[Faithful Reader]

It's Wednesday! We're more than halfway through the week. Since we are over the hump, let's look at a question!

Last Week: PPS or SSP?
1-31-24 Four!
1-24-24 Hello, Old Friend
1-17-24 A Unique Preposition
1-10-24 A Certified Genius
1-3-24 Close Every Door to Me!

We got four new cards! The 2024 Organized Play promos are here. For the first time in years, they are brand new cards and all three games have them based around the Bell Riots which will happen this year in the Trek universe. For the Second Edition side of things, they are predominantly based around personnel who cost two.

Which is your favorite of the four? Gabriel Bell who can give all personnel who cost two a boost? Sisko who can save them? Bashir who can peek into what is coming up? Or you just want to go with a flip mission that shuts down gametext on mission attempts?

Cast your vote in the poll above and let us know the reason if is so near and dear to you below. Revoting is allowed as always.

[Danny]

Sisko's alright.

I think Bell's definitively missing the Dissident keyword, and argument's could be made that Bashir and Sisko are too. Also, Bell's ability is costly for what it is - there are other personnel out there who grant a +1 boon to a subset of personnel without having to die for it. Still, a 2 cost with Int 8's alright (but, obviously, that's lost if you trigger him).

Bashir's game text is very niche, and, I'll wager, forgotten to be used a lot of the time.

But my favourite's Mobile Micro-Singularity as it's another Federation-attemptable Temporal mission.

[Armus]

Bell is the most Breakable.

Already working on it.

Synergy with Sisko makes him even more so.

Sisko is solid. He'll slot into multiple decks.

Bashir's ability is OK, if a bit situational... he's still a 2 cost 8 cunning guy, which is never something to sneeze at.

The mission is interesting, but would've been better if the flip side was in Sector 001... would've made a REAL INTERESTING option for Terra Prime. Alas, it was not to be.

[boromirofborg]

I think Bell's definitively missing the Dissident keyword, and argument's could be made that Bashir and Sisko are too.

This actually sent me searching. Can a be a dissident? Well, there are several already, but I have to say I don't really like that. It feels to me that a dissident should be someone of an affiliation that is a dissident from it. I don't like the idea of Dissidents since it's unclear what they are dissidents of.

In the case of Gabriel Bell, he's a dissident of earth, of something that isn't close to any of the affiliations of the game. I'd accept it if he was, I guess, but it wouldn't feel right to me.

[abargar7510]

Bashir's game text is very niche, and, I'll wager, forgotten to be used a lot of the time.

His ability is a bit hard to parse when reading it too. He'll take practice for anyone who tries to use him.

[jadziadax8]

Bashir's game text is very niche, and, I'll wager, forgotten to be used a lot of the time.

His ability is a bit hard to parse when reading it too. He'll take practice for anyone who tries to use him.

But when he works, it's

[Faithful Reader]

Already working on it.

Need a guinea pig?

[Danny]

The mission is interesting, but would've been better if the flip side was in Sector 001... would've made a REAL INTERESTING option for Terra Prime. Alas, it was not to be.

I guess the argument could be made that the flip side (the zero point side) wouldn't have Sector 001, but I do wonder why the attemptable side doesn't.

[jadziadax8]

The mission is interesting, but would've been better if the flip side was in Sector 001... would've made a REAL INTERESTING option for Terra Prime. Alas, it was not to be.

I guess the argument could be made that the flip side (the zero point side) wouldn't have Sector 001, but I do wonder why the attemptable side doesn't.

We discussed this during design, because originally it was Earth Orbit (or similar) and Sector 001 made sense. We decided that it would give Fed players the option of having a whole mission set in Sector 001. Instead, we moved the attemptable side outside the Sol system to keep it from happening.

[Armus]

The mission is interesting, but would've been better if the flip side was in Sector 001... would've made a REAL INTERESTING option for Terra Prime. Alas, it was not to be.

I guess the argument could be made that the flip side (the zero point side) wouldn't have Sector 001, but I do wonder why the attemptable side doesn't.

We discussed this during design, because originally it was Earth Orbit (or similar) and Sector 001 made sense. We decided that it would give Fed players the option of having a whole mission set in Sector 001. Instead, we moved the attemptable side outside the Sol system to keep it from happening.

So why not the flip side then?

[abargar7510]

I guess the argument could be made that the flip side (the zero point side) wouldn't have Sector 001, but I do wonder why the attemptable side doesn't.

We discussed this during design, because originally it was Earth Orbit (or similar) and Sector 001 made sense. We decided that it would give Fed players the option of having a whole mission set in Sector 001. Instead, we moved the attemptable side outside the Sol system to keep it from happening.

So why not the flip side then?

I guess because the designation of "Sector 001" doesn't exist in the alternate timeline?

[jadziadax8]

[The Guardian]

I guess because the designation of "Sector 001" doesn't exist in the alternate timeline?

Exactly. Same as Mirror Bajor. Just upholding precedent.

The argument we made to remove it from the front (based on playtesting feedback about it being very powerful in a Fed deck) was that O'Brien said the microsigularity was moving through the Solar System, implying that at one point it wasn't. This is a story point before it reached the Solar System.

[The Guardian]

I think Bell's definitively missing the Dissident keyword...

Interesting. I don't know if we considered that. (Certainly, there's a place in most design processes that I like to do a keyword check to make sure nothing's missing, but...) Considering it now, I don't think so. I never got the feeling that the residents of Sanctuary District A (maybe with the exception of B.D.; but he would just want to see the place burn before heading off to a private island) wanted to overthrow the government. They just wanted it to live up to its promise of providing jobs and a way out and up. Other Dissidents in the game want overthrow or at least major upheaval in the ruling class. It's close, for sure, but I'm not sure it's there.

Of course, it's interesting to see the change in our definitions of certain keywords as we stretch them to include other groups. Maybe in years looking back I'll regret that, as anyone who doesn't like the prevailing politics is a Dissident.

[boromirofborg]

I guess because the designation of "Sector 001" doesn't exist in the alternate timeline?

Exactly. Same as Mirror Bajor. Just upholding precedent.

ah, but Mirror Bajor is from a whole different universe. Different quantum signatures and everything. The flip side of this is the same universe, just one where the Federation no longer exists. Technically, since the Federation doesn't exist, neither does the designation of Alpha Quadrant, but we keep that because the actual position in space hasn't changed. So even thought Sector 001 doesn't apply as a name, it still should as a designation of what coordinates in space the mission is in. If they had travelled to the badlands, we'd still call it the Badlands Region, even if the Federation never existed to name it that.

/nerd rant off.

Overall, good gameplay change, I guess but boo for lore.