[Takket]

Assimilate Starship

"Whenever no active Borg aboard target during your turn, you may beam one scout aboard."

So does this sentence prevent me from beaming over a whole mass of Borg from my ship to my opponent's?

What do you do if you beam over 1 drone and your opponent just keeps killing them?

[pfti]

Change of plans to assimilate counterpart and murder everyone. then assimilate the ship

[BCSWowbagger]

The more typical defense to Assimilate Starship is to evacuate the ship, then beam over ONE leader each turn and have him fight the hive. (Bonus: if it's a hologram, he can keep respawning.)

This keeps the Borg from making any other progress in the game and there's not much the Borg can do about it -- unless you give the Borg an opportunity to counter-attack other cards at the same location, in which case they can really wreck face.

The downside is that this is logistically complicated for many decks, resource-intensive for those without a lot of leaders (fun idea: run it with OFFICER drain dilemmas) and (like most Borg things) cognitively difficult no matter what. Most will either give up the ship or try and fight you but make a mistake. But high-skill players can usually neutralize an Assimilate Starship. Assimilate Counterpart is much harder to block and takes a lot less investment to set up, so it's the more popular go-to Aggro Borg way to score mission points without facing dilemmas.

There's a whole special Glossary section on this, because First Contact had a lot of loaded rules for specific Borg cards.

[Dukat]

Necro.

How does AS work with Contingency Plan?

I can download AS to target the ship, but now I can only beam one Borg aboard.
So I have to somehow get my hands on A Change Of Plans, download Assimilate Counterpart, clear the ship, get my hands on another A Change Of Plans, download Assimilate Starship, probe and finish?

Is there any easier way to make use of Contingency Plan?

[Armus]

Necro.

How does AS work with Contingency Plan?

I can download AS to target the ship, but now I can only beam one Borg aboard.
So I have to somehow get my hands on A Change Of Plans, download Assimilate Counterpart, clear the ship, get my hands on another A Change Of Plans, download Assimilate Starship, probe and finish?

Is there any easier way to make use of Contingency Plan?

Skip the Counterpart piece in the middle. Just take over the ship first then download AC afterwards since you can beam freely over once it's your ship.

[Dukat]

I think I don't follow o.O ...

Can you explain it dumbed down, because I truly do not know what to do with Contingency Plan and everything that follows o.O

[BCSWowbagger]

There is no need to clear the ship or battle or anything. If you have any active Borg aboard target ship at the end of your turn, scouting complete. Next turn (as long as mo one battles you), if your Comp Skill aboard, you can probe. On a successful probe, ship assimilated. (Crew is trapped but not assimilated.)

So it's really pretty easy, in theory:

1. Opponent hits Contingency Plan.
2. You download Change of Plans to download Assimilate Starship.
3. On your turn, you go to the ship and beam a drone with Comp Skill over.
4. End of turn, scouting complete.
5. Next turn, probe. Objective complete. Ship is yours. (Crew is trapped.)

In reality, opponent's likely to battle you after step 4 but before step 5, preventing you from probing. If he does so, he will probably kill your single drone, but then you can counter-attack with all your Borg at the same location next turn. (Engage Tractor Beam is useful here for holding the ship in place.)

Personally, however, I like to combo Contingency Plan with Unexpected Beam-In. Include the +3 STRENGTH drone and the +2 STRENGTH drone, plus Sabotage Drone for the needed Comp Skill. Five (boosted) drones aboard opponent's ship is scarier than one, and makes the opponent's decisions much harder.

[Professor Scott]

Undetected Beam-In

[BCSWowbagger]

Oh yeah that's it.

[Takket]

There is no need to clear the ship or battle or anything. If you have any active Borg aboard target ship at the end of your turn, scouting complete. Next turn (as long as mo one battles you), if your Comp Skill aboard, you can probe. On a successful probe, ship assimilated. (Crew is trapped but not assimilated.)

So it's really pretty easy, in theory:

1. Opponent hits Contingency Plan.
2. You download Change of Plans to download Assimilate Starship.
3. On your turn, you go to the ship and beam a drone with Comp Skill over.
4. End of turn, scouting complete.
5. Next turn, probe. Objective complete. Ship is yours. (Crew is trapped.)

