Sorry for the delay of a few days, but I'm back.  Today, we get the third in the Overload series.  Following in the footsteps of Disruptor and Reactor, we get:

Panel Overload (Common [TT], #44)
Icons: Hidden Agenda, Referee, Trouble with Tribbles
Seeds or plays on table.  When opponent plays Scan or Full Planet Scan, you may kill one Computer Skill personnel on any ship there (even if docked or landed) and/or download Scanner Interference.  Also, you may place incident on any outpost to prevent its Spacedoors from re-opening (nullified by 4 ENGINEER aboard) OR discard incident to nullify Bynars Weapon Enhancement or Genetronic Replicator.

Well, there's not too much strategy-wise from the card.  As with most [Ref] cards, it's worded fairly straightforwardly and quite narrowly.  Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, it's just that there usually aren't too many strategic options with [Ref] cards.  So, I'll go through each use, giving my own opinion on its usefulness, ending by bringing it all together and then passing judgment on the card as a whole.

Its first-listed use is yet another Scan counter from Tribbles.  This one was the real kicker in discouraging Scanning, since the others (Scan Cycle Check, Chain Reaction Pulsar, and to a lesser extent 62nd Rule and Council of Warriors) required more setup, weren't as cheap as a [Ref] cards, or weren't as effective alone, such as the existing Scanner Interference (SI). Other Scan counters were already bulleted themselves (Amanda Rogers by Oof! and The Line), or too broad (Goddess of Empathy).

Since you can download Scanner Interference with this, you essentially require that an opponent have 3 Computer Skill aboard a ship at a scanning location.  Just as a note, this download isn't immune to Computer Crash, even though downloading Panel Overload or SI directly with Q the Ref is.  3 Computer Skill is fairly hefty, but not at all unobtainable if you've got a decent-sized crew started.  It does make it tougher to do first-turn Scans, though, since you have to get a ship there and probably devote some jumpstart cards (like AMS, ASP, DH, or QIR) to getting Computer Skill into play.  This isn't as bad as it sounds, though: each jumpstart card used on getting Computer Skill is one less jumpstart card that can be used to download someone to pass dilemmas you seeded and your opponent Scanned. Therefore, when using this card, it makes sense to avoid Computer Skill dilemmas, because otherwise the cost of using the Scan is less: the opponent already has the Computer Skill to pass the dilemmas.

Your opponent can use John Doe to dodge this effect, but this costs either a card play or other resource such as a Devidian Door.  John Doe was one of the key Nonaligned personnel in the Soper Scan 'n' STAN deck of a few years back for this very reason: he could be downloaded after solving the first Establish Relations if a Panel Overload came out.  Personally, I think the card is still worth it.  If your opponent doesn't have John Doe out before playing the first Scan, you can still kill somebody, then cycle it using Q the Ref to draw a card when John enters play.  Or, if John comes out, then you can just not download the Panel Overload.  It's almost certainly cheaper for you, since it's just a [Ref] card that's easily cycled, whereas your opponent had to expend a card play, or other resource that could have been used to get somebody more useful.

However, this does go to show that this counter isn't impossible to get around.  It still pays to use seeds that are tough to Scan through, such as Q-Flash, Chula: the Chandra, or Spatial Rift.

Note that even if your opponent has 3 Computer Skill or John Doe, all is not lost: remember, you can also use the downloaded Scanner Interference to seed another dilemma at the mission, although I wouldn't get my only dilemma from Q's Tent unless I'm sure there won't be a Q's Planet coming out for a quick artifact.  One more note, this one fairly obvious: if you do get this to go off and you kill a Computer Skill personnel at that location, remember that you can look at *all* of the Computer Skill personnel on your opponent's ships at that location, not just the one with the 2 Computer Skill required by SI.  This often gives you the freedom to get rid of somebody who could have been used to pass one of your dilemmas or solve the mission.

One more use for this card, although more obscure: if you're hiding out at a Nebula and your opponent plays a Scan to initiate battle, you can still use the Scan counters!

Now, Panel Overload is much more than just a Scan counter.  It has a number of other uses, although a lot of players tend to overlook them.  Next listed on the card is a Spacedoor counter.  Although IMO this wasn't needed as much now that you could no longer download cards to your hand (before you could use Examine Singularity to re-open your Spacedoor for free), it can slow down some decks.  Also, if you need to download two universal ships reliably, you'll be forced to seed two Spacedoors or use other methods of downloading ships.  Again, 4 ENGINEER is not insurmountable, but it will usually cause a few turns' delay, usually enough to let you dodge the armada (the most probable reason for repeatedly using a Spacedoor).  This is a fairly iffy use.  I can't recall the last time somebody tried to use the same Spacedoor twice.  I don't even know if it's happened at all in games I've played in.  However, I have heard reports of other winning decks using this to assemble quick fleets, although this was close to two years ago.

Lastly, you can discard it to nullify Bynars Weapon Enhancement or Genetronic Replicator.  To be perfectly honest, I've used this use of the card more than any other -- even more than the anti-Scan function!  Since this use is generally considered more obscure, a lot of armada players don't plan on losing their Bynars from an un-counterable [Ref] card.  Obviously the best players plan for this use of Panel Overload, but you'd be surprised how many players are unprepared for having their Bynars nullified by this card.

With Vidiians and their more-than-ample MEDICAL, it's really no surprise that Genetronic Replicator has become more popular.  This is a quick, one-stop [Ref] way to nullify it.  I don't think you can suspend play to nullify it during the resolution of a dilemma (or other action), though -- although Q the Ref lets you suspend play to download the Overload, it downloads face-down and cannot be immediately flipped unless it's a valid response to an action.  Genetronic Replicator is an ongoing effect, though, so its use is not considered an action.  Panel Overload isn't a valid response to a dilemma encounter or anything else causing death, so it can't be immediately flipped.

In either case, though, you can use a Kevin to nullify the card just as well.  Kevin does have the advantage of being much more flexible (especially being able to stop Revolving Door, Supernova, and Villagers with Torches) but it's also got counters (Q2, Oof!, The Line Must Be Drawn Here).  If I was stocking up on Kevins in a deck anyway, I'd be less likely to use Panel Overload.  However, if I'm not using Kevins in my deck, I'm almost certain to stock Panel Overload, just because it takes out two fairly annoying Events while providing Scan protection.

The final verdict: So, what do I think of this card, all in all?  Well, it depends. :-)  If my dilemma combos are tough to get through regardless of Scanning (such as in an End Transmission/Friendly Fire deck), then it's probably not worth stocking if you're using Kevins to nullify Genetronic Replicators.  I would, however, use it if I didn't have a defense against Genetronics and I used a number of "killer" dilemmas or was playing a battle strategy.  I wouldn't worry about taking out Genetronics or Bynars if my game plan didn't count on killing personnel and I had other battle defenses, and if I had dilemmas that were relatively tough to Scan through.  In most other cases, I'd use Panel Overload.

Next up, something that sounds like it's from the next expansion: Resistance is Futile

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles