Jolan Tru, my name is Thomas K. Solway. Geezer Kes asked me to write an article for the new WNOHGB. This was of course all the excuse I needed to inundate you with my own bad ideas. Thus I have decided to start a series of articles based on Second Edition strategy topics. These articles will not be limited in scope in any way, save for the fact that they will concentrate on current Second Edition ideas.

     I decided that this was a good place to start my series; considering it is probably the most talked about topic in the game at the moment. First off, one might think that these interrupts aren't all that useful when you are trying to make a 35 card deck. If you use them to get a skill you need, why not just have an extra personal with that skill in the deck instead. They become useful when you start limiting the number of people in an away team. If you are attempting a mission with only six people it is nearly impossible to have all the skills you would need to pass dilemmas. Basically these interrupts allow you to have a seventh personal in your hand, ready to help at a moments notice - yet not giving your opponent that extra dilemma point. On top of that you get to use it when you know what skill you need.

     Each skill interrupt has two different elements. The first is who or what you are drawing from, or your "skill pool"; the second is who it targets. The first part is the most important in determining whether or not the skill card is worth playing. Because if you are having problems getting the skills you need into the target group, the second part doesn't really matter. If you are going to use Skill interrupts to round out your skill selection you will need to ensure that you both design and play the deck keeping in mind your interrupts requirements.

     Mission Briefing, Diplomatic Masquerade and Bank Heist all have a rather limited general selection of skills. Mission Debriefing only targets a stopped personal, which may be good in a pinch, but in general it is hard to plan for this. The other two target your opponent's deck, which is even harder to plan for. These three interrupts rarely make it into high level decks, simply because the pool of skills they can choose from is uncertain or difficult to plan for.

     The Promise, Ties of Blood and Water, Torture, and Discreet Inquiry all require certain targets; whether that is someone in the discard pile, a captive or someone from hand. These are all skill pools you are can actively plan out and control. Thus if you build your deck, and play the game, with these in mind you will be able to use these interrupts to effectively help you through missions. The only real downside with these four is the fact that resources must remain unutilized for them to work. Personal must be in the discard pile or hand, and not in the away team, for example. The Promise is the most useful of the four because its second trait also offers versatility. While all of them can help you disengage the Maglock, only The Promise can get those stupid Klingons to stop picking up shiny balls.

     Meanwhile Shady Resources and Comfort Women are the most useful of all the skill interrupts. This is because both of their elements abundant and controllable. There is more than enough Treachery personal to provide a deep skill pool for shady resources, and the beneficiary may be anyone. Meanwhile if you make sure to choose non-Cardassians with vital dilemma busting skills you will easily be able to use comfort women with a Gul or Legate present. Comfort Women can actually provide its attribute boost without having to add a skill (or spotting someone for said skill). These two interrupts are the best because they combine extreme versatility with minimal resource expenditure.

     Many have said that these interrupts break the game, most citing Comfort Women as the main example. Yet without these interrupts there would be little in the way of player interaction. Any good player skill tracks, without these interrupts the outcomes of most attempts would be known before the dilemmas are flipped. As well as that, no card can be considered broken when there are counters for it. Personally, I play Amanda Rogers.