Well, summer's almost over for me.  I'll try to pound out as many of these as I can before I head off to the University of Washington on the 21st to start my college education.  Anyway, today's card is the last one before I start doing the remainder in Decipher's numbered order.

...on the Bridge (#140, C)
Trouble
Icons: Trouble with Tribbles
The starship Enterprise crew suffered numerous tribble distractions, not the least of which was Kirk sitting on one.
100: On a ship, suspends attribute enhancements related to its matching commander. 1,000: Where present, limits each mission attempt to 10 personnel.

First, I'll say that I have never played with or against a Tribble side deck, so none of my comments are actually based on playing experience and is just my untested theoretical advice.

Anyway, now that that's over with, we start reviewing one of the cards that let the tribbles pack some real punch.  Without Trouble cards, the effects of Tribbles are significantly lessened.  Trouble cards enable you to do some very annoying things to your opponent without having to breed up to high numbers of tribbles.  In this case, 100 is all that's needed to start doing some damage (two turns, ideally), and 1,000 is enough to do a lot more.  How much more?  That's what the next paragraphs will try to discover.

The 100 Tribbles effect is fairly simple: no Captain's Log, no Defiant Dedication Plaque on the ship the Trouble plays on.  Although it will weaken the power of armadas (there is *no* way to restore matching commander benefits without dropping the number of tribbles below a hundred or removing the ship from play -- even moving to a new ship will not give you the attribute boost except for the rare instance when the captain of the be-Trouble-d ship also commands another ship you have in play) it won't kill them.  It's too slow for that.  For each ship your opponent cranks out, you'll need at least two turns of perfect Tribble draws to shut down.  A Shipwreck is much more convenient and reliable, plus your opponent can't change his plans once you've played the Wreck (short of Amandas, which are often replaced by Kevins in armadas wary of Q-Net, Bashir Founder/Supernova, Regenerate, Establish Landing Protocols, etc.).  Or if you are waiting for a battle and you're using a BBSD, a Chain Reaction Pulsar will have the double benefit of both nullifying (as opposed to merely suspending on one ship) the C-Log or DDP, plus do a great deal of damage to the rest of the fleet.  We Look For Things is also an acceptable option.

But all of those methods require other support cards (Q2, Battle Bridge, Mondor).  Then again, so does this one -- the Storage Compartment Door itself.  Don't include a Tribble side deck just for this function.  The above mentioned cards are just as effective (if not more).  But if you are planning on playing a Tribble deck, this is a decent use.

It can also be used offensively if playing an attack strategy yourself.  If your opponent is trying to evade your fleet with a Defiant Dedication Plaque or toughen its defenses with Captain's Log (and trying to take a ship or two down with it), look no further.  It is in this situation where it's most effective.  If your opponent only has one or two ships out and is relying on the DDP or C-Log to dodge your attack force, shut it down.  There are probably no "backup" or "replacement" ship/matching commander pairs to retreat to.

Well, the 100 Tribbles use is decent.  The next one's even more powerful.

Limiting a mission attempt to ten personnel is downright nasty.  For many affiliations it makes it all but impossible to pass a Q, or even Ferengi Infestation preceded by a filter.  In fact, it makes all filters much more powerful.  The potential loss with a Lineup or Chula: the Drink is nearly half of your attempting personnel.  Considering the wide variety of dilemmas now available and increased difficulty in Scanning, players are forced into a mission-attempting situation that is the worst of both redshirting and megateaming.  Traditionally, players have either done one or the other: if redshirting, the potential loss is minimal but you have little chance of passing dilemmas, slowing you down.  If megateaming, the potential exists to lose your entire crew, but the chance of this happening is much lower due to greater redundancy and the ability to pass more dilemmas.  Attempting with a moderately-sized crew was only done in desperation (or after Scanning) because you are still unable to pass most walls or killers, plus the potential loss is much greater.  You can afford to lose one or two personnel each mission attempt; five or six is another matter entirely.  Attempting with ten personnel is safer than five or six, but I'd feel very shaky in doing so, especially with Genetronic Replicator being limited by QtR/Panel Overload and the increased use of filters.  The problem is both easier and more difficult in space.  Although players rarely sent in full ships to attempt space missions without Scanning due to the risk of Borg Ship or Cytherians, if you did plan on mega-teaming a space mission, you either have to have another ship to beam personnel off of or waste time beaming them onto a planet or facility.  Regardless of planet or space, being limited to ten personnel increases mission attrition greatly.

Can it be defended against?

Unfortunately for the would-be Tribbler, yes.  Getting this Trouble card onto a planet your opponent will attempt is a definite problem.  You have two options: (1) play the tribbles on your opponent's ships, hoping to delay his solving the mission long enough to build up a thousand Tribbles and draw the Trouble, and (2) place these on as many planets as possible, breeding them on your own ship and beaming them off onto your opponent's planets.

// Editor's note: Or you can just play them directly to the planets, but then you need // to get 10 Tribbles and 100 Tribbles on each planet as well

(1) can be circumvented with relative ease.  When you beam to a planet, even with Trouble... in the Transporters it'll still take two of your opponent's turns before he can build up enough Tribbles to activate ...on the Bridge. Keeping your opponent from solving the mission by then is a big problem. Without a limitation on the size of his Team, there's a good chance that your opponent will get through all the dilemmas by that time.  Even if not (e.g., Dead End), enough of them have likely been revealed (and filters passed) so that he doesn't *need* more than ten on the next attempt.  If all you see left is a single wall, ten is more than plenty for the wall and mission requirements.

(2) is more reliable, but takes much longer.  It's also more reliant on perfect Tribble side deck draws.  You can't even begin the procedure until the third turn, and then from each turn on you have to draw a 1,000 Tribbles and ...on the Bridge for each planet you wish to "lock down."  Even more turns (and more draws of 10K or 100K Tribbles, or playing new 1Ks on old locations instead of new planets) are required if you want to prevent your opponent from simply using a Transporter Skill to beam the 1,000 up to his ship, freeing the planet.  Building a Tribble side deck to ensure these draws is impossible.  You have to include enough 10s and 100s to breed up to 1,000, and then a 1K and Trouble... on the Bridge for your opponent, plus a steady stream of 1,000s to keep your opponent from simply beaming one away. I don't think so.  The only way to possibly get this to work fast enough is to include a number of Storage Compartment Doors in your draw deck, in essence trading a card draw for a reliable Tribble draw.  But this slows your own deck enough that your opponent is probably limited no more than you are.

So, on ships is where it's more useful, because it's simply not fast enough to work on planets.  Not a bad idea, as you'll also stop any incidental matching commander attribute boosts.  Trouble (no pun intended) is, just as with other Tribble/Trouble cards, a second ship lets you attempt with as many as you like, and as stated before, limiting attempts in space is less debilitating, as it's a wise strategy anyway.

The final verdict: What appears to be a great effect is severely limited by the ease in getting around it.  But, as with other Tribble/Trouble cards, it requires time and resources.  On a planet, you'll often have to "stop" personnel to beam the tribbles, meaning you have to wait for (or waste a DH or ASP on) a Transporter Skill personnel.  I liken it to a Q-Continuum. Although each card by itself can be dealt with, it requires resources.  And faced in multiple, this could slow your deck enough for the opponent to win.   But only if you don't rely on it so heavily that your own deck is clogged up with Tribble helpers.  I like this balance.

Next, the first one by number: Orb of Time

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles