Breaking Borg, Part III

The last time we saw the Borg, they were seemingly vanquished. The Queen has been corrupted and the virus implanted by Admiral Janeway had apparently sealed the fate of the Collective, infecting the core to destroy the body.

But is that where it all stopped? The Borg we’re back to their malevolent best - possibly their most dangerous form since Picard drew a line and allowed them to go no further. 

Picking up 18 years after the events of Nemesis, 2020’s Picard brought the Borg out of semi-retirement but this was a very unusual Collective and focused purely on one, lonely disconnected Cube.

A cube that had been severed from the Hive mind and subsequently held by the Romulans as a reclamation centre, repatriating drones (XB’s) from the horrors of the Collective. 

Led by director Hugh, the facility seeks to restore something to the lives of these apparently broken individuals and Picard shows us, within the events of The Impossible Box that these drones are struggling to regain themselves after a life of enforced servitude.

Del Arco's take on this version of Hugh is a lot lighter and more sensitive than I would have imagined. He is a shining example of someone who has truly regained his individuality and has sought to better others lives. I'm not in the least shocked by his extreme reaction to the execution of the other XBs by Narissa but Hugh is now the exception to the rule. While I, Borg may not have initially seemed a good idea, here we have the expansion of Picard's decision in the right way that Descent, Part II didn't quite muster. Here Hugh has a strong purpose, he leads and sees the positives everywhere while Picard and Seven actually have a leaning towards the darker events of the galaxy. 

Notably Picard chooses in no way to ‘cuddle’ the Borg and give them a humanising slant that we have witnessed before and has been done with every major alien race in Star Trek. In this series we are exposed psychologically and physically to the terrors of assimilation and years of torment associated with being part of the Borg Collective. 

The Impossible Box in fact takes us back to Wolf 359 and, as noted in the review of that episode, Star Trek actually addresses PTSD. Jean-Luc is visually shaken by his first trip back to a Borg cube since he was partially assimilated into the Collective and for a few moments we see him revisiting that traumatic time. It’s not something that dominates the series but it is addressed and dealt with alongside the correct material. Family dig into the immediate aftermath and here we have the long term effects and we have Jean-Luc interacting with the two people who can understand his pain the most; Hugh and Seven. 

Picard does nod to First Contact but it’s real focus is The Best of Both Worlds as well it should be. That was the keystone of his experiences with the Borg and the series hits the damage caused by their incursion head on.

Picard does nothing to make the Borg seem less than menacing. Seven’s own past with the Borg is resurrected with the savage murder of Icheb for the acquisition of Borg technology pushing the visual envelope of the franchise that bit further than ever before. This also reflects the severe hatred for the Borg - there’s no grace in removing the implants for profit and they are only seen as a resource nothing more even in XB’s.

The future of the Star Trek universe isn't quite the utopia we have seen before by the time we get to Picard. A lot's changed with contempt for the former Borg drones just being one tip on the iceberg. The Borg threat itself may not be as present as it was thanks to the intervention of Admiral Janeway but the fear of assimilation is still there.

When Seven reconnects with the limited-scale Collective in order to defeat the Romulans, one of her first actions is to reactivate the dormant drones and reconnect them to a smaller hive mind controlled by her. It's a dangerous narcotic for the former Borg with a demonstration that the Collective is a brutal force even in reduced numbers.

Ultimately these XB's - or whatever is left of them by the end of the series have chosen to stay away from returning to the unified consciousness. Perhaps the most telling moment of the season is the conversation between Seven and Picard as she leaves the La Sirena which delivers the blow that neither has ever truly been the same since their time with the Collective even though its two decades in the past. There's always going to be a part of each of them which will be associated to that period.

What Picard chooses NOT to do is answer what has happened to the Borg in the years since Endgame. The acquisition of the Artifact indicates that the Borg have been active since Voyager ended but it does nothing to indicate what damage was done to the Collective or how it survived or rebuilt itself following Admiral Janeway's attack. 

We don't even know if this was a lone cube which assimilated the only Romulans to ever to part of the Borg or if there was a fleet - it's all kept very vague and in some respects this goes right back to the more ambiguous roots that we discussed in Part I. 

Picard has taken just one element of the Borg and focused on it, choosing to dig into the torments and terror that comes from life after being separated from the hive mind and leaving us to imagine what has occurred elsewhere.

The cube is still terrifying and the fact that they have been collecting new drones nods to the fact that the Collective are back to their singular, emotionless focus to become better and strike down everything in their path. The Borg are, it seems, very much still out there....so maybe this isn't the last time we'll be seeing them in the franchise.

As we've seen in this three part overview, the Borg have certainly had their fair share of change - they have been adapted to the show and each of the times they have been utilised either on the big or small screen. Picard has returned the mysticism to the Collective while at the same time bringing the horrors of their actions back to the fore and away from the occasional sensitive mush that Voyager meandered into during its sixth season. 

Even if you don't agree with moving corridor walls and a slightly different aesthetic to the Borg (not the first time), you can't help but feel that Michael Chabon and his Picard team have really gone back to the roots of the Borg and what made them interesting. I was originally intending to deal with Seven in here but now I think she's worth her own future supplement - and that's on the way.

You can read the rest of Breaking Borg here

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We Are Borg: Faction Pack Part Two

The first part of our look at the Borg Faction Pack checked out half of the ships, the captains, Crew and Elite Actions - so now let's analyse the two new pack vessels and the rest...

Trekking out into this new set are two updated Federation/Borg starships in the form of Assimilated Target Prime and USS Voyager.

Voyager is the more expensive of the pair so lets start out there. Costing a chewy 34 points, the Intrepid Class ship is one of those craft that seem to have been forgotten in the later waves of the game - but it's still awesome. Attacking with five dice, defending with two, hulled up with four points and raising six Shield points, Voyager can join a Borg or a Federation fleet with its dual allegiance although it doesn't field a Regeneration Action. This ship carries the expected Target Lock, Battle Stations, Scan and Evade you would find on a Federation ship plus can accommodate two Crew, one Weapon, one Tech and one Borg upgrade. 

For its Unique Action, Voyager can perform a Target Lock as a free action if a green maneuver is performed that round. There seem to be a lot of free actions bobbing about in this set with a fair few cards in the first half of our review providing this option.

The generic Intrepid Class ship (or Federation/Borg Starship...) loses a Crew slot and a Shield point but switches the Scan Action out for the Regeneration Action and is stripped of a unique action for 29 points - that's a big drop in cost to offer up a more Borg inspired starship. It also benefits from having no red speeds, punching to a top of five with bank turns at speeds one, two and three. Certainly this one can get around with hard left and rights at speeds two and three although there are no reverse moves available meaning you'll need to run and turn rather than being able to immediately able to change direction.

As for the model it's a straight silver respray of the Voyager from Wave Six with additional circuitry decals across the surface to display its assimilation. The finish overall seems a little grimier with an apparent dirt wash running into all the panel and shield grid lines. The detail shines through a little stronger against the silver hull with the lifeboat hatches and RCS thrusters in particular standing out.

Now second up is Assimilation Target Prime. The named version can play as either Mirror Universe or Borg and out of the box it's equipped with the Regeneration Action alongside Scan, Target Lock and Evade. Two Crew, one Weapon, one Tech and one Borg upgrