To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Premiere set.
Some of the cards have been corrected in the Beta Set.

PICTURE: If the Maht-H'a is a Vor'Cha at its best, the Qu'Vat is one at its worst. From the backside, it looks disproportionate to the extreme, losing its nacelles and tower into the block of gray it has become. It also makes you realize how close the ship is to the Cardassian design, except with the bug teeth at the other end. The huge vent also makes the ship look smaller than it must be. The card seems to be designed to show off all the ship's faults, and that holds an interest in and of itself, but only enough for a 1.5.

LORE: Carrying Torak unfortunately doesn't make him matching commander, so that's a missed opportunity. Otherwise, we've got pretty much the story of its appearance (yawn). Those interested in the Klingon language may be interested to know that Qu' means duty/mission/task and Vat... hundred. Mission of the Hundred? Poetic, but means nothing substantial. This one gets a tolerable 2.9.

TREK SENSE: Just another Vor'Cha, and the only difference between it and the baseline model is a point more in Shields. Deserved? Why not? It's such a small increment, and the ship doesn't do much except sit on its huge backside in the episode so... blah. And I tend to believe Torak did command the thing, since Klingon VIPs often have their own ships. A yawner at 2.6.

STOCKABILITY: Vor'Cha-class ships are difficult to staff, but have relatively good attributes, but Klingons tend to favor armadas, and if going for a large mothership, they'll use one with mega-attributes. Sadly, that isn't the Qu'Vat. It has no matching commander, so can't raise it's admittedly good attributes, and in today's environment, 9-8-8 just isn't good enough unless the ship is real easy to staff. Nope, back to the binder. A 2.

TOTAL: 9 (45%) All things being equal, it's a better ship than that, but things are not equal.

PICTURE: The original, universal Vor'Cha still has one of the best images. Perhaps not as impressive as the Toh'Kaht, but it's not so oddly photographed that you can't recognize it anymore. All the elements are there, and it's flashing its teeth. A quite good 3.7 coming in for an attack.

LORE: Eeech. Not very verbose, is it? It really couldn't get any more boring that this. Let's note the name of the ship/class however, since I've been taking Klingon (not really, but it's fun to make believe): The word Vor' means "cure", and the word Cha means "torpedo(es)". Yes, that's quite a cure! Not sure how the Klingons actually marry the two words, but it's something I like to think about when I can't sleep at night. The lore itself only garners a weak 1.8.

TREK SENSE: I've been pretty much taking the unique Vor'Chas at their word, waiting for the universal to comment on the class's original frame. Well, the staffing is right for a large ship à la warbird or Galaxy class. At that size, even if we haven't exactly seen any Klingon shuttles, it should be able to take them in. In any case, we know the Klingons have Tractor Beam technology, whatever they choose to do with it. The Cloaking Device is also classic issue. Now the attributes... They've decided to make the ship faster than it is powerful, and more powerful than it is tough. I'm not sure I agree with that. These are Klingons we're talking about, and Weapons and Shields should be more important than engines. I don't dispute that the Vor'Cha's points should be up there, but the distribution isn't precisely right. A rather dull 3.

STOCKABILITY: A universal ship without a matching commander, but it enjoys Spacedoor's download. Klingons have a strong temptation to use K'Vorts more than Vor'Chas because they make for easily-staffed armadas, but the Vor'Cha is less  prone to destruction and with its extra point of RANGE (compared to a K'Vort), is probably a better mission-solving ship. If that's your bent, play Feds... I'm kidding. If you want to play a fast mission-solving deck, Spacedoor... a K'Vort which is more easily staffed. Again, I kid. The Vor'Cha is a good enough ship by its own right, safe and fast. But we're getting better K'Vorts with matching commanders all the time, and its weight far exceeds its reach. Can't go above 2.5.

TOTAL: 11 (55%) It's getting rusty in my binder.

PICTURE: One of the better birds-of-prey from Premiere, it's a good, dynamic close-up without losing any parts of the ship and features a lot of texture and detail. Though more recent birds have tended to show a little more color, this is still a very pleasing effort at 3.7.

LORE: Yawn. While no mistakes are necessarily made, wording that could make Duras matching commander would have been good for both cards. Boring and with room to spare at 2.

TREK SENSE: We've discussed the universal K'Vort before, and this ship only differs from it by an extra point of Weapons. That's as good a boost as any, especially given Duras' status as a villain, but if the ship really is a VIP transport, then Shields might have been a more appropriate choice. And I think Decipher could have made a safe claim that Duras was actually in command of it if they had an idea of Captain's Log at the time. Nothing wrong outright, but fairly disappointing in its run-of-the-mill design. A 2.3.

STOCKABILITY: Ho-hum. Without a matching commander, the Vorn won't find a place in an armada any time soon. It COULD have made Duras more appealing if it had named him as matching commander, but right now, it's just a unique ship (no Spacedoor) without any kind of boost working for it. That means that the attributes can't be upped by Captain's Log, and I'm afraid attributes of 8-7-6 just don't cut it anymore. Not for a unique ship. Again, a disapointment that you won't see outside of Sealed Deck format. A 1.5.

TOTAL: 9.5 (47.5%) I did think it looked nice though.

PICTURE: A rather nondescript planet with a definite "painterly" texture (as from the episode). Note that though the colors make it look like one solid piece of rock, the texture detail indicates that some of that brown is actually clouds. The deep hole in the center gives us a sense of Archaeology or even of a gateway, if we're talking subliminals. An ok 3.1 - it doesn't really inspire me.

LORE: Wrong lore, people. The requirements are clearly about finding the Iconian Gateway, and naming the Federation in this fashion turns Donald Varley's special skill into nonsense. On the plus side, naming the Neutral Zone (pre-region rules) deserves retroactive brownie points. No more than a 1 though (it's alllllll brownies).

TREK SENSE: Forgetting the lore for a minute, Archaeology is required to delve into the Iconian mystery, with a double dose of Computer Skill to get past the Iconian Weapon conceptually here. Though I believe that the Neutral Zone is a territory neither affiliation is supposed to be in, the Romulans are always in there defending their interests. For the Feds, it would take a loon like Donald Varley to drag the affiliation in, and so that possibility exists on his card (true to the show). Points are worthy enough, and there's no problem with the Span, but I can't help but wonder if something more could have been done with Iconian Gateway for example (maybe a one way trip upon solving the mission?). It's a fair effort, but not terribly daring at 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: The Romulans will have an easy time of it, since they have plenty of cheap Archaeology to go around, and the same can be said of Computer Skill. For extra points, they can even bring in mission specialists in the form of R'Mal (Arc) and both Palteth and Narik (Comp) which should bring the points to 50(!). With Donald Varley in play, you get to use the Federation in your attempt, and can reproduce the same mission specialist trick with Dr. Royse (Arc) and both Christopher Hobson and Reginald Barclay (Comp). Either affiliation can insert the mission into their Neutral Zone so that Balancing Act doesn't become an issue (paired with Covert Installation). This allows you to more legally build the longest possible NZ for the purposes of Patrol Neutral Zone. So an easy mission that's an important part of a region or an Archaeology deck (easy to build for both the Roms and the Feds), that's worth a 3.8.

TOTAL: 11.3 (56.5%) We'll have to blame the lore.

PICTURE: The actual subject of the card is in smaller letterbox format, but that's actually pretty neat. It's a computer virus, and we see it on a computer screen. The effect itself is a little muddled, but the computer stuff from the Yamato is fairly legible. Well balanced as far as composition goes, as well. Oh, a 3.3.

LORE: The probe is mentioned so that we understand how it hits a ship, but its effects are barely glossed over. Ooh, it's "destructive", ooh. And there was plenty of space for the creators to explain all that. A truly lackluster 2.4.

TREK SENSE: Well, if a card ever missed the mark, it was this one. As a computer virus, I admire its re-boot idea, but it treats your hand as a computer database, which it's not in most cases. Yes, some cards could be represented as data or technologies contained in the computer. Personnel and, for example, shape-shifting cards surely cannot. And you don't have a hand for every ship in play, so it's not really relevant. In any case, since when is Science the important skill when dealing with a computer virus? Shouldn't Computer Skill be the requirement? And finally, the breadth of the dilemma's "destructiveness" is in no way rendered. In the show, at best it wiped your computer clean (if you even thought of re-booting it), and at worst, destroyed your ship and infected another ship within hailing distance. None of that is here, so I gotta pass on this dilemma. Only a 0.8 for the re-boot stuff.

SEEDABILITY: While forcing a player to discard their hand and replenish it might force them to rethink their whole strategy, lose something important to the discard pile, or whatever, there's very little chance that SCIENCE would not be part of the attempting crew. Space missions are more rarely redshirted, and they usually contain a number of SCIENCE-based dilemmas (including ones that require skills that SCIENCE personnel frequently have). There's a chance you could weed some out with Unscientific Method and the like, but no guarantee you could get them all. The card may be more interesting as a self-seed, actually. Keep it at a mission you don't really want to solve, right on top (so at the very bottom of the pile), and attempt it yourself without SCIENCE to cycle an unappealing hand. When you're using a recycling method, you'll get a chance to get your discards back anyway. That's worth something, but it won't be very destructive to your opponent. Unfortunately, it's something that can be achieved much more cheaply with Masaka Transformations, Scorched Hand, et al. The card's been further supplanted by the Combo Dilemma that shares its name. Downgraded to a 1.

TOTAL: 7.5 (37.5%) One of those Premiere snafus.

PICTURE: One of the first examples of CGI-created images, this is a set shot from "Future Imperfect" (on Barash's Romulan facility) with a force screen effect thrown on the hallway opening. Don't know if they pulled the effect from elsewhere in Trek, but it looks like something from an early season of TNG. My question is: Are there NO impassable doors of a similar type in all of TNG? Aestheically, the image is no more than okay and very gray. A 2.3.

LORE: Boooooring. Of course, they couldn't use a specific example in the next (empty) line-and-a-half, since they don't really have one. And what should we think about the card's title? This is just about the MOST passable dilemma in the collection! That's enough to call this an equally passable 2.

TREK SENSE: Going at a computer lock with Computer Skill makes sense, but that implies the controls that operate the force field are accessible. Well, they must be in any case if they only require the one skill to pass it. Impassable, my foot. Hard to make mistakes with such a simple design, but hard to be witty and interesting too. 2.8 here.

