STAR TREK CUSTOMIZABLE CARD GAME RULEBOOK
- BASIC RULES
- ADVANCED RULES
Version 2.0.5 — May 2018
Last Updated 6 May 2018 (approved by Rules Committee)
Star Trek Customizable Card Game Rulebook - BORG RULES
Version 2.0.5
"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
—The Borg Collective
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to a universe with endless possibilities.
In the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, you will venture into the final frontier. Using cards representing personnel, ships, missions, events, and more from the Star Trek universe, you will complete missions to score 100 points and win the game.
But beware! If your ships and crews aren't being torn apart by the natural (and unnatural) hazards of deep space, your rivals will be one step behind you, undermining you at every turn, profiting from your losses, and even engaging in open warfare against you — determined to reduce you to one more footnote in galactic history books. Get ready to Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before!
ABOUT THIS GAME
—Anij
Most card games have just one deck of cards that never changes, but a Customizable Card Game (or CCG) works differently. In a CCG, you construct your own playing deck using cards from your collection. In this game, you and another player establish a shared universe, where you each establish operational bases, deploy ships and personnel, and complete missions in order to score points.
The Star Trek Customizable Card Game (First Edition) is a universe of over 3500 different cards, representing people, places, events, equipment, missions, and more from Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe.
This game was published on physical cards by Decipher, Inc. from 1994 until 2003. You can still purchase many of the cards Decipher produced at specialty gaming stores or online wholesalers.
Since 2009, the Star Trek CCG has been produced and organized by the volunteers of The Continuing Committee. The Continuing Committee (CC) regularly releases new sets.
You may print copies of any and all cards on your home printer. Printed cards are legal in tournament play. (They must be sleeved and backed by a physical card.) New players should consider printing one of the CC's virtual starter decks, available on their website, for a quick way to jump into a game using a pre-constructed, competitive deck.
While even a single virtual starter deck is competitive in today's game, additional cards unlock more options and new ways to play. Download, print, purchase, and trade cards in order to Expand Your Power in the Universe!
ABOUT THIS RULEBOOK
"You can't play a foolie without rules. Even Grups ought to know that."
—Miri
This advanced rulebook is the sequel to the Basic Rulebook. The purpose of this volume is to explain everything that was left out of the Basic Rulebook. The Basic Rulebook and the Advanced Rulebook, combined, form the Complete Rulebook; if you have read both the Basic and Advanced Rulebooks, there is no need to read the Complete Rulebook.
The companion to the Advanced Rulebook is the Glossary. The Glossary is available at the CC's website, and includes many rulings and clarifications related to specific cards and terms. If the rulebook and the Glossary ever conflict, the Glossary is correct. You should also be aware of the Current Rulings Document, updated monthly with rules and clarifications that have not yet been added to the Glossary.
Keep in mind a few things as you begin:
- Allow a couple hours to read the rules, and a few more to play your first game. What seems complicated in the beginning becomes quite natural in subsequent games. This game aims to allow you to do virtually anything in the Star Trek universe; it takes a little practice and patience to master its infinite possibilities.
- You don’t have to memorize what each card does. Usually, using written information and a handful of important icons, the cards themselves explain what you can do with them.
- A specific rule overrides a more general rule, and a card's specific text overrides an otherwise applicable rule.
- Throughout the rulebook, sidebars contain in-depth discussion of certain topics; just click to expand. If this is your first time reading the rules, ignore the sidebars, except for the green "tips" sidebars, which are written for novices. Most other sidebars discuss complications and ambiguities in the rules, and should be absorbed gradually over the course of many games.
- If you click on a term in bold, you will be taken straight to an explanation of the term. Most bold terms also have an entry in the Glossary.
THE CARDS
ODO: I don't play cards.
QUARK: I'll teach you. It's a very simple game.
ODO: Let me put it another way. I don't want to play cards. And even if I did, I wouldn't want to play with you.
QUARK: Afraid you'd lose?
—"The Ascent"
There are seventeen card types in the Star Trek CCG, some of which you'll use in every game, and others which you'll rarely see. The following pages are a brief overview of the card types not covered in the Basic Rulebook.
The cards feature many different icons. Some have built-in gameplay functions, which will be explained in this rulebook. Other icons are only referenced by other cards; they are explained in the icon legend at the end of this rulebook.
MISSIONS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/cornerenemyship.png)
Every player begins the game with exactly 6 missions. Missions represent locations within the cosmos. Each mission has a span, representing the distance that must be traveled to visit or pass this location. Some missions are Planets, where personnel and equipment can beam down to the surface. Others are
Space missions, where everyone remains aboard their ships.
Most missions also define a goal, in which case they show which affiliations may attempt the mission, usually through affiliation icons. They also have requirements, which state what skills are needed to accomplish the mission, and a point box, specifying the number of points a player receives for completing the mission. If a player completes at least one Planet mission, one
Space mission, and scores 100 points, that player wins the game.
Both players' missions are played together in a row called the "spaceline," representing locations in one quadrant of the galaxy. If missions belong to different quadrants, each quadrant has a single, separate spaceline. All spacelines, together, form the shared universe you and your opponent inhabit during the game.
DILEMMAS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/clanpeople.jpg)
A dilemma is a problem or obstacle personnel must face when attempting to complete a mission. They are your main tools for preventing your opponent from solving missions and scoring points. They are placed under missions at the beginning of the game, to be discovered later. Planet dilemmas can be encountered only at planet missions.
Space dilemmas can be encountered only at space missions.
Dual dilemmas may be encountered at any mission.
ARTIFACTS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/betazoidgiftbox.png)
Artifacts represent rare and precious objects with special powers. They are discovered at
Planet locations during mission attempts, and can only be earned by completing the mission. Some are then kept as equipment, some play on the table as events, and others are placed in your hand for later use.
EVENTS, INCIDENTS, & OBJECTIVES
![](ccgicons/cards/surprise_party.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/intruder_alert.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/explore_gamma_quadrant.jpg)
Events and
Incidents represent developments within the universe.
Objectives represent tasks you may complete, usually for points or some other benefit. Although they have different names, they all function the same way. While most events, incidents, and objectives have lasting effects, a few say to discard them after use.
DOORWAYS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/dyson_sphere_door.png)
Doorways represent a physical door or a passage to another time or place. They open up side decks, link different spacelines together, allow special cards to enter play, and more. Most doorways are seeded (they enter play before the game begins), but many doorways can be played during your turn.
INTERRUPTS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/the_needs_of_the_many.png)
Interrupts represent sudden developments or unexpected changes of fortune in the universe. Unlike other card types, Interrupts can be played at any time between other actions Ź— even during your opponent's turn! Interrupts normally have a short-lived effect, and they are automatically discarded after use (unless the card says otherwise).
PERSONNEL
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/yeoman_rand.png)
Personnel are your primary resource in the race to one hundred points. Personnel solve missions, face dilemmas, staff ships, and fight battles. All personnel have an affiliation (see the list of affiliations). Cards from different affiliations do not normally work together, so you will probably have cards from only one or two affiliations in your deck.
All personnel have attributes (STRENGTH, INTEGRITY, and CUNNING), a single classification (OFFICER, ENGINEER, MEDICAL, SCIENCE, SECURITY, V.I.P., CIVILIAN, or ANIMAL), and one or more skills.
Many personnel also have characteristics, such as human, female, admiral, cook, bodyguard, and many more. For example, Benjamin Sisko is a human, a male, the commander of Deep Space 9, the Emissary of the Prophets, a cook, and a friend.
EQUIPMENT
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/kazon_disruptor.png)
Equipment cards represent portable tools and other devices. Your personnel carry Equipment to add skills, improve attributes, or do things they otherwise would not be able to do. Like personnel, equipment often have characteristics.
SHIPS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/liseria.png)
Ships move your personnel and equipment around the universe. You also need ships to attempt space missions. Like personnel, ships have affiliations and characteristics (such as class). They have attributes (RANGE, WEAPONS, and SHIELDS), and some have special equipment (like Tractor Beam or Cloaking Device) or abilities (like the I.K.S. Pagh's extra Tactic draw). Ships also have staffing requirements.
FACILITIES
![](ccgicons/cards/romulan_outpost.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/central_command.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/deep_space_9.jpg)
Facilities are installations throughout the universe. Your ships, personnel, and equipment typically enter play at one of your facilities. Facilities are usually well-shielded, and can extend their shields to friendly ships that dock at them. There are three main types of facilities:
- Outposts are operational bases on the frontiers of known space. Only the player who controls an outpost may use it, and only Outposts have built-in repair functions.
- Headquarters are the centers of government located on each affiliation's homeworld. If both players are playing the same affiliation, they share control of its headquarters.
- Stations represent all other facilities. Both players may use Stations freely. Each Station card specifies where it plays and what it can do.
Facilities are usually seeded, but some are built during the game.
SITES
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/schoolroom.png)
Sites represent areas within facilities where personnel can report for duty, perform tasks, and interact. At present, sites are used only on Nor-type stations.
Although usually seeded, Sites can be stocked in your draw deck. Playing one uses your normal card play.
TIME LOCATIONS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/camp_khitomer.png)
The Star Trek: Customizable Card Game is set in the latter half of the 24th Century. Time locations represent important places in the past or future.
Time Locations are not part of the spaceline, but every time location is paired with a spaceline location named in its lore. For example, Camp Khitomer states that it is located on 2293 Khitomer, so it is paired with the mission Khitomer Research, which states that its location is 24th-Century Khitomer. A time location may only be played if its corresponding spaceline location is in play.
Time locations are usually seeded before the game starts, but, if you do play one, it uses your normal card play. Getting to and from Time Locations requires a special form of movement called Time Travel.
TACTICS
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/picard_maneuver.png)
Tactics are side deck cards — they may enter play only through a Battle Bridge side deck, which requires a Battle Bridge Door. Tactic cards increase your offensive and/or defensive abilities during ship battles, and double as damage markers, doling out penalties to enemies who cannot withstand your firepower.
TRIBBLES & TROUBLES
![](ccgicons/cards/100_tribbles.gif)
![](ccgicons/cards/trouble_on_the_station.gif)
Tribbles and
Troubles are side deck cards — they may enter play only through a Tribble side deck, which requires a Storage Compartment Door. They are designed to impede (and irritate) your opponent by burying his or her operations under piles of adorable, unstoppable tribbles. Tribble groups start small, then breed into larger and larger groups. Troubles play on large groups of tribbles and add even more complications, making life very difficult for your opponent!
CARD SUB-TYPES
Q-ICON CARDS
![](ccgicons/cards/quandary.jpg)
Some cards have the icon in place of the normal card type icon. These cards belong to the Q-Continuum, and cannot be used in your draw deck or seed deck. Instead, they must be stocked in your Q-Continuum side deck, and are normally drawn out by Q-Flashes. Although
cards are identified as a variety of card types, they will nearly always be encountered by your opponent like Dilemmas.
BACKWARDS-COMPATIBLE CARDS (2EBC)
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/cry_havoc.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/diagrammed/andrea_brand.jpg)
When Decipher produced cards for Star Trek: Second Edition, some of the new cards were designated "backwards-compatible" with this First Edition. The small bar in the lower-left corner of a 2E card indicates that it is backwards-compatible with First Edition. "2EBC" cards add a number of new tools to the First Edition universe, and are generally playable in a 1E game right out of the box. However, some key terms, skills, and card layouts changed in Second Edition. For a full explanation of 2EBC cards, refer to the latest 2EBC Conversion Guide on the CC's website.
Now that First Edition is once again in development, new 2EBC cards are no longer produced.
From time to time, the Continuing Committee releases new 1E cards which it designates as "conversions" of 2EBC cards. These cards (such as Andrea Brand) are considered errata to the original 2E card, superseding the card's original 2E text and icons. The CC maintains a list of all converted cards.
BANNED CARDS
The Continuing Committee maintains an Official Ban List, updated on the first Monday of every month. Banned cards may not be included in your deck.
BUILDING YOUR DECK
Your Star Trek CCG game deck consists of a seed deck of up to 30 cards, plus a draw deck of at least 30 cards. Your seed deck consists of the cards you play during the game setup, while your draw deck consists of the cards you will play during the main game. You may also use any number of side decks, if you include the doorways to open them in your seed deck.
SEED DECK
Your seed deck contains the cards you will use before the first turn. Your seed deck must include six Missions, will probably include Dilemmas and Facilities, and might include Artifacts, Doorways, and other cards that state they may be seeded. You may include as many copies of each card as you like, as long as the total size of your seed deck is no larger than 30 cards.
Your seed deck must include exactly 6 missions, but these 6 cards do not count toward the seed deck's 30-card limit. (In game terms, they seed "for free.") Each of your missions must be at a different location. For example, Study Rare Phenomenon and Attack at Rare Phenomenon have the same location ("Compression anomaly"). Therefore, you cannot use both in your deck.
Your seed deck may include up to 6 Site cards, which also do not count toward the 30-card limit.
DRAW DECK
Your draw deck may be of any size, as long as it contains at least 30 cards. You may put any card in your draw deck, except Tactic,
Tribble,
Trouble, and
Q-Icon cards. However, you should avoid cards that must be seeded rather than played, such as
Dilemmas and
Artifacts, since you will normally have no way of using them if stocked in your draw deck. You may include as many copies of each card as you like.
SIDE DECKS
Your side decks are optional additional decks separate from your seed deck and draw deck. Each side deck is shuffled and placed face-down on the table. It must be opened by a Doorway card during the seed phase. Cards in your side decks are not seed cards and do not count toward the 30-card seed limit. (However, the Doorway cards that open them are seed cards and do count.) While you may have as many side decks in a game as you like, you may have only one side deck of each type (one Battle Bridge side deck, one Q-Continuum side deck, one Q's Tent side deck, etc.).
Unless the enabling doorway states otherwise, your side decks may be of any size.
THE SEED PHASES
—General Chang
The Star Trek CCG begins with four seed phases, in which players establish the universe, followed by the play phase, in which players take alternating turns until one player wins.
The seed phases “set the stage” for your adventure, and offer a great deal of strategic opportunity. There are four seed phases that must occur in sequence: the doorway phase, mission phase, dilemma phase, and the facility phase.
Doorways, Missions, Dilemmas, and Facilities must be seeded in the corresponding phase. Other cards that seed, like Establish Landing Protocols, may be seeded during any seed phase.
Cards seeded under a mission, and any card with a Hidden Agenda icon, always seed face-down. All other cards seed face-up. Face-down cards are not considered "in play" until encountered or activated. You do not have to announce the title of cards seeded face-down, but your opponent may count them, or require you to announce how many face-down cards you have seeded, whenever he or she chooses.
A card with the Alternate Universe icon may only be seeded if a card (such as Alternate Universe Door; see sidebar) expressly allows you to seed
cards.
Determine by any mutually agreeable method (often a coin toss) which player will be the starting player. The starting player will go first in each of the seed phases, and will have the first turn of the play phase. Then, shuffle any side decks you have and proceed to the first seed phase. The game has now begun.
