This forums is for questions, answers, and discussion about First Edition rules, formats, and expansions.
 
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#562834
Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. I've only recently started playing again after having not played since the original first few sets came out.

I've also been playing with friends who are more meta-card-game thinkers.

One of them (notably a MtG player) has been frustrated because he can't get an idea of what play-theme each Faction represents. I.e. in Magic, blue is control, red is fast-damage, etc.

Having been playing Federation I can see that it heavily relies on Skills and has weaknesses such as low numbers of Treachery/Greed and typically only high numbers in Integrity with Ships with high Shields and moderately-high Weapons.

But I don't have enough experience to get an idea what supporting cards, over time, may have shored up for strengths/weaknesses/themes of the Federation and other Factions.

Hopefully this isn't too vague a question, but are there easily discernable play-themes for each Faction?
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By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
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#562836
Hi there! Welcome! It's a really good question, and one that needs more definition -- First Edition has never had the clarity of vision that Magic's Color Wheel provides. I'll try to boil each affiliation down to one story element and two mechanics, with a note about each of its factions:

[Fed] - Our Heroes! / speed solvers / high INTEGRITY / beginner-friendly
[Fed] [1E-TNG] - the game in its purest, simplest form. Spam out people and win.
[Fed] [OS] - speeding to triumph with [DL] and [Equ] (plus 23rd-century missions)
[Fed] [1E-DS9] - personnel of FAR higher quality but played at FAR lower pace. The thinking man's Federation.
[Fed] [Voy] - okay but what if we did it all with just one ship and some shuttles?
"If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for who we really are!"

[Kli] - Warriors / brawlers / high STRENGTH
[Kli] [1E-TNG] - all-around versatile Klingons
[Kli] [1E-DS9] - ship battle
[Kli] [OS] - personnel battle
[Kli] [CF] - underdeveloped, but there's a new set coming out!
[Kli] [22] - Swiss Army Knife Klingons (complicated but lots of abilities)
"Today is a good day to die... and the day is not yet over!"

[1E-Rom] - Powerful but Shadowy / cloaking devices / the Neutral Zone / minor capture & torture themes
[1E-Rom] [OS] - farm up some bonus points
[1E-Rom] [1E-TNG] - matching commanders ftw
[1E-Rom] [1E-DS9] - mostly paired with [Car] through Joint Operation, and then it's an Intelligence festival
[1E-Rom] [22] - turtle at Romulus / Drone Control Room + Remote Interference + Distant Control
"You've said it's always a chess game with the Romulans. Move, countermove, guile and deceit."

[Baj] - Religious and Passive / draw cards better than anyone / Bajor Region / Bajoran Wormhole spaceline manipulation
[Baj] [1E-DS9] - there is no other functional Bajoran faction
"Walk with the Prophets, my child, and let Them guide you [through your draw deck]."

[Car] - Tired Military Dictatorship / a little Klingon battle a little Romulan sneakiness / a lot of capture and a lot of putting your captives to good use / Nors Nors Nors Nors (and sites)
[Car] [1E-DS9] - these is no other functional Cardassian faction
[Car] [1E-TNG] - not yet functional... but there's a set coming out
"I'm here to help you concede the wisdom of the state, to prepare you to accept the inevitable with equanimity. There is an old Cardassian expression. Confession is good for the soul."

...eh, gotta run. I'll do more later.
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#562841
PseudoSherlock wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 7:43 pm Hopefully this isn't too vague a question, but are there easily discernable play-themes for each Faction?
James already has a good answer, but if they're a Magic player just tell them that "blue is the best color and gets everything" still holds here.
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By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
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#562844
[Dom] The Bad Guys / hulking scary murder-beasts / pretty difficult to play correctly
Jem'Hadar [Dom] - they will kill all of your people and destroy all of your ships and leave enough people behind to solve three missions while continuing to kill all your people

Founder [Dom] - the game's best/only good infiltrators. Really the faction to play if you want use the infiltration rules and cards. Their morphing tech is cool, too.

Vorta [Dom] / Reward from the Founders - Dominion that largely stays in the Gamma Quadrant, thanks very much

"The Dominion has endured for over two thousand years, and will continue to endure long after the Federation has crumbled into dust."



[Fer] - Buyers and Traders / step 1: acquire profit / step 2: spend profit to acquire victory without all that silly risk / also this is the faction that, for weird reasons, ended up owning all the meta policing in the game

[Fer] [1E-TNG] - honestly, TNG Ferengi are probably the single dullest faction in the game. They used to be very good, because their central card was broken-stupid-good. Then they got nerfed down hard, losing most of their central card AND several other key cards, so they suck now. But they were always dull as paint, duller even than [1E-TNG] [Fed] .

