[Faithful Reader]

Welcome to the official Q&A thread for Far beyond the Stars. Here, you can ask any and all questions related to this expansion of the design team, who will do their best to answer them. Questions about the design, testing, creative, art or the expansion overall are welcome. The designers make no promises they will answer everything though!

Nathan "Gooeychewie" Miracle
Michael "The Prefect" Shea

[GooeyChewie]

The designers make no promises they will answer everything though!

I’ll give it my best shot, though! I’ll even answer math questions!

[The Prefect]

I’ll even answer math questions!

Better you than me.

Since I have a little downtime this morning, I'll get the ball rolling by asking my fellow designer a question:

Now that you've had a chance to ruminate on the final product, and without giving too much away, what single card were you the happiest with the way it turned out?

I think it's a toss-up between the personnel who has forehead ridges and the one who doesn't. -NM

[Faithful Reader]

Who figured out the species on the first personnel in the set?

We went back and checked the script. We were both a bit disappointed at the canon answer. -NM

Indeed. We were really excited at first because we thought we'd found a new species, so to speak. But, to our chagrin, the species in question was pretty clear in the script and not what we'd thought we'd remembered.

That having been said, I think I can speak for both of us when I say we are very happy with the final product! -MS

How would you compare and contrast this set with Tapestry?

As series, TNG is more episodic and DS9 is more operatic. I think that difference shows in the cards, as Tapestry feels like 18 distinct cards and Far Beyond the Stars has more interconnectivity. -NM

Both Tapestry and Far Beyond the Stars commemorate specific series, and as such are creatively much more narrowly focused than typical sets. I also think the differences in the two series, TNG and DS9, are well-reflected in the character of the cards as Nathan points out.

To me, it's clear when I review the cards in Tapestry that the designers really wanted to honor TNG by capturing some pretty iconic moments and well-loved faces (or faces we loved to hate) in the show's run (devolved Worf, infiltrated Enterprise, Romulan intrigue, Q, Locutus, Captain Crusher, young Toral, O'Brien, etc.). At the risk of once again speaking for my fellow designer, it is our hope that when people look at the complete set of Far Beyond the Stars, they will see the love we both have for DS9 come through. -MS

[Danny]

Any entirely new personnel/ships/missions to 2E?

Yes. -MS

More ships than personnel. -NM

Any entirely new personnel/ships/missions to both 1E and 2E?

Yes, I believe so. - MS

There's a particular ship in 1E which at one time I thought was a ship in this expansion, but is actually a different ship in this expansion. The ship I thought it was is new to both 1E and 2E. -NM

Some are going to look at Dukat and his ship sporting both the DS9 and TN icons as an "innovative first" while others might think "it's a break from tradition for the sake of it" - in either event, it's a 'first' - are there any other points of innovation, breaks from tradition, or general 'firsts'?

First, I wouldn't characterize the decision as having been made "for the sake of it" as that implies there's no story justification at all for the decision. Many designers (though certainly not all) think of personae to personnel as representing that personnel at a particular time in his or her arc. In Apocalypse Rising we see Dukat help Sisko and the others infiltrate the Klingon Empire and are left with the impression that DS9 is a sort of safe harbor for Dukat and the Naprem. In the two-parter In Purgatory's Shadow and By Inferno's Light, we begin with Dukat "agreeing" to help defend DS9 against the coming invasion and end with him joining the invaders. We wanted to try to capture as much of that as we could on one card - and once we decided to design for that arc, the inclusion of both icons felt completely natural.

As to your question about other points of innovation, I'd like to think that players will notice a few more - but I suppose it depends on how one defines "first". In any event, I hope players enjoy playing these cards as much as we enjoyed making them. -MS

Dukat was in a unique situation. In the first viewing, the audience isn't sure which way he'll jump, if he'll join the station or join the Dominion. This card lets you play a little "what if" with that scenario. I would not expect to show up much (if ever) in the future.

That said, Dukat isn't the only personnel with unclear motivations. About half of the personnel in this expansion are designed to play at multiple headquarters, including some unusual combinations. -NM

It may also be of interest to know that Dukat and Naprem didn't start out with both icons - they were originally both only. However, during our deliberations and in playtesting, we kept trying to figure out a way to capture the unprecedented level of betrayal represented by the character (3 Treachery just didn't feel adequate or original). When we hit on the idea of including both icons, it just felt like such a succinct and elegant way to represent Dukat's turn - in 1e he'd be dual affiliated but there's no such convention in 2e, and that's one tradition neither of us ever thought about breaking. -MS

[eberlems]

Did any cards that almost made it into previous sets make into this set?

No, but I do admit to using a design or two that I've been holding on to for quite some time. -NM

Not that I am aware of, though I will admit that, like Nathan, this did give me a chance to pitch some ideas I've been playing with in my head for a while. -MS

What card do you think will be the most used card from this set for the next 6 months?

I've put my wager on the simplest personnel in the expansion. He's straightforward, good and fits into an existing decktype. -NM

I see a flagship I think will get a lot of play. -MS

[Faithful Reader]

How much of a Trek fan would you need to be to recognize all the personnel in the set?

Not much more than a casual fan. Every personnel in the expansion has appeared in at least two episodes of Trek. -NM

This set was a pretty top-down design sort of project, and we made a conscious decision to pitch to big moments. We surveyed dozens of polls, reviews, and fan sites and compiled a list of top picks based on those reviews and reactions, along with our own favorites. So, my guess is each card will be readily recognizable. -MS

[Danny]

How was the staffing (icons, rather than text) on the Infiltrated Flagship decided?