DOORWAY PHASE
—Mr. Spock
Both players simultaneously play their Doorways (and any other cards which are seeded this phase) on the table. Then, starting with the player who will go first, each player announces the title of all cards he or she seeded face-up.
MISSION PHASE
—Dr. McCoy
In this phase, you and your opponent create one or more lines of Mission cards, called spacelines, representing different quadrants of the galaxy. Each spaceline functions like a gameboard where your cards move and interact. Each card that is part of a spaceline is a separate location.
Every Mission card states its native quadrant in its point box: Gamma Quadrant missions have the symbol, Delta Quadrant missions
, Mirror Quadrant missions
, and Alpha Quadrant missions have no symbol. Missions without a point box, like Nebula, are native to the Alpha Quadrant.
Both players shuffle their six missions and place them in a pile face-down. The starting player draws the top mission from his or her pile and places it face up on the table, beginning the first spaceline. The second player then draws and places his or her first mission.
A mission may be placed on either end of the appropriate spaceline. If it is the first mission in the quadrant, it is placed on a new spaceline, separate from the others. Cards that specify they are inserted into the spaceline may be placed anywhere in their native quadrant, including between two missions already seeded. This continues until both players are finished.
Some cards specify that they are part of a region, such as the "Bajor region" or the "Neutral Zone region". These cards must be next to each other, forming a single, contiguous region within the quadrant. The first location in a region is placed normally. Subsequent locations within that region may be inserted into the spaceline at either end of the region — or anywhere within it.
If two players seed the same location in the same quadrant, it becomes a shared mission. The first version to appear is seeded normally, but the second version is placed on top of the original, wherever it is on the spaceline, leaving half of the original exposed. The two missions form only one location and may be completed only once. Each player uses only their own mission card for gameplay purposes; players may not use the "opponent's end" of their opponents' mission card at a shared mission. For example, if you seed Aftermath and then your opponent seeds Aftermath II, they are the same location ("Lifeless Planet") in the same quadrant ( Delta). Place Aftermath II atop Aftermath; both players may attempt it. If you solve it first, you get 35 points; if your opponent solves it first, he or she gets only 30 points.
After the mission phase is over, your table may look something like this:
![](ccgicons/cards/spacelines/MissionPhaseComplete_crop.jpg)
DILEMMA PHASE
—William T. Riker
In this phase, you and your opponents hide Dilemmas, Artifacts, and other cards that seed like Dilemmas (such as The Nexus) face-down under missions, where they will be encountered during the game.
Space dilemmas may seed under any
Space mission.
Planet dilemmas and all artifacts are seeded under
planet missions.
Dual dilemmas may seed under any mission. (Typically, you will seed dilemmas under your opponent's missions and artifacts under your own... but this is not the only strategy.)
You may not seed more than one copy of any card under the same mission. Any card seeded illegally at a Mission is a mis-seed and will be placed out-of-play when revealed. You may only seed one artifact per mission. If you illegally seed more than one artifact at a single Mission, all your artifacts there are mis-seeds.
Once both players have considered their dilemma phase strategies for a brief period, seeding proceeds. The Dilemma Phase is divided into 4 stages:
- 1. Opponent's Missions: Both players place all cards they wish to seed under their opponent's (non-shared) missions in front of each such mission, in the order they are to be encountered, creating a face-down stack of cards. (Cards on bottom will be encountered first.) Once both players have placed all cards they wish to seed under opponent’s missions, all stacks are seeded by sliding the stack under their missions.
- 2. Shared Missions: Both players now create stacks in front of all shared missions. Once all stacks are created, players alternate seeding cards. The player who owns the bottom seeded mission card seeds the bottom card (the one encountered first) then his or her opponent places a card on top of that card. Repeat until all cards have been seeded, then move on to the next shared mission.
- 3. Your Missions: Both players now create stacks in front of missions that they seeded. Once both players have placed all cards they wish to seed under their own missions, all stacks are seeded by placing each stack on top of any existing cards under the mission. These cards will therefore be encountered last.
- 4. Everything Else: Starting with the player who will go first, players alternate seeding any cards that may seed during the dilemma phase but do not seed under missions. If you have no cards remaining to seed, you may pass. Once you pass, you may not seed any more cards during this phase, and your opponent may seed their remaining cards immediately.
FACILITY PHASE
—Mr. Spock
In this phase, you and your opponent establish the bases from which you will operate during the game. Beginning with the starting player, players alternate seeding their facilities (or other cards that seed during this phase) one at a time. A facility is seeded by placing it face-up in front of the location where it is being seeded. All facilities are located in space, unless their gametext states they are played "on" a planet.
Like Missions, every Facility has a native quadrant: Delta Quadrant ,
Gamma Quadrant,
Mirror Quadrant, or Alpha Quadrant (no icon). Each facility must be seeded in its native quadrant.
Most Facilities state on their cards where they may be seeded — Nor enters play at a mission with affiliation icon; Tower of Commerce enters play at Deliver Message (Ferenginar).
The exception is Outposts. Outposts may be seeded at any mission in their native quadrant with a matching affiliation icon. Thus, a Federation Outpost may seed at any Alpha Quadrant mission with the
Federation affiliation icon, such as Investigate Dead Planet or Repair Mission. However, Outposts may never be seeded at the homeworld of any affiliation. For example, you may not seed a
Outpost at Deliver Message, because it is the
Ferengi homeworld.
You may not seed (or build) a facility at a location where you already have one (unless permitted by a card that allows them to "co-exist"). Your opponent may seed a facility where you already have one, and you may control two facilities at one location during the game if one of them has been moved or commandeered.
SEEDING SITES
Along with facilities, you may seed up to 6 Sites during the facility phase. Each site may be added to any facility where it is allowed to play (identified on the lower left corner of the Site card), no matter which player seeded that facility. Sites are added to a facility by placing them in a side-by-side line next to that facility. Each site indicates which level of the facility it belongs to (Ops Module, Promenade, Habitat Ring, Docking Ring, etc.), and the Sites must be kept together on the table in this order (from left to right). When placing a Site on the table, you may insert it between other sites, as long as you keep Sites from the same level adjacent to each other.
By default, sites are "unique per station". That is, each station is limited to one copy of each Site card. However, some sites are ❖ universal and thus may exist in multiple on each station.
Your 6 Site cards seed "for free" (they do not count toward the 30-card limit in your seed deck). You may not seed additional sites beyond the 6 free ones, even by using seed slots. You may stock Site cards in your draw deck and add them to your facility during the game using your normal card play.
STARTING THE GAME
The facility phase continues until both players announce they have no more cards to seed by saying "pass." Once both players have passed, the Seed Phases are complete. Show your opponent any seed cards you did not use, then place them out-of-play. Your table may look something like this:
Here is how your spaceline might look at the end of the seed phase with Sites included:
![](ccgicons/cards/spacelines/FacilityPhaseComplete.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/spacelines/FacilityPhaseComplete_streamlined.jpg)
The play phase now begins.
THE PLAY PHASE
—Geordi LaForge
Both players shuffle their draw decks and place them face-down on the table, then draw seven concealed cards to form a starting hand. The starting player takes the first turn. Then players take alternating turns until one of them wins.
Each turn consists of a series of actions taken by the player. Actions may be permitted — or required — by the rules or by the cards on the table. There are three basic kinds of action, which each player normally must do during his or her turn in the following order:
- Play a card to the table (normally at the start of the turn)
- Do something with the cards on the table (normally in the middle of the turn; this is called "excuting orders")
- Draw a card from your draw deck (normally at the end of the turn)
You may not normally interrupt your own actions, or your opponents' actions, unless you use a card that is a valid response to that action or a card that suspends play.
The next three chapters will detail the three basic actions described above.
PLAYING A CARD
YOUR NORMAL CARD PLAY
At the beginning of each turn, you have the option to play any single card from your hand to the table. This is referred to as your "normal card play."
Your normal card play must take place before you take any further actions. If you begin executing orders before using your card play, you forfeit your card play for the turn.
Most card types may enter play directly from your hand. However, personnel, ships, and equipment must report for duty to enter play.
PLAYING "FOR FREE"
Some cards say that they play "for free", or allow other cards to play "for free". This means that they play normally, but they do not count as your normal card play for the turn. You may play cards "for free" before or after your normal card play (or both!), and there is no limit on the number of cards you may play "for free" during your turn. However, like your normal card play, you must play all your "for free" cards before you begin executing orders.
ENTERING PLAY
—Maxwell Forrest
To play a card, announce the title of the card and place it face-up on the table (or wherever the card directs). It is now in play. Any opponent may examine the card if he or she chooses. Any immediate effects in the gametext are played out and resolved. Cards remain in play until they are nullified, discarded, killed, destroyed, or otherwise forced to leave play.
If a card is marked "unique", its owner may not have more than one copy in play at a time, and any additional copies its owner plays, earns, encounters, or activates are immediately discarded. Ships, Personnel, and Facilities are unique by default; Sites are "unique by station".
If a card is marked "not duplicatable", there may not be more than one copy in play anywhere in the game, and any additional copies that enter play for any player are immediately discarded. Missions and Time Locations are non-duplicatable by default. (Duplicated missions become shared missions.)
A very small number of cards are marked as ✶ enigmas. Their nature is mysterious or unexplained. For most purposes, ✶ enigmas are treated like uniques: each player may have one instance of an ✶ enigma in play (the persona rule applies). However, ✶ enigmas are not unique, so they are immune to cards that specifically target uniques, such as The Arsenal: Separated.
Otherwise, cards are presumptively ❖ universal, meaning there is no limit on the number of copies that can be in play at the same time.
A non-seeded Alternate Universe card may only enter play if another card (typically an open doorway or time location) allows it.
A card with the Hidden Agenda icon must be played face-down on the table. The player does not announce its title or use its gametext at this time. It is not in play, and may not be examined by the opponent. The player who controls the
card may, at any time, activate the
card by flipping it face-up. It enters play and takes immediate effect. If a player seeds or plays a card as a hidden agenda (face-down) when it does not have a
icon, that player forfeits the game.
REPORTING FOR DUTY
KIRA: Captain, as a Major in the Bajoran Militia, I must officially protest Starfleet's refusal to turn over this station to my government.
SISKO: Your protest is duly noted.
KIRA: Good. Now that that's over with... Kira Nerys, reporting for duty.
—"Call to Arms"
Your Personnel, Ship, and Equipment cards do not simply play on the table like other cards. Normally, they must play at a usable, compatible outpost or headquarters in their native quadrant, or to a time location where they are native. Announce the title of the card you are reporting and where you are reporting it, then place it there.
USABLE
A card is usable if you control it. In addition, Stations are usable by both players, regardless of control. Finally, some cards, like Ferengi Trading Post, state that they are usable by both players.
COMPATIBLE
A card is compatible with another card if they both belong to the same affiliation. Cards from different affiliations are compatible only if some other card (such as Treaty: Romulan/Klingon) permits them to "mix", "mix and cooperate" or otherwise interact "regardless of affiliation".
For example, a Cardassian personnel like Jerax can report to a
Cardassian Outpost (they are naturally compatible), or a
Ferengi Trading Post (which allows "mixing"), but not a
Federation Outpost (they are incompatible).
Equipment cards have no affiliation, and are compatible with all cards.
NATIVE QUADRANT
A card's native quadrant is indicated by an icon on its right side. Cards that are native to the Delta Quadrant have the icon, cards native to the Gamma Quadrant have the
icon, cards native to the Mirror Quadrant have the
icon, and cards native to the Alpha Quadrant (the majority of cards in the game) have no quadrant icon. When reporting for duty, both the card reporting and the facility it reports to must be in their native quadrants.
Equipment cards have no native quadrant, and may report to any quadrant.
REPORTING TO A TIME LOCATION
A card may report for duty at any time location where it is native (as defined by a listing on the Time Location). It may report directly to the Time Location card (if a Planet location), to any of your ships there, or to any compatible, usable facility there. No additional
-enabling card is required to report native
cards to a time location.
SPECIAL REPORTING
The above rules describe the game's built-in reporting rules. Some cards provide special reporting: additional reporting options at specific locations. When a card provides special reporting, native quadrant restrictions do not apply. Thus, you can use Assign Mission Specialists to download Narik and Amarie (who are Alpha Quadrant natives) to a Primary Supply Depot (which is in the Gamma Quadrant), or report a Vulcan (even a
Delta Quadrant Vulcan like Tuvok) to Observe Ritual, even if you have no facility there.
AFTER REPORTING
Once your card has "reported for duty", and your opponent has had the opportunity to inspect the card reported, you may place it face-up underneath the facility (or face-down atop the time location), so that your opponent can no longer see it. (See Looking At Cards.)
DUPLICATION AND PERSONAS
Unlike other cards, Ship, Personnel, and Facility cards are unique by default: you may normally have only one copy of each ship, personnel, or facility in play at one time. Just as there is only one Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek universe, you may only have one copy of Jean-Luc Picard in play at once.
In addition, you may only have in play a single version of any given persona. A few personnel in the game (and even some ships!) have several different cards representing them, each one showing a different side of the subject's personality. For example, there is Benjamin Sisko, commander of Deep Space Nine... but there is also Benjamin Sisko (Chain of Command), a young exec at the Battle of Wolf 359; Lt. Sisko, the time-travelling crewman on Kirk's Enterprise; The Emissary, the central figure in Bajoran religion; and Dr. Noah, the holographic criminal mastermind. All of these are different representations of the same persona, and you may not have more than one of them in play at one time.
You can identify whether a card shares the persona of another in three ways:
- if the two cards have the exact same card title, letter-for-letter, they are the same persona (for example, the Miles O'Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation and the Miles O'Brien from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
- if one card has the exact name of the other card written in bold in its lore, they are the same persona (e.g. Falcon and Miles O'Brien)
- if the two cards both have the same name written in bold in their lores, they are the same persona (e.g. Falcon and Ensign O'Brien)
![](ccgicons/cards/personas/miles_obrien.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/personas/miles_obrien_bog.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/personas/falcon.jpg)
![](ccgicons/cards/personas/ensign_obrien.jpg)
As always, if a card is specifically marked ❖ universal, then there is no limit on the number of copies and versions of that persona you may have in play. ❖ Universal ships and personnel are typically representative of a genre. For example, Linda Larson represents all young Starfleet engineers.
HOLOGRAPHIC
PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT
Holographic personnel and equipment are not quite "real". They are actually sapient computer programs who have to be "projected" into the real world using photons and forcefields. This has both advantages and disadvantages.
ACTIVATION AND DEACTIVATION
cards can only exist on a ship or facility with a holodeck, such as U.S.S. Galaxy. Whenever a
hologram is not present with a usable holodeck or some other card allowing it to exist (such as Holo-Projectors or Mobile Holo-Emitter), it is immediately deactivated, which is equivalent to being disabled. Any time a
hologram is forced by a card to leave its current location and go somewhere where it cannot be projected, it is deactivated instead.
Any unstopped personnel present with a deactivated hologram may activate it as a normal action. There is no limit on how many times a personnel may do this per turn. However, when a
becomes deactivated for any reason during a turn, it is stopped and cannot be reactivated until the following turn.
