ST:CCG RULES FAQ v2 MORE OFFICIAL ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED RULE QUESTIONS For the STAR TREK: TNG: Customizable Card Game by DAnswerMan@aol.com Date: 12/11/94 (available by www, ftp) *****Copyright Notice*********** The information in this document is copyrighted by Decipher Inc. 1994, however, it can be freely disseminated online or by traditional publishing means as long as it is not altered and this copyright notice is attached. TM, Copyright & Registered 1994 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is a registered trademark of and all characters and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures. Decipher Inc. Authorized User. ***************************** This is a supplement to v.1, probably attached on the same FAQ as an addendum called v.2. The previosly-answered FAQs from v.1 are not also listed here. Instead, they can be found in v.1. Later a more organized FAQ, perhaps with an index, will compile these all together. ***************************** INDEX (the topics are in the following order) Dilemmas -- "Overcoming" Dilemmas -- "Discard dilemma" Dilemmas -- Seeding Duplicate Dilemmas Dilemmas -- Q Rearranging Spaceline Federation -- Attacks Under Treaty Federation -- "Retaliation" Attacks Federation -- Attacks with Mixed Affiliations Aboard Equipment -- Use relative to Affiliation/Treaties Equipment -- Transferrable? Equipment -- Doubled? Equipment -- Phasers Space Missions -- Cloaking Space Missions -- "Away Teams" Space Missions -- Multiple Ships Space Missions -- On-Ship Dilemmas Miscellaneous Cytherians -- Expanded Explanation Phased Matter -- Expanded Explanation Alien Parasites -- Expanded Explanation Rogue Borg -- Expanded Explanation Rogue Borg -- and Lore Returns Borg Ship -- Limits? Combining Away Teams on a Planet Battle "Forces" Temporal Rifts and Countdown Effects Stopped Crew on a Ship Stopped Away Teams -- Unstopping Them. Attempting Missions with Insufficient Personnel "Red Shirts" Emergency Transporter Armbands Telepathic Alien Kidnappers -- Cumulative? Tsiokovsky Infection -- Cumulative? Tsiolkovsky Infection -- Super Skills Atmospheric Ionization Wormholes Ship Destruction Ktarian Game -- "Disabled" Ship Battles Incoming Messages Static Warp Bubble -- Discards Cloaking -- When Damaged. Expanded Rules? Strategy Book? ************ Q & A ***************** Q: "Overcoming" Dilemmas -- What does it mean to "overcome" a dilemma? Only if an Away Team or Crew "overcomes" a Dilemma can it continue without being "stopped". But some Dilemma cards give the player no opportunity to "get around" the dilemma, such as Armus, or the Love Interest cards. What's the deal? A: Okay, we will give a detailed answer. The basic idea is this -- when an Away Team attempts a mission, they are supposed to take on the Dilemmas located there, one by one. As long as they keep "overcoming" (defined below) each dilemma, they keep going; but if they run up against a dilemma they can't overcome they are stopped and affected by that dilemma, etc. Now, most of the Dilemma cards have the form: "Unless you meet (specific conditions), the following happens to you . . . (nasty effects)". In these cases, the definition of "overcoming the dilemma" is clear -- you overcome the dilemma if your Away Team is able to meet the specific conditions listed on the card. The card is discarded (to its owner's discard pile) and the Away Team continues the mission attempt. If the away team fails to meet the conditions, then it is both "stopped" and affected by the card. Some Dilemma cards, however, have no conditions. They have their effect and you can't avoid it. For example, Armus - Skin of Evil says, "Kills one Away Team member (random selection). Discard dilemma." There is no "unless", it just happens, period. (There are special cards like the Genetronic Replicator that can save the Away Team member). THE RULE TO GO BY in "overcoming" dilemmas, therefore, is as follows: (1) Dilemma cards with no "conditions" are automatically "overcome" -- they have their effect, but do not "stop" the Away Team. (2) Cards which do have conditions will "stop" the away team and have their effect unless you "overcome" the dilemma by meeting those conditions. (This all assumes the dilemma card itself doesn't override this rule, such as the Alien Parasites dilemma card) Q: What does "Discard dilemma" on several of the Dilemma cards mean? A: (1) Most Dilemma cards will have their "plot-twist effect" and then go away. The words "Discard dilemma" simply remind you to discard the dilemma after it is used -- whether or not you were