Wesley's STCCG card of the day #296

Hi, folks,

4 to go until 300... and this time I got something great planned! But for now I'll keep the tension high and rather go for

GALEN

Personnel, non-aligned, rare QC.
Integrity 5
Cunning 8
Strength 6
SCIENCE; Archaeology, Computer Skill, Treachery, Leadership, Navigation, Music, Command Star (*), Does not work with Fed affiliation.
"Jean-Luc Picard went undercover in 2370 posing as a mercenary and artifact smuggler."
The second six skill box in STCCG, and this time it's filled with stuff almost better than the first one. Similarities first. Galen has four skills in common with the big one, namely Archaeology, Music, Navigation and Leadership. And he has the same Cunning and Strength. Good enough to be called a Picard. And unlike with the real Picard, the Leadership skill is really worth something here as he's no OFFICER and you can still use him as a leader in battle.

Of course a smuggler won't be very honorable so this got switched with its counterpart Treachery and Computer Skill gets to replace the double Diplomacy (hacking is just another means to get to information you could have gained the diplomatic way...). And as compensation for the lost x2 we get a classification that actually counts: SCIENCE. If I now go for point scores on the old usability table (didn't redo it yet), we gain 8 for SCIENCE instead of OFFICER, lose 7 for Computer Skill instead of Diplo x2, gain 1 for Treachery replacing Honor and lose 4 for the lower Integrity. Net change: -2. But the fact that he can work with two affiliations instead of one makes up for this and with the old formula, Galen will actually come out 4 points ahead of the real Old Baldly.

Mission-solving capabilities? Sure. Only one he could solve alone, skill-wise, but that's not so important, after all he is non-aligned which means you will always need to add another person. But major contributions go towards Khitomer research, Iconia Investigation, Secret Salvage, Plunder Site, Covert Installation, Expose Covert Supply, Excavation (well, he has that skill, but as I said, he'll still need a Romulan to help him) and Compromised Mission. All of these can be done by Romulans, and three also by the Klingons. Which means Galen is a superb addition to any Rommie deck, which other character can sport six missions he can contribute not one but two skills to and still have a classification important for Dilemma overcoming. Just add Roga Danar and Taris and you have a core crew for a really great Rommie deck.

And the fact he won't work with Feds? Not critical either. You wouldn't be able to use him at the same time as the real Picard anyway and the Feds really don't need even more crew choice flexibility...

Favorite combo(s):
Ratings for : GALEN 

Wesley's rating:                9.2
Allen's rating:                 8.1
Cole's rating:                  9.0
Data's rating:                  7.0
Drew's rating:                  ---
Hal's rating:                   9.5
Jack's rating:                  7.5
Mot's rating:                   9.0
Nanite's rating:                9.0
Nouwa's rating:                 9.0
Picarde's rating:               8.0
Q's rating:                     9.8
Ranger's rating:                9.0
Rothspar's rating:              6.0
Tania's rating:                 7.0
Tony's rating:                  9.2
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 8.4
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Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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