DEATH AND ERASURE
A hologram that is "erased" is discarded. However, any time a
hologram is targeted to be killed or destroyed, it is deactivated instead.
MULTI-AFFILIATION CARDS
A few cards have more than one affiliation icon. For example, The Emissary has both the and
affiliation icons. However, a card may have only one affiliation at a time. When a multi-affiliation card enters play, you must decide its current affiliation. All regular reporting restrictions apply (for example, you may not report Tallera to a Romulan Outpost in
mode). You may change the affiliation of a multi-affiliation card at any time (except during another action). There is no limit on the number of times you may do this.
However, you may never change a card's affiliation in such a way that it causes your personnel aboard your ship or facility to become incompatible. For example, if you have Koral (The Next Generation) in Non-Aligned mode aboard the H.M.S. Bounty in
mode, surrounded by a crew of other
personnel, you may not change Koral to
mode, since this would make him incompatible with his shipmates. Similarly, you may not change the H.M.S. Bounty to
mode, since this would make many of the crew incompatible with it.
DUAL PERSONNEL CARDS
A few special personnel cards, such as Sons of Mogh and The Trois, have two individual personnel printed on the same card. They count as two personnel, but the individuals on a dual-personnel card have a linked destiny: what happens to one usually happens to the other.
If either personnel on a dual-personnel card is: stopped, killed, captured, moved, removed from play, downloaded, reported for free, or otherwise experiences some change in status or position (for example, is phased, "held by aliens", or changes affiliation), then the same thing automatically happens to the other personnel on the card. One cannot survive without the other, so they can never be separated.
MIRROR OPPOSITES AND IMPERSONATORS
If a personnel's lore contains a name written in bold italic text, the named personnel is either an opposite version of that persona from the Mirror Universe, or an impersonator who is pretending to be that personnel.
It is easy to tell the two apart: impersonators have a diamond-shaped infiltration icon, and opposite versions have a Mirror
quadrant icon.
![](ccgicons/cards/personas/obrien_founder.jpg)
For example, O'Brien Founder (who has a infiltration icon) is an impersonator of the Miles O'Brien persona.
![](ccgicons/cards/personas/smiley.jpg)
On the other hand, Smiley (who has no infiltration icon) is the Mirror Universe opposite of our man Miles.
Opposite versions and impersonators are not versions of the original persona, so players may have copies of both in play at the same time. Impersonation matters during infiltration. Opposite versions have no built-in gameplay function, but several cards, like Transporter Mixup, make use of them.
LEAVING PLAY
When a card leaves play (or is "discarded"), it is placed in its owner's discard pile, unless otherwise specified. Cards in the discard pile are stacked face-up, and their owner may examine them. If the discarded card was unique, its owner is now free to play another copy during his or her turn (if he or she has one!). You may not discard cards unless a card or rule allows or requires it.
Dilemmas are placed out-of-play instead of being discarded (even when the dilemma specifies "discard dilemma"). Cards put out-of-play are placed in a separate pile from the discard pile. They are now conceptually outside the game, and cannot be retrieved by any means.
If a card leaves play, other cards played on or under it also leave play in the same manner. For example, if a ship is destroyed, all personnel aboard are killed and discarded to their owners' discard piles. If a ship affected by Cytherians and Tactical Console is returned to hand by Space-Time Portal, all personnel aboard are returned to their owners' hands, as are Tactical Console and Cytherians (which, as a dilemma, cannot normally be played again).
If a card requires you to target another card, and the target leaves play or becomes an invalid target, the card requiring the target is immediately discarded. For example, if Calloway is killed while being targeted by Rituals of the Hunt, Rituals discards.
Some cards have a bonus point box in their gametext — a black box with a specified number of points inside it:
![](ccgicons/cards/klingon_death_yell.jpg)
When you score points from non-mission card with a point box, place it in a bonus point area on your side of the table, as a reminder of those points (unless the card remains on a target or otherwise specifies that it should remain in play). Cards in your point area are not in your discard pile and are neither in play nor out-of-play.
OTHER WAYS TO PLAY A CARD
—Chakotay
PLAYING "AT ANY TIME"
Interrupts, and several other cards (like Out of Time), play "at any time." You may play them at any time, during any phase of your turn or your opponent's.
Cards played "at any time" do not count as your normal card play.
You may activate a face-down Hidden Agenda card by flipping it face-up at any time (as if it were an "at any time" card play). It enters play when flipped. Its gametext takes immediate effect (or retroactive effect, if a valid response). It may not be flipped face-down again.
Even a card that plays (or activates) "at any time" may not interrupt another action in progress, unless it suspends play or is a valid response to that action.
PLAYING A DOORWAY
Doorways, by default, may play at any time during your turn only.
However, if a Doorway specifically states it plays "at any time" (for example, Holodeck Door), then it may also play during your opponent's turn.
PERSONA REPLACEMENT
At the start of each of your turns (before your normal card play), if you have one version of a ship or personnel persona in play and another version of that persona in your hand, you may exchange them for free. (Facility personas, such as Terok Nor and Deep Space Nine, may not be exchanged in this way.) Persona replacement does not count as a card play, and it is not a reporting-for-duty action. All cards affecting the first version (for example, Framed for Murder) are transferred to the version entering play, if applicable; inapplicable cards are returned to their owners' hands.
You may not replace the same persona more than once per turn in this fashion. You may not replace a card that you no longer control or a card you do not own. If you replace a dual-personnel card, you must replace both personas represented on that card. For example, you may only perform persona replacement on Sisters of Duras if you are able to exchange it for both Lursa and B'Etor.
DOWNLOADING
Some cards allow you to download a card. When you download a target card, it does not need to be played from your hand. You may search through your hand, your draw deck, and any open side decks for the target. Once found, play the card to the table normally. Downloading does not count as your normal card play, but you must still follow all the normal rules for playing a card, such as reporting restrictions. Then reshuffle any decks you looked through.
When a download goes "to hand", as with Quark's Isolinear Rods, the downloaded card is added to your hand instead of entering play. If the download works "in place of one card draw", like Blood Oath, you may choose whether to play the card immediately or take it into your hand. Otherwise, you must play the downloaded card immediately to the table.
A Facility card (or its attached Site card) may not provide downloads outside its native quadrant. (This is in addition to all normal reporting restrictions.)
You may not download artifacts unless specifically permitted by a card.
General Quarters: The Personnel Download Limit
Personnel cannot be downloaded as easily as other cards. When you recruit specially-picked personnel (instead of recruiting personnel who are already "available" in your hand), you must locate, draft, and reassign them to your forces &mdash all of which takes time and effort. For this reason, you may not download personnel into play more often than once every turn.
For example, suppose you use Ferengi Conference to download Leeta and Lumba. Because you did this as a single action, you are allowed to download both personnel at once. Leeta may then immediately use her Special Download to download Dabo — Dabo is not a personnel. However, because of the personnel download limit, you must wait until your opponent's turn to use Lumba's
Special Download of Nilva — Nilva is a personnel, and you have already hit the once-every-turn download limit for personnel this turn.
SPECIAL DOWNLOAD
A card with a Special Download icon allows you to suspend play at any point during the game (including during a seed phase or an opponent's turn), interrupting other actions as necessary, while you download the target card and immediately play it.
If the target card is location-based, it must be downloaded to the location of the icon. For example, Arandis may download Jamaharon to nullify a Horga'hn, because that effect is not location-specific. Arandis may also download Jamaharon to relocate a male at her location to Risa. But she may not download Jamaharon to relocate a male at another location to Risa.
Each icon on a particular card grants a Special Download only once per game, regardless of how many copies of that card you have in play. Thus, Admiral Kirk (Life From Lifelessness) may download both The Genesis Effect and Khan! during a game, but, if you later get another copy of Admiral Kirk into play (using Aid Clone Colony), he could not use those spent downloads.
EXECUTING ORDERS
Once you have played all the cards you intend to play at the start of your turn, signify this by announcing that you are now "giving orders". This is the part of your turn where you and your cards get stuff done.
MOVE
QUARK: 'Come to Quark's, Quark's is fun, come right now — don't walk, run!' Oh, I love the part where my name rotates around.
KIRA: If all your little 'advertisements' aren't purged from our systems by the time I get back from the Gamma Quadrant, I will come to Quark's. And, believe me... I will have fun.
—"The Quickening"
During the game, your personnel will move throughout the universe. They may visit facilities, board starships, beam down to planets, invade an opponent's ship, travel across the galaxy (or across time), or stop by the bar for a relaxing hand of Tongo.
When your personnel move to a a usable space facility or a ship that you control, stack them face-up underneath the ship or facility card. (If the facility has sites, stack the personnel face-down on top of the appropriate Site card instead.) These personnel, collectively, form the crew of that ship or space facility.
When your personnel are on a planet (or in a planet facility) stack them face-down on the planet (or on the planet facility). They now form a single Away Team. You may not divide your crews or Away Teams into separate groups, except when permitted or required to do so by a card or another rule.
When your personnel are on an opponent's ship or facility, they still form an Away Team, but they also become intruders. Intruders cannot attempt missions, but they can start personnel battles, and they are in a good position to commandeer their hosts. Intruders are not necessarily hostile; indeed, cards like Open Diplomatic Relations and Ferengi Trading Post positively invite friendly "intruders" to board opposing ships and facilities.
Whenever your personnel move, whether by choice or by force, they may carry any number of Equipment cards with them. Equipment is not carried by any specific personnel, but is carried (and used by) the entire team as a whole. (There are a few exceptions, like Mobile Holo-Emitter and Data's Head, which are "worn" or "placed on" a single, specific personnel.)
BEAM
"I signed aboard this ship to practice medicine, not to have my atoms scattered back and forth across space by this gadget!"
—Dr. McCoy
In the Star Trek universe, all modern facilities and vessels are equipped with transporters, which are devices that allow near-instant teleportation of personnel and equipment en masse. In the Star Trek CCG, using the transporters ("beaming") is the normal way to move your crews and Away Teams between ships, planets, and facilities. All Ships and Facilities have transporters unless the card indicates otherwise.
Any ship or facility that you control, even if it has no personnel onboard, may use its transporters to beam your personnel to or from that ship or facility. You may beam to (or from) your other ships or facilities at the same location, to (or from) your opponent's unshielded ship or facility at the same location, or, if your transporters are at a Planet location, to (or from) the planet's surface.
You may only use your opponent's transporters at a usable facility or ship.
WALK
"I think it's time that we took a little stroll."
—Jean-Luc
Your personnel may also walk around at a location. Specifically, your personnel at a facility may walk on or off of your ships docked there ("embarking" and "disembarking"). On a planet, your personnel may walk in or out of your facilities or landed ships on that planet ("entering" and "exiting"). At a station with sites, personnel may walk from one site to another (they must pass through each site in between, but do not have to stop at each). There is no limit to the number of times personnel may walk during a turn.
STAFF A SHIP
"I've had my share of piloting experience. Actually only two lessons, and they were in a shuttlecraft on the Holodeck, but I showed great intuition. Where's the helm?"
—The Doctor
In order to dock, undock, or move a ship, you must meet its staffing requirements. A ship's staffing requirements are listed on the card, usually as icons representing Command ability () or Staff ability (
). A ship is staffed when:
- There is at least one personnel of matching affiliation on board; and
- Each staffing requirement is met by a compatible personnel onboard.
For staffing purposes only, a personnel with may substitute for a required
.
Full staffing is required only for movement. Any ship which has at least one personnel of matching affiliation on board can attempt a mission, initiate battle, or fire weapons, even if the ship is not fully staffed. Any ship, including an empty one, may use its transporters.
DOCK & UNDOCK
"Close exterior hatches, depressurise the airlock. Detach umbilicals, clear all moorings."
—Kira Nerys
When a ship is reported to a facility in space, it reports docked. Facilities extend 50% of their SHIELDS to all ships docked there. Docked ships may not attempt missions or fire WEAPONS (not even to return fire when attacked), but can be repaired by a compatible facility. Ships docked at a facility are not destroyed if the facility is destroyed.
Undocking is a form of ship movement that uses no RANGE. To undock, a ship must be fully staffed. Since it uses no RANGE, there is no limit on the number of times a ship may undock in a turn.
Docking follows the same rules as undocking. A ship must be compatible with a facility to dock with it, and the facility must be in space. However, the crew does not have to be compatible with the facility. (Incompatible members of the crew must stay on the ship and not board the facility.)
CARRIED SHIPS
Some cards, such as Engage Shuttle Operations, permit ships to be carried aboard other ships. Like docking and undocking, launching and recovering a carried ship is a movement action that uses no RANGE, which requires the carried ship to be fully staffed.
If a carried ship is destroyed (for example, by Warp Core Breach), the carrying ship is damaged.
FLY A STARSHIP
"Number One, set a course for the Neutral Zone."
—Jean-Luc
A staffed ship can move along your side of the spaceline in either direction. The distance your ship can move on one turn is limited by its RANGE. You determine how far it can travel by adding up the span of each location the ship moves to (or passes), not counting the location where it begins. For example, three consecutive missions A, B, and C on a spaceline have spans of 2, 4, and 3. A ship starting at mission A will use 7 RANGE to reach mission C, and 6 RANGE to return from C to A.
![](ccgicons/cards/spacelines/MovementDiagram_cropped.jpg)
A ship does not have to move all of its RANGE on a turn. A ship can stop at each location as it moves, or it can “warp past” locations without stopping there (but still using RANGE).
LAND & TAKE OFF
"Harry, vent all plasma from the nacelles, transfer available power to atmospheric thrusters and stand by to commence landing sequence."
—Kathryn Janeway
Some ships are able to take off or land on Planets. Landing and taking off is a movement action that uses no range (unless stated); thus, it requires full staffing.
Landed ships may not attack or be attacked by ships or Away Teams unless a card specifically allows it. Landed ships may not be targeted by any card or effect that targets a ship (such as Loss of Orbital Stability), unless the card specifically allows it to target a landed ship (such as Hirogen Hunt). However, cards may report and beam to (or from) a landed ship as normal.
MOVING BETWEEN QUADRANTS
"Captain, if these sensors are working, we're over seventy thousand light years from where we were. We're on the other side of the galaxy."
—Harry Kim
It is not legal to move between quadrants unless permitted or required by a card.
TIME TRAVEL
—T'Pol
Time Travel is movement between a time location and a spaceline location, or between two time locations. It is not legal unless expressly permitted or required by a card. A card that does not say the phrase "time travel" does not permit regular time travel.
ATTEMPT A MISSION
The mission. Whether it's exploration or relief, diplomacy or combat, the mission is at the heart of every Star Trek episode — and the Star Trek CCG.
Of course, missions rarely go as planned. You'll beam down to do some Changeling Research with a research team, but you'd better bring weapons and Security officers to keep them safe, or they might fall prey to a Berserk Changeling. It's even more important in space, where a mission to Observe Stellar Rebirth could end in catastrophe for an entire starship if they're not prepared for everything they might find. But, if you survive the dilemmas your opponent has left for you and solve the mission, you're one step closer to winning the game.