[Fer] [1E-DS9] - these guys are neat. Terrible but very nifty. The [Rule] Rules of Acquisition cards allow them to do a lot of interesting stuff. Unfortunately, they have a very easy time acquiring Latinum but not enough powerful ways to spend that Latinum, and they're riddled with other weaknesses like bad ships, awkward supply lines, and big skill holes. But the potential for them is enormous, and they don't play like anyone else.

[Fer] [22] - they can't stand on their own, but Ferengi Gas Trap + Secondary Market is cool enough to tempt anyone running an all-property Ferengi or [22] [NA] deck.

"You've restored my faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: 'Every man has his price.'"



[Bor] Unstoppable Cyborgs / unbelievably powerful / unbelievably difficult / are you even playing the same game as everyone else?
[Bor] [1E-TNG] - "baby's first Borg"; a version of Borg that an experienced player can build and run without an advanced degree; some of the best speed solvers in the game.
"You can't outrun them. You can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming. Eventually you will weaken; your reserves will be gone. They are relentless."



[Kaz] Gangland Brawlers / they're like Klingons but in the Delta Quadrant / sects matter / needs development



[Vid] [Project Viking spoilers redacted, with reluctance; let's just say that they will be getting some much-needed mechanical flavor in the future]



[Hir] Tanks / their flavor is supposed to be hunting down powerful prey to fuel their wins / their actual flavor is that they have more skills + attributes than anyone in the game and can solve missions super-fast if played right



[SF] Humans Figuring It Out / great personnel / weak ships
Time Travel [SF] - Temporal Benfactor + George and Gracie + Phoenix + Visit Cochrane Memorial + Temporal Almanac etc etc
Shuttlepods [SF] - you can build around Launch Bay, Shuttlepods, and Explore New World for a unique way to play
MACOs [SF] - unique-feeling but blazingly fast solvers

"It's been a long road / getting from there to here..."



[Vul] Logicians / slowing the pace of the game / skill-cheating
Power [Vul] - use [Sch] to slow your opponent... and take advantage of his weakness
Wisdom [Vul] - use Syrannites and Only Logical to solve missions fast... if you are very confident and pretty smart
Courage [Vul] - something with Espionage; I've still never seen this played and am not really sure what its deal is.
"Logic is the cement of our civilization, with which we ascend from chaos, using reason as our guide."


[Maq] Revolutionaries / they will make themselves a big nuisance to you if you don't contest their territory / they become a real threat if you do contest their territory / you sure that's the choice you wanna make?
[1E-DS9] [Maq] - the canonical [Maq] faction
[1E-TNG] [Maq] - really all about using Macias to get Maquis of all property logos into play
[Voy] [Maq] - has anyone gotten this to work yet? I so liked the idea.
"They've travelled out here to the back of the beyond and built homes out of the wilderness. Now maybe the Federation can turn their back on them, but I can't."


[TE] Psychotically Evil Empire / power through discards / cannon fodder
[OS] [TE] - the canonical [TE] faction
[1E-DS9] [TE] - kind of like the Mirror Universe Maquis; good at hiding, good at irritating; but not too much staying power
[22] [TE] - The Emperor Tests (Assert Authority) and/or the true, insane apotheosis of [TE] 's sacrifice-your-own-men-to-win philosophy: No-Hand Starfleet (with Watch Dog)
"Carelessness with the equipment cannot be tolerated. Your agonizer, please."


[KCA] Overly Complicated Politics / I'm sorry I to this day have never been able to care about [KCA], even when I've played them / apologies to KCA players; I'm sure there's some substance there that I'm too prejudiced to recognize.
(whatever meat the KCA has, it's in the set Crossover, not in the original set, Mirror Mirror)
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By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
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#562846
Magic The Gathering things that don't currently have a great parallel in STCCG (at least not focused on a specific color):

Hatebears
Control (but [REDACTED REDACTED])
Ramp (unless you regard all STCCG decks as a kind of ramp from few skills to many skills?)
Prison (we have this but it's not really color-locked and tends to correlate with aggro builds actually)
 
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#562888
Some excellent information, thank you!

