Siskoid's Rolodex #109 ... Siskoid ... [3/ 6/99 11:05]

[Siskoid's Rolodex offers spot reviews of all the cards judging them by their less tangible qualities, searching for the elusive perfect card: their picture/graphics, lore, Trek sense and stockability. Each on 5 points (so on a total of 20). Mondays, I do Premiere. Tuesdays, AU. Wednesdays, Q-Continuum. Thursdays, First Contact. Fridays, DS9. And Saturdays, Premium cards. Sundays, I back-end the Premiere set from the Zs. It's so darn big, I do it twice! (At this rate, I should be done sometime in the next 4 years.) Comments always welcome.]

#109-Establish Relations, Mission, Federation/Non-Aligned/Bajoran, planet, universal, Premium
Independant Planet: Conduct negotiations to establish peaceful rapport and cultural exchange.
-Diplomacy + INTEGRITY>32 + (Leadership OR V.I.P)
-Span: 3, 25 points; When you solve, download a Non-Aligned personnel here

PICTURE: It's a nice conceptual planet with one main continent on the underside and planety of cloud cover, but looks too much like it's been painted for a score higher than 3.2.

LORE: Goes well with the game text, but like most Mission lore, it's pretty basic. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Requirements first. Diplomacy is a natural and high Integrity is needed to show your intentions are good. Then you need either a Leader or a VIP, either of which has the authority to make contact and enforce aggreements made here. Cool. The rewards. 25 points + a Non-Aligned personnel download at this location. This is great. A rapport is created and an exchange program established that allows a personnel from the Independent Planet to join the crew (perhaps in exchange for some nameless Ensign). This can lead to strange occurences though, depending on the identity of the "Independent Planet". If you download Zon for example, then the planet must be Nausica. But say you download Jenice Manheim. She's from Earth! An aligned world! So it doesn't always work. The biggest problem with is with the affiliations that can attempt it. I have no problem seeing the Federation do this, of course. The Bajorans, while a generally "ethical" affiliation, aren't really explorers. They seem more concerned with their home system and its surroundings. The Non-Aligneds... aye, there's the rub. I'm ready to believe the NAs attempting the mission are working FOR the Independent Planet and are establishing relations with outsiders. The lore allows for that. But then, is the reward (the download) plausible? Possibly. If the NA comes from the outsider culture. And like all universal missions, why can't it be seeded in another Quadrant? Pretty much passes the test with a score of 4.5.

SEEDABILITY: One of the few spots where you can seed a Husnock Outpost, it's necessary to a Non-Aligned deck. Low points, but easy requirements and the download ain't bad either. Though it's universal, I wouldn't really seed more than one, but it could make a good stepping stone to a diplomacy deck, downloading another diplomat upon completing, allowing you to go after the bigger missions. All depends on your strategy: 3.3.

TOTAL: 14 (70%) I nice little card. I'm very fond of universal missions for some reason.

COMPARISON CHART

Adapt: Negate Obstruction - 18.4 (92%)
[...]
Aldebaran Serpent - 14.5 (72.5%)
Abandon Ship! - 14.2 (71%)
Brainwash - 14.1 (70.5%)
Wormhole - 14.1 (70.5%)
Aamin Marritza - 14 (70%)
Establish Relations - 14 (70%)
Anaphasic Organism - 13.9 (69.5%)
Ari - 13.9 (69.5%)
Access Relay Station - 13.8 (69%)
Altovar - 13.7 (68.5%)
Vulcan Mindmeld - 13.7 (68.5%)
[...]
Zibalian Transport - 7.1 (35.5%)

Siskoid (unrelated)