As Wesley is still on vacation, I'm continuing my pinch-hitting efforts with the COTD. So, without much further ado..
<activating the Emergency Holographic Wesley>
Hi, folks,
as it's almost traditional for an Internet Expansion, a two-card combo made it into the top 10:
Internet Expansion IV, 6th place, by Maelwys
Sleuth skill: Once per game, personnel may "figure out" a way to eliminate one requirement from any mission.
Disadvantages lie in the more limited skill selection with only two "normal" skills and the CIVILIAN classification you are not interested in unless playing Colony or a Naiskos. And it's not that Dipholes were that rare in the Federation ;-)
The small advantage is the Cunning bonus with a holodeck present. With this extra, the two detectives have slightly above-standard attributes, but I guess you by now know that two attribute points don't make that much of a difference.
[Well, they make a difference, but most people don't tune Away Teams to the point of planning to beat a dilemma by exact amounts. Also, quick notes: both are Yuta- and Firestorm-proof.]
The interesting feature is the Sleuth skill. You can with this skill eliminate any one mission requirement. Try that with Study Stellar Collision and you have a really easy mission ;-) But you can also use this skill in a very sneaky way in order to make your opponent's life miserable. He's using a Klingon honor deck to solve Wormhole Negotiations? Reduce that one to Diplo x5 OR Treachery x4 and he'll have a hard time getting it done. Or remove the Data requirement from your opponent's Investigate Time Continuum.
But in spite of all this, the usual application of the Sleuth cards is to remove a requirement from a mission that contradicts your deck theme. You have an Engineering deck and suddenly need Exobiology x3. Sleuth it away and you can solve your mission. Or when you are drastically low on attributes, you can also do something there. Not the worst idea I've ever seen ?
[Many of the raters noted that this new Sleuth skill was too powerful, mainly because it's Fed only. While I think the Feds as an affiliation have an advantage in the straight-out race, the other affiliations do have some very sneaky abilities denied to Starfleet. And given the number of successful non-blue decks, I think that the difference is shrinking all the time. Which to me says that these two cards aren't that bad, especially considering you have to give up Data and Picard to get them (persona rule, remember?). And in most situations, I'd take Data over Holmes. The Picard/Dixon question is a little closer - depends on the deck. And you can always use Riker as a Picard substitute to cover while ol' baldy plays make-believe. :)]
[Due to time constraints, and the fact that some people (like me) sent in one score for the both, and some sent in one for each, I averaged the dual-scores, and lumped them together.]
Wesley's rating: 7.1 Allen's rating: 7.5 Cpt. Targ's rating: 7.0 Data's rating: 9.0 Dr. R'Mor's rating: 7.4 EHCCGPP's rating: 7.5 Hal's rating: 7.5 Humuhumunukunukuapua'a's rtg.: 9.0 John's rating: 2.0 Jon Walker's rating: 6.5 Jono's rating: 5.2 Locutus' rating: 7.5 Mot's rating: 9.0 Nanite's rating: 8.0 Picarde's rating: 7.0 Ranger's rating: 7.9 Rothspar's rating: 7.2 Sirna's rating: 4.0 Tebok's rating: 8.0 Tony's rating: 8.7 Worf's rating: 9.0 ---------------------- AVERAGE RATING: 7.2
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With all back issues from #1 up to today !
Wesley Crusher
Temporarily immortal STCCG Lord (on vacation)
"A couple of lightyears can't keep good friends apart"
and
Allen Gould
The STCCG Lord's temp. :)
"The Truth Is Over There On The Shelf.
(no, no, next to the bowling trophy)"