Oops! (#7, C)
Planet/Space Dilemma
Icons: Trouble with Tribbles
In 2374, an ill-prepared band of Ferengi arranged a prisoner exchange aboard Empok Nor.  Their profound lack of competence made the process even more difficult than they had expected.
Unless Leadership present, kills one personnel (random selection) and "stops" all others present.  To get past requires three [ST] personnel OR three [Def] drones OR Nog.

This is the other new Empok Nor dilemma in Tribbles.  (The first was Ferengi Infestation, reviewed in #24).  And it has some interesting twists to it.  For one, it's got two sets of conditions that have to be met to pass this dilemma.  If you don't have Leadership, someone will die and the dilemma will be replaced, even if you do meet the second set of conditions (three [ST] OR three [Def] OR Nog), because you didn't meet the conditions of the dilemma.  (This can be found in the Dilemma Resolution Guide.)

This makes the dilemma another of the best anti-redshirt dilemmas: killer/walls.  Not only will the redshirt be killed, but the dilemma will be replaced under the mission.  Players know the power of this combination, as seen by the popularity of other killer/walls like Berserk Changeling or Chula: the Lights, the latter being especially nasty as there's no way to avoid returning the personnel to your hand -- meaning if you redshirt it, you lose at least *two* personnel: the redshirt, and another when you attempt a second time to overcome it.

Of course, were this its only function it'd be a piece of binder fodder. Leadership by itself is much more likely to be found on a redshirt than, say, 3 SECURITY.  So, there's a second, much harder, set of conditions that *also* has to be met.

In essence, the dilemma requires Leadership and three [ST] OR Leadership and three [Def] drones OR Leadership and Nog.  The sticking point is that Command personnel cannot substitute for Staff, meaning you have to use [ST] personnel, instead of using Suna, Vekor, etc. and substituting them for Staff for flying ships.  The best choice here for Empok Nor decks is 10 and 01, which has already been discovered by Empok fans trying to get around the new dilemmas.  The Bynars are usable with any affiliation, can be downloaded with Quark's Isolinear Rods, providing two Staff icons towards Oops! and 16 CUNNING towards Ferengi Infestation, plus the Computer Skill to commandeer the station.  And they also provide insurance just in case your opponent tries to stop your site and equipment downloads with Computer Crash, although I must point out that they also prevent *you* from using Computer Crash to stop your opponent downloading personnel to oppose you in Ops with Sleeper Trap or Ferengi Ingenuity.  As an added bonus, for free you can download Bynars Weapon Enhancement, which may get your opponent to waste a QtR for Panel Overload if your deck looks aggressive but really isn't.  All the better: one less QtR for you to worry about, one less before your opponent uses all of his and is stuck with his [Ref] draws.

For regular uses, dual-personnel are still the way to go.  For Romulans and some Klingon decks, the Sisters of Duras are excellent personnel with two staff icons.  Everybody else will either use 10 and 01, or just include regular [ST] icon personnel.  For Federation or Ferengi players, Nog passes it single-handedly.  A lot of mission specialists and support personnel have a staff icon, so this is a possible use.  Defend Homeworld might get you another.  This is yet another reason why it's best not to use ASP or DH right away unless you're getting a specific personnel for a specific purpose (e.g., Lore if playing RBM, or Telak if playing androids).  By saving it, you can choose from a number of personnel to suit your current need, making it easier to attempt missions quickly.  You may find that your personnel selection meets the requirement, but it won't hurt to add a dual-personnel to get you by it more quickly.

For the Borg, you'll need the Queen, a counterpart, Reflection Therapy, or an Adapt to get by this one.  Although you can easily meet the 3 [Def] drone requirement, the Leadership requires one of the above, and you can't pass the dilemma without meeting both sets of conditions.  It shouldn't be a problem for Cube decks, but it's yet another blow to Scout redshirt decks.

Most decks will be delayed by Oops! because of the second set of conditions.   Although it's not uncommon for three [ST] personnel to be in a deck, it's rarer for all of them to be in play early on.  If you wait until most of your personnel are in play to attempt missions, it won't be a problem; however, if you attempt missions earlier, odds are you'll need to wait to draw some more Staff people.

Does it combo effectively?  Only somewhat.  If you precede it with an "opponent's choice" killer like Common Thief, you have the opportunity to nab one of the Staff personnel -- two if you choose 10 and 01.  But this is back to one of the big questions in dilemma theory -- is it better to do killer/wall to try to kill off personnel who can pass the wall, or wall/killer to make sure that there's a good selection of personnel to kill?   I can't answer that annoying quandary, but if you can deprive an opponent of two or more Staff icon personnel, by whatever means (battle, Mysterious Orb, dilemmas, whatever), you can keep most decks from solving missions with Oops!  The exception: that extremely useful personnel, the Soong-type Android.  Android decks will have no problem at all with these, as STAs are equipped with [ST] icons.  They're still seen around, so don't build a Staff-deprivation deck and expect it to win a tournament.  Of course, I don't think too many of you were planning that anyway. ;-)

It's not the dilemma to use after an Alien Parasites (trying to kill all the personnel).  You can only kill the non-Leadership, as opposed to Berserk Changeling, which lets you kill everyone except Mora Pol and Founders, Chula: the Lights (which lets you return everyone to your opponent's hand), or New Essentialists (which sends everybody to the top of your opponent's deck).

The final verdict: It's good, but I'm not sure if it's good enough to warrant inclusion in a deck.  I won't question its presence in somebody's deck, but I don't know if I'll use it very often myself.  For Empok Nor dilemmas, I'd rather use Ferengi Infestation, which requires more personnel to pass and gives me the option of downloading personnel to oppose my opponent.  It's a decent killer/wall, especially since players are prepared for Berserk Changeling, and Chula: the Lights isn't as permanent.  This will cause an opponent trying to get an early jump on missions to have to wait, so it's a good card in decks with a lot of speed.  It's more specialized than others, though, so it's not an automatic inclusion.

Next: Palukoo

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles