Straight and Steady: Can't Be Afraid of the Wind

by Charlie Plaine, Chairman

1st October 2010

The Continuing Committee is proud to announce Straight and Steady, the second full First Edition Virtual Expansion from The Continuing Committee. Straight and Steady will be released online at https://www.trekcc.org on Friday, October 22, 2010.

Faith of the Heart
As you might have guessed, this is a virtual expansion dedicated to cards from Enterprise. In fact, my quick count of the cards in this virtual expansion is that just five (5) cards feature images from series other than Enterprise. Even with over ninety percent of Straight and Steady being cards from the most recent Star Trek series, there are still dozens - if not hundreds - of characters and situations that didn't make an appearance here. But we have big plans for the future, and all that material will find its way into First Edition eventually.

For now, let's talk about what you can find in Straight and Steady, starting with a dilemma featuring one of the most interesting story lines in Enterprise - and Star Trek - history.

Mimetic Simbiot presents you with a true medical (and moral) obstacle, stopping you in your tracks until you find a way to overcome it. But, once you do, you must make an impossible choice. Someone in your crew is going to die, and you must make the decision whom to sacrifice for whom.

Thrusters on Full
Of course, when you talk about Enterprise and the Star Trek CCGs, then you're talking about the Starfleet affiliation. Originally appearing in First Edition with the Enterprise Collection, Starfleet gets significant development with Straight and Steady in the forms of including new personnel, converted personnel, and new support cards.

One of the developments is the introduction of the 22nd-century icon (originally appearing on Slar, which will now be a feature on all Starfleet personnel, including the commander of the NX-02, Erika Hernandez.

But where does that leave the personnel in the Enterprise Collection? You'll find out more about that issue, and the details about the new Starfleet tools, next week, starting with an article by one of Straight and Steady's assistant designers.

Klingons and Romulans and Orions - Oh My!
When you think of Enterprise alien races, there are quite a few that you might name: Suliban, Andorians, Tellarites, Vulcans, Xindi. Even some Star Trek mainstays like Borg, Ferengi, and the original adversaries, Klingons and Romulans. There are far too many characters, planets, ships and situations to represent in one virtual expansion, so the designers had to make some hard choices about what to include (and what not to include!)

The Klingons are an obvious choice: they're one of the original three affiliations, they made numerous appearances during Enterprise, and they are an affiliation that can use a little help in First Edition. In Straight and Steady, one very specific subset of Klingons makes its appearance - the flat-headed Klingon augments. It also includes the Klingon responsible for creating them, Antaak.

The augmented Klingons feature great attributes, good skills, and provide some much-needed support for any Klingon deck willing to sacrifice a seed slot. You can find out more about the Klingons and their nefarious plans in an article coming on Friday, October 15th.

But the Klingons aren't the only villains that Captain Archer and his crew encountered. Manipulating Human, Vulcan, and Andorian alike from afar, the Romulans made just a handful of appearances in Enterprise, but are best known for their use of a remote-controlled drone-ship to cause havoc in the area. This plot was the brain-child of a Romulan admiral named Valdore, who makes his first appearance in either game in Straight and Steady.

Admiral Valdore is the architect of the remote-drone strategy, and his First Edition card is likewise the linchpin of the new strategy. With just a handful of cards, the 22nd-century Romulans are prepared to cause all sorts of trouble for any opponent. One of our talented writers will bring you more information about these new Romulan adversaries in an article on Monday, October 18th.

The final species to appear in multiple (other than the Humans, Klingons and Romulans already mentioned) is everyone's favorite green-skinned aliens, the Orions. The Orion personnel, led by Harrad-Sar, have been a focus of a bit of controversy lately, given their addition to the Official Tournament Format (OTF) Ban List. However, nearly all of the backwards-compatible Orion personnel will be taken off the Ban List and added back into First Edition in the form of converted personnel. Harrad-Sar, one allowing the download of three Thief personnel, is now limited to getting you just one slave girl. But don't worry, you'll have three to choose from once Straight and Steady releases on the 22nd of October.

Straight and Steady will be available for free digital download on Friday, October 22, 2010, and will be legal in all TCC's sanctioned events as of Friday, October 29, 2010. For more information about this upcoming expansion, stay tuned to trekcc.org!

-djl-

Back to Archive index