SEEDABILITY: Dilemmas that require a single skill to pass them are outrageously passé, and as a wall, it really has no effect unless it does stop an Away Team. And could they have picked a more common skill than Computer Skill for this task? The skill is incredibly common, with close to 200 personnel having it, and is featured on countless missions, dilemmas and other cards like Access Denied and Scanner Interference. Computer Skill x2 personnel are easily put out with Quark's Isolinear Rods to boot and are frequently used. I doubt you'd ever have trouble passing this dilemma even in Sealed Deck format (the only place it'll appear of course). An easy one even when all you had was a pack of Premiere, and incredibly obsolete. A 0.1, and that's just on the off-chance it might actually fluster a redshirt. :-P

TOTAL: 7.2 (36%) Worst dilemma yet.

PICTURE: The original Incoming Message (at least, alphabetically) is also only one of the first 3 that wasn't recomposited. Captain DeSoto (when do we get a card for him, if only to command the Hood?) is framed in a Starfleet (Federation) viewscreen. Unfortunately, as is often the case, this isn't an outpost-to-ship communication, but a ship-to-ship call, and though DeSoto did transfer orders to the Enterprise, they didn't send the ship to a facility. Far from it. They went to see Tin Man instead. So again, we get an unappropriate picture for an Incoming Message given its game text. It would make a nice pic for the Captain though... a 3.

LORE: I've been very hard on the DS9 and RoA versions of this card because all of them you see, use the same lore. So how is it in its original form? Well, it's the same obviously, but I can't complain about the repetition. Well, I thought the explanation of how subspace radio works was interesting, though I still would have liked some kind of context for the call. Call it a 2.

TREK SENSE: One thing that hasn't changed retroactively speaking is the Trek Sense. As before, the idea behind the card makes sense (as does the message in quotation marks) except that there is a total lack of a reason for a return to outpost, as proven by the fact nothing really happens when the ship gets into the harbor. The Federation is always calling this ship and that to the rescue, which, with the show being biased toward Starfleet, we've had plenty of experience with, but it's still odd that you can't call a ship "home", as in Earth, as the card does not mention HQs, or even generic facilities (Colonies need help too). And while the tv show has plenty of examples of this effect coming into play, it also features a lot of instances where ship commanders disobey such orders, so it ain't that Trekky, if you know what I mean. The 2.9 (or so) given to other cards of this ilk, stands.

STOCKABILITY: Well, it's the same ol' problem, isn't it? No one's psychic enough to figure out what your opponent'll play unless they a) told you or b) always play the same affiliation. That means that affiliation-specific cards are near unuseable in today's environment (by that, I mean cards that TARGET specific affiliations). You'll keep a couple in your Q's Tent possibly to keep the Dominion or Vidiians in check (big maybe on these), but not something that at best simply slows down their strategy. Incoming Message just isn't powerful enough. Of course, if an affiliation was ever susceptible to this card, it's the Feds. They don't really have specialty facilities (though they can use Nors and an HQ) and are perhaps more often played than other affiliations. You have to consider it this way: The Feds are really 4 or 5 affiliations. You might play them straight, or play an OS deck, or a Terran deck (OS or not), or use the Delta Quadrant guys. But only the "original" Feds are really going to use Outposts as their base of operations in any consistent manner. At least the built-in outposts on mission IIs add incentive for these facilities to exist. Oh, and in Fed-against-Fed games, your Nilz Baris would be able to download it. With all that in mind, I'll go a little higher on this one than on others of the same type, but that's still only a 1.

TOTAL: 8.9 (44.5%) Well, better than its descendents.

PICTURE: Vagh's ugly puss has been transposed onto a Klingon screen to make him call the right affiliation, and is a good spokesman for the Incoming Message, since as a Klingon Governor, he must be in charge of an Outpost. The image itself is low on contrast (there's noise on Vagh himself), and makes him less impressive by virtue of being so small. A well-made, though uninspiring 2.8.

LORE: Same old, same old, though it wasn't that old back in Premiere. Still wish the 3 original Incoming Messages didn't all have the same text. A lazy ol' 2.

TREK SENSE: Again, there's nothing wrong with the starting concept of getting a message from your outpost ordering you home, but the storytelling involved leaves a lot to be desired. Nothing special happens to the returning ship... so what was the urgency? Klingon ship commanders have at least as much autonomy as Starfleet captains, so they might disobey orders, or delay their return. Apparently, no emergency ever calls you back to Qo'noS (the HQ), or to a Colony. Like I said, disappointing. 2.9 here.

STOCKABILITY: While the Klingons are a popular enough affiliation (perhaps less so with certain armada-busters in play), there's no real way to know your opponent will play Klingons, even if their online handle is General Chang or something. With the myriad possibilities of the game, stocking every single Incoming Message is space-prohibitive, even in a Q's Tent. Add to that that Klingons may use their Headquarters, K-7 or Empok Nor as a base of operations, or start off in the Delta Quadrant without an outpost (though the Mission IIs' built-in outposts may insure one will be present), and you've got even more chances of failing in returning a ship to outpost. Oh, it's a noble slow-down strategy, but consider that one ship leaving an armada might not be that terrible for the Empire. On the off-chance you'd be able to use it, a 0.3.

TOTAL: 8 (40%) Don't call me, I'll call you.

PICTURE: Of course, the pic of Sirol was transposed on a Romulan viewscreen (probably pulled from "Face of the Enemy"), and his pose is interesting, but there's a lot of blurring, the space around the frame is pretty much wasted on a solid color, and the choice of image a little inappropriate. Sirol's a ship commander, and has nothing to do with any outpost. I can't really think of an appropriate image from TNG, so that last detail doesn't factor in as much, but that still leaves the card at an average 3.

