Virtual Starter Decks I: Federation and Romulan

by Matt Zinno, Guest Writer

22nd August 2011

Virtual Starter Decks I: Federation and Romulan

First in a series on Virtual Starter Decks

With so many Virtual cards being released by the Continuing Committee (including the new Homefront II expansion), it's possible to build all-virtual decks ... and this can be a way to get new players interested in the game, with no startup cost of needing to buy cards (yet). I built these decks to be introductory decks for new players, using predominantly cards which are legally printable (virtual cards, missions, and errata). There are a few nonprintable cards, but only commons, which I equate with "easy enough to obtain." This way, it's easier for a new player not only to learn the game, but to end up with something close to a deck they can legally enter into tournaments.

For trying these decks, go ahead and print the whole thing. Most of the cards can then be used in any game. Some others will need to be replaced with physical equivalents, or other cards that you choose to replace them with.

Quick Rules Introduction

In its entirety, this game has a lot of concepts and rules. However, these decks only contains cards that use a small fraction of them, in order to serve as an introduction. I'm not going to go through all the rules, even the introductory ones, here -- you can check those out in the Rulebook, or play with the help of an experienced friend. Essentially, you will seed missions and dilemmas, then play personnel and ships, and go solve your missions.

One of these two decks uses the Romulan affiliation, the other uses the Federation. Each also uses some Non-Aligned cards. A few cards are printed as "dual-affiliation", with two affiliation icons at the top, and perhaps the "wrong" color along the border. For each of these decks, you can safely ignore the second affiliation, and just play each card as if it were purely Romulan (or Federation) or Non-Aligned.

Some personnel and ships have a triangular icon () in the skill box. This icon, and the "skill" that follows it, will not be used in these decks, and can also be ignored.

Some of the seeded cards, besides the missions and dilemmas, are Events or Incidents which have a "Hidden Agenda" icon (). Technically, this means they should seed face down, and can stay that way until you choose to reveal them. If you wish to make things simple and seed them face up, that will probably be "close enough" in friendly games.

Some of your cards have an AU icon (); there's a rule that says these need to be allowed to play by a doorway that says you can play cards with this icon. Both decks include a Space-Time Portal, which provides this ability.

* Here's one comment that will be meaningful to the experienced players. If you include the flexibility of Vina's special skill, the personnel in each deck meet the requirements of the 1elives.com "skill matrix".

Dilemmas

All of the dilemmas are taken from the "Homefront" and "Homefront II" expansions, which conveniently provide color-coded icons in the lower right corner. Under your opponent's missions, place "combos" of three dilemmas: green (on the bottom, to be encountered first), then yellow, then red (on top, to be encountered last). And remember to only put space dilemmas under space missions, and planet dilemmas under planet missions ... while space/planet dilemmas can go under either.

Card Availability

The virtual and printable cards available lack a few needed skills (unless, that is, we go to cards that would also introduce some more advanced concepts like downloading; for these introductory decks, we'll keep the cards on the simple side). In these decks in particular, MEDICAL is needed. Of the printable cards here, only Vina has the ability to get that skill. For that reason, some common cards are included to provide some extra MEDICAL: Jacobson, Karen Loews, and Vekor for the Federation; Takket for the Romulans. If you have other MEDICAL cards, you are welcome to use them instead -- and if you really have none, you might choose to instead use some cards from Second Edition instead. The ones with a colored bar at the bottom are legal in First Edition games, and the universal personnel (and ships) are legally printable. So if you really need virtual MEDICAL, add a few copies of the universal Doc Martin into the Federation deck, and Dralvak for the Romulans.

In time, more virtual cards will be released, and more promos will be printable. When cards become available to make these decks entirely printable (without advanced or Second Edition cards), I'll update the decklists in the Deckbuilder. For example, the Federation deck will get a MEDICAL boost next January, when the Dr. McCoy promo becomes printable. (Alternately ... if you're comfortable with Temporal Micro-Wormhole and what it can do for compatibility, you can stock two and discard them when you play Antaak and Phlox.)

Decklists

Federation (also available in Deckbuilder) Missions Distress Mission Investigate Coup Investigate Disappearance Reported Activity Sensitive Search Study "Hole in Space" Dilemmas Green (we suggest you put at beginning) -- Chula: the Lights, Flim-Flam Artist, Gomtuu Shock Wave, Linguistic Legerdemain, Maglock, Punishment Box Yellow (suggested middle) -- Blended, Chula: the Chandra, Dedication to Duty, Forsaken, Fractured Time, Murder Investigation Red (suggested end) -- Dangerous Climb, Dead End, Dignitaries and Witnesses, Founder Secret, Subspace Shock Wave, The Whale Probe Other seeds Space-Time Portal (this goes before missions) Duck Blind Fair Play Villagers With Torches Federation Outpost Draw Deck Emergency Transport Unit Environmental Suit Isomagnetic Disintegrator Starfleet Type II Phaser Atmospheric Ionization Lower Decks Yellow Alert Handshake (2) Seductive Dance Warp Speed Transfer Amanda Rogers Disruptor Overload Kevin Uxbridge Oof! Kira Agent Garak Admiral Janeway (Homefront II) Ambassador Sarek (Homefront II) Andrea Brand (Homefront II) Aquiel Uhnari Benjamin Sisko (Chain of Command) Dexter Remmick Ensign Jameson Jacobson Karen Loews Mrs. O'Brien Spock Wesley Crusher Worf (Shades of Gray) Koval Prot Rishon Vekor Vina U.S.S. Danube U.S.S. Defiant (Chain of Command) U.S.S. Enterprise (Chain of Command) U.S.S. Voyager (Chain of Command) Stolen Attack Ship

Romulan (also available in Deckbuilder) Missions Compromised Mission Covert Installation Explore Typhon Expanse Investigate Raid Pegasus Search Wormhole Negotiations Dilemmas Green (we suggest you put at beginning) -- Chula: The Lights, Maglock, New Essentialists, Q's Vicious Animal Things Yellow (suggested middle) -- Blended, Dal'rok, Dedication to Duty, Forsaken, Fractured Time, Picking Up the Pieces Red (suggested end) -- Dangerous Climb, Dead End, Dignitaries and Witnesses, Founder Secret, Subspace Shock Wave, The Whale Probe Other seeds Space-Time Portal (this goes before missions) Duck Blind Fair Play Villagers With Torches In the Zone Romulan Outpost Draw Deck Emergency Transport Unit Environmental Suit Isomagnetic Disintegrator Getting Under Your Skin Tactical Console Yellow Alert Handshake (2) Seductive Dance The Genesis Effect Amanda Rogers Disruptor Overload Kevin Uxbridge Oof! Koval Aluura Carol Marcus (Life From Lifelessness) D'Nesh Malik Rishon Vina Zon Garak Admiral Valdore Alidar Jarok (Homefront II) D'Vin Karina (Homefront II) Nijil Ruwon (Homefront II) Selveth (Homefront II) Senator Letant (Homefront II) Senator Vrax Subcommander Decius Takket (3) Tal'Aura (Homefront II) Daniels Battle Cruiser (2) Cha'Joh Raptor One Scimitar (Chain of Command)

Later on, I'll be posting articles with more Virtual Starter decks, for other affiliations, and adding some more game rules to the deck construction.
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