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. More Troubles...
PICTURE: Well, the candy colors are bloody awful, and I always thought this scene looked fake, the way they just stood there in the middle of some beamed tribbles. That said, I appreciate the total absurdity of the pic. A 3.4 then.
LORE: I know they had one less line to devote to text, but the lore lacks a generic quality that would have helped it. Maybe not mentioning Kirk and Spock by name? It explains the pic, but weren't other tribbles moved in this fashion? I don't think it's a big mistake, but I won't go over the standard 3.
TREK SENSE: When there are 100 Tribbles in your transporter room, there's bound to be some on the pad itself that might be beamed with the actual transportee. Well... in the 23rd Century maybe. But aren't 24th-Century transporters a little more discriminating? I mean, they can weed out blood parasites and the like. The simple mention of a Transporter Skill-related cure would have helped here. Anyway, the means of Tribble propagation works well enough once you accept that they could be beamed off the ship or facility. It would be impossible for all 100 to be mistakenly transported, but 10 or less might be able to sneak off. Note that it's not just accidental transport, it may be wilful as well since Tribbles are so endearing and make cuddly companions. How else can you explain that they may move from Site to Site with "walking" personnel? Now granted, the mechanic works within Trek Sense, but has little to do with Trouble in the Transporters. The Tribble Bomb, being a single special Tribble would have to move in the latter fashion, planted on an individual or something. It's too specific to be accidentally beamed. It's really too bad the game text leaves no room for more troubles, since I'm pretty sure 1000 Tribbles would clog up the transporters altogether. Ah well. Technically sound, it's bigger than its title concept. 3.3.
STOCKABILITY: Dumping Tribbles on your opponent's ship or facility means little if they simply beam to another vessel and continue on their merry way. Abandoning ships has been a stopgap strategy since Tsiolkovsky Infection, and you'd expect a Tribbled crew to simply leave their troubles behind at the first chance. That's what this Trouble card is for. Use it as insurance to make sure your side-deck isn't made useless. If 100 Tribbles have already been bred there, groups of 1 or 10 Tribbles can accompany any fleeing personnel. Since personnel often board ships from a reporting facility, you can infect entire armadas through this card. On a Nor, Tribbles walk around with personnel, going where they can do some harm (the Ore Processing Unit, the Bajoran Shrine...). It's cheaper than Trouble on the Station, though you might have less control over their movements. If your own personnel is on the Nor though, there's no reason why it couldn't move the Tribbles to the desired location. Once in their new home, they can breed like crazy causing whatever complication you'd like them to. I know 10 Tribbles can already report anywhere, but this keeps Tribbles from just becoming piles of fur doing nothing on rotting hulks somewhere. Better management. This can also work with Tribble Bomb to keep its target from escaping death at countdown's end. In this particular case, you really wouldn't want to have it wasted. Not a huge boon, but one you'd need to protect your strategy. A 3.5.
TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Moving right along...
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