able to overcome its conditions. (2) However, several Dilemma cards are more "permanent" in nature. They are not discarded until you overcome them. For example, the "Impassable Door" is a simple dilemma that stays in place until you bring up the Computer Skill to meet the conditions of getting past it. Such cards as this do not say "discard dilemma." They remain in place until someone overcomes them. (3) There are a few Dilemma cards that "enter the game" so to speak; such as ones which are "Played on your ship", like Junior, which attaches itself to your ship and starts sucking out its energy. Dilemmas like this are no longer in effect at the mission location. (Someone else trying the mission won't be affected by them). But they are still in effect as described on the card. For example, Junior stays on your ship until you meet the conditions of removing him as described on the card, or until the ship is destroyed. Q: Seeding Duplicate Dilemmas -- The rules state (page 11), "Players may not place duplicate Dilemma or Artifact cards at the same location. If found, duplicate cards are simply discarded." Does this refer to duplicate cards played to the same location by one player, or any duplicate created when both players happen to play the same dilemma at one location? A: This refers to BOTH players. ANY duplicates, regardless of who played it, are discarded when they are found. Q: The Q Dilemma Card -- It says, "If 2 Leadership and INTEGRITY > 60, discard all dilemmas here. Otherwise, Q allows opponent to rearange spaceline locations. Discard dilemma". If the opponent rearranges the spaceline, is he under any restrictions? For example, can the Outposts be separated from their current location? What happens to Away Teams on planets? Can Dilemmas/Artifacts be moved to different locations? What happens with the ships at these locations? Do they stay at their relative position in the spaceline, or can they be rearranged too? A: The current ruling is, (1) When the *locations* on the spaceline are rearranged all cards on or under the Mission card all stay together and are moved as one unit.(including dilemmas/artifacts underneath; and personnel, events, equipment, etc. which might be on top) (2) All ships and the stuff aboard them stay where they currently are. (3) Exception: if you are using a Holo-Projector to project Holographic personnel onto a planet, these personnel would be "deactivated and returned to the ship" (as explained on page 31 when their controlling ship leaves), rather than staying with the planet as described in 1) above. Q: Federation Attacks under Treaty -- If you are playing, for example, Federation and Klingons without a treaty, can your Federation ships/personnel get "dragged into" a battle if your Klingons are attackedt, or does the Federation only get to counterattack when they are *directly* attacked? What is the situation if a treaty IS in effect? A: With no treaty in effect, the Federation could NOT attack, with a treaty they could. Q: Federation "Retaliation" Attacks -- Federation cannot initiate attacks but are allowed to retaliate. Does this include a second Federation ship that I'd like to bring to the aid of another that is under attack? A: The rules aren't particularly clear on whether a "battle" lasts for one turn and then ends, or whether it can last for a series of turns as the ships involved "slug it out". This is how we currently interpret it: Once a battle gets started (Away Team or Ship battles), the battle lasts for as long as the players choose to continue it on successive turns, until the ship(s) are destroyed or until one player breaks off the battle in some fashion (i.e., by running away). If your ship attacks the opponent and both ships are damaged, on his turn he can either break off the battle or continue it by counter-attacking you. The counter-attack we consider to be continuing the same "battle" that you started, rather than a separate battle. Thus, in this case it is possible to bring in new ships to join the battle. In the case where a Federation ship is attacked in this way, (see page 28 of the rules) not only can it counter-attack, but you can "call in" nearby Federation ships to come to your aid in the battle, as one would logically expect. Q: Federation Attacks when Klingons Aboard -- Federation forces are normally not supposed to initiate an attack. Does this include a situation in which there are Klingons aboard a Federation ship under a Treaty? A: The present ruling is this: If you are playing an alliance under treaty of Federation/Klingon, then situations may arise in which you