The Nth Degree

by Nathan Miracle, Designer

6th October 2017

"Lieutenant, you could very well be the most advanced human being who has ever lived." -Dr. Beverly Crusher, The Nth Degree

Welcome to The Nth Degree, the newest expansion for Second Edition!  This twenty-seven (27) card expansion pushes the limits of the game, introducing new equipment and extreme versions of personnel. The Nth Degree boldly goes where no one has gone before on October 20th, 2017, and is legal for tournament play one week later on October 27th, 2017.

Before we get into the first batch of spoilers, I would like to thank everybody who worked diligently to bring you this expansion.  Much of the work goes on behind the scenes, and I am sure if I tried to list them all I would forget somebody.  So for now, allow me to introduce the rest of the design team.

Lucas Thompson (edgeofhearing) - Lucas previously worked on the 50th Anniversary, making The Nth Degree his second expansion.

Tyler Fultz (DJStormtrooper) - Tyler has served as designer for two expansions, and lead designer on three more expansions, making him the most experienced designer on the The Nth Degree team.

Michael Shea (Skrian Dukat) - Michael makes his designing debut with The Nth Degree, and I look forward to seeing where he goes after a great first expansion.

"It's about time you got in on some of the interesting stuff." -Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge, The Nth Degree

The Nth Degree contains three distinct themes: pushing the limits, promoting deck diversity and promoting equipment.  We will explore each of these themes in the days leading up to the expansion’s release (some more than others), but for now we have one spoiler from each theme.

"We have always perceived the maximum speed of the Enterprise as a function of warp, but I know now there are no limits." -Lt. Reginald Barclay, The Nth Degree

Limits are made to be pushed, and The Nth Degree looks to set several records.  Tyler and Michael took the lead in creating some of these truly diabolical cards.

The Nth Degree exceeds some limits in very straight-forward manners.  Many of the personnel in the expansion are peerless in some way.  For example, check out Reginald Barclay (Exceeding Limits), the release promo for The Nth Degree.  Never before have we seen a personnel with a printed attribute over 10, but Barclay’s Cytherian-infused brain brings his Cunning to 11.  Immobilizing himself in a chair in the holodeck did his Strength no favors, but Barclay is also our first personnel with a printed Strength of 1.

This expansion also pushes limits in less quantifiable ways, so be sure to check back over the course of the next two weeks to be immersed in the chaos of pushing the limits!

"We will explore new worlds that we could never before have reached in our lifetime." -Lt. Reginald Barclay, The Nth Degree

Only a handful of the cards promoting deck diversity survived the design process, but they should still make players think twice about mindlessly stocking three copies of cards, both in the draw deck and dilemma pile.

In true Next Generation style, Ro Laren (Proven Expert) does not punish your opponent, but rather rewards you if your opponent uses multiple copies of a card.  She also brings in some of the Bajoran theme by referencing your opponent’s discard pile.  Each additional copy of a card your opponent discards gets repurposed into attributes for Ro.

"There is no such device on file."
"No problem.  Here’s how you build it."
-The Computer and Lt. Reginald Barclay, The Nth Degree

Last but not least, we have a theme near and dear to my heart, equipment.  Star Trek would not be Star Trek without all the gadgets which make their way into the characters’ everyday life. The Nth Degree brings equipment into the limelight.

Equipment typically falls into one of three categories: equipment which helps your ill-equipped personnel gain skills, equipment which protects your personnel from agonizing harm and hand weapons which assist your personnel become calculating killers in combat.  Each equipment in The Nth Degree does fall into at least one of these categories, but often in new and inventive ways.  We will save the devastating hand weapons and protective items for later, but today let’s look at a new skill-gaining equipment.

In the Voyager episode Future’s End (Part II), Henry Starling bestows upon The Doctor a piece of 29th-century technology, the Mobile Emitter.  In addition to the obvious benefits of allowing him to roam freely about the ship, The Doctor used the Mobile Emitter to alter his own program.  In the penultimate Voyager episode Renaissance Man, The Doctor uses the Mobile Emitter to impersonate the crew by calling up their holographic profiles.  With the Mobile Emitter in The Nth Degree, any of your Hologram personnel can replicate this trick, gaining a skill from any personnel - so long as you have their pattern stored on one of your Holoprograms.

"May I?  Checkmate in nine moves." -Lt. Reginald Barclay, The Nth Degree

In just two weeks, The Nth Degree exceeds the limits of Second Edition!

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