First
Contact expansion, 130 card expansion (40 common, 40 uncommon,
50 rare) sold in 9-card booster packs (5 common, 3 uncommon, 1 rare)
Average Picture Score: 3.42 (5: Don't Call Me Ahab!, Espionage Mission)
Average Lore Score: 3.7
Average Trek Sense Score: 3.51 (5: Disengage Safety Protocols, Retask)
Average Stockability Score: 3.76 (5: Adapt: Negate Obstruction, Establish
Gateway, Nine of Eleven)
PRODUCT CONCEPT: Taking all cards and concepts from the same movie isn't a new idea at Decipher, who were pretty much doing this with their early Star Wars expansions, an experiment that did show it was possible to cull a large set from a single feature film, though it was more of a problem to represent certain needed effects with the pool of onscreen images. First Contact certainly had one thing going for it: the Borg. This was a still-undone affiliation (the first new one since Premiere) that featured a lot of "personnel" in the one movie. The expansion thus becomes a Feds vs. Borg expansion with lots of cards spent on detailing the Collective and what it could do, and then some material to do with Cochrane's first contact with the Vulcans. Admitedly, there were few missions to be extrapolated from the movie, and certainly no noun cards for the Klingons or Romulans, but Decipher still did a good job making verb cards that would be useful to the two affiliations (in addition to NA cards). There was another, more practical, point to making this expansion, and it was to revitalize a game that hadn't seen an expansion for a loooooong time. Part of that refit was to change a number of rules and make the game more playable. It was a good way to go about it since 1) the Borg were going to necessitate a large number of new rules, and 2) they were piggybacking on a hit film, so new players should have been attracted to the game (and old ones tempted into returning). The concept is surer from a marketing standpoint, and a little obvious as far as expansion concepts go, but if you're going to do the Borg, what better place to start from? A 3.7. Don't think this could be done with any other Trek film.
PACKAGING/LOOK: This is the first expansion to make boxes and booster packs with pictures, a vast improvement over the dull blue pack with small icon in the center. God, those were terrible in comparison. The Borg Queen takes center stage on the pack, with a pretty alcove shape going up into the logo. The palette is a simple, but pretty, and at the same time creepy, green and black combination. The booster box is even better with its pop-up jettisoned Sphere. Again, the same colors pop out at you. On the sides of the box, rows of drones look a lot like paste-work, but are an interesting element nonetheless. Fun too that the box and booster don't share any elements except the basic colors. Each box had a large, fold-out Rules Supplement (and Card List), in full color. Necessary at this point, it fit right in with the rest of the gorgeous package. Oh, and it has that Borg vs. McEnroe joke, if you're looking for it, as well as the never-made card, Upgrade Starship. The cards themselves are overall of better quality than previous expansions'. The printing process has evolved and changed, and movie-quality images are generally better than those pulled from The Next Generation. Certainly, the design and effects of the feature film are better than those to be found on the television series, and that shows. Visual Easter Eggs are gone as of this expansion though. Not really missed, there were still fun to catch. An excellent, and for its time, eye-popping, 4.2.
DISTRIBUTION: With this expansion, Decipher changes to a 9-card booster pack format - 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 5 commons - from the previous 11-common versions. This was great because the three previous expansions had yielded boxes upon boxes of less-than-stellar commons. At the same time, usefulness and rarity were brought a little closer. Gone were the common missions (usually starting from uncommon from this point on) for one thing, and in First Contact, many common slots were taken up by the Borg drones you would need to build a large and flexible Collective. This is also the first expansion to have a larger number of rares in comparison with commons and uncommons. 10 more, in fact. More cards is good, more chasers isn't that good, but First Contact also had what could be considered a flaw in its sorting process. You see, the same order of rare pretty much ruled the boxes and so only rarely did a box yield two of the same rare. With any luck, you had a full collection with only 2 boxes! Enhanced First Contact would eventually force you to buy more First Contact boosters (though with a use AS boosters), and this often after your FC collection was complete, but that's not really the problem of the main expansion. FC was easy to complete and didn't yield an excess of useless cards. Bottom line: a 4.5.
NEW ICONS, CARD TYPES & MECHANICS: This was the first expansion to add an entirely new affiliation to the game, and it did so with style. The Borg don't work like any other affiliation, have their own icons and mechanics, even a new card type in service to them (the Objective)! The expansion also took the time to change a number of rules, changing things from the size of your deck to personnel battle, even the way you seed missions and win the game. Some of them would eventually be changed again, but these are the first changes to the basic rules. And there's more! Time locations, Countdowns, Hidden Agendas, regions, mission specialists, Quadrant icons and persona replacement... they all start here, and more! I won't discuss each change and clarification, but the major ones are below with all the totally new stuff. Special downloads and Nemesis icons were discussed in the Fajo Collection Extra. Skills on Espionage Mission and Primitive Culture, like FCA and Obsidian Order are considered to be broken links at this point, and will be discussed when they appear on personnel for the first time.
30/30 Rule
Trek Sense: Deck size has always been entirely mechanical, but
it's a big universe, and I'd rather not see limited deck sizes. The 30/30
rules makes it more flexible, but also tells us that 1) there's a minimum
amount of resources the characters can bring to bear (true: the Star Trek
universe is one where the characters have a lot of tools at their beck
and call), and that 2) there's a maximum amount of trouble they can get
into (more or less true: episodic television, the format Star Trek usually
fits in, can only throw so many dangers at the principals). Seedlings aren't
just dilemmas, of course, and the rule is also meant to limit the number
of resources in play at the start of a game. Still mechanical, but with
its heart in the right place. A 2.5.
Usefulness: Makes a big difference, since some decks are better
padded to the gills, and others as sleek as possible. The point is, now
you get a choice in the matter. The minimums/maximums are reasonable and
would later be made to exclude missions and up to 6 sites in the seed total
to accomodate more. In a way, it gives life to "just-in-case" cards that
used to be excluded when you didn't really have the margin to include them.
For the deck-builder, I see this as a 4. [Average total: 3.25.]