have Klingons aboard a Federation ship. It is possible for a ship with a mixed crew like this to initiate an attack -- but ONLY if a Klingon aboard has "Leadership" skill (otherwise, no one would obey him and the Federation rules against attack would prevail). The same would apply with Federation / Romulan treaties and mixed crews. Q: Equipment use relative to Affiliation/Treaties -- (1) If there is no treaty in effect, can affiliation-specific Equipment like a Romulan Disruptor be "handled" by the other affiliations? i.e., can a Romulan Disruptor be brought in at a Federation outpost and transported around by Federation ships? (2) What if there is a treaty in effect -- can my Federation people use the Romulan Disruptor? A: (1) Anybody, anytime, can move or beam Equipment around, because they are "things". It's just that in game terms only certain affiliations can actually use that Equipment as stated on the individual cards. (2) If there is a treaty, then both affiliations can use the Equipment, because under a Treaty the allied affiliations share their cards "as if they were one affiliation." (You might rationalize that they teach each other how to use the equipment, etc.) Q: Equipment -- (1) Are Equipment effects transferrable? For example, the Engineering Kit says, "Gives all of your OFFICER- classification personnel the extra skill of ENGINEER where present." So, my Officer now acts as an Engineer too. But what if I now add a Tricorder which says, "Gives all of your ENGINEER-classification personnel the extra skill of SCIENCE where present." Does that mean my Officer/Engineer now acts as a Scientist as well? (2) Do "super-engineers" benefit twice from Equipment cards. For example, Geordi LaForge is a super Engineer with an ENGINEER classification and extra ENGINEER skill. If he is with a Tricorder (which gives SCIENCE skill to ENGINEER-classification personnel), would he also have double SCIENCE skill? (3) Phasers -- A Phaser says "each personel STRENGTH +2 where present". Does each member of the away team get +2, or only one member per phaser? A: (1) No, the equipment only enhances the "classification" as a new skill. You might think of it as a "temporary ability", but it doesn't transfer. (2) No. The cards refer only to the "classification" of the personnel. (3) Wherever a phaser is present, everyone on the away team gets the +2. If you have two phasers, you get +4. Q: Space Missions -- (1) Do you have to uncloak to attempt a space mission? (2) What constitutes an "Away Team" for a space mission? (3) Can crew members located on different ships be designated as on the same Away Team for a space mission? (4) If there is more than one ship present at a location when a space mission is being attempted and the Dilemma card says, "Play on ship" (like Junior, see above), to which ship does this apply? A: (1) Yes, a ship must be uncloaked to try the mission (unless you have a special card that allows otherwise). A ship under cloak expends a lot of energy which is assumed to interfere with the ability to achieve the mission requirements at a space location. (2) See page 22 of the rules, "...space missions can be attempted by an entire ship's crew...." The Away Team for a space mission is the entire crew of the ship (or the crew of the outpost). Yes, this does mean you might be exposing valuable Personnel that you would rather not. Tough Tachyons!! ;-) Figure out tactics to get around that problem! :-) (3) Crews from two different ships cannot normally be combined to constitute a single "Away Team" crew for space missions. Beam the people you want to be involved in the mission to one ship, and beam the ones you don't want involved to the other. Note that the two crews can be used separately as two separate crews, trying the mission with one crew, and if they get stopped then trying it with the other crew. (4) Dilemma cards in such situations normally apply to the ship that was the one attempting the mission, unless otherwise stated. Q: Cytherians -- This dilemma says, "Place on ship. Ship must do nothing but travel to far end of spaceline at normal speed. When reached, discard dilemma. Score points." (1) Does this mean I can't beam any personnel off at all on my way? (2) What happens if I play an incoming message card on the ship? (3) Can I play two wormholes to get me there quicker? (4) What does "normal speed" mean? (5) Once the dilemma is finished, do I have to go all the way back to do the mission? A: Think of it like this: Cytherians give your ship and crew a new "mission." The ship basically is on a a single-minded assignment to