To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Voyager expansion set.
PICTURE: Good lighting, nice close-up, the silver beard adds distinction, and that could be one of the "countless" behind him (the blur universalizes what is undoubtedly either a Nistrim or another maje, not that they couldn't be in his pocket). Real presence, and I'd think Haron was the better Kazon leader. Good show! A 4.
LORE: Being a maje helps, but being that of the Relora doesn't as he's the only one in the game. I like their relationship to the Nistrim, and Haron's power comes across well. "Countless" and "vast" are both good words. The tagged-on matching commander status clumsily inserts itself, but is useful. With the game play functions, I've got to go as high as 3.7.
TREK SENSE: Well, what do we really know about Haron? He had a talk with Culluh and was then promptly beamed into space. Ah, if only he'd had Diplomacy. Officer/Command/Leadership/Greed seem perfectly fine for a Kazon maje, but I would then have liked to see something a little more interesting than an almost random collection of skills. If he's the leader of so great a sect, why not gives bonuses to ships and personnel somehow? The fact there are no other Reloras may have something to do with it, since I would have complained anyway if he boosted all Kazon cards. Ok, ok, so what about those skills? Well, I don't know if they're based on a throw-away line I don't recall, but they seem to be pure invention. Stellar Cartography, I'll give him though. The Kazon are basically space nomads, and if he controls a substantial amount of space, he might need the skill to keep it all straight in his head. Medical and Exobiology though... Nothing really springs to mind. At least they're related skills. Integrity may seem a bit high for a profiteering Kazon, but governing so many people requires a certain sense of responsability. His Cunning's perhaps too low for such a successful (and highly-skilled!) leader, but there's gotta be a penalty attached to meeting his greatest enemy without more precautions. Strength fits a Kazon of his stature. The inventions do hurt, but there's a solid base here. A 3.2.
STOCKABILITY: Yes, he's a Maje, and that sets you up for points at Kazon Conference and allows you to solve Combat Training, but being the only Relora, you can't use him to report free Kazon with The Kazon Collective. Don't let that deter you though. The Kazon are still a fledgeling affiliation (perhaps not as much as the Vidiians or Hirogen) that needs this kind of skill support. Just the MEDICAL may be worth it (one of only 3 Kazon). Exobiology and Stellar Cartography are a little bit more common (he's one of 4), but quite recommended when facing dilemmas. Greed is more common than that, but less useful, generally. Leadership is ultra-common in the collective, but you want all your Kazons to be able to initiate battle, don't you? Best missions would seem to be Hunt Alien and Corner Enemy Ship, but he doesn't seem to have been designed with any one Kazon mission in mind. In the "any may attempt" category, there's Answer Distress Signal and Salvage Operation. Let's not forget he's matching commander of a Kazon Raider, one of three, but it's a universal ship, so no problem. Plaqued and Logged, that's an 11-10-10 ship that can report shuttles and fighters aboard and really isn't too hard to staff (Haron does it alone). Good collection of skills, plus a few perks: 3.9.
TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) Another one to beat Culluh.
PICTURE: A reaction shot from the transporter room, but not the usual wonderment one from the bridge would have given off. He looks more peeved at his eternal rank of Ensign if you ask me. If you're wondering, the shot is from the B'Elanna-centric "Dreadnought", so not particularly appropriate. A little dull even, so 2.5.
LORE: We get the premise behind the character in the first line, then a little more on the subject, showing just how green he is. Since he did go from clarinette to saxophone in the course of the series (what passed for character development in Harry's case), they didn't limit him to either instrument. Both are "reed instruments". Finally, in lieu of a particular love interest, we're told he's just plain unlucky in love. Him and about half of all Star Trek mains ;-). Some good stuff, with most of the space going to his original concept, that of the rookie. A 3.7.
TREK SENSE: An ops officer should have both Officer and Engineer, just like Data does. Indeed, we saw enough of Harry below decks to support this. He's still a big rookie though, naive enough for Youth, and low-ranked enough for the Staff icon. He plays a couple of instruments, so Music was a must. As for Stellar Cartography, it's one of the things he fiddled around with on his console, but he also helped Seven of Nine set up the astrometrics lab. Missing seem to be Transporter Skill, Astrophysics, Computer Skill (the Doctor would agree), and any number of science-related skills (gee, like Science) he exhibited on the show. No room for everything, of course, so we understand. These were the most important to his character. Part of his youthful mentality is responsible for his special skill, as he wants to learn and prove himself so badly, he'll volunteer for redshirt duty. After all, in the show, anytime there's a random death, it's always a nobody that gets it. Of course, if we're strictly talking about the show, Harry hardly ever died on one of these volunteer jobs, so the skill is debatable, but he did get the short end of the stick in other ways often enough. His Integrity befits an idealistic, but whiny Starfleet officer. His Cunning could have been a little higher to make up for missing skills, but we'll accept his inexperience here. Strength seems about right for his level of training. Because of the wasted potential, he'll get a 3.5.
STOCKABILITY: Wow! A Voyager main that ISN'T inflated. After all, Music and Youth are hardly as useful as other skills, and his special skill is pratcically designed for him to be the patsy. OFFICER, ENGINEER and Stellar Cartography are good, of course. Though ENGINEER is the big mission requirement found on Delta Quadrant missions, the others aren't much in evidence (so dilemmas it is). The only mission that really screams out Harry Kim is Study Interment Site because it mentions him specifically (he basically replaces 4 skills he doesn't have there) and maybe Answer Distress Call. Note that if you hit the rare dilemma with Music or Youth, Harry's one of the few with either skill in the DQ (protects against Isabella, certainly). When it comes to Harry's special skill, I wouldn't recommend sending him to his death, but there are plenty of other results for random selections. You can "stop" him, allow him to be captured, place him in stasis, Frame of Mind him, whatever happens, just to make sure another more important personnel doesn't suffer from that fate. And with Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission, one Kim can continue the mission attempt while the other doesn't. You can even let him to be sacrificed in those conditions, recycling him later for the same trick. His middle of the road attributes would allow him to bring a good-sized Away Team across Chula: The Chandra. See, not all random selections are about something bad. Admittedly, most are. Also note that Harry must volunteer BEFORE the selection is made, he doesn't "replace" someone. So you may be inadvertently saving some lowly universal. And so it goes. Another version of his persona: Buster Kincaid, is only to be used in conjunction with Captain Proton, but with replacement, allows for spot card management. In etiher guise, The Twin Mistresses of Evil double his skills, so for the baseline version, that means Stellar Cartography x2 and ENGINEER x2 (excellent), and of course, Music x2 (bleh) and Youth x2 (they turn him into a drooling baby, I guess). A small rise in usefulness thanks to the sisters takes him up to 4.
TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) Scotty, McCoy, Bashir... He's in good company at that score.
PICTURE: Like the original version, it shows the potential consequences of Hazardous Duty without really showing what that Duty is. It's far from as interesting as the coolly creepy card from Blaze of Glory though. The outdoor set is fake (the stark shadows testify to that), the figures suffer from some blur, and the interior of the shuttle comes off as grainy. Won't go over 2.4.
LORE: Much more generic and universal than the first version, it also talks about the Tuvok from the pic. Does a better job of getting us to the game text, so a 3.2.
TREK SENSE: No change from the original. The basic premise is the same, with your Officers recognizing the hazardous nature of the mission and decide to send in the troops anyway. Of course, it's never easy to lose a man, so if you do, you lose guilt points. A simple idea, but it suffers from a number of points. First, there's really no need for 2 Officers to make the decision when one could do (other than the fact 1 Officer would scarcely be a requirement). There's also no reason to involve Officers without a Command icon. They don't order people around. Why feel that guilty over enlisted men like Security or Engineer personnel? They signed up for Hazardous Duty. Civilians and VIPs, that would make sense. As long as you're feeling guilty for everyone, why not other Officers too? Picard wouldn't agonize over Giusti's death? Or Data's? As long as we're asking questions, how about those affiliations that wouldn't think twice of sending someone into danger, or going into danger themselves, like the Klingons, Dominion or Kazon? And does the guilt stop at the first death? What if you lose more personnel? Not adressed. The premise has some merit, but the execution is less than stellar. No change, so still 3.3.
SEEDABILITY: Since 2 OFFICERs should be real easy to come up with, the real use comes with it being played on the mission. Follow up with a killer dilemma and dock your opponent's points some. Can't be an OFFICER of course, so random selections are a little risky. Opponent's choice is the way to go, or else dilemmas that target other classifications (like Unscientific Method). But you don't have to wait for a dilemma to hit. You can attack ship or Away Team with your own cards and cause a death. In the Delta Quadrant, that may well be easier to do than elsewhere thanks to high WEAPONS scores (you still need Tactics that score casualties, or 2E events that do the same) and easy intruder strategies. -5 points isn't a huge penalty (The Higher... the Fewer remains the better choice for that kind of thing), but it's not bad either. The Borg might have more trouble coming up with it without a Queen or Counterpart, so they'll hit the wall, but of course, the point loss will mean nothing to them. I'd say it's still a 3.5.
TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) A sharp dip over the original because of the uninspired pic.
PICTURE: A very nice space cloud, it's not without its organic sensibilities, hinting at life. A purely aesthetic score at 3.4.
LORE: Not "injured by *a* starship", just "injured by starship". So your own ship did it (as per the episode). Not necessarily the best tack because the way the game's structured, you can attempt, stop, re-attempt at some other time, etc. and the creature won't die in the meantime. The syntax can allow for it to be another starship, of course, so you can see it any way you want and answer to its distress. I know I'm sliding into Trek Sense here, but that syntax prompted it. A 3.
TREK SENSE: This is the title creature from "The Cloud", and I'm really surprised helping it doesn't require Exobiology. I mean, how alien does it have to be for the skill to apply? Medical is obvious, but Biology isn't quite enough. Physics enters play when considering its nucleogenic properties. And Navigation allows your ship to deliver medical payloads to the right spot, though it almost sounds like its there to mitigate the damage done to the creature when flying inside it. Voyager had to help it from the inside, remember, which wouldn't necessarily be every ship's situation. Only the Feds would help the creature, but I can think of plenty of things other, less scrupulous, affiliations could do to it. Not possible here. The long Span is representative of early Voyager episodes, so far from anything. The points seem a bit high for a random space creature which you hurt in the first place. A mission of opportunity shouldn't be worth more than existing objectives (something Janeway failed to understand many a time). Doesn't quite work for me, so a 1.9.
SEEDABILITY: Feds in the Delta Quadrant shouldn't have too much trouble with this mission, not with highly skilled personnel like the ECH and Tom Paris, who each have almost everything needed here. Physics and Navigation are rather common in the DQ, and the rest can be found on MEDICAL personnel, no problem. If you download mission specialists, you have plenty of options to turn that 35 points into 50, and they need not all have to be from the Alpha Quadrant. Joseph Carey is a useful Physics specialist, and Angelo Tassoni has the Navigation. Ogawa's due for a field trip ;-). Good points, easy requirements, a single attemptability icon... I'll give it a 3.7.
TOTAL: 12 (60%) Just made it.
PICTURE: The composition isn't bad, with the former life in the corner (Mark and the dog get a card after all), and the rest of the image containing a flower to show the ship has become homey too. Lots of gray and heavy blurring do tend to make the picture forgettable, as does the wasted space at the top. This wasn't an easy concept to find a pic for, I'm sure, and the elements I mentioned do work, so a 3.1.
LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)
TREK SENSE: Ensign Bob. This is what this card is about. Ensign Bob, and how that Ensign can suddenly come into the fore and take part in a mission as a true blue personnel. That's how this game can explain reporting aboard a ship without the presence of nearby outposts to send "out-of-frame" shuttles and transports. As with Crew Reassignment, Ready Room Door, or other personnel downloads/reporting, Home Away From Home supports the idea that if a ship is big enough (it has one or more staffing icons), then many of its crew will be backstage, unrepresented by personnel cards. And this is especially true of Voyager where, with the ship cut off from Federation space, we still manage to meet new characters throughout the series. Harder to believe in the case of mains? Not really. Start the game as an episode where Harry Kim doesn't show up until the third act, for example. Reporting Staffers for free is a way of populating the ship more quickly, though not all of these are "little people" (again, I bring up Harry). Equipment is part and parcel of crews, so of course it may report aboard too. Mechanically, I see no real trouble: ship and crew are meant to be away from home thanks to their quadrant icon, and their ship's lore. Other ships (Borg need not apply, they have no concept of "home" and besides, their ships already have some of these abilities built-in) can still get lost, and could receive similar benefits (except for free Staffers, since the ship would have reported and staffed itself in its native quadrant at the start of the game, presumably). You don't have to be Voyager or the Equinox to get zapped by the Caretaker, or fall into a wormhole. No, you just need to be a ship from one quadrant stuck in another. Personnel from the correct affiliation (and equipment, of course) can come out of their quarters and report for duty while away from their native quadrant. I think it's a beautiful solution to the Voyager problem (some anomalies, like native NAs reporting to the Equinox not withstanding), which warrants a 4.7.
STOCKABILITY: I wouldn't play Voyager or the Equinox without it, or the Voq'leng for that matter (this last ship downloads Home Away From Home anyway). The card turns those ships into roving outposts that report equipment and matching personnel directly to the ship. And if they have a Staff icon, it's for free. So a little more than an outpost, it's closer to a flying Headquarters. Any deck that wants to use the Delta Quadrant, but not the DQ-native affiliations, needs this card as well. No freebies, but reporting can continue without an outpost as your Cardassians Acquire Technology on Sikaris, or your Bajorans Study an Interment Site. Likewise, the Dominion can use the benefits of HAFH in the Alpha Quadrant with their Gamma Quadrant ships (though not using their Alpha natives), and the Romulans can go after the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant with their reinforcements reportable right aboard their D'deridex Advanced, no problem. Mirror ships can also use the card to roam the much wider expanses of other quadrants, since they can't win a game on those missions alone. And of course, DQ natives finding their way to our home quadrant can hunt, harvest and board us at their convenience. For the added flexibility and being totally necessary to using DQ Feds (and DQ Klingons), I've got to go with a 4.8.
