[Faithful Reader]

Lucas and Nate, can you talk a little more about your selection process? And that 'survey' you developed?

Well, the polling results for Will of the Collective V were a big help, though one of the finalists from that didn't make it due to being too thematically similar to Visiting Colleague. Another thing we did was go through top ten lists and episode imdb ratings, and see if any of those episodes had important characters without appearances. We also compiled a list of recurring characters (those with more than one appearance) who haven't appeared in the game yet.

Once we had a pool of personnel to choose from, it was a matter of figuring out how to spread them out a bit across the affiliations in the game while also choosing ones that seemed interesting thematically.

Since the idea was inspired by Will of the Collective, I actually started off by making a list of personnel who could provide something interesting to the game without having an ability. We didn't go that route, but now I have some good ideas for the future! -nm

Ben and John, how did the fairly even split of verbs and nouns come about?

Lucky

[Latok]

Except you just use Shinzon so you don't run out of Damage cards because Terra Prime the xenophobic faction is definitely going to be best in a dual-HQ deck any way.

Good luck junking up a Terra Prime deck with Dual HQ. Also, Shinzon is human. It wouldn't even break your story mode complaint.

Sorry for not being clear, they're two separate points. Terra Prime is best suited in a dual-HQ deck and since it is why not use Shinzon, he'd be like the 4th or 5th best reason to use a second HQ.

One(/two) of the best reasons is what's the play in a mirror match-up? Whoever solves first gets Earth and Mars working first, are you just going to catch up by playing the same number of counters as the opponent and trying to solve the same missions with generally the same personnel?

I get decks/playstyles can have counters, you bring a Chula pile and the opponent's playing chuckle brothers, better luck next time. However Terra Prime will have counter match-ups as well as a mirror match that's most likely going to come down to a coin flip without something that actually alters the balance, like it not really being a mirror match because you have a second HQ.

What ways do you and bhosp suggest to prepare for a Terra Prime mirror match?

It's not all that different from any other mirror match. The player who completes a mission first has a huge advantage. In this particular mirror match, Earth's text won't matter (because nobody will have non-Humans). It'll likely come down to who can dodge the damage markers better, either by staying out of Sector 001 or by sheer luck of the opponent running out. -nm

Xanax.

[bhosp]

Except you just use Shinzon so you don't run out of Damage cards because Terra Prime the xenophobic faction is definitely going to be best in a dual-HQ deck any way.

Good luck junking up a Terra Prime deck with Dual HQ. Also, Shinzon is human. It wouldn't even break your story mode complaint.

Sorry for not being clear, they're two separate points. Terra Prime is best suited in a dual-HQ deck and since it is why not use Shinzon, he'd be like the 4th or 5th best reason to use a second HQ.

One(/two) of the best reasons is what's the play in a mirror match-up? Whoever solves first gets Earth and Mars working first, are you just going to catch up by playing the same number of counters as the opponent and trying to solve the same missions with generally the same personnel?

I get decks/playstyles can have counters, you bring a Chula pile and the opponent's playing chuckle brothers, better luck next time. However Terra Prime will have counter match-ups as well as a mirror match that's most likely going to come down to a coin flip without something that actually alters the balance, like it not really being a mirror match because you have a second HQ.

What ways do you and bhosp suggest to prepare for a Terra Prime mirror match?

The key to victory in such a game will be to complete a planet mission, complete a space mission, and score 100 points before your opponent. My advice would be to do that.

[bhosp]

Lucas and Nate, can you talk a little more about your selection process? And that 'survey' you developed?

Well, the polling results for Will of the Collective V were a big help, though one of the finalists from that didn't make it due to being too thematically similar to Visiting Colleague. Another thing we did was go through top ten lists and episode imdb ratings, and see if any of those episodes had important characters without appearances. We also compiled a list of recurring characters (those with more than one appearance) who haven't appeared in the game yet.

Once we had a pool of personnel to choose from, it was a matter of figuring out how to spread them out a bit across the affiliations in the game while also choosing ones that seemed interesting thematically.

Since the idea was inspired by Will of the Collective, I actually started off by making a list of personnel who could provide something interesting to the game without having an ability. We didn't go that route, but now I have some good ideas for the future! -nm

Ben and John, how did the fairly even split of verbs and nouns come about?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DarkSabre]

What card did you hope to make the cut but in the end wasn't in the final set?

We had an Elias Giger for a while. He entertained your deck in order to re-energize your cards!... by moving them from the top of the deck to the bottom. Much like his scientific work, it was more show than results. -nm

On top of that, no one else was as excited about the character as Nathan and I were. He actually didn't meet any of the criteria - wasn't in a popular episode, didn't do well in the WOTC polling, etc, but Nathan and I both happened to be fans. Maybe we'll find a theme he'll fit with someday.

[Danny]

1) One of the themes is "personnel that shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to recognize". So far we've had Miral Paris and Jellico, both of whom are definitely fan favourites. How difficult was it to whittle down that to just eight personnel?