LORE: Same old, same old, isn't it? If only the Incoming Messages had affiliation-specific information, I could give this more than the 2 I gave the Klingon version.

TREK SENSE: The idea of a message calling you back to an outpost is a reasonable one, and the verbatim message is appreciated, but, as usual, Trek Sense does not extend any further. Nothing special happens once there, so storytelling isn't furthered, and there's always the question of why the homeworld (i.e. HQ) couldn't call you back. At least the Romulans are fiercely loyal and probably wouldn't disobey an order like this (like the Feds and others often do), so that's one problem that doesn't plague this version of the card at least. A bit better than others at 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: Same problem(s) as usual. The Romulans may be popular with a vocal segment of the player population, it still doesn't mean you could use this card with any kind of certainty. You just can't normally guess at your opponent's choices, and you'd have a 1 in 12+ chance of actually being able to use it. Even if the Romulans are in play, they might forego Outposts in favor of their 2 HQs, though the built-in Outposts on Mission IIs offer good incentive for there being a useable facility. 0.2 should do it for this rarely useable slow-down strategy.

TOTAL: 8.3 (41.5%) Boy, am I glad there are no DQ versions of this card.

PICTURE: Booooooooring. The colors don't even look quite right on this set/prop shot, and the "artifact" doesn't stand out very well against the background. I mean, they didn't have very much to work with... and it shows. A 1.4.

LORE: Hmm... sounds like a Phase Cloak to me. That extra line could have been used to good effect, mentioning its effects on living beings like Geordi and Ro. A dull 2.

TREK SENSE: Now, "artifact" is a big word when dealing with a recently-constructed device. The idea that it could be found in an archaeological dig is surprising, and though a "Generator" can be found buried in Pegasus Search, it's not this one. Nope, that's the Phased Cloaking Device. Difference? That one works, both on the show and in Trek Sense. Indeed, it looks like Decipher admitted to screwing up when they published a whole new version of the card in PCD. But they don't have the same function at all. Interphase Generator actually phases personnel instead of ships, like the accident in "The Next Phase", but controlled. So your Away Teams turn the thing on (I guess it's manageable enough to be carried as equipment) and can run through various physical dilemmas as if they were air. Well, that's one list that can never be complete! Mentioned here are Chalnoths and Nausicaans (big bruisers that need to get their mitts on ya), as well as other menaces such as Armus, Rebels (meant to represent Rebel Encounter) and Archer. You can walk through Impassable Door, but strangely, not Malfunctioning Door, Security Precautions and similar walls. Since it controls phasing, it can bring personnel turned into Phased Matter back to solidity. One anomaly is Crystalline Entity: Avoiding it on land follows the same principles as the rest of the dilemmas mentioned, but nullifying it in space would mean it now phases the ship. A few dilemmas mention Interphase Generator specifically to add to this list, but that's a matter for those cards. A dilemma-passing device which mentions a rather limited and specific list of dilemmas is both wrong-headed and short-sighted, especially in the face of so many dilemmas published since Premiere which could be covered here. Maybe "nullifies any STRENGTH-related dilemma?" It's not gonna go far with me - a 1.5 only.

SEEDABILITY: There are just too many possible dilemmas in this game to warrant the inclusion of a difficult-to-get artifact (even if it CAN be "acquired" through Starry Night) that nullifies only a handful of them. And I can't believe one of them had to be Impassable Door, the easiest dilemma to pass by far! Archer and Crystalline Entity are fairly easy too, though Lore could make the latter a bit harder. Rebel Encounter, Nausicaans and Chalnoth are all STRENGTH-related dilemmas that should be little problem with all the hand weapons currently carried by many Away Teams. Phased Matter? Who uses that? There are 2 Armuses, of course, neither of which has passable requirements. Saves you from being killed I guess. Not listed on the card, but nullifyable nonetheless, are Founder Secret and Berzerk Changeling, more difficult walls than the Premiere list. In fact, if the Generator passed through more walls like this, it'd be more Trek Sensical for one thing, and more useful for another. I should note that it may be the easiest way to complete Pagasus Search, which does give it some very specific utility. Acquiring on the off-chance that you'll later encounter the all-too-brief list of dilemmas? Not quite worth it. A 1.9.

TOTAL: 6.8 (34%) On all the elements, weakest artifact yet.

PICTURE: While the "shatters" are visually interesting, this mission pic takes off from the style of every other mission by showing us a SCAN of the area, not the area itself. Indeed, the patches of temporal distortion were totally invisible to the naked eye. I'm glad this isn't just another Typhon Expanse, but at the same time, it's a departure from normalcy. Settles at 3.3, more good than bad.

LORE: It's pretty clear the mission's part of the Neutral Zone "region" even without the errata (though check out Trek Sense), and the mission goals are well laid out. The usefulness of being in-region gives it its 3.2.

