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Major Rakal's Romulan Review #110: Crew Reassignment (12/16/2000) |
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Aefvadh! Back in premiere, there were only two staffing icons, stars called "Command ability" and "Staff ability." Alternate Universe introduced a few ships that used the [AU] icon as a staffing icon also. First Contact gave us the Borg subcommmand icons (with a variety of uses in addition to ship staffing), plus a new icon that replaced the normal Command or Staff star on certain of the bridge crew: the "Enterprise-E" icon required for staffing that ship. Despite persistent lobbying by players wanting more versatility from their [EE] crew, the rules did not allow substitution of an [EE] icon for either a [Cmd] or a [Stf] icon. Finally, with the release of The Dominion, we got a card-based way to use those [EE] icons, plus another function that has seen expanding possibilities with almost every set since then... Crew Reassignment
The first function turns out to be the most limited. Only a handful of First Contact personnel have [EE] icons, and they can only use them in place of a [Stf] star (not [Cmd]). And of course, only the Federation can use it. But if you really need the First Contact version of some of the bridge crew (Deanna and Beverly in particular are much improved in their FC versions, and the others have some useful special downloads that may be important to your deck), this gets you a little more use from them when you aren't using the Enterprise-E. It's the ostensibly secondary function that makes this much, much more than a limited "Federation special." If your ship has a so-called "special staffing icon" as part of its staffing requirements, then your personnel with that icon can report directly aboard that ship. No returning to your outpost, no worries about being in your home quadrant - just "Worf (Prem), reporting for duty!" right to the Enterprise-E, off roaming the Gamma Quadrant. So what's a special staffing icon? To start with, it's not a [Cmd] or [Stf] icon, or a Borg subcommand icon ([Com], [Nav], [Def] ) - those are considered "regular" staffing icons. It's also not an affiliation icon, used on the Zalkonian Vessel ([NA]) or on Borg cubes ([Borg]). But any other icon used as a staffing icon is "special." As of The Dominion expansion, that was still of pretty limited use for anyone but the Federation; the [EE] icon was Federation-only; the "Enterprise" and "Excelsior" icons hadn't yet appeared on a ship (Excelsior still hasn't; and the [OCD] icon is found on one personnel (Zefram Cochrane) and one ship (Phoenix). That left only the [AU] icon, and aside from a few Federation ships (most notably the Future Enterprise and Enterprise-C), the Romulans had the Decius, the Klingons I.K.C. Chang and I.K.C. Feh'lhr, and Non-Aligneds the Edo Vessel. Not a vast selection for non-Feds. That began to change with The Trouble With Tribbles. Not only did the "Enterprise" icon metamorphose into the "Original Series" [OS] icon, used for staffing the Starship Enterprise (TMP) and the generic U.S.S. Constitution, but the first Dominion ship to use the ketracel-white icon for staffing, the massive Dominion Battleship, appeared on the scene. Suddenly Dominion players had a convenient way to drop Gamma Jem'Hadar into the Alpha Quadrant. And with every mirror universe ship except Mirror Ferengi Shuttle using the Terran Empire or Klingon/Cardassian Alliance icons for staffing, Crew Reassignment literally turns your mirror ships into roving outposts for reporting every mirror personnel except Fontaine. That gives us the following current "special staffing icon" list:
While it isn't seedable, Crew Reassignment is a Captain's Order, so you can download it with Ready Room Door and protect it as well - important for an event that isn't immune to Kevin Uxbridge - or download it with Commander’s Office if you're using a Nor. Look for complete lists of ships and personnel with special staffing icons on my website in the Tal Shiar Databases. The Major's Combos:
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