#554425
I haven’t played much lately, but I still think about the game and its design frequently. One of the hardest things in the game to design is a good dilemma. I wanted to take this opportunity to salute the best ten virtual dilemmas- those dilemmas that should have been in the game from Premiere!
I started with three criteria:
1. Is this dilemma useful?
2. Is the design simple and efficient?
3. Does it positively impact deckbuilding or gameplay?
Here are the nominees (in no particular order):
Adopted Authority
This dilemma punishes affiliations (mainly Feds) with high average skills. Those affiliations always enjoyed a better mission selection, and they only got better with the release of dilemmas like Gomtuu Shockwave and An Issue of Trust which wrecked low-integrity affiliations. This dilemma also creates some interesting deckbuilding space for cards like Raise the Stakes which increase opponent’s attributes.
Becalmed
Span is one of the least-referenced card attributes in the game, and there wasn’t any cost to using a low-span mission until this dilemma came around. It also has all the virtuous high-attribute punishment that Adopted Authority did. A big props to Keith for designing this one on the A Time to Stand team.
Compromised Experiment
Trek is blessed in that it has some great design concepts like Decay, but some events like Unyielding and Security Drills tend to sit in players’ cores for extended periods, cluttering the gamespace. Love that there’s a dilemma to punish non-use of an event’s gametext. Use it or lose it!
Curt Reprimand
There was Dressing Down back in Call to Arms, but the proliferation of 0-cost personnel over the Decipher years made Curt Reprimand a necessity. This card should have been in Premiere and probably could have cost 2.
Flashpoint
One of my personal Trek beefs, and my inspiration for Anachronistic Deviation, is the unnatural cross-mixing of personnel from different universes and timelines. This card tackles that problem simply and effectively. There must be cost for splashing in that P’Tol or Ezri Tigan!
Hot Mess
Love that this card packs both a Chef reference and a damage marker into such little text. Trek needed more dilemmas like this with multiple keyword hooks to make them more useable and synergistic.
One More Brush Fire/Piratical Boarders
Finding the right ways to incentivize interaction in Trek has always been a challenge. These dilemmas do a good job of allowing opposing personnel to meet and immediately interact without being wordy.
Overindulgence
This dilemma rewards one of the core skills in Trek- skill tracking. It also punishes decks that rely on a single skill in their mission selection, which encourages diversity. There’s lots to love in this small package.
Show Trial
Trek has relatively few come-from-behind mechanics and could probably use more, as they help produce the photo finishes that make the game worth playing.
Unwanted Guests
This dilemma incentivizes stocking skill-heavy personnel in your deck. As there are strong incentives in the game to pick personnel based on a cost-per-attribute ratio, this is always welcome.
I started with three criteria:
1. Is this dilemma useful?
2. Is the design simple and efficient?
3. Does it positively impact deckbuilding or gameplay?
Here are the nominees (in no particular order):
Adopted Authority
This dilemma punishes affiliations (mainly Feds) with high average skills. Those affiliations always enjoyed a better mission selection, and they only got better with the release of dilemmas like Gomtuu Shockwave and An Issue of Trust which wrecked low-integrity affiliations. This dilemma also creates some interesting deckbuilding space for cards like Raise the Stakes which increase opponent’s attributes.
Becalmed
Span is one of the least-referenced card attributes in the game, and there wasn’t any cost to using a low-span mission until this dilemma came around. It also has all the virtuous high-attribute punishment that Adopted Authority did. A big props to Keith for designing this one on the A Time to Stand team.
Compromised Experiment
Trek is blessed in that it has some great design concepts like Decay, but some events like Unyielding and Security Drills tend to sit in players’ cores for extended periods, cluttering the gamespace. Love that there’s a dilemma to punish non-use of an event’s gametext. Use it or lose it!
Curt Reprimand
There was Dressing Down back in Call to Arms, but the proliferation of 0-cost personnel over the Decipher years made Curt Reprimand a necessity. This card should have been in Premiere and probably could have cost 2.
Flashpoint
One of my personal Trek beefs, and my inspiration for Anachronistic Deviation, is the unnatural cross-mixing of personnel from different universes and timelines. This card tackles that problem simply and effectively. There must be cost for splashing in that P’Tol or Ezri Tigan!
Hot Mess
Love that this card packs both a Chef reference and a damage marker into such little text. Trek needed more dilemmas like this with multiple keyword hooks to make them more useable and synergistic.
One More Brush Fire/Piratical Boarders
Finding the right ways to incentivize interaction in Trek has always been a challenge. These dilemmas do a good job of allowing opposing personnel to meet and immediately interact without being wordy.
Overindulgence
This dilemma rewards one of the core skills in Trek- skill tracking. It also punishes decks that rely on a single skill in their mission selection, which encourages diversity. There’s lots to love in this small package.
Show Trial
Trek has relatively few come-from-behind mechanics and could probably use more, as they help produce the photo finishes that make the game worth playing.
Unwanted Guests
This dilemma incentivizes stocking skill-heavy personnel in your deck. As there are strong incentives in the game to pick personnel based on a cost-per-attribute ratio, this is always welcome.