BEGINNING A MISSION ATTEMPT
"Well... it seems we're truly sailing into the unknown."
—Jean-Luc Picard
You may attempt any mission with a point box that you seeded. You may attempt a mission an opponent seeded only if its point box shows 40 points or more, if it is ❖ Universal, or if it is a shared mission.
At a Planet mission, any single Away Team that is present on the planet's surface may begin a mission attempt. At a
Space mission, any single undocked ship may begin a mission attempt. (The ship must have at least one personnel of matching affiliation aboard.)
To attempt a mission, you must have at least one personnel present whose affiliation matches one of the affiliation icons on the mission card. All compatible personnel in the crew or Away Team may assist that personnel, and may contribute skills and other attributes to the mission requirements. You do not need to meet the mission's requirements in order to begin a mission attempt.
Simply announce that you are beginning a mission attempt with your ship or Away Team. Mission attempts are a single action, so, once the attempt has started, you will not be able to do anything else (except as a valid response or by suspending play) until the entire mission attempt is completed.
If there are cards seeded under this mission, slide the bottom seed card out from under the mission, reveal it face-up, and begin working through the mission's challenges! If there are no seed cards, you may try to solve the mission.
MISSION ATTEMPTS: BASIC RULES
You attempt missions using the personnel, ships and equipment you have played. You attempt Space missions with your crew aboard a ship; you attempt
Planet missions by beaming an Away Team down to the mission.
When you begin a mission attempt, start by revealing the bottom dilemma beneath the mission (the dilemma closest to the table). Read the dilemma’s text and check to see if you have the dilemma’s requirements. If you do, the dilemma is discarded and you continue with the next dilemma. If you do not, you will suffer the effects of the dilemma and follow its instructions. Usually this means that some of your personnel will be stopped (unavailable the rest of this turn) or killed (placed in your discard pile).
When there are no more dilemmas beneath the mission, check your crew or Away Team; if you still have the mission requirements, then you complete the mission! You score points equal to the value of the mission, and you can continue your turn.
ENCOUNTERING DILEMMAS
Most cards seeded under a mission are probably Dilemmas, or are cards that function as Dilemmas. Either way, you're in trouble!
After you flip a dilemma face-up during a mission attempt to reveal it, the crew or Away Team begin an encounter with that dilemma. The dilemma is now in play and remains in play until it is overcome, cured, reseeded, discarded, or otherwise removed from the mission's seed cards.
Each dilemma has one or more effects, such as, "kills one personnel with SCIENCE (random selection)", "when countdown expires, ship is destroyed", or "cannot get past". Effects may be automatic or may have conditions, which cancel the effect if met.
A dilemma is removed from the mission's seed cards once all its effects have been resolved and all conditions have been met (unless otherwise specified). Removed dilemmas are discarded (unless otherwise specified).
AUTOMATIC EFFECTS
"You may win this war, Commander, but I promise you, when it is over, you will have lost so many ships, so many lives, that your victory will taste as bitter as defeat."
—Founder Leader
Effects that have no requirements happen automatically. Examples include Artillery Attack, which automatically kills some number of personnel, Murasaki Effect, which penalizes beaming at this location, Fractured Time, which reduces your mission team to nine personnel, and the first effect of Armus: Energy Field, which stops (at least) one personnel. (The second effect of Armus: Energy Field is conditional.)
When your mission team encounters an automatic effect, simply follow its gametext. If all of the effects you face in a dilemma encounter are automatic effects, your mission team automatically removes it at the end of the encounter. (The dilemma is discarded unless otherwise specified.) Thus, Chula: Crossroads is removed and discarded as soon as the personnel targeted by it have been stopped. I'm Not Going To Fight You is removed as soon as its download is complete and placed on the mission for a persistent effect. Chula: The Lights has both an automatic effect (returns a personnel to hand) and a conditional effect (cannot get past without a certain amount of Cunning); it is not removed and discarded until the condition is overcome.
CONDITIONAL EFFECTS
"If we can't find a way to stop them, they'll tear the ship apart."
—B'Elanna Torres
Many effects can be prevented if you overcome certain conditions. If you meet the conditions for all such effects on a dilemma, the dilemma is removed and discarded. Examples include "God", which has a condition of two personnel who each have INTEGRITY > 7, Ancient Computer, which has several skill requirements, and Dead End, which has a condition of having at least 50 points. Conditions are often prefaced with the words "unless" or "to get past."
However, if you fail to meet the conditions of any of the active effects on a dilemma, the dilemma is not removed. Failing to overcome a conditional effect has all of the following consequences:
- The effect occurs.
- The mission attempt fails (see mission failure below).
- The ship, crew, and/or Away Team involved in the mission attempt are all stopped.
- The dilemma is reseeded as the bottom card under the mission, to be encountered again on the next attempt.
There are two main exceptions to these consequences for dilemma failure:
If a dilemma states, "Discard dilemma", then the dilemma is removed and discarded after it is encountered, even if the mission team failed to overcome its conditions. The mission attempt still fails, and the mission team is still stopped, but at least the dilemma will not be encountered again!
If a dilemma states, "Mission continues", then the dilemma is removed even if the mission team fails to pass it. The mission attempt continues and the mission team is not stopped.
CURES
"By golly, Jim, I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day!"
—Dr. McCoy
Some dilemmas have an ongoing effect that can be cured by meeting a set of cure requirements – after the dilemma has taken effect. First, the effect happens, which removes the dilemma from the mission's seed cards (it will not be encountered again). Then, if the required skills are present, it is cured immediately, before the next dilemma is encountered. If not, then the dilemma remains in play until cured or otherwise discarded. The cure requirements on a dilemma apply to all its effects; once a dilemma's cure requirements are met, the entire dilemma is discarded.
Examples include Komar Possession, which stops personnel every turn until cured with 3 SECURITY, Emergent Life-Form, which takes control of a ship's movement until it is cured or expires, and Nitrium Metal Parasites, which destroys the host ship in two turns. Cure requirements are often harder to meet than normal requirements, because the effect hits first. For example, Data Has Some Issues is cured with 3 ENGINEER, but first it stops a personnel present. If that personnel happens to be one of your engineers, and you don't have any extra, too bad! You can't cure the dilemma this turn, and people are going to start dying!
Failing to immediately meet a cure condition does not cause mission failure.
DILEMMA BONUS POINTS
Some dilemmas, like Microvirus, have a bonus point box on them, but do not specify how to earn the points. These points are scored by meeting the dilemma's requirements during the mission or curing the dilemma afterward. Instead of being discarded or placed out-of-play, dilemmas you score from should be placed in your bonus point area.
You do not score the points if you fail the dilemma's requirements. For example, if you fail to meet the requirements of Barclay's Protomorphosis Disease and your mission team dies, the dilemma is still removed and discarded, because it says "Discard dilemma." But you don't score 10 bonus points from it, because you did not overcome it.
OTHER SEEDS
Besides Dilemmas (and cards that function as Dilemmas), you may encounter other cards beneath a mission. Artifacts may be seeded at any planet mission, and several other cards (such as Search for Weapons and Cryosatellite) will allow you to seed personnel or equipment beneath a mission. If you encounter one of these cards during a mission attempt, place it face-up beneath the mission and continue to the next seed card. The player who solves this mission will earn all these cards.
MIS-SEEDS
Any card revealed at a mission that cannot legally enter play at that mission is immediately placed out-of-play (it is not encountered).
Mis-seeds include (but are not limited to):
- non-seed cards (such as Event cards) placed under a Mission as a bluff,
- multiple copies of the same card seeded under one Mission by a single player,
space Dilemmas revealed under
planet Missions (and vice versa),
-icon cards without an
-enabling card,
- multiple Artifacts seeded under one Mission by a single player (all that player's artifacts at that Mission become mis-seeds), and
- personnel with no game text allowing them to seed (such as Mirasta Yale under a mission other than First Contact).
If a player encounters his or her own mis-seeded card at a Mission, that player cannot solve that mission (or any Objective targeting that Mission) for the rest of the game. At Empok Nor, encountering your own mis-seed permanently prevents you from taking initial control of the station (but you may commandeer later).
SOLVING THE MISSION
Once all seed cards under a mission have been encountered, and there are no dilemmas remaining beneath the mission, check your remaining personnel present. If they meet the mission requirements, they solve the mission; slide it a half-card length toward you to mark it complete. The completed mission remains on the table as a spaceline location, but cannot be attempted (or scouted) again.
Now, any gametext triggered by solving the mission is resolved. (For example, after solving Host Metaphasic Shield Test, you may download Metaphasic Shields to any of your ships at that location.)
Then, artifacts are earned and other hidden seeds are resolved (the solver may decide the order in which they are earned and resolved). If you earn personnel from a mission attempt, any personnel you seeded join your crew or Away Team if compatible, form a separate Away Team if not, or are placed under house arrest if aboard a ship. Personnel seeded by your opponent are captured. Earning seed cards is neither a card play nor a reporting-for-duty action. (However, some Artifacts are played immediately when earned; these card plays do count as a free card play.)
Finally, you score the mission points, plus any bonus points you earned (for example, with Assign Mission Specialists)... even if the personnel who earned those points have been moved away (for example, by Magic Carpet Ride OCD).
The mission attempt is now complete, and cards which respond to that (such as Particle Fountain) may be played.
MISSION FAILURE
During a mission attempt, a lot can go wrong, but your hardy crews and Away Teams will try to venture on through great adversity. Only a few dire conditions can completely stop a mission attempt:
- No one remains in the crew or Away Team. (This may be because they are dead, stopped, disabled, relocated elsewhere, or removed by some other means.)
- No matching personnel (personnel whose affiliation matches one of the affiliation icons on the mission) remain in the crew or Away Team.
- After a dilemma is encountered, it is reseeded under the mission to be encountered again.
- After resolving all dilemmas, the crew or Away Team cannot meet the mission requirements with its remaining personnel.
When a mission attempt fails, unstopped personnel (on an unstopped ship, if at a Space mission) may reattempt the mission. This is a new mission attempt, not a continuation of the previous attempt.
BATTLE
—Q
The final frontier is a dangerous place, and not everyone will want to be your friend. Your rivals may attack your vessels, your outposts, your personnel, and even your planets. Whether in hand-to-hand ground battles or space-based fleet actions, combat gives your enemies an opportunity not just to destroy you and your assets, but to capture your personnel, infiltrate your fleet, assimilate your facilities, disrupt your operations, and even score points from your suffering. You must always be prepared for it. You may even find it necessary to begin combat yourself in order to defend your interests — or your honor.
BATTLE: BASIC RULES
When your ships are at the same location as your opponent's ships, or your personnel are present with your opponent's personnel, you may battle them, as long as they belong to a different affiliation. There are a few exceptions to this rule: may not attack anyone unless attacked first.
may never attack without a card allowing it.
,
, and
may attack anyone, including fellow Klingons and Kazon. To start a battle, you must have OFFICER or Leadership present.
SHIP BATTLE
Add up the total WEAPONS on all your attacking ships. (Each ship must have OFFICER or Leader aboard and must be at the same location as the battle.) Pick one of your opponent's ships or facilities present. If your WEAPONS are greater than its SHIELDS, it is damaged. The target's cloaking device (if any) goes off-line, and its RANGE is reduced to 5. Your opponent may now return fire by totalling her WEAPONS at this location (her ships do not need OFFICER or Leadership to fire back), choosing one of your ships, and attempting to damage it in the same way.
If an attacker's total WEAPONS are more than double the defender's SHIELDS, the defender is destroyed at the end of the battle. If a damaged ship is damaged again, it is destroyed at the end of the battle.
PERSONNEL BATTLE
Shuffle your attacking crew or Away Team and place them in a face-down pile on the table (like a card deck). Your opponent does the same with the defending crew or Away Team. You will now play a short game of "war": each of you must draw the top card of your respective "combat piles" and compare the STRENGTH of the personnel revealed. Whoever has less STRENGTH is stunned. If one card has greater than double the STRENGTH of the other, the weaker one is mortally wounded. Repeat until one player runs out of cards in the combat pile. Both players now total up the STRENGTH of their remaining unstunned, un-wounded personnel. Whoever has more STRENGTH remaining wins! The winner randomly selects one of the unstunned, un-wounded personnel from the losing side as a casualty. The casualty dies. Stunned personnel on both sides recover, and mortally wounded personnel die.
AFTER THE BATTLE
After a battle, all ships and personnel involved in the fighting are stopped. On the next turn, your opponent (even ) may freely counter-attack any and all of your cards at that location, launching a new battle without needing OFFICER or Leadership. Affiliation attack restrictions do not apply during counter-attacks.
You can repair damage to your ships by docking at a friendly facility and remaining there for two full turns (not including the turn you docked).
INITIATING A BATTLE
Your ships, facilities, and Away Teams may initiate battle as an action during your turn.
Your personnel may attack any opposing personnel (or Rogue Borg) present with them on the same planet, ship, facility, or site. This is referred to as "personnel battle" (sometimes "Away Team battle" or, if Rogue Borg Mercenaries are involved, "Rogue Borg battle"). Your ships and space facilities (including outposts with WEAPONS) may attack your opponent's ships and facilities at the same location. This is referred to as "ship battle" or "space battle" (even if neither ships nor space are involved).
You may only initiate battle against cards you do not control. (For example, you may not normally order your Klingon ship to attack your own
Romulan ship.) Moreover, each of your ships, facilities, or Away Teams that wishes to initiate an attack must have a leader present. A leader is a personnel with OFFICER or Leadership.
Finally, you must obey affiliation attack restrictions:
Most affiliations (,
,
,
,
,
,
,
, and
) have standard attack restrictions: they may attack opponents' cards of any affiliation except their own. For example, your
Starfleet-affiliation ships may attack your opponent's
Ferengi or
Federation ships, but may not attack your opponent's
Starfleet ships (or ships with
Starfleet personnel aboard).
,
,
, and
have no attack restrictions. For example, your
Klingon Away Teams may attack any opposing Away Team, including another
Klingon Away Team.
may initiate battle only against
. Otherwise,
may battle only during counter-attack, or when permitted or required by a card.
PERSONNEL BATTLE
Personnel battles are fought between two opposing crews or Away Teams who are present with each other on a planet, aboard a ship, on a station, or anywhere else your personnel may meet your opponents'.
Normally, personnel battles are waged between two groups of Personnel, who may be using Equipment (such as Klingon Disruptor). However, a few exotic other cards can fight: a solitary Echo Papa 607 Attack Drone or a group consisting of nothing but Rogue Borg Mercenaries and Crosis could also engage in personnel battle.
The battle proceeds in 6 stages:
1. Initiation: The attacking player announces the attack. He or she identifies which single crew or Away Team is performing the attack and which single opposing crew or Away Team present they are targeting in the attack. The battle has now been initiated.
2. Responses: Both players may now play or use cards that apply at the initiation of battle, such as Antique Machine Gun, Bodyguards, D'k Tahg, or I Do Not Take Orders From You!.