TREK SENSE: First, there's the matter of this "Neutral Zone region", which I never bought into. While the Bajoran, Cardassian or Sol systems are pretty small and would constitute real regions, the Neutral Zone is just too large to boost an Interceptor's Range, etc. Worse still, this mission is considered part of the region, but is only "near" it. At least its Span is huge so as to turn it into a significant detour within the region (and it IS an entire sector). Missing from the location is the inherent danger that it should present. If it's full of temporal distortions, shouldn't that have a dilemma-like effect on ships? In any case, how can this mission even exist without a Romulan ship already present? If you'll remember, quantum singularity aliens nesting in a Romulan engine caused the distortions. Of course, a Romulan ship could already be onsite, unrepresented by your own cards, causing the distortions you would later investigate, but a rescue element might have been included in the lore if that's the case. The requirements include important Astrophyics (doubled) and Stellar Cartography relating to the phenomenon itself and navigating it safely. I've argued before that space/time stuff should be covered by Physics, with Astrophysics for more stellar phenomena. I do so here again. The investigation would undoubtedly lead you to send personnel through distortions, and to order that kind of hazard duty, Leadership is king. Computer Skill might be used to program emergency transporter armbands (as in Timescape") to allow personnel to function normally there. Only Romulans may attempt, but we know the Federation was also there in the show, and maybe the card should have allowed for this. As for the high point value, I'm not sure why an investigation should be worth so much... maybe space/time research is highly valued in the Star Empire. In any case, the mission has plenty of other Trek Sense hurdles to leap over and only comes out at 2.1.

SEEDABILITY: While PNZ decks have a need for planet missions, not space missions (other than PNZs, of course), Shattered Space nonetheless makes a worthy addition to the spaceline. Indeed, while PNZ decks have suffered some heat in recent times, the 45 points on this baby make for a great complement to a more reasonable PNZ deck (i.e. with fewer PNZs). You can always use Charvanek to boost their point values anyway. Using the Neutral Zone region allows you to bundle up all your missions together, and you'll find that they require many of the same skills (like Leadership and Computer Skill). For 45 points, the requirements on Shattered Space aren't even difficult. Dr. Telek R'Mor gets you all the science skills, and the other two are real common. Want to go the mission specialist route? Palteth, Tallus, Tarus and Tomek would make the points jump to 65! The mission is Romulan-only, so couldn't be stolen by anyone but the Dominion (with Espionage), Ferengi (with Bribery) or Hirogen (with Hunting Group). A strong showing at 4.1.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) In the same range as other high-yield missions like DNA Program.

PICTURE: I like the variety of space missions, and this probe is part of that. Its bicycle pedal design is well lit (starkly, as things often are in space) and detailed enough you can see the craftsmanship. A 3.5.

LORE: You mean the probe was sighted, and no one investigated right then and there? In the show, it was the Parvenium SECTOR, not system, though the sector could have been named for a system. I'm being picky here, this lore comes right about in the middle at 2.9.

TREK SENSE: The first thing you have to know is that this is the probe from "The Inner Light". It explains the Anthropology since it's basically a floating artifact, the last gift of a long-dead culture. It doesn't really explain the Biology though, or were there biological samples inside the probe? It would certainly have computer systems you'd be likely to try to download (with Computer Skill), but the nature of the probe itself is ignored here. The card in no way simulates the mind trip it took Picard on, nor does it hold a Ressikan Flute, or anything. Furthermore, it's the Klingons who attempt it, with no Federation option! Well, that might explain the lack of a mind trip, say if the Klingons were incompatible with the Ressikan mind. Still, there's no evidence this location was in Klingon space or near it. The short Span works, in my opinion, because the Probe is moving and would approach from the other side, making the distance between it and your ship shorter. The points are high because this would be an amazing archaeological find, but I'm not sure the Klingons are really the ones to appreciate it at the 40-point level. In an effort to give non-Feds their own missions, I'm afraid too many concessions were sometimes made. A 2.3 only.

SEEDABILITY: 40 points is a great outcome, but the mission can't be solved with very few personnel. Koroth's got 2 of the skills, but he's the only one that comes close! No matter, I suppose, you could go the mission specialist route. So, could you make this a 55-pointer? Zetal for Biology, Kamok for Computer Skill... and they'll have to go with sweet Kathleen Tonell to get that Anthropology. An odd trio, but worth the points. Span's a quick hop (not like the Klingon ships were especially slow, though it could help out a deck using old OS vessels), and requirements are reasonably featured on other missions, though not often together. You could go the NA route with Chell (but he's DQ), and the Feds can Espionage it with 3 mission specialists, or there's yet the Temporal Micro-Wormhole/Bareil way. Has potential at 3.6.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) I wasn't sure it would get a passing mark.

PICTURE: Allow me to repeat something I mentioned under Investigate Anomaly II. The area and radiation mentioned in the lore are from "Reunion", but the image is from "Tin Man" when Gomtuu "pushes" the ships away (recycled from The Motion Picture no less). Totally inappropriate even if the effect is kind of cool for a never-seen anomaly. A 2 based on aesthetic concerns.

LORE: Your basic mission concerns, but the mission location itself cannot bear scrutiny. This is a space mission, no problem, but a star designation with an appended "II" signifies a planet. If it'd been the second star of a system, it'd be called Gamma Arigulon B. Unnecessarily confusing at 2.1.

TREK SENSE: And it's not getting any better. Exobiology seems to be indicated for a Gomtuu-related mission, but radiation anomalies? That's something closer to Physics. Even the effects of radiation on your crew would only warrant Biology (not Exo). The Strength, at least, can be used to resist radiation sickness and get through the workday. I'll buy most everything else, since we don't really know where Gamma Arigulon sits in relation to the three powers that can attempt the mission, or how far it is from the usual shipping lanes (4 Span's ok). Points are fine when dealing with a mission that could lead to important discoveries, or might not. 30 points is an appropriately middling score. 2.5 should cover it.

