[MidnightLich]

Welcome to the Designer Q & A thread for the upcoming Second Edition virtual expansion Lineage. This expansion will release on June 29th, 2012.

Here are the rules for this Q&A:
1. Keep the questions about Lineage. The team will not answer questions outside of that.
a) Please be patient with answers. The team may not be able to get them to you right away.
iii. This topic won't last forever. Shortly after release date the team will most likely stop finding answers.
D) If the team doesn't know the answer or cannot find the answer to your question or doesn't want to answer your question, they won't answer it. V. Have Fun - don't spam the board (off topic stuff will be deleted) and keep things friendly. Ask questions. If you have comments use a different subject.

If you cannot follow these "rules," in honor of Brad, you will be sent to the corner.

Your design team for Lineage:

Mr. Charles Plaine [Lead]
Mr. Richard New
Mr. Kevin Jaeger

Ask away!

[chompers]

Loving the new cards! Great work on the new expansion ... it's already got me thinking.

How many species will make their debut in second edition?
A number less than 5.


How many affiliations will gain a new personnel of a species that they have not had before?

Also a number less than 5.

In both cases, not as many as you might think. -crp

[nobthehobbit]

The preview in the Unity PDF indicated that there would be cards for people who wanted to use just one species. Did this theme make it into the final version of Lineage?

Probably not as much as we intended at that time, but some. We did have a whole cycle of xenophobe-friendly cards that got cut about a third of the way through development, though. (About half of those cards survived in a different form in the final product.) -crp

[Peukon]

Following my old tradition of asking "stupid" hologram questions I need to ask the following:

Any love for the holograms?

There is a little bit.

Will pure hologram decks (my favorite) take a hit from the species diversity theme?

Probably because they are all of the same species, but nothing specifically meant to hurt them.

-Richard


This was the fine line we had to walk with a species theme. There are some decks that just can't avoid to be "xenophobic" - so we went out of our way to avoid anything devastating to those decks. It's really going to just be a few more road blocks and speed bumps - detours instead of outages. -crp

[Faithful Reader]

Did Mudd make the cut?

I believe charlie answered that question somewhere else. - kj

Are there a lot of personnel in an 'off color' template?

There's the team, if you consider them to be off-color.

Other than the Borg, is there something for everyone in Lineage?

Yes, though it may not be a personnel.

More than five missions? Ten?

More than 5 and the number is not 10. - kj

Do the new Ferengi ignore Ferenginar?

Yes, the ferengi personnel ignore ferenginar. -kj

What about the AI promo?

Check out all the details in this article. -crp

Did IC ever have Worf in the mud bath?

Nope. Creative and Art zeroed in on the image that's on there. I think Worf neck deep in mud is worth of it's own card. -crp

[GooeyChewie]

Does the Romulan team include Klingon/Romulan personnel? If so, how do these personnel interact with the 'I like Klingons' text on personnel like L'Kor?

There are non-Klingon personnel that are part of the team. They also like Klingons. I might have to talk more about the breakdown of the abilities of the team later.

How many cards take advantage of the 'becoming a species' rule in the last CRD?

Less than 4.

[Iron Prime]

Love the set so far, especially the Breen tease! How many iterations did the /Breen cards go through before being finalized?

Without looking back over all the playtest files, my memory tells me that Breen A went through only 1 major revision (and was a playtester favorite), Breen B was only changed to clarify a rules interaction and Breen C was radically changed about 4 times. - kj

Also, how many cards "didn't quite make it"?

Way too many. Thats the nature of designing a set. - kj

[Triumph]

I love love love Conflict of Interests!!! Fabulous! Is there any interesting story behind the origins of / design of Conflict of Interests?

What is your favorite card in the set?

Tough question. Theres about 5 cards I all love. I'll just say.....Penetrate Enemy Lines

It might not be the most popular, but the Bajoran Resistance card tickles me.

What do you think is the most subtle card, the one people might not initially appreciate but will that will later turn out to have hidden depths?

A yet to be spoiled mission.

Breen B.

Defend Evolutionary Link and the personnel that goes with it. -crp

What's the funniest design story behind a card?

The card that got started with me just blurting out a totally random thought and charlie immediately wrote into the set. Though truthfully, that happened several times. - kj

Amy Wong.

Of the Mars Wongs? -crp

What card do you think will have the greatest long term impact on the game? Or to ask a slightly different question: what card do you think will affect the construction of the largest number of decks (whether because they will run it or because they will have to adapt to it)?

Easily the Breen Cycle. I'm really proud of the work we did with them. - kj

I think the Ferengi just got a lot more fun too.

What card(s) gave you the most trouble, in terms of making them turn out the way you wanted?

He didnt make the set but has been pushed to the next full set. I realize thats a cop out but if you knew the story, you'd understand why i'm saying it. - kj

A ship or the team mission.

What is your favorite lore on a card?

Breen A.

[Peers]

Did anyone think that, while diversity is a good thing for the Federation and Dominion, some people just really don't want non-Klingons in their Klingon decks, or humans helping out their Bajoran Resistance?

You will still be able to build a deck without diversity. You will just have to accept that an opponent will be able to smack you around a little if they play Ominous Presence, etc.

It's the nature of a CCG. We never want to invalidate a deck (unless it's degenerative, i.e. Vedek Assembly) but we do like to make players think about things. Decisions are central to fun, and we want to make you think about species diversity when building decks. But ultimately (as mentioned above), we're not trying to force anyone to do so. -crp

Are there any 'species cheater' cards to go alongside skill cheaters?

Sort of a very specific one...

There is one lady that can change her own species, and another that can change someone else's species. -crp

Is there anything in the set even more powerful than Infinite Combinations?

That's a subjective question. I will say that my personal opinion though is yes. There are a few cards 'more powerful' that IC.

Does anyone, in fact, have moves like Jaeger?

Nobody's got moves like me. I'm throwing seven kinds of smoke.

(PS: Love how Stol's concept, lore, and mechanics all rolled up together. Kudos to whoever masterminded that one.)

[GooeyChewie]

Do assassins get any love?
It has been awhile since they got anything hasn't it

[Foreman]

if my opponent has Audacious Assault in his core, does he have to show me all of his personnel if he wants to get the -1 discount when he plays a personnel?

Do I have to verify everyone I don't have in play every time I hit lending a hand? Or replay that hidden person off hard time? We trust players to follow rules and call over the td to verify if there is a dispute.

[nalan bal]

Do the two affiliations that already like multiple species ( with Promenade School and Non-Human ) get some new toys in this set that utilize those current strategies?

One more than the other.

[Faithful Reader]

Did both MiS cards survive? Do they stick out thematically?

They did. One of them fits in very well with the Ferengi stuff, and the other is probably going to be incredibly popular. Neither are species related. -crp

Charlie mentioned durring Make it So that Iron would try to volley the Dominion to teir one on the presumption that the Tullaberry team didn't. What would have happened if they did?

How far behind the eight ball will I be if I do not own any Breen at this point in time?

Not terribly far. Though obviously with audacious assault you will want to get your hands on the easiest to acquire Lam.

Anyone care to spoil a card?

[Seanshank]

Now that the get some GOOD lovin in this set, Do we get a Quark in this set?

Do you want one?

What Affiliation would you pick to play after this set?

I WILL be playing Dominion after Lineage releases.

Romulan...sort of.

I will be trying a Bajoran deck, then probably Dominion. -crp

Was any of the Lineage cards that were revealed from S31 cut or just not on the list yet?

Nope, they all made it. Might have had a title change or two. -crp

Which card in this set do you feel is "Very Important" for the game in general.

I dont know if any of the cards are "very important" for the game but many will have a significant impact imho.

Maybe Unity.

Sense of Obligation. -crp

Which card do you feel will make a impact not only for the upcoming months, but for years to come?

I think it will be Breen A....simply because of certain existing precedent in the game.

As always thanks. Looking forward to Lineage.

[Lejo]

Infinite Combinations is a stellar card. This set looks to be a gem, so a job well done gentlemen!

Is the icon on any card in Lineage?

I see it at least once.

Is there a particular image that the Art Department selected for Lineage that exceeded your expectations (the "WOW!" factor) or surprised you in some way?

There were two options for our promo. Obviously, we went with Manufactured Triumph, but the image for **** *** was amazing. It was like choosing which child to take to Disney World... -crp

Are there any cards in Lineage that were inspired by an image submitted by the Art Department?

I ask Johnny every expansion if there's anything he wants, but he keeps asking for Space Hippies. I guess he got tired of waiting for me, and put some into the last tribbles expansion. But no, nothing in Lineage was inspired by an image. -crp

How many different keywords appear on or are mentioned by a card in Lineage?

A lot! (On one guy...)

How many character personas make their 2E debut in Lineage?

It might be easier to ask how many personnel are personnas of previous 2E cards.

Does Lineage feature any personas making their debut in either 1E or 2E?

Have you met Stol and Yranac?

Lastly, beyond the theme of species, what was on your agenda while developing Lineage? What there anything in particular that inspired you creatively?

Its already been mentioned that making Dominion and Ferengi teir 1 was the other primary goal. In the end, I ended up making the biggest contribution to both of them while Richard and Charlie focused on the Romulan team and a lot of the one-ofs. My personal agenda of helping a particular mechanic is what unfortunately had to be pushed and will not be in lineage.