[Professor Scott]

I forgot he even existed in 2E!

I have no opinion on getting a new Tam in 1E. All I can say is that if it happens, his lore must have a reference to the actor being The Mayor in Buffy.

Perhaps as it stands, you would need an personnel present that Tam must 'eat' in order to gain full staffing capability?

[eberlems]

Any compatible personnel can be used to meet a ship’s listed crew requirements, but at least one crew member of matching affiliation must be on board.

How about an incident that turns the Gomtuu Shock Wave dilemma into the ship (uncontrolled) and changes affiliation when commandeered? Maybe with some points or more points for Investigate Sighting?

[Slayer07]

The problem I see is that I don't think Gomtuu would actually be Neutral. Most ships receive affiliations not because they share a particular allegiance to an affiliation but just I assume game balance (wouldn't make much sense to see Romulans flying the USS Enterprise after all) but we did see Gomtuu basically choose not to align itself with the Romulans while choosing to bond with Tam to the point they were in communication long before he and Data boarded it, and if we assume Tam is still basically loyal to the Federation then...

And of course the issue of Neutral as an affiliation is one that hasn't always sat well with some, myself included. It is after all limited to five animals (which contradict what was done with Targ originally) and five facilities (all of which could have just as easily been Non-Aligned) I don't know that a Gomtuu is a better solution than making a Tam Elbrun, which for what it might be worth could be a 2E conversion.

In the episode, the Romulans attempt to communicate with Gomtuu, and failing that, their orders are to destroy it. At this point, Gomtuu had already chosen to bond with Tam from light years away as you pointed out. It was only with Tam's intervention that Gomtuu choose to defend itself from the Romulans. To me this implies indifference or naivete' to the Romulans' presence. in the scene in sick bay, it's clear that Tam loyalty to the Federation is already wavering in favor of Gomtuu, to the point of admitting that he did not consider the implications of his actions and their effect on the Enterprise.

I don't know what is involved in changing an affiliation of a card, but it it seems clear to me that either Tam should be changed to / or perhaps / or that Gomtuu should be changed to to allow for Tam to staff it by himself. The alternative would be to make the ship a Self controlled ship that would yield this control only to a 2x Empathy personnel aboard, regardless of affiliation. Just my

is like a contradiction in terms. While would make sense in a way it'd still be a new card so why not go for straight especially if his loyalties are wavering? As interesting as the self controlled ship idea is, I think that'd be too complicated for a card that also has to act as a ship. It'd basically kill at least the lore.

I forgot he even existed in 2E!

I have no opinion on getting a new Tam in 1E. All I can say is that if it happens, his lore must have a reference to the actor being The Mayor in Buffy.

I did too, I had to look it up lol, to see if he was in 2E too. Definitely should have something Mayor related. And one that doesn't sound like Drang or whatever his name was that was in Voyager. Maybe dislikes people as much as some dislike germs lol.

[Professor Scott]

Oh I quite agree, that was my underlying point, if they would need to change Tam to a / or / , they might as well just make him . I just wanted to keep the to allow him to still be used in decks that take advantage of the affiliation icon, and based on what Eberlems said:

rulebook p6 wrote:
Any compatible personnel can be used to meet a ship’s listed crew requirements, but at least one crew member of matching affiliation must be on board., the wouldn't work any better than the would so we are back to needing to make Tam either or / if we wish for him to staff the Gomtuu solo.

[KazonPADD]

I forgot he even existed in 2E!

I have no opinion on getting a new Tam in 1E. All I can say is that if it happens, his lore must have a reference to the actor being The Mayor in Buffy.

[Slayer07]

Then we have Magistrate Drang with the last line of his lore. Though that faith wasn't strong enough to avoid a knife in the gut and a year long coma...well Buffy fans will get it.

[BCSWowbagger]

The best actor references in lore are the ones that are blended in so seamlessly that I don't recognize them as actor references in lore.

Never would have clicked with me on Nathan Samuels that that was anything but a nice bit of extra world-building, until you pointed it out.

[KazonPADD]