TOTAL: 16.8 (84%) A top 5 incident.
PICTURE: Can't help thinking about receptionists when I see this card, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Stiff Hophalin still has a couple things going for him, namely that his background showcases the Vidiian affiliation symbol, and the colors are sickly (not a problem when discussing Vidiians). If the image doesn't exactly appear in the episode, it's because it's a shot supplied by Paramount of the actor on the set. Thanks to Evan Lorentz for this bit of information. The score? A 3.6.
LORE: Universality is first acknowledged, and then we get into specific details. The installation gives us his episode of origin ("Faces"). Finally, there's what I think could be a joke. I can't really remember if the Voyager crew broke the Vidiian codes or not, but if they did, his confidence in them is a hoot. If not, then, it's still an interesting piece of invented history. A 3.5.
TREK SENSE: Hophalin is supposed to represent most Vidiian technicians. Technicians are usually Engineers, and Computer Skill is certainly part of the package. I won't argue with Physics either, since it goes so easily with Engineer. Many Vidiians are Treacherous as a matter of course. It's the Archaeology that makes me pause. It's not a very technical skill, has no real basis in "Faces", and is all the more strange if you believe all Vidiian technicans are so trained. Seeing encryption/decryption as an Archaeological undertaking is too poetic for the realities of this game. Staff icon's not a problem. Attributes? The Vidiians are pretty sanguinary already because of their desperate need to survive, so their Integrity should be 6 when they DON'T have Treachery. A little too high here. Cunning's fine for his number of skills. Strength, for his sickly disposition. Since I can't accept a couple of elements here, I can only give 2.9.
STOCKABILITY: Vidiians are a very small affiliation, so their universals with wide skill lists become very important. For example, while ENGINEER is a very important classification, the Vidiians only have 4, and only 2 of these have it as a classification rather than a skill. Good thing both are universal. Computer Skill, again 4; Archaeology, 3; Physics, 4; and Treachery clocks in at 4. With such a distribution, the Vidiians will either turn to other affiliations for help, or include multiples of the same universals. Is Hophalin worth it? Well, he's not the best dilemma-buster, but he can throw people out an Airlock (Lower Decks would help with that) when your Vids intrude on a ship with the Boarding Claw. ENGINEER and Physics are also very important to mission solving in the Delta Quadrant. Hophalin isn't the most impressive personnel out there, but when your affiliation is this tight, every man and woman counts. A 3.5.
TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Universal Vidiians all tend to score the same it seems.
PICTURE: A fairly good effect here, though it doesn't look as good with all the motion sapped out of it. Still a very effective 3.6.
LORE: The first sentence is fine, but the second falls under the heading "too much information". I say this because it looks like it was used to justify some of the game text. Not necessary, as we'll see. I might as well mention the Easter Egg contained in the copyright notice here, since it's non-game-related text. "This card sucks" is a bit puerile, but funny nonetheless. A feature that gets the card to 3.2.
TREK SENSE: There's a Hull Breach, for whatever reason, and it kills one or two personnel. The first kill tells us where the Breach occurs. That's part and parcel of the random element here. Then, another personnel with the same classification, presumed to be working in the same section because of this, also falls out the hole. So for example, say an Engineer gets killed first. We might consider then that Main Engineering has the Breach, so it's fair to choose another Engineer to follow the first out the window. Androids wouldn't die by being exposed to space, but then, neither would Borg. That's a bit of a problem. First Contact showed us drones that were lost in deep space, but why wouldn't androids suffer the same fate? Maybe they actually hold on to the bulkhead using their mighty grip (Borg often have just one hand, and not quite the Strength and speed). Or maybe the Collective just doesn't bother beaming drones back in. Wearing Environmental Suits would likewise protect crew from the vacuum of space AND magnetize their feet to the deckplating. One final note: I disagree that the mission should continue after a Hull Breach. If there ever was a time to stop for repairs, this is it. I understand the need for this not to be a wall, but a "discard dilemma" would've done that. Ingenious in the way it kills, I really wish there was a Tactic that did this too. A couple of points keep the score at 4.
SEEDABILITY: Since there won't be an Environmental Suit until All Good Things, this dilemma will hit every time. Even once it comes out, specific pieces of Equipment are tough to have around at the right time. The Suit will have to be pretty useful to be included in any standard mission-attempt package. All-android crews ARE immune to this, but how often does this happen? No, the first kill is practically assured. The second will come if there's any more personnel of the same classification. Random selections make it slightly risky, but crews are usually more full than Away Teams. Still, this is a great lead-in to dilemmas that require more than one instance of a particular classification. How are you going to pass Scientific Method if you just lost 2 SCIENCE personnel? Of course, that's only true if a SCIENCE personnel was targeted first. Note also that classifications in the skill box can't be targeted. Or those handed out by Equipment. On the upside, personnel with more than one classification, or a double-classification, take out more skills when they're hit. Perhaps Scientific Method isn't the best example. Because the mission continues after this, what you really want is the crew to head into waters more dangerous than a simple wall. Aphasia Device is disastrous when MEDICAL start to disappear, The Cloud requires multiples of both MEDICAL and ENGINEER, Ferengi Bug would probably put your hand on the table right then and there, etc. A good 1-2 killer at 4.2.
TOTAL: 15 (75%) Doesn't really suck after all.
PICTURE: Looks like they're implicating the alien that's being pointed at and not the two Starfleet officers, but it's a good source for the concept nonetheless. Set design is a bit colorful for me, but the composition's clear. Let's say a 3.1.
LORE: Describes one example of an "Implication" and does it fairly well. The word "murder" in it makes it useful for Cyrus Redblock. That title is far from memorable though, and perhaps Circumstancial Evidence might have been a little more interesting. Just a thought. Stands a 3.1.
TREK SENSE: Just a wall? Really? One would think, with the story detailed in the lore, that some kind of filter/capture consequence could have been added to it. I suppose we have to accept that our characters were never really going to spend time in stasis (the equivalent of jail in this episode), and that it was just a matter of defending them correctly. After all, they were innocent. Is everyone in your Romulan Treachery deck as innocent? The dilemma doesn't make that judgement call - your personnel might be guilty, that doesn't mean you can't get them out of trouble (ever watched "The Practice"?). It's that inevitability though that I find jarring about the lack of consequences to this card. Discrediting the Implication works fine though, with both requirement possibilities making some measure of sense. You can use lots of Diplomacy to convince officials that your personnel are innocent, with your Integrity serving as proof, or you can use Law and Cunning to finagle yourself out of the charges. Good stuff. I just don't think the dilemma is complete enough. An on-the-fence 3.2.