go to the end of the spaceline and isn't supposed to do anything else, although "things can happen to it" on its way. You can't beam people off it or onto it. You can't attack any other ships with it. And you can't try to alter its mission with things like incoming message cards. You proceed at normal speed -- the maximum range movement per turn (which is worded this way to make it clear that the ship doesn't immediately move all at once to the end, but instead moves at normal speed over the next several turns). The ship, however, can be affected by "natural phenomena" it encounters on the spaceline in its journey -- including Wormholes, Gaps in Normal Space, Q-Net, etc. The ship scores the bonus points only when it actually reaches the end of the line. For this dilemma, there is currently no way to overcome it except for doing what it says. And yes, when you do finish the dilemma by reaching the end of the spaceline, if you want to re-attempt the mission with that crew you have to make your way back by moving your ship the normal way. Q: Phased Matter-- How is the Away Team split? Evenly? As close to even as possible? Can you split an Away Team of 10 and make two teams - one of nine and the other of one? Is either of the two groups "stopped"? A: This dilemma says, "Away Team is split into two Away Teams (owner's choice). Only the smaller team may beam up until ENGINEER and SCIENCE present." (It is supposed to imitate the situation Ro Laren and Geordi LaForge found themselves in during the episode "The Next Phase" where they were alive but cut off from the rest of the universe.) Unless the Away Team overcomes the Dilemma's conditions (by having an Engineer and Scientist present), the player has to split the Away Team, as described below. There is the further effect that only the smaller Away Team sub-group will be able to leave the planet; the larger group, being phased, can't leave until you eventually bring the needed Engineer and Science personnel there, which frees them. In terms of "stopping", the card is worded a little awkwardly. Think of it as if it said only the smaller group can "continue" in place of "beam up". The intention of the card is that the larger group is stopped, and can't beam up either, which is logical since they are phased and thus literally can't interact with the world. Only the smaller group of the away team can continue the mission attempt or beam up. If you want, you can later beam down reinforcements to join the smaller Away Team group. But the larger group is out of play, stuck there, until the necessary help arrives to free them. To split the groups, the player simply makes two groups of his choice out of the Away Team, of any size or combination. For example, if you have 10 people in the Away Team, you could split them into groups of 1-9, 2-8, 3-7, 4-6, or 5-5. The larger-sized group is the one phased by the Dilemma. If you split them evenly (i.e. 5-5), then you verbally designate one to be the larger group. Q Alien Parasites -- What does it mean when it says the opponent gets to "control" my ships crew until stopped? Can he/she deliberately endanger the crew? Can he/she attempt a mission and, if successful, score it for himself? A: The Alien Parasites card says: "Unless INTEGRITY>32, Away Team infected. They beam back and opponent immediately controls ship and crew until "stopped." Then turn resumes." This is a somewhat exceptional card, of course, so it is a little broadly worded. But basically it means that if you don't have the integrity, the opponent gets to do with your ship and the crew whatever he wants, using "legal" moves. Think of it as if a madman has taken over your crew! The opponent has many options of things he can do with the ship. If the ship still has movement range available, he can move it somewhere. (For example he can move it onto a "Gaps in Normal Space" card where one crewmember will be killed). He can use it to start a battle, or beam crew members off to strand them on planets the ship passes. He can attempt a mission at a location where he knows they will not be able to overcome the dilemma, and thus will experience negative effects, etc. And yes, the current ruling is that if the opponent attempts and completes a mission with them it will score for him. This continues until he is finished or until the ship and crew involved are all stopped. Q: Rogue Borg -- How do they work? A: The Rogue Borg, like the holographic recreations, are an aspect of the game which were "introduced" in this set and will be developed somewhat further in future expansion sets. Basically the Rogue