OFFICIAL FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS LIST STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION CUSTOMIZABLE CARD GAME Released 5/16/97 The following information is copyrighted by Decipher Inc. 1997; however, it can be freely disseminated online or by traditional publishing means as long as this copyright notice is attached. TM & (C) 1997 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is a registered trademark of and all characters and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures. Decipher, Inc. Authorized User. The information contained in this document is meant to supplement the FAQ in providing information on significant changes or new rulings that differ from previous FAQ's. People familiar with the previous FAQ will find this document helpful in identifying changes. Very often, only a brief description of the change is mentioned here. You will want to consult the main FAQ for more detailed descriptions. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE -- TERMINOLOGY AND BASICS 1.1 Terms 1.2 Actions and Timing 1.3 The Colon Rule/Boldfaced Lore 1.4 Ship Equipment 1.5 Miscellaneous Rules PART TWO -- GAME ACTIONS 2.1 Missions and Dilemmas 2.2 Battle 2.3 Beaming PART THREE -- INDIVIDUAL CARD RULINGS 3.1 Missions 3.2 Dilemmas 3.3 Artifacts 3.4 Outposts 3.5 Ships 3.6 Personnel 3.7 Equipment 3.8 Events 3.9 Interrupts 3.10 Doorways 3.11 Q-Icon cards 3.12 Stations OFFICIAL ST:TNG CCG INFORMATION FROM DECIPHER There are many FAQ documents such as this one that are available. In addition, Decipher Netreps are on many online services to answer questions and talk about the games. Official ST:TNG CCG information is available from four sources: FAX Back : Voice (757) N2D-NEWS or (757) 623-6397 EmailBack : Send email to EmailBack@decipher.com with the word CATALOG in the subject line WWW : http://www.decipher.com FTP : Anonymous ftp to games.decipher.com Please use the above automated sources to answer your questions where possible. However, Decipher loves to get feedback and suggestions, and if your questions aren't answered in the FAQ then we need to add them! Be sure and contact via one of the following: Email Q@decipher.com Phone (757) 623-3600 9-6 EST FAX (757) 623-3630 Mail Decipher Inc ATTN: Q 253 Granby St Norfolk, VA 23510-1813 Finally, any requests for replacement cards (for cards that are damaged) or any customer service comments regarding our product should be directed to CCGCustomerService@decipher.com or to the above address, ATTN: Shawne. PART ONE -- TERMINOLOGY AND BASICS 1.1 TERMS CLASSIFICATION/SKILL -- Each personnel has a classification box (directly underneath the picture) and a skill box (directly above the attributes). A personnel's classification is found only in their classification box. If MEDICAL, SCIENCE, etc, is found in the skill box, it is a skill, not a classification. If a card refers to "XXX-classification personnel" it refers only to personnel who have XXX in their classification box, not in their skill box. A personnel's classification can be changed (by Scottish Setter, for instance). A skill is anything that appears in the skill box of a personnel card. "All skills" refers to everything in a person's skill box, even special skills, like an Exocomp's. If a card adds to a personnel's skills (such as Medical Kit or Tricorder), the skills are added to the end of that personnel's skill box. If a card refers to MEDICAL, SCIENCE, etc., without specifying either classifications or skills (such as a dilemma that requires "2 MEDICAL"), either a classification or a skill will suffice. DISABLED/STASIS/STOPPED -- Personnel who are disabled or in stasis cannot contribute any of their skills or traits (such as being female, an android, etc.) and may not perform any actions, such as attempting a mission. For example, a disabled android aboard a ship at Paxan "Wormhole" cannot prevent that ship from being relocated. Similarly, an ENGINEER in stasis cannot contribute to Nutational Shields. Stopped personnel may still contribute such traits and skills, but still may not perform any actions, including beaming. UNOPPOSED -- An Away Team is unopposed if the opponent has no Away Teams on that planet. SUSPEND -- When an card play is suspended (typically by another card play), that card play is "put on hold" and not yet resolved until the action suspending it is resolved. The suspended card is not in your hand and is not in play. See MANHEIM'S DIMENSIONAL DOORWAY. 