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. There are three cards pulled from the Reliant's first attack on the Enterprise. Beginning with...
PICTURE: Shields going down on the Reliant, but only as a graphic. I dunno... It's not that clear that's what's happening, and the text on the screen is sadly unreadable. The brown wall surrounding the screen is dull and featureless. I don't know that I'd have been kinder to a shot of the Code itself, but this is disappointingly ordinary. A 2.4.
LORE: Something of Kirk's lesson to Saavik, with the exact tactic used against Reliant. A good 3.1.
TREK SENSE: This card only represents one thing you can do with a ship's Prefix Code, so is naturally incomplete when you consider the title. No matter, as a representation of the specific tactic used in Wrath of Khan, it does a bit better. A bit. To have the Prefix Code of an opposing ship, that ship must be either of the same affiliation as yours (you'd have the Code in your data banks, since we're all "one happy fleet") or have a man aboard, i.e. an infiltrator. But what about a commandeered vessel? Seems like the card was made for them, and yet they would not be considered of the same affiliation (the icon is changed to the commandeering affiliation's). Perhaps an actual commandeering effort would be complete enough to change the Prefix Code. In the Reliant example, though Khan might use the ship in Non-Aligned mode, it still has the Federation icon and can be targeted. Fine. But what about the reversed situation? Why would a Non-Aligned vessel (say the Husnock) have the Reliant's Prefix Code? Some ships don't even have the right affiliation for purposes of this card, like the Stolen Attack Ship (should be targetable by the Dominion), the B'rel (by the Klingons) and the Naprem (ditto). As for the effect, it's also incomplete. In the film, the Code was used to make Reliant lower her Shields. Here, that side's Defense total is cut in half. That is not equivalent! A ship not using a Tactic would simply have its Shields halved. Not the same. Even with a Tactic involved, it'll never equate with a total loss of Shields. I understand that it would make PFT much too powerful, but Trek Sense doesn't see it that way. A ton of problems reduces the score to 2.
STOCKABILITY: Though this'll work when fighting against your own affiliation (with Klingons or HQ: Defensive Measures, for example), and in lucky breaks when your opponent is using dual-affiliation ships, this is best used in an infiltrator strategy. That's the best way to make sure you have targets! So it's a simple interrupt that cuts a ship's DEFENSE total in half (rounded down, baby), which may just mean cutting a ship's SHIELDS in half when no Battle Bridge side-deck is used. That can increase your chances of getting a direct hit, especially if YOU're using Tactics. Similarly, it may help your medium-sized ship successfully battle larger warships. Throw in Inside Operation for even more of an advantage. So it's good stuff, but opportunities to use it may be sparse or non-existent (not all affiliations are easy to infiltrate). A 3.4.
TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) Something of a mess, but not a wash.
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