamma Quadrant space facility" is really misleading. Of course, the Jem'Hadar are later mentioned, but still. A slightly below average 2.8.

TREK SENSE: The Dominion are so pervasive in the Gamma quadrant that their outposts can seed anywhere there. Of course, that isn't strictly true, but I will believe that Dominion troops can be mobilized to quickly take over any sector in the GQ. Like other outposts, it still cannot be built at a homeworld, which is somewhat of an internal error. Sure, a Headquarters is at the homeworld (if used), but why couldn't there be a Supply Depot in orbit? Seems to me the Founders are security-conscious enough. Since it IS a Supply Depot rather than a strict "Dominion Outpost", it should contain supplies. These supplies are represented by equipment which seed there. If hand weapons had been included, the facility would have been an "Armory" instead. In any case, the function would mostly be used to get quick Ketracel-White, and in fact, Ketracel-White makes the perfect Supplies, since the Ketracel "equipment" can be refilled here. And as a small facility with a more limited function, it cannot repair ships. I don't think it should, no. Very nicely done, and the Shields make sense too. Despite the fact that advanced military affiliations usually get a 32, the Depot is much smaller, so 30 is fair. A good 4.3.

SEEDABILITY: The Dominion has a strange facility arrangement, forcing them to use different cards depending on quadrants, as well as to repair ships. The Primary Supply Depot is the original in the chain, starting out in the Gamma quadrant no matter what. Remote Supply Depots in the Alpha quadrant must be built later (starting there might require a Neutral Outpost or other "neutral" meeting ground). You might think The Great Link is the real way to go in the Gamma quadrant. After all, it has free reporting. However, since you want immediate access to Ketracel-White as soon as you can, I would definitely invest in a PSD during the seeding phase. Unlike the Link, you can seed it practically anywhere in the GQ, and seed as many as 3 Ketracel-White cards there along with it. Even if you start reporting Jem'Hadar and not send them on their way, the Ketracel won't count down until it's taken off the facility as it resets constantly (the Link has a similar ability). I guarantee those resets are going to be useful, especially if you don't stray too far from the outpost. Go home every couple turns to reset that KW! Admittedly, if running a basically Alpha quadrant strategy, you're gonna want to establish Remote Supply Depots instead, but you gotta start somewhere, and the Primary Depot will make sure you start off with the life-blood of the Jem'Hadar. You can do without it if necessary, but I wouldn't recommend it if using the GQ at all. An important 4.5.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) They don't call it Primary for nothing.

PICTURE: What I find a little sad about this wide expanse of stars is the absence of cargo ships. We have plenty of precedent by now to include ships on mission cards and nothing. I understand that they would have had to be either Fed or Cardassians or whatever in the pic, which would have cause Trek Sense problems, but not necessarily as you'll see under Trek Sense. I do appreciate the rings of space dust which create a kind of "pass" to run the convoy through. Certainly more interesting than the Typhon Expanse at 3.3.

LORE: Nothing wrong here. The system mentioned makes this mission from "Rules of Engagement", creating a good context for understanding the card. A fine 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Let's start with the affiliations listed since their disparity begs the question as to whose colony is suffering here. A Federation or Cardassian one? Well, the mission being based on that of "Rules of Engagement" tells us this occurs during the Klingon-Cardassian war of the 4th season, so the Cardassians are probably the ones actually suffering, with the Feds providing humanitarian aid. After all, at this time, the Feds and Cardies had a Treaty. The Dominion's appearance is more suspect perhaps, but the Cardassians did get into bed with the Dominion during this conflict as well. So while, the Feds and Dominion would not be working side by side here, if you make the colony Cardassian, they could pick their other ally to Protect the Shipment from the Klingons. That would require any firepower (Weapons) of course, and I suppose a strong enough ship (higher than 9 Weapons) would be enough (the Defiant, for example). Leadership is required to initiate battle, so I imagine it would come in handy here as well. Add a couple of fine tacticians (Security) to help in strategy too - though here, you encounter the problem that not all Security personnel are tactical personnel. Medical is there to look after the medical supplies. Honor seems a little superfluous finally, because I don't really believe the Dominion would need it to accomplish its mission. It's all political to them, not a question of humanism. Points and Span look fine for this kind of mission. Good, but not perfect, at 3.8. And no, it shouldn't require a cargo ship of some kind: the Shipment is included with the card.

SEEDABILITY: The Dominion is gonna have little trouble coming up with the SECURITY and WEAPONS, or the Leadership and Honor for that matter, in their Jem'Hadar forces, so only the MEDICAL will not be immediately present on any given ship. For the Federation, I'd say they have a couple of nice ships that can do the job unenhanced, plenty of MEDICAL, Honor and Leadership and even SECURITY these days, so no problem there. The Cardassians get the short end of the stick with only one ship with natural WEAPONS higher than 9, the Keldon Advanced wich requires special staffing, and few MEDICALs, especially good ones. (That's probably why they need help from their allies in the Trek Sense storyline.) It'll be hard to get all the requirements in only a few personnel, especially the MEDICAL/multiple SECURITY combo, but some have the right stuff (Legate Damar, Kira, a couple Tashas and Ramata'Klan come to mind). All in all, I don't think this is the most efficient mission, with relatively few points for the number of personnel that might be required to complete it, and ship attribute reduction dilemmas might all be piled up here (so you might us it as a lure for them). It's not even too good as far as skill redundancy goes. Only a 2.9, sorry.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) Did fairly well by my rules.

