Wesley's STCCG card of the day #294

Hi, folks,

I know it would actually be time for a classic today, but with the #300 issue looming over our heads, I'll shift that back by one to make sure I'm not gonna hit that number on the wrong card... For today, it's

PLAGUE PLANET

Mission, F/K/R, Planet, rare QC.
Points 30
Span 4
MEDICAL + Biology + Archaeology.
Player: If you solve, automatically overcome Plague Ships.
Opponent: If you solve, all Plague Ships score no points. "Tarellia: Investigate origin site of famous deadly plague."
First thing that struck me: MEDICAL + Biology? Didn't we have this before? Like in the good old Evaluate Terraforming? Right. Only this time, you won't just get by with sending Beverly as the third skill is not as well suited to her. So you'll need an Archaeologist. Picard of course comes to mind in a Bridge crew deck, but there are plenty of other alternatives which rather depend on the other missions you are playing. But you should have Bev if you're a Feddie. Preferably both Bevs, that is...

Second difference: It's triple affiliation, so we'll need to take a look at how the others will be able to solve it. For the Romulans, there will be no way past Taris who has both MEDICAL and Archaeology and thus provides as solid a basis as Beverly. The other Rommie doctors are really crappy anyway. Klingons? Divok plus any Archaeologist. Or Koroth plus MEDICAL. The latter might be even better. Non-aligned crew cards? No serious contenders here. Sorry.

So it's a 2-person 30-point mission whose primary solver characters are quite good in other circumstances ,too, which gives us a good card. But then there's that special ability. Different for you and your opponent to further complicate things. A Tarellian Plague ship is a 5-point booster which normally requires you to sacrifice a doctor. And only these are influenced, so if there are none on table, just forget the ability. But let's assume there are a few. And the mission just calls for making up the 5-point difference to Evaluate Terraforming by overcoming the occasional Plague Ship. Which means you'll need some space missions (or a mixed crew to attempt some of opponent's space missions, but then you can never rely on anyone playing the right card). Seed several Plague Ships (one under each does the trick) and go for the Plague Planet. Then encounter the Ships for free points. But the catch is that your opponent can revert this advantage of yours into a disadvantage by getting there first. You still need to sacrifice the doctor but now you don't even get points for it anymore. Risky business. Add to this the fact that it will be quite obvious where you'll want to have your outpost if you seed Plague Planet and several Dilemmas under your own missions, and the Plague Wager becomes a rather lousy chance.

But you still get a solid mission for your money and if you keep those Plague Ships under your opponent's missions, you might even be able to snatch an occasional 5 or 10 points while really hindering the person on the other side.

Favorite combo(s):
Ratings for : PLAGUE PLANET 

Wesley's rating:                7.0
Allen's rating:                 7.2
Cole's rating:                  5.5
Data's rating:                  8.0
Drew's rating:                  8.8
Hal's rating:                   7.0
Jack's rating:                  7.0
Mot's rating:                   7.0
Nanite's rating:                9.0
Nouwa's rating:                 8.0
Picarde's rating:               6.0
Q's rating:                     6.0
Ranger's rating:                4.5
Rothspar's rating:              5.5
Tania's rating:                 6.0
Tony's rating:                  8.0
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AVERAGE RATING:                 6.8
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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

"A couple of lightyears can't keep good friends apart"