Attacking and Retaliating
Trek Sense: Three real changes/additions at this point. One
is the decision to allow the Feds to initiate battle against the Borg,
but the Borg against no one. Indeed, it's clear that the Federation feels
threatened by the Borg and could attack as a matter of course (though few
ships would want to go up against a Cube). The Borg, on the other hand,
are meant to be disinterested in fighting unless their current objective
makes it a necessity. That seems to hold true especially in personnel battle
where drones will simply ignore intruders until they actually break something
- a case can be made for the rule. The second point worth mentioning is
that attacked ships no longer need a leader to return fire. Leaders are
still needed to initiate a battle, but they are meant to supply authorization,
not battle ability. As such, any crew should be trained enough to defend
a staffed ship or their Away Team. A fine decision. The third point is
that an attack is now worth two reactions. The first, as always, is returning
fire. This mechanic used to be called retaliation. In Trek Sense, it simply
means that initiating an attack leads to a battle, and in a battle, there's
a chance the attacking ship will also suffer damage. Now, the next step
in retaliation is on the defender's next turn, a chance to also initiate
an attack (really, a counter-attack) regardless of affiliation restrictions.
You just attacked my people, ship or facility, well, I can get revenge
by doing the same thing - to any of your cards at this location.
That's how the world works folks, and Star Trek works the same way. Has
more depth than the Premiere rules, and mostly Sensical from where I'm
standing. A 4.5 for the lot.
Usefulness: The Feds can battle without the need for extra cards
now? Yes, if only a single affiliation. Cool, since they have some of the
best ships (except the Borg have even better ones, though the smaller vessels
make fine phaser fodder). For the Borg, it complicates things a little
more (now they know how the Feds felt all those years). Battles are made
riskier by all the new rulings, of course, throwing such strategies for
a loop. Used to be that attacking an Away Team without a leader cost them
a personnel automatically, and a leaderless ship was automatically damaged/destroyed.
No more, which is a good thing for the victims. So how do I rate something
that kills some strategies, but allows you to breathe more easily if you
would have been on the receiving end? Taking it from an overall point of
view, it's better this way. Not going overboard with a 3.5. [Average total:
4.]
Borg
affiliation
Graphics: (See below for Subcommand icons.) The Borg were meant
to be different from other affiliations, and the first step was giving
them a very different template. Gone is the classification box, and all
the text is white on black, meshing well with the oxydized gray template.
The gray works because of the metal aspect of the Borg's implants and ships,
while the black is a direct link to their armors. Could there possibly
be a link between the white on black of Q-cards and the Borg's? Remember,
it was Q who introduced Picard to the Collective. As for the affiliation
icon, it features the cybernetic "claw" first seen in "Descent". We don't
have anything else, and it's a fine, dangerous icon, but at the time, it
was associated with Lore's Rogue Borg. I think we've seen the icon in later
Borg stories though, so ok. Not quite 2E-level, but at the time, this was
quite dramatic. A 4.1.
Lore: An odd category to include, but I've got to give the Borg
a high mark here. Again in order to set them apart, all drones, pictures
of conformity, have the same form-lore: Identification, Task and Biological
Distinctiveness. The last is pulled straight from their "attack speech",
but since species is irrelevant to the Borg, it seems needlessly confusing
to mention it. What really impresses me though is their titles. Whether
you place the cards in alphabetical order of title (Two of Seventeen or
whatever) or of Identification (in this case, Unity Drone), that order
will be the same. As more personnel were added, this became increasingly
impressive, and I also like how drones of the same group ("of Seventeen")
are usually from the same scene or (later) episode. Great stuff, even if
I've never been able to remember drones by their numbered names... A high
4.8.
Trek Sense: We've got a lot to cover here. To the Borg, a lot
of things are "irrelevant". They don't attempt missions, for example. I
think they could've had their own missions (as they do in 2E), perhaps
supplemented by Objectives. Well, they still go after planets and locations,
but in a different way. Bonus points are irrelevant because those are mini-missions,
again off their radar. The same can be said of mini-failures (negative
bonus points). Gender and species are irrelevant because drones have lost
their former identities. Yes, ok, but isn't the Queen obviously a female?
Wasn't she part of a Romance or Love Interest dilemma? Doesn't jibe, but
she IS an enigma, isn't she? The Borg are in general pretty asexual. Cooperation
is irrelevant and it's true that except for that one time when Voyager
forced their hand, they don't mix with non-assimilated personnel.
-The Borg Outpost: At this point, there was no Delta Quadrant to speak
of. The solution to the DQ-based Borg was to make the Borg Outpost an odd,
unatainable conceptual location in the DQ. No problem since no one had
visited the DQ yet, and certainly, the locations of the Borg homeworld
and outposts were unknown. Borg ships always came out of nowhere. With
this scheme, they still do. The mechanics governing this were sound. Where
other outposts could be built where a matching affiliation icon was present
(ridiculous when the world clearly belonged to another power), the Borg
Outpost can be built on an assimilated planet. Now, that makes sense.
-Borg ships: As seen on TNG, Borg ships' shields do not stop transporter
beams, so why not allow intruders to just beam over? (This ruling was eventually
reversed.) The point boxes on the ships are a clever way to say that the
Borg are actually a challenge to other affiliations. Defeating them counts
as a mission of sorts. Staffing is insured with subcommand icons, not the
regular staffing icons (see below).
-The current Objective: It's ridiculous to think that such a large
Collective could only do one thing at a time, only have one Objective.
See, this isn't limited to a Hive, it's a limit on the entire Collective.
You could argue the unrevealed Hidden Agendas are Objectives kept in mind,
but in reality, switching requires a card! It's true that the Borg are
very single-minded, and I can't really fault the mechanic when looking
at First Contact, since all actions were really done in order to Stop First
Contact.
