by davypi
Disclaimer: I've only had three plays of the game, so I can't say this is an entirely informed review. Also, I am going to divide this into two parts. Top part is for those who have not played the TNG deck builder and the bottom part is a comparison of the two.Review:
1) What do you get with the game?
As the name implies, this is a stand alond deck building game. You get:
A) Enough starter decks for four players.
B) Some "basic characters" that allow you to buy more advanced cards.
C) A "Starbase" deck containing cards with more advanced abilities.
D) A mission deck, containing missions and events which your ship and crew must overcome to score points
E) Two scenarios (standard and infection) giving you two different ways to play the game.
2) How does game play work?
If you've played deck builders before, the basic mechanic is pretty standard. Draw five cards, then use those cards to acquire better cards and/or complete missions. Basic characters give you experience points which is the currency used to buy new cards. Cards also have four stats, Speed, Attack, Diplomacy, and Shield.
There are always nine mostly-unique cards available in starbase which will contain better stats that your basic cards and/or give you abilities such us upgrading cards or mucking with opponents deck to make their lives more difficult. This aspect of the game feels most like Ascension, where you have a constantly changing set of cards, so each buy opportunity will feel different than the last.
There is also a mission deck from which you may flip over cards. Missions will have a requirement (i.e. 3 Speed, 6 Attack) which, if you meet, you may claim the card for victory points and usually some additional reward. If you can't complete the mission, it stays on the board allowing the next player to claim it. This part of the game feels a bit more like Thunderstone in that your purchase deck is kept separate from the questing deck.
The last "twist" is that some mission cards actually require players to battle each other. Each player basically gets to use their attack stat to damange another players ship. After everybody has fired once, each surviving player is given a score (explained on the card) and the best score claims the card for victory points.
The rules themselves are often rather flexible. For example, you can choose to complete a quest before purchasing from starbase, or vice versa. As in most deck builders, card abilities can be chained together in ways make your turns more powerful (ie. purchased cards go into your discard, but some cards allow you to move discards to the top of your deck). There are also other rules such a trashing (permanently removing a card from your deck) and hidden missions you can complete before other players. But generally, on your turn you are going to try to complete a mission and/or make your deck stronger.
Thoughts and opinions:
I generally shy away from deck builders as a high amount of randomness in games usually bothers me. Nonetheless, I actually do like the game a lot and it saddens me that most other gamers are not as impressed with it. As my comments above allude to, the mechanics are nice blend of Ascension and Thunderstone. However, this is perhaps why it gets a rather lackluster response - the mechanics themselves don't offer anything new to the deckbuilding genre. People who like Trek do seem to take to the game more than those who don't, so the theme certainly has an influence. Also, most deck builders usually only have one or two stats (attack and defense). With four stats on the card, often the ability to complete a mission boils down to being lucky enough to draw a mission that matches your deck build. As such, the game looses some strategy in the deck building department - you often find yourself buying the most expensive card you can afford simply because you can, not because it provides some sort of deck synergy. (Bear in mind this is a generalization - there are some exceptions.) Similarly, exploring isn't really a strategic decision either. You will certainly gain a feel of when your abilities are strong enough that you might be able to finish a quest, but beyond that its a matter of flipping the card and hoping you have the right stuff in your hand on that turn. This is probably where the afore mentioned theme bias does start to kick in. Just as The Doomsday Machine requires a different solution from A Piece of the Action, flipping a card from the space deck may require combat or diplomacy. Exploring the space deck really feels like going to a new place where you never know what you will encounter next. But, like many games, the thematic variety comes with a cost of less strategic game play.
Final Verdict: This a solid 8 for me, probably closer to 8.5. To be honest, if this game were stripped down to its bare mechanics, I would probably rate it a 7 or less. The randomness that I hate in deck builders is definitely felt here. However, in the context of exploring strange new works, the randomness is somewhat appropriate. There is also something about the excitement of getting to say that Scotty is on my ship's crew that adds an emotional level to the game that you simply can't get from Dominion and, honestly, something I felt was lacking from Thunderstone. If you go into this game with a mindset that you are a "never know what's coming next" explorer, its a good game. If you're looking for a game that offers you clearly defined strategies that lead to point building engines, you'll be disappointed.
