The expansion is made up of 90 cards. There are 40 rares, 25 uncommons, and 25 commons. The packs will contain 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 5 commons. This makes uncommons almost the same value as commons! There are a number of questions including: WILL 90 cards be ENOUGH TO DEVELOP THE BORG FROM SCRATCH? The other races get about 600 cards devoted to them, so will this be enough to make the borg anything but universal? Decipher will have to include Mission, Personnel (both commons and uncommons and rares) starships (Borg Ship and Sphere), events(such as assimilation), and interrupts. It appears that they will probably be a shallow affiliation.

Also, there will be no Klingons or Romulans in this expansion set. I think that this will hinder Decipher's profit margin. The neutrals Zev and Lilly will help with this aspect, but I always look for ships in an expansion set. The Warp Rocket on those lines might also be neutral and MIGHT add range to all ships of that affiliation (because it enhances warp technology).

The Borg will most likely be the folowing:

Borg (universal)

+ (They wouldn't have a classification)

Skill: Assimilation (gets the skills of all assimilated people to date. Otherwise has no skills)

(*) = the number of other borg present

INTEGRITY 0 CUNNING (*) STRENGTH 11

They wouldn't have any integrity because they have no sense of honor or loyalty except to their master which is a given. The cunning would be how strong the collective is, and the strength would be a lot, but not enough to win against Data! The no classification aspect would encourage battle and assimalation would be instead of killing people in battle, assimilating them. Of course the borg would not need OFFICER or Leadership to win in battles. The Queen is leadership in herself.

The borg ship would look something like the following:

Borg Ship (NOT UNIVERSAL)

* + + + + Tractor Beam, Adaptability

RANGE: 5 WEAPONS: 24 SHIELDS: 24

It looks like the Borg are either going to have to stack their deck with Borg Ships and only use one, or use expendible Borg Spheres!

It looks like the Federation will get a new Grey Suited Bridge Crew (not good for Klingons or Rommies). The people will have more Battle Skills like Navigationa and Leadership.

In conclusion I think the expansion will be worthwhile considering the anominity of the Borg and their universality. I think my stats will be most likely true and that decipher might include some Klingons or Romulans.

Buy this expansion!!!



Key to a great Federation deck, and how the Federation matches up with other affiliations.

By Yuan Ming Chiao

Although many think the Federation will always be the most dominating affiliation in the Star Trek universe, there are weaknesses that other affiliations can take advantage of. I started out Klingon, but switched to Federation after I got 2/3 of the bridge crew in 10 packs. The bridge crew is nice, but there are some skills that are cheap and do not require bridge crew.

What is the key factor in winning in St:ccg? For me, I think speed is the deciding factor. Is the bridge crew deck fast? Not necessarily!! The Federation only has 2 ships that are range 9 or above. None of those are universal! Then why do Federation people win a lot?

Personnel: Data in my opinion is the best personnel card for the Feds. He has good attributes, great skills that are useful(Exbiology, Astrophysics)and can do a lot. That is what bridge crew decks are made for, a group of talented people with skills. There should be room for at least 14 personnel, try not to go above that number.

Ships: The only ships I play with are the Enterprise(for its range), the Yamato(Good overall) and the Future Enterprise(hard to man, but worth it, IMHO). When you play Federation, you usually do not construct fleet decks, we cant attack! You should take 3 ships at most, my recommendation if you dont have the above(Galaxys, Nebulas)

Interrupts and Events: Play with 2 each of Kevin Uxbridge, Amanda Rodgers, Palor Toff and Q2. Stock 2 Kivas', a Traveler and a Red Alert.

Basic Stategy: Your draw deck should be only 30 cards. This means you have to solve missions fast and try to be leading when you draw out. Your Palor Toffs are only used for getting Kivass back, and if needed Red Alert.

Seed deck: Your remaining cards are for delimmas, missions, artifacts and outposts.

Dilemmas, that will hamper other players: Matchriarcal Society- stop those Klingons! Love interests- Get that female or male away(hopefully Medical or security for the BPD) Hunter Gangs- A chance to kill something Parallel Romances- Another setup for BPD

Try to get the Q Shieliak Combo onto an important mission. Cardassian trap and Frame of mind together should get a least one good personnel.

Artifacts: Try to seed only artifacts that have an immediate effect or something that cannot easily be countered. Betazoid Giftbox and Data's Head are my first choices. I think the Hor'gahn is too cheap(dont play with it, I dont!). The giftbox will give you those important cards and the head will quicken your ship so they can get to those missions faster.

Stay tuned for more info on my deck, and learn strategies to make them work!



Klingon Wishlist:

The Klingons have a disadvantage in the card game because of their lack of certain skills. I thinkt hat they should get people and ships to make up for this disadvantage and fill the empty gap between the power of Federation and the weakness of Klingons. here are a couple of wish cards.

Vor'cha Assault Squadron

* + + Tractor Beam, Clocking Device (*Replaces 3 Vor'chas at a locations (move to discard pile))

RANGE 9 WEAPONS 24 SHIELDS 21

This would give Klingons an advantatge at combat and give them a ship to resist the borg. I know it is probably just a wish, but it might be reality...

This needs 6 cards to work and it would require the player to place many Vor'chas that aren't manned into his/her deck. Also it would require them to discard 3 valuable Vor'chas.

Another Klingon wish is that Dax would be both Klingosn and Federation. This would allow the Klingons to have some of the DS9 bridge crew. I think that there should be a dual affiliation Worf because he has been a member of each for some time. The Klingons also need a ship whose stats add up to 26 and has a 3 crew requirement, like the enterprise. All the Klingons ships so far have added to 24 or 25. The Enterprise is a Federation exception and we need one of them!



Klingon Korner



Kitrik is a well rounded Klingon with some very special skills. Being Both Medical and science, he helps heal and study! Exobiology makes him a MUST for every Klingon Deck that is having trouble with Zaldans. The Cybernetics and Music make Kitrik a special Klingon. Only one other Klingon has Music, just like only one other Klingon has Music. Cybernetics is 100% unique.

Rating 9.5



Romulan Roulette



Taris, like Kitrik, has some unusual skills! She has Transporter Skill, Music and Medical, 3 Rare skills for Romulans. Being an officer is an added advantage and being a captain helps her reputation. The Archeology is a VERY useful skill. Overall, I'd say she is the best Romulan! I would easily rate her a 10.

Rating: 10.



Federation Fudge



Lal is a great person if you need multiple skills or want to split the away team. She can duplicate your best person for a mission you need, and you can attempt the mission without having to worry about losing the person needed (like Rachel Garret for Save Errent Moon) The high stats and youth with computer skills are necesarry. Being a Civilian is a minus, but she can help with the Kurlican Nasicose! I wonder why she lost 2 cunning from her design: the Soong Type Android?

Rating 9.3



Neutral Section



Nick Locarno is another personnel with some great skills and some unusual ones. He is very useful for the Klingons ande the Romulans. The Navigation x2 and the Computer Skill makes him the prime candidate for Secret Salvage, a 30 point space mission that is easy to complete. Youth and Transporter skill are 2 rare skills and they sometimes come in handy. Civilian is a useless skill, but it is nice for the Nasicose. Great intellect and fine other skills. Too bad for Captain Picard he doesn't help the Federation!

Rating 9.0