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By stressedoutatumc (stressedoutatumc)
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#564646
jadziadax8 wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:16 pm Sorry for the thread necro, but I was thinking about Zaldan this morning and was wondering if anyone had ever made a complete list of dilemmas like it which whiff due to lack of target. I seem to recall Center of Attention and Cardassian Trap being on the list.
Wouldn't Zaldan at least stop the away team because it says "Unless"? It may not kill anyone, but why wouldn't it stop the away team and then discard?

My thinking is....

1. Check condition...FAIL
2. Kill Target...whiff
3. Stop Away team ...didn't meet unless
 
 - Beta Quadrant
 -  
#564648
stressedoutatumc wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:24 pm
jadziadax8 wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:16 pm Sorry for the thread necro, but I was thinking about Zaldan this morning and was wondering if anyone had ever made a complete list of dilemmas like it which whiff due to lack of target. I seem to recall Center of Attention and Cardassian Trap being on the list.
Wouldn't Zaldan at least stop the away team because it says "Unless"? It may not kill anyone, but why wouldn't it stop the away team and then discard?

My thinking is....

1. Check condition...FAIL
2. Kill Target...whiff
3. Stop Away team ...didn't meet unless
This is a common misconception, but this is not the actual order the steps go in. According to the rules, it is:

1. Check for a trigger or the presence of a valid target... if either is not present, dilemma is discarded immediately and mission continues.
2. Now check conditions; if they are satisfied, overcome the dilemma and move on. If not, dilemma has its effect, mission attempt ends, team is stopped.
3-5. Steps involving dilemmas with no conditions, nullifiers, and cures.

Reference: https://www.trekcc.org/op/1e_rulebook/C ... on-summary

Edit: as discussed above I think rule is more for balance reasons than anything else (and it used not to be there). But for many dilemmas there is a "Trek Sense" logic to it. If there are no empaths to experience an Empathic Echo, there's no reason for the mission attempt to stop, nobody in the Away Team would even realize that there was some residual psionic energy or whatever. If there's nobody being friendly (Diplomatic), Zaldan never gets upset in the first place, so there's nothing for Wesley or your Exobiologist or whoever to figure out. If you're attempting a mission with a bunch of low-skilled mission specialists or support personnel, there's nobody worth targeting by a Flaxian Assassin. He doesn't strike, and so there's no mystery to unravel. Your crew didn't even know he was there.

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