Oh yeah, that TNG versus TOS stuff...
Basically, here is what changes:
1) Basic characters now have abilities: When you complete a mission, Ensigns can trash themselves, Lieutenants upgrade themselves, and Commanders given an extra XP. Nice addition to the game. It's also worth mentioning that starting setup and maneuver cards have an extra ability on them as well making them more useful once you have a powerful deck built. If you're used to the TNG version of the cards and forget about the extra abilities, its easy to short change yourself.
2) No upgrading starships: This, I think, is good. It main complaint with the TNG game was that the first player to diplomacy a ship usually wins the game. Gameplay definitely feels more balanced between players. However, a lot of the missions do require diplomacy and it is just as difficult to come by, so the change is still offset elsewhere in the game.
3) Handhelds: Some cards in TOS cannot be played unless you have a character to play them on. I have mixed feelings about this. In one sense, it adds a layer to building your deck as you can't run up too many maneuver cards without characters to match. So, occasionally this rule will stymie you On the other hand, character heavy decks still seem to be the best strategy, so you won't be buying many handhelds anyway.
4) Draft Missions: Each player gets two missions at the start of the game which are duplicated in the space deck. This gives you the opportunity to complete them before they appear, but when they do appear, other players can steal them from you. On one hand, I like this because it gives you goals to work towards at the start of the game. On the other hand, having draft missions stolen from you seems a bit random and can unfairly penalize a player if their mission appears early.
5) Fewer trashing mechanisms: Wow! This really is a game changer. In the TNG game, you could just pick up the Binars or some other trashing card and proceed to buy whatever you want, knowing you can always thin your deck back down to 15-20 really good cards. With fewer trashes in the TOS game, you really have to think about what to do when you hit 15XP on one turn. Buying a cost 6 and a cost 9 card seems really cool, but if your deck gets too big, it becomes harder to create synergies with that cost nine card. I haven't played enough to really understand how to adjust my gameplay for this, but your deck starts hitting 20-25 cards, you really start to feel the difference in gameplay.
6) Player Interaction: I don't really know how to explain what is different here, but there is a difference in player interaction. There are fewer combat cards in the space deck, so you attack each other in that way less often. Yet, the game actually feels more vicious than its TNG predecessor. You have cards that can inflict damage on others simply when they are played, force discards, junk their deck with ensigns, and so on. I didn't really like PvP combat in the TNG game as it never really felt thematic, so fewer battles is good in my mind. But some of these new character abilities... well... again, I don't know how to explain the difference other than vicious.
7) Stat escalation: It seems easier get stats to boost. For example, the diplomacy bonus for the tricorder can go as high as five depending on the character using it. Khan has +5 on Speed/Fight and +1 Diplomacy (Contrast to TNG where even the best Picard only summed to 9 stat points at 3/3/3.) Because of various synergies, I actually had one hand where I had 10+ on all four stats. Another player was able to get about nine cards on his bridge and cycled/discarded another six in the process. I would neither say this is better nor worse as the missions are scaled appropriately and, in fairness, these "power hands" were not common. However, it does make me wonder how well this set will actually integrate with the TNG game. I suspect I probably never combine the two unless I am feeling silly or whimsical.
Overall: I think its a better game than the TNG deck builder, mostly because of the lack of starships and trashing mechanisms. To me, TNG has a more "wild" feel to it. Getting a new starship made you nearly invincible - once you get that warship you could almost do whatever you wanted to. The Q events usually turn a game on its edge. The ability to thin your deck let you go rampant buying things in starbase. TOS is more controlled. The mission are more balanced. The draft cards give you some direction early in the game. You have to use your purchases more wisely and not waste your trashes. You will still lose the game to randomness, but strategic deckbuilding seems to offer better rewards. This is admittedly a horrible analogy, but in Dominion terms, Cornucopia:Intrigue :: TNG:TOS.
(*gasp* I'm tired and need to go to bed. I may do some edits in the morning.)