Borg are used as a nasty way to directly attack the opponent. This card says: "Plays on any occupied ship. Battles crew now and at start of every players' turn. Two Borg =2 STRENGTH each, three =3 each, etc. Surviving Borg remain." This is enhanced further in the rulebook, on page 32, but it is a complex card so we will discuss it more here--- The idea is that you stock a whole bunch of these guys into your deck, and save them as they come up in your hand until you have, say, 5 or 6. Five Rogue Borg, for example, combine to have an attack strength of 25 points. If Crosis is in this group, the total is doubled to 50 points (see his card). When you are ready, you can play them as Interrupts, in a group, right onto the bridge of one of the opponent's occupied ships. They immediately battle the ships crew, just like a normal "Away Team vs. Away Team Battle" on a planet, and they continue battling the crew automatically at the START of EACH player's turn (both your and your opponents turns). Here are some of the things that can happen as a result: As in all battles, the loser of the battle will lose one personnel by random selection. If his crew is strong enough to defeat your Rogue Borg group, one Rogue Borg will be killed, but they will resolutely stay to continue the attack until they are all killed off. (You might be able to "reinforce" them with more Rogue Borgs on later turns). In any case, his crew members will be "stopped" for this turn and all subsequent turns in which the battle continues, because all battles "stop" their participants. This alone makes Rogue Borg powerful. If his crew is defeated by your Rogue Borg group, he will first lose one personnel by random selection, his crew is stopped, and then he will be faced with the problem of what to do next turn. The battle happens at the start of each subsequent turn, so his options are limited. If the battle seems hopeless, he might "run away" by, for example, using Emergency Transporter Armbands to beam down to a planet, or to another ship. Or, he might bring up another ship, and then beam over "reinforcements" to the crew of the besieged ship, which might turn the tide of the battle! Or he might use a "Self Destruct" card to destroy the ship with the Rogue Borgs still aboard, etc. There are many creative options available. The card "Hugh" is another defense against the Rogue Borg (as well as against the Borg Ship). While the ship is under siege by the Rogue Borg, it cannot be moved by the remnants of its crew because they are not in control and are stopped anyway by the battle. If the Rogue Borg wipe out or "chase off" the ship's crew, they win control of the ship. However, they cannot yet use the ship. They can only stay aboard the ship and try to repel an attempt by your opponent to recapture it. If you put into play the Event card "Lore Returns", Lore will allow you to use this Rogue Borg crew to pilot the ship up and down the spaceline, attacking the opponent's ships (just as if it was one of your own ships). For all battles, Rogue Borg are assumed to have the "leadership" required to participate in battles, (think of it as something left over from when they were part of the collective conscious). Used correctly, the Rogue Borg can be very nasty. :-) Q: Rogue Borg and Lore -- When Rogue Borg have taken over a ship and Lore Returns is in play, can they be beamed down to a planet to battle enemy away teams? A: Yes. Q: Borg Ship -- Is there a limit to the number of Borg Ships that can be in play? A: Yes, in the sense that the game has built-in limitations and defenses. The Borg Ship is a space dilemma and thus there can at most be one per space mission. But any number of them can be activated and on the move at any given time. There are no current plans now to impose further limits. If we find out we need more defenses in the future we'll make a card! Q: Combining Away Teams on a Planet -- If you beam an away team to a mission from two separate ships, do they come together as one away team? A: Yes-- If you beam them both down it is assumed they are intended to be there together. If you want to operate them separately, first beam down one, try the mission (or battle, etc.), and if they get stopped then beam down another team, etc. The only exception is the case when one player beams down Away Teams from different affiliations and no treaty is in effect that allows them to be intermixed. In that case they are separate Away Teams in the same place. Q: Battle "Forces"-- The rules don't define what constitues a "force" when they say, "Battles can only occur when the opposing forces