SEEDABILITY: While the Feds would now do better to use the Mission II version for its built-in outpost, this common mission may still hold interest for the other two affiliations. Romulans and Klingons are definitely not short on STRENGTH, and each one has its mission specialist (Takket and Loreva) that can potentially boost this easy 30-pointer to 35 points. It's not a big boost when using a mission specialist deck, but its easiness might make it a good, quick, in-and out. 3.3 here.

TOTAL: 9.9 (49.5%) Good common proxy to represent dream cards though.

PICTURE: Those clouds of dust create a kind of corridor, which is cool. It's also good that it's so understated because purples in Premiere tended to come out too strong. A very good 3.6.

LORE: While I am disappointed that the lore doesn't mention anthing about rescuing the ship (what kind of Feds ARE you?), there's a more pressing point. Namely, that the correct spelling for the Corridor should be Hekaras, not Hakaris. This happened more than once in Premiere (the Typhon[e] Expanse, for example), but is no less a mistake. Just 1.5 then.

TREK SENSE: As is common of Premiere missions, no attention has been paid to the natural dangers of this location. The Hekaras Corridor was so damaged by warp pollution that a ship actually got stuck at its center. This has (barely) been translated as a long Span and Navigation requirement, but no other way. Physics would also help understand the pollution's effects here, but you'd need a good deal of Cunning to arrive at the necessary conclusions. The proper expertise though is 3 Astrophysics. No problems there, especially since there's no rescue of the ship and/or its crew mentioned in the mission goals. I believe this was achieved with Transporter Skill on the show, not available in Premiere anyway. It was a Federation ship that was stuck, so it's a Fed-only mission. And the points are ok, but might have been lower because of the no-rescue angle. A disappointing lack of vision, but the basics are well done. A 3.2 should do.

SEEDABILITY: Though Fed-only, the Romulans could Espionage this mission easily enough, and it fits in either affiliation's space decks. The Span is long, so fast ships are probably a must (Test Propulsion Systems uses some of the same requirements, so you could boost RANGE that way). In mission specialist strategies, Gibson and your choice of Hannah Bates, Mendon, Newton, Joseph Carey or Toby Russell can up the points to 45 (not excellent where these things are concerned, but fairly good). With the second requirements, there's Soren and Ayala (the same 45 points) unless you're working with a Treaty (add Tomek or Torin) to get it to 50. Average to good, I give it a 3.3.

TOTAL: 11.6 (58%) Another yawner from Premiere.

PICTURE: Another harsh Klingon world, it's basically a brown ball with some atmosphere (as seen on the edges of the circle). But it's a bit better than that. The cracks in the north-east and the large craters in the center give it the look of a pumpkin head or skull. Since people go there to seek visions of dead ancestors, I'd say the Halloween atmosphere is warranted and welcome. A surprisingly cool 3.6.

LORE: I'm surprised by the less-than-specific title, since a "Disturbance" can be many things. The lore itself is just as non-commital. They could have gone for a more routine mission such as Seek Enlightenment, or looked at Koroth's side of things with Clone Kahless, but we get Gowron's errand instead, sapping much of the originality from the card. 2.5 as far as the rather generic lore goes.

TREK SENSE: So the Disturbance is the sudden appearance of what may or may not be the real Kahless. It's a purely internal Klingon matter only attemptable by Klingons. Since it challenged his leadership, Gowron did go there himself to check things out and challenge the priests. Of course, he would still need someone versed in Biology to figure out Kahless was merely a clone. That option works relatively well. The second is more generic, and I wonder if in that case, Kahless isn't embraced rather than challenged. After all, there's no skill to verify his genetic heritage. Taking it from Worf's side then, Honor and Integrity allows your Klingons to show the proper respect (Honor probably makes a Klingon versed in Kahless' history as well). Leadership may be required to convince others of the clone's worth as nominal Emperor, Worf's solution. Not as clear as I'd like, but it's interesting to see more than one solution offered for the same mission. The points and Span seem fine from what importance and distance were presented, I guess. A good 3.3.

SEEDABILITY: The Klingons have a lot of DipHoLes, and both Leadership and Honor are part of that equation, so the mission should be pretty easy. Indeed, Gowron has both skills, so using the second option simply replaces the INTEGRITY requirement (not difficult) with Biology, a skill the Klingons have plenty of on both personnel and missions. Mission specialist strategies can boost the mission to 40 points regardless of the requirements selected (there is no Klingon Leadership specialist, strangely). Since Holodeck Adventures, the mission may have seen a boost: It's one of the few locations you can seed or play Clone Machine. With Koroth specifically enabling the card's effects, and often high INTEGRITY, the Klingons have an easy way of it. I guess you could attempt the mission with 2 Gowrons in case you lose one to a dilemma. It's currently the only place you can seed it without using the Dominion or a card-intensive Nor, so I bet it's being seeded by other affiliations for that purpose. Just inched its way up to a 4.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) Plagued by a forgettable title.

PICTURE: A good-looking planet, nice and veiny, but I wish they'd tried putting a pockmark that could be the "uprooted outpost" from the episode (incidently, "The Neutral Zone"). Not really visible at this altitude, the suggestion of such a hole would have been fun. Still a 3.1.

