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. Now that you're over the shock of our switching to TNG cards, I can reveal that Encounter at Farpoint had 16 cards devoted to it, a satisfyingly large number for a double-sized pilot. Here's an important card for the late-era game...
PICTURE: A little darker than I would have liked, and the colors come from a rather limited palette. Too busy and inefficient, composition-wise. The door itself may be "center", but it's not "front". It's way in the back. Saving grace: there's a crosshair design on the ceiling, which is very much in line with the card's uses. A 2.8.
LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)
TREK SENSE: We have to ask ourselves, is the Battle Bridge side-deck Trek-sensical? Well, the idea of Tactics and the entire mechanic behind them definitely is. The old ship battle system was never interesting nor sensical, and this one is. That's great. But do we need to enter the Battle Bridge (as this card entails) to use Tactics? The answer would be no, since most ships don't even have a secondary bridge like this. Of course, I dare say a lot of cultures HAVE a battle bridge. It's just their primary (and only) bridge, that's all. That it can't be closed is just a game design thing. Door-Net would be particularly sensical here, for example. As to the stocking uses, they're limited uses of (or add-ons to) the Battle Bridge side-deck. You have to use it at the start of a battle where your Leader is present (they're the ones with Tactics in their heads), and you can either pick two extra Tactics (more options on the Battle Bridge, or in "battle mode" if you prefer) OR enhance your ships and facilities here by an extra +1 WEAPONS. These are in battle mode for that fight, so they're showing their teeth. It's like a small ATTACK bonus in addition to whatever else you're packing. Seems like most of the problems are from the choice of what should represent these abilities, cuz when I use battle mode as a concept, it clears a few things up. Still seems to me that Trek Sense would dictate that the side-deck ALWAYS be used. Anyway, this one gets a good 4.1.
SEEDABILITY: Battle Bridge side-decks have their detractors, people who always attack from an absolute position of strength with Kurlans and lots of WEAPONS/SHIELDS boosters. Certainly, you can't be using the three-way treaty to make your Federation ships war machines with this side-deck, but there are a lot of nice things about it (besides the fact that they're just plain fun). For one thing, dilemma and event-caused ship damage can now cause casualties as well (and all sorts of nasty business). Some Tactics make great defensive tools against such Kurlan-powered ships (especially those that suspend enhancements). And the odder Tactics are cool - Borg Cutting Beam helps in assimilation, Quantum Torpedoes can hamper mission attempts, and Plasma Energy Burst wreaks all sorts of havoc (to name just a few). As for STOCKABILITY, it's not as good. A +1 enhancement to WEAPONS isn't something you can't do more permanently with other cards. And extra Tactic draws are mostly necessary with side-decks that lack focus, and can usually be had with the downloadable Attack Pattern Delta (though it requires multiple ships). Since the Door need never be reopened (it's immune to closure - YAY!), you don't even need to stock another to do so. Usefulness pretty much equals that of the side-deck itself, which I'd put at 4.4.
TOTAL: 15.07 (75.33%) I think an excellent card was shot down by its less than terrific picture...
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