PICTURE: A nice green planet, perhaps overgrown with vines and such and hiding an ancient civilization. It's nice, but a little nondescript. A 3.3.

LORE: Hur'q. I love that sound and even the way it's spelled. Hur'q. As for the lore itself, it doesn't quite make clear that the Hur'q are the plunderers from a long time ago, so leaves you with the question of why you would look for artifacts plundered from here, well, here. The mention of the Sword is interesting, and I do appreciate the mention of "other artifacts" for game sense purposes, but the syntax is a little off. Cute title, by the way. A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: While this is an obvious Klingon mission in the Gamma quadrant, I could see the Ferengi going after "other artifacts" (and even that one since it IS in the title). The Cardassians? I don't think they would be any more interested in a possible Klingon artifact (remember the title!) than, say, the Romulans or Federation. They aren't here for any Trek Sense reason. The card screams for some kind of Sword of Kahless connection, but there's just no guarantee that "useful" artifacts (those made into cards) would be found here. Maybe that explains the high point value. 40 points would represent a substantial archaeological find and is a better way to interpret the potential lack of artifact cards here than giving someone 40 points for finding nothing. Span's good, though the Quest might have merited a 5 instead. It's in another quadrant anyway, so I'm not complaining. As for requirements, Archaeology is a must, of course, with Science and a tricorder reprensenting Dax's part in the episode. That would be getting around an ever-shifting forcefield featured in the show. The only problem here is that "any" tricorder means you can use a Medical Tricorder to do the same job as some other, more appropriate, type. Strength would be required to survive the caves and their pitfalls perhaps, though I suspect the dueling team led by Toral may have something to do with it. As for Honor (Worf) and Treachery (Toral), it may depend on who gets the Sword... either method could work, but while Honor has a rightful place in getting the Sword and surviving its influence, Treachery doesn't. Why is it NECESSARY for finding the artifact cache? I'm not convinced that it is. All in all, a good effort, with a couple of points that don't resonate well. A 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: While Klingons had a somewhat viable Archaeology deck available to them already, it may not seem like the Cardassians and Ferengi did. Through Uncover DNA Clues and Hunt for DNA Program, they sort of did, but Archaeology would only net them 85 points. They needed another mission. That that mission is in the Gamma quadrant isn't such a disadvantage, but it isn't an advantage either. The Klingons will have a better time of it solving DNA Program directly and following up with Quest. That's 95 points plus whatever bonus points you can get (like with an endgame Arbiter of Succession or Klingon Death Yell). The Ferengi are actually better off Bribing their way into DNA Program, the Cardassians better off playing Espionage there, and then flying directly to the Gamma quadrant. After that, a dead Aamin Marritza will top things off for the Cardies, and I'm sure the Ferengi can find a number of ways to do the same. Requirements aren't difficult to come by either as the Ferengi will have no real trouble with the STRENGTH requirement which would usually be their Achille's heel. They'll compensate anyway by downloading the tricorder beforehand with Gold-Pressed Latinum. All three affiliations have enough Treachery and/or Honor to satisfy the last requirement anyway. It's also a fairly safe place for a Forced-Labor Camp. A strong showing at 4.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) Not as epic as I would have liked, but useful.

PICTURE: Cutting off the top portion of a Jem'Hadar's head creates an odd, but not uninteresting, effect. The ridges go up and away from the face, but never return, and there's something of a sea monkey in Remata'Klan. The golden colors also make him regal, or at least charismatic. A nice close-up at 3.8.

LORE: I liked this Jem'Hadar enough as a character to want to hear more about him, but I do agree those two sentences are most important to understanding his story. A competent 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Though only a Third, he was thrust into the First's position (without actually gaining the rank) thus earning his Command icon, Leadership and Officer. The Security seems to indicate that he was just a soldier before his two superiors were killed and so retains those skills even while enjoying the "promotion". His dealings with Sisko indeed deserve both Honor and high Integrity. Indeed, the fact that he figured out Keevan's strategy was garbage would account for the high Cunning as well, AND the download of No Way Out. That card basically says that if you keep fighting in a hopeless (read: suicidal) cause, you may earn points for bravery. Remata'Klan is really the best man for that download. Everything checks out except for Physics. I just can't get my head around the reason for the skill. Sure, Jem'Hadar seem to have various random skills bred into them by the Founders, but I'd like to see an actual relationship with the show next time. Why not Diplomacy instead? That would have been interesting on a Jem'Hadar. That small flaw keeps the card at a still high 4.3.