LORE: To go with the game text, the key word here is "initiate" the investigation, which makes the title a tiny bit misleading. I might have liked an admittance that the damage was identical to what the Borg did in "The Best of Both Worlds", but that wish doesn't affect the score. Really an average 3.

TREK SENSE: Clearly, the mission is more about encountering the "other side" (Federation/Romulans) at a sensitive location bordering the Neutral Zone (and I will mention that other missions have been included in that region for less), than about investigating the destroyed outpost itself. The only real addition to the investigation itself would be the Cunning, because the rest is all about Diplomacy. The Integrity requirement is in that mold, proving to your enemy that you're not spying and not responsible for the massacre. The focus on parlay does contradict the planet icon on this mission, since all the Diplomacy took place ship-to-ship. Now, while both the Roms and the Feds suffered from such a massacre, Tarod IX is a Federation planet. The Romulans could (and did) investigate the Federation presence here, coincidentally close to the massacre, but the Romulan icon is still stretching it. Because we know the massacre remained a mystery for a long time, I'm not sure 35 points is a fitting reward, though the importance of such a mission, which could have been one of mercy after all, cannot be denied. I'll buy it. I won't buy the 3 Span though, simply because they went and called this outpost "distant". And maybe you shouldn't be able to seed an Outpost here? A card that manages to get a lot of it wrong, so only 1.4.

SEEDABILITY: The Romulans and Federation have plenty of Diplomats (especially the Feds), and shouldn't have trouble coming up with the attribute requirements. The Feds really are better suited to solve the mission because their INTEGRITY is their strength, but CUNNING isn't their weakness, while the Romulans can be a little INTEGRITY-deficient at times (all hinges on your choice of personnel). The Feds can also use Riva to boost the points to 40, while the Romulans don't have anyone like that. Overall though, there's nothing special about this card that would warrant inclusion above any other. 35 points is pretty standard, and it doesn't have a lot of skills to boost it with specialists, nor can it be solved by a one-personnel Away Team. Still potable, but passé, at 2.5.

TOTAL: 10 (50%) Pretty neutral about it.

PICTURE: A good-looking ball of rock, to be sure, but I'm not certain it ever really matched the on-planet side of things. Be that as it may, the idea of danger is represented by the heavy shadows, but it's otherwise an average mission pic. A 3.1.

LORE: Short and sweet. I see nothing wrong or especially cool about the brief line of text, nor do I find the title too inspiring. An average 3.

TREK SENSE: Ohniaka III was, according to the show (and thus, the Encyclopedia), the site of "a Federation science station in a non-strategic sector". Eeech, that doesn't sound like it's anywhere NEAR Romulan space! So not only should the Federation be allowed to attempt the mission, the Rommies shouldn't even show up at all. As for the requirements, they're fine, I guess: Rogue Borg are another "species" so Exobiology may be a natural (bah), and Diplomacy is required to communicate with them (not something that could really be done with Collective Borg). While there's nothing really wrong with the requirements, I'm not sure it would be the tack used by the Romulans, nor are they really complete or well-focused. Security and Strength would seem to be important aspects of this mission, for example. Likewise, a link to Rogue Borg Mercenaries would have been fun (a download?). And look, even if I were to believe the Romulans were interested enough in the Borg to come all this way, "all this way" is only a Span of 2! Nonsense. The points aren't even proportional to the mission's difficulty, or even importance if we're talking Romulans. I have to trash this one with a low 0.9.

SEEDABILITY: The Romulans can only be Espionaged by the Dominion, so a 35-point (decent) real easy mission with their attemptability icon alone AND a quick, low Span is quite good. How easy? Well, Ambassador Tomalak can solve it alone, and you can use Takket and Assign Mission Specialists to boost the points to 40. Sorry, still no Romulan Diplomacy specialist. A bit disappointing, I guess, but the mission's still very easy, and neither skill is particularly hard to find. A straightforward 3.8.

TOTAL: 10.8 (54%) Good, easy points, but that doesn't beat a weak design.

PICTURE: A very cool effect (from TNG's "Masks") which looks very nice on card stock as well. So good, in fact, that the Voyager people reused it in "Deathwish" as Quinn's prison. The star makes the comet's trail possible, and its orientation is in keeping with hard physics (well, more or less). A unique and unmistakeable 4.1.

LORE: Nothing inspiring. I mean, the lore repeats the words "Rogue Comet" from the title, and "sector" from the location. And "unusual" isn't very descriptive. A big yawner, but with no mistakes, at 2.8.

TREK SENSE: This is a strange one in that its requirements don't seem to match its stated objectives. That's because this isn't a comet at all, but the Masaka Archive under a ton of ice/space dust. So that explains Archaeology as this is really a giant artifact discovery. And since it is an Archive, it's a computer system too, so Computer Skill would seem to be in order. Exobiology though? Maybe deciphering what its builders were like, but why look at their biology when their culture was much more important in the episode (indeed, required to pass the built-in dilemma it represented). But no Anthropology to be seen. This is standard for Premiere missions, but I also find fault with their being no relationship to the problems the Enterprise had to face here in "Masks". A single link to a Masaka-related card would have gone a long way here. Points match the requirements well enough, though the difficulty is itself in question. Only the Feds may attempt, and that's fine I suppose, though it need not have been that exclusive in my opinion. And the Span? Well, I'm never particularly satisfied when "sectors" get short 3s. Shouldn't a sector be a little wider? A lackluster 2.4.