In reality, opponent's likely to battle you after step 4 but before step 5, preventing you from probing. If he does so, he will probably kill your single drone, but then you can counter-attack with all your Borg at the same location next turn. (Engage Tractor Beam is useful here for holding the ship in place.)

Personally, however, I like to combo Contingency Plan with Unexpected Beam-In. Include the +3 STRENGTH drone and the +2 STRENGTH drone, plus Sabotage Drone for the needed Comp Skill. Five (boosted) drones aboard opponent's ship is scarier than one, and makes the opponent's decisions much harder.

Hmmmmmmmm if I follow CP/UBI with Cytherians, I can use that time the ship is moving to assimilate it without fear the crew will attack me...

admitted downside...... if they red-shipped this mission they just cleared out 3 dilemmas and unless i seeded a 4th dilemma there, that mission is easily scored now.

[Armus]

There is no need to clear the ship or battle or anything. If you have any active Borg aboard target ship at the end of your turn, scouting complete. Next turn (as long as mo one battles you), if your Comp Skill aboard, you can probe. On a successful probe, ship assimilated. (Crew is trapped but not assimilated.)

So it's really pretty easy, in theory:

1. Opponent hits Contingency Plan.
2. You download Change of Plans to download Assimilate Starship.
3. On your turn, you go to the ship and beam a drone with Comp Skill over.
4. End of turn, scouting complete.
5. Next turn, probe. Objective complete. Ship is yours. (Crew is trapped.)

In reality, opponent's likely to battle you after step 4 but before step 5, preventing you from probing. If he does so, he will probably kill your single drone, but then you can counter-attack with all your Borg at the same location next turn. (Engage Tractor Beam is useful here for holding the ship in place.)

Personally, however, I like to combo Contingency Plan with Unexpected Beam-In. Include the +3 STRENGTH drone and the +2 STRENGTH drone, plus Sabotage Drone for the needed Comp Skill. Five (boosted) drones aboard opponent's ship is scarier than one, and makes the opponent's decisions much harder.

Hmmmmmmmm if I follow CP/UBI with Cytherians, I can use that time the ship is moving to assimilate it without fear the crew will attack me...

admitted downside...... if they red-shipped this mission they just cleared out 3 dilemmas and unless i seeded a 4th dilemma there, that mission is easily scored now.

Ben Hosp @bhosp
has been using that combo for a few years now. The other downside is that even if things go according to plan and you get a ship, you still have to resolve the Cytherians after you've assimilated it.

On the plus side it's 35 mission points with no facing dilemmas required. Combine it with Assimilate Counterpart and Add Distinctiveness and you can get to 100 without ever facing a dilemma. Maybe even 140 depending on who you Assimilate as a Counterpart.

[BCSWowbagger]

On the plus side it's 35 mission points with no facing dilemmas required. Combine it with Assimilate Counterpart and Add Distinctiveness and you can get to 100 without ever facing a dilemma. Maybe even 140 depending on who you Assimilate as a Counterpart.

I have tried to build The Ultimate Aggro Borg deck that gets a Full Win without ever facing a dilemma, but it's hard, because you need 180 points, no more than 90 of them from bonus points (which, for Borg, mostly means Add Distinctiveness).

So, in practice, Full Aggro Borg are either going to have to go solve something or they're going to have to accept the Mod Win and just completely lock down opponent until time.

P.S. Don't sleep on the value of One With The Borg, which Harvest Drone can fetch for you. It's not a GREAT card, but its second function (good for at least 5 points, but rarely 10) can give you those clutch round-the-corner points at pretty low cost.

[AllenGould]

So, in practice, Full Aggro Borg are either going to have to go solve something or they're going to have to accept the Mod Win and just completely lock down opponent until time.

But like armadas, once you've got the opponent pinned you can send a scout to go tag the required missions. (And really, at that point you should have assimilated most of their people anyhow, so why not go for the homeworld, or at least send the conscripts.)

[admiral-mogh]

If you attack my single scout onboard your ship, then on my next turn I can beam over as many as I want (with the intent to counter-attack) and then choose not to (counter- attack)?

[BCSWowbagger]

If you attack my single scout onboard your ship, then on my next turn I can beam over as many as I want (with the intent to counter-attack) and then choose not to (counter- attack)?

No, I don't think so. The way the rule is worded (and, it looks like, has always been worded) Borg who beam over in order to counter-attack must then counter-attack.