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. Let's not forget The Trouble with Tribbles was an important mission...
PICTURE: A nice, big planet to be sure, and one that could support the sky seen in the Sherman's Peak time location, but I'm a little lukewarm about it, mostly because the line of clouds on the horizon makes it seem like the planet isn't round. And is the moon necessary here? Well, it's a subtle tip of the hat to the fact the original series featured a lot of very Earth-like planets, which would mean that at night, you'd see the one moon. Distinctive enough for a 3.3.
LORE: Finds a way of mentioning the events of the original series from the point of view of more contemporary Star Treks. Cute at 3.5.
TREK SENSE: Agriculture is a complex thing, but governed by few card game skills. We're talking Geology for the soil, and Biology for everything else, from the crops themselves to the weather and ecosystem. Those two skills do it all. The two singular personnel who can do this mission alone are the ones who conducted the original assessment 100 years ago, which is an odd thing to see here. After all, this mission is meant to represent today's Sherman's Planet, but here you have these ancient requirements. "Any" Spock actually includes today's Romulus-based diplomat and the Mirror universe "evil" Spock. Are these guys really the best choice for this task? I don't dispute that Spock has enough scientific knowledge in any time period or dimension to do it, just that his alternate specialties might lie elsewhere. Chekov, also assigned to the original task, claimed the Russians had first charted the planet, which might make him uniquely suited if that was actually true. Anyway, if these two can solve the mission alone, I can name a bunch of others that, skills or not, might be included as well. And how about a Klingon to counter the Federation's Spock? Anyway, I don't really have a problem with the Romulans being invited to the party in addition to the two other affiliations since this is a century later, and the original series' explored galaxy which once seemed big, is smaller now. The Romulans are probably nearby if both the Klingons and Federation used to have to share this space. As such, it doesn't really work with the 4 Span... TOS locations should probably be pretty near one another with today's engines. Points look fine, but may be a tad high for an Assessment that was done long ago and is essentially just being redone now. All in all, I'd say 3.3 here.
SEEDABILITY: Two reasons to use this mission - looks easy to do, and it's the home of a time location. Ok, in order then... The prospect of a one-personnel mission for 30 points might look attractive, but do you realize there's only one Geology/Biology personnel in the entire game for those three affiliations? At least it's a Non-Aligned any affiliation could use: Sevek. The Feds further have a few versions of Spock, and Ensign Chekov that could do it despite the fact they have neither of the skills. Going the mission specialist route for 40 points will be possible for the Feds, but the other two will have to settle for using only Biology (35 points). So not so easy after all. As the location for Sherman's Peak, it'll give you access to all the non-Mirror Original Series personnel and ships whether you have an Alternate Universe Door or not, as well as download K-7 and Organian Peace Treaty. It's also required if you want to play Hero of the Empire, and give your Klingons a point advantage. Coming back to the present once this is done makes this mission worth 40 points right off the bat for example (and only 20 to your opponent). The fact that OS personnel essentially report here but for the lack of a time travel method makes getting Spock or Chekov here much easier. OS Equipment can also get you the appropriate skills even without the named personnel. It becomes a "well, while we're here, why not..." situation. In that sense, it approaches the status of a homeworld - a 4.
TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) Bears fruit.
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