3. Form Up: Cards that are not participating in the battle as combatants, including personnel who are disabled, stunned, or mortally wounded, are set aside. Both players shuffle their remaining personnel (or cards which act as personnel), or "combatants", then place them face-down on the table to form a "combat pile."
4. Combat: Both players simultaneously draw and show the top combatant in their combat piles. These combatants are now adversaries, and they fight. After applying relevant STRENGTH modifiers such as El-Aurian Phaser or Lower Decks, compare their individual STRENGTH attributes:
- If one personnel's STRENGTH is greater than the other's, the higher-STRENGTH personnel may choose to stun his or her adversary. (You may rotate stunned cards 90 degrees to signal their condition.)
- If one personnel's STRENGTH is more than double the other's, that personnel may choose to stun or mortally wound his or her adversary. (You may rotate mortally wounded cards 180 degrees to signify their condition.) However,
holograms may not mortally wound non-
adversaries.
- If both personnel have equal strength, neither can stun or mortally wound the other. Nothing happens.
Both players then draw their next combatants. Repeat this step until one player's combat pile runs out.
5. Determine Winner: To determine the winner of the overall personnel battle, both players add the total STRENGTH of all their unstunned, non-mortally-wounded combatants, including any combatants who still remain in the combat pile, undrawn. Modifiers (such as Klingon Disruptor bonuses) are applied as usual.
The force with the higher total strength is the winner. The winner immediately selects a member of the opposing force as a casualty. The casualty is randomly selected from among all members of the crew or Away Team, including the stunned or disabled. However, personnel who are mortally wounded or in stasis cannot be selected.
If STRENGTH totals are equal, no one wins the battle. No casualty is selected.
6. Resolution: At the end of the personnel battle, all mortally wounded cards die. The casualty dies. Stunned cards become unstunned. Survivors of the battle are stopped.
SHIP BATTLE
A "ship" or "space" battle is a battle between ships, facilities, or other cards with WEAPONS and/or SHIELDS (such as the Borg Ship dilemma). Participants in Ship battles may use Tactics cards, which must be stocked in a Battle Bridge side deck (which is opened by seeding Battle Bridge Door). Although Battle Bridge side decks are entirely optional, some cards assume that both players are using them.
A ship battle proceeds in 8 stages:
1. Declaration: The attacking player announces his or her attack, then identifies which of his or her ships and/or facilities will be firing, and which enemy ship or facility they are targeting. An attacker can use any or all of his or her compatible ships and facilities in the attack, but can only target one enemy ship or facility per battle. To attack multiple targets on a single turn, an attacker must normally divide his or her force into separate attack forces to start multiple, consecutive battles.
2. Initiation: If the player attacked wishes to return fire during this battle, he must now identify which of his or her ships and/or facilities will be firing, and which attacking ship or facility they will target. Any of that player's ships and facilities at that location may return fire, even if they were not targeted in the attack, as long as the ship or facility has WEAPONS and at least one personnel of matching affiliation aboard. This declaration, or a declaration that the attacked player will not return fire, formally initiates the battle.
3. Responses: Both players may now play or use cards that apply at the initiation of battle, such as Awaken or 34th Rule of Acquisition, including cards that allow the player to draw extra Tactics cards, such as Attack Pattern Delta.
4. Tactics: Each player who has a Battle Bridge side deck may draw one or two Tactic cards from the top of that side deck. (Players may look at each Tactic before deciding whether to draw the next.) A player who has thus drawn may decide to play one (and only one) Tactic card face down on the table. If so, this card becomes his or her current tactic for the remainder of the current battle. Any unused Tactic cards are placed face-up beneath the Battle Bridge side deck. (Tactics cards are never discarded. Whenever the side deck is exhausted, face-up cards are shuffled and replaced face-down, regenerating the side deck.)
Some cards, such as Captain Picard, allow special downloading of a Tactic card. If you choose to use such a download, you must do so instead of drawing Tactics, and you must use the downloaded Tactic as your current tactic.
Once both players have selected their current tactics (or chosen not to use a tactic during this battle), they are revealed simultaneously by turning them face up.
5. Open Fire: The attacker computes his or her ATTACK total by adding together the total WEAPONS power of all attacking cards (including applicable attribute enhancements), plus the ATTACK bonus from his or her current tactic (if any). The attack bonus is used only once, not once for each ship.
The defender computes his or her DEFENSE total by adding the SHIELDS of his or her single targeted ship or facility (including applicable enhancements) plus the DEFENSE bonus from his or her current tactic (if any). If the defending target is docked, the defender also adds adds the facility's shield extension bonus. This bonus is equal to 50% of the facility's current SHIELDS.
If the ATTACK total is less than or equal to the DEFENSE total, the attack misses the target.
If the ATTACK total exceeds the DEFENSE total, the target suffers a hit.
If the ATTACK total is more than double the DEFENSE total, the target suffers a direct hit.
No damage is applied at this time.
6. Return Fire: If the defending player announced during the initiation of the battle that he or she would return fire, that happens now. The defending player's force attacks the target he or she declared in Stage 2. The defending player computes the ATTACK total of his or her force involved in returning fire (including the ATTACK bonus on his or her current tactic), and the attacking player computes the DEFENSE total for the single ship or facility targeted by the Return Fire. The target suffers a hit, direct hit, or miss as described above.
7. Damage: Apply damage caused by either or both players. If you scored a hit or direct hit on your opponent's ship or facility, apply damage as follows:
- If you are using a Battle Bridge side deck and have a current tactic, the amount of damage to your opponent is determined by the text of your current tactic. Place the appropriate damage markers on your opponent's damaged card. The correct number and type of damage markers is determined by the symbols on your current tactic:
means that you must use the current tactic as a damage marker.
means you must draw a new Tactic card from your side deck to place on the target as a damage marker. Most Tactics inflict two damage markers on a hit and four on a direct hit. However, there are exceptions.
- If you are using a Battle Bridge side deck, but do not have a current tactic, any opponent you damage suffers default damage. Default damage is two cards from your Tactics deck for a hit (
) or four cards for a direct hit (
).
- If you are not using a Battle Bridge side deck, apply a Rotation Damage Marker for a hit, or simply rotate the damaged card 180 degrees to indicate damage. This is referred to as rotation damage. A ship with rotation damage has -50% HULL integrity, its Cloaking Device is off-line, and, if printed RANGE is greater than 5, it is reduced to 5. For a direct hit, apply two Rotation Damage Markers; the target suffers -100% HULL integrity and will be destroyed at the end of this battle.
8. Resolution: At the end of the battle, discard your current tactic (if any) by placing it face-up underneath the Battle Bridge side deck. (If a Battle Bridge side deck has no more face-down cards, the face-up cards are shuffled and placed face-down in the side deck, regenerating it.) All ships or facilities with -100% HULL damage (or worse) are destroyed; discard them and any personnel, ships, equipment, or other cards onboard. (Either player may now play cards that are valid responses to the destruction of that ship or facility, such as Escape Pod.) Surviving ships, facilities, and crews involved in the battle are stopped. Ships docked at a destroyed facility are not destroyed.
Your damaged ships and facilities remain damaged, including all applicable penalties and damage markers, until repaired. See Damage and Repairs.
AFTER THE BATTLE
Once a battle has resolved, all cards involved in the battle are stopped.
If a player is attacked, then, during his or her next turn, that player has the option to counter-attack against any or all ships, Away Teams, facilities, crews, and other opposing cards controlled by the attacking player anywhere at the location of the original attack, regardless of which cards participated in the original attack or what form it took. A counter-attack is a new battle, not a "continuation" of the previous battle. During a counter-attack, affiliation attack restrictions do not apply and leaders are not required. For example, if your Keldon attacks your opponent's
Pagh at Avert Solar Implosion, your opponent may respond next turn by attacking your completely separate
Away Team on the planet there by bringing a new
crew into the system, beaming them down to the planet, and attacking.
A player attacked by a counter-attack may launch a counter-attack of his own on the following turn, and so on until either player chooses to refrain from counter-attack, or is rendered incapable of attacking at that location.
DAMAGE AND REPAIRS
—Jonathan Archer
On a long space voyage, damage is inevitable. Whether sustained in glorious battle, while investigating a solar flare, or by bad luck with the Calamarian, ships left to fend for themselves for too long face degradation and perhaps even destruction. A prudent commander will ensure that his or her starfleet is given ample opportunities to repair at a friendly starbase.
DAMAGE
The rules for damage depend heavily on whether your opponent is using a Battle Bridge side deck (opened with Battle Bridge Door). If your opponent is using a Battle Bridge side deck, any damage you sustain will take the form of Tactics cards. This is known as "tactics damage." Otherwise (if your opponent is not using a Battle Bridge side deck), you will follow simplified rules for damage called "rotation damage."
The two systems are described below:TACTICS DAMAGE
Whenever any of your ships, facilities, or other cards are damaged, for any reason, your opponent must place Tactics cards on them as damage markers. If the damage is the result of another Tactic (like during a ship battle), your opponent must place () or draw (
) damage markers as indicated by the Tactic. In any case where damage is not indicated by the card, your opponent deals default damage, which is two cards drawn from the side deck (or
).
The bottom (black) area of a Tactics card is known as the damage marker, and it indicates the results of the damage. As soon as the marker is placed on the damaged ship, any immediate effects are played out, such as crew casualties, systems going off-line, or downloads (for example, Engine Imbalance may be downloaded when Target Warp Field Coils is drawn as a damage marker). Second, the ship or facility suffers any attribute damage indicated by the damage marker (for example, Maximum Firepower's damage reduces the enemy vessel's SHIELDS by 2). Finally, HULL damage is added. When a ship or facility's HULL is reduced to 0%, it is destroyed.
ROTATION DAMAGE
Whenever any of your ships, facilities, or other cards are damaged, you or your opponent must place a single Rotation Damage Marker on them. These markers function the same way as Tactics.
If, for any reason, a Rotation Damage Marker is not available, you must instead rotate your damaged ship or facility 180 degrees to indicate its damage. If it has a cloaking device, that cloaking device is now off-line. If its RANGE is greater than 5, its range is reduced to 5. HULL integrity is reduced by 50%. If a ship with rotation damage suffers any more rotation damage, HULL integrity will fall to 0% and the ship will be destroyed.
If your opponent is using rotation damage, you are immune to any effects that would allow your opponent to or
your ships or facilities (such as Federation Flagship: Relaunched, HQ: Orbital Weapons Platform, or Breen CRM-114). No player may use both rotation damage and tactics damage during the same game under any circumstances.
SYSTEMS OFF-LINE
PICARD: Computer. Stand by. Auto-destruct sequence omega. Recognise voice pattern Jean-Luc Picard. Authorisation alpha alpha three zero five.
COMPUTER: Auto-destruct is off-line.
—Star Trek: Nemesis
When a damage marker or other card indicates that a system is off-line, the affected item may not be used in any way as long as that damage marker is in play. When "attribute enhancements" go off-line, it affects all enhancements to the specified attribute (such as Tactical Console for WEAPONS). If a core attribute, such as RANGE, goes off-line, it is considered to be 0 RANGE and cannot be enhanced until repaired.
REPAIR
At the end of each of your turns, you may remove one damage marker (random selection) from each ship that has been docked at an outpost (or other facility that performs repairs) for the full turn. As stated on the Rotation Damage Marker, however, rotation damage is only repaired after two full turns docked at an outpost or other repair facility.
Damaged facilities may only be repaired by cards that specifically allow it (such as Defense Systems Upgrade).
Whenever a ship or facility is fully repaired (for example, by Spacedock), remove all damage markers immediately.
CLOAK
"Commander, two ships decloaking fore and aft!"
—Worf
In Star Trek, some ships have the ability to render themselves invisible ("cloaked") or even immaterial ("phased").
In the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, some ships have the Cloaking Device special equipment. Once each turn, each card with cloaking equipment may cloak or decloak. Cloaking is represented by flipping the cloaked card face-down. Decloaking is represented by flipping the card face-up again. The following rules apply to cards that are cloaked:
- Your opponent may not target your cloaked cards.
- A cloaked card may not initiate battle, nor attempt or scout missions, nor be attacked or boarded.
- Cloaked cards are not considered to be opposing, present, "here" or otherwise located at their current location for requirements or abilities.
- Cloaked cards are affected normally by cards that do not require specific targeting. For example, cloaked ships are affected normally by Q-Net, Stellar Flare, and Navigate Plasma Storms.
- Cards aboard a cloaked card are not considered cloaked.
- Cards aboard a cloaked card are not considered to be "here", at the location, or opposing for requirements or abilities originating outside the cloaked card. For example, if on a cloaked ship, Captain Chakotay's attribute bonus applies to personnel on his ship but not on any others.
- Other cards may not embark or disembark from, beam on or off of, undock or dock with, or take off or land on, a cloaked card.
- When your personnel cloak, they may cloak their carried equipment.
Cards with the Phasing Cloak special equipment may phase or dephase, which is exactly the same as cloaking, except phasing includes these additional effects:
- You may not target your phased cards.
- Phased ships may not move except by using RANGE. Phased personnel may not move except by beaming.
- A phased ship may not land or dock. If a landed or docked ship phases, it immediately takes off or undocks.
- Cards aboard a phased card may not be attacked or targeted by cards that are not on or aboard the same card (or vice versa). For example, a Tantalus Field played on a phased ship can target personnel aboard the same ship, but not other ships.
- Phased cards are unaffected by most cards in play. For example, a phased ship is unaffected by Q-Net, but also cannot use Bajoran Wormhole. Only cards that affect all cards in play (such as Anti-Time Anomaly) can affect phased cards.
A card may not enter play cloaked or phased.
CAPTURE
—Gul Madred
Some cards allow you to capture your opponents' personnel. Captives are disabled.
Upon capture, captives immediately relocate to one of the capturing player's crews or Away Teams at the same location, if possible. That team immediately assumes custody and begins escorting the prisoner, who is considered held.
If you don't have any teams at the location, the card that caused the capture remains on the table as a trap card. Place the captured personnel under it; she is now held. Once your crew or Away Team arrives, they may assume custody by either being present with the prisoner or beaming her from the trap card to their ship. The trap card is now discarded.
An escorted prisoner may be moved like an Equipment card. Each crew or Away Team may escort any number of captives. You may not initiate battle against personnel you have captured. If the ship or facility has a brig, the captive may be placed there. (She is still held, but is no longer escorted, which affects a few cards like Suicidal Attack.)
Captives that are held (or Brainwashed) can only be rescued by a card that specifically rescues or releases captives (like Prisoner Exchange). Captives that are left unattended, however, with neither a trap card nor an escort nor a Brig holding them, are conceptually "tied up and left behind" and thus may be rescued by their owner's other personnel present, without any special card. When a captive is rescued or released, all capture-related cards (like Impersonate Captive) played on her are discarded.
