BCSWowbagger wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 2:58 pm
I'm reading very different prescriptions for how to get to the desired power level, and I'm confused, and then it clicks: do we even have a community consensus on what the desired power level of is?
I think this is the central question. Every affiliation, every era seem to have a basic way to report 2 people for free and draw some extra cards. I'm speaking generally, so please forgive me if I am overlooking, but this at least
feels correct. That's what I was saying in my last post...I don't think it's really the FF, but TOS Feds that may be the imbalance. Feds generally are, but I think they outpace every other era of Feds...at least off-hand (and I'm happy to be argued wrong).
What is the desired power level of , according to the community?
I think they should be strong, and I don't even think they generally are inappropriately so...person to person. The more I think about it,
creeps above the power curve with the combination of skill monsters, equipment, and dilemma nullification/defeaters they have at their disposal in combination with the ability to generate bonus points through Preserver Obelisk and download through General Order 7. They are just extremely versatile in ways that other eras cannot be [not because of the Final Frontier (especially if the ship downloading is taken off or nerfed significantly)] but because of the combination of tools they have been granted. No other affiliation, maybe than
, can dial a skill or dillema-defeating tool like TOS Fed can especially since TOS fed have the added
that eras like TNG and DS9 lack, for the most part.
Speaking as a designer on The Cage for a moment, I will tell you Design's intentions regarding in particular:
Sherman's Peak : Should be a little bit faster than (maybe 0.5 turns), but also slightly more vulnerable to attack than, powered by Finest Crew in the Fleet. In terms of win rate, should be roughly on par with or a little behind or (which we perceived at the time to be around the top of the heap).
I think this is true mechanically, but not when you consider the skill/ability combinations of TOS, particularly with
. Meaning, if you just look at engines, the speed is comparable, perhaps...but the value added with the available personnel...I don' think this is the pecking order.
The Final Frontier : Should be a simple card for people who want an easy-to-build deck, but the tradeoff is that it should be slightly less powerful than powered by Finest Crew in the Fleet, closer in pace and power to Here By Invitation (which we at the time perceived as being near the bottom of the tier list).
I never thought of the Final Frontier as something for an easy to build deck, but rather offered more versatility than a time location deck, since you are kinda locked to that location. One of the things I don't like about the ban is that there really isn't a choice BUT to use Sherman's Planet (which should also be errata'd to have 23rd century). Except for the ship downloadability, it just offers two free reports at a reasonable cost.
Obviously, we missed these targets by a wide margin (Design is much harder than I gave it credit for before I designed), and in general and The Final Frontier in particular ended up way ahead of what we wanted. But did we want the right things? After years of strength, does the community want hammered down to where we originally wanted them, or not that far, or even farther?
No, I wouldn't advocate for a nuking of TOS strength as a blanket move, but instead pinpoint and address the specific points that make them overpowered without taking the versatility of TFF away. If anything, this is a call to make the other eras stronger.
(The Cage was specifically focused on
, but, remember, even though
dominates the conversation,
also includes
,
, androids, and arguably Khan. How close are all of them to the desired benchmarks?)