STOCKABILITY: High attributes throughout - which isn't rare for Jem'Hadar - and a dual-classification makes Ramata'Klan more than a little stockable. Sure, the Leadership and OFFICER both allow for battle initiation, but Leadership turns up on dilemmas and missions too. Remata'Klan's skills, though rather common in the Dominion, all converge on one personnel to make Protect Shipment and Military Exercises real easy. Physics also finds its way on an important Dominion mission: Construct Depot. Battle-related special downloads are great at introducing an x-factor and Remata'Klan has a special download for No Way Out which can be used to your advantage. Your opponent won't know until it's too late that you're on a suicide run because you can suspend play just before your Jem'Hadar dies to reap the rewards of its INTEGRITY. That way, if you see a good opportunity for points and you haven't gotten to play the card yet, you can grab it at the opportune time (and it'll play for free too). You have to include a couple cards to make the most of him, but he'll fit into many assault teams regardless. A 3.7.

TOTAL: 15 (75%) Finally a Dominion character I can root for!

PICTURE: Where do I begin? Showing the Depot from farther away may make it more "remote", but there's entirely too much wrong here for a positive review. It's the exact same Depot shown on Primary Supply Depot, but that's not a problem since the one in the episode was in the Alpha Quadrant, so it WAS a Remote Depot. Fine. The Attack Ship hides the outpost more than helps it, though you could say it's getting re-supplied. The worst thing though, is the asteroid. Those signal lights look like little wheels or something. Just the fact that you can't see the facility very well hurts the card plenty without all these other distractions. A 1.9.

LORE: Well done, despite the smaller space allowed. The emphasis may be a bit too much on how recent the Depot is rather than how remote. Finally, the mention of other quadrants is good, but as the game text indicated, the facility may still be built in the Gamma Quadrant. Iffy in spots, so only a 3.

TREK SENSE: The Remote Depot re-inserts most outposts' problem of being easily built by a single Engineer into the concept. Primary Depot didn't have that. At least, the facility is in space like it should be (unlike most affiliated outposts). That it cannot be seeded, only built, confirms what I was saying about this really being a Recent Supply Depot more than a Remote one, and nothing stops an Engineer from building one right next to the Founder's Homeworld. What I like is that it actually SUPPLIES equipment and Ketracel-White (which, I realize, is equally equipment). Equipment cards report for free, and Ketracel prescriptions can be "re-filled" here. And like the Primary Depot, it can't repair ships. That's just not its job (unless you add a Spacedock), and furthermore, really doesn't look equipped to do so. Small facility, small Shields, again like its Primary counterpart. They're actually only on the low side for an aggressive military affiliation, which the Dominion is. A couple more problems than PSD, RSD still gets an impressive 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: The opportunities in the Gamma Quadrant not being that big, your Dominion will probably move to the Alpha Quadrant soon enough. Once there, you're going to need that Ketracel-White reset to keep your Jem'Hadar from each other's throats. What better way to do that than with the easily built Remote Supply Depot? Not only will it reset K-White, the White also reports for free there. So will hand weapons and Jem'Hadar Birthing Chambers for that matter, so your Young Jem'Hadar (later fully grown universals) can show up armed and filled with White in record time. The Remote Depot is so easy to get too. If in hand, any Dominion ENGINEER can build it, including a number of Alpha Quadrant personnel and some infiltrators, so you don't really have to start in the GQ. But if not, it can be downloaded specifically at Construct Depot (of course) when solved, or by completing Subjugate Planet. The Depot is a reward in these cases. Don't want to truly work for that facility? It can also be downloaded by that ENGINEER with Ultimatum. That card'll also get you a Birthing Chamber and Ketracel-White as a starter kit (or whatever two equipment cards you need). Establish Dominion Foothold will give you the facility plus 5 starting equipment cards in either the Alpha or Delta quadrants! Voyager isn't a five affiliation quadrant anymore! (You'll have to report your initial personnel with Birthing Chambers though, as the Outpost won't be in its home quadrant.) If the Depot can't repair ships on its own, tell yourself it's still an outpost on which Spacedock can be played. Too bad it can't be seeded, disallowing Spacedoor to work in combination with it. That's a small thing compared to how easily it'll allow you to swarm various spacelines. A 4.7 for the Dominion.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Managed to recover from that lame pic.

PICTURE: Yay! Another planet. This one is certainly the right color for the desert we saw in the show, so I don't see any problems with it. A competent 3.1.

LORE: The mission isn't the Federation's, it's the Dominion's. That, in itself, is a cool way to go about it, and the lore is perfectly stated for that. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Well, it seems like Kilana was destined to fail on that particular mission, as she doesn't have the required skills (doubt those Jem'Hadar had any Diplomacy). And Diplomacy is an important aspect of this mission, since the Feds aren't usually inclined to trust the Dominion. Medical is to take care of the rescued Founder. Lots of Strength is required in case Diplomacy doesn't work, to take the ship by force, or to supply weight to the diplomat's threats. Cunning lends the appropriate craftiness to your Dominion team, since you don't want to reveal that a Founder is at stake. Given the importance of the objective, I don't know why the mission isn't worth more points, nor is there any real reason why the Span had to be so large. Where the mission fails however is in what is missing. Mentioning the Federation specifically makes us wonder why the Feds can't attempt the mission from the other side, for example, and why no Founder download if the mission is successful? In the greater storytelling scheme, that hurts. Still, an adequately presented mission at 3, but I can't give it any higher.

