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 the final Trouble card...
PICTURE: The lesson here is never to open a store of grain from a downward-facing door. What if there had been tons of quadrotriticale behind there? Between such a death and the one he got in Generations, I don't know which is worse ;-). But to get to the pic, it's got motion, lots of color, and each figure has its own particular position. I don't like the stiff redshirt on the right (looks like a cardboard cut-out), but the rest is fun. A 3.4.
LORE: Dax and Spock's estimated number of bred tribbles that appear here (too bad it never got its own card), with the rest explaining the game text adequately (or at least some of it). Another good 3.4.
TREK SENSE: For there to be Trouble on a Station, you need a lot of Tribbles. At least a 1000 to really cover that kind of area. When there are a 1000, a single site cannot hold them, and they spill over into adjacent sites, carried ships, docked ships and landed ships (for ground facilities and Docking Pads). They can also spill FROM a ship into a facility the same way. This works for me. After all, 100 Tribbles isn't that much of a spillover when you consider that there are no demarcations between 1000 and 10,000 Tribbles. There are plenty of Tribble Bobs that you can have "spread". The mechanics are questionable: plays on Tribbles that aren't on a station to begin with, and the Trouble ends when the spreading occurs (it should be starting). When a station has 10,000 Tribbles, there are too many to "conduct services" at a Shrine. Um, ok. This, I'm not too happy with. First, I think the Bajorans could find a way to pray anyway. And second, it's entirely too specific. No services, but ore processing is ok? (I know it's another card's effect.) How about playing Dabo? Or just reporting guests? It should maybe suspend a site's game text entirely. That'll hurt an otherwise good card, sending it down to a 3.
STOCKABILITY: For spreading your Tribble cards around, Trouble on the Station is excellent, though the fact it discards means you'll need to stock and play a number of them. You also need to breed to 1000 Tribbles, but that's not so bad since spreading creates groups of 100 Tribbles ready to breed into 1000. So you drop 10 Tribbles on any ship or station, breed, and then spread to any facility or vessel that comes in intimate contact (docks, enters or lands on) with it. On a Nor, the spreading will get Tribbles to sensitive areas like the Ore Processing Unit (for Trouble in the Engine Room) or breeding to 10,000 Tribbles, to the Bajoran Shrine to counter the Bajorans' own "ore processing" card manipulation deal (you need another Trouble on the Station to play on this group though). More of a just-in-case effect. Spreading'll work against any deck however, and 100 Tribbles spread to a ship means immediate trouble with mission attempts (1000 too, for that matter), and a quick Trouble in the Engine Room'll sink the ship's attributes a little. 100 Tribbles can also be spread with Trouble in the Transporters (as 10 Tribbles), but you need personnel to carry them along. Will your opponent stop docking at your facilities to stop the invasion? Damaged ships need to dock to get repairs, so they might not have a choice. Similarly, you can't normally beam personnel to and from a Nor, so Nor users won't have much of a choice. As for carried ships, I'm sure a Dominion Battleship or Kazon Warship won't appreciate you infecting every Fighter or Attack Ship aboard. Quite good when using a Tribble side-deck, I'll give it a 3.9.
TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) No Trouble really made a splash.
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