So, The Trouble with Tribbles has finally come out, and you are ready to play. You want to be sure to get some of those brand-spankin'-new Klingon cards out. You go to your binder and pull out Empok Nor, and then remember: There are two new anti-Empok Nor dilemmas in Trouble With Tribbles. How are you going to take over Empok Nor in time for it to be of use?

First, lets take a look at the requirements for this "mission."

SECURITY x2 + Leadership x2 + Exobiology x2 + 3 Staff Stars + Cunning > 50.

Firstly, lets take a look at that Security problem. There's another card in the Trouble with Tribbles that deals with Security: That's right, Defend Homeworld. Now, looking carefully at the text, it says that you may download "a SECURITY personnel." You can download a Non-Aligned Security personnel, and it doesn't even have to be their classification, just their skill. So, looking through the binders, we'll choose Anya. She can download Salia, who help out with some of the other requirements (Leadership and Exobiology, in case you were wondering)

Now, we could use another Exobiologist, couldn't we, to take care of little problems that creep up, like members of your away team going berserk and killing each other. So we'll need a good personnel downloadable on the first turn. How about J'Ddan? Use Assign Support Personnel to download him to the Klingon Outpost where Anya and Salia are.

Now, we need a little more Leadership. It appears that there are NO Klingon-compatible Leadership personnel who can be downloaded using cards we haven't used yet. But wait! We can use Assign Mission Specialists to download Atul, who incidentally has a staff icon as well. Then, also seed HQ: Defensive Measures. Not only does it let you keep your opponent from stealing some of your missions, it also grants Klingon Intelligence personnel the skill of Leadership. We can also download Amarie, who has a high cunning of 9.

So far, so good. We only need one more staff star and some more cunning. This is easily solved with Quarks Isolinear Rods. Download 10 and 01, and then play them to this outpost. They can keep your opponent from using that mean old Computer Crash to keep you from downloading a ton of hand weapons and sites too. Unfortunately, he counts as our card play. So now our team consists of:

Anya: CIV, SEC, Hon, 9-5-8
Salia: VIP, Dip, Lead, Anth, Youth, Exo, 8-8-7
J'Ddan: SCI, Exo, Treach, 2-6-6, +
10&01: ENGx2, CSkillx2, 8-16-4, ++
Amarie: CIV, Music, 5-9-2
Atul: SEC, Klingon Intelligence, (Lead) 4-7-7 +

Lets add up those cunning numbers: 5+8+6+16+9+7=51 exactly. Just enough to get over the hurdle. So, now that the Super Klingon Empok Nor Assault Team has been assembled, how do they get to Empok Nor? Well, either a Hidden Fighter (perhaps a Yridian shuttle to really embarrass those enemies?) or wait until the second turn to use Spacedoor to download either a K'Vort or a Vor'Cha. Fly to Empok Nor, breeze through the dilemmas, and gain one abandoned space station.

Required seed cards:
Quarks Isolinear Rods
Defend Homeworld
Assign Support Personnel
Assign Mission Specialists
Klingon Outpost
HQ: Defend Homeworld
Empok Nor

And then possible weaknesses in this strategy:

Brunt's shuttle: If your opponent uses this card, you are in deep trouble. But, then, that's only if he is using it. But combined with the next problem, you could be in real trouble:

Ferengi Infestation: 6 Ferengi, plus whatever he put on the ship, totals a great big many people. Once the Station has been taken, you can download D'Ktagh + Mek'Leth + Bat'Leth + Disruptor + Rifle, what should assist with any...annoyances you have. You can also download other weapons for the Non-Aligned Friends, if that is your wish.  However, you have to clear out Ops before you can commandeer the station.

Sleeper Trap. You can suddenly be attacked. But this is about the dilemma I have seen least-commonly of all of them. So it shouldn't be too big a deal.

// Editor's note: which is odd, since this is the most powerful of the EN dilemmas.  If you can't get rid of the 3 high-str Cardies, you can't commandeer the nor, so don't base your strategy on commandeering EN unless you have a way to get rid of them. //
 

Council of Warriors: You can't use this with this strategy. Sorry. But you can get the new guys out and get all set up very quickly.

I hope this has been helpful.

-Regis EnsRegis@aol.com