SEEDABILITY: A common dilemma with some bite, especially in the Voyager environment because the skills it requires are rarer than in the Alpha Quadrant. Diplomacy is much more common in the wider environment, but if Shaka When the Walls Fell was a good staple dilemma before, Implication can nearly supplant it. Some affiliations, like the Feds and possibly Klingons, will have less trouble coming up with 3 Diplomacy, but others might be in graver trouble. As for Law, it's rare in any environment, just especially so in the Delta Quadrant. There's also the idea of attribute requirements in there, which requires a number of personnel to pass them. Walls are always better when they require lots of personnel, as this can set up a killer dilemma (perhaps Zaldan to get at those Diplomats?) just after it. And being this close to Shaka isn't a loss, because you can use both in the same combo, amassing Diplomacy to pass the first wall, then picking them off with another dilemma, and ending with yet another Diplomacy wall. Throw Cyrus Redblock into the mix, and the dilemma wall will start with a random kill (perhaps a Diplomat or Lawyer?), and as a wall, it'll stay there for further kills if it doesn't get overcome right away. Voyager had some good common dilemmas: a 4.1.
TOTAL: 13.5 (68.5%) Still less than memorable though.
PICTURE: Too many Voyager space missions tend to run in the pink and blue shades that we used to see on My Little Pony and Rainbow Bright, but in this case, the effect is really beautiful. And the grains of dust over the whole thing add some depth to it too. A very pretty 4.
LORE: An interesting title followed by well-written mission objectives. The Mystery isn't ignored either. A 3.3.
TREK SENSE: Astrophysics is basically THE skill here, but you'll use Engineer and Diplomacy when you find out about Marayna, the woman inside the nebula keeping it stable: Engineer to discover that the nebula is kept stable artificially, Diplomacy to open communication with her. Given that there are no inversion nebulas in the Alpha Quadrant, the phenomenon is rare enough to warrant a 35-point price tag. Span's ok. Not sure about the attempting affiliations though. As long as you're putting NAs there, why not just make it attemptable to everyone? Marayna was bored enough to take an interest in any passing ship after all. The Feds are an Alpha Quadrant affiliation, so they would be interested in something that doesn't exist in their native space, but that would be true for the Romulans, Cardassians, etc. too, wouldn't it? That's the only real flaw, so a 3.4.
SEEDABILITY: What's better than 35 points for 3 requirements? How about 50? Yes, the Feds can bring 3 mission specialists here, no problem (Assign Mission Specialists can get them to the Delta Quadrant). Of course, the mission is also simple enough to be completed by a single personnel: Data'n'Picard, Par Lenor and Rachel Garrett have everything required, but they can't start out in the DQ. If using DQ personnel only, well, two will have to do the job, or else just give Janeway an Engineering Kit. That'll do it. Note that this is also a nebula, and in the Delta Quadrant, there are far fewer Youth personnel to stop Isabella from destroying ships (this is useless against the Borg however). Most other tricks associated with this feature are on Alpha Quadrant personnel, but you might cross over: Hawk reduces its Span, Ensign Tuvok cancels a battle there. Oh yeah, the Riker Maneuver can be used there, but not in the Voyager-only environment. For the Borg, it's a place to play or seed a Transwarp Hub, one of 4 such legal spots. With the Non-Aligned attemptability icon, all affiliations actually have access to it by simply bringing an NA along, but the way it's designed, it can be protected by both Fair Play and Defensive Measures. Certainly a good one and a 4.
TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) Better than Harry's blind date here.
PICTURE: When I first saw this one, I couldn't remember seeing the effect on the show. When I looked up Ilidaria and found it was from the second episode of Voyager, "Parallax", I remembered the whole "event horizon" effect as totally different (note that this one was never proofread by anyone with any knowledge of physics before being filmed and aired). And it was. For the most part. Eventually, this shot came up. Aesthetically, it's a ghastly thing - concentric circles of oranges, purples and blues. Is that supposed to be the "echo" of Voyager at the very center? I don't really want to watch the episode again to find out. Not Decipher's fault, but this monstrosity gets a low 1.6. At least it's distinctive.
LORE: Yep, sounds like "Parallax" alright. Turns out that transmission was an echo of a distress call sent by Voyager from the future, a call that attracted Voyager to the dangerous singularity in the first place. The first of many temporal headaches for that crew, and its viewers. A techno-babbly 3.
TREK SENSE: The level of danger here is totally absent, but should have been inherent to the mission. Once you investigate this thing, you're trapped in it, and indeed, the requirements focus on getting out of there. Yet, if at first you don't succeed, you can leave and come back later. Oh, the mission could be about investigating the singularity WITHOUT getting stuck in it, but the danger doesn't really exist (well, we might get lucky and the dilemmas could supply us with the right kind of problems). Looking at the requirements, a couple of Navigation would be required to pilot a ship through or near this sort of thing. Cunning, of course, greatly helps, though I'm surprised there's no Astrophysics component here. Since B'Elanna came up with the way to beat the singularity (winning her the job of chief engineer), she's listed as a requirement, equivalent to 3 Engineer. It was an engineering solution that saved the ship, so ok, but the mission isn't Escape Quantum Singularity, it's Investigate it. The Feds are always interested in spatial phenomena, especially if it might get them home (since this would be attempted by DQ-stranded Feds), so their presence here makes sense. As for NAs, well, this may be close to Kazon space, it's still a Non-Aligned system, and besides, the Kazon aren't really all that interested in scientific study. Besides, the Kazon and Vidiians can attempt NA missions with Collective and Sodality respectively. Long Span's ok since this is a navigational obstacle. 45 points may be a bit hefty considering the actual importance of this mission. I don't even think the requirements warrant it. An unfocused 1.9.
SEEDABILITY: 45 points is juicy bounty, for Feds, and for anyone. With Voyager-environment personnel being so skillful, it shouldn't even be difficult to get what's needed. The Feds can bring in outside mission specialists to raise those points even more (the two Leah Brahms, Angelo Tassoni and Gibson get it up to 65!). Even the Klingons could get it up by 10 points with their Navigation specialists. Since the Kazon and Vidiians have incidents that allow them to attempt NA missions, it's a fair one for them too, and other affiliations will just have to use a Non-Aligned (like B'Elanna Torres herself, for example) to give them access to the mission. not a big problem at all. Since B'Elanna is NA as well as Fed, she'll provide an easy requirement for anyone who needs it, not that ENGINEER is a rare commodity in the Delta Quadrant. Nor is Navigation for that matter. Just have to assemble the CUNNING and you're good to go. Some of the easiest 45 points you're likely to get. A strong 4.1.
TOTAL: 10.6 (53%) Man cannot live on Seedability alone.