1.2 ACTIONS AND TIMING REQUIRED ACTIONS -- There are two kinds of required actions: moving and non-moving. Moving: Cytherians, Incoming Messages, Conundrum before you get there (you are required to "chase" a ship). Non-Moving: Samaritan Snare, Incoming Message -- Attack Authorization, Conundrum after you get there (you are required to attack a ship). If a ship is targeted by a non-moving required action, you must perform that action as soon as is possible, typically as your next action. Cards that affect that action (battle-related cards in the case of Conundrum, Senior Staff Meeting in the case of Samaritan Snare) may still be played. A ship targeted by a moving required action may beam personnel on board the ship, but may not beam personnel off. The only other action it may perform is moving. If the ship is targeted by another moving required action, it must resolve that action after it has completed its first moving required action. 1.3 THE COLON RULE/BOLDFACED LORE See "Major Rakal" under Section 3.6, Personnel. A persona counts as the same personnel only for purposes of uniqueness and reporting personnel for duty. A card that references Jean-Luc Picard would have no effect on Galen. Similarly, Picard and Galen would not affect each other if Doppelganger was in play. 1.4 SHIP EQUIPMENT 1.5 MISCELLANEOUS RULES SCORING POINTS -- Several cards (Nebula, Investigate Legend, Bendii Syndrome) refer to scoring points. This refers to any change in a player's score, either gaining or losing points. CAPTURED PERSONNEL -- Captured personnel may not use their skills, unless otherwise specified (such as with Brainwash). SEEDED CARDS -- An old ruling said that you could check to see if there were cards seeded under a mission, but not count how many. This rule has been repealed. You may always check seed cards underneath a mission and count how many are there. PART TWO -- GAME ACTIONS 2.1 MISSIONS AND DILEMMAS Only one ship may attempt a space mission at a time. If you wish to combine the crews of several ships, you will need to beam everyone on board one ship and then attempt the mission. When a dilemma has an effect that can be cured, that effect happens, and, if the required skills are still present, it may be cured. Note that the cure occurs before proceeding to the next dilemma. 2.2 BATTLE RETALIATION -- In a battle, you may choose not to retaliate. This means: In a ship battle, you defend with your SHIELDS, but do not fire back with your WEAPONS. In an Away Team battle, if you have a higher total STRENGTH, nothing happens. You also may not play a card to kill your opponent's personnel during a battle, such as Phaser Burns. Also see "Mordock", under personnel. WINNING/LOSING -- In a ship battle, a "losing battle" is one in which more "units of damage" were inflicted on your ships than on your opponent's. Each ship that was damaged counts as one "unit" of damage. Each damaged ship that was destroyed counts as one "unit." Each undamaged ship destroyed by a direct hit counts as two "units." This has an effect on cards such as Discommendation and Data's Medals. 2.3 BEAMING If your outpost is located at a planet location, it will now be necessary for you to beam Away Teams to that planet. This beaming can be interfered with by all normal methods (Atmospheric Ionization, Barclay Transporter Phobia, etc.). See "Outposts," below. PART THREE -- INDIVIDUAL CARD RULINGS 3.1 MISSIONS If an Away Team or ship's crew gets past all dilemmas under a mission, and does not have the skills to complete the mission, they are not stopped. INVESTIGATE LEGEND -- The 2 Youth discarded can be part of the 3 Youth used to fulfill the first part of the mission requirements. "2 Youth" is equivalent to "Youth x2." NEBULA -- You may seed dilemmas here, as per any mission. You may not attempt this mission, as it has no affiliation icons. The game text "Face next dilemma here when opponent scores points" means that if you have a ship here (even if empty) when your opponent scores