are at the same location." A: "Forces" here simply means the units each PLAYER has at that location. Either my Away Team versus your Away Team, or my ships versus your ships. Plus any other cards which might come into play such as modifiers (shield enhancers, etc.) or Interrupt cards that affect battles. See also the previous question about combining away teams. Q: Temporal Rifts and Countdown Effects -- There are some cards with "countdown" effects, such as stating something that is going to happen to a ship in X turns (i.e. Warp Core Breach). And there are some cards which can be played on a ship (i.e.Temporal Rift), that make it "disappear" and reappear X turns hence. During the time it is in the Rift, are the countdown effects still happening, or are they suspended? A: The current ruling is: Time isn't frozen for the people aboard the ship. The countdown of turns continues for the ship in the rift. Note: while in the rift, the ship can only be affected further by cards which have natural effects, similar to the interpretation for ships that are "cloaked" -- i.e., a Plasma Fire can be played on a ship in a Rift, but the opponent could not "scan" the ship in the rift. Q: Stopped Crew on a Ship: If a ship's crew becomes stopped somehow, yet the ship still has range left, can it still move? A: No, because the crew is stopped. The Ship gets stopped by running out of its range or being in a battle. It cannot move if it has no active personnel who meet its staffing requirements. If the crew is stopped, it can't move for that reason. If new unstopped peersonnel can be brought aboard that meet the staffing requirements, the ship can move. Q: Stopped Away Teams -- If my away team gets stopped by not overcoming a Dilemma and then I use Emergency Transporter Armbands to beam them back to the ship, do they become un-stopped? A: No. There is nothing in the game presently that will "unstop" anything, (except for the related card that allows a ship and its crew to "make another move", although that isn't quite the same as "unstopping" them). Q: Attempting Missions with Insufficient Personnel -- Does the Away Team have to theoretically be able to complete the mission in order to be allowed to attempt the mission? A: No. You can attempt the mission even if the away team theoretically can't complete it. If they make it through the dilemmas, they won't be able to go any further; but you might later bring there the cards that can actually complete the mission. Q: "Red Shirts" -- Can you send down a single personnel to attempt a mission, sacrificing him to see what the first dilemma is, etc.? A: Yes, the "red shirt" strategy is a major tactic and certainly is allowed. There is a risk to it, however, because some dilemmas have powerfuly negative effects that are relatively easy to overcome. Yet, if you "red shirt" such a dilemma, you will release very undesirable consequences! Q: Emergency Transporter Armbands -- Do they override the rule about not being able to beam up to a cloaked ship? The card does say "any time", after all. A: No. Emergency Transporter Armbands don't overide anything that would normally prevent transporting. "Any time" refers to the ability to use it at any time since it is an interrupt, but still the normal conditions have to be met. Q: Telepathic Alien Kidnappers --Are the Telepathic Alien Kidnappers cumulative? It doesn't say either way on the card. A: Yes. (Teaser-- for those who are planning to use this strategy, future cards in the next expansion will be effecting the T.A.Kidnappers!) Q: Tsiolkovsky Infection -- Is this dilemma cumulative? It does stay on the ship, so the same ship could theoretically encounter more than one. A: The current ruling is: No. if you run into another one, it is still only affecting your first-listed skill. You can only become affected once -- the infection is either "on" or "off." Q: Tsiolkovsky Infection -- This causes affected cards to "lose their first-listed skill." If this is a super-skill, like Diplomacy x3, does the character lose it all, or just part of it? A: The character loses all of it.. The "Diplomacy x3" is not three diplomacy skills, it refers to a large amount of that skill. Q: Atmospheric Ionization -- It says, "Plays crosswise on any planet location. Maximum of three personnel per turn can be beamed up or down at this location." Does this mean 3 limit at any one time, or for the entire turn? Does it refer to 3 up and 3 down, or 3 total? A: It means, up to 3 people can beam once, up or down. (i.e. 2 down and 1 up or any such combination). Q: Wormholes -- They are to be played