Star Trek vs Star Wars CCG's Which is Better?

All of us have heared about Decipher's two card games. But has anyone ever dared to compare them on a one to one basis? What are their similarities? What are their differeneces?

There are two ways to compare them: A rules basis, and a card basis.

The rules for both card games are totally different, and I believe that Star Wars has more Complex rules.This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Star Wars, with more rules, has more strategy, but it also is more complex, so it has quite a bit of luck involved WITHOUT the destiny draws.

Star Trek on the other hand is more strategic. Unfortunately, Star Trek has a tendency to become consistently unbalanced for a certain group of two. Unless the levels are nearly the same, the players tend to have a consistant winner and loser.

Star Wars, on the other hand, can go either way with the game, but counters mean a lot in SW and with counters comes even more luck with the Destiny Draw!

The major luck factor is the Dilemma placing in Star Trek. Does the Outpost Raid catch their best crew? Will the crew without Security overcome a dilemma combo that may include Barclay's?

The rules for player interaction are completely different.

In Star Trek, there is limited Player/player interaction. Battle and DoppleGanger are the closest players come. The Battle in Star Trek is both more realistic in ways, and less realistic in ways than Star War's Battle. In Star Trek, the more ships, the more damage they do to the opponent directly. In Star Wars, the more ships that battle, the less damage, proportionately, is done. One ship or maybe two die if huge forces clash. This makes it nearly impossible to kill exactly WHAT ytou want. The opponent usually chooses who you kill, so you don't even get a choice. In Star Trek, the attacker engages and fires upon the ship he/she WANTS, not a random ship. This is much more realistic.

In Star Trek, you do not get to examine a starship's crew.  This is a very reasiltic aspect of the game, and should be duplicated in Star Wars. Star Trek has a very nice way of making the most obvious things, like people on a ship, secretive!

The major downfall of Star Wars is the length of the game. In Star Trek, if you are skilled, you can play a fast game in 15 minutes. In Star wars, the minimum time is 40 minutes for an average game. This is incredibly long, and can make a losing player feel left out for a LONG game, rather than a short game like in ST where losing is nothing.

Enough about the rules, the actual cards need to be compared.

I tend to look at Star Wars as a "messy" card design. First, the obvious reason is the dinged up rebel cards that are intentionally made to look like someone had a fun time trying to mess them up.

The next reason is that every card has way too much information scrunched onto a card that must look asthetic in order to please the consumer. In star wars, that confusing txt box makes Gameplay cumbersome when the cards are new. Each character has to say "adds two to the power of a starship he pilots" and each starship needs to say "Permanent Pilot provides ability of 1." These could be summarized into a skills box like Star Trek.

Star Wars has tons of little information boxes that are both obvious and irrelevent. Star Trek has only the necessary requirements. 3 attributes, 1-6 skills, classification, name, lore, pic. This is all simple to interpret at a glance!

Also, Star Trek has better numbers. The higher the numbers, the better the actual card is because of the variety it can have.

Should a Z-95 in SW be 1, 1.5, or 2 power? Is a TIE fighter 1/3 the power of an X-wing? Can 2 X-wings and 2 Z-95 Take out a Star Destroyer? What about this? One special pilot on his ship can take out 1 Star Destroyer because he draws destiny and the SD doesn't. To add insult to injury, the Star Destroyer would do no damage.

This is the problem with Star Wars. Star Trek has higher numbers for both its people and its starships. This results in mathimatically imparied going into hystarics, and the rest of us getting a better game. Star Wars has 2 stats. Power and Ability. Power deturmines almost everything about the Character, and Ability only helps with the overused counter cards.

In Star Trek, a Deck with low Cunning will get hit by Shakka, and tons of other dilemmas. A Deck with low integrity will get firestormed to death, and a deck with low strength would get destroyed by Nausicaans. All the stats must be high and the numbers are critical.

High numbers avoid other dumb situations like some frail guy beating up a strong guy like a rebel trooper just because he happens not to have strength enough to be considered 2.

There are some laughable situations in ST. A Targ can beat up several of the bridge crew, and wesely could whoop Dr. Galen! Think about a tark killing Scotty! Whew!

Star Trek's concept of a Leader is akin to SW's concept of having 4 ability. It just prevents early battle!

In conclusion, Star Wars has more complicated rules, worse looking cards, but more strategic games. Star Trek has beautiful cards, high stats to tell a difference, and also short gameplay. Which would you choose?

Feature: Dilemma Combos

By Yuan Ming Chiao

Here we go again, but this time we have a discussion on dilemma combos!

Lets start out with the different designs of combos.

There are some basics you need to know first:

1)Blockers 2)Killers 3)Romances 4)Stallers 5)Dilemmas that wont work without the help of others(Dependents).