points, your ship faces the next dilemma seeded here, as if it had attempted the mission. If you have multiple ships here, one ship (your choice) faces a dilemma. WARPED SPACE -- Calamarain and The Sheliak use the span that would be used by the person who owns the card. 3.2 DILEMMAS ALIEN PARASITES -- As a guide, treat the personnel and ship exactly as if they were your own personnel with regard to attempting missions, hitting Q-Flashes, etc. The only exception is that you may not beam them aboard one of your ships or outposts and you may not beam your personnel aboard their ship. This would make it too easy to capture a group of personnel. Basically, the personnel you control may not mix with any other personnel. BORG SHIP -- A previous ruling allowed the Borg Ship to be stopped by a Q-Net. This ruling has been repealed. The Borg Ship is not a ship card, and therefore is not affected by cards that affect ships (Q-Nets, etc). MENTHAR BOOBY TRAP -- "Place on ship" should appear between the first and second sentences on this card. THE SHELIAK -- This card is not a ship card, and therefore is not affected by cards that affect ships (Q-Nets, etc). "Mission points = 0" only applies to an uncompleted mission. A completed mission would not lose its point value. Note that a mission worth zero points could still be attempted and completed so that you could retrieve artifacts, build a colony, etc. YUTA -- Yuta is a DNA-related dilemma, and thus cannot affect holograms, exocomps, and androids. 3.3 ARTIFACTS MONA LISA -- You are directly responsible for destroying the Mona Lisa if you play a card with the intent of destroying the artifact or the ship it is on; or if you battle (either attacking or defending against) a ship it is on, destroying that ship and the artifact. If an outside force that neither player controls (such as a Borg Ship or a Subspace Warp Rift) destroys the ship, then no points are lost. "Intent" refers to playing a card such as Plasma Fire or Loss of Orbital Stability, with the intent of destroying the ship. Playing a spaceline hazard, such as Subspace Warp Rift, which your opponent is not required to cross, does not count. TIME TRAVEL POD -- See "Temporal Rift," under Interrupts. 3.4 OUTPOSTS Outposts are now located in space. This means that it will be necessary to beam from an outpost to a planet mission. You may still transfer to a ship docked at an outpost without beaming and may attempt a space mission from the outpost. SEEDING OUTPOSTS -- 1) The rulebook states, on page 12: "Each player can seed only one outpost for each affiliation they control." Therefore, if you are playing two affiliations, you may seed two outposts. You are considered to be "playing an affiliation" if you have at least one non-outpost card of the affiliation in your play deck. Cards in your side deck do not count. Dual-affiliated personnel only contribute one of their affiliations to this count. Remember, "non-aligned" is not an affiliation and does not entitle you to seed an outpost. 2) Each outpost says "Seed one..." So, you cannot seed more than one of each type of outpost. With these guidelines, a Neutral Outpost may substitute for any one affiliated outpost during the seed phase. So, if you are playing Romulan and Klingon, you may seed: a) One Romulan and one Klingon outpost; or b) One Romulan and one Neutral outpost; or c) One Klingon and one Neutral outpost You could not seed two Romulan outposts, because that violates rule #2 above. You could not seed a a Romulan, Klingon, and Neutral Outpost, because that violates rule #1. 3.5 SHIPS 3.6 PERSONNEL LAL -- Lal may pick classifications that are present in a skill box present when she reports for duty. See Section 1.1, Terms. K'CHIQ -- K'chiQ may pick as her skill classifications that are seen in any personnel's skill box (currently includes OFFICER, SCIENCE, MEDICAL, SECURITY, and ENGINEER). MAJOR RAKAL -- Errata: "Deanna Troi" (in the lore) should be boldfaced, making Major Rakal a persona of Deanna Troi. MORDOCK -- The moment you get any points from Mordock, the second part of his skill kicks in -- if you ever battle, those points are lost. If Mordock is killed or captured, or he loses his skill, you do retain the points but can still