Virtual Starter Decks IV: Cardassian/Dominion

by Matt Zinno, Guest Writer

12th September 2011

This Virtual Starter deck is meant to follow the previous decks in the series (Federation, Romulan, Ferengi, and Starfleet), and assumes various First Edition concepts and rules which were covered by those decks (including downloading). It is made up almost completely of legally printable cards.

Card Availability

For trying this deck, go ahead and print whichever of the cards you don't already have. 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.

With one exception, the cards which cannot legally be printed are common, so probably readily obtainable. And with one (different) exception, they aren't necessary for the deck, but they provide flavor, so if you don't have them, just ignore them. They are:

• Assign Support Personnel (to illustrate compatibility and quadrants)
• Ketracel-White (to protect your Jem'Hadar from White Deprivation)
• Engineering Tricorder (to provide more Dominion ENGINEERing, because we need a Dominion ENGINEER in order to play the Remote Supply Depot)
• Treaty: Cardassian/Dominion (okay, this one is necessary for the deck)
• Narik and Dr. Farek (to be downloaded in the seed phase by Assign Mission Specialists)

Quadrants

Your missions are in two quadrants, Alpha and Gamma. There are a few ways to travel between them. The main one is the Bajoran Wormhole, but you can also use Wormholes, potentially in conjunction with the built-in wormhole mission.

Your affiliated cards (personnel, ships, and facilities) also are native to one quadrant or the other. Those with a icon are native to the Gamma Quadrant; all others are native to the Alpha Quadrant (there's no icon, just like the missions).

Often, your ships, personnel, and equipment will enter play by reporting to one of your facilities. This is a built-in ability of most facilities -- that is, it says you can do this in the rules, not on the cards. When you use this built-in reporting ability of facilities, then you need to pay attention to quadrants. The facility needs to be in its native quadrant, and so does the card you're reporting. (Equipment is considered to be "native" to all quadrants.) For example, your AQ Jem'Hadar cannot use the built-in reporting ability of your GQ outpost.

However, note that sometimes your cards will enter play by reporting in some other way, using explicit text that is on some card. When this is the case, quadrants are not relevant -- this is only a limitation of facilities' built-in reporting ability. For example, Assign Mission Specialists downloads two personnel to your outpost (one of which, in this deck, is in the GQ). Even though it's to an outpost, they are not using the outpost's reporting ability -- they are using the text on AMS. So they can be mission specialists from any quadrant -- and in this deck, they are both from the AQ.

Other examples of reporting in this deck (all of which are not facilities, and therefore quadrants do not matter):

• Ready Room Door can download these matching commanders to their ships: Kira, Evek, and Malik.
• Vash has text allowing her to report to Gamma Quadrant facilities. (She can also report to Alpha facilities normally.)
• Any Alternate Universe () personnel can report using Where No Man Has Gone Before.

There's actually a third quadrant in this deck: the card "Bajoran Wormhole: Mirror Universe" seeds in the Mirror Quadrant. We're not actually planning to go to the Mirror Quadrant in this game; that card is our way of getting the regular (Alpha-to-Gamma) Bajoran Wormhole in play during the seed phase.

Compatibility

There are two* affiliations in this deck: Cardassian and Dominion. Ordinarily, two affiations like this can't cooperate, but this deck has a Treaty which lets them. It makes them compatible, which means they can "mix and cooperate" -- in other words, they can be together on a ship, or in an away team attempting a mission, etc. It does not make them the same affiliation, which would be called "matching".

The difference between matching and compatible can be seen in the different functions of Assign Support Personnel. Its first function will allow reports of support personnel to your compatible ships. So for example, Emok can report to your Vetar or to your Dominion Battleship, because he is compatible with them (in one case, because of the treaty). The second function allow downloads only to a matching ship or facility. So Emok can download to the Vetar, or Central Command -- but not to the Dominion Battleship or the Supply Depots, because they are a different affiliation.

(Also note that since all of these reports and downloads are authorized by an Objective, not a facility, then it doesn't matter what quadrant any of that happens in.)

*To be complete, there are also Non-aligned cards, which are compatible with anyone. Also, some of the cards are dual-affiliation, and may have the "wrong" border color; just keep these in the affiliation "mode" that works for this deck.

Dilemma Strategy

The earlier starter decks provided general dilemmas without grouping them, allowing you to freely choose color-based patterns. Experienced 1E players generally select their dilemmas to occur in particular combinations ("combos"), with each chosen to feed into the next in a way that makes them more powerful and effective. For example, the first combo listed below decreases attributes, and then punishes for attributes being low. Of course, if you prefer, you could mix and match your dilemmas, or even replace them with other combos of your choosing.

As before, remember to only put space dilemmas under space missions, and planet dilemmas under planet missions ... while space/planet dilemmas can go under either.

1EC cards and conversion rules

The deck as listed below includes one printable card, the Jem'Hadar Tozara'Kesh, which is 1EC (that is, made for Second Edition but usable in First Edition games). There are special conversion rules governing such cards; those rules add to him the following icons: Gamma Quadrant ; universal ; and Ketracel-White .

Some players choose to avoid 1EC cards -- if you want, you can replace him with nonprintable 1E cards you can find, such as these commons:Duran'Adar, Edan'Atal, Temo'Zuma, Yak'Talon (the deck needs Dominion ENGINEERs to build the Remote Supply Depot, even if it's downloaded when you solve Construct Depot)

I hope you've enjoyed this series of Virtual Starter decks. Now try building your own!

Decklist

Print Decklist • Copy Deck

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• We Don't Need Your Help, Q

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