COMMANDEER
—Lurin
Some cards allow you to commandeer an opponent's ship (or facility). When you commandeer an opponent's card, control transfers to you and the card's affiliation changes to the affiliation of one of the (non-ANIMAL) commandeering personnel (your choice). It is yours to use for the remainder of the game as though it were your own card. Even if you leave it unattended and your opponent beams an Away Team aboard, they can only regain control if another card allows it.
You do not automatically gain control over any of your opponents' personnel or equipment aboard a ship or facility that you have commandeered. Staffing requirements still apply to commandeered ships.
INFILTRATE
"You're too late... we're everywhere..."
—Odo Founder
Your personnel who have a diamond-shaped
infiltration icon may infiltrate your opponent's cards if they are compatible with that affiliation (or faction). Such cards may join the opponent's side in one of two ways: by reporting to your opponent's compatible facility, ship, or Away Team as if one of your opponent's cards (you may ignore quadrant restrictions), or by joining an opponent's compatible crew or Away Team where present (even during your opponent's turn).
Once an infiltrator has begun infiltrating, it gains the affiliation or faction icon shown in its infiltration diamond, and it becomes an infiltrator. Thus, if you are using Bashir Founder, you could report him to your own Dominion facilities or your opponent's
Federation facilities. If your opponent has Treaty: Federation / Romulan in play, you could also report to his or her
Romulan facilities.
Your infiltrator is part of your opponent's crew or Away Team, but is still under your control. For example, your opponent may not treat the infiltrator as "his personnel" to benefit from his hand weapons.
Your opponent may not treat your infiltrator as an intruder (for example, by attacking him). However, you may treat your infiltrator as an intruder for the purposes of cards such as The Walls Have Ears.
Whenever any of the opponent's personnel present take any action, your infiltrator may choose whether or not to participate (or contribute to ship staffing requirements). If he chooses to participate, he must participate fully; for example, an infiltrator joining a mission attempt must contribute skills and requirements to all dilemmas and to solving. He may move independently, moving and beaming like any normal personnel, but may not take any other actions unless permitted specifically by a card. Your infiltrator may not take your equipment with him while infiltrating.
EXPOSURE
An infiltration mission can end in exposure, when your infiltrator's deception is "uncovered" by your opponent. You may choose to expose your own infiltrator as a normal action during either player's turn. An infiltrator can also be exposed by being present with any other version of the persona they are impersonating (including mirror opposites). Thus, if Kira Founder is ever present with Kira, Colonel Kira, or The Intendant, she is immediately exposed. Finally, your infiltrator can be exposed by returning to your own crew or Away Team.
Once exposed, the infiltrator reverts to its original affiliation. If aboard an opponent's ship or facility, the exposed infiltrator becomes an intruder. He may infiltrate again once he has spent any length of time not being present with any of that opponent's personnel.
REQUIRED ACTIONS
Some cards require that you take a specific action. For example, Samaritan Snare requires Federation to attempt it if present. Cytherians and Conundrum require ships to move (and, in Conundrum's case, attack). When your cards are being compelled by a required action, they may not take any other actions until the required action is complete. A Federation ship at Samaritan Snare may not play Preparation before attempting. A Klingon ship under the influence of Incoming Message - Klingon may not cloak, dock, or initiate battle, even to counter-attack. (However, it may return fire if attacked.) If a ship is compelled by a required action, so is its crew: they may not leave by any means nor initiate battle. Additional personnel and equipment may beam or report aboard by normal means, but, once aboard, they must follow the same restrictions as the rest of the crew.
Other than the fact that they are required, required actions are just like any other actions. Valid responses are allowed (for example, playing Magnetic North when attacked). If a ship or personnel influenced by a required action is captured, assimilated, or commandeered, the influence remains; the new controller must complete the action.
Meeting conditions to cure or nullify a card affecting a ship (such as Birth of "Junior") is not an action, so it is allowed, even during a required action.
END OF TURN
When you are finished executing orders for the turn, announce that you are ending your turn. This section describes several things that normally happen at the end of your turn. You may address them in any order, with the exception that your end-of-turn card draw must be the very last thing you do.The very last thing you do on your turn is draw a card from your draw deck.
COUNTDOWNS
"Six... Five... Four... Three..."
—Starship Enterprise
Some cards have a Countdown Icon. When a Countdown Icon card that you own enters play, it has a conceptual counter placed on it. At the end of each of your turns (not your opponents'), the counter counts down one turn. When the counter reaches zero, it is immediately discarded.
PROBING
Occasionally, a card will instruct you to probe. This is a means for the game to generate semi-random outcomes. Unless otherwise instructed, probing takes place at the end of your turn, just before your card draw. Simply reveal the top card of your draw deck, called the probe card. (If your draw deck is empty, you may not probe.)
The card that allowed you to probe will have a list of various icons on it, along with gametext associated with each icon. This is called the probe list.
In order to determine the outcome, identify the first icon on the probe list. If this icon appears anywhere on the probe card (in gametext, as a staffing icon, etc.), replace the probe card atop your draw deck, then execute the appropriate outcome for that icon. If the icon does not appear, proceed to the second item on the probe list, then the third, then the fourth, and so on until you have identified an outcome. For example, if you probe with Secret Compartment and Wall of Ships is revealed as your probe card, your outcome is "Success." Replace Wall of Ships atop your draw deck, download two equipments or an artifact, and discard Secret Compartment.
If none of the icons in the probe list appear on the probe card, and there is no "otherwise" clause, simply replace the probe card atop your deck and continue with the game. (This is called probing with no outcome, and is common with Objectives like Assimilate Planet.)
DRAW A CARD
When you have finished all other end-of-turn actions, you must draw a card from your draw deck. If you are unable to draw a card from your draw deck (because a card requires you to "draw no cards this turn" or you have no cards in your draw deck), simply inform your opponent that your turn is over.
WINNING THE GAME
—First Omet'iklan
The game continues until one player wins the game by having at least 100 points. However:
- Each player who has not completed (or scouted) at least two missions, including one
Planet and one
Space mission, must score an additional 40 points to win.
- Each player who has not completed (or scouted) at least one Alpha Quadrant mission must score an additional 40 points to win — unless neither player seeded any Alpha Quadrant missions, in which case this penalty is not applied.
- If, at any time, any player has more bonus points than non-bonus points, the excess bonus points do not count toward winning.
- If, at any time, both players' draw decks are empty, or if both players simultaneously achieve the victory conditions, the player with the most points is the winner.
LIFE IN SPACE
"Out there, there are no saints, just people! Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive – whether it meets with Federation approval or not!"
—Benjamin Sisko
The facilities, ships, personnel, and equipment you bring with you on your voyage into the galaxy are more than tools — in many ways, they have a life of their own. This section explains how you can turn their quirks to your advantage — and how things can backfire.
USING SKILLS
—Miles O'Brien
Skills appear on all personnel cards, usually preceded by a skill dot. Most skills are regular skills, such as
Physics,
Computer Skill, and
Honor. (They are all one or two words long.) Regular skills are typically used in meeting conditions for another action where present, such as curing a dilemma. Regular skills are most often used to meet mission and dilemma requirements.
All other skills are special skills, such as "If on Cha'Joh, it is RANGE +2." Special skills that provide general modifiers like this are "always on." Other special skills, such as, "
Once per game, may capture one personnel present," may normally be used only as normal actions on your turn, although many special skills provide their own special timing.
Some cards allow you to select, add, or increase skills (for example: Frame of Mind, Fitting In, Ishka). You may only select or modify regular skills.
Attributes (INTEGRITY, CUNNING, and STRENGTH) also appear on all personnel cards, and can be used like regular skills.
LOADED SKILLS
A few regular skills and classifications include additional built-in powers, beyond their regular uses in solving missions and overcoming dilemmas. They are:
OFFICER AND LEADERSHIP: "LEADER"
Any personnel with Leadership or OFFICER (as a skill or classification) is a leader. Leaders are needed to initiate battle.
"ANY INTELLIGENCE"
The terms "Intelligence" and "any Intelligence" (on cards like Damaged Reputation) refer to any of several skills: FCA,
Intelligence,
Klingon Intelligence,
Memory Omega,
Obsidian Order,
Section 31,
V'Shar, and
Tal Shiar. If a card requires multiple Intelligence skills ("any 3 Intelligence") you may use any combination of Intelligence skills to meet the requirement.
MIRACLE WORKER
Miracle Worker includes the additional skill of
Transporter Skill.
GURAMBA
"Guramba" is a Nausicaan word meaning "courage". Wherever your crew or Away Team has Guramba present, your opponent must have two leaders present in order to initiate personnel battle. (Guramba has no effect on ship battle.)
TRANSPORTER SKILL
Personnel with Transporter Skill can beam large Tribble cards, even through SHIELDS, once per turn per skill level.
ANIMAL
A few personnel, like Spot, have classification ANIMAL. They are animals. Animals cannot attempt missions alone, meet ship staffing requirements, initiate battles, commandeer, power a Kurlan Naiskos, or be assimilated. An animal remains an animal even if the ANIMAL classification is changed or removed, and ANIMAL classification cannot be selected as a skill or classification for non-animals like Vina.
GETTING HURT
"The plasma was super-heated. It thermalised his lungs. Initialise the hyperbaric sequencer!"
—Dr. Phlox
This section describes the many ways your personnel might be injured or otherwise prevented from carrying out their duties. Examples are provided.
STOPPED
The most common "injury" in the game is getting "stopped." Stopped personnel are, conceptually, either completely engaged in what they're doing, completely exhausted, or injured enough to be "out of the action" for the rest of the turn while they recuperate.
Examples: Devastating Communique, failing a conditional dilemma, Oo-mox, finishing a battle
Stopped personnel may not be beamed, move, walk, cloak, phase, participate in an attack (they may battle defensively), staff an unstopped ship, get stopped again, or participate in any mission, commandeering, or scouting attempt in any way. (They become separated.)
If a ship is stopped (or unstopped), all cards aboard the ship are stopped (or unstopped). Using up a ship's RANGE does not stop it.
Equipment carried by a crew or Away Team are stopped if the entire crew or Away Team is stopped (whether by battle, failure to overcome a dilemma, or other means).
Stopped cards become unstopped automatically at the start of either player's next turn (unless otherwise specified).
KILLED OR DESTROYED
Cards that are killed or destroyed leave play normally, usually to the discard pile. All personnel aboard a ship or facility when it is destroyed are killed, and all equipment present is destroyed.
Examples: Armus - Skin of Evil, Vulcan Stone of Gol, V'Ger, Disruptor Overload
DISABLED
A disabled personnel is unconscious.
Examples: Hypospray, getting captured, deactivated holograms
Disabled personnel may not be used in any way. They may not take actions, use gametext or characteristics, or even enable gametext on other cards that depend on the disabled personnel being in play. For example, if Lore is disabled, you cannot use his skills to cure dilemmas, cannot use his Treachery for Recruit Mercenaries, and cannot prevent a ship from being relocated at Paxan "Wormhole". However, disabled personnel may be moved and beamed like equipment cards.
Disabled personnel are separated during mission attempts.
STASIS
Personnel or ships in stasis are in suspended animation, where they remain until released.
Examples: The Whale Probe, Vulcan "Death Grip"
Cards in stasis may not take actions, use gametext, or characteristics, and are considered in play for uniqueness only. In this respect, they are just like disabled cards. However, unlike disabled cards, ships and personnel in stasis cannot be attacked in battle and cannot be targeted by other cards. For example, no player may play Diplomatic Contact on Kai Winn if she is in stasis. Cards already targeting ships or personnel in stasis are suspended until stasis ends. For example, Federation Flagship: Renewed does not generate extra card draws while the Enterprise is in stasis, and REM Fatigue Hallucinations does not count down.
Personnel in stasis are separated during mission attempts.
SEPARATED
During mission attempts, your personnel who are stopped, disabled, in stasis, or under house arrest are separated. Any personnel who are stopped, disabled, placed in stasis, or house arrested during a mission attempt automatically and immediately form a new "separated" crew or Away Team. Separated personnel automatically rejoin the main team as soon as they are able (when unstopped, removed from stasis, etc.).
Because separated personnel are no longer part of the main mission team, this means they are no longer present: They can no longer be targeted by dilemmas from the mission attempt (unless expressly specified, like on Crystalline Entity). They are not considered to be "aboard" their ship, for the purposes of dilemmas. Furthermore, separated personnel cannot contribute characteristics or skills toward overcoming, curing, or triggering dilemmas encountered during mission attempts. They are completely sidelined.
All opposing personnel are considered "separated" from your mission attempts, as well. For example, if you encounter Kazon Bomb during a mission attempt at Liberation, your opponent's Away Team will not suffer casualties, even if it is on the planet's surface with your Away Team.
RELOCATED
Some cards can "relocate" ships and personnel in play. (Equivalent euphemisms are sometimes used, too, including "hurled", "transported", and "towed".) Relocation is a form of forced movement. As such, it does not require full ship staffing, and even stopped cards can be relocated.
QUARANTINED
When a card places a ship, facility, or planet under quarantine, personnel may board the ship or facility, or beam to the planet, but none may leave. Example: Aphasia Device
IN PLAY 'FOR UNIQUENESS ONLY'
When a card is in play "for uniqueness only", the card is considered "in play" only insofar as its owner may not report another copy of the same persona. For all other intents and purposes, they are considered not in play. For example, if Kai Opaka is placed in your point area with Duranja, she cannot prevent artifacts from being nullified, but you cannot report another Kai Opaka. If The Emissary is trapped in a Kobayashi Maru Scenario, Bajorans do not have their INTEGRITY enhanced by his ability, but you cannot report another The Emissary or Benjamin Sisko.
NEMESIS DESTRUCTION
"From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!"
—Khan
Nemesis icons identify a destructive relationship between personnel and/or ships. Two cards that have a nemesis relationship will have icons of the same color but pointing in different directions.
For example, Kor and The Albino
are nemeses. Kang
and The Albino
are also nemeses. But Kor
and Kang
are allies, because their nemesis icons point the same direction. Kor
and I.K.C. Chang
have no relationship, because their nemesis icons are different colors.
If two or more personnel or ships with opposing nemesis icons are present with each other at the end of any turn, the player whose turn it is must choose one of them to be immediately killed (personnel) or destroyed (ships). This is not a battle.
For example, if your Pralor Unit 3947 is on a planet with your opponent’s Cravic Unit 122 at the end of your turn, you must choose one of them to be discarded. If you have left your Pralor Unit 3947 aboard your Cravic Warship at the end of your turn, you must choose one to be discarded. (If you choose to destroy the ship, all personnel aboard – including Pralor Unit 3947 – will be killed.)
HOUSE ARREST
If your personnel who are mixing and cooperating become no longer compatible, they are in a house arrest situation. (This typically happens because a card allowing different affiliations to cooperate, such as Treaty: Cardassian/Bajoran, has been nullified, or when incompatible personnel are acquired from a Cryosatellite.) When this occurs, the personnel who are incompatible with the ship or facility they are aboard are placed under house arrest. If this is not applicable (because they are at a Neutral Outpost, at a site on a Nor, aboard an opponent's ship, etc.), the minority group is placed under house arrest. If on a planet, the incompatible personnel simply split into two separate Away Teams.
