Bashir's Guide to Deck Building
I know this has been done to death.
but that is because it is the most important part of any CCG. So
here I am going to write a guide to deck
building from a Federation standpoint, although it will definetly
work with the other affiliations.
Step 1:
The first step in deck building is
to pick a theme, or a strategy. This will help to concentrate your
deck,
because you will have one specific goal
to base your missions and personnel on. Examples of a theme
would be a Federation Diplomacy Deck, or
a Patrol Neutral Zone Deck, or even a Fed Battle Deck.
We will be using my Fed Diplomacy Deck as
an example.
Step 2:
After you have your theme, the next
step is to pick six missions that will be able to withstand your
strategy. In a Fed Diplomacy Deck
you will pick six missions that need Diplomacy, without too much
other stuff. In my deck I used:
Wormhole Negotiations
First Contact
Diplomatic Conference
Paxan Wormhole
Diplomacy Mission
Study Hole in Space
All six missions use the skill my deck is
based on, without too many other skills, so that you don't have to
have excess personnel. Try to have
at least 2 space missions and 2 planet missions, so that you won't
get hit by Balancing Act. Preferably
all your missions will be higher than 25 point missions, and would be
only Federation, but do not go out of your
way to do this, the strategy you picked is much more
important. There is a very small chance
that your opponent will steal your missions, and if you are afraid,
try throwing a Fair Play into your deck.
Step 3:
Now we're going to choose personnel.
The personnel are the most important part of a deck. Without
proper personnel you can't complete missions,
which is the main way to get points(unless your deck
concentrates on getting bonus points).
There are a few tips that can help you in choosing personnel.
You should have at least 3 personnel with
the skills needed to complete your missions(ie in our
Diplomacy Deck we need at least 3 Diplomats).
As well add 0.75 for every additional time it would be
needed to a mission. For example we'll
use Wormhole Negotiations, you should have (3+5x0.75,
rounded down) 7 Diplomats. Evidently
you won't do this for every mission, so 7 Diplomats should
suffice. Another tip that will help
is to have at least 3 MEDICAL, 3 SECURITY, 3 SCIENCE, and 2
ENGINEER(although you will almost definitely
have more when playing Federation). You should be
able to get all of these with 3-5 personnel,
using dual-classification personnel, or as in the case of Julian
Bashir he'll give you all your MEDICAL.
You should make an effort to have at least all of those
classifications present when attempting
a mission, because you want to beware of some of the most
common dilemmas(Yuta, Shaka, Cardassian
Trap, Q and Borg Ship, as well as Barclay's which needs 3
classifications). It is also good
to have an Empathy in your deck(ie Lwaxanna Troi, Deanna Troi, Major
Rakal), especially if your using our Diplomacy
Deck idea. For a last note on personnel, you want
between 14 and 18 personnel, and never go
below 12 personnel.
Step 4:
This step will be to finish your draw
deck(Events, Interrupts, Ships, Equipment). First pick 2-4
ships(for a non-Battle Deck), or about 6-8(for
a Battle Deck). Most decks will include at least one
Enterprise, but it is not a necessity.
You want to make sure that you have enough counters, so that your
Events and Interrupts won't all be nullified.
In my Diplomacy Deck, I put 2 Uxbridges, Rogers, and
Q2's, and a Palor Toff(you may want another).
Now, you really don't have to worry about deck size,
except for speed. If your going to
use a Q's Tent side deck, than put 3-5 doorways in your draw deck.
You may want to use a Kivas, as well as
Red Alert!, The Traveler: Trancendence(will speed up your
deck amazingly), maybe a Klim(highly underrated),
and a few other filler cards. A good Interrupt is
Temporal Rift, but only use it if you don't
have too many Interrupts already. In my Diplomacy Deck I
used Regenerate, Wall of Ships(I've got
two Enterprises), and Genetronic Replicator(good if you plan on
redshirting). These are all good Events
to have, but not necessary. Equipment cards aren't necessary,
but if you were planning on using Nutational
Shields(recommended for Feds), then stick a Engineering kit
into your deck.
Step 5:
This step is to finish building your seed
deck. Space/Time Portal is usually automatically inserted into
msot decks. You may want to put in
a Q's Tent and maybe even a Q-Flash. You'll have your Fed
Outpost, and maybe even another. You
should probably put in some artifacts, I would recommend
two. My Fed Diplomacy Deck has three
including a Cryo. I wouldn't recommend you use a Betazoid
Gift Box, unless you have a large draw deck,
because by the time you get it most of your deck will be
depleted anyway. Now, one of the biggest
parts of the game, the dilemmas. I highly recommend you
use dilemma combos, because they help set
up eachother to have the most damage. My Fed Diplomacy
Deck has 5 pretty good combos, although
I would usually recommend you use 6. A least two thirds, or
more of your seed deck(other than missions)
should be dilemmas. Here are the ones I use:
Space/Planet
Unscientific Method+Common Thief+Hippocratic
Oath+Barclay's
Planet
The Sheliak+Chula: The Chandra+Q+Primitive
Culture
Crisis+Penalty Box+No Loose Ends+Shaka When
the Walls Fell
Space
Scout Encounter+Pup+Abandon Ship+Extradition
Hippocratic Oath+Aphasia Device+Tarellian
Plague Ship+Maglock
Here is our example(suggestions welcome):
| Seed Deck(30+6)
Missions(6) Wormhole Negotiations(Space)
Dilemmas(20) Unscientific Method+Common
Artifacts(3) Kurlan Naiskos
Outposts(1) Federation Outpost Doorways(1) Alternate Universe Doorway Personnel(3)(Seed under Cryosatellite) Major Rakal
Other(2) Open Diplomatic Relations
|
Draw Deck(42)
Ships(3) USS Enterprise USS Enterprise-E Husnock Ship Personnel(18)
Events(8)
Interrupts(10)
Equipment(3)
|