Orbin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:36 am
BCSWowbagger wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:54 am
It does require a icon, since Earth Outpost has to go to a location where it can play. (Ditto outposts fetched with Consume: Outpost.)
There are no asymmetric missions in the Neutral Zone, so I don't have to answer the question about which end of the mission needs the icon. (Phew!)
Earth Outpost says: "Seeds (limit one) or plays at a Neutral Zone Region mission." Since it gives a target location shouldn't that bypass any affiliation restriction? If not, what makes the wording on Earth Outpost require a icon compared to the wording of Neutral Outpost that doesn't require a icon? Is it the "any"?
THE META-ANSWER: I didn't re-read Earth Outpost before answering the question and forgot about its text. Had I remembered this, I would not have replied to the thread at all, instead waiting to see what other community opinions are (as is my usual practice when there is even slight ambiguity or when the controlling rule is well-known). Oh, well! I'm stuck in the thread now!
THE ACTUAL ANSWER: The controlling rule here is from
facilities - seeding and building facilities:
Facilities may seed only in their native quadrant (but may be built during the play phase in any quadrant, if appropriate). You may seed or build an outpost only at a mission (either or , belonging to either player) with a matching affiliation icon (unless the outpost's text specifies otherwise, such as the Neutral Outpost).
The Rules Committee has previously ruled that cards like Consume: Outpost do
not override this requirement, or other requirements for building an outpost. (This is also why you couldn't Consume: Outpost at a homeworld, and why you can't do Test For Weakness at the same mission where you already have your own outpost.)
So, yes, my interpretation is that Neutral Outpost's "any" clearly overrides the normal affiliation requirement, whereas Earth Outpost's has no "any" and offers no indication that it intends to override the standard requirement. I think this is a close enough question to be contestable, and, in the absence of clearer guidance, I would not beef with a T.D. who ruled the other way.
This, incidentally, has been one minor hurdle that my
Test For Weakness deck: I've got 5 Neutral Zone missions, but only 3 are
, and I usually seed my
outpost at one of them, which leaves only 2 missions where I can do TFW. The deck is very good, though, so a little speed bump like that is not untoward.
Dukat wrote:(Establish Trade Route and its download, to my knowledge, overrides the requirement for a Ferengi affiliation icon on the mission; which seems to be the same thing.)
This makes a certain amount of design sense, since E.T.R.'s purpose seems to have been (in part) to help
attempt non-[Fer] missions... but I don't think it actually works under current rules, and there doesn't seem to be any official card ruling supporting this.
Under current rules, it appears that E.T.R. can only download a Ferengi Trading Post if it's completed at a non-homeworld
mission where you don't already own a facility (and you can't get the equipment without the Trading Post).
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