PICTURE: When I first saw "Caretaker", I was impressed with the Ocampan planet and its dry white sky. It made me think "yes, we might well go where no Star Trek has gone before". I was wrong, but some of that feeling comes through in this card. The alien lighting and dusty color palette are all there, and Jabin looks like a veritable desert wildman. An original 3.5.
LORE: Naming his sect and rank is, of course, important for the Kazon, but if you wonder why an expiry date is given on his title, it's because Razik would later become first maje of the Kazon-Ogla. The rest is the story as told in Voyager's pilot episode. A good enough 3.2.
TREK SENSE: Jabin is a first maje, so Officer (check), Leadership (check) and a Command icon (check) are all required. To tap the planet's energy, he would need Geology, yes, but Astrophysics relates more to a star. In the game, however, Astrophysics has been linked to any large-scale physical phenomenon, so I suppose it was the way to go. Treachery shouldn't be an issue since he was a bad guy, but if you're unconvinced, just check out how he beat up a poor defenseless Ocampan girl (or let his men do so). As for Greed, he lusted after water, energy, Voyager's technology, you name it. His Integrity may seem a mite high in light of these skills, but as maje, he had to look out for his people, which may have inched the attribute upwards. More a brute than a tactician, I agree with both the low Cunning and high Strength. Aside from a little Astrotrouble, he's a good 3.8.
STOCKABILITY: The Kazon-Ogla have a fair number of personnel, second only to the Nistrim, so Jabin is a good maje to use in conjunction with The Kazon Collective's free reporting effect. These personnel include a second maje, Razik, so if you lose one, you still have the other. The sect also includes the lone female Kazon and a couple of real skillful boys (like Karden). The Ogla are also tailor-made to attempt Combat Training, since each of them adds 5 points to the mission. Guess what, it requires a maje in any case. Aside from that, his set of skills is fair-to-good, with most of them being useful for passing dilemmas. A Greed/Treachery bias on mission selection (and thus, your choice of NA or other affiliation support) would make him more useful, and Treachery is pretty common in the Kazon Collective anyway. Nothing really great, and Razik makes him expendable, but being an Ogla counts for something - a 3.5.
TOTAL: 14 (70%) Always surprises me when a Kazon gets a good score ;-).
PICTURE: I've really never liked Voyager's engineering panels, those shades of yellow and blue are just so... baby room. Carey himself is personable enough in this early pic (from "Prime Factors"), though nothing fancy. A 2.9.
LORE: Though something about his butting heads with B'Elanna, or about being the original choice for chief engineer would have been appreciated, there's some good stuff here nonetheless, stuff that adds pathos to the fact that Carey didn't quite make it home. He was right, he couldn't finish his model in time. Universality is acknowledged, but I'm gonna tear that element apart in the next section. Here, it's a good 3.6.
TREK SENSE: Joe Carey almost became the chief engineer of Voyager instead of Torres, he was in many early episodes creating conflict below decks, we remember him by name, and the creators thought he was important enough to deserve a comeback in one of the late episodes so we could say goodbye to him, and all he got was a lousy t-shirt. I mean, a universal mission specialist?!? I don't disagree with the Engineer/Staff/Physics, but it wouldn't have taken much to find more skills to put on him, possibly a special skill (I might have him boost Maquis-less crews or something). Similarly, his attributes are fine, with an intolerant Integrity, reasonable Cunning, and the usual Strength provided by Starfleet training. It's just too bad that the guy was jipped on the show, and now in the game. Or is that supposed to be some kind of irony? The lack of vision makes the card a low 2.
STOCKABILITY: I'm not disputing that the Delta Quadrant is repleat with ENGINEER and Physics missions (and the Voyager environment has some relevant dilemmas too), but did we really need yet another Federation Physics mission specialist? We did if you want to run a (rather conservative) mission specialist strategy in the Voyager-only environment, but if all cards are accessible, the Feds already have 4 other Physics mission specialists. Ok, one of them is holographic, but then, Physics is mostly seen on space missions anyway. And since Assign Mission Specialists can be used to send personnel across quadrant lines, there's no real need to add more. Or is there? Carey is the only ENGINEER of the lot, and that's a skill in high demand in his part of space. Of the handful of Physics missions in the DQ, a couple of them require multiple Physics anyway, and while Restore Victims asks for SCIENCE, Aftermath requires ENGINEER (as do many other Physics missions). So Carey's a good choice even in the Alpha Quadrant if you want to fine-tune your strategy. A variation on an old personnel type (Premiere repeated itself too much), he hits 3.5.
TOTAL: 12 (60%) The guy that always gets the short end of the stick, it seems.
PICTURE: Bah... There's a lot going on, but I don't find it particularly interesting. The colors are some awful (and un-Vulcan) pastels, that swirl in the background is more distracting than anything else, and the Vulcan pick-up sticks aren't really front and center. Tuvok makes up for this by staring at it, drawing our own eyes to it, but aside from the composition, I don't find much to recommend here. A 2.4.
LORE: All good information, some specific to Tuvok, but mostly general. In the lore are hidden the seeds of the game text, and that's always a plus. Enough for a 3.4.
TREK SENSE: The problem with cards based on innocuous elements like food and "board games" is that they can't really hope to have a Sensical effect, unless it's a fairly useless one. After all, why would someone playing Kal-Toh somewhere have any effect on the game, even at a localized level. No, these things tend to stay conceptual. In this case, the card allows you to play a little Kal-Toh yourself, but with cards instead of t'an. Discarding a card from hand is the equivalent of putting a t'an on the structure. On the show, this made the Kal-Toh change shape. Now if you balanced the form, an opposing card of the same type is also discarded, mirror-like. If you didn't, the whole thing collapses and you discard Kal-Toh. See, you weren't able to balance the discards. Cute, but highly conceptual. The mention of Alien Probe has no Trek Sense bearing, it's simply there to prevent players from abusing the card. I still give points for concepts, and this one lands a very good 2.
STOCKABILITY: There are plenty of ways to find out what's in your opponent's hand without resorting to Alien Probe, though of course, you could Kevin or Mercy Kill your own Alien Probe and then use Kal-Toh with the kmowedge you've gleaned. Life-From Scan is the most basic card that does this, but it's far from the best. Orb Experience too, is somewhat limited. Cards like Nightmare and now Treacherous Advice, that do other damage in addition to what your Kal-Toh can do, are the best. You can of course figure out what cards are in your opponent's hand intuitively. Cards that send other cards back to hand (Space-Time Portal, Energy Vortex, A Change of Plans, Flight of the Intruder, 2E personnel with return-to-hand functions, and many others) are common enough, and can give you important information. You can also play the odds. If you think there's a good chance your opponent has personnel in hand, discard a personnel. If you're wrong, you do lose Kal-Toh though. If you choose to go down this road, you better have a strong card recycling strategy going so that you can get those discards back, and/or fill your hand easily with discardables. It's a good card to hurt your opponent, but you really need to plan for it. A bit too card-intensive, I can't go above 3. At least it isn't as hosed as Telepathic Alien Kidnappers.
TOTAL: 10.8 (54%) And it collapses...