For context (and potential suggestions), I've been playing TNG Federation, one friend has been playing TNG Klingons, and the other (the one who asked) is trying to play (I guess you would call it) DS9 Ferengi (from the Rules of Acquisition cards). I've also got the cards to play the Borg, but as you suggested, it's so different I'm waiting until I'm bored of the Federation before trying it as it's not a hot-swap kind of deck.

Although none of us have been particularly devoted to anyone set as I've pulled in First Contact Federation and the Klingon player has been pulling anything and everything he can get to shore up weaknesses (i.e. females and Medical, primarily).

I love that you referred to the Kazon as Klingons in the Delta Quadrant. I suggested as much, thematically from the show, and my Klingon-playing friend gave me a dirty look.

All in all, some really good food for thought...I may try to streamline my deck (it's gotten disgustingly large) to theme up my Federation a bit. And I'll pass along the knowledge!
 
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#562912
They used to be very good, because their central card was broken-stupid-good. Then they got nerfed down hard, losing most of their central card AND several other key cards, so they suck now.
By the way, what card is that, that got nerfed? And is that nerfing due to errata, or band-aid-fix cards that make it obsolete?
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By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
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#562916
PseudoSherlock wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:12 pm
They used to be very good, because their central card was broken-stupid-good. Then they got nerfed down hard, losing most of their central card AND several other key cards, so they suck now.
By the way, what card is that, that got nerfed? And is that nerfing due to errata, or band-aid-fix cards that make it obsolete?
Ferengi Military Operations, via errata. Well-deserved, given the armada decks roaming the spaceline at the time.

But then, in something of a nerfbat spasm due to TNG continuing to clobber DS9 just after Emissary came out, Attention All Hands and Gozar also got the nerfbat in ways that made life harder for Ferengi in particular. Sunad, too, although I'm not sure I remember the timeline of his errata.
 
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#562923
Thank you, that makes sense.

I realize that, because I'm playing with cards from the physical sets, I don't have the [TNG] logo on anything.

Do all your comments related to [TNG] retroactively apply to the non-logoed earlier cards? Or should it be thought of as applying to virtual expansions and on?
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By nobthehobbit (Daniel Pareja)
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#562925
PseudoSherlock wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:14 pm Thank you, that makes sense.

I realize that, because I'm playing with cards from the physical sets, I don't have the [TNG] logo on anything.

Do all your comments related to [TNG] retroactively apply to the non-logoed earlier cards? Or should it be thought of as applying to virtual expansions and on?
There are no cards with the [1E-TNG] icon. (The [TNG] icon is used in Second Edition.)

The mechanic functions through the card Continuing Mission, which gives all personnel and ships with the TNG or Generations property logo the [1E-TNG] icon. (Similar to how Deanna Troi gives all [EE] personnel the [Cmd] icon.)

This then enables certain other cards that make use of the [1E-TNG] icon, generally cards with the [WC] icon, which you can download with Continuing Mission.
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By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
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#562926
And if you aren't using virtual cards, the [1E-TNG] icon is irrelevant.

(It was introduced by the CC in 2012 as a way to give some different flavors to the "mega" affiliations with lots of property logos. Playing that way is still supported and can be fun, but virtual cards give extra rewards for sticking to one "show.")

-crp
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By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
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#562930
MidnightLich wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:43 pm And if you aren't using virtual cards, the [1E-TNG] icon is irrelevant.

(It was introduced by the CC in 2012 as a way to give some different flavors to the "mega" affiliations with lots of property logos. Playing that way is still supported and can be fun, but virtual cards give extra rewards for sticking to one "show.")

-crp
Yep, that's right. Ignore most of my faction notes if you aren't using Continuing Mission or Reshape the Quadrant. The overall affiliation notes should still be correct, but most of the faction-specific notes don't make sense, because there are no incentives to break affiliations into factions in the pre-Virtual era.

Ignore my notes on [SF] if you're only playing with The Enterprise Collection (...and Heaven help you!). Ignore my notes on [Vul] if you aren't playing with the [Vul] cards, all of which are virtual. [Maq] aren't a thing until the Virtual era, either; Decipher printed the icon on a few cards, but didn't figure out quite what to do with it.
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By nobthehobbit (Daniel Pareja)
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#562931
BCSWowbagger wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 8:39 pm[Maq] aren't a thing until the Virtual era, either; Decipher printed the icon on a few cards, but didn't figure out quite what to do with it.
Whenever Decipher folks would be asked about the [1E-Maq] icon (especially around the release of All Good Things), and especially when it was brought up that not having an Emblem-like card for them was effectively a broken link, their answer was just to play Treaty: Federation/Bajoran.
 
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#563302
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