STOCKABILITY: There are currently 13 missions you can put in the Gamma quadrant (with points), and this is the only one the Dominion can attempt! Ouch! Talk about having nothing to do at home! Those 30 points then, along with a possible HQ: Secure Homeworld ans Subjugate Planet, are the only big points you can go after without leaving the quadrant. Well, that can be enough! Personnel reporting in the GQ, at a Primary Supply Depot or The Great Link, for example, may want that possibility while they wait for further forces to go through the Wormhole, or as a fallback plan in case the Wormhole gets closed, one hopes, momentarily. And it's not particularly difficult, since Eris and Gelnon (or 2 Erises) can provide the necessary skills, while a contingent of as few as 4 Jem'Hadar (less if armed) will get the attributes to the right levels. Many Dominion decks quickly get to the Alpha quadrants (either through Alpha cards, Ultimatum or what-have-you), so those paltry 30 points aren't so attractive to them. Neither is the long Span which may slow down your opponents (especially with the even longer Intelligence Operation), but would do the same to you. So I'm of two minds on this one. I guess it depends on your strategy as Gamma quadrant decks (making use of Subjugate Planets and such) will require it. A fair 3.6.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Pretty bland, mostly due to a conservative design approach.

PICTURE: One of the great things about being a shape-shifter, apparently, is tha ability to perfectly match one's clothes to one's lipstick color. But seriously folks... Though I've often bashed beige TNG backgrounds, this one has interesting linework (more liquid and thus more appropriate) and is much darker, lending itself well to other earth tones present. I don't like the plunging neckline here (you won't hear me say that often) because it oversaturates the image with the bright pink of her skin. Just too much contrast there. In all, I give a 3.5.

LORE: Lots of information given in telegraphic style. Nothing really captures the imagination, though of course I appreciate the fact she's a shape-shifter, I like how she hasn't yet united her people (we never do find out what happens to these guest stars) and I see "romatically involved" has here been supplanted by the more adolescent "likes". That's all good enough for a 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Being the leader of a world certainly warrants the VIP, Diplomacy and Leadership. I think the Anthropology and Exobiology should be quite useful to a shape-shifter, especially one that could move about so easily aboard a human ship and one who was probably trained in such matters from birth. You need Youth to fall for Wesley Crusher, but she also admitted to her young age (it's not just appearances). And the attributes? They all look fine, even the high Strength given that her girlish form is a bit deceptive. (Though if she was so strong as a young woman, why turn into a Guardian-like beast when she wanted to fight? Even stronger there, I imagine.) There's really nothing wrong with Salia, and I can't even whine about a missing special download since she didn't do anything card-worthy with her powers for the entire episode. Still, no real sparks, so a conservative 4.2 for her.

STOCKABILITY: 5 skills, high enough attributes AND a Non-Aligned shape-shifter everyone can use? She'd be pretty good if it was only that, but she's more. At first glance, she can fit in many affiliations' decks thanks to her common and highly redundant skills (Diplomacy, Leadership) and rarer dilemma-passing ones (Exobiology, Anthropology). Though demure, she can lead your forces into battle and won't be defenseless herself. Throw in some shape-shifting cards for further abilities. She can expose infiltrators with Caught Red-Handed, escape death with Flight of the Intruder, morph from an Equipment card with In the Bag, stun opposing personnel with Strike Three, boost her STRENGTH with The Guardian, and avoid personnel battles with You Dirty Rat. She's also immune to Assassin's Blade and Organ Theft. Now add her nursemaid Anya. If Anya is reported first (and with Defend Homeworld, she can be reported VERY first), she can download Salia. From then on, she can take Salia's place in random selections, protecting those skills from harm (especially from such things as Angry Mob and Misguided Activist). Since the two can play together so easily, Strike Three will do much more damage when both are present too. As for Howard Heirloom Candle's ability to shut down Salia's morphing... ARE YOU KIDDING??? Who stocks that thing? Ok, despite her bad taste in boys, a useful 4.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) A long time coming, but pretty much worth it.

PICTURE: Just a brown planet. I hope that's some kind of atmosphere, because it doesn't look quite liveable. If it is, it goes with the security aspect. A 3.

LORE: Plain, simple, but with no mistakes. Hard to ask more from mission lore in most cases. A 3 then.

