I was digging through my writings and found an article that I never sent to WNOHGB. I updated it a bit. I don't play STCCG too much anymore, so some of it may now be inaccurate.

      First off allow me to state the obvious: The goal of Star Trek: The Collectible Card Game is to score 100 points (and usually those points are scored from missions). So as much fun as it may be to destroy the opponent's outposts, ships, and even missions, that's not the point of the game (I know that will shock some of you Klingons out there). Now that it's out in the open that you have to score points from missions in order to win there is another question that needs to be answered. How do you get to those missions?

     Well, if you're a Vulcan than you've come to the right place, because I have the answers. You'll get to those missions using ships, and two ships in particular: Vulcan Lander and the USS Jupiter, two ships tailor-made for Vulcans. So let's take a quick look at these ships:

Vulcan Lander
Survey Vessel (AU)
[Vulcan staffing]
[Has no transporters]
Range - 7 Weapons - 1 Shields - 7

USS Jupiter
Akira Class
[Command Staff Staff]
[Holodeck Tractor Beam sd Chain Reaction Pulsar]
Range - 9 Weapons - 8 Range - 8

     I'll start with the lesser of the two, which is most obviously the USS Jupiter. Honestly, there are no subtle strategies with this card; it's pretty straightforward. First thing you'll notice is that Satelk is its matching commander. Hmmm, well he's definitely an under-whelming personnel, but if you want to use the USS Jupiter then Satelk can most assuredly boost its stats with Defiant Dedication Plaque and Captain's Log. And on his ship he can use Make It So. Wow.

     The best part of this ship is its download of Chain Reaction Pulsar. Armada decks seem to be on the upswing (especially a nasty Romulan armada deck) so this special download can be quite advantageous. Just seed a Battle Bridge Side Deck and watch your opponent gasp as you decimate his fleet. A very nice touch.

     With stats of 9-8-8 the USS Jupiter can zip around the spaceline at a decent clip and is a solid ship for mission solving. Unfortunately it tends to be more of a reactive card than anything else (if your opponent doesn't play an armada then what?) and the Federation has many sturdy ships. And now, thanks to All Good Things, the USS Jupiter is more widely available to players. So, it is not binder fodder by any means, it just has a very particular niche to fill.

     The Vulcan Lander, on the other hand, should be the cornerstone of every self-respecting Vulcan deck. First off its matching commander: Solkar. Here's one awesome dilemma busting Vulcan. Armed with useful skills such as exobiology, honor and (to a lesser extent) archaeology, he's quite handy to have in an away team. His special download may save a few lives, as well. In fact, the only real downside to Mr. Solkar is the fact that he won't work with Treachery personnel. Vulcan-wise that eliminates Sakonna, Sybok, Tallera, and Valeris. Not terribly huge losses, he outweighs all of them in value.

     But Solkar is not the one we're interested in here today. We're much more interested in his 21st century ride, The Vulcan Lander. With 7-1-7 stats it doesn't look like much, but in your Vulcan deck staffing is a cinch. It has no transporters, but who needs them? This puppy has built-in landing ability (one of the earliest STCCG ships to have this I may add). Who needs to worry about Armadas or Borg Ships? Just land. And if you space out your spaceline properly at the beginning of the game you can just go planet-hopping down the spaceline for extra protection. But that's not even the sweetest feature on this ship. Those honors would have to go to the little bit of text that says "Your Vulcans may report here." In otherwords, this ship becomes a moving outpost. And since it's not a facility the Vulcan Lander laughs at Quadrant restriction. Mr. Tuvok, First Officer Spock, Tuvok, and Vorik are all welcome.

     But wait, that is not all. This ship is universal. That means turn one you can have the Vulcan Lander ready for action (via Spacedoor download). It also means you can stock multiples of this ship and then pepper the spaceline with some AU ship drops (Just beware It's Only a Game).

     And just because you stock this ship, you already have built-in protection against a few very nasty deck types. You can put a halt to Stop First Contact decks just by launching this ship at the Montana Missile Complex (Temporal Vortex anyone?) and PNZ decks that include a PNZ planet will prove no tribble at all (And if you're just floating around the Neutral Zone and your opponent tries to pick a fight, nullify that attack with Ensign Tuvok).

     You still think the "7" range is a little too restrictive? Well Defiant Dedication plaque with Solkar can fix that. As can the old-fashioned Plasmadyne Relays. Voyager even offers a new solution: Divert Power (Chang's Strategy Tip: Divert power away from the weapons, the whopping "1" just isn't going to come in too handy).

     So apparently the Vulcan Lander is a "God-ship" with no flaws, right? Well…not quite. The "no transporters" can be a hindrance, especially when it comes to space dilemmas (Tarellian Plague Ship anyone?). Of course, Voyager gave us the ---Transporter Control Module which helps alleviate that somewhat. But the Lander also lacks a tractor beam, quite a bummer in these days of Radioactive Garbage Scow decks. My recommendation, don't rely solely on the Lander, include at least one other ship that has a tractor beam and transporters for space missions.

     While the Vulcan Lander so obviously outclasses the USS Jupiter, it's truly when you combine these two ships that they really shine. The Vulcan Lander is great for planet missions and for getting those Vulcans straight into action. The USS Jupiter provides a little bit of muscle and a great space-mission solving capability. Batman and Robin have nothing on this Vulcan "dynamic-duo."

excelsior!

General Chang