While under house arrest, personnel are treated as disabled. (During mission attempts, they are separated.) However, they may freely walk and beam, and can thereby end the house arrest situation as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
You may never voluntarily place your personnel in a house arrest situation. You may not report a Klingon to a
Romulan Outpost without a treaty, nor to a Neutral Outpost where you have
Romulans present, without a treaty in place. You may not beam your
Romulan personnel aboard a
Klingon ship, stop your
Klingons and
Romulans at the same site, or switch the Sisters of Duras's affiliation to
while they are aboard a
ship.
CHARACTERISTICS
You are The Sisko.
—Kira Prophet
Apart from regular gametext and icons, many cards have additional characteristics, such as "female", "cook", "Jem'Hadar attack ship", "maje", "disruptor", and "Vulcan". Characteristics have no built-in gameplay function, but characteristics are used by many cards, such as Matriarchal Society, Klingon Restaurant, Engage Shuttle Operations: Dominion, The Kazon Collective, Phaser Burns, and Fal-Tor-Pan.
A card has a characteristic if that card says it has that characteristic, whether in lore, title, affiliation, icons, or some other area of the card. For example:
- Norah Satie's lore states that she is an admiral, as does Admiral McCoy's card title, so they are both "admirals".
- The title, lore, and class of Type 9 Shuttlecraft state that it is a shuttlecraft, as does the class of Quark's Treasure, so both are "shuttlecraft".
- In an unusual example, Krax's special skill provides him with the characteristic of "nagus" only if certain conditions are met. He loses the characteristic if another nagus (such as Grand Nagus Zek) enters play.
A few characteristics are defined or fleshed out by rule. They are:
- "Hand weapon": in addition to cards which identify themselves as "hand weapon" in title or lore, Equipment that has the "phaser", "disruptor", "blade weapon", or "tommygun" characteristic also has the "hand weapon" characteristic.
- "Romantic partner": A personnel is the romantic partner of another personnel if the lore on either card both names the other (see named in lore sidebar) and states that they are or were "romantically involved". For example, Pel and Quark are romantic partners of one another, but Pel and Deputy Quark are not. The following terms (even if preceded by "ex-") are considered equivalent to the phrase "romantically involved": "husband", "wife", "mate", "married", "wedded", "imzadi", "mistress", "widow", "divorced". A personnel and their romantic partner are collectively called a couple.
- "Matching commander": A personnel is a matching commander for a ship if either card both names the other in lore and states that that personnel is (or was) the commander or captain of that ship. For example, Worf (First Contact) and Kudak'Etan are both matching commanders for all ship cards with the title U.S.S. Defiant, but not Stolen Defiant. All cards with the title "Benjamin Sisko" are matching commanders for U.S.S. Sao Paulo — but substitutes like Ben Sisko and The Emissary are not. Many cards provide benefits to a ship or facility with a matching commander aboard.
STRANGE ENCOUNTERS
"Insufficient data is not sufficient, Mister Spock. You're the science officer. You're supposed to have sufficient data all the time."
—Captain Kirk
There are some strange things in the galaxy. Most of it can be catalogued, documented, analyzed. But there are a few entities out there whose operation is unlike anything else in our seemingly simple universe. They require somewhat deeper explanation.
TRIBBLES
—Worf
—Lt. Uhura
Tribbles are small, furry, adorable creatures, but their rapid reproduction can cripple a fleet.
Tribble cards may be played only from a Tribble side deck (opened with Storage Compartment Door). Each card represents some number of tribbles. Small tribble cards (1 Tribble and 10 Tribbles) cards may report anywhere. Large tribble cards (100 Tribbles and greater) may only be bred from your tribble cards already in play (not your opponent's), and may only report where their "parents" are present. Each of the different tribble cards inflict annoyances of increasing scope, described in their gametexts.
Worse still, the Storage Compartment Door may disgorge Trouble cards, like ...On The Bridge, which compound the tribble troubles exponentially. Trouble cards may play on any tribble group at any time, but portions of its gametext will not "activate" until the listed "minimum" number of tribbles is present. Whenever tribbles within the group are moved, the Trouble card may move with them, at the owner's discretion. A Trouble is discarded if there are no tribbles present.
The main tribble mitigation strategy is to move them somewhere else. Small tribble cards may be carried (and beamed) by either player's personnel, like equipment. However, each personnel may carry only a single small tribble card, and, when they drop it, they are stopped. Large tribble cards may be beamed by any personnel with Transporter Skill. Each personnel may beam up to one large Tribble card for each multiple of Transporter Skill that they have, then are stopped. (Thus, Burrows could beam any one large tribble card, Charles Tucker III could beam two large tribble cards, and Emory Erickson could beam three. All would be stopped after.) You may beam tribbles anywhere that you would normally be allowed to beam a generic personnel, including an opponent's ship if their shields are down (or you can beam through them). Nors will even lower their SHIELDS to allow tribbles to be beamed off the station — the only case within the rules where they allow beaming!
THE Q CONTINUUM
—Q
The omnipotent trickster known as Q is considered an extreme threat by all major galactic powers. Q initiated contact with the Borg, created the paradoxical Anti-Time Anomaly, and led the Civil War in the Q Continuum. Q generates chaos on at a cosmic scale.
Q meddles with the game through Q-Continuum cards. These cards are stocked within a Q-Continuum side deck (which is opened with a seeded Q-Flash), and they may only enter play when permitted by other cards.
Usually, this happens when a team encounters a Q-Flash during a mission attempt. Crews and Away Teams that encounter a Q-Flash must encounter one card for each personnel present in the mission team.
cards are drawn and resolved one at a time. Any repeats are discarded; these are not replaced. If, at any time during a Q-Flash, the entire crew or Away Team is killed, captured, relocated, or otherwise unable to continue, the Q-Flash ends immediately. However, unless specified, failing to meet the requirements on a
-icon card encountered during a Q-Flash does not stop the mission team.
When a card is discarded during a Q-Flash, it returns to the Continuum side deck, where it is stored face-up at the bottom of the deck until the deck is exhausted. The deck is then replenished by shuffling the face-up cards and placing them in a face-down deck. (
cards encountered by other means are discarded normally.)
SELF-CONTROLLING CARDS
"They say there's no devil, Jim, but there is. Right out of hell, I saw it... miles long, with a maw that could swallow a dozen starships."
—Commodore Decker
Cards with the Self-Controlling icon move, operate, and attack on their own. After entering play, they are under the control of neither player. Each player may own one
card on a given spaceline at one time; if an additional
enters play, the owner must choose which to discard. At the end of every turn (both players'), each
card in play acts according to its gametext. When a
attacks, it attacks all eligible targets at that location at once. When a
card moves, unless otherwise specified, it moves its full available RANGE toward the far end of the spaceline. (Exact ties are settled by the owner.) A
card requires 1 RANGE to move off the spaceline and leave play.
Any affiliation, including , may initiate battle against
cards. (
must obey their usual restrictions.)
cards automatically return fire against every ship and facility involved in the attack, but not bystanders.
cards do not use either player's Tactic cards in battle. However, if your ships take a hit and your opponent has a Battle Bridge side deck, he or she inflicts default damage on your damaged ships. Otherwise, you suffer rotation damage.
cards are not considered ships for the purposes of cards that affect ships (such as Q-Net, Plasma Fire, Isabella, or Wormhole).
PLANETARY DESTRUCTION
"I have confirmed the location of Praxis, sir, but... I cannot confirm the existence of Praxis."
—Dmitri Valtane
Cards such as Unstable Matrix and Redirect Energy Ribbon may cause a mission to be "converted to space". When this occurs, the mission's icon becomes
Space. If any player has completed (or scouted) that mission, that player has now completed a space mission for the purposes of cards like The Big Picture or the game's win conditions.
However, all cards on the planet or played on the planet are destroyed and discarded. This includes any personnel, landed ships, facilities, Events, or other cards there, including cards like The Guardian of Forever or Hotel Royale which specifically play on the planet. However, cards which merely play at the mission or the location generally (like Venus Drug and Dal'rok) remain.
BOTANY BAY CARDS
"...Botany Bay? Botany Bay! ...oh, no. We've got to get out of here—now!"
—Commander Chekov
Cards with the Botany Bay icon represent an unpleasant surprise for players who try to uncover what is better left buried. If a player examines a dilemma with the
icon any time other than during a mission or scouting attempt (for example, by using Ocular Implants to peek at it), place it on the mission where it was seeded. That player may not attempt or scout this mission until another mission has been completed or scouted by either player, then re-seed the dilemma at the same mission.
THE MIRROR UNIVERSE
ARCHER: According to some theories, everything that exists in our universe should also exist there.
HOSHI: Another Terran Empire? Another Starfleet?
—"In A Mirror Darkly, Part I"
Cards from the Mirror Quadrant are not just native to a different spaceline; they are from a mirror universe, similar to our own but far more savage.
Some locations in the Mirror Quadrant, such as Mirror Bajor, correspond to locations in the Alpha Quadrant (like Bajor): they have exactly the same location text, just in the opposite universe.
Cards from the Mirror Quadrant are often written from the perspective of the mirror universe, so
Mirror Quadrant cards that refer to specific locations mean the
Mirror Quadrant versions of those locations. (All other references to locations refer only to the Alpha Quadrant version unless otherwise stated.)
For example, Imperial Palace may seed on 22nd-Century Japan ( 2155 Earth), but may not seed on 22nd-Century San Francisco (Alpha Quadrant 2155 Earth). Likewise, The City of B'Hala may seed under Alpha Bajor, but not Mirror Bajor. For the same reason, Homeworld-related effects do not apply to cards from the opposite universe. For example, Commander Leeta's homeworld is Mirror Bajor; she is not protected by Strategema at Alpha Bajor.
MISCELLANEOUS RULES
"You are now subjects of the Klingon Empire. You'll find there are many rules and regulations. They will be posted. Violation of the smallest of them will be punished by death."
—Captain Kor
There are a few other rules you should know when you start playing.
RANDOM SELECTION
When gametext specifies that a card is to be chosen by random selection, shuffle together all eligible cards, hold them so the faces of the cards cannot be seen, and let your opponent draw a card, at random, from this group.
TURNS: "EACH", "EVERY", AND "FULL"
When a card states that something happens "every" turn, it means every turn of any player. However, when a card says that something happens "each" turn (or "per" turn), it means each turn of the card's subject, skipping opponents' turns. Thus, Harvester Virus kills every turn, but Dal'Rok kills only on the turns of the player who encountered it.
A "full turn" is one complete turn of one player, from beginning to end. It does not include the current turn.
CONTROL AND OWNERSHIP
You control each card you have seeded or played, as well as any Headquarters of an affiliation you are playing. You do not control cards which are in your deck, hand, or discard pile. It is possible (through commandeering, Brainwash, Alien Parasites, etc.) for an opponent to take control of your cards during a game.
The word “your” is often used as shorthand to refer to cards you control. For example: Each of your Treachery personnel is CUNNING +2. This gametext affects the CUNNING of each Treachery personnel you control.
Similarly, the words “opponent’s” are used as shorthand for cards your opponent controls.
You are the owner of each card you begin the game with. You remain the owner of a card for the entire game, even if an opponent takes control of that card. At the end of the game, all cards are returned to their owners.
"HERE" AND "PRESENT"
Your personnel and equipment are present together if they are in the same crew or Away Team. Cards that are present together are also "with" each other. Your separated cards are not present, nor are your other cards in different crews or Away Teams (for example, if you have incompatible and
Away Teams on the same planet).
Your crews and Away Teams are present with other cards that are on the same ship, inside the same facility, or on the same planet surface (such as Duck Blind, opposing crews and Away Teams, and Porthos's stopping ability). However, during mission attempts, opposing crews and Away Teams become separated. (Thus, the effects of a dilemma like Sabotaged Negotiations are limited to the attempting Away Team.)
Ships (friendly or opposing) are present with each other when they are at the same spaceline location.
"Here" means "anywhere at this location." Whether in open space, aboard a ship or facility, or (at planet locations) on the surface, all ships, personnel, facilities, equipment, events, and any other cards that are at the location are "here". For example, Venus Drug affects all females, in orbit or on the planet, including opponents' females.
Similarly, "there" means "anywhere at that spaceline location." For example, your Greed personnel don't have to be on the surface to use Bribery's first function at a planet mission.
COPIES AND "DIFFERENT"
A card is a copy of another if it has the same card title and gametext. For example, Dead End (Homefront) is a copy of Dead End.
A card is different from another card if:
- they are not copies, and
- they are not versions of the same persona.
Cards that are not different are considered the same, even if they are not strict copies.
For example, if U.S.S. Voyager is destroyed, Federation Flagship: Recovered may download U.S.S. Intrepid, because that is a different ship, but not U.S.S. Voyager (Virtual Promos), because it is a copy, nor Voyager (Engage), because it is a version of the same persona (thus "the same ship").
"ONCE PER GAME" AND SIMILAR LIMITS
When a card has an effect that may be used “once per game”, you may use that card’s effect only once during a game, no matter how many copies of that card you have in play during that game (even ❖ universal cards).
For example, you may download an Armus dilemma only once per game with All-Consuming Evil, even if you play a second copy of All-Consuming Evil. You and your opponent may each use such text once per game if you each control a copy of that card. If the same “once per game” skill is included on different cards, you may use the skill once for each card; for example, you may use the ability to destroy seed cards once per game for Ajur and once per game for Boratus.
"Once each turn," "twice per game," "thrice a battle," and other similar phrases work similarly — you may use the card's effect only as often as the card allows, even if you have multiple copies in play.
TIES
When a card (such as a dilemma) specifies a superlative such as “strongest,” “most CUNNING,” or “highest total attributes,” and there is a tie, the opponent of the player immediately affected by the card gets to choose (unless the card states otherwise).
To determine such things as “nearest planet” and “far end of spaceline,” compare the number of cards in each direction; if there is a tie, then compare the total span in each direction. If still a tie, the opponent chooses.
THE CUMULATIVE RULE
Multiple copies of the same card have the same effect on the same target at the same time only if they are cumulative.
In the Star Trek: CCG, most cards are not cumulative. For example, you may not play multiple copies of Space Boomer on Travis Mayweather at the same time. You may play one copy of Space Boomer on Travis Mayweather and a second copy on Daniel Leonard. However, because two copies of Space Boomer do not have the same effect on the same target at the same time, if you put them both aboard Columbia, its RANGE would only be +3 (instead of +6).
By contrast, some cards are marked cumulative. For example, if your Away Team has three Romulan Disruptors, every personnel in the Away Team is STRENGTH +6 (instead of +2), because it is marked cumulative.
All damage markers are cumulative by default. All other cards are not cumulative unless specifically marked.
THE COLON RULE
Normally, when a card specifies another card by title, only a card with that exact title may be used. For example, only a Scan can be used to initiate battle at Nebula, not a Full-Planet Scan or a Tactical Scan.
The exception to this is the "colon rule": when a card references a particlar card title, cards that have that exact title followed by a colon, dash, or the numeral "II" are equivalent to that card title.