PICTURE: Really odd lighting, as if Karden was the golden child or something. Given his skill list, maybe he is! I like the look of it, including the glow of the cave behind him, but I'm left wondering how appropriate it is. I can see myself giving 3.4.
LORE: I like what I read here. His story's well told, Chakotay is appropriately referred to as "Federation" (fun for a Maquis, a group that tends to call their crewmates "Starfleet"), and they don't neglect the fact he's an Ogla. A strong 3.6.
TREK SENSE: Personally, I think they went a little overboard with Karden's skills, but the card IS called Karden and not Kar, so it's an older character than the one we spent time with. Aww, I don't really believe that. Personnel are as old as they are in the pic, and Decipher's not in the habit of projecting what skills they might have in the future. Karden's a Youth, that's for sure, but one that's trained hard to earn his name. Still, Navigation x2? Disciplines as varied as Physics, Anthropology and Biology? Or are we getting Anthropology in connection to his getting to know a human? Even Officer's a stretch, though I'm not sure what else he'd be. Along with Youth, I think Honor is the most sensible skill, seeing as he couldn't kill Chakotay even to get his Ogla name. High Integrity also stems from that. Cunning is as inflated as his skills. Strength would allow him to kill his maje, yet still shows some combat inexperience. Staff icon's just right. Skill inflation isn't just a Federation phenomenon. No more than 2.1.
STOCKABILITY: That large skill list makes him useful to more than one deck. In a straight Kazon deck, he's got two majes that can help him report for free (Jabin and Razik). He'll bring them the rather rare (for them) Honor and Youth. These aren't hugely important skills, but your opponent might use that to his advantage in dilemma selection, hoping you won't have any handy when you hit Ankari "Spirits" or I Hate You. Navigation x2 isn't just good, it's great, not only fulfilling twice as many Nav requirements, but also required in that very amount on a single personnel by Gravimetric Distortion. The rest of the mix will make him useful at both space and planet missions. And great attributes too! Now, if you bring in Non-Aligneds, or even Feds (with The Kazon Collective), it opens up a lot of mission possibilities where his skills will take care of business in a major way (Heal Life-Form springs to mind). An excellent candidate for Scission and a great mission solver, Karden gets a 4.1.
TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Inflation adds a little here, but loses a little there.
PICTURE: Janeway looking up at the great unknown on her viewscreen is a typical image from the show, and it seems like it could have come from anywhere (haircut warranting). That's good in the sense that is typifies the character, but it's a little dull in this case. It is from "Sacred Ground" which was a Janeway solo mission, so it's appropriate, if not extremely revealing of her character. It at least showed her scientific side warring with her spiritual side. A rather ambivalent 3.
LORE: You know, it's kind of sad she isn't listed as Voyager's captain. I don't mean for matching commander status - the USS Voyager card takes care of that - but because it's her most important role! Former science officer on the Al-Batani? It explains her skill profile, but is pretty irrelevant when you think of more recent accomplishments. Her inspirations are a nice touch, and her love for dogs is mentioned (aw, sweet... of course, I'm a cat man all the way). Finally, we get that last sentence about her overall mission. Good, but it does gloss over the fact they're stuck there because of her, doesn't it? ;-) Good lore, but with a glaring omission. Only hits 3.2.
TREK SENSE: The captainly stuff is all there: Command icon, Officer and Leadership. Diplomacy is showcased often enough when she meets new races, even if many of them turn out to be pretty hostile. Hey, she did negotiate a pact with the Borg. The rest leans heavily on her Science background, set up early on in "Parallax". No surprises there. Integrity's about right, especially for the early years (going by the picture). It's possible to have a debate about this, since many feel her actions weren't always justified, and yet she did make big "Prime Directive" decisions such as the one that stranded her crew in the Delta Quadrant. A variable Integrity à la Quark would definitely have been nice. Cunning goes with the science background. Strength looks right for her build and training, though she didn't mind using a gun. A little dull, frankly, even if 6 standard skills is also what Picard originally got. At least he had the most of any personnel in his crew, but in Voyager, many of her crew have as many or more. No real mistakes means a high score, but playing it safe means she can't get above 4. So 4 it is.
STOCKABILITY: Good attributes, a strong skill list, and matching commander of an excellent DQ ship... I think Kathy's gonna do relatively well. For planet missions, she's got the old OFFICER stand-bys, Diplomacy and Leadership, while on space missions, she'll do well with SCIENCE, Physics and Astrophysics. Computer Skill, often required in the DQ, does double duty. SCIENCE too for that matter. Well, let's just say she's a well-rounded mission solver. Return Life-Form asks specifically for her, and she has all the skills required by Reinitialize Warp Reaction. A one woman show at those, there are plenty more where she'll take care of business with only one or two other personnel, not to mention all the dilemmas she helps out with. In fact, few DQ Federation missions don't have one of her skills listed. She's the matching commander of one of the Feds' probable Homes Away From Home, so it makes sense to use her. Seed Voyager at the Caretaker's Array, use Ready Room Door to get Janeway aboard, and you're off and running. Voyager has low staffing needs for some pretty high stats. Plaqued and Logged, they go up to 11-11-11, and that's before the Bio-Neural Gel Packs are factored in. In non-mission solving situations, like ship battle, you may be tempted to switch her with Arachnia, a version that reduces an opponent's SHIELDS if no female is aboard their ship. Considering the Kazon, Vidiians and Hirogen's lack of that gender, it's got a fair chance of working. Of course, you're sacrificing matching commander bonuses by switching her, so have the ECH around as a back-up. Hey, I'd rather have a 6-skill personnel with this list than Picard's Music, y'know? A strong 4.5.
TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) Then again, I might not use her on PRINCIPLE ;-).
PICTURE: Was Tierna exploding too graphic? The focus on the small injector is fine (though it looks like he's holding a bomb too, but that's not one), and Tierna's face taking up the whole background is striking, but I was sort of holding out for the explosion. The reason seems to be that the effect just cuts from a slightly distorted Tierna to an explosion without anything cool in between. Ah well... Still, a good image at 3.4.
LORE: A really interesting kamikaze mission, it's told well enough. Well enough for another 3.4.
TREK SENSE: Well, the title has us wondering what the Kazon are doing outside their own quadrant since dilemmas are non-quadrant specific. But we can always think of the dilemma as "Kazon-type Bomb" referring to any "humanoid bomb" ploy. The bomb, if it blows, will kill all personnel present (it blew through several bulkheads, so even non-localized crew could be at risk) with less than 7 Strength. Because Strength is an indicator of toughness, you could be tough enough to survive the blast. Ok, good. How about the requirements? There are three sets to choose from. Stopping a humanoid bomb is certainly a Security matter, but since it's an unusual tactic, you can't expect a single Security guard to think to look for it. Lots of expertise (3 Security) and lots of Cunning might be able to point your crew in the right direction, but I kind of miss a Medical element here. I do believe that a smart crew could ask: "Hey, why did this guy allow himself to be captured? Maybe we should have the Doctor check him out." But without a Medical personnel to then do that, I don't know how they detect the Bomb. The second possibility requires 1 less Security, but a tricorder scans the Kazon and detects the Bomb and then the Security take care of things. Fine, and it does mean the aforementioned Medical isn't needed, but "any" tricorder isn't very satisfying. I don't think an Engineering Tricorder is configured to check a target's blood, y'know? It could always check for the explosive, I suppose. The third option is for the Borg, replacing Security with Defense Borg. They ARE equivalent, and as for scanning the Kazon, Borg have their own internal sensors to do this, even former Borg with the right subcommand icon. More good than bad, the dilemma reaches 3.8.