-Scouting: (Probing is handled below.) Scouting is the way Borg eliminate
resistance at a location in order to complete their Objective. It makes
sense that the Borg would encounter the same dilemmas (minus a few of the
irrelevant ones) at these locations. The El-Adrel Creature isn't going
anywhere, after all! The single scout stuff for planet missions (since
reversed) is a little odd. It fits the "scout" theme, of course. A scout
is someone you send ahead to check things out, and we've seen this kind
of thing from the Borg when, for example, they boarded the Enterprise to
take a peek at its computers (matches the description of scouting ships).
Nothing on a planet though. And while I understand that a drone is irrelevant
fodder to the Collective, it still seems foolish to beam down drones one
at a time after the initial scout gives either the "ok" or the "danger"
signal. Scouting space locations is more normal.
-Abductions: The Borg have a type of capture called "abduction" that
works fairly well. They grab someone (as per a card that allows them to
do so) and may beam away with them (see "The Best of Both World"). The
abductee is then "escorted" and can be moved around like equipment, to
an Assimilation Table, for example. They are considered disabled as the
Borg seem to put them under some kind of trance (a pacifying implant, maybe?),
and cannot be rescued in the same way as captured personnel. These are
flimsy distinctions, but they hold up when you watch the shows and film.
-Assimilating personnel: An important part of the Borg experience is
assimilating people and technology, so it's gotta be well done. Obviously,
an assimilated personnel becomes Borg (add icon, forget about its gender,
species, name, lore, former affiliation, misc. icons, and restriction box).
Borg don't have classifications, so the classification becomes a skill
instead. Fine, though I wonder what Civilian means to a Borg drone. The
new drones are assigned to a subcommand (gaining the appropriate icon)
in accordance to their general abilities. Command personnel were good at
giving orders, and there's Communication in that. Staff help a ship function
and fly, and Navigation is strongly linked to ships. The rest get tossed
into the cannon fodder as Defense drones. The maturation chamber'll make
even the smallest child dangerous. We've never seen an assimilated Animal,
so they are off-limits, as as holograms, on which flesh cannot be grafted.
(Mechanical beings like Data get biological implants, apparently.) Should
changelings be excluded from assimilation? Some say yes, but we have no
evidence either way. The review for Assimilate Counterpart covers personnel
assimilation with that Objective in mind.
-Assimilating ships: Changes made are similar to personnel assimilation,
though in this case, we must reexamine the icons. Command icons on a ship
mean that the vessel is bigger or has more complex technology aboard. When
Borg, that ship needs better Communications to coordinate its proper staffing.
Staff icons are the generic ship staffing icon, and Navigation is very
directly ship-related. Other icons becoming Defense icons is a default
position, and not really Sensible. I can understand an Alliance or Terran
icon getting Defense's teeth, but why the Starship Enterprise? Note that
carried ships are equally assimilated, which isn't a problem since shuttle
systems are usually interfaced with its mother ship's (whereas most personnel
are not).
-Assimilating planets: A few rules affect an assimilated world. Among
these is the fact that the Borg aren't interested in Artifacts and will
leave those lying around (until they get to it with the appropriate drone).
Sure, ok, things are irrelevant until they're not. The other effect of
note is that everything on the planet is equally assimilated. People, ships,
facilities, equipment, everything. Well, you're not just assimilating the
rocks and trees, are you? Assimilated equipment can be more readily called
impounded since most items won't help the Borg at all, so it's a bit of
a bummer they don't really assimilate and use the technology.
-Overall: Pluses include very good assimilation rules, a way to score
points that isn't too divorced from other affiliations', but still has
its own cache, and a clever solution to the Outpost problem. Minuses? The
since-changed planetary scouting and the hovering question about why the
Borg had to be so different from the others. I think 2E's proving that
you can make the Borg work within the rules rather than with completely
new ones. I also want to mention the Collective/Hive distinction, which
is interesting and gives the cards some added flavor. That all amounts
to a score here of 3.8 for the affiliation as a whole.
Usefulness: You know, this became the affiliation for skillful
players who wanted a challenge and a change from the same old affiliations
that were in the game since Premiere 3 years earlier. In unskilled hands,
the Borg can be very difficult to win with, even though many new cards
and rules changes in The Borg expansion have made them much easier to play.
In skilled hands, watch out. They can report through massive downloads,
hide their "missions" from their opponents, have access to massive ships
and can take away opposing cards and use them rather than have them discarded.
On the other hand, their objectives tend to have points lower than missions',
their personnel have lame attributes and not all skills, they leave behind
low-point missions to be stolen, and initially, they were slow and vulnerable
to scout planets. Note that the problems all have counters or fixes now,
but when First Contact came out, you had to make do and be sure your Interlink
drone and Adapt cards were on hand. They rely perhaps too heavily on the
Queen. Victory often relies on loading your deck with good probe cards,
so big decks are the norm, and few non-Borg cards get stocked. Still a
niche interest, the Borg are nonetheless a powerful bunch. There are Borg
players, and then there're the rest of us ;-). Hard to give a score to
an entire affiliation, I'm going to have to go with a 4. [Average total:
4.18.]
Borg
use only icon
Graphics: Just a small boxed-in Borg icon. Makes sense, and
the square shape is easy to discern, but possibly confusing. A simple 2.4.
Trek Sense: Since the Borg have been made into a really different
affiliation, and one that doesn't cooperate with others, it stands to reason
some cards would have to be made that only worked with them. Even with
Seven of Nine, the Feds aren't meant to Activate Subcommands or Adapt.
Slapping an icon on those cards means "only the Borg do this", and it's
true. Can't argue with it, but not too impressed by its logic either. A
4.
Usefulness: The icon comes into play in few instances. As a
probe icon, certainly, it indicates "collatoral damage" on Eliminate Starship
(damages another ship present), but that's it. Otherwise, it indicates
what Events and Interrupts the TB Borg Queen can download, those cards
that Fifth can return to hand, and what Equipment 1 of 11 can download.
Generally, the icon allows the Borg to fiddle around with their special
cards, and protects those cards from the havoc visited on less crucial
cards of the same type. No real big deal, a functional 3.5. [Average total:
3.3.]
