[dragoncymru]

Returning player here (with a reasonable but not extensive knowledge of the card pool from Decipher as well as the CC) so please pardon the (perhaps blindingly obvious) question:

What do players regard as the 'essential engine' cards that appear in 99% of all decks to get your deck going and without which, your deck underperforms against others?

Looking at the CC articles and the TNG block as an example of Starter decks, it seems like they all have the same 'engine' cards of 'Continuing Mission', 'Get It Done', 'Assign Mission Specialists', 'Finest Crew in the Fleet', 'Attention All hands' etc. Since this was done in 2012 (gosh 7 years ago), is it still the same, or have other cards eclipsed these? Are these other cards essentially the same tools but with different eras such as TOS and 'Final Frontier'?

Many thanks for any answers you can give.

[Boffo97]

Because the original thread on this topic got locked for drifting into people arguing with each other, we're reopening this one after discussion with the OP. Please keep replies on topic. Thanks.

[Not_always_but_often]

For TNG decks, you're on the right track, they basically all feature a card and Attention All Hands for free plays. For DS9-era decks, a card is used as the engine, and We Need You Here is great if you want to use a Nor.

For Enterprise Block, time locations were used as the core free report locations, with Protect the Timeline the common engine to enhance those time locations - it gives you access to free plays and easy time travel. decks have either the old time location, Sherman's Peak or The Final Frontier to use as the free reporting engine.

Outside of those, there's also Federation Flagship: Renewed for decks, and New Arrivals can give free plays and/or free draws more generally to any deck, potentially. Most affiliations have Headquarters facilities available to them as well, that can potentially be added to a wide variety of decks for free plays.

[SudenKapala]

Great to see you around/back, Dragon.
Content-wise, I have no additions fir you. But I can tell you -- in 1e, and perhaps even 2e, there's no such thing as a "blindingly obvious" question. Don't feel dumb -- if you're on these boards, you most prolly are far from it. Never feel afraid to ask anything. TI1E ("This Is First Edition"). And a CCG, after all.

[dragoncymru]

Great to see you around/back, Dragon.
Content-wise, I have no additions fir you. But I can tell you -- in 1e, and perhaps even 2e, there's no such thing as a "blindingly obvious" question. Don't feel dumb -- if you're on these boards, you most prolly are far from it. Never feel afraid to ask anything. TI1E ("This Is First Edition"). And a CCG, after all.

Thanks - I do have another question actually - see the starter deck thread!!

[SudenKapala]

Answered in various manners. Anything else? We're here all every day often.

[dragoncymru]

Answered in various manners. Anything else? We're here all every day often.

I will don't worry

[dragoncymru]

This may seem like a REALLY stupid question:

Does 'Q's Tent' feature in every deck? Looking at the card and its' powerful concept, I can't quite see why anyone wouldn't have a side-deck for the cost of 1 seed card...

[Iron Prime]

Q's Tent is a very popular card. Normally it is there to "offload" all the cards you plan to download so they aren't in your deck where you risk drawing them. You can already fetch them "for free" so you don't want to draw them and waste the opportunity.

It is not in every deck though.

[dragoncymru]

A side-deck is a great concept and powerful for CCGs

Would love to see thematic versions of this card that were Faction based - one for Federation, one for Romulan etc - so it would represent them rather than having it linked to Q (and a particularly false and stagey planet set picture...)

[dragoncymru]

Q's Tent is a very popular card. Normally it is there to "offload" all the cards you plan to download so they aren't in your deck where you risk drawing them. You can already fetch them "for free" so you don't want to draw them and waste the opportunity.

It is not in every deck though.

Thanks - so the card's use mainly is only as a holding port for your downloadable cards? The second function of the card (ie stock in deck and yadda yadda) is not used? When I look in the related decks for the card, I just see 1 Q's Tent to open the sidedeck, none in your draw deck to access them...

Anyone know why it was 13 cards in particular (ie not 10 or 12??)

[SudenKapala]

Would love to see thematic versions of this card that were Faction based - one for Federation, one for Romulan etc - so it would represent them rather than having it linked to Q (and a particularly false and stagey planet set picture...)

Not a bad idea...
But since there is a great, universally deployable version, it would be superfluous unless it had other effects/functions. Worth thinking about?

Thanks - so the card's use mainly is only as a holding port for your downloadable cards? The second function of the card (ie stock in deck and yadda yadda) is not used?

I use it in my Traditional decks. E.g., even after worlds, I still don't have 10 or more Borg Queens...

Anyone know why it was 13 cards in particular (ie not 10 or 12??)

Good question. Go!

[dragoncymru]

Would love to see thematic versions of this card that were Faction based - one for Federation, one for Romulan etc - so it would represent them rather than having it linked to Q (and a particularly false and stagey planet set picture...)

Not a bad idea...
But since there is a great, universally deployable version, it would be superfluous unless it had other effects/functions. Worth thinking about?

That's what I thought.
Make the affiliation ones slightly smaller (say 10 cards?) but give each a little Affiliation ability/bonus that differs between Affiliations to make them different? You could also restrict (slightly) what can be put inside? So a Ferengi 'Tent' can only stock personnel that are Ferengi Affiliation?

Just quick thoughts?

[Iron Prime]

Q's Tent is a very popular card. Normally it is there to "offload" all the cards you plan to download so they aren't in your deck where you risk drawing them. You can already fetch them "for free" so you don't want to draw them and waste the opportunity.

It is not in every deck though.

Thanks - so the card's use mainly is only as a holding port for your downloadable cards?

The second function of the card (ie stock in deck and yadda yadda) is not used?

When I look in the related decks for the card, I just see 1 Q's Tent to open the sidedeck, none in your draw deck to access them...

Anyone know why it was 13 cards in particular (ie not 10 or 12??)

"Draw no cards this turn." is too steep a price for most decks.

[SudenKapala]

Would love to see thematic versions of this card that were Faction based - one for Federation, one for Romulan etc - so it would represent them rather than having it linked to Q (and a particularly false and stagey planet set picture...)

Not a bad idea...
But since there is a great, universally deployable version, it would be superfluous unless it had other effects/functions. Worth thinking about?

That's what I thought.
Make the affiliation ones slightly smaller (say 10 cards?) but give each a little Affiliation ability/bonus that differs between Affiliations to make them different? You could also restrict (slightly) what can be put inside?

I really like this thing (above)...

So a Ferengi 'Tent' can only stock personnel that are Ferengi Affiliation?

I would perhaps not do this, though.

The second function of the card (ie stock in deck and yadda yadda) is not used?

"Draw no cards this turn." is too steep a price for most decks.

... But with Dragon's Affiliation-Tents, maybe, Prime's doubts could be addressed... No idea yet how exactly, but if an affiliation might really benefit from some cards being found easier, then Dragon's Affiliation-Coloured-Tent (it starts feeling a bit like an HQ now, but... different enough) could say, "If cards A, B, or C areretrieved via Q's Tent, the 'draw no cards' restriction is revoked". Or some such...
I'd be all for it, to still use the original Q's tent in the deck.

Or wait -- perhaps the other way around! Stock Affiliation-Tents in your deck, which only download specific cards but do not remove (or do restrict; e.g. to end of turn draw(s) only?) all draws.