Wesley's STCCG card of the day #228

Hi, folks,

here's another way to decimate an away team:

REBEL ENCOUNTER

Dilemma, Planet, uncommon.
Kills one away team member (random selection) unless STRENGTH >44 OR you bribe rebels first by discarding an Equipment card, if present. Discard dilemma.
"Belligerent rebels from war-torn worlds often hide out on other planets and can endanger an Away Team."

Nausicaans with a twist. Right. They just copied the text and game stats off Nausicaans and added the extra escape possibility of sacrificing an equipment card of the player's choice. And if this were not enough, there's also Chalnoth which is once again a Strength-related "kill one person" card. I'd understand this if this was the sixth expansion, but all three in the primary card set? They should have some more ideas...

Anyway, what's the difference? Chalnoth is a little easier to overcome, but it is much more surgical in its effects,thus quite a bit stronger unless your opponent has serious amounts of backup personnel. But if she has, you won't kill anything anyway. And she gets 5 points along the way.

Leaves us with Rebel Encounter and Nausicaans. Your opponent gets to choose whether to make Rebel Encounter a Nausicaans or a "Destroy one equipment (your choice) unless STRENGTH >44" Dilemma. And let me tell you I do not prefer giving my opponent any choices at all. Unless I can get my opponent to guess wrongly. If she discards a Medical kit feeling safe with two MEDICALs and next hits Hyper Aging, bad luck. If I want to do equipment destruction, I'd rather use Disruptor overload, it's an interrupt and random choice is better for me than having my opponent choose which card she needs least.

So much for using it. Or better, not using it. And what if you get hit by it? Let's look at the potential cases:
a) You have no equipment. No choice.
b) You have a Phaser or Disruptor. And you still got hit? Man, what kind of away teams are you playing? I'd rather drop the equipment if I was so weak, I am probably going to need every single personnel.
c) You have a PADD. Unless you need it for a CUNNING requirement, drop it, but then, how did it get into your deck in the first place?
d) You have an Echo Papa Drone. Which shouldn't be on the planet when attempting missions anyway! Unless you count on getting stopped and attacked afterwards in which case you'd better keep it.
e) You have an I.P. scanner. A what ? Get rid of it...
f) You have a Tricorder, Engineering PADD, Medical Kit or Medical Tricorder. Well, count your crew with and without the equipment. If you have 3 MEDICAL without the Med-equipment, 2 ENGINEERs without the Eng. PADD or one SCIENCE without the Tricorder, drop the equipment. Also drop it if the Rebel Encounter was the last Dilemma and you don't absolutely need the equipment for solving your mission. Otherwise, cross your fingers and have somebody bite the big one.

An OK card, but there are better ones which are very similar. Good Anti-Fed cards (all 3) unless your opponent has Data.

Favorite combo(s):

- Natch.

Ratings for : REBEL ENCOUNTER

Wesley's rating:                5.5
Cole's rating:                  7.0
Conner's rating:                6.0
Data's rating:                  7.0
Hal's rating:                   6.8
Heather's rating:               8.0
Jack's rating:                  6.0
John's rating:                  5.5
Q's rating:                     5.0
Ranger's rating:                6.0
Ray's rating:                   7.0
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 6.3

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Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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