Captain's Orders
Trek Sense: "Captain's Orders" are a special subset of various
verb cards that are meant to be used in conjunction with Ready Room Door
and cards that implicate a matching commander. Just a little more juice
to give captains, it's just what you would today call a keyword, and in
general, they've been attributed to cards that sound like orders (Red Alert
seems to have gone missing though). A simple 3 since it's unloaded.
Usefulness: The list of such cards: Divert Power, Blue Alert,
Yellow Alert, Captain's Log, Lower Decks, Senior Staff Meeting,
Crew Reassignment, Defiant Dedication Plaque, Duj Saq, Establish Landing
Protocols, Mission Debriefing, Tactical Console, and Deactivation. Now,
what are they good for? Well, having the keyword means the card can be
downloaded via Ready Room Door (sometimes jump-started by Make It So),
and protected by that doorway too. A Command OFFICER can also download
Captain's Orders to hand from the Commander's Office on a Nor. Oh, and
let's not forget James T. Kirk's open-ended special download. Enough to
recommend a score of 3.8. [Average total: 3.4.]
Countdown icon
Graphics: A number in a green box. I get that the number is
necessary, but the icon itself is deadly dull. A 1.5.
Trek Sense: Some effects last longer than Interrupts, even longer
than "until the end of your next turn", but aren't permanent. Other effects
only happen at a time later than their being triggered. Language on cards
had always been rough when it came to larger amounts of turns. The Countdown
icon simply skips all of that and presents it more simply. No more, no
less. A 3.
Usefulness: The icon per se has no real utility aside from it
brings a card's effects. There are no ways to play around with a countdown's
length or anything. Not through the icon anyway. A 1 for the simplicity
it brings. [Average total: 1.83.]
Delta Quadrant
icon
Graphics: That's the Greek letter Delta (capitalized) in blue
over a black background. Other quadrants would follow this design and be
assigned Greek letters as well. Simple, classic, it gets 3.2.
Trek Sense: The Alpha Quadrant doesn't have an icon, because
the normal spaceline is actually a mix of Alpha and Beta, and we can't
really tell which, but the DQ as seen in the show isn't spatially connected
to the Alpha-Beta spaceline and deserves to be apart. The icon on a personnel,
facility or ship means those cards are native to that quadrant, and must
report to that spaceline unless allowed to do so elsewhere (like a ship)
or some other way. Makes sense to me. The Voyager crew and other lost souls
does present problems, but since that crew is considered to be stranded
at the beginning of the game, that's where they should start. Personnel
that were in the DQ less than a moment before being killed by the trip
shouldn't have the icon, but they usually do. That's a problem with those
cards. Here, we get a sensible 4.
Usefulness: More of a limit on what you can do (the Quadrant'll
get its own review in due time), the icon does feature on a number of cards.
The Nekrit Supply Depot can be built by a Non-Aligned DQ ENGINEER, DQ Klingons
can be discarded for points at Establish Settlement, DQ personnel can be
seeded at Prison Break, Caretaker's Array seeds a DQ ship and some of them
can use Home Away From Home, and DQ facilities can harbor a War Council.
That kind of thing. The best thing about the icon though is that you can
Scission DQ personnel and ships to great advantage. That alone makes the
icon worth a 4. [Average total: 3.73.]
Downloading
Trek Sense: Downloading is where one card or situation's possible
consequence is another card, and you actually get to bring in that card
without having to wait for it to come into hand and then play. It's the
ultimate logic booster in the game. The mechanic itself takes its name
from a computer operation, so it isn't alien to the world of Star Trek,
using the draw deck (and sometimes hand) as the computer banks from which
you draw information. A really good 4.9.
Usefulness: Where would 1E be without downloading? There are
so many cards that download others, usually with little cost, that it's
gotta be one of the game's most important mechanics. Why else would Computer
Crash try to stop it? And Shape-Shift Inhibitor ask you to pay for downloaded
personnel? Well, I've got some news for you. It's so important that few
players will handicap themselves with those counters (that also affect
them) for any great length of time. While it's still taken hits, getting
what you need when you need it is just too good, and cards that cannot
be downloaded sometimes get my thumbs down simply because of that. And
let's not forget that after every download, you have to shuffle your deck.
That can be a useful tool for rigging probes, etc. A 4.8. [Average total:
4.85.]
Enigma icon
Graphics: A 6-pronged star, it's meant to play off a similar
black "wingding" that means "universal". No real relationship to any kind
of enigma I know of, I guess it could be a black, radiating star, something
of a paradox. Or it could be a symbol for "winking out", representing the
Queen's seeming ability to be there but not there, in a way teleporting
her essence across space. (Hey, I think Three-Dimensionally, so sue me.)
Enough hints here to get us to 2.8.
Trek Sense: They say the Queen (and I guess the Unicomplex)
is neither unique nor universal, but it seems like a convoluted idea for
only a couple cards (the fantasy of Fontaine not withstanding). You can
still only have one Queen, so she's basically unique, right? How is her
survival after "The Best of Both Worlds" (if she was really there) any
different than any personnel death followed by a re-reporting of that personnel's
second copy? There is none, and it's all zen nonsense. A 1 for the concept.
Usefulness: Cards that affect unique or universal personnel
specifically, don't affect the Queen. For example, she's immune to Framed
for Murder or the Tantalus Field, but she can't use Lower Decks either.
The icon does show up as a probe result on Harness Particle 010, I dare
say a rare one, but not the only way to "achieve perfection". And well,
that's it. An extra immunity to some cards (especially dilemmas) for the
2 personnel who have it, so that's worth 3.7. [Average total: 2.5.]
Enterprise-E
icon
Graphics: It's the current Starfleet insignia. Always on blue
templates, it lacks constrast and really isn't all that interesting. Maybe
2.7?
