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Look Who's Coming To Dinner
by Demiourgos, The Divine Craftsman When new players (or those who are new to the DS9 game) look at the Star Trek: CCG, what they often see may be rather uninteresting: two players playing solitaire, doing their own thing to win faster that the opponent. This article is about player interaction, which has reached an unprecedented level since the DS9 expansion came along and revolutionized the game. Today we have numerous ways to get opposing personnel to meet, if not just for personnel battle, but to interact with your opponent in a way other than facing each other's dilemmas. One of the most obvious ways is the one of the biggest new game enhancements in the DS9 expansion. Today we'll look at: All of the basic reporting sites say a compatible personnel may report to it. If the station happens to be of an affiliation different than your own, your Non-Aligned personnel may report there. That means your Non-Aligned OFFICERS may be played at Ops, your Non-Aligned ENGINEERS may be played at the Ore Processing Unit, and so forth. Why would you choose to do this? I'll get into it further later, but there are some things your opponent can't do if you have a personnel there, such as Process Ore, use the Science Lab to scan a seed card or use the Ops download. Your Non-Aligned ships with at most two staffing icons may also report to your opponent's station as well. If perchance you don't see an appropriate site on your opponent's station, you can always play your own if possible. VIPs and CIVILIANS are special, for their sites allow reporting regardless of affiliation. An unoccupied Guest Quarters (play your own if occupied or missing, a Nor can have more than one) will allow your affiliated VIP to come aboard. Once (s)he is in, you have access to the Guest Quarters draw (draw two and place one beneath draw deck whenever you may draw a card) so long as you're unopposed there. VIPs also have the advantage of allowing your non-matching affiliated ship to dock with the station and let its crew to come aboard. You can also accomplish this by having your Computer Skill, who has used some other means to get there, unopposed at the site. Whether you wish to wreak havoc, or you're just visiting, your opponent's station is no longer just his/hers. CIVILAINS have even more freedom. Any non-Borg CIVILIAN may report to the Shops, where you can shop for your favorite Events, Interrupts, and Equipment. Be careful, though, Klingons and Cardassians (as well as a probe of an Objective) can sometimes cause a little trouble and have the station's controller have his/her SECURITY come running. If you are Cardassian and your opponent is using Deep Space Nine, Garak's Tailor Shop gives you a neat and insidious way to come aboard. Obsidian Order personnel may report there, and without the cost of a card play if any Garak. There are two nice advantages to this. First your unopposed Obsidian Order personnel with Treachery (all of them have it thus far) may glance at the top card of your opponent's draw deck, whether the station is DS9 or Terok Nor. Even better, if your Obsidian Order personnel is unopposed there, and you don't control the station, Garak's Tailor Shop acts as a veritable Cardassian Outpost, allowing any of your Cardassians and Cardassian-specific equipment to report there. So, now that you have all of these personnel aboard your opponent's station, what are you going to do? Why take that station for your own, of course! Commendeering the station is as simple as having your Computer Skill unopposed at Ops. Keep in mind your Non-Aligned Away Team can do this, but the station won't change affiliation unless you have an affiliated personnel there. This will give you the full benefits of having your own Nor, not to mention denying your opponent of his/hers, including anything the existing, or played later, sites allow you to do. You can Process Ore (unless you’re [Baj] or [Fed]), use the Ops download, and other such goodies. Just be sure you can keep it, because your opponent can always try to take it back! Now, the new Rules of Acquisition expansion is coming, with two new sites. One of these is Cargo Bay. Sort of a poor man's Process Ore that's available to anyone, Cargo Bay can yield card draws by doing a "cargo run." This involves bringing a non-weapon equipment to the station, which appears to not be restricted to the controller of that station. And if you don't, it doesn't seem too complicated to implement. You see, anyone with Smuggling or Acquisition, as well as Non-Aligned Navigation, can report to Cargo Bay. Several of these personnel have Computer Skill to allow your freighter or transport to dock. Yes, it is yet another way to get personnel aboard your opponent's station to try to muck up the works, or make way for the station's takeover. The other site revealed on the Spoiler List for the Rules of Aquisition expansion goes further into the possibilities. Quark's Bar is a practical Ferengi Outpost for either Deep Space Nine or Terok Nor, allowing any Ferengi personnel to report there and any Ferengi ship to report to and dock at an appropriate docking site. While commendeering the station might be an interesting idea, it might be even more fun to follow the show. Use Latinum to "buy" Equipment. Trade van Gogh's Starry Night for two other priceless "Equipment" Artifacts. Play Dabo to have any player wager cards for points, with the house earning Latinum (or card draws) from the losers. HQ: Ferengi Credit Exchange allows you to "buy" points, card draws or recover cards from the discard pile. Hold a Ferengi Conference to have your entrepreneurs explore new frontiers for exploitation. Make your opponent pay for those cards he wishes to play on your turn with the 211th Rule of Aquisition. Perhaps the most versitile and thematic of the Site cards, Quark's Bar truly invites the player interaction some say the game really needs. And that is the point. These are just some of the possibilities. In my next article, I'll shed some light on ways to get involved with your opponent when there isn't a Nor to fight over. Until then, resistance is futile! Demiourgos, The Divine Craftsman
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