For example, Calamarain is immune to both Kevin Uxbridge and Kevin Uxbridge: Convergence. Launch Portal may download either Engage Shuttle Operations or Engage Shuttle Operations: Dominion. Subspace Interference nullifies Incoming Message: Attack Authorization, Incoming Message - Federation, and any other card whose title begins with "Incoming Message" followed by a colon or a dash.
On the other hand, Weyoun's Warship can download only Engage Shuttle Operations: Dominion, not Engage Shuttle Operations or Engage Shuttle Operations: Starfleet, because the card making the reference (the Warship) specifies that specific card, not the card group.
ADD THEN MULTIPLY (A.T.M.)
When numerical values, such as attributes or point boxes, are simultaneously modified by a card that adds or subtracts and another card that doubles (or triples) that value, add or subtract first, then multiply. (This is sometimes called the "A.T.M. Rule".)
LOOKING AT CARDS
You have the right to see and thoroughly inspect most of your opponent's cards if they are in play.
However, you may see and inspect your opponent's Personnel and Equipment only when they enter play, when permitted or required by a card (such as an "opponent's choice" dilemma), or when necessary to verify that your opponent is complying with the rules. Furthermore, you may not see or inspect Ships that are docked, cloaked, or phased (the same exceptions apply).
When a card grants you opponent's choice to choose one of your opponent's personnel, you may inspect all cards present in their entirety. For example, if your opponent falls victim to Antedean Assassins, you may fully inspect all personnel (not just those with Anthropology and Empathy) in your opponent's crew or Away Team.
You have a right to know the number of cards in your opponent's hand.
You may see and inspect your own cards in play at all times (including Hidden Agendas), and you may look through the cards in your discard pile (without rearranging them). You may not see cards in your draw deck or side decks, nor may you count the number of cards remaining in them.
Any player may count the number of seed cards remaining under a given mission at all times.
EQUIVALENTS
—Shinzon
A few words and phrases have been ruled equivalent. Equivalent terms are interchangeable. (All other terms are not interchangeable.)
- "Outpost Phase" is an obsolete term for the "Facility Phase." They are equivalent.
- "DS9" is equivalent to "Deep Space 9". Thus, Quark's Bar may seed on Deep Space 9.
- "I.K.C." is equivalent to "I.K.S." Thus, Kargan is matching commander of both the I.K.C. Pagh and I.K.S. Pagh.
- "Alien" species is equivalent to "humanoid" species.
- "Terran" species is equivalent to "human" species.
- A "vice-admiral" is equivalent to an admiral, a "vice-chairman" is equivalent to a chairman, a "vice-president" is equivalent to a president, and so forth.
- Gendered characteristics are equivalent to their opposite-gendered counterparts. (For example, an "empress" is equivalent to an "emperor.")
WHAT DOES THIS CARD MEAN?
This rulebook has now conveyed all generally applicable core rules of the Star Trek CCG. You should be able to play with every card in the game, interpreting them with the ordinary English language.
However, there are still some specific cards with particularly difficult gametext, and a few specific words that can be interpreted ambiguously. For help working through these issues, look up the card (or word) in the Glossary or Current Rulings. If you understand this rulebook, however, you should rarely (if ever) have to open the Glossary.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I BREAK A RULE?
—Q
The Star Trek Customizable Card Game is a complicated game. You will make mistakes. You will break rules. It will happen by accident. It happens in casual home games and it happens at the Worlds championship series.
For this reason, it is a good idea to pay attention to everything your opponent is doing to make sure that it is fully legal.
If a rules violation is discovered and an easy fix is available, take it. However, if a rules violation took place several actions, several turns, or even (at a tournament) several games ago, it is generally not possible to redress it. Play continues normally, without correction.
This rule presumes the good faith of both players. If a player is seen to have deliberately or negligently violated the rules, sanctions may be imposed. At official events, all questions, fixes, and penalties are settled by the Tournament Director, pursuant to the Organized Play Guide and the Code of Conduct.
Above all, keep having fun after an accidental rules violation. That's the spirit of Star Trek.
NEXT STEPS
You are now finished with the Basic Rulebook. Try the game out using an official starter deck, or perhaps one of these beginner decks! Join the forums and start talking about the game, or find a tournament near you!
When you're ready to learn the rest, come back to read the Advanced Rulebook, which covers all the more obscure parts of the game that this volume skipped over, from Artifacts to the Q-Continuum!
CLOSING
The Star Trek CCG was developed by Tom Braunlich, Rollie Tesh, and Warren Holland. As they wrote in the end of the original rulebook more than twenty years ago, and we say again today...
We hope you enjoy the endless possibilities in our universe.
See you on the spaceline.
ICON LEGEND
Icons not part of the core game are omitted from this streamlined rulebook. See the complete rulebook for a full icon legend.
ICONS WITH BUILT-IN RULES
- Alternate Universe: Cards with this icon are from parallel realities, other time periods, illusions, or even dreams. They may not enter our universe unless
cards are specifically permitted by a card (or if they report to their native Time Location). See Entering Play.
- Hologram: Cards with this icon are holograms. They are "deactivated" (disabled) unless present with a holodeck or holoprojectors. See Holographic Personnel and Equipment.
- Borg Use Only: These cards may only be used in
Borg decks. See Building Your Deck.
- Hidden Agenda: These cards are played face-down, then flipped and activated during a turn. See Entering Play and Playing "At Any Time".
- Self-Controlling Card: These cards move, operate, and attack on their own. See Self-Controlling Cards.
- Botany Bay: These dilemmas prevent you from attempting a mission if you peek at them too early. See Botany Bay Cards.
- Nemesis Arrows: Cards with opposed Nemesis arrows of the same color must destroy each other if they encounter each other. See Nemesis Destruction
- Infiltration Icons: Permits cards to infiltrate an opponent's personnel of the correct affiliation. See Infiltration.
- Countdown Icon: Cards with this icon "count down" at the end of each turn, and are discarded when the count reaches zero. See Countdown Tickdown.
- Planet: Refers to a planet, or a card that may only exist at a planet location.
- Space: Refers to a space location, or a card that may exist only at a space location.
- Skill Dot: Indicates a regular or special skill. See Using Skills.
- Special Download: Cards with this icon may suspend play to download the named card. See Special Download.
Staffing
- Staff Ability: These personnel can meet
staffing requirements on ships. Staffing Requirements.
- Command Ability: These personnel can meet
or
staffing requirements on ships. See Staffing Requirements.
- Borg Subcommands: These staffing icons represent
Communication,
Defense, and
Navigation for the
Borg affiliation. They are used in lieu of
and
Stars for
ships.
Quadrants
- Delta Quadrant: This card is native to the Delta Quadrant. Also appears on missions. See Mission Phase and Reporting for Duty.
- Gamma Quadrant: This card is native to the Gamma Quadrant. Also appears on missions. See Mission Phase and Reporting for Duty.
- Mirror Quadrant: This card is native to the Mirror Quadrant. Also appears on missions. See Mission Phase and Reporting for Duty.
Affiliations
- Federation: An interstellar alliance dedicated to peace and progress
- Klingon: An honor-driven warrior race
- Romulan: A cunning people known for their political intrigues
- Ferengi: A big-eared species whose culture is built on the doctrines of greed and grift
- Cardassian: A crumbling military dictatorship that eventually aligned itself with the
Dominion
- Bajoran: Ancient, religious people oppressed by
Cardassians for decades, then aided by the
Federation
- Dominion: Aggressive "anti-Federation" bent on order through conquest. Mostly native to the
Gamma Quadrant.
- Kazon: Primitive spacefaring race divided into gang-like "sects". Native to
Delta Quadrant.
- Vidiian: Once-great race suffering from a terminal illness called The Phage. Native to
Delta Quadrant.
- Hirogen: Hunter race dedicated to killing challenging "prey". Native to
Delta Quadrant.
- Borg: Cyborg race seeking perfection through assimilation of the galaxy. Native to
Delta Quadrant. The Borg are an advanced affiliation, with many affiliation-specific rules not covered in this basic rulebook. See the complete rulebook.
- Starfleet: The earliest human space explorers, who predated the
Federation.
- Vulcan: Before they joined the
Federation, the Vulcan species explored the galaxy on its own
- Neutral: Neutral facilities and some ANIMAL personnel
- Non-Aligned: Everyone else
ICONS WITHOUT BUILT-IN RULES
These icons do not have any inherent impact on the game. However, they are referenced by other cards, which may confer some importance on them.
Eras & Series
- 22nd Century: Cards with this icon are from the 22nd Century (the time frame of Star Trek: Enterprise).
- Original Series: Cards with this icon are from the time period of the original Star Trek series, approximately 2250-2270.
- Classic Films: Cards with this icon are from the time period of the classic Star Trek films, approximately 2270-2300.
- The Next Generation: Cards with this icon are from the time period and milieu of Star Trek: The Next Generation, approximately 2364-2371. No card in the game actually has this icon, but it can be added to hundreds of cards using Continuing Mission, then exploited with cards like Seek Out New Life and Attention All Hands.
- Deep Space Nine: Cards with this icon are from the time period and milieu of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, approximately 2370-2377. No card in the game actually has this icon, but it can be added to hundreds of cards using Reshape the Quadrant, then exploited with cards like New Frontiers and Gagh Tek Or?.
- Enterprise-E: Indicates personnel with the special training necessary to staff the U.S.S. Enterprise-E.
Factions
Factions are not affiliations, but some cards refer to them in a similar fashion.
- Maquis: Indicates an association with the Maquis, a rebel group battling for independence in the disputed territory between Federation and Cardassian space.
- Alliance: Indicates an association with the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance (KCA), the dominant power in the present-day
Mirror Universe.
- Terran Empire: Indicates an association with the Terran Empire, the dominant power in the
23rd Century
Mirror Universe, and later the Terran Rebellion, the contemporary revolt against the
Alliance.
Other
- Referee: Referee cards are designed to counter certain powerful cards or strategies. They are readily accessed with Q the Referee and Tribunal of Q.
- Rule of Acquisition: The Rules of Acquisition are Ferengi scriptures that ground their profit-oriented philosophy.
- Warp Core: These cards are designed to "power" your deck, usually providing free plays or card draws at the price of following certain restrictions on your deck design. They are normally found in
decks.
- Reactor Core: These cards are designed to "power" your deck, usually providing free plays or card draws at the price of following certain restrictions on your deck design. They are normally found in
decks.
- Ketracel-White: Indicates a dependence on the drug Ketracel-White, common for
Jem'Hadar soldiers.
- Orb Experience: Personnel with this icon have had an encounter with one of the Bajoran Tears of the Prophets (or "Orbs").
- Punishment: These cards relate to punishments and torment, usually for captives.
- Crime: These cards relate to criminal activity.
- Pursuit: These cards relate to pursuit.
- Barash's Illusion: Indicates that the card was part of the illusion generated by Barash, a lonely, abandoned alien boy who wanted William T. Riker to be his friend.
- Optical Compact Disc: Indicates that this personnel can staff Zefram Cochrane's first warp-capable vessel, the Phoenix.
Expansion Icons
This is collectors' information. It is extremely rare for expansion icons to have gameplay relevance.Decipher Era (Physical Cards; 1994 - 2006)
- Premiere: The original set of 363 Next Generation cards, released 1994. Icon is errata not present on original cards.
- Alternate Universe: 122 cards, first expansion set, released 1995. Icon is errata not present on original cards.
- Q-Continuum: 121 cards, released 1996. Icon is errata not present on original cards.
- Introductory 2-Player Game: 21 cards, released 1997. Icon is errata not present on original cards.
- First Anthology: 6 cards, released 1997. Icon is errata not present on original cards.
- Fajo Collection: Special collection of especially novel 18 cards, released 1997.
- First Contact: 130 cards about the new movie Star Trek: First Contact. Introduced
and many major rules changes, ending what is called the "PAQ" (Premiere/AU/Q-Continuum) period of the game.
- Premium: Premium cards that have released as promotions at various times throughout the game's history.
- Deep Space 9: 276 cards, released 1998
- The Dominion: 130 cards, released 1999
- Blaze of Glory: 130 cards, released 1999
- Rules of Acquisition: 130 cards, released 1999
- The Trouble with Tribbles: 141 cards, released 2000
- Mirror, Mirror: 131 cards, released 2000
- Voyager: 201 cards, released 2001. Suffering severe balance issues, Voyager launched the game's Dark Age.
- The Borg: 131 cards, released 2001
- Holodeck Adventures: 141 cards, released 2001
- The Motion Pictures: 134 cards, released 2002
- All Good Things: 41 cards, released 2003
- Enterprise Collection: 18 cards, released 2006. Icon is errata not present on original cards. (Originals had
.)
Continuing Committee Era (Virtual Cards; 2008 - present)
- Referee Reprints: 31 cards, released 2008, reprinting all
cards from the Decipher Era.
- Identity Crisis: 25 cards, released 2009, providing alternate-color versions of all multi-affiliation cards that didn't receive this treatment during the Decipher Era.
- Virtual Premium: Virtual premium cards that were released as promotions at various times during the CC era.
- Chain of Command: 15 cards, released 2009
- Life from Lifelessness: 54 cards, released 2010, marking the end of the game's Dark Age
- Homefront I: 36 cards, released 2010, featuring reprints of all homeworld and headquarters cards.
- Straight and Steady: 57 cards, released 2010
- BaH!: 36 cards, released 2011, reprinting all Tactics cards.
- Shades of Gray: 55 cards, released 2011
- Homefront II: 54 cards, released 2011
- Resistance is Futile: 18 cards, released 2011
- The Next Generation: 102 cards, released 2012, introducing the new Block Format
- The Next Generation: Supplemental: 45 cards, released 2012, consisting of reprints needed for the TNG Block
- Homefront III: 36 cards, released 2012
- Engage: 54 cards, released 2012
- The Sky's The Limit: 55 cards, released 2013
- Homefront IV: 27 cards, released 2013
- Emissary: 81 cards, released 2013, commencing Deep Space Nine block
- Emissary: Supplemental: 80 cards, released 2013, containing reprints for DS9 Block
- Homefront V: 18 cards, released 2013, containing Site reprints
- Warp Pack: Emissary: 6 cards, released 2014
- The Maquis: 54 cards, released 2014
- Twentieth Anniversary Collection: 18 cards, released 2014
- The Gamma Quadrant: 54 cards, released 2015
- Homefront VI: 48 cards, released 2015
- Crossover: 80 cards, released 2015, commencing Mirror Block
- Crossover: Supplemental: 80 cards, released 2015, containing reprints for Mirror Block
- Through The Looking Glass: 54 cards, released 2016
- Star Trek 50: 18 cards, released 2016, celebrating Star Trek's 50th anniversary
- The Terran Empire: 64 cards, released 2016
- Broken Bow: 90 cards, released 2017, commencing Enterprise Block
- Live Long and Prosper: 66 cards, released 2017, launching the new
Vulcan affiliation
- Cold Front: 54 cards, released 2018