Although it was difficult to track down, the Spacedock has succeeded in locating the carefully hidden:
The Mercenary Ship's uses:
Hit 'Em Hard: Although the Mercenary Ship may not be the Future Enterprise, it can still serve admirably in a combat deck. With Baran (a useful personnel in and of himself who, not unimportantly, can be downloaded to the Mercenary Ship via Ready Room Door) and the Captain's Log (see above), the Mercenary Ship becomes a 10 Weapons and Shields powerhouse capable of bringing down most men-of-war. Since its matching commander is available for download, the Mercenary Ship is a reasonable choice for the leadership of an armada; 10 Weapons for two card plays, and the kind of tough ship that is a rarity in armadas.
You Can't Assimilate What You Can't See: One of the major threats in ST:CCG is assimilation by Borg looking for a counterpart. Borg attacks threaten not only the targeted personnel, but also any unfortunate enough to be at the same location when the drones arrive. Also a danger is Brain Drain, which will be familiar to anyone who expected to pass Barclay's Protomorphosis Disease with a dual-classified personnel. Both of these cards involve going through a crew, finding a suitable personnel, and then victimizing that poor soul.
However, Decipher has been hinting for some time that a change in this system is in the works. It seems likely that a ruling will arrive which will require the use of a Long-Range Scan to determine who is available for targeting, rather than letting Brain Drain and Assimilate Counterpart allowing one to look through an opposing crew. By all reports, this is already the standard mode of operation at Decipher. When this ruling arrives, Long-Range Scan will find its stock rising in value, and *this* is where the Mercenary Ship comes into its own.
Although it lacks even the basic Tractor Beam, the Mercenary Ship has a frill duplicated nowhere else; Long-Range Scan Shielding. In other words, Long-Range Scans are useless against this vessel. Since it cannot be scanned, the Mercenary Ship provides a superb way to protect personnel from assimilation and/or a sudden lack of intelligence; simply prevent the opponent from knowing who the options are. Whether they expend mental energy remembering who is where or simply begin guessing randomly, you will have an advantage.
Of course, the Mercenary Ship has its faults...
Why Walk When You Can...On Second Thought, Walking Is Nice: The Mercenary Ship suffers from a critical lack of attribute points. 7 Range is painful, making the Mercenary Ship dangerously slow on space-heavy spacelines. 7 Weapons and Shields are not necessarily terrible (and they are easily enhanced), but they are still rather low. The Borg may have trouble assimilating those aboard, but the Borg will have no trouble simply blowing the Mercenary Ship apart.
What Plain Attire: Unfortunately, the Mercenary Ship also lacks the most basic frills. The lack of a cloaking device allows opponents to take advantage of low combat attributes, the lack of a holodeck prevents the Mercenary Ship from using holo-recreations (either to shore up crews in need of some certain skill or to provide redshirts), and the lack of a Tractor Beam leaves the Mercenary Ship unable to move Radioactive Garbage Scows. Although the one frill it has is useful, the Mercenary Ship has several serious lackings.
Final Analysis: The Mercenary Ship provides valuable protection against several nasty cards. However, it is largely usele...less-than-useful against other strategies. Overall, the Mercenary Ship is a superb candidate for inclusion in the Tent, to be accessed when needed.
Next Week: The Spacedock heads through a temporal vortex in order to marvel at the tri-lateral symmetry of the Vulcan Lander (at the request of Baran).
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to e-mail Phalanx
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