Allegiance: A New Future Enterprise

by Johannes Klarhauser, Staff Writer

14th December 2009

The Starfleet support in Allegiance comes in the form of a small, but very interesting team from the future. That, is from the relative future of Archer's crew, but not really that far in the future. So, from our Second Edition perspective, those events still happened in the past, which is why all those new future-themed cards still have the red 'past' icon (). Does your head hurt as much as mine when you start thinking about temporal mechanics?

Just like the other teams in Allegiance, the Starfleet personnel get their own ship. The Starfleet ride has already been presented in this article, but in case you missed it, here it is:

5 • Future Enterprise (Generation Ship)

NX Class
When your non-Human personnel aboard is about to be killed or stopped by a dilemma, you may remove that personnel from the game instead.
[Range 8] [Weapons 5] [Shields 5]

Please note that while the subtitle and lore are subject to change, the title is not. That means you will be able to have this future version of Archer's ship in play at the same time as a version from the regular timeline. (While we are at it, why not add the I.S.S. Enterprise (Terran Flagship) for a little one-ship armada?)

Note that this is the first ship that has a printed Range of eight. No conditions to fulfil, no cost to pay each turn, it can get from your headquarters to a regular planet mission and back right out of the dock. More interesting than the otherwise pedestrian attributes is, of course, the gametext.

As the previous article asked, what use is removing my personnel that is about to be stopped or killed from the game? Why should I decide to let the precious counters I paid to play a personnel go to waste by removing a card from the game entirely? Well, sometimes it is simply better to dodge a certain kind of effect – think about the eternal favorite of 'killer' dilemma piles, Tragic Turn. By using the Future Enterprise, you can prevent Tragic Turn from triggering. If you are able to avoid the additional kills (or stops) from Tragic Turn multiple times, you can seriously increase your chances of surviving against battle decks or completing missions.

Apart from this great defense against one of the most popular dilemmas in the game, the main idea behing the game text of the Future Enterprise is, of course, a different one: All of the personnel that make up the Starfleet team in Allegiance have an ability that revolves around removing cards from the game. One example has already been shown:

3 Greer
Alien/Human
Anthropology Astrometrics Biology Honor Navigation Officer
When this personnel is about to be removed from the game, if he is present with three non-Human personnel, you may download an interrupt.
Descendant of the original crew of Enterprise, blessed with many of the skills of this ancestors.
[Integrity 6] [Cunning 5] [Strength 5]

First of all, Greer is non-unique, so you can have up to three copies of him in play at the same time. Together with already available non-Human personnel like D'Vela, T'Pol, Phlox or Daniels, you should be able to have three non-Human personnel present in order to be able to trigger his ability and get a download of an interrupt. Among the possible choices are, for example, Standard Punishment to make up for the loss in attribute total, or Fitting In to gain skills, or any other interrupt you think might come in handy (e.g., Escape, Grav-Plating Trap, Disinterested Visitant).

In case you do not get to trigger Greer's ability, he is still a valuable asset for completing missions, as he has at least one skill that is required by the five most popular missions (according to the Affiliation HQ) in Starfleet decks.

However, Greer's ability is far from being the most powerful gametext on a Starfleet personnel in the new expansion. Be sure to check back on Wednesday to see more of the most altruistic team in Allegiance!

-djl-

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