We did quite a bit of research regarding staffing icons for the expansion. On the one hand, "out-of-affiliation" ships tend to gain a requirement on top of their normal requirements. On the other hand, Dominion ships tend to have low staffing requirements relative to their size. The Jem'hadar Warship, for example, is bigger than the Galaxy Class ships, but requires less staffing. In the end we followed the example of the Dominion Defiant, which has lower staffing requirements than its Federation counterparts, but has a requirement in the text. The original I.K.S. Negh'var already had requirements in its text, so that part worked out nicely. -NM

[Danny]

As it's been almost 4 years since our last one, and this is a DS9 anniversary, are we going to get a new Kira?

We had a Kira (and a ship) in the playtest file for quite a while, but in the end she proved not terribly fun. They were cut in favor of better cards. -NM

There were a number of cards we pitched that ultimately didn't make it. Our playtest file contained 29 cards for an 18 card set, with the understanding that 11 cards would most likely have to be cut (we did hold out some small hope that the production gods would smile upon us and allow a larger than typical boutique set, but in the end it was not to be). While we're very pleased with the final product, there are some card ideas I hope get revisited in future. Kira + ship were two such ideas that were "almost there" and deserve a second look at a later time. -MS

[Danny]

How was the staffing (icons, rather than text) on the Infiltrated Flagship decided?

We did quite a bit of research regarding staffing icons for the expansion. On the one hand, "out-of-affiliation" ships tend to gain a requirement on top of their normal requirements. On the other hand, Dominion ships tend to have low staffing requirements relative to their size. The Jem'hadar Warship, for example, is bigger than the Galaxy Class ships, but requires less staffing. In the end we followed the example of the Dominion Defiant, which has lower staffing requirements than its Federation counterparts, but has a requirement in the text. The original I.K.S. Negh'var already had requirements in its text, so that part worked out nicely. -NM

I can see the the Dominion Defiant effect taking place (fewer staffing icons than its on-brand affiliation), but how'd/why'd it go up by a Gold Star?

That was a decision we made to balance against the ship's ability. Most veteran players will remember the original Dominion Defiant was much more powerful, but in the end had to undergo errata, and now the ship rarely sees play as a result. I don't know for certain, but it's possible that if the Dominion Defiant had been harder to staff - if it had required a larger investment of resources to get the benefit - it might not have needed the errata because it might have been a more balanced card. We wanted to minimize the chances of future errata happening to this Negh'Var's ability. So, while we honored the convention of reducing the staffing icon by one, we upped the Command-star requirement by one, switching out a staff-star, to balance the reduction of cost to the ability. -MS

[nalan bal]

As designers who are also players, what deck are you most interested in building/playing after the set releases?

I love building decks, so I plan to have a plethora of them ready to make public when the expansion releases, making use of all 18 cards. Right now I feel like I'm most excited about making a 10 Strength general with the Negh'var, but if you ask me again later I'll probably change my mind ten times between now and then. -NM

A three-way-tie: Terok Nor battle, Founder solver, and a deck around a theme supported by cards as yet to be revealed. -MS

Also, when designing cards how would you rank the following:
-Innovation
-Game Balance
-Fun
-Trek Sense

Excellent question! I put game balance first because without balance the game won't be fun. I put fun next because ultimately that's the reason we play. I put Trek Sense third because I'm willing to stretch it a little for fun and balanced cards, but if we break it entirely then we aren't really playing Trek. I put innovation last because doing something just for the sake of never having done it before doesn't make it a good idea. -NM

Nathan's answer is excellent, and I think I agree with his rankings. The only thing I'd add is that my ideal card has all of these aspects: it's balanced; fun; faithful to Trek; and, when possible, innovative if even in a small way. That, and even though this will mark my third set as designer, being the newest designer on the roster I am still perhaps a bit more prone to test limits. Thankfully, Nathan and I have a great working relationship, John strikes an excellent balance between allowing us room to explore and reigning us in when needed, and we had some excellent feedback and data from playtesters to help us make informed decisions. -MS

[Old Kor]

Is there any love for the Bajorans in this set? Lately the (design-) gods did't have a lot of attention for them...

There's no Bajorans, but there is a card in the expansion. We had a Kira/ship pair in testing, but they didn't work out so well. I would have liked to have given more to the Bajorans, but we only had so much room. -NM

We haven't forgotten the Bajorans. I don't know if this is getting too "behind the scenes" or not, but in our playtest and alternate files - and by that I mean card ideas we thought were developed enough and good enough to offer them up for production consideration, in addition to the card you will see, there was also a Pah Wraith Jake Sisko, a Winn Adami, and the ship +commander pair Nathan previously mentioned. Personally, I'd have loved it if the set had had room for all of them, and I hope those ideas get revisited. But, in the end, we made the strongest 18-card set we could make, and some of those cards just barely didn't make the cut. -MS

And if there are not a forgotten affiliation, what would Brad see?

Every card in the expansion is on the What Brad Would See section in this article. With some deductive reasoning, I believe a clever person could figure out which one belongs to the card. -NM

[Faithful Reader]

How much are people going to freak out when the see the corresponding commander of the Facebook spoiler?

If they’re seeing him because the opponent just played Imperial Entanglements, expect extreme freak-outs. -NM

Everyone has reason to fear this card. - MS

[KillerB]

How much are people going to freak out when the see the corresponding commander of the Facebook spoiler?

I'm going to get so excited I'm going to show you the tip of my spear...

[GooeyChewie]

Surely we can come up with more questions!