Trek Sense: It's pure hogwash. It's meant to represent the ability
to staff the Enterprise-E, and only the -E. what's so different about that
ship that you need a special icon, and one only given to high-ranking officers
too. Special new technology? Not really on show. And what about ships that
came out at the same basic time or even later than the -E? They don't require
these icons, nor are their crews saddled with them. Even worse than this
implausibility is the idea that it doesn't "contain" either a Staff or
a Command icon. So E-E Picard can't possibly staff a Galaxy-class ship
anymore. Ridiculous. All it really does is encourage the use of the right
crew on the Enterprise-E. That's all there is to it. That storytelling
tool only gets us to 0.5 because I can't really suppress my annoyance here.
Usefulness: Thankfully, the icon is for more than staffing the
Enterprise-E. It'a good ship, don't get me wrong, but the trade-off of
requiring an icon that can't possibly staff other ships was grating. Crew
Reassignment does allow E-E personnel to replace Staff icon personnel,
so there's a fix there. A better one may be using the TB version of Deanna
Troi who has all E-E personnel add Command. Unfortunately, that would mean
switching back and forth between that Deanna and the rather useful FC version!
Another downside to the icon is any ship those personnel are on can be
stymied by Abandon Mission. Oh, and it's a nasty probe result for My First
Raygun, and targeted by Don't Call Me Ahab! Sheesh! The saving grace then
is Make It So. It's a useful card, and in the hands of Picard (on the E-E
or Stargazer) or Data (on the Sutherland), it never need discard after
its effects. As you can see, it's mostly a disadvantage! A 2. [Average
total: 1.73.]
Expansion
icon
Graphics: The tiny Borg Cube is perfect for representing this
affiliation, although it does look a little like a die (as in dice). I
like the change to expansion icons that don't really do anything and am
sorry to see them gone. A cute, but not really detailed 3.2.
Usefulness: Only very seldom have expansion icons shown up in
game text. Captain Proton is one instance. For First Contact, there are
none. Still, I now all-too-fondly remember expansion icons as a great tool
for collectors. One look and you knew which expansion a card belonged to.
Plus, they were a FUN part of collecting. The basic score for this is 1.
[Average total: 2.1.]
Hidden
Agenda icon
Graphics: The icon is basically a shot of the back of an STCCG
card. Makes sense, since it allows you to play such cards face forward
with that backing looking up at you. Disappointing in the sense that it's
a mechanical feature with no relationship to the game WORLD. Still a functional
3.
Trek Sense: Works for me. There are some things you're planning
on doing, the wheels are probably already in motion, perhaps everything
is set, but your opponent doesn't know it! What a great feature for the
inscrutable Borg, the conniving Cardassians or the secretive Romulans!
It's a great idea, not only for the fun reveals, but for the paranoia downturned
cards create ("They're up to something..."). An excellent 4.8.
Usefulness: A great feature, it allows you to suspend play to
reveal Events, Objectives and Incidents that were in play all along, just
not tipping their hands. In essence, it turns these cards into Interrupts,
"suspend play" Interrupts! Effects range from the "Sorry, you can't do
that!" to "Ah-HA! You fell right into my trap!" While downturned, the cards
are immune to nullification, and there are very few ways to breach the
secrecy of the Hidden Agendas. The icon also allows you to play/seed a
number of alternative scenarios (like multiple Borg Objectives), creating
more options as to which should be activated once play begins. And you
can't discount the paranoia factor, the HA certainly enforcing the meta-game.
I say another strong 4.8. [Average total: 4.2.]
Intruders
Trek Sense: Not just terminology for a personnel on an opposing
ship or facility, these guys have an actual ability - they can erase unattended
holograms (or they could, this rule has since been rescinded). This may
be the kind of built-in thing that got 1E in trouble, but it's still a
sensible assumption for the most part. The assumption works in cases where
the holograms are trapped in a Holodeck or other single room, but let's
say I'd feel better if Computer Skill was part of the equation. The other
note about intruders is that Rogue Borg count as such. Agreed. Though they
have some problems, intruders score a 3.5 here.
Usefulness: Having an intruder aboard a ship does have its uses.
Aside from the unlikely possibility of erasing a shipful of holograms (though
it's a fun trick to use an RBM for), The Walls Have Ears will score you
points for them and Commandeer Ship can prevent ships with intruders from
being taken to hand by Space-Time Portal. The dangers include hosing by
Intruder Alert and attacks initiated by First (though non-Borg can just
attack anyone they don't have a battle restriction against). Heck, sending
an intruder to a ship and goading your opponent into attacking it is a
great way to get a counter-attack against a ship at the same location.
Boo-yaa! Getting intruders aboard opposing ships is the real trick, but
there are plenty of tools available. A 3.8. [Average total: 3.65.]
Mission specialists
Trek Sense: You only have one skill, so that's your specialty.
Makes sense. The only place that falls down is when that single skill is
something like Youth. A Youth specialist? Obviously, trying to fit a concept
over cards that were never designed to hold that concept has its problems.
Still, it's not a crazy way to redress these personnel, and in most cases,
it does work. A 3.8.
Usefulness: Turning single-skilled personnel into a special
category was sheer genius when it came to making them useful for perhaps
the first time in their cardboard lives. Assign Mission Specialists gave
new life and one of the most enduring strategies in the game to these underachievers.
AMS allows them to download to an Outpost at the start of the game, then
any time you want to replay the card. From there, these mission specialists
score 5 points each every time their lone skill is used to meet a mission's
requirements. There are enough missions and specialists that you can get
a 2-mission win without too much trouble. The non-TNG affiliations were
pretty much barred from this, but for the original three, and to some extent,
the Ferengi, it's great AND it's cheap for the beginner. A 4.5. [Average
total: 4.15.]
Objectives
Graphics: The Objective was principally created to act as Borg
missions that could be played like Events, so it's no surprise the icon
is metallic-looking. Like other card-type icons, it's got a central and
circular design, this one a sort of "O" stamp. "O" for "Objective"? Simple,
and fits in with the rest, but not particularly pretty. The other move
was to forgo the usual lore box to accomodate more complex game text. Looks
fine, and indeed, there's less wasted space spent on borders and such.
In all, a 3.4.
Trek Sense: The reason behind the Objective isn't to create
a more complex Event card. That's what the Incident was. No, Objectives
for the most part try to give you something to do other than attempt missions.
Sometimes for points, sometimes for other goodies. That sets them apart,
and makes them worth being a new card type. They play like Events, as slow
as them, though they more often seed. Somewhat like missions, the seeding
seems the better way to go, but if you wanted to implement an Objective
mid-game, well, it WOULD take time to get all the preparations ready. Fair
enough. The card type works fine and seems to have a place in the game
world. A 4.2.
Usefulness: Well, the Borg NEED this card type to win the game,
so to them, it is as important as the Mission. For others, Objectives have
had mixed importance, from offering powerful effects (like Visit Cochrane
Memorial and Process Ore) to more conservative round-the-corner point-gathering
activities (like The Emperor's New Cloak and Revenge Is a Dish Best Served
Cold). The larger space for game text means more complex and varied effects
can be put on them, and there's really no way to nullify "any Objective".
Latter-day affiliations often have their own Objectives to make them different
and put them in step with older ones despite starting out of the gate a
bit late. For example, the Kazon have Boarding Party, the Vidiians Organ
Theft, the Bajorans HQ: Return Orbs to Bajor, Establish Trade Route for
the Ferengi, etc. Certainly makes up for having fewer missions. Looking
at the list of Objectives, there aren't too many stinkers in there. A strong
4.8. [Average total: 4.13.]
OCD icon
Graphics: Looks just like Cochrane's OCD (optical compact disk),
not like anything else which might've led to confusion... A 3 should cover
it.
Trek Sense: It's a staffing icon for the Phoenix, and to be
found on Cochrane's personnel card. See, Cochrane couldn't take off without
his music (on the OCD). Probably the first staffing icon to look exactly
like what "staffs" the ship, it's all still a bit facetious. It's meant
to represent that only Cochrane can staff the Phoenix, but while that's
technically true for first contact to be pulled off without a hitch, it's
not really true of the actual piloting of the thing, is it? Besides, if
there's an OCD requirement on this ship, I want to see a Balok icon. NOW!
And no link to the Magic Carpet Ride Artifact? Cute, but no more than a
1.5.
Usefulness: Matches Cochrane to the Phoenix for purposes of
staffing, and so can be used in conjunction with Crew Reassignment to report
him directly aboard, but that's about all he has on other matching commanders
specifically required to staff their ships (like the aforementioned Balok).
Too limited to be of any real worth, and so stuck at 1.5. [Average total:
2.]
Persona replacement
Graphics: Graphics? What graphics? Well, basically, the name
of the root persona is in bold in the version's lore (if they don't already
have the same card title). Fairly easy to see on the printed cards, if
not always on their online facsimiles. Clarity is the best you can hope
for, though it's not as clear as 2E's solution. A functional 3.
Trek Sense: I'm fine with personnel (and ships) existing as
various versions. After all, Star Trek characters hopefully aren't static,
and there's a marked difference between, for example, TNG 1st season Worf
and the Worf from the last season of DS9. The persona rules allow for the
possibility of creating cards for the various steps in characters' evolution.
I'm all for that. Now, to simulate this change, there's persona replacement
(new with FC, even if personae existed before). It doesn't always work
well though. For some versions, especially the "undercover" ones like Romulan
Data'n'Picard or Galen, or the play-acting identities used on a Holodeck,
there isn't a problem. They are guises you can get into and out of (though
a good surgeon would sometimes seem to be indicated). In other cases, when
going from an early version to a later version, it makes sense. When going
from later to earlier though, it's very troublesome. And that's not to
mention time issues like how such evolutions can occur so quickly (i.e.
for free), though at least they must be at the start of a turn. Basically,
sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but overall, it's a good idea.
Stands at 3.6.
Usefulness: Some versions of a persona are too similar to be
worth including both. Some aren't in the same affiliation, so there's no
sense in using them together unless a Treaty is in play. Others offer one
version that is incredibly weak compared to another. But sometimes, making
a switch can be very useful. One example of this is for personae that have
a support personnel or mission specialist version. Report or download that
one easily, then later switch for the better (pricier) version. Personnel
whose main attraction is special downloads can be switched once the downloads
are spent to a now more useful version. Various tricks can be pulled by
specific personnel too, perhaps in between matching commander duties or
whatever else you have the main version doing. It really depends on the
personnel (or ship), but could be said to be worth 3.4. [Average total:
3.33.]
Personnel battle
Trek Sense: With First Contact, you get a major change from
how this used to be done since Premiere. Originally, "Away Team battle"
was simply a comparison of Strength totals, with the losing total losing
a random personnel. No real depth there. From FC on, we get something a
little more interesting. Chief among these is that we now create "combat
piles" of personnel for each side, and have the personnel first square
off one-on-one in pairs from the top of the stack on down. Star Trek does
offer fights that go this way, but it's more of a super-hero model ("You
take care of Luthor, and I'll go after Solomon Grundy!"). Let's say it's
not bad at emulating fist fights (or melee), but doesn't quite mimic firefights
in which you might switch targets often within the same battle. Another
key change is that after the two paired personnel compare their Strength,
the loser might be stunned or mortally wounded. Stunned personnel are taken
out of the fight, but not killed. Mortally wounded personnel are done for:
they're out of the fight for now, and at the end of the battle, are expected
to die. What exactly happens uses the basic hit/direct hit model of ship
battles. If you're hugely stronger than your adversary, you can mortally
wound him. If you're just stronger, perhaps by a simple margin, a stun
effect results. A tie means a standoff, nobody gets hurt in any way. Note
also that stuns and mortal wounds are by CHOICE. You do not HAVE to kill
or even stun if you don't want to. This is very Star Trek, though few players
exercise the option unless the personnel to be killed has a special skill
hosing them for it. Personnel not paired off are considered unharmed in
the battle. Perhaps they were supplying cover fire or something. The last
step is basically what the old Away Team battles were: compare total Strength
(now minus that of the personnel removed from the battle), winner kills
one personnel from the other side not already mortally wounded. All that's
left is for the mortally wounded to die, the stunned to recover and everyone
to be, and rightly so, stopped. Not perfect and still fairly abstract,
it's nonetheless a vast improvement over its ancestor. A 4.2.
