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. And now the Mirror Universe's mission...
PICTURE: A hot pink gumball, the Halkan planet is very TOS. I mean, that's how many planets' skies are colored. Yes, the color scheme is terrible, but it's appropriate, and the world's luminosity sells it. A 3.3.
LORE: I like how they brought this planet forward in time, while also keeping it in the Mirror Universe. "Conquered decades ago," indeed. Here's a 3.7.
TREK SENSE: Mining requires Geology, but what's this Transporter Skill all about? Well, you gotta remember that the planet's atmosphere has an odd effect on transporters. Ion storms make transport dangerous, and on one occasion, sent some Enterprise crewmembers to a wishy-washy "good" universe ;-). Nothing a good transporter chief can't handle today. The mission's special reward boosts all the player's ships' Range by 1. That's interesting because you did replenish your fuel stores, but does extra dilithium actually make ships faster? I see it like this: You've got more to spare, so you can push your engines more often. You know you can replace the crystals, after all. At +1, it's far easier to believe than a matching commander's +2s/+3s. The one remaining problem: Your differently-aligned ships, or ships clear out in the Alpha Quadrant, all get the bonus too. Yet, I doubt they'd have access to the same supplies. No problem with the chosen Quadrant, or the points, or the Span, but I do have an issue with attempting affiliations. My question is: Conquered by who? Now, the Mirror Feds probably conquered it way back when, but in the present, it would have fallen to Alliance (Klingon/Cardassian) hands. I don't think the Feds should be on this present-day mission. A rich dilithium store should be protected from Terran rebels and Non-Aligned profiteers, don't you think? Yet it's no harder for them. I know you'd like old Tiberius Kirk mining the place, but that's not the mission's time frame. That last problem keeps the mission at a still good 3.5.
SEEDABILITY: The Terran Empire is a very viable faction, and if they want to start out at the Halkan Council time location, they would include this corresponding mission. It's one of only 3 Mirror Quadrant missions anyway, and attemptable by most of the Mirror Quadrant affiliations (except the Bajorans and Ferengi, which can ally with them under an Emblem anyway). That may be a problem as far as stealing goes, so protect yourself. It's an easy mission too, only two skills. The Non-Aligned Mirror Ezri is the only Mirror personnel with both however. But she's a good one, and she can report via Crew Reassignment just fine on the ISS Enterprise, having just arrived from the past. 30 points is ok, but there's a side bonus in the form of a +1 RANGE boost, not just for the Enterprise (which sorely needs it, being an outdated model), but for ALL your ships. Not necessary, but never a bad thing. Might get you across to that next mission, y'know? Looking at the whole package, I give it a 3.7.
TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Good job, too bad there's no Alpha version.
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