TREK SENSE: Attemptability icons may be an issue here seeing as the episode this is from ("Return to Grace") takes place prior to the Dominion allying itself with Cardassia. If there were Dominion people at this meeting, why wouldn't the Bajorans have warned us in advance of a possible alliance between the two powers? Short answer: Everyone was wiped out by the Klingons. But that's not going to happen here I hope ;-). Actually, Dukat made the overtures to the Dominion government later, so that can't be it. The long answer is more satisfying: The same Cardassian planet may have been used for a Bajoran meeting AND for a later Dominion meeting, since the Doms were helping the Cardies with their Klingon problem. Of course, that doesn't jibe with the System 5 stuff from "Return to Grace", but what can you do? As for the requirements themselves, I think 3 VIPs is a bit much for a single delegation (only a rare Away Team will include members of all three listed affiliations). Diplomacy is a must in any Bajoran-Cardassian joint venture, though only 2 are required (again, the VIPs' three). Security provides just that for the diplomats. I might have thought some "intelligence skills" would be required too, but if you only attend, the intel info may be coming from another source. The Security may in fact be supplying this aspect. Lukewarm on these. And that special game text? The Disruptors were salvaged from the remains of the settlement, but this would mean the Klingons DO attack and you don't lose your VIPs. It's the same circuitous logic. Who's the genius who would purposely equip passing ships with planetary weapons? I don't mind, but I'm not enthusiastic about it. And that goes for everything about the Trek Sense. A 2.8 from me.

SEEDABILITY: Each of the listed affiliations has its strengths here, but this mission shoudn't be difficult by any means. VIPs very often have Diplomacy anyway and the SECURITY is just a plain old classification, easy to find in any Away Team. Dominion players always have Diplomacy-conscious Vorta and SECURITY Jem'Hadar in their team. The Bajorans are heavy on VIPs anyway, and won't have trouble scrounging up the requirements. The Cardassians have the only SECURITY VIPs that can attempt this mission (Enabran Tain and Legate Damar), so they're much more efficient at solving the mission. So it's an easy 35 points. One of the weak points of System 5 Disruptors is that it's an event, slow to play except on the Groumall. Fine, here's a mission where all your freighters can be outfitted with System 5 technology for free. Even if you're not from one of the listed affiliations! Now, all three of the listed affiliations have freighters which might benefit from this AND they can attempt the mission for its points. Want to play with System 5 Disruptors with an outside affiliation? Go for it and stock some Espionage or Bribery cards. In combination with freighter missions, not bad. A 3.5 here.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) Has its head above the water.

PICTURE: Decipher better have an "It's a FAAAAKE!" card coming out some day, otherwise they really wasted a great photo opportunity for Vreenak. The pic they did choose highlights just how over-made up this particular Romulan was and has little of interest in either foreground or background. A rather dull 2.6.

LORE: Like many high-level politicians, Vreenak seems to have a lot of things on his plate, many of them mentioned. No mistakes as far as I know and all interesting, though a bit dry. 3.3 here.

TREK SENSE: Senator equals VIP and certainly Leadership, though I'm not sure why they skipped on the Command icon. He didn't need it to staff the Romulan Shuttle, but he did "command" his bodyguards at least. His negotiating the non-aggression pact warrants Diplomacy, as would his later willingness to talk to Sisko. Usually, they seem to keep intelligence skills at the doubled level for the actual heads of those organizations. For the Tal Shiar, that would be Koval, but Vreenak may be second-in-command (vice-chairman) and gets it too. He's no simple operative, so I suppose that's ok. In his talk with Sisko, we got the impression he had studied up on Federation mores (Anthropology) and that he was an able lawyer (Law), twisting arguments around, etc. The Law would also come in handy in hammering out (and/or interpreting) treaties. Anthropology would allow him to better negotiate with foreign powers. And since he dealt with more than one of those foreign powers, the Treaty he can download could be of any origin. That's a bit wide, but would explain both the Romulan/Dominion Treaty and possible Romulan/Federation Treaty he was willing to consider after speaking to Sisko. His key position may make him the perfect negotiator in any Treaty talks. Loyal to the Empire and not particularly treacherous (he was the VICTIM of Sisko and Garak's treachery), he gets high Integrity. The Cunning is the Romulan normal and deserved. Strength is a little low even for a desk jockey given the Rommies' stronger physiological attributes. A couple of questions, but for the most part an excellent effort at 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: There's a lot to recommend here. For solving missions and passing dilemmas, he's got the all-around useful Diplomacy, the somewhat rare (and Guardian-friendly) Anthropology and very rare Law (one of only 2 Romulans). Add to that the equally useful Leadership which also allows him to initiate battle, no Treachery and high INTEGRITY which is rather unusual and a double dose of Tal Shiar, and you have quite the Romulan main. He has all the perks of any Tal Shiar personnel, from Brig downloads, Advanced D'deridex staffing and Flaxian Assassin doubling to Defensive Measures, free Espionage manipulation with Plans and reporting to his comrade Koval. There are also a couple dilemma and mission possibilities for him including good ol' Earth's Espionage Mission which he can solve alone (having played the Espionage for free with Plans). As a senator, he can also report for free to the Office of the Proconsul or download to a facility with Going to the Top. He's matching commander of the cloakable Romulan Shuttle, boosting the small craft to 9-6-6 (still modest but a little better) and download there via Ready Room Door. Even with small attributes, the ship will remain protected thanks to its cloak, and that Plaqued RANGE of 9 is great for taking advantage of Engage Cloak. One of the problems with Treaties is that to make your card play count, you almost have to really mix up the personnel which, if the Treaty is later nullified, will definitely cause problems. Result: pure decks are more common. Vreenak makes at least a couple Treaties play for free - Romulan/Dominion according to the card itself, and any other as a special download - so that you can justify the inclusion of just a few personnel to supplement your strategy. For example, you could just get yourself a Breen Warship to defend your borders, or get just enough [Orb] personnel to Return Orb to Bajor on a side-trip from the Neutral Zone. Possibilities abound, and you needn't feel inefficient because you used a Treaty for just a handful of differently-aligned cards. I've seen people speak of Vreenak as the very best Romulan personnel. If he isn't, he's not far from it. A 4.5.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) No fake.

PICTURE: Those Founders coming out of the Great Link are kind of creepy, aren't they? I like the image as far as the changelings go, but I have to question a number of things. One of them is the color scheme which is ridiculously deep, especially the greens (is that the same turf used on train sets?). Another, and a more important one, is that the Founders pictured are not shape-shifting as it is described in the game text (that is, not morphing from one Founder to another). That is gonna hurt even though I do like the special effects here. That's a 2.4, folks.

LORE: Mentioning the Great Link is an obvious attempt at explaining the less than appropriate picture, but you can't argue with the rest of the lore's logic. A manipulative 2.8.

TREK SENSE: Founders can become anyone (other changelings, like Odo, are not so successful at it). Now, while Impersonate Captive seems to translate this ability into game terms, Shape-Shift does it too, except with "pre-made" Founders. Since the inifltrators at least are like the pre-fabricated counterparts in a sense (Founder is not necessarily a specific individual, but a persona it may take on, just like those of Impersonate Captive). In other words, infiltrator Founders are basically Treachery-laden duplicates of the imitated personnel, and not "individuals" themselves. In those situations then, it works. Founder Leader wants to befuddle the Bajorans, she turns into Kira Founder, etc. In cases involving only non-infiltrators, it DOESN'T work. Universal Founder becoming Founder Leader for example, can't even be explained with all that "ocean becomes a drop" double-talk. And I'd say it would be a similar situation if a universal Founder became, say, Lovok Founder (which is fine) and then turn into Founder Leader (not fine no more). The exchange/discard to download option is simply a price put on the download and is pure mechanics. No problems there. Nor are there any with Amanda Rogers ignoring this biological process. Works as far as you don't use those nasty exceptions, so a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: A card that certainly makes the Founders in your Dominion deck more flexible. Have one, but would rather have another for a particular mission attempt or to infiltrate the affiliation facing you? This is the one. Of course, the universal Founder can already morph in this fashion, though Shape-Shift adds the very useful download option. This does discard your previous Founder, but I think there are enough recycling methods to attenuate this disadvantage. Using the universal Founder's ability in combination with the similar (non-download) Shape-Shift function can be a good way to make the most of your switches: Founder naturally morphs into Odo Founder, then Shape-Shifts back into Founder who can then morph again into yet another persona. Founder Leader's special download of the card can actually make the card playable in response to dilemmas, suspending play while you turn into someone who can pass the thing, or download Flight of the Intruder (i.e. Leyton Founder). Speaking of Leyton Founder, Shape-Shift allows you to perform a neat trick with him, reporting him to Earth, Shape-Shifting him into another Founder, reporting him again, etc. You can get your Founders directly to the Alpha quadrant this way (perhaps to solve Espionage Mission). The Feds and Bajorans have the most to fear because even an infiltrator can become someone else, suddenly bringing new abilities and downloads into play. In the right hands, this can be quite dangerous and/or useful. Enough tricks for a 3.7.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) Not necessary, but a nice option.

PICTURE: Very moody and atmospheric, Prin is almost not a Cardassian from what is seen here. In fact, I'm always surprised by his actual appearance when I see him in his lone episode. But this isn't a problem, quite the contrary: Throughout the episode, he remained a mysterious figure. We shouldn't be able to truly make him out. A grotesque 3.8.

