Q Gets the Point (#9, C)
Planet/Space Dilemma
Icons: Trouble with Tribbles
Q, stripped of his powers, helped the U.S.S. Enterprise crew develop a plan to save Bre'el IV from destruction.  Guinan used a simple serving fork to verify his claim of mortality.
To get past requires 2 Treachery or Mortal Q, but one such personnel (opponent's choice) is "forked" ("stopped") if opponent has any Guinan in play.  Nullified by any Guinan.

So, what's the deal with this dilemma?  It's basically a simple wall, with one or two extra complications.  All in all, there's not too far in-depth you can go with this dilemma, so this review will probably be shorter than most.

With its primary use as a wall, the important thing is how tough it is to pass.  And unfortunately for QGtP, it's not too tough to pass at all.  2 Treachery?  Romulan, Ferengi, and Dominion decks will laugh at that. Cardassians, Borg (think Queen or counterpart), and Klingons won't find it much harder, either.  The only affiliations who might have problems are the Federation and Bajorans, and even 2 Treachery's not uncommon.  Suna's an excellent personnel in any deck and provides one of the necessary Treachery.   The Bajorans (as well as any deck except Federation and Borg ones) have easy access to Lore, who supplies both of the needed Treachery and can be downloaded with Defend Homeworld.  He's got great classifications and skills as well, so there's no worry about stocking a personnel just to pass QGtP that's useless in other situations.

So, although it may hit the Federation a little hard (but it's still not too tough), six of the eight affiliations will usually breeze right through this, and the seventh won't have too much trouble either.  Definitely not a good start.

Also note that there's other ways to pass it, although 2 Treachery will be the most common by far.  Mortal Q is an option, which a number of players are actually stocking for fear of the mighty Q-Type Android, as well as anti-Sheliak/Q.  Another choice is Guinan.  I think I've only seen Madam Guinan played perhaps once, but Guinan sees greater usage.  Note that she's Federation, so there is an easy out for Fed players.  Guinan's actually a pretty strong personnel card.  For one, she can bring that whole Defend Homeworld/Conundrum trick screeching to a halt by nullifying the Conundrum outright, as well as most any Q-Continuum card and a number of other annoying [AU] cards.  Her Captain's Log benefit can't be laughed at either, especially when coupled with many of the popular Federation quick-start strategies involving Going to the Top, Make It So, and Admiral Riker.  She can pass Gravimetric Distortion (and this) single-handedly, and her attributes are stellar to boot.

Unfortunately, this just puts the dilemma in an even worse light.  So, we're going on to the whole "forking" business to see if that redeems it any.  If the opponent has any Guinan in play, he can "fork" (stop) either a Treachery personnel or Mortal Q.  This rides on the opponent having a Guinan in play, which is tricky as she can't be downloaded, and the only easy ways to report her for free is with Devidian Door or by STP-dropping Madam Guinan.  (And with It's Only a Game limiting STP-drops to four, there's probably more important personnel to drop than Madam Guinan)

So the possibility of "forking" is pretty iffy in and of itself.  But what's the effect assuming your opponent does get Guinan out?   This part is actually somewhat decent.  Note that the affiliations that will have the easiest time with this dilemma (Romulans and Dominion in particular) are also hurt the most by "forking," because there's a lot of personnel your opponent can choose to "stop" with it.  Mortal Q is also an option; if you're worried about your opponent skirting through your Q-Type Androids with Mortal Q, seed Q Gets the Point so it's encountered just before the QTA.  The only way for the QTA *not* to hit is if your opponent has Riker out, which is available only to the Federation and Bajorans.

What are some other possibilities?  Unfortunately, there's not too many. You can try to cause a delay with In the Pale Moonlight (but with a lot of decks there's enough people that can pass ITPM that one isn't going to stop them), or even Unscientific Method/Scientific Method by "stopping" one of the SCIENCE with Treachery, but again all of these combos are only temporary as the personnel is only "stopped" for one turn.

All in all, I don't think too highly of this dilemma.  It does have one other noteworthy feature, though, which I'm about to discuss.  The cool thing: it's the first dilemma that the Borg have to have a Queen, counterpart, or Reflection Therapy to pass.  It can't be Adapt-ed to, because it's Q-related.  So, if your Borg opponent is having trouble drawing a Queen or Counterpart, all he can do is A Change of Plans for another objective, which will also be tricky as the Queen's usually the method of choice for accessing ACoP.  This redeeming factor improves its status slightly, but still it's not very good.  Most Borg decks have a way to get a Queen and/or Counterpart early, just because of the resource manipulation power of getting a Queen out (especially when combined with Seven) and the excellent skills provided by counterparts, particularly Dukat of Borg.  A number of Borg decks also use A Change of Plans to get a quick Reflection Therapy.  It's actually a fairly decent anti-Borg dilemma; trouble is, it's downright awful against most anyone else.  In this sense, it's like Tsiolkovsky Infection.  This dilemma gives Borg players conniptions as it shuts down Interlink sharing and the Queen's skill-selection.  The *only* way out is with three Bio-Med drones, another ship, or by STP-ing the ship back to hand, which in the modern environment is likely to be Masaka-d to the bottom of your deck.

The final verdict: The Adapt-proof thing makes it a little nifty, but it's still far to weak to even come close to inclusion for decks.  It's a so-so Treachery filter; but no good deck relies on any one personnel during a mission attempt.  And what's the worst case?  Somebody is "stopped" until the end of the turn.  In fact, the requirements for this "wall" are weak enough that in a number of games you'll get much better results with a Chula: the Chandra in terms of "stopping" people.  And its value as a wall? Compare it to the best wall in the set (Ferengi Infestation), which blinds QGtP in comparison.

Next, whenever that will be: Storage Compartment Door

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles