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Strategy Articles
So, You're New to Starfleet?
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by Maggie Geppert, Vice Chairman
24th August 2018
You can't allow your concern for a single crewman to affect your mission. This Expanse destroyed everyone aboard the Seleya. Don't let it happen to Enterprise.
- T’Pol from “Impulse”
Starfleet design in Second Edition had a lot of iterations over the years as this affiliation tried to find its niche. Its original flavor was defined by the text of its Headquarters; “When you complete a space mission, if no other space mission has been completed, score 10 points.” Starfleet’s job was to race for space. Their mirror counterparts were given the “no hand” advantage, and then came the Damaged and Displaced crews in later sets. They have been most recently given the flavor of getting better as they learn which is shown in cards that give them an advantage when they have dilemmas under their missions. Today’s deck (Trelliema) comes from Michael Van Breemen (The Ninja Scot) and shows off how all these different parts can work together to make a powerful solver.
Missions
One big advantage of this deck is a mission in the same Region as its Headquarters. It only costs two range to go from Jupiter, Test Experimental Engine to Earth, Humanity’s Home, which is great for Starfleet, since their ships generally have low range and require some sort of boost. You’ll want to attempt and complete Jupiter first, since once you complete it, your opponent must place a dilemma beneath it at the start of each of your turns. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, since the mission is already complete, but it does two major things. First, it denies your opponent the use of that dilemma later on, which could mean depleting their pile if it’s small. Second, Starfleet has other cards that give you bonuses for how many dilemmas are beneath your missions. Terra Nova, Reestablish Communications, is a perfect example of this. The attributes of Cunning > 38 are a little over scale for a 35 point mission, but when you begin the mission attempt you reduce that attribute by 1for each dilemma beneath your missions. If you’ve already completed Jupiter, you should probably have 3-4 dilemmas under it, which already brings the Cunning requirements in line for a standard 35-point mission. Now, the other two missions, Investigate Anachronism and Investigate Refinery, are both in the Delphic Expanse. I would probably choose to do the latter over the former, but it really just depends on who I have out and what skills they have. Their real value is in the fact that they are in the Expanse.
Draw Deck
Why is the Expanse important? Because of Trellium-D. This Equipment is cost -1 for each Delphic Expanse mission you command, so in this deck it’s free. When you play it to your ship (there’s some debate about this wording here, if you’re interested) you can discard a non-personnel card from hand to draw two cards (you protect your personnel with it – neat!). You can fetch it with Fajo’s Menagerie, which is quite a powerful card when you already have equipment in play. You can blow it up with a Grav-plating Trap if you need to get rid of an event or prevent an interrupt. You can use Charles Tucker III, Horse Trader to recycle it for card draws. Oh, and it can fuel your Vulcan zombies (see below).
I think the most interesting aspect of this deck to me is that it pulls the best cards from all of the different flavors of Starfleet. For instance, it uses T’Pol, Overbearing Observer and Accumulated Knowledge to bolster the “learning” theme, but doesn’t use the Archer from that theme. Instead it seeks to use Damaged Archer to exclude personnel from random selections in the Expanse. And instead of using Malcolm Reed, Weapons Expert to put dilemmas under your missions, we find the Enthusiastic Major, a cheap ![[AU]](/images/icons/au.gif "[AU]"){kind=icon}
version of Reed with good skills and decent Cunning and Strength (he also gets you through Adopted Authority, of which there are three in this deck). Oh, and watch out for that Josiah Clarke. He has Intelligence, and has snuck past my Rogue Borg Ambush in the past. *grumblegrumble*
Dilemma Pile
This is a pretty standard attrition pile with some excellent tailoring for the deck. All that Trellium-D fuels Hazardous Materials. This dilemma first kills someone for each of the Trellium-Ds commanded by your opponent. Then you have to check to see if you still meet the requirements. If you don’t, your ship gets damaged. Even better, this is one of those rare Damage dilemmas that doesn’t stop your crew, so it could be followed up by Gomtuu Shock Wave or V’Ger. Theoretically, you could end your mission attempt double-damaged and down at least three crew members. If your opponent was so inclined, they could start an engagement with you the next turn and blow you up with a Maneuver event that damages you. This deck doesn’t do that, but it is something that someone else could do.
Another flexible strategy that’s built into this deck is the use of the interrupt Uninvited. This Q card allows you to pull a dilemma that costs 1 or less out of your dilemma pile when your opponent begins a mission attempt. I assume the usual target for this card is Polywater Intoxication. If your opponent with 5 or fewer personnel, one stop is usually enough to stop the attempt, and since Polywater returns, there’s nothing new under the mission. Another target, depending on conditions, is Secret Identity. Again, being able to eliminate the right person at the right time could stop an attempt cold.
Final Thoughts
This decks makes use of the best that Starfleet has to offer. Its major theme of using Trellium-D to fuel a variety of strategies is very powerful now. You may want to start packing some Self-Sealing Stembolts as a part of your Vulcan zombie apocalypse plan.
Discuss this article in this thread.
Tournament Record:
- Constructed - American National (2018-04-28): 3rd place
This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:
- Starfleet Player
- Unbroken I
- How About a New Mission, Admiral? I
- Crew Quarters: Enterprise
- Good Casting: Armstrong (Maxwell Forrest)
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