SEEDABILITY: A mighty powerful dilemma, it can kill a LOT of personnel, though some affiliations will be less at risk than others. Those that have a large number of "strong" personnel, like the Klingons, Hirogen and Kazon won't suffer a whole lot of casualties, nor will the Romulans. And those affiliations are also the most loaded with SECURITY, though they are perhaps sometimes more deficient in CUNNING. The Bajorans can be expected to be good in a fight, but often depend on attribute boosters, and this dilemma targets printed STRENGTH. Most at risk are no doubt the Ferengi, Vidiians and Borg (though they're at least expected to have the Defense icons present), but the Feds and Cardassians might be too, depending on what personnel make up the Away Team or crew. The Dominion won't lose its Jem'Hadar, but White-rationing Vorta and many Founders will be gone. Any group of personnel is likely to lose at least one personnel in any case. But that all hinges on neither of the requirement selections being present. Like I said above, the Borg will probably pull through (if not, they'll disastrously lose all Com and Nav drones as well as the Queen). 2 SECURITY isn't a lot to ask for, but a tricorder may not be part of the package. The only other option asks for 3 SECURITY and enough personnel to total 35 CUNNING. That's a lot for a dilemma. Obviously, you'll want to set this card up with a SECURITY-killer. Trabe Grenade and Angry Mob spring to mind, perhaps Shot in the Back. Nothing for space missions though, but opponent's choice dilemmas can also help. If you're playing Kazon, there's another way to make this hit: as an Interrupt on Tierna. Simply get the guy to the right spot, making sure there isn't enough SECURITY there to nullify the Kazon Bomb, and blow up. It'll kill Tierna (STRENGTH only 6), but he'll take a lot of people with him. It's a terrible thing to do considering current world events, but really, it's just a game here. A powerful (common!) dilemma, as long as you make it hit, which shouldn't be that difficult. A 4.4.
TOTAL: 15 (75%) Voyager dilemmas were inflated to keep up with Voyager personnel.
PICTURE: Nice little green planet, a color that balances well against the rust Kazon icons. Nothing special, but not bad to look at. A 3.
LORE: Again, very simple. Reads a little like you're not playing Kazon though. Lore this boring can't get more than a 2 anyway.
TREK SENSE: The requirements are great. 3 Officer instead of 3 Majes who would be Officer anyway? Well, the Kazon sects don't really trust one another, so they might send a proxy (perhaps a first officer). When the Majes actually do go themselves, the mission is worth more points, because more important matters can be discussed. Security is also there because of the trust issue, and the negotiations are handled with Diplomacy. Well done. As for the technical details, they're more debatable. Didn't Janeway take part in this particular Conference? That would be reason for a Federation icon on there. Minor, since 99% of the time, this would be a Kazon-only mission. The Span seems a bit high to me as well. Wouldn't you choose a site close enough to all sects? It never really made sense that Kazon of different sects would cooperate, but here, that's fine, and may even explain all other cooperations after it. A strong 4.2.
SEEDABILITY: An excellent Kazon mission. It can't be stolen, for one thing, but mostly because it plays with Majes, which are the best personnel in the affiliation. The Kazon Collective makes them very easy to report, and they have loads of skills. They're all OFFICERs, so getting 3 here won't be a problem, and among them you'll find Diplomacy and SECURITY. You're bringing at least 3 Majes, that's stands to reason, so the actual point value would 35 and up. How much up? Let's see... Culluh, Haron, Jabin, Loran, Minnis, Razik, Surat and Valek. That's 8, for +40 points, so for 60 points total! With Corner Enemy Ship being 40 points, Conference could lead to a 2-mission win. No, Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission won't allow you to double your points by bringing duplicate Maje's, but the tactic would protect you against losses due to dilemmas. One of the cornerstones of a strong Kazon deck, I give it a 4.3.
TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) And don't let Mabus near it!
PICTURE: The look of the Kazon gun is appropriately primitive, but it's overshadowed by the bright floor light, and I find that blotty shadow in the upper left corner particularly distracting. At least the shot appeared in an episode as is, rather than being a prop shot. How 'bout a 2?
LORE: Likeable stuff. It describes the various sects as separate factions, even if the game doesn't really address the issue mechanically. The comparison to Starfleet weapons is fun too, and details about its manufacture even more so. I think it treats the Disruptor as more primitive than most, which is very appropriate, and thus worth its 3.5.
TREK SENSE: Ah yes, hand weapons... I know them well by now. They usually share some characterstics that tend to drive down their Trek Sense score. For example, that a single Disruptor can boost all personnel present. The idea that disruptor fire could give an entire team an advantage isn't as sound as it... hem... sounds. At some point, the weapon has to be drowned out by the sheer number of personnel in an Away Team. The card doesn't adequately represent "a weapon for every personnel" either, since it can't be split into multiple weapons when the team splits up. The other absurd thing about that angle is that a personnel could be carrying 3 hand weapons and be able to use them all effectively! That weapons would boost Strength isn't really an issue, though the lore does mention that they are less powerful than similar Starfleet weapons, so should they still give +2? Only "slightly", the lore says, so I suppose there's no need to reduce the yield to +1. One thing I note from the lore that isn't respected though is the idea that the Kazon don't replicate their weapons. Seems to me that no matter how easily a weapon can be mass-produced, you couldn't beat a replicator to the punch. Yet here, the Kazon sidearm reports for free, and thus faster than a comparable Federation weapon. Iffy, though it could be explained by the idea that Kazon are never ever far from their weapons. Oh yeah, and the weapon being Kazon use only is a bit of a cheat isn't it? I mean, it's a simple gun, so couldn't anyone use it? Actually, since the Kazon basically enables the game text, he's just there so it makes sense for Kazon Disruptors to be distributed to the Away Team. Still, once distributed, why can't the Away Team keep fighting after the Kazon is killed? How about stolen Disruptors? As usual, this kind of card falls far below the mark, at 1.7.