Usefulness: By itself, it's a more powerful, but also more dangerous,
strategy to initiate personnel battle. You can be pretty sure of winning
a battle if you have the numbers on your side (more personnel), but a couple
of bad pairings could lead to your own personnel getting killed, while
your strongest personnel is stuck at the bottom of the combat pile, never
to be used. It's not that big a risk when you plan your assault teams carefully.
Use only very strong personnel, no doubt armed to the teeth with hand weapons,
and they won't just kill one personnel at the end of the battle, they stand
a good chance of killing more than that (all the mortally wounded). Throw
in a number of fun cards that affect personnel battle by ordering the combat
pile, etc., and you have an important tool for dealing with your opponent.
Some affiliations, like the Vidiians, Kazon and Hirogen, actually thrive
on these kinds of confrontations, pulling interesting tricks other than
stun and mortal wound. About a 4 for the new mechanics.[Average total:
4.1.]
Probing
Trek Sense: Abstract and conceptual, yes, but intriguing nonetheless.
When you need to, you send out a "probe", which "sees" into the "depths
of space" (top of the discard pile) and oftentimes produces an effect as
per the card that allows probing. Basically, you start asking questions
which will lead you to a result on your current objective (though it's
not just something for Objectives), and the "probe" represents the answers
you're looking for in the shape of various icons found on the probe card,
treating the icons as separate bits of information, distinct from the card
they are on. This is very conceptual, but still worth a 1.5 for an idea
that fits Star Trek pretty well.
Usefulness: Not that much of a chore because while probing can
introduce uncertainty in a strategy, it's actually quite possible to "rig"
probes with deck manipulation cards, so that you get the result you want
most of the time. Furthermore, each probe is a free peek at the next card
in your deck, should you wish to shuffle things up and send it down by
simply downloading a card or again, using those deck manipulators. And
some probes tell you to draw the card while you're at it. A free card draw!
Probes are less of a hassle with all these perks. A 3.8. [Average total:
2.65.]
Regions of space
Trek Sense: Some missions should be grouped together because
they ARE grouped together in "real space". Regions make this happen, though
there is some confusion as to what size is appropriate for one. The Sol,
Bajor and Cardassian systems are perfect regions, because they cover only
one system. The DMZ and Neutral Zone however are huge places that shouldn't
really be governed by the same rules. I'm not that disturbed by the grouping
aspect, but by other things, such as the Bajoran Interceptor's high Range
within a region. It's meant to show a slower ship doing well in-system,
but the Romulan Neutral Zone isn't just one system. So while basically
a good idea, it hasn't always been used in the right way. A 3.5.
Usefulness: The first utility is to put all of your missions
side-by-side so that you need never pass by your opponent's locations.
Saves time (RANGE) and possible confrontations. Those regions that contain
universal missions are even better, because they allow you to place side-by-side
copies of the same mission, all with the same requirements. Talk about
saving time. The Badlands, Briar Patch, Romulan Neutral Zone and Nekrit
Expanse are like this. And then there are fringe benefits: A few
ships are simply faster within regions, mostly belonging to Bajorans and
Mirror affiliations; Reaction Control Thrusters may move a facility within
a region; Multidimensional Transport Device has more leeway in a region;
etc. A strong 4. [Average total: 3.75.]
Seeding missions
Trek Sense: The change made with First Contact was that you
couldn't seed identical missions anymore, always a sore point because you
suddenly had 2 planets called Romulus in play at the same time, but at
different places on the spaceline. Completing one of the missions didn't
mean anything to the other either. It was just a mess. The solution here
is deft: The player who would have seeded the copy places the mission out-of-play
and seeds a universal mission instead. Those CAN be duplicated, after all.
You still lay claim to the discarded mission though and could "steal" it
from your opponent. That means it's something of a race for who will solve
it, and that once completed, it cannot be completed again. I loved this
solution, but they had to change it again later. Ah well, I guess players
didn't like bringing extra missions just in case. A 5 for this fix.
Usefulness: Not as useful as getting to seed the mission you
intended to play WITHOUT the interference from your opponent. Though you
could use this to your advantage by planning for universals that are all
the same (easy requirements you'll have no trouble meeting) or even inserting
universal Space in between the contested mission and what might your opponent's
facility. Still, more of a disadvantage. A single 1. [Average total: 3.]
Subcommand
icons
Graphics: These are truly beautiful. First, they really do match
the regeneration alcove energy monitors (as I've decided to call them).
Second, they match the colors of the three original affiliations, and even
have some of their properties. The Feds are all about Communicating, while
the Romulans have fast ships and covertly Navigate. And who better than
the Klingons to represent Defense? Its the same scheme used for attribute
colors, actually. Furthermore, there's a connection to standard staffing
icons, and in particular to how such icons are assimilated. A Command icon
will become a Communications icon, right? Well, there are 6 points to the
lightning in the Com icon, just as there are 6 points on the Command star.
Staff icon had 4 points? So does the Nav icon. The Defense icon is left
with a straight bolt of energy running down it. Doesn't match anything
(can't), but fits the design. An enthusiastic 5!
Trek Sense: It was a great idea to take a cue from "The Best
of Both Worlds" where Data, almost in a throw-away line, gives us the 3
subcommands. This helps organize the drones into themed functions perfectly
well, AND acts as a solid set of staffing icons. The Collective ISN'T a
hierarchy, and it shows here. A strong 4.5.
Usefulness: The subcommands' greatest use is as probe results.
The Borg can't win if they can't successfully probe, and the subcommands
are the best and most frequent icons required for success. Turns out it's
not that hard to pull a subcommand, since Borg personnel, ships AND verb
cards (including Objectives) have them. It's more a matter of pulling the
right one. The Borg also use the icon in their personnel downloads and
to trigger various Equipment and verb cards, as well as Interlink functions.
