What a Card: Starship Enterprise (TMP)

Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. We're at the end of the Wrath of Khan cards, and there's just one card left...

EXPANSION: The Motion Pictures

PICTURE: A very good shot of the Enterprise over the newly-born Genesis planet (looking not unlike Earth, I was fooled). Iconic moment from the second film. The pic does show its age with a somewhat noticeable matte line, but I can't hold that against it. A lot of effects are dated. A pretty 4.

LORE: Venerable, eh? I think the wording is quite reverent, as it should be, and Captain Spock gets added as matching commander. Good stuff. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The movie era Starship Enterprise converts from the OS era much the same way as the Starship Constitution did, with extra Weapons, but basically the same otherwise. This is fair enough, and you don't want to overpower those old ships compared to their 24th-Century counterparts. The CF icon as a staffing icon has the same problem it usually does: Some CF personnel couldn't staff a ship, but they seem able to under this scheme. What's good about it is that it gives CF personnel a better chance of being on CF ships, which helps the game's storytelling. Certainly outweighs the problems. Instead of the usual personnel download, this ship gets a special download of Crew Reassignment. Ties in with the ship becoming a cadet-training vessel and the various characters being "reassigned". Of course, the download goes beyond that, affecting all ships in play, but I still like the reference (hey, where the Enterprise goes, others follow). A small note on persona replacement: There can always be problems with reverse-order switching, such as a young Kirk replacing an older Kirk, and the same is true here. It's fun to refit the Enterprise, but you can also reverse-engineer it, which is weird. I don't mention it often, but it's a concern, albeit a small one. No problem with the matching commander from this point in the ship's history. I'm calling it a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: The low attributes are counterbalanced by the ability to boost them rather easily, not just from a matching commander (choice of Captain Spock, Christopher Pike, Willard Decker and Admiral Kirk), but also from Wall of Ships (there are 2 CF Enterprises that could get that bonus), and a bunch of OS/CF personnel that can be reported aboard using the downloaded Crew Reassignment (a useful card when using multiple Enterprises, whether OS, CF, AU or FC) that specifically boost the Starships Enterprise and Constitution (Commander/Ensign Chekov, Lt. Sulu, Demora Sulu and Mr. Scott). There are also the abilities of Admiral Riker and Guinan to consider if you're running an Enterprise deck. So those attributes can go pretty high, the ship remains an easy one to staff and match commanders on, AND can switch versions smoothly enough so you can report OS personnel aboard. The download helps more than this one ship too. I'd say this is an excellent 4.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) The Enterprises tend to do well.

Comments