STOCKABILITY: Hand weapons have proven value, both against dilemmas and in personnel battle. The Kazon have access to two possible guns, this and the more powerful Disruptor Rifle. Now, both report for free once per turn, which can lead to a massive weapons build-up, but which is intrinsically better? Let's see... Kazon Disruptor Rifle can be downloaded by one personnel and gives +1 more than the Kazon Disruptor, but it also takes out Diplomacy, not the most common skill in the Kazon skill pool. And you need that Diplomacy to solve a seminal Kazon mission: Kazon Conference. So maybe you should stick with Disruptors in all but your assault teams? The Kazon are fairly strong already, but the Delta Quadrant also harbors such powerhouses as the Hirogen, and you can never have enough STRENGTH when building your Boarding Parties. Besides, when using the Kazon Collective, you want to give your allies a fighting chance. With the free report usually afforded only to hand weapons with measly +1 bonuses, these are better than most affiliations', but not necessarily better than the Kazon Rifle. Close enough for a 3.5.
TOTAL: 10.7 (53.5%) The kind of score these things usually get.
PICTURE: A prop shot, and one with a confused composition, but it shows off the weapon well. Lots of tubing and a little verdegris both help to make it look shoddy and well-worn. An acceptable 2.5.
LORE: Great stuff. It showcases the Kazon's disregard for aesthetics in favor of functionality. Well-written and pointedly observed. 4.5 here.
TREK SENSE: The Kazon Disruptor made mention of the lack of replicator technology, hurting the Trek Sense of the report-for-free function, but the Rifle avoids making that mistake. It's still true, but it hammers the point home that the Rifle is a low-cost item. In 2E, we might see Cost 0 hand weapons, but in 1E, since cards effectively have a cost of "one card play", playing for free is the only possible reduction in cost. It does work when taken from that angle. The rest of this review is going to seem very familiar to long-time readers. Rifles are more powerful versions of regular Disruptors so they boost Strength a bit more. They are also very intimidating when compared to smaller hand weapons, and are hard to conceal. Diplomacy's pretty much out the window when the negotiating team is carrying even a single one of these. Except on ships, of course, where the viewscreen avoids showing the guns, or else it's more normal to have weapons on the walls or whatever. The last two elements make Rifles inherently better in this category than smaller hand weapons. But the same trouble always applies: There is no good answer as to how many Rifles are included in a card, nor how a personnel might use 3 or more at a time with any effectiveness, nor why non-Kazon can't work a simple trigger in the absence of a real Kazon. Despite the problems, reaches 3.
STOCKABILITY: The Kazon can effectively report 2 hand weapons for free each turn to help with their Boarding Party endeavors - the Kazon Disruptor and the Kazon Disruptor Rifle. +5 total STRENGTH per turn if you can get the weapons in hand. Corez can download one of these, so that's some extra juice there. The Kazon are already pretty strong in combat, but with the likes or Hirogen out there, every little bit helps. This is especially true when The Kazon Collective includes another affiliation with perhaps less STRENGTH. Sure, it removes 1 Diplomacy from each personnel present, but it should be pretty easy to weed out Diplomacy mission from your deck when building it around the Kazon, shouldn't it? Well, Kazon Conference is perhaps too good to pass up. Diplomacy dilemmas remain a problem too, but Rifles can always stay aboard ship during planet mission attempts. The Kazon already have good STRENGTH and should be able to handle cards that require it, perhaps with the help of the standard Kazon Disruptor instead. Not an obvious choice over the Disruptor, the Kazon really work best with a mix of both. Giving it 3.6.
TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) Overall, way better than its little brother.
PICTURE: Looks harsh, but it's a great pic. The desert is bright and arid, the buildings are delapidated and/or under construction, and the sky is interestingly tinted. Transporter-less, they've got Kazon Raiders standing by on the left there. Very, very nice, and it overshadows the usual Outpost problem of showing a planet location when these facilities are supposed to be in space/orbit. Also, since the Kazon have no homeworld, we aren't saddled with a pic from the homeworld, where Outposts cannot be seeded! The planet in the corner is the Ocampa planet (from Liberation), where this particular outpost was built. An excellent 4.3.
LORE: Outpost lore always mentions the homeworld, and that's turned on its head here, since the Kazon lost theirs. How they establish outposts is also given copy, so it's all better than the usual Outpost lore. A 3.4.
TREK SENSE: Some of the usual problems apply, but some don't. That Outposts are necessarily space/oribital facilities has always bugged me, as we've never seen, in this example, any Kazon space stations. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but there's certainly enough evidence that planet-based facilities exist. Yet, those are out of the question. One problem avoided by the Kazon Outpost is that there isn't really a reason for a homeworld not to have an Outpost built around it, but the Kazon have no homeworld so the point is moot. Another problem that's not much of one here is that of legally building Outposts at locations that clearly belong to someone else. We're quite rightly told that the Kazon are raiders, and that they take what they need (or want). The Ocampa planet isn't theirs, but they nonetheless set up an Outpost on it. And that's why Non-Aligned locations are also covered. I'm on board with this concept even if a case by case basis might show anomalies (Research Phage, for example, is too clearly Vidiian), as the Delta Quadrant's territories aren't as clearly defined. Building an Outpost is still too easy, requiring a single Engineer and card play, but the look of these lends credence to the mechanic. Kazon equipment and facilities are very makeshift, and may very well take fewer man-hours to set up than a glossy Federation Outpost. As with their ships, they have no transporters. Fair enough. The special download is excellent since it puts into play early a card that makes the Kazon act like Kazon. These kinds of over-riding directives help greatly with the flavor of an affiliation, and I'm glad to see them encouraged from the governmental seat, i.e. the Outpost. The Shields are exactly the same as the Hirogen's or Vidiians', that is to say, slightly higher than comparable facilities' in the Alpha Quadrant. The DQ is a harsher place, and if ship attributes are to be believed, Weapons and Shields technology is a touch more powerful than in our corner of the galaxy. Way, way, way better than other Outposts: a 4.
SEEDABILITY: Kazon players get a bit of a push with their outpost for a couple of reasons. One is that it downloads The Kazon Collective right from the start. That card allows you to attempt NA missions (and you may seed it on a Non-Aligned mission), mix with another affiliation of your choice (greatly increasing your pool of skills with invited personnel), and makes you immune to assimilation (you don't know how useful this is until you're up against the Borg). It also allows you to report Kazon for free, if they match a Maje in play's sect. It kind of makes the Outpost a small HQ. You could also use the download to get the card on a Kazon Warship, passing the personnel-reporting torch to the ship. The other push is that it can seed or build at NA locations as well as Kazon ones. This adds a lot of mission possibilities for your Kazon. Now, it's not like the Kazon have loads of places to report to to begin with, so the Outpost would be useful in its own right for anyone wanting to use the affiliation. SHIELDS are as decent as any DQ affiliation's (I said decent, not Borg-level). The lack of transporters is something felt by all Kazon cards, but since ships can still dock, it shouldn't be much of a problem. You still need a ship to attempt the home mission, right? With The Kazon Collective, you could always mix with a transporter-owning affiliation, or just go land on the planet with your ship like all the good Kazon do. I gotta say 4.7.
TOTAL: 16.4 (82%) An unlikely high score!
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