1)Blockers. These dilemmas have two main ways of wreaking havoc. First, they can be placed before a group of dilemmas to prevent "redshirting". The opponent will be forced to bring the required skill or person down to proceed. Secondly, they can be placed after all the damage to the away team has been done and stop anyone or group from completing the mission.

2)Killers. Example of these are Armus, Punishment Zone, Hunter Gangs. These should be placed after blockers or can be used first to kill the redshirting member(s). For space, Borg ship and Plague ships. The Borg will probably destroy the ship(unless it is enhanced, or at an outpost or is under the influence of Kurlan).

3)Romances. Females, Males, and Parallels. These will get that Medical or Security out of the way for other dilemmas like Barclay's to kill the rest of the team. A deadly combo against Klingons could be: Females, Armus, Parallel, and then Matriarchal Society.

4)Stallers. These include Cytherians and Radioactive garbage scows for space and most blockers for planets missions. Cytherians is an unstoppable dilemma!!! There is NOTHING you can do about it. Add Junior to it and if your lucky, your opponent will be dead in 4-5 turns!

5)Dependents. These dilemmas are generally weak without the support of others. Once "enhanced" they'll add even more misery to your opponent. Some examples of this include Junior, REM and Shaka. For example, you could put a Plague ship before the REM Fatigue and increase your chances of killing the crew. Or put Zaldans in front of Shaka to kill any Diplomats.

Well, you'll probably be seeing an article on specific dilemmas combos soon, but try to create your own first!

Send the ideas to: nanyuan@leland.stanford.edu, and james-t-kirk@worldnet.att.net

Thanks for reading!

Dream Cards:

Computerized Systems

Equipment

"The USS Enterprise used computerized systems to allow single crew members to command every function of the ship at times"

Place on a ship. Treat as if 1 gold star was removed from the command requirements OR 2 silver stars were removed from the command requirement OR 1 AU was removed from the command requirement of the ship OR add 1 to weapons if ship fully staffed.

I liked this one because it allows one Gold Star to command a standered Cruiser size ship, or else, in desparate need, this could be devidian doored in to a stranded away team to let them command the ship. Not too powerful because you could put someone who has a gold star and AU sign in instead WITH skills, but not that weak because one person could command a starship.

Coolness Rating 9/10

Ablative Armor

Equipment

"Ablative armor allowed the Defient to survive several direct hits from a Vor'cha class cruiser."

Play on any ship. There is must remain for the rest of the game. If this ship is damaged, discard to repair it, if this ship was just destroyed, discard to prevent its destruction and turn it sideways to represent that this ship is damaged.

This card is very interesting because it can counter an attack, and make a damaged ship actually get reparied in dire straits. Doog in combination with Devidian door.

Coolness Rating 10/10

Federation Fanatics

Worf

* Security

Honorx2 Navigation Diplomacy

8/6/10

This card is very good For Federation. This card is excellent if the Federation relies on a fast completion of Wormhole Negotiations because he has Diplomacy and Honor x2! He is thee best security aside from Tasha Yar--Alternate.

The only downfall of this card is that is not a dual affiliation with the Klingons. If it were, then the Federation could have a Neutral Outpost in their decks, and the Klingons could too. IT would also be more realistic instead of giving the Klingons the weakling Gov.

His attributes are excellent. They add up to 24, a high number!

Rating 9.5/10

Geordi La Forge

* ENGINEER

ENGINEER, Navigation, Physics, Computer Skill

8/8/6

Geordi is less useful than Worf. TONS of Federation personnel have Engineer as a subclass like Wesely. The Physics skill is common, and Navigation is one of the most abundant skills. Computer Skill is, however, a bit useful in completing the repair mission. A big plus is the physics because few bridge crew have that skill, and lots of Federation Missions require it. Great in an all Federation deck.

Rating 7.5/10

Klingon Korner

Divok

+ Medical

Biology, Youth

6/6/8

Divok is the best Klingon Premier common that there is. He has Biology, a craved Klingon skill, he has Youth, almost unheard of among Klingon cards, and he has a skill number of 20, not bad for a common. The Strength 8 makes him strong enough to combat most dilemmas, and his Medical tips the scale to his favor. This card belongs in most Klingon Decks!

Rating 8.5/10

K'Vada

* OFFICER

Leadership, Navigation

8/5/7

This card is a typical Klingon Uncommon. One or two skills, and they are very easy to get skills. K'Vada appears to have a ship, though it is not in print yet! Interesting! Also, his Officer and Gold Star, makes him of use to some of the people who haven't collected their sets yet. His major downfall is his odd, low cunning.

Rating 6.5/10