Not as hard as one might think. We started off with a plethora of ideas, but they went through a lot of natural cuts. Not every character translated as well into a 2E personnel, so some got cut at that point. Once we had several card ideas, we picked our best ones (with consideration for spreading them across affiliations and sub-affiliations) and sent them to playtesting. That got us to 11 (not counting Hawk). The finals cuts all had good rationales behind them - Colonel West was cut in favor of Miral Paris since they both had the Earth icon, Elias Giger was cut because he wasn't at the same fan favorite level, and Decius was cut in favor of 48V18 and because his ability took too long to process (it was a sort of reverse Keras). -nm

2) A question for 2E's Brand Manager/Errata/Art Team - now that the seal's been broken on double sided missions, are there any thoughts on issuing errata to things like Genesis Planet or Explore Extradimensional World?

I'd be in favor of it! -nm

[bhosp]

I’m disappointed that no ones complained about today’s card yet.

(This has been a literal shitpost, you’re welcome)

[MattgomeryScott]

I’m disappointed that no ones complained about today’s card yet.

(This has been a literal shitpost, you’re welcome)

I think he's a decent generic universal, with an interesting ability. And if stopped Dissidents are more of a theme of Terra Prime, I can see some interesting shenanigans possible. Like using T'Les, Syrrannite to make personnel like Charles Tucker III, Chief Engineer , Kelby, Industrious Engineer, Sean Hawkins or Williams, Starfleet Commander Dissidents. Or use Interstellar Treaty to play Tekeny Ghemor, Prominent Official so he can stop a Dissident.

Also a question:

With cards like Emanuel Stevens that have a set of skills/attributes, but extra skills/attributes under certain conditions, how do you decide how to cost them and how many skills to give them?

e.g. Emanuel Stevens has 4 skills and average attributes, while a generic 2 coster usually has 5. But with his ability active, he has the usual 5 skills and slightly higher than normal attributes.

only Charlie gets to see the Costing Books - JC
While Charlie does have the costing chart, we can compare potential personnel to existing personnel to get a good idea of what they should cost. When a personnel has conditional skills, attributes or cost reduction, the rule of thumb is that you should be slightly overpaying if you don't meet the condition, and getting a slightly better than typical deal if you do meet the condition. -nm

(Reason I ask is my 2E Kazon ideas have a few characters who get better when they have equipment, but trying to get the base skills/cost right is something I have no idea on. )

That's not a bad idea - JC

All the Best,

Mattgomery Scott.

[Caretaker's Guest]

Elias Giger... In the Cards is one of my favourites.
Sisko to Jake: You accused the Kai of burglary??
Giger to Weyoun: Let me ask you a question. Do you want to die?
Well, I have some expertise in genetics as well...
And many more.

These are funny dialogues, what Enterprise completely lacked...

[Faithful Reader]

Been to Discord lately?

[Danny]

only Charlie gets to see the Costing Books - JC

Is this still the case? If so, how come?

[bhosp]

only Charlie gets to see the Costing Books - JC

Is this still the case? If so, how come?

m
NO ON NOSE

[MattgomeryScott]

Also a question:

With cards like Emanuel Stevens that have a set of skills/attributes, but extra skills/attributes under certain conditions, how do you decide how to cost them and how many skills to give them?

e.g. Emanuel Stevens has 4 skills and average attributes, while a generic 2 coster usually has 5. But with his ability active, he has the usual 5 skills and slightly higher than normal attributes.

only Charlie gets to see the Costing Books - JC

Awe, not even some hints?

(Reason I ask is my 2E Kazon ideas have a few characters who get better when they have equipment, but trying to get the base skills/cost right is something I have no idea on. )

That's not a bad idea - JC

Thanks. I have this whole equipment/discard pile theme going for them. They're probably totally unbalanced, and the costs are all wrong, but it's fun to come up with ideas. Some day I'll get around to writing them up properly and posting them over on the Dream Cards boards... maybe this year.

All the Best,

Mattgomery Scott.

[bhosp]

I think he's a decent generic universal, with an interesting ability. And if stopped Dissidents are more of a theme of Terra Prime, I can see some interesting shenanigans possible.

It’s not, actually. At some point, someone (I think it was me, but I could be wrong, I’m a tired confused old man) suggested the idea that they should “get mad” when their friends get stopped. But that theme for them got cut, and this guy was the one card that survived the cut.

[prylardurden]

So this Assimilated Hawk from the last WotC made it in this set. Tell me why he will be great (or broken like other WotC cards before).

Hawk provides a rare (for Borg) skill with Officer, plus he has better than normal Strength for a Drone. I'm most excited about using him to help Elude Federation Forces, since he provides 3 of the 4 skills and the attribute requirement lines up with his enhanced Strength. I still have not yet figured out why the Borg want to ELUDE the Federation, but let's not dwell on that part. -nm