[MidnightLich]

Welcome to today's First Edition Friday Question, where you get a chance to answer questions that will help shape the future of First Edition. If you'd like to catch up on previous entries, here's a list of all of my previous Friday Questions:

27 MAR 2020: Should we develop new cards?
20 MAR 2020: What regions should we focus on in the future?
13 MAR 2020: How would you feel about 1E adding extra "bits"?
6 MAR 2020: What are your favorite "almost good" S/P dilemmas?
28 FEB 2020: What are your favorite decks to play?
21 FEB 2020: Which Decipher expansion most deserves a sequel?
14 FEB 2020: Which "broken link" should be fixed first?
7 FEB 2020: What's your favorite episode of Star Trek?
31 JAN 2020: Which TOS main character needs a new card?
24 JAN 2020: What should qualify a card for the "watch list"?
17 JAN 2020: What card would you unban without changes?
10 JAN 2020: What single card would you ban to improve your game?
3 JAN 2020: What are you looking forward to in The Neutral Zone?
27 DEC 2019: How can we help you recruit new players?
20 DEC 2019: Where do you want the game to be in five years?
13 DEC 2019: Which concepts should 1E "import" from other games?
6 DEC 2019: Which couples should get a dual personnel card?
29 NOV 2019: Which old, unused 1E cards deserve some love?
22 NOV 2019: Which upcoming milestones need celebration?
15 NOV 2019: What's your favorite card image?
11 NOV 2019: What was your first 1E experience?
1 NOV 2019 What is your opinion of the "full page" policy?
25 OCT 2019: What do you want to see in a Halloween set?
18 OCT 2019: What is your favorite expansion?
11 OCT 2019: Which TNG main character needs a new card?
4 OCT 2019: Which Star Trek story needs more cards?
27 SEP 2019: How many points should [SPOILER] be worth?
20 SEP 2019: Which rules always confuse you?
13 SEP 2019: What do you think of [SPOILER]?
6 SEP 2019: Which card needs an alternate image (AI)?
30 AUG 2019: Which characteristic needs love?

Happy release day for The Neutral Zone! If you haven't had the chance yet, check out the latest expansion for First Edition. It's the second of the Original Series block and it features a cargo bay full of new cards, androids, and other goodies for decks new and old alike. Since most of us are still unable to go out, there's an online release tournament you can sign up for, starting next Friday.

Speaking of the Original Series... last week we asked you about cards. Let's talk about some other "unofficially retired" card types today that got their start in an OS episode.

Do you want to see more Tribbles/Troubles in the game?

Tribbles and Troubles were two new card types introduced in 2000 in The Trouble With Tribbles expansion. This expansion also introduced the factions, so it was a thematic choice. While it's true that Tribbles was also designed as its own game, they have a role in First Edition as well. To use them, a player seeds a Storage Compartment Door, which has this text:

Place one atop Tribble side deck during the seed phase. Side deck is now open and in play. Once each turn, you may draw up to 3 cards from side deck, then play or discard each. OR Stock in deck and play (once each turn) to download from your Tribble side deck one Trouble or Tribble card, or to nullify any card that is closing another Storage Compartment Door; then discard doorway.

I put the relevant text in bold: each turn, you get to draw three cards. You can play any or all of them, and then discard (put on the bottom of the side deck) the rest. You can start by playing 1 or 10 Tribbles, which have small and annoying effects. Later, you can "breed" the larger sizes (100, 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000) which have much bigger and much more annoying effects. Troubles play on groups of Tribbles and also have annoying effects. (There is a theme here.)

The thing about these two card types is that, outside their initial appearances in The Trouble With Tribbles, they've never appeared. Decipher never made more, and the Continuing Committee has never made more. In general, public opinion about Tribbles and Troubles hasn't been positive. So much so that, several years ago, these card types were unofficially retired from the game.

But recently, there's been talk about if these card types should be "unboxed' (to borrow a BSG term) and new cards developed. What do you think of Tribbles and Troubles? Are they annoying and deserve to be left to die? Or do you want to see more? Share your thoughts with us, and help us make a decision that might direct the future of the game.

No matter if you want, or don't want, Tribbles in your 1E, I hope you have a great weekend. Check out The Neutral Zone and get working on some new decks.

-crp

[Armus]

HELLZ TO THE YES!!!!!!

I mean, sure. I think that might be a good area to explore...

