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. Finally! We get to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan! I'll post the cards in order of what scene they were in, and of course, the film starts with one of the biggest fake-outs in cinematic history...
PICTURE: This was a simulation, so the screen shot is appropriate, and I appreciate that we can read a lot of stuff off of it even at this size. The Enterprise with various axes and the very small neutral zone area (never really understood the design there) are the only truly graphic elements, with the bottom part of the pic pretty much wasted space. Somewhat interesting, but not aesthetically. A 2.6.
LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)
TREK SENSE: By adding Computer Skill to a mission, they're somewhat turning that mission into a simulation. After all, Kirk was only able to beat the Scenario thanks to that skill (the Scenario doesn't necessarily have a Computer Skill component though). One attempting personnel is put through their paces à la Saavik (you could also think of Wesley in "Coming of Age"), where everyone around her was "in on it", but unfortunately, it's a random choice. Should Picard still be passing these kinds of tests? Maybe it's something like in "Peak Performance", where senior officers are tested too? Well, that could work, except that the feeling I get from the rest of the card is that the personnel under the incident "graduate" or "fail" (discard) when the mission is finally solved. It's all a little absurd, and doesn't really run with the idea of a no-win scenario. Furthermore, removing the trainee from the Away Team/crew makes no sense whatsoever. A fun thematic card, but the details are all over the place. Manages a 1.7.
STOCKABILITY: A dilemma masquerading as an incident, Kobayashi Maru seeds or plays on your opponent's mission, adds a skill to its requirements (though a very common one), and then takes away a personnel from the attempting Away Team or crew à la Alien Abduction, i.e. until the mission is solved. This is the perfect mission to put a lot of walls at, since every new attempt takes away another personnel. If that personnel would have gotten past the wall, then it stops the personnel again, though it IS a random selection. The personnel under the incident are still in play and cannot be replaced by other copies, nor are they recoverable as if they were in the discard pile. Do you really abandon the mission with all those people trapped under KMS? You do have the option of sending those opposing personnel to the discard pile if that's what you like (to use Fire Sculptor on those cards, for example) by stopping the Away Team or crew with one last dilemma, then swooping in and solving it (this will not work if mission theft is not an option here, so choose well initially). Your lone personnel under KMS will be rescued, all of your opponent's personnel will be discarded. If you're playing the same affiliation(s), you could gain control of those opposing personnel. Nasty if convoluted: Destroy opponent's Treaty just as they're going to solve the mission - they won't get the personnel from one affiliation back. The one balancing factor here is that most players will only have access to a single copy of each card in the All Good Things expansion, so avoiding the mission shouldn't be too hard for your opponent. If you have Saavik though, you could suspend play to download the card just as it is being attempted. She has to be at the right place at the right time, but it's one way to do this. Again though, your opponent may just avoid Saavik's location, and maybe her downloading a Ref card is a more important ability. A lot of power in this card, but potentially risky to use. A 4.
TOTAL: 11.07 (55.33%) It's a no-win scenario, what did you expect?
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