[Fritzinger]

I read a very old strategy article for mtg where the author talks about writing down a list of mistakes they always make playing magic in the hope of getting better. It was something about making a “fearless inventory”. Here’s my equivalent for 2e:

- I often don’t know what skills my crew has before attempting a mission
- if I’m missing a skill in one turn, the next turn I’ve usually forgotten that I need to play more
- I usually don’t think about what dilemmas I might face when preparing a crew
- I build decks purely around mission skills and don’t really think what skills I might need for common dilemmas
- I don’t know the abilities in my deck that aren’t on my mind every turn, e.g. I’ll use revised chakotay in voyager but I’ll forget melora in DS9
- Once I know what dilemmas/themes are in my opponent’s pile, I don’t know how to play around them
- I often forget to check staffing and end up having less than I need to make full use of my unstopped personnel in the last turn
- if I’m limited on range I don’t know when to go back to my HQ and fetch new people vs when to keep plugging away at a mission
- I don’t know how many people to attempt with depending on how many dilemmas are under already
- I don’t know the resources my opponent needs to cheat stops and kills, or use counterspells, so I end up playing around cards that they can’t use
- I don’t plan anything during my opponent’s turn
- my skill tracking is haphazard at best

Whew that list was longer than I expected!

What other mistakes exist that I could possibly add to my list? What are yours?

[boromirofborg]

I identify with a lot of that list.

A big one for be is the lack of reps I get with a deck. I don't often play much with it before the tournament aside from a few test draws, etc.


Compared to a game like magic, where I might get to play a deck 15-30 times in a week easily while playing, for 1E/2E, I might get 3-6 games out of a deck before its time for the next deck.

[Fritzinger]

@boromirofborg is that because of a lack of opportunities for games or because 2e takes much longer than mtg?

[Johannes Mette]

~ One 2E game is a best of 3 Mtg game
~ Last weekend we had 18 player prerelease player in a little store => more opportunities

[boromirofborg]

@boromirofborg is that because of a lack of opportunities for games or because 2e takes much longer than mtg?

Both. Time more then opportunity.

I can play MTG Arena on my phone on my bus ride to work, or at lunch.

If I want, I can play best of 1, where games are 10-15 min, so I can slot that it between other things.

At any time of day, finding a game takes no more then 2-4 minutes on the outlier.

It's also, while I will argue as complex as Star Trek in many ways, much less mentally taxing, depending on the deck I play.

If I get into game of 2E, I know I am comitted for 45-60 min.

Worst case in MTG, I concede. My opponent is still happy with a concession. In ST, I would feel slightly bad for conceding (unless I absolutly needed to), because I just wasted my opponent's time.

[Fritzinger]

I can’t do much about getting new opponents but making the game more friendly for game store nights is why I spent so much time on Bridge Crew rules (see my signature although I have a major simplification I want to make).

Arena is really game changing for pickup games of mtg, at my local they have huge events that fill the store so you can’t just walk in and play.

LotR has gemp which is pretty good for a quick game. Maybe we will too, soon .

[Enabran]

Now that you bring up MTG - what Formats do you play?

[jadziadax8]

I think for me, I think too much about having a broad range of skills for both missions and dilemmas and end up with deck bloat.

[GooeyChewie]

- I often don’t know what skills my crew has before attempting a mission

I often do this one on purpose, at least in the early game. It’s not a bluff if even I don’t know I can’t do the mission!

[edgeofhearing]

Something I've been working on for years and still sometimes get wrong is DRAW FIRST. If you're going to spend any counters on drawing in a turn, it's a good idea to draw cards before you do anything else. I forget that a lot because I'm excited to play some card, but then when I draw I get something I clearly should have played instead but can't anymore.

[durgforaday]

Completely agree! Always draw first!

[Jono]

Something I've been working on for years and still sometimes get wrong is DRAW FIRST. If you're going to spend any counters on drawing in a turn, it's a good idea to draw cards before you do anything else. I forget that a lot because I'm excited to play some card, but then when I draw I get something I clearly should have played instead but can't anymore.

This is something newer players do not understand well.

For example:
I have 7 counters to spend. I have yet to draw (or play) a ship.
If you spend counters to play a 2-cost personnel and then draw you have just 4 counters left, meaning that 5-cost ship you just drew can only be played next turn.

If you instead use a counter to draw a card, you draw your ship and then can play it with one counter left to use.

The same thing if you have a 1 cost personnel in your hand. Draw until you get something you play as you can always play the 1 cost personnel using your last counter.

[abargar7510]

I always plan out what I want to play from my opening hand (those cards are effectively cheaper since they don’t cost a card draw), and then draw until I reach the amount of counters left that I want to spend, unless I draw something that changes the calculus.

[Cmdr Xym]

This is something newer players do not understand well.

For example:
I have 7 counters to spend. I have yet to draw (or play) a ship.
If you spend counters to play a 2-cost personnel and then draw you have just 4 counters left, meaning that 5-cost ship you just drew can only be played next turn.

If you instead use a counter to draw a card, you draw your ship and then can play it with one counter left to use.

The same thing if you have a 1 cost personnel in your hand. Draw until you get something you play as you can always play the 1 cost personnel using your last counter.

As opposed to, say, play a card, draw a card, play that card, draw a card, play that card, etc.

[Psionic Hobo]

I feel that drawing first comes in play after the first turn. Depending on what my opening hand is I might not worry about drawing yet (which I find is the majority of the time).

I do agree later in the game the draw first is a good strategy, one I’ve regretted not following on a number of occasions.