Greetings, and welcome to the second of the Imperial Spacedock’s reviews. Klingon scientists have been working around the clock to bring you the:
Terix’s advantages:
Great for mission completion: Terix provides some of the best stats for a Romulan ship in mission-completion decks (very popular, since Dr. R’Mor came out). Range 9 offers spectacular maneuverablity on the spaceline, which is especially useful in decks with lots of space missions (which tend to have rather impressive, in the sense of high numbers, ranges). Shielding of 9 is also quite useful, protecting Terix and its crew from those bothersome Klingon Armada decks. The Terix also has a Cloaking Device, which provides extra insurance that Terix will get there on time, every time.
Attrbutes that encourage alternative uses: High Range is useful in many decks, particularly Colony decks. Those Colony decks also benefit from the Shielding. Just leave a few Officer STAs aboard to ferry personnel, and perhaps harass your opponent with a few attacks ("Sure, fire back. Oops, my shields protect me!" Just keep chasing him down with that Range, and then encourage him to waste time hitting back).
Good Captain’s Log: How can Captain’s Log be bad? Well, it is never *bad*, but it can be usele…less-than-useful. ;) For example, the I.K.C. Pagh gets Captain’s Log benefits from Kargan. However, is it really worth including Kargan just to get the +3 to Weapons and Shields? Why not include another K’Vort? In addition, there are certain usele…less-than-useful ships which get Captain’s Log benefits. The Federation has a plethora of these—U.S.S. Sutherland, U.S.S. Phoenix—is the point made?
On the other hand, Terix benefits not only from Captain’s Log benefits, but gets them from a highly useful personnel. Sirol has five skills, two classifications, good attributes, command ability, and a nice picture. It isn’t necessary to "waste" space on usele…less-than-useful personnel. Rather, the benefits come from a personnel which deserves inclusion anyway. And of course, Terix itself is highly useful.
Easy to staff: Although the Science Vessels are more staff-efficient in terms of attributes-per-crew, Terix isn’t difficult to operate. Many valuable Romulan personnel, such as Dr. Telek R’Mor, *Sirol*, Taris, and others, have command stars. In addition, many of the Non-Aligned personnel common in Romulan decks, such as Galen and Roga Danar, have command or staff abilities. It may not be as easy to run as a Science Vessel, but Terix’s operating requirements are something less than fearsome.
However, Decipher lets few broken cards out the door, and Terix is not one of them:
Unexemplary combat capabities: Terix, unlike most Warbirds, has a mere 7 Weapons, which makes it less useful in a fight than certain other ships. Of course, the high Range is handy for getting to the fight, and the great Shields are handy for getting out of it, but if you can’t do much while *in* the fight, well…
Final Analysis: Unlike I.K.C. Fek’lhr, a decidedly mixed bag, Terix has few disadvantages, and even those are of little concern if battle is not part of the plan. Terix is, without a doubt, one of the best Warbirds in ST:CCG, bested only by Decius (and, in combat decks, Haakona and Khazara). A card that deserves a place in just about any Romulan mission-completion deck, especially one based around space missions. Also deserving of a look in Colony decks, if you are willing to modify the deck somewhat to take advantage of the opportunities Terix provides.
Next week: The Spacedock examines the U.S.S. Oberth.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to e-mail Phalanx
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