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Major Rakal's Romulan Review #5
From Kathy McCracken, Major Rakal: kem5@cornell.edu
Aefvadh! Last time, I said my personal favorite wall dilemma was Shaka,
When The Walls Fell. Let's take a look at why.
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SHAKA, WHEN THE WALLS FELL
Uncommon Dilemma, Planet or Space
Must have 2 Diplomacy and CUNNING>30 to communicate and proceed.
"'Shaka, when the walls fell," means inability to understand. The
incomprehensible Tamarians spoke entirely in metaphors."
First, it's both Planet and Space. You'll *always* have a place to use
it, and it works well in combination with a number of followup killers.
Second, it virtually guarantees your opponent will have to bring in a
minimum of 4 personnel to meet the CUNNING requirement. For Klingons,
it's more likely to take 5 or 6. Romulans will have the easiest time
with this with their high Cunning. Feds fall in between.
Third, and most important, two of those personnel will have Diplomacy.
Why is that so crucial? Because NO common, universal personnel, and NO
holographic personnel, have Diplomacy. So with rare exceptions, you'll
always get two uncommon or rare, unique personnel laying their lives on
the line. Not only can this dilemma stall your opponent, he may just
abandon the mission attempt rather than risk valuable personnel.
The exceptions: Jean-Luc Picard, Dathon, Sarek, Riva, Pardek, and Ves
Alkar each have Diplomacy x2. It's doubtful that you'll encounter Riva;
Ves Alkar has to have at least one female Empath with him to have the
Diplomacy x2, so you automatically have a second valuable personnel at
risk; and the rest, especially Jean-Luc, would all be worthwhile kills.
Dathon is a special case: because he nullifies Tamarian-related
dilemmas, your opponent could pass this with Dathon alone. But then he'd
be a sitting duck for the next dilemma, so he probably won't be alone.
Now that you've got them there, what next? I recommend a minimum of two
killers/disablers to follow. Remember that two of the personnel will be
diplomats, who won't contribute much in the way of classifications or
skills to overcoming other dilemmas; but your opponent will probably
supply a minimum of one each MEDICAL, SECURITY, and SCIENCE to make up
the required CUNNING>30. Notes on a few of the more useful dilemmas:
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Hunter Gangs (P).
Most effective against Romulans, then Klingons and
Feds.
Chalnoth (P) and Nagilum (S).
Precede with Interphasic Plasma
Creatures to cut STRENGTH.
Ferengi Attack (P).
Precede with IP Creatures and/or Brain Drain.
Zaldan (P).
This one was *made* for Shaka because it targets
Diplomats. Precede with something to excise a critical Treachery (for
Romulans) or Exobiology (all affiliations).
Rascals (S).
Targets uniques. Most will lose their Diplomacy. Few
crews will have two unaffected MEDICAL *and* Biology left, especially
Klingons.
Cardassian Trap (P/S).
Targets uniques and gives you a captive.
Thought Fire (P/S).
Requires the Traveler to trigger. Useless against
Feds; kills most Klingon and Romulan universals (who see heavy use for
MEDICAL and SECURITY), the Duras family, and many unique Romulans, plus
many otherwise useful non-aligneds. Won't kill the diplomats, but can
clean out MEDICAL and SECURITY for non-Feds.
Yuta (P/S).
For best effect, memorize a few key "Yuta numbers" for
Diplomats.
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Fed: 11 matches Picard, Deanna Troi (or Major Rakal), Rachel
Garrett, and Riva; Sarek is 16, Riker 8, Worf 4.
Klingon: Gowron and Kurn are 6, Gov. Worf 7, K'mpec 10.
Romulan: Major Rakal and Sirol are 8, Sela 7, Pardek 6, Cmdr.
Tomalak 5, Tomalak 4.
Non-aligned: Dathon and Maques 11, Devinoni Ral 9, Evek 5.
Q-Flash (P/S).
Fill your Q-Continuum with cards such as Incoming
Message-The Continuum, The Higher...The Q-Er, Door-Net (they're not
likely to have any Diplomacy in their hand by now), Penalty Box,
Mandarin Bailiff, Jealous Amanda, His Honor The High Sheriff of
Nottingham, Scottish Setter, and Pla-Net.
The Major's Combos: (dilemmas should be encountered in the listed order)
Space:
- Shaka + Tarellian Plague Ship + Rascals
- Shaka + Interphasic Plasma Creatures + Nagilum
- Shaka + Two-Dimensional Creatures + Thought Fire
Planet:
- Shaka + IP Creatures + Chalnoth (or Ferengi Attack) + Zaldan
- Shaka + Armus + Alien Abduction
- Shaka + Male's Love Interest + Hunter Gangs
- Shaka + Q-Flash + Male's Love Interest
Either:
- Shaka + Frame of Mind + Cardassian Trap
- Shaka + Yuta + Barclay's Protomorphosis Disease
- Shaka + Q-Flash + Barclay's Protomorphosis Disease
Now where did the Diplomacy go that I needed for that mission?
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