LORE: Everything fits, though we might have expected more justification for his skills. "Twisted" is certainly a strong epithet here. Well done at 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Even during the Occupation, he was only a manservant, so his Civilian classication isn't something new. The rest of the skills have to do with his murder of various Shakaar resistance cell members. Treachery is an obvious one. Smuggling would have been used 1) to get all that equipment to his DMZ abode and 2) to smuggle bombs and such back to Bajor and Deep Space 9. Engineer was used to build the deadly devices, and Exobiology shows an undertsanding of Bajoran physiology. That last one is thinner than others, but was demonstrated, for example, when he wanted to cut Keiko's baby out of Kira. That special skill, built around his Nemesis icon, may show a little lack of foresight from Decipher (Kira should have naturally sported it in Deep Space 9), but while continuing the theme of revenge, doesn't quite work. The reason is simple: He killed from a distance, not by being "present". Of course, killing from a distance wouldn't work as a Nemesis icon since it couldn't possibly work both ways (i.e. killing Prin). And since he DID bring Kira to him, and it was gonna be one or the other, I guess we can accept it. But it's slim. Integrity is pretty on-target for a psychotic individual like this. The high Cunning required to pull off some of those murders. And Strength matches that of a strong but mutilated domestic. May be missing a Staff icon, but I won't quibble too much. A fair 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: Using him as a Shakaar killer would be a mistake. First of all, that Nemesis icon works both ways, and with a potentially large number of icon holders (Kira Nerys, two possible Shakaars, Furel, Lapuza and universal Gantt), he's got a better chance of dying from it than they do. Of course, that's IF your opponent is using the Bajorans. Of course, if using Bajorans, I'm sure people like Kira Nerys and First Minister Shakaar will be featured. Thankfully, Silaran Prin has a good number of skills. CIVILIAN is nothing to cheer at, but ENGINEER makes up for it (one of the better classifications/skills). Treachey can serve the Cardassians on a number of missions. Smuggling is a rare skill (only 3 Cardassians have it) yet is featured on 4 of their missions. It'll also allow him to report to Cargo Bay to use hand weapons to make cargo runs, an important ability. Finally, Exobiology is also relatively rare, but more useful in the dilemma category. Unstellar attributes for the most part, but very high CUNNING. Silaran Prin has a number of things going for him, though the special skill is something of a two-edged blade. A 3.6 here.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) Not so damaged here.

PICTURE: While I do like some elements such as the sparkly fire bottom left, the image looks like a background detail in that it's not particularly well centered. The arcing electricity is standard special effects (pretty intense in spots), but the set itself isn't very inspiring. A haphazard 2.9.

LORE: Tells the story well enough, but the last sentence is a little weak in its choice of vocabulary. Title's a little specific for something that's just as likely to be used by Cardassians. I'll stick with 2.9 here.

TREK SENSE: Shortcircuiting the computer at Ops results in somewhat different effects than those seen on the show. Deep Space 9 was still commandeered, and I have no idea if it could be moved or not, but if the thrusters are disabled by this, why not the Weapons and Shields? Unfortunately, the computers aboard ships and facilities don't really have a Cunning attribute so that disabling them isn't mechanically easy. Rather, we could look upon any activity requiring Computer Skill as requiring working computers. Commandeering is a computer-related task, so ok, no commandeering. Reaction Control Thrusters is an Engineer-related activity, so not necessarily covered, but I agree that you wouldn't be able to move the station without the computers too. In any case, if the station can't be commandeered, intruders will be able to do very little with the Nor, so most activity is out of the question even if not explicitly stated on the card. Still, the more "cosmopolitan" sites seem to be quite immune to the computer's crash, but I don't think Quark's was too affected on the show, so ok. 4 Computer Skill is all you need to fix it all up, about four times what you need to commandeer the station. I'm okay with that too. That Kevin Uxbridge doesn't give a hoot about this is normal since it's a defensive card, and he would be more aggressive against offensive/abusive Events. The Hidden Agenda is a great touch that makes the Subroutine dormant until required. Does pretty well, even when I tried to shoot it down. A 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: Yes, purely defensive, but if a Nor is the cornerstone of your deck, you probably should seed it just in case. The problem is this: Many sites allow opposing personnel to report to your facility and if done so early enough in the game, the ones with Computer Skill will only have to run to Ops to take control of your station and really hurt your plans. It's not just Garak's Tailor Shop, but Quark's Bar, Guest Quarters, Promenade Shops and Cargo Bays. The Subroutine allows you to use the benefits of these without the fear of imminent takeover. Now, your opponent can't count on an early turn Computer Skill draw (or Isolinear Rods download of a x2) to snatch away your Nor. They'll have to bring Computer Skill x4 to Ops, and by that time, you'll have your own personnel aboard to oppose them. This'll work as much for DS9/Terok Nor as regular Nors and Empok Nor. That last one starts off uncommandeered so if you want to be its owner, you better protect your interests. I'd feel better about the card if there were a throwaway function in case your opponent doesn't show any interest, but it's still a strong, albeit defensive, 3.6.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) As long as no one implants this in MY computer.

PICTURE: I like the deep blues. They're relatively rare on our images, and set a nightly atmosphere appropriate to the Sleeper chambers. Atmosphere goes a long way to rehabilitating what is basically an unbalanced set shot. A 3.4.