SEEDABILITY: This is the space mission you've been looking for to balance your Archaeology deck. It's best for the Feds of course, but the Romulans and others can always Espionage it. In fact, anybody with the means to attempt it could solve it with very little Non-Aligned help: Baran. 30 points isn't that big a booty, but the Feds at least (and they're not alone) can solve it with 3 mission specialists to jack that up to a healthy 45. The single attemptability icon makes it safer from theft, which is another plus for the card, and its requirements fit in well with those of other Archaeology missions, most notably Hunt for DNA Program. A good 3.5.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) Makes it difficult to have a Quinn-related mission.

PICTURE: I had only good things to say about the Enhanced Premiere version of this card, what with Gomtuu looking like burning tinder in something more than the usual starfield (there's more color in the background). Only good things, including a slightly better printing than this card, but unfortunately, I panned the card for the mismatched outpost in the corner. Thankfully, there's no outpost on THIS card! The best Gomtuu we have gets this card to 3.6.

LORE: The full and unabridged lore gives us an interesting explanation of what Gomtuu actually is, as well as its nickname. The repetition of the title words is a bit redundant however. 3.1 here.

TREK SENSE: The episode "Tin Man" works perfectly as a dual-affiliation mission since the Feds and Rommies both were racing to get to Gomtuu before the other (the race aspect is represented by an appropriate Span of 4). The Feds attempted it with the 3 Empathy, though really, they only needed Tam Elbrun to contact the living ship. Of course, I'm of the mind that Elbrun should have had Empathy x3 as a skill, but that's me. The Romulans are less interested in contact and more with dissecting the creature. Exobiology would definitely come into play, and so would Treachery to do this to a living, sentient being. They'll need some Cunning to overcome Gomtuu's defenses, but they can manage it. Points are fine for this kind of mission. The central problem though, is that Gomtuu is also a ship card, and may well investigate itself at this location! Or it could be at another location, yet "sighted" here at the same time. The rest of the card works well though (too bad Gomtuu can't report here or something), so I'll go as high as a 3.5.

SEEDABILITY: The Romulans no doubt would only use Investigate Sighting II by this point, because of its built-in outpost. But for the Feds, this version of the mission remains their best bet. At 5 extra points, it's better than the weaker "II". Then again, you could use the outpost to report Rom/Fed personnel (there are quite a few). The Feds have an Empathy mission specialist in Lwaxana Troi to boost the mission to 40 points, or could go the odd way with a certain Mirror personnel with Treachery and an Exobiology specialist and take it to 45. Either way, the requirements aren't too difficult to come by. Romulans with other reporting techniques may well forgo the outpost in favor of grabbing 45 points through Assign Mission Specialists and a Takket/Selok combo. Pretty standard, all things considered. 3.4 here.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) The "II" version didn't even get a passing grade.

PICTURE: It's a good-looking planet, with distinctive striations, and perhaps its spin inspires the idea of time travel, Superman style, but I sorta had to think about that. Just a 3.3 really.

LORE: The title is bigger than life relative to what the mission REALLY is, and the lore reads like technobabble. Is this really from the episode? Because I don't remember a parallel time continuum there, nor did the characters ever actually investigate it. A confusing 2 (or am I again thinking in 3D?).

TREK SENSE: Huh? I'm not even sure what personnel are supposed to be doing at this location (not from the lore anyway). If the idea is "trace" the aliens here, then anyone could do it using Navigation and Physics perhaps. If going down to investigate these aliens, then Data is a sound requirement because he could attune his senses to detect them even if out of phase. Then again, the others (Geordi in particular) could also detect them in other ways, and they're not here. Does the mission require you to go back in time to 19th-century San Francisco?  I don't know, but the Time Travel Pod might make sense there, except that no personnel actually time travel, or if they do, they come back without the Pod (it is discarded as an interrupt). And even so, there's a portal to the past right there on the planet, so why use a Pod? And Guinan? She understands the intricacies of time travel paradoxes and knows about that time frame in particular for having lived it, but she never beamed to Devidia II, so we will never know what she could have done there. Just seems very imcomplete or simply unexplained. The rest of the elements are fine (Feds only since it affects past Earth, Span and points appropriate), but the design only draws a 1.9.

SEEDABILITY: Don't want to get your missions stolen? Pick them like this - requirements so specific that your opponent probably won't have them. There's only one attemptability icon, and even if your opponent can Espionage it or is playing Fed, he'd have to have one of two specific personnel OR seed and acquire a not-so-popular Artifact to solve it. Data's pretty popular, and there are two of him, but Guinan's a pricey card from Fajo Collection. Of course, Fair Play takes care of your anti-theft needs, so using such missions are really academic, and without any way to boost the points through mission specialists, ITC loses a lot of its appeal. Add to that the fact that it'll just attract android-targeting dilemmas, and you're almost better off using it as a decoy, letting your opponent only think you're planning to attempt it, drawing such dilemmas to it. You might still be attracted to its one-personnel-required nature though. Want to do it with the artifact? I can think of better uses for Time Pod. It's taken a number of hits in the last few years, but I'd expect it to tie in with a 19th-century time location if ever we get one. In the meantime, it's dropped to about a 2.6.

TOTAL: 9.8 (49%) And here I thought I was being generous with it.

< Previous 20.....................................................................................................................Next 20 >