[MidnightLich]

HELLZ TO THE YES!!!!!!

I mean, sure. I think that might be a good area to explore...

I feel like I'm having deja vu.

-crp

[Armus]

HELLZ TO THE YES!!!!!!

I mean, sure. I think that might be a good area to explore...

I feel like I'm having deja vu.

-crp

What can I say? I like esoteric card types.

[karonofborg13]

To borrow and paraphrase from a certain well-respected art director...

BIG FAT NO!!!

[HoodieDM]

I know Brian hates 1 Tribble but I love it and all Tribbles!

~D

[BCSWowbagger]

Off-the-cuff: nah.

Q-stuff feels like it has potential, but Tribbles and Troubles feel like a dead end. They slow the game down, but not in the good way (by shortening the length of the average turn). They just add more time and micromanagement to individual turns. Plus there's a small tangle of loaded rules on them.

I wouldn't want to get rid of the ones we have, but I wouldn't want to add more, either.

[SirDan]

Off-the-cuff: nah.

Q-stuff feels like it has potential, but Tribbles and Troubles feel like a dead end. They slow the game down, but not in the good way (by shortening the length of the average turn). They just add more time and micromanagement to individual turns. Plus there's a small tangle of loaded rules on them.

I wouldn't want to get rid of the ones we have, but I wouldn't want to add more, either.

Well said, and I 99% agree. The only part I have a slight deviation with is that I wouldn't mind 1 Tribble going away.

[Armus]

I know Brian hates 1 Tribble but I love it and all Tribbles!

~D

You talking to me?

I don't hate 1 Tribble, I just find them super annoying and not helpful to the game.

[Armus]

Off-the-cuff: nah.

Q-stuff feels like it has potential, but Tribbles and Troubles feel like a dead end. They slow the game down, but not in the good way (by shortening the length of the average turn). They just add more time and micromanagement to individual turns. Plus there's a small tangle of loaded rules on them.

I wouldn't want to get rid of the ones we have, but I wouldn't want to add more, either.

I disagree on this. I think the higher order Tribbles and Troubles CAN be useful in a game where they have time to come out. The tricky stitch is speeding them up enough to make them relevant in the modern game without making them so fast that they totally shut the game down and make it unplayable.

100 Tribbles
Adds 2 Leadership to attempt a mission. Reduces Redshirting.
1,000 Tibbles
Hits first listed skill. Shuts down mission specialists.
10,000 Tribbles
More, stronger redshirt reduction. Needing Exo in quantity could be a paradigm change to deckbuilding.
100,000 Tribbles
Shuts down free reports... you know the thing that (combined with card draws) is a fairly strong consensus as a cause of many problems in the modern game.

... in the Engine Room
Slows ships down.
... on the Bridge
Hits battle decks

If there was a way to reliably get a stack of Tribbles to, say 100 on turn 1, and 100k by turn 3, then the Storage Compartment Door may actually be worth the seed slot for something other than the occasional Hero of the Empire deck.

I'd love to see a world where Tribbles is a "real" strategic deckbuilding option.

[Marquetry]

I'll go with No - there are enough extra cards/piles/etc around during a game as-is.

[Iron Prime]

If someone wakes up in the middle of the night in cold sweat shouting "EUREKA! I KNOW HOW TO FIX TRIBBLES!" then great. Otherewise I say Kylo Ren those little furballs ....

[AllenGould]

We need a new 1 (because the stop is annoying), but I think the rest of the chain is under-rated and over-hated.

I'm not sold that we need bigger or variant Tribbles (I think the Tribbles CCG's powers kinda rook us here), but I've never understood how Tribbles get so much hate compared to the milquetoast Flash.

[Takket]

so last week i said yes to cards on the belief they are a game mechanical that deserves to be nurtured.

This week i'm going to be a hypocrite and say no thanks...... i just see the tribbles as consuming too much time for both players to manage and there are a lot of baked in rules about moving them i can't remember on the fly.......

[princedetenebres]

No thanks.

There's a reason we called it the 'Time-Out' side-deck back in the Decipher era. I can recall many occasions of getting an audible sigh when it hit the table... even if I had to protest, "but but, I have to to play Hero of the Empire, I'm sorry!"

Though I do think it's the 1 tribble that is mostly the cause of the game delay.

Instead could we just get a way to do HotE without having to rely on the tribble door?