on a ship "as it begins to move". Does this mean when the ship first moves in a turn, or can it also be played if the ship moves somewhere, stops to do something, and then begins to move again? A: Yes, as it begins to move any time. Q: Ship Destruction -- When a Self Destruct card used to destroy a ship, other ships in the same location are damaged. Is this true for a ship that is destroyed for other reasons (for example, by a Plasma Fire)? A: No. Currently the only kind of ship destruction that damages nearby ships is from the Auto Destruct. Note: Intentionally using this as a tactic to damage enemy ships is one way for the Federation to (essentially) attack. Q: Ktarian Game -- Explain how the "disabled" personnel work with this card. A: The card says: "Place on ship. Now and start of each of your turns, one person aboard (random selection) is disabled. Cured when non-disabled CUNNING>30 OR android aboard." This means that they are not "killed", but basically are out of play (but still located aboard the ship). Their skills cannot be used in the game at all, including their "staffing ability" icon, etc. The remaining non-disabled personnel can still act normally. One easy way to keep track of who has been disabled is to turn that personnel card upside down. (Note: When counting this CUNNING>30 needed to overcome it, you can't count the "disabled" crew, only the crew that haven't been disabled yet. Thus, it is a fairly easy Dilemma to overcome, but if you don't overcome it, it can be very annoying for a long time.) Q: Ship Battles -- The rules say, "If the attacker's weapon power is greater than the defender's shield power the defender's ship is damaged. Otherwise, the defender's ship is safe and the player now gets a retaliation shot with the roles reversed." This seems to imply that the defender gets a retaliation shot only if the defender wasn't damaged. Is that true? A: No. The wording here is a bit ambiguous. The intent is the defender normally gets his retaliation shot whether or not he is damaged. Think of the attacker's shot and the defender's shot as being nearly simultaneous. Q: Incoming Messages-- (1) When my opponent plays an incoming message on me, does that mean that I can't beam any personnel off to a neighboring ship before I head home, or does the nature of the card intend to stop me from all actions for a while? (2) Would the Incoming Message interrupt have any effect on a ship whose entire crew has beamed down to attempt a mission? (3) What if only part of the crew is aboard but they do not have the necessary staff or command rating to move the ship? (4) Do I have any control over my speed? For example, if moving my full normal speed would land the ship on a "Gaps in Normal Space" or where a Borg Ship is, do I have to do it? A: The Incoming Message is an "order." You are supposed to say, "Yes Sir!" and do as you are told. You must beam up the necessary personnel to meet the ship's staff requirements, if necessary, and single-mindedly take off for the Outpost without beaming off personnel or doing other things along the way like stopping to begin a battle or attempt a mission. If this forces you to stop on a location where you would rather not be, that's tough; you are under orders! If your ship is attacked by the opponent on the way back, it may defend itself, but must continue its assignment on your next turn. Q: Static Warp Bubble -- It says the player must discard a card. Could this include discarding a card that is already in play on the table, or does it refer only to cards in your hand? A: Only to cards in your hand. Q: Cloaking devices -- Is it possible to cloak a damaged ship? A: No. This is on page 29 under Battle rules. Q: Expanded Rules -- Will there be a expanded set of rules published? A: Eventually perhaps. For now, the Rules FAQs will act as a supplement, and as we develop or learn about new rules that are found to be needed these will be posted as well. Tournament players and organizers will also develop rules related to tournaments. We are developing FAQs of the best rule variations people have proposed (including multi-player variations) and those will be posted. And a Strategy Book for the game is in the works which will have a lot of good stuff in it as well. Q: Is there going to be a Strategy Book? A: Yes. One is in the works. It will contain expanded information about the game, as well as discuss in detail the prevailing tactics and strategies for specific cards, etc. *************************************** For additional information: DAnswerMan@aol.com ***************************************