LORE: The first sentence explains the danger quite well and with a minimum of verbiage. The second makes sure to mention Empok Nor allowing this dilemma to seed there. Very well done at 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Requiring a site or planet thankfully doesn't make this a true space dilemma. Any sleepers would have to have been left on a facility of some kind, which precludes their existence on your own ship. There is a way to explain that (they're among cargo or something), but you have to stretch logic (not as much as certain episodes however). The same could be said of planets! While a Empok Nor is a fine place for this thing, some planets may not be. How did the Cardassians leave sleepers in other quadrants (hmm... the only way to survive after Caretaker kidnapped them?) or worse, on other people's homeworlds (the formerly-occupied Bajor aside)? Let's say the location for the download is a little too broad and leave it at that. You get to wake up up to 3 Cardassians (the number apparently usually left) to battle (yes, they may initiate combat during opponent's turn) intruders to their former facility. It's a good idea, and relegating the Cardies to faceless universals is also good (can't have a mover and shaker asleep for that period of time), though there's no real reason why they can't all be the same. Of course, some universal Cardassians are NOT psychos or even military men. Think of Hogue and Rekelen, for example, or Ulani Belar. A hidden hand weapon does not a psycho make. Besides, the psychos don't have to stay that way and can join your personnel later. And while the Alpha Quadrant has no other affiliation/species who would do this, the DQ has the Vaadwaur. They couldn't be mentioned here (too early), but here's hoping they'll be Sleeper Trap-friendly if and when we do see them. Ambitiously tuned to the game's mechanics, it fails in a couple spots, but is still strong at 3.5.

SEEDABILITY: Sleeper Trap's functions are multi-fold. You can use it as a straight dilemma, downloading an assault team to opponent's Away Team a bit like Scout Encounter does with ships. The three Cardassians can attack right away or remain out of harm's way, depending on your strategy. A Dakol is recommended in this case, having STRENGTH 12 with a Disruptor Rifle, though other Cardies have relatively good STRENGTH. On a planet, this works fine, but on Empok Nor, not only can it stop your opponent's commandeering attempt, but it can be turned in your favor. Simply add a Computer Skill personnel (Ari, Rekelen and Telle each have it), and you can commandeer the station yourself. If you can see or guess where your opponent will seed their Nor, you can use those same Computer Skill personnel to commandeer that station. You can seed this yourself if you're using Empok Nor, but if you're playing Cardassians, you already have access to Nors. This doesn't mean your Feds, Klingons, etc. can't use 3 Cardies to simply stop opposing personnel. Just put them on a Non-Aligned ship later and have them roam the spaceline as hostiles. Your seeding it where you have your own Nor can be used just to get 3 personnel and a weapon quickly (that works as much at a space mission where your Nor is present, as on a planet close to your other cards). Your opponent need only attempt the mission. If they aren't playing Cardassians, you can always get through the dilemma yourself (if you need to solve the mission and don't care about the downloads anymore) without a hitch. An aid to Cardassians, and if Empok Nor wasn't really built for them, other strategies make it worth its 3.9.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Ferengi will no doubt use Ferengi Infestation instead.

PICTURE: Far from as menacing as Altovar, he looks like a plastic action figure with a swivel head. Boring background, boring oversized costume, a boring 1.9.

LORE: Aside from the odd repetition of the word "Sword", this is pretty much by the book. Adequately done, with good mention of universality. A 2.9.

TREK SENSE: A mercenary could be considered Security, yes, and as an underling, the Staff icon is well placed. Since he worked on the side of evil, Treachery is appropriate, though mercenaries almost by definition work for money, and Greed is sorely lacking here. As for the Empathy, I'm not sure what to think. Telepathy is Empathy x2, and any more limited kind of Telepathy is represented as Empathy x1. Now, Altovar has a telepathic attack which does not mean he could read minds, but Soto really did read Kor's mind! Is that not Empathy x2? Sure, the proximity required might impair it, but a close contact mind probe is what Mindmeld actually is. But since there's no melding of minds - and it would be taboo to put the skill on a non-Vulcan anyway - Soto can't get that particular skill. Maybe Empathy x2 would have been the better compromise. As for the nullification of Lethean Telepathic Attack, I don't quite see where it's going. His presence does what exactly? Stop another Lethean from zapping someone by saying "they're with me"? Doesn't sound like a mercenary action to me. Is he supposed to be the dilemma's Lethean then, keeping himself under control and not attacking? Doesn't work either. I could see his being immune because of his species (though Altovar certainly isn't), but not his nullifying it. Integrity and Cunning look about right, but the Strength? Dax seemed to have no trouble at all keeping him under control, and the best he did was zap a very drunk old man. Drop that to a 6! Doesn't get past the bare essentials. A 2.

STOCKABILITY: Soto has the distinction of currently being the only Non-Aligned universal Empathy personnel, which does count for something. Empathy dilemmas are a pain, and most affiliations do not have ready access to them. You could always use unique Empaths, but only Soto and Altovar aren't VIPs or CIVLIANs (who are actually getting better with such cards as War Council). Indeed, the pair provide a number of useful skills and classifications to your mission attempt, especially in the area of passing dilemmas. Soto even nullifies one specific dilemma, but that isn't so great. It only gives him the equivalent of one extra Empathy (see Trek Sense above) and is one dilemma among dozens used in today's environment. That extra skill dot takes him out of the support personnel pool, so in a sense, is a liability. But aside from that, excellent Empathy, good Treachery (fits in with many affiliations' missions) and useful SECURITY. STRENGTH is competent though other attributes are rather lackluster. Soto was created to fill a niche and he does, but his special skill is something of a waste. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 10.2 (51%) Empathy x2 would have solved so many problems... (though he would have had to be unique).

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