Star Trek CCG - First Contact Card Strategies
BORG
Borg Queen
by Kathy McCracken (majorrakal@decipher.com)
The Borg Queen has only two skills,
but they are arguably the most important ones you can
have in your collective. The first is a selectable, and
changeable, skill. While the Borg have most of the
skills they need for passing dilemmas (and don't need
mission-solving skills), they lack a few key skills,
such as Empathy and OFFICER, for passing certain wall
dilemmas. Since it would be inconvenient, to say the
least, to have to go out and assimilate an OFFICER
whenever you encounter a Maglock, the Borg Queen
provides access to any regular skill in the game
(although you will have to wait till the start of your
next turn to switch to the needed skill). Like all
regular skills, the selected skill may be shared
throughout the hive with the Interlink Drone, providing
multiples for whatever level is required by the dilemma,
without directly risking the Queen in a scouting
attempt.
Her second skill is equally important
to an efficient Borg deck. In place of a card draw, she
lets you download either A Change of Plans or any Borg
drone. So if you are unlucky at drawing the drones you
need to staff your ships, just convert your end-of-turn
draw (or any other card draw you are entitled to) to a
drone; report it directly to your outpost or Borg Cube,
or place in your hand for a Borg Scout Vessel
"report with crew." Or perhaps you've changed
your mind about establishing that gateway and would
rather assimilate your opponent's Future Enterprise
instead. Download A Change of Plans to return Establish
Gateway to your hand and download Assimilate Starship
instead.
Combos:
Borg Queen + Interlink Drone:
As many copies of any skill as you have Borg in the
hive.
Borg Queen + Kivas Fajo -
Collector: Convert three card draws into any
combination of three drones, draws or Changes of Plans.
Borg Queen + Assimilate Counterpart
+ A Change of Plans: So you targeted Grand Nagus Zek,
attacked his Away Team and abducted him, but he hasn't
been assimilated yet. Now your opponent reports Quark to
the Bar and you'd rather have 40 points than 25. Just
download A Change of Plans to return Assimilate
Counterpart to your hand and download it back to the
table, targeting the unfortunate Quark. And your
opponent doesn't even get Zek back.
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A Change of Plans
By W.
Marc Crusher
This is a multiple use card. The most standard
application of this beauty is to actually change your
plans, that is, get rid of your current objective,
presumably one you don't want to pursue any further, and
get a new one, quite often one you already have in hand.
However, you can make much more of this one common
Interrupt.
First, you can use it as a Joker when it coems to
drawing Objectives. Due to the fact that it can download
the Objective from your deck, it is essentially free -
you used up a card draw on it, but saved one card draw
on the Objective itself. As a bonus, you even get the
card play for free, due to the Interrupt nature of the
card. Thus no more troublesome decisions between playing
your much-needed Queen and your equally vital Objective,
just play both.
Then, you can use A Change Of Plans for a different
variant of changing plans, namely changing the target of
your current Objective. Just targeted Alidar for a
counterpart and now your opponent played Lore ? Just
play A Change Of Plans and return the Assimilate
Counterpart to your hand (you need a Queen for this
maneuver, though) and then immediately re-download it.
Or, of course, there is no rule that forces you to
exploit the full potential of the card. Just discard a
rather troublesome Objective and flip over another one
you played earlier. Or, if you have enough copies of the
card, grab an advance copy of an Objective you will want
to use later and plop it down on the table.
A word of caution though - there is an easy chance of a
mistake when using this with Establish Gateway to make
an emergency switch of current objectives, e.g. to
eliminate a starship or some personnel. If you have
overcome all Dilemmas at a space location and just wait
for a successful probe draw, don't change your plans
unless there is a *real* emergency. As the location has
already been scouted successfully you cannot return
there later to get the 25 points. So make sure you leave
at least one Dilemma if you intend to return. This is
particulary vital for a Retask strategy. Some players
will seed the Borg Ship last, putting some card that
hurt non-Borg but are just irrelevant to most Borg in
front of it. Make sure you grab the 25 after the Retask
before changing your plans in this scenario!
A Change of Plans
By Travis Hoffman
This has to be one of the most useul cards a Borg player
can have in their deck. Sure, there are the usual ways
of using it, but half the fun is in its flexibility. For
example, You have targeted your opponents U.S.S. Yamato
for Elimination. As you fly by her fully staffed U.S.S.
Enterprise, you stop, play A Change of Plans. Discard
(or place in hand if you've got your Queen) your current
Objective and downlaod...Eliminate Starship! Target the
Enterprise and avoid your opponents punches. A Change of
Plans is also useful in stopping First Contact. Use it
to download Stop First Contact, then use SFC to grab the
Missile Complex. It's that easy. A Change of Plans has
so many uses, it's impossible to explain them all here.
So, grab your Borg deck and experiment. Then again, you
probably do already. If not, it's time for A Change of
Heart.
Combos:
A Change of Plans + Borg Queen = Goes without
saying (Oops...)
A Change of Plans + Assimilate Counterpart = No
thanks, I want HIM instead.
A Change of Plans + A Change of Plans + A Change of
Plans = Keep your opponent off guard.
A Change of Plans + Your current Objective + Your
opponents newly solved-mission = Great points, Less
scouting.
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Establish Gateway
By W.
Marc Crusher
This is the most basic objective for a Borg player -
even more basic than its counterpart "Assimilate
Planet", because you'll need it to complement any
Retask strategy and, even more prominently, you can seed
it - unlike the Assimilate Planet card.
This card allows you to scout any space loaction for 25
points. Pretty basic and not much to it. It is usually
easier to complete than a Planet where you can encounter
nasties like Alien Parasites but it is also a bit
riskier as you will to have to pit your entire crew
against the Dilemmas your opponent has in store for you
- and if it that is a Yuta, combined with Alas, Poor
Queen, you just might be in trouble ;-)
Mind also that, unlike Assimilate Planet, Establish
Gateway is non-exclusive, giving your non-Borg opponent
a free shot at a space mission potentially worth much
more than 25 points after you took all the trouble to
get through the Dilemmas.
And a last pointer: Make sure you do have enough
Transwarp Network Gateways in your deck when using
Establish Gateway. As you have to download a Gateway
upon completion, you will easily give your opponent a
free peek at your entire strategy if you don't stock
enough Gateways to satisfy these mandatory downloads.
45-point "bounty"!
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Transwarp Network Gateway
By Sandy
Wible
This Doorway card has several beneficial functions for
the Borg. Seeding this card establishes your Transwarp
Network immediately. Your Borg ships could even move
from the Delta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant on the
first turn of the game!
Furthermore, you may use additional copies of this
doorway or the Transwarp Conduit interrupt throughout
play to speedily move about the spaceline. This doesn't
use RANGE from your ship, so it amounts to incredible
mobility for the Borg. However, your opponent may
potentially be able to sneak through...once in play your
Transwarp Network can be used by your opponent by
anticipating and stocking Transwarp Conduit interrupts
in his or her deck.
A second function gained by playing the doorway is
flexibility in obtaining your Transwarp Conduit
interrupts. Occasionally you may wish to have the
increased RANGE provided by it rather than moving
through your Network. This is usually when you are
moving down the spaceline to build your Network but it
is not in place yet.
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