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DECIPHER.com > star trek ccg > deck designs

Plans of the FCA (Ferengi Colonial Androids)
06/99 - Chris Heard

About the deck:
Ferengi real estate speculators have discovered a fascinating new market: a strange green planet with two moons. If this planet can be made habitable, the profits on land sales will be enormous. Yet the investors are uncertain of the risks. Therefore, the consortium has hired four of the galaxy's top cyberneticists to program a cadre of androids to scout the planet for its initial colonization ...

Mission Phase
Try to get one of the Search for Weapons isolated at one end of the spaceline, with several [univ] Space missions between it and the nearest mission. When the facility phase comes, seed the outpost here.

Dilemma Phase
The dilemma combos in this deck are not the most powerful ever conceived, but they are designed for maximum flexibility. There are two pairs of three combos. The three combos are: (1) Edo Probe + The Sheliak + Q + Borg Ship + Cytherians; (2) Alien Parasites + Rascals + Outpost Raid + The Higher ... the Fewer; (3) Cardassian Trap + Shaka + The Higher ... the Fewer + Zaldan + Radioactive Garbage Scow. If the opponent plays all planet or all space, these combos may be used exactly as shown here. One or more of the cards in each combo will end up being a misseed, but the remaining elements of the combo should still be somewhat effective. If the opponent plays a 1/5 planet/space or space/planet split, recombine one of the sets of combos as follows: (S) Borg Ship + Cytherians + Rascals + Radioactive Garbage Scow; (P) Alien Parasites + Zaldan + The Sheliak + Q + The Higher ... the Fewer; (S/P) Edo Probe + Cardassian Trap + Shaka + The Higher ... the Fewer. If the opponent plays a 2/4 planet/space or space/planet split, recombine both sets of combos and there will be no misseeds. Try to seed the Borg Ship dilemmas such that they will be moving away from your outpost.

Gameplay
The first step in getting the deck going is to get your Q's Planet on the spaceline. The ideal way to do this is to play a Revolving Door on your own Q's Tent side deck on turn X. On turn X+1, play Wrong Door to move the Revolving Door from your Q's Tent to your opponent's Q's Tent side deck. (This limits your opponent to Kevin Uxbridge as a solution, since your opponent can play Alternate Universe Door or another Revolving Door only on his or her own turn.) Of course, you can also simply play the Revolving Door directly on the opponent's Q's Tent side deck. If your opponent's Tent is closed when you retrieve and play your Q's Planet, seed the Varon-T Disruptor and the two dilemmas there.

The rest of play is simplicity itself. Report one of the cyberneticists, one of the androids, one of the mercenary ships, and then solve Q's Planet and retrieve the Varon-T Disruptor. Next turn, build a Colony, and keep reporting cyberneticists and androids at the Ferengi outpost. During your execute orders phase, shuttle the new arrivals to the Colony, being careful to observe affiliation restrictions outside the Ferengi Trading Post. Keep a cyberneticist there at the Trading Post so you can report an STA for free.

When reporting your STAs, you will generally want to report them as CIVILIANs. However, it is wise to report the first one or two as OFFICERs, so that you will have the ability to initiate attacks. If your opponent should try to "oppose" your colonists, a little personnel battle with STRENGTH 20 androids should make them think twice. Your OFFICER androids can also initiate ship battles before the opposing Away Team ever arrives or leaves.

The Wrong Doors can be used as described above, but are primarily defensive, to ensure that you get your Q's Planet when you want it. Be frugal with your Amandas; they are in the deck primarily to protect you from Wrong Doors and Disruptor Overloads. The Alternate Universe Doors can do double duty; they can get you into your Tent through an opponent's Revolving Door, or get you through a Q-Net placed between your Search for Weapons and Q's Planet (and you can expect this to happen).

There are four Colonies in the deck (and one in the Tent) so that one will come up early. They're also there for redundancy. If your Colony is about to be destroyed, evacuate it and then build another one after the first is destroyed.

Q's Tent Cards
The use of most of these cards is straightforward. Dathon gets you through Q-Nets, The Devil destroys Treaties and Flutes, Intruder Force Field hampers Rogue Borg, and The Traveler: Transcendence nullifies Static Warp Bubbles. Dr. Reyga is a Ferengi ENGINEER, so if you fear for your Trading Post (e.g., if your opponent has a non-Federation armada), retrieve him so that you can potentially build a new one. Use Atmospheric Ionization either to slow down your opponent's attempt to land an opposing Away Team on your Q's Planet (your STRENGTH 20 androids can easily kill off most opposing three-person Away Teams) or to slow down your opponent's access to their own planet missions where you seeded Alien Parasites or Q.

Real-Life Performance
I played with this deck in a Return to Farpoint Stage Two tournament on March 28, 1999. I took second place in the four-round tournament with 6 (+185). The one loss was to a Federation mega-crew, 100-22; my ships and Tents were near the bottom of the deck, so I couldn't get out the Yellow Alert when I needed it, nor the Devil to destroy a Ressikan Flute that turned a 75-22 lead into a 100-22 win. (Besides, Butch played that match very well.)