Some of you may remember Review #18 -- our old friend, the Classic Tricorder.  Well, don't be surprised if today's sounds somewhat familiar...

Classic Medical Tricorder (#12, U)
Equipment
Icons: Original Series, Alternate Universe, Trouble with Tribbles
General purpose medical reference and diagnostic tool.
Representative of such devices used in the latter half of the 23rd century.  Such equipment was developed by many races.
Your [OS] personnel present who have MEDICAL or SCIENCE classification all add MEDICAL OR Biology OR Exobiology.  (May re-select once each turn.)

Well, this is the second of the Classic Skill Granters from The Trouble with Tribbles being reviewed, the first being the regular Classic Tricorder. Same format ([OS] personnel with either of two classifications can add certain skills), similar effect.  Who can use it this time around?  From Tribbles, Dr. McCoy, Lt. Bashir, Lt. D'Amato, Lt. Dax, Lt. Watley, Mr. Spock, Daval, and The Centurion -- with the exception of the latter two and perhaps Lt. D'Amato, standard fare in a Federation Original Series-themed deck.  Heck, Lt. Bashir can even download the Classic Medical Tricorder (CMT).  But wait, another expansion's been released since then (see, it's not always bad to procrastinate reviews :-) -- Mirror, Mirror, which is also chock-full of [OS] personnel.  Add Chief Surgeon McCoy, Crewman Wilson, First Officer Spock, Lt. Moreau, Marlena Moreau, Nurse Chapel, D'vano, and Dr. Roger Korby to that list.  Not as strong a group of personnel as the first list, but staples nonetheless in Mirror Quadrant decks.  Regardless, there's going to be plenty of useful personnel that can benefit from this equipment.

Is it worthwhile?  No doubt about it.  Adding an extra MEDICAL never hurts (OK, OK, Hippocratic Oath is an exception to this), good for mission and dilemma requirements alike.  It's also good if you're going after missions early in the game -- you don't have necessarily have to wait until you have 2 or 3 MEDICAL on the table, because the CMT can pick up some of the slack. The CMT even plays for free at K-7 and can be downloaded by Lt. Bashir or Chief Surgeon McCoy, so it's quite cheap.  And although Dr. McCoy can nullify MEDICAL dilemmas and is double-MED himself, he can only nullify once per turn, and you can't rely on getting him into play early unless you Tent for him or stock multiple copies in your draw deck.  Of course, you can't rely on getting the CMT out early either, but you have a better chance if you stock personnel that can download it.  If nothing else, it serves as a temporary fill-in until you draw the real McCoy.  (Groan.)  Also note that loading an Away Team up with MEDICAL can be very powerful combined with Genetronic Replicator.  If your opponent discards Panel Overload to nullify the Genetronic, you can either play another or start Scanning with much less risk, having similar effect.  And with the large number of killers in Mirror Mirror (Kelvan Show of Force and A Fast Ship Would Be Nice being selective eliminators, plus the very potent Denevan Neural Parasites being a mass killer) saving some of those extra personnel would be very nice.  Armed with a Genetronic Replicator, you can even face the flying plastic parasites with a large Away Team and usually come out unscathed.

And who said that MEDICAL was the only skill you could add?  Biology's needed for some planet missions, but it's definitely needed in space.  It's very annoying when one of your two Biology personnel is picked to be disabled when you encounter Aphasia Device.  Solution: Use the CMT to pad your crew with either extra MEDICAL or Biology (whichever you're short on, usually the latter).  Exobiology's going to be useful on planets, especially with players talking about combo-ing Odo's "Cousin" with selective killers like A Fast Ship, Kelvan Show of Force, or Q-type Android multiple times -- how much Exobiology and Geology are you going to put into a deck?  Well, with the CMT, the Exo becomes much easier.  Oh, and guess what?  The Classical Tricorder makes the Geo quite easy as well.  So much for that strategy's effectiveness against Original Series decks.

Well, that's about all that there is to say about this card in terms of what's printed on it.  There's a few extra things that need to be discussed, though.

Firstly, it's an Equipment card, so it'll keep somebody from dying to a Common Thief.  (Always a good thing.)  It's also a good probe for many cards, including probably the most infamous of them all, Visit Cochrane Memorial (see the Classic Communicator review, #30, for more info on these decs).  It can also be nixed by a Disruptor Overload, which is starting to see more play due to its flexibility: it'll slow down Cargo Run decks, Borg decks when you nuke their Assimilation Table, and be quite useful in general against the Dominion... Gurat'urak only protects one equipment, so you still have a decent chance of nailing one of the important ones: Jem'Hadar Birthing Chamber, Ketracel-White, and a hand weapon.  So I wouldn't rely on my equipment sticking around forever -- just a word of caution for those trying to slim down their personnel selection by letting equipment replace personnel with classifications.  Definitely make sure you can pass Scientific Method without the assistance of equipment.  Also, you can only change its skill once per turn, so be judicious with its use.  Don't change it without at least thinking about what skills you'll need for the rest of your turn.

Plus, it's a Tricorder for several things, most notably defusing Tribble Bombs.  Tent for the Starship Enterprise, play it for free to K-7, use its special download to get Lt. Bashir, then use his to get the Classic Tricorder.  You can scan for Tribble Bombs right away without even sacrificing a card play.  It also makes Founder Secret and Ferengi Bug that much easier to pass, allows you to solve the hard-to-steal and rarely-duplicated Quest for the Sword.

Not too much more about this card... well, what did you expect?  It's a Tricorder! ;-)

The final verdict: If you're playing a heavy OS deck, put it in.  It's not a bad Tent card either if you're worried about Tribble Bombs, or not a bad card to put in your deck if playing Cochrane Memorial.  Outside of these circumstances, though, I don't see it being too useful.  (All of the Classic equipment is like this).  Sorry there's nothing too deep in this review, but this card really isn't that complex.

(Yes, the last half of this review was more or less cut-and-pasted from Review 18. :-)

Next, the last Classic Equipment: Classic Type II Phaser

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles