Design Spotlight: First Edition Non-Aligned

by Charlie Plaine, Chairman

24th September 2017

"The trip is over. The battle begins again. Only this time it's not a world we win. It's a universe." - Khan, "Space Seed"

Overview
And so we come to the fourth and final affiliation from the game's debut in 1994: Non-Aligned. Originally added as a way to provide extra cards to all the other affiliations, the yellowest of affiliations has evolved into a tangled web of themes, decks, and strategies. In short, there are almost as many different subsections of this affiliation as there are affiliations in the game.

At a Glance
Here's a quick look at the Non-Aligned affiliation:

Non-Aligned
Nouns	173 Cards (4 Facilities, 342 Personnel, 50 Ships)
Missions	50
First Appearance	Premiere (1994)
Recent Appearance	Live Long and Prosper (2017)
Signature Skill	N/A
Attack Restriction	NONE (Normally) STANDARD (if War Council in play )
Appears In	Enterprise, TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Movies
Doesn't Appear In	N/A

Strengths
Let me start with a caveat: Non-Aligned was never designed to be an affiliation, in the typical sense of the word. Yes, they have their own card frame and icons, but they weren't ever going to represent a unified group like the other affiliations. Gold cards, in First Edition, were to be extra characters and ships; they were to fill in skill and attribute gaps. If you've followed 1E's evolution over the years, it's no surprise that the Non-Aligned affiliation of today is pretty far from where they started.

However, even though First Edition's Non-Aligned has changed, it's core strength is still the same: supporting other affiliations. If you're ever looking for an exact combination of skills - particularly if it's weird - there is a great chance you'll find an personnel that will fit the bill. Need some help passing Chula: The Game and The Cloud? Martus Mazur and Jo'Brill can help! If you're struggling to cover the bases of Quantum Incursions, there are three personnel with an icon and Empathy. And since personnel can work with almost everyone, the extra skill, keyword, icon, or attribute help can usually fit into your deck.

I don't mean to harp on the point, but the fact that cards can fit into almost any deck is a huge benefit. From the point of view of the other affiliations, they have access to Non-Aligned cards to shore up their weaknesses. A Romulan deck that could use some INTEGRITY help can include the Ba'ku to get it; similarly, if your Federation deck needs some STRENGTH, add in some androids. Or if you just need some bodies, you can add Free Orion Slaves for free Orions.

On the flip side, if you're playing one of the Non-Aligned strategies, you can pair it with a complementary affiliation. If you've put together a Followers of The One deck, you can pair it with almost any other affiliation to get access to their cards and strategies. Although Followers of The One tends to work best with a based affiliation, you aren't limited to it. Perhaps you want a theme deck, so you pair Lore and his Borg with Cardassians to leverage their capturing power.

It may seem like this is just one strength discussed on repeat, and that's valid. But versatility is an incredibly complex and multifaceted strength. It's also the only common element running through all the different groups, factions, and subsets of gold-colored personnel.

Weaknesses
Non-Aligned, as an affiliation, lacks cohesion. If I were to ask most players to build a Non-Aligned deck, I'd wager I'd get a lot of answers defining the deck as something other than it's affiliation. "I built a Khan deck," or "I put together a Mercenaries deck," or "I put together a War Council deck." Please note this isn't a bad thing; it's just that, as an affiliation, Non-Aligned doesn't tend to identify itself that way like the others do. "I'm playing Klingons" vs. "I'm playing War Council." Although, being fair, War Council makes as close to a "standard" affiliation as can be, so perhaps the trend is changing.

As versatile as individual cards are, their themes and decks tend to be on insular side. For example, consider the above mentioned Mercenary Raiders deck; the "hook" for the deck is the phrase "Stone of Gol" in lore. As a hook, this is great - it clearly defines the personnel you want to look for and care about, and it's tightly knit to the story. But it's not one that allows the deck to spread out of . It only works if design makes new personnel in the future that have "Stone of Gol" in lore, which would be difficult given the source material. This isn't a defining weakness of the affiliation, however; a Sybok / Release this Pain deck has some built in personnel it can use, but also includes a way to expand beyond.

Side note: what is a "hook"? It's something on a card - usually a keyword or phrase in lore - that can be used by other cards in the future. "Stone of Gol" is a hook that cards like Mercenary Raiders can grab onto and use. Skalaar from Broken Bow might use "Tellarite" as a hook for a future Tellarite-themed deck, as a more recent example. First Edition design teams do this all the time, so if you ever see a particular phrase pop up - especially on more than once card - odds are it's a hook.

Looking Ahead
I apologize for not really articulating as many strengths and weaknesses for Non-Aligned as I have for the other affiliations. I usually aim for three, but this was such an usual affiliation to write about I think I feel short. So, to make it up for you, I figured I could talk to you a little bit more about what is coming down the pipeline instead of what could.

Project Wisdom, the final expansion in the 22nd-century block, is going to be released soon and it features a good amount of new content. (I just realized this is a trend in third sets of blocks. I can also tell you that will be shaken up in the future too... just further in the future than Project Wisdom.) In fact, fifteen (15) of the cards in the expansion are Non-Aligned, including at least one new facility. That facility in question will be a boon to at least one of the decks I mentioned earlier in the article. Is that enough of a teaser for you? No? Okay, then I can tell you that Project En Garde will also be adding in some new players for you all to enjoy.

Beyond that, we have the Original Series block and that block is looking to really mix up how cards are treated. I'm leading that design, and the team and I realize that we can do more with how we design Non-Aligned strategies to help them fit into more and different kind of decks. As of this writing, the plan is for the first expansion of the block, Project Delenn, to be half Non-Aligned! There are a lot of characters and themes from the Original Series to explore, so keep your eyes peeled for gangsters, androids, and hippies when that block rolls around!

Conclusion
I feel like I've spent a lot of time talking about just a single point for this affiliation. To be fair to me, Non-Aligned is a weird affiliation to discuss traditionally. Ultimately, most of their value comes from their versatility, but the realities of 1E game design mean that their own strategies rarely play nicely with others. But in the universe of Star Trek, there are a ton of characters that don't fit into one of the game's other affiliations. There will always be cards, and we'll always chase after them with tightly grouped themes.