USS Jupiter Cruising In Activision's Star Trek: Armada game!
Recently, Star Trek CCG fans learned their game was boldly going where it
had never gone before -- into a computer game. The upcoming PC game "Star Trek:
Armada", by Activision, will feature a brand-new Star Trek CCG card based on the
game itself. In each copy of the Activision game, you'll find the U.S.S. Jupiter,
an Akira-class ship that plays an important role in the story. We published that
original announcement with a small, indistinct card image. Now, we can show the
full-size final card image, and tell you more about the development of the card, including gameplay and who will command it.
 Work on the Jupiter began many months ago, when Armada was still in its
"Alpha" testing phase. How much work could it be to design one card, you
may wonder? Quite a bit! First, Activision sent some descriptions of the
various weapons being created for Armada, along with images of some of
the new ship designs. Quickly, our designers latched onto the Jupiter
because of its unusual weapon, the Chain Reaction Pulsar.
A great new concept, the Chain Reaction Pulsar is a torpedo-like weapon
that steals shield energy from the ship it hits. Its own strength now
increased by the target's shields, it then ricochets to another target,
stealing more shield energy and augmenting its power yet again. It
continues to ricochet between targets until either all enemy vessels have
been hit, or until one is destroyed. And while it would be a very simple
matter to put "downloads Chain Reaction Pulsar" on the Jupiter, first we
needed to have some idea of how that would work in the CCG.
The first draft of the Chain Reaction Pulsar was an incident that could
play on an Akira-class ship (or any other ship conceptually large enough
to hold the weapon). It required the use of a Battle Bridge side deck, as
it simply hit every enemy target present, adding one "flip arrow" damage
marker each time. Not bad, but not great. It was riddled with rules
problems trying to explain how you could use an Incident card in place of
a Tactic. Well then, since it was behaving so much like a Tactic, why not
make it one?
The second draft took this approach. But what about the plans to have the
Jupiter download it? No matter -- we could make a rule allowing Tactics
to be downloaded. This time, the problem was more basic: it wouldn't fit
on a single card. This fairly short paragraph is nearly actually twice as
long as the game text on a Tactic can be!
Onto version three, which now spread out onto two cards. The Tactic card
explained how the weapon would be fired (eliminating the need to explain
on an incident how it worked like a tactic), while the "ricochet" effect
was transferred to the incident. This was the version tested at the first
major playtest for The Trouble With Tribbles last month. It was found to
have two major problems.
First, nobody liked that it required two cards, neither of which could
really stand alone. We wanted some of the power moved back to the tactic,
so that it would be possible to use it alone for strategic value, without
using the Ricochet card. More importantly, though, the cards were far too
strong. Two armada decks faced off with one another, and ripped each
other to shreds using Chain Reaction Pulsars. Not good for a set in which
one of the main design goals was to decrease the effectiveness of armadas!
The Chain Reaction Pulsar is now on its fifth or sixth draft, and is
still changing. Still, the playtest did at least give us the information
needed to complete the Jupiter card. It would have the special download
of Chain Reaction Pulsar. If that card turned out to be a Tactic, so be
it - there are probably lots of possibilities in future sets for us to
let people download Tactics. Futhermore, we had the opportunity to
specify who would be considered the Jupiter's matching commander. We
asked Activision if we could use Satelk, a rare card in our game in need
of a bit of a boost. They agreed, as did Paramount.
The fruit of these labors will appear when Star Trek: Armada hits shelves
soon. The U.S.S. Jupiter card will be tournament-legal immediately, for players
wanting to dust off their Satelks. The Activision game will be the sole source
of these cards for some time to come.
As for the Chain Reaction Pulsar... well, you'll have to wait and see.
Related links:
Satelk, (Commander U.S.S
Jupiter)
Activision Armada game site
Radio Free Decipher: E. Lorentz on U.S.S. Jupiter
(Broadcast 32: January 12, 2000)
Evan Lorentz
Mot the Barber (mot@decipher.com)
March 22, 2000
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