lose them if you ever battle. "If you ever battle" refers to participating in any battle with your opponent or another force (such as Rogue Borg or the Borg Ship), whether you retaliate or not. 3.7 EQUIPMENT 3.8 EVENTS ALIEN PROBE/TELEPATHIC ALIEN KIDNAPPERS -- While this combo is still not allowed in tournament play, we are considering a change that would allow your opponent to shuffle and conceal his hand before you make the selection. We suggest you use this rule in casual play and inform us of any comments you have. CALAMARAIN -- This card is not a ship card, and therefore is not affected by cards that affect ships (Q-Nets, etc). The player who played the Calamarain moves it, as if it were one of his own ships. This card is discarded after either use (damaging a ship or killing Mortal Q). Calamarain cannot damage a cloaked ship. DOPPELGANGER -- This card reads "if a unique personnel moves to the same location as its duplicate, the duplicate is discarded." "Unique personnel" and "duplicate" refer to two personnel cards, one owned by you and one by your opponent. For example, suppose we both had Worf in play and my Worf moved to the same spaceline location of your Worf, your Worf would be discarded, because: "If a unique personnel (my Worf) moves to the same location as its duplicate (your Worf), the duplicate (your Worf) is discarded." MASAKA TRANSFORMATIONS -- If you have obtained an artifact that is placed on the bottom of your deck due to Masaka, you may still play that artifact once it gets back into your hand. NEURAL SERVO DEVICE -- As a guide, treat the personnel exactly as if they were your own personnel with regards to attempting missions, hitting Q-Flashes, etc. The only exception is that you may not beam them aboard one of your ships or outposts and you may not beam your personnel aboard their ship or outpost. See "Alien Parasites." REVOLVING DOOR -- If a Revolving Door is placed over a side deck, no cards can come out of that side deck, by any means, including via Q's Planet. SUPERNOVA -- This card may be played on the same turn as Tox Uthat, if a card (such as Parallax Arguers) allows you to play another event on the current turn. 3.9 INTERRUPTS KEVIN UXBRIDGE -- This card may also nullify any dilemma played as an event. The card's text should read: "Nullifies any one Event card (except for Treaty cards) OR any other played as an Event." KEVIN UXBRIDGE: CONVERGENCE -- The last FAQ contained an error that was in conflict with another ruling. This card may not nullify an artifact (or any other card) played as an event. PARALLAX ARGUERS -- This card has three uses: 1) If anything was "cool", it may be played for 5 points. If the players disagree that an action was cool, they may argue the point... 2) ...so, the second function of the card may be used and an event may be immediately played. This function can only be used in an argument over "coolness." 3) Or, the card can cancel another Parallax Arguers and raise the X value on the card. Both players must agree that an action was "cool" for condition 1) to be satisfied. TEMPORAL RIFT -- Cards may not be played on a ship caught in a Temporal Rift. A card in a Temporal Rift is not in play, so cards like Anti-Time Anomaly cannot affect it. "Countdown" effects, such as a Plasma Fire, also do not "tick down" while a ship is in a Temporal Rift. The same rules also apply to a ship affected by a Time Travel Pod. WORMHOLE -- Clarification: If Amanda Rogers nullifies one end of a Wormhole, the other is nullified as well unless another Wormhole is immediately played. In short, it takes two successfully-played Wormholes to successfully execute the game text. 3.10 DOORWAYS DOORWAYS (GENERAL) -- As stated in the Alternate Universe rules notes, any doorway (including a Q's Tent) played from your hand can be played at any time and does not count as your card play, similar to an interrupt, but only during your turn. It must follow all normal timing rules. DEVIDIAN DOOR -- You may play the personnel or equipment on your opponent's turn. You must have an open Alternate Universe door to do this. If the AU Door is closed afterwards, that will not affect your ability to show the Devidian Door. MANHEIM'S DIMENSIONAL DOORWAY -- See Definition of "Suspend", in Section 1.1. When the card play is suspended, another card may now be played. If that card itself is suspended, the player who suspended it may now play a card. This series can go on for a long time. It is suggested that you take the suspended cards and put them in a stack since they are not in your hand or in play. Then, when the cards are finally allowed to resolve, you may resolve them in order from the top of the stack to the bottom. If a card is played that would cancel one of the card plays, it launches its own set of effects that are resolved in last-to-first order (as cancelling cards usually are). Example: I play K'chiQ. You show a K'chiQ from your hand, so mine is suspended. You play Palor Toff. I show a Palor Toff from my hand and yours is suspended. I play Q's Tent. You show a Q's Tent from your hand, and mine is suspended. You play Q's Tent (the same you showed earlier). I show no Q's Tent (since my original one has been set aside), so the actions start to resolve. Your Q's Tent resolves, and you pull out "Wrong Door". Now, I attempt to resolve my Q's Tent, but you play Wrong Door. I play Amanda Rogers to nullify your Wrong Door. My Q's Tent resolves and I get a Countermanda. You attempt to resolve Palor Toff. I play Countermanda, suspend your Palor Toff, and take three cards out of your discard pile. Your Palor Toff resolves and you get a card out of your discard pile. My K'chiQ finally resolves. If a card play is made illegal, then the illegal card may be pulled back into the owner's hand. Example: I play K'chiQ. You show a K'chiQ from your hand, so mine is suspended. You play Revolving Door on my Alternate Universe Door. My K'chiQ attempts to resolve, but because the AU Door is closed, I can no longer report her for duty. She returns to my hand. Q-FLASH -- See "Q-Icon cards". Q'S TENT -- To make proper use of the tent, you will need at least two Q's Tent cards to successfully use the side deck. One will be seeded on the side deck. Then you can put as many as you like in your draw deck, and you can play them when they get into your hand. An artifact in your Q's Tent cannot be simply taken into your hand and played. An artifact must always be "earned" at a mission before it can be used. 3.11 Q-ICON CARDS Q-FLASH -- You will need at least two Q-Flash cards to successfully use the side deck. One will be seeded on the Q Continuum side deck. Any others will be seeded under missions, similar to dilemmas, or put in your draw deck. There is no way to encounter your own Q-Continuum (Q-Flash side deck). If you encounter a Q-Flash you have seeded, you encounter your opponent's Q-Continuum, as stated on the card. If he doesn't have one, the Q-Flash is ignored. A seeded Q-Flash is not a dilemma. It is a doorway that is similar to a dilemma. Therefore, cards that nullify or discard dilemmas (such as the Q dilemma or Q2) do not affect this card. Though they are not seeded, Q-Icon cards are dilemmas, events, and interrupts, and can therefore be nullified in the normal ways (by Q2, Kevin Uxbridge, and Amanda Rogers, respectively). Q-Icon cards (with the exception of Q's Planet) can ONLY be placed in your Q-Continuum, and nowhere else. DR. Q, MEDICINE ENTITY -- Clarification: This card may also affect event cards on ships, personnel, or any other cards present at a spaceline location. 3.12 STATIONS STATIONS (GENERAL) -- Stations are located on a planet (not in space) and are not outposts. You cannot report cards for duty at a station. COLONY -- If a colony is destroyed, the personnel are not harmed. You score points from a colony at the start of each turn. You may utilize your opponent's colony. Only one Away Team may score points at a colony. Away Teams from different affiliations may not mix to score the points for the colony (without a treaty). TERRAFORMING STATION -- You may only change requirements of a mission to requirements of the same type. For instance, you can only replace skills with skills, personnel with personnel, classifications with classifications, etc. Skills and classifications are considered to be separate in this case (see Section 1.1, Terms). You may not change numbers and you may not make redundant requirements (such as "Treachery + Treachery").