1) Playing a card. Once you show your opponent the card, he cannot "back up" to play another card. For example, if you played Goddess of Empathy, he cannot decide suddenly that he wants to play several Interrupts. Some cards that can "interrupt" a card play: Kevin Uxbridge, Amanda Rogers, Countermanda.

2) Moving a ship, from the start of the move, to the finish. Although you can stop at spaceline locations as you go by, you are not required to. Some cards that can "interrupt" movement: Hail, Wormhole.

3) Battle. From the moment you announce that you are starting a battle to the time when that battle is over (ie, ships have been turned to indicate damage, or ships and personnel have been discarded), no player may perform an action, such as playing an Interrupt. Some cards that can "interrupt" battle: Asteroid Sanctuary, Phaser Burns, Emergency Transporter Armbands, Hugh.

4) Beaming. Only one card (Barclay's Transporter Phobia) currently allows you to "interrupt" beaming. If the opponent, for example, announces his intent to beam down to a planet, it is too late for you to play a Rogue Borg on his ship to stop him.

5) Encountering a dilemma. Once a dilemma has been overturned, neither player may play a card, unless specifically permitted. You could not, for instance, use Vulcan Mindmeld to gain more skills, or use Humuhumunukunukuapua'a to raise your attributes (or lower your opponent's). Some cards that can "interrupt" dilemmas: Howard Heirloom Candle, Q2 (to nullify Q), Eyes in the Dark

6) Attempting a mission, under old rules, used to be a completely uninterruptable action. Due to popular vote, this ruling was changed. Once you begin a mission, you cannot stop. In that way, it resembles an action. Each dilemma is its own separate "mini-action" which cannot be interrupted. However, Interrupts can be played between dilemmas or before the first dilemma is encountered. So, cards like Emergency Transporter Armbands or Temporal Rift can be used to "abort" missions, but cannot "abort" individual dilemmas. For more, see Timing.

Q: "END OF TURN" -- What is the definition of the "end of turn", which is a phrase often used on the cards, such as "...ship explodes at end of your turn."?

A: Anything that happens at the "end of turn" is the last thing you do before the card draw. As the rules say (page 13), you "signal the end of your turn" when you draw your card. When the card is drawn, the turn is completely over. So, something at the end of a turn happens just before the turn is over. If several things are scheduled to happen at the end of a particular turn, take them in any sequence.

Q: "NULLIFY" -- What does "nullify" mean?

A: It basically means the affected card is *discarded without effect*, although there are a few inconsistencies of this use. Amanda Rogers "nullifies" an interrupt. So, when you play Amanda in response to an interrupt, you just discard that interrupt before it has its effect and treat it as if it had never been played. Sometimes we say a certain *effect* of a card is nullified, but not the card itself, as on the Hugh card which nullifies the *attack* of the Borg Ship, not the ship itself. And sometimes we incorrectly used the term "destroys" instead of "nullifies" (as on the Kevin Uxbridge card -- See Kevin under "Interrupts," Section 3.9). We will try to be more consistent about it in the future and let us know if there are any ambiguous usages. If you have questions about whether a certain card nullifies another card, look up one of the cards later in this FAQ.

Q: "STASIS" -- What does this mean?

A: A personnel card in stasis is both "stopped" and unconscious (unable to defend itself if attacked) for the duration of time specified by the card. A ship can also be placed in stasis.

Q: "STOPPED" --

1) What does "stopped" mean?

2) When is a ship or Away Team "stopped"?

3) If my ship cannot move, it is "stopped"?

A:

1) When a ship or personnel is stopped, that card may perform no other actions until it is "un-stopped" (which usually automatically happens at the beginning of the next turn). It may not beam, it may not move, it may not battle, it may not do absolutely anything. Note that interrupts could still be played on the ship, such as Auto-Destruct.

2) The most common way to be stopped is by a dilemma. If you fail to overcome a dilemma, the cards encountering the dilemma (ship or crew) are "stopped." For more, see Section 3.2, "Dilemmas". Also, battle "stops" all cards (ships or personnel) involved in the battle. Finally, if a ship is "stopped," all personnel aboard it are also "stopped."

3) No. Some cards (like Menthar Booby Trap or Hail) will prevent a ship from moving, but that's all it means: the ship cannot move. It could still beam, attempt a mission, engage in combat, etc.

Q: "TURNS" -- What is the proper definition of the word "turn", as when it says "your turn" or "each turn" or "double turns" on the cards, etc.?

A:

There are four potentially confusing things about turn:

1) the definitions -- "each", "every", "next", etc.

2) to whom the card applies

3) "when" a "timed" event happens during a turn.

4) how "double turns" (the Horgha'hn) affects these

"End of Turn" -- the end of each turn is signified by the player drawing a card. Anything that the cards say happens "at the end of a turn" happens just before the card draw. If there is more than one thing scheduled to happen at the end of the turn, the player can choose which to do first.

"Start of Turn" -- after the opponent has transferred the turn to you (by ending his/her turn), and the first thing you do that turn.

The Subject of the Card -- Who the card applies to is important for understanding the definitions of "turns", and the source of most confusion about "turns." For example, "next turn" would be unclear if you didn't know whether it was referring your next turn or the opponent's next turn.
The wording of the card usually makes it clear who it applies to. But some cards are a little ambiguous. If it isn't clear, the general rule is: the player that the card affects is the person it applies to.
If you play a card on an opponent's ship, such as a Warp Core Breach, it affects him and thus he is the subject. So when the Warp Core Breach says, "Ship explodes at end of owner's next turn. . . " it means the owner of the ship (the person it applies to), not the owner of the Warp Core Breach card. If you play a card on yourself, like The Traveller, you are the subject. If a card applies to both players equally, such as the Anti-Time Anomaly, the subject would be the person who played it.

Once you know the subject, it is easy to determine what "turn" means, counting from that point of view:
"Each Turn" -- each of the subject's turns (skipping the other player).
"Every Turn" -- every successive turn, of both players.
"Next Turn" -- the next turn of the subject.
"This Turn" -- the current turn.
"Rest of Turn" -- the remainder of the current turn.
"Full Turn" -- this definition is a little more specific. a "full turn" means one complete turn segment of the subject, from beginning to end. It does not include the current turn already underway.

For example, the Anti-Time Anomaly says, ". . . Kills literally ALL personnel on table . . . at the end of your third full turn, unless . . ." Here is what it means by "your third full turn". The subject is the person who plays the card. You do not count the turn you are currently in. You only count your next three full (complete) turns. So, you would finish this turn, and then the countdown goes through three full turns with the Anomaly striking at the end of that third full turn.

"Double Turns" -- the Horga'hn allows you to take "double turns". This means the player takes one normal turn and then immediately takes another turn before the play alternates to the opponent. That's clear, but how does it effect the other cards that involve counting turns? Each turn in the double-turn is a full turn and counts as a turn. Thus, if the Anti-Time Anomaly was counting-down for the player with the Horga'hn, each of his double-turns would count as full turns.

Unclear Cards -- Loss of Orbital Stability -- this Interrupt says "Ship can't move for one turn. . . " This depends on whose move it currently is. If it is currently the ship owner's turn, the ship can't move for the rest of his turn. If it is not his turn, the ship can't move during his next turn.

Alien Groupie -- this is worded: "Plays on any Away Team which has just completed a planet mission. Female groupie delays beam up of one male (random selection) for one full turn." That final phase should really have said, "... until the end of one full turn." to make it clear.