You need a good mix of all three, but Communications seems to get the most
hits. Navigation icons are most common as ship staffing, and Defense Borg
act as leaders in personnel battle, and also show up on dilemmas more than
the rest. Now, former Borg have kept their subcommand icons, and these
can be used in some cases. A commandeered Borg ship, in some instances,
may need them to fulfill staffing requirements. Nav and Def Borg can use
Divert Power, though each in a different way. Com Borg can use the Cortical
Node Implant, Borg Data Node and Nanoprobe Resuscitation. Def Borg can
protect personnel from Denevan Neural Parasites and pass Crisis and Invasive
Procedures. These are the major example, but it's enough to give the subcommands
a high 4.8. [Average total: 4.77.]
Time Locations
Graphics: No icon or anything, just a specific template, and
an oddly confusing one at that. It uses the same icon(s) as Missions, and
like Missions, doesn't have the card type written on it anywhere. Using
a bleeding open frame like the Doorway, it gets to be prettier than most
cards, but I have to wonder why the game text isn't in bold. This is the
only card type that does this (aside from the Husnock Outpost, but that's
an aberration), and I can't figure out why. Pretty, but not much else.
A 2.8.
Trek Sense: Time Locations add the concept of time travel to
the game, but in an abbreviated way. The entire era is represented by one
card, a location that is generally attached to a present-day location.
The Montana Missile Complex, for example, is Earth's past. They need not
be seeded (Montana is the one TL that CAN'T be seeded), but you'd think
history was in place just as the spaceline is. It's obvious that you'd
have to time travel to get to these locations, and that once there, they
act much as the planet does (ships in orbit, etc.). Each TL mentions some
natives to that time, and originally, if the TL was in play, they HAD to
report there. It was their home time, after all. This did lead to one problem,
namely that if an AU Door was in play, and the TL wasn't, those natives
could report anywhere. If the TL WAS in play, they suddenly couldn't. Why
the difference? If these AUs can time travel, the fact their home time
is on the table shouldn't be a hindrance to that (the opposite actually).
This has since been changed, though the basic goodness has been kept: personnel
and ships native of a TL can report there even without AU Door help. Now
THAT makes sense. I might have nudged it a bit more by allowing an AU Door
to report non-AU personnel to a TL, but we don't have to go there if you
don't want to. One last note about why I called the mechanic "abbreviated"
above: I just found it a shame that the OS and even CF eras weren't covered
as spacelines (quadrants, if you will), but as a single card. Boooo! The
card type gets 3.4 here - a good effort. (Timeline disruption is covered
in the reviews of those cards that allow it, since each is different.)
Usefulness: There are few TLs in the game, and most are basically
reporting centers for certain personnel (OS, Mirror OS, and CF). The others
are attached to specific strategies that may or may not be your cup of
tea. The card type does have other functions however. It's possible to
hide at a TL, for example, especially while you build up your crew with
report-to-ship functions. Opponents can't get to you unless they have a
way of time-traveling there (and both the time and inclination - it's not
usually worth the trouble). It's also possible to Wormhole someone to a
TL, where they may remain trapped (it's Operate Wormhole Relays to the
rescue!). And then there's The Guardian of Forever: "Walk" from a TL to
the Guardian with an Anthropology or Archaeology personnel, and you can
get massive card draws. Natives are especially good here if they have the
right skill(s). They report at the TL, then step through the Doorway. (It
goes out-of-play, so you better have more stocked if you're gonna repeat
the action.) Enough tricks for a 3.6, but totally optional. [Average total:
3.27.]
Winning the game
Trek Sense: "Winning" is an all-too-mechanical thing in STCCG,
with no real analogy in Trek Sense. You win battles, you succeed at completing
missions, etc., but at the end of the day (what looks like 3-4 episodes),
who's this judge that declares a winner? The change made as of First Contact
is this: Used to be that if a player ran out of cards in his draw deck,
the game ended. Check points, declare winner. From FC on, both players
have to run out for the game to end with resource depletion. It's all very
mechanical, but it makes sense the "game" could end when the resources
run out. But as long as one "player" has resources, it should be allowed
to continue. I agree with that, so a 2.
Usefulness: There are ways to expend your deck in the quickest
possible way. Lots of card draws combined with a small draw deck, and there
you have it, a way to end the game quickly after you've scored, but your
opponent hasn't. Close down that one (unfair) strategy, and you allow many
more others to blossom. The race should be to a 100 points, not to the
bottom of your draw deck. While the new rule doesn't really have uses per
se, it does contribute to a better playing environment. A 3.5. [Average
total: 2.75.]
(Average score for new mechanics: 3.36.)
OVERALL USEFULNESS: I don't think there's any other expansion that has contributed to the game more, or changed it as much. Its overhaul paved the way for a lot of things to come, but by itself, how useful is it? Well, if you wanted to play the Borg, this is the one you absolutely needed. It's now possible to begin with The Borg instead, but none of the drones have the same special skills, so they should still be useful in today's environment. The Feds are less impressive, with most mains being good, but not all that better than their TNG selves. Other affiliations of the time were denied any noun cards, but the Romulans did get a couple of potentially lucrative missions, and the Klingons gained a lot from Assign Mission Specialists. It hurts this expansion's score that most of its important cards were reprinted in later sets, cards like AMS, the Borg objectives, verbs and ships, Balancing Act, Ready Room Door, Transwarp Network Gateway, and Mission Debriefing, for example. First Contact remains the only place you can get the Federation homeworld however (barring EFC and Reflections), as well as Disengage Safety Protocols for your hologram decks. Other cards still going strong after all these years include Scorched Hand, Ooby Dooby and Visit Cochrane Memorial. The expansion has its share of less useful cards however, mostly things that tie in too closely with other FC cards (Assimilate This, for example, and even Stop First Contact), but for the most part, it's a winner. Taking away some points for all the reprints that have made it less necessary, I still give it a 3.9.
TOTAL: 19.66 (78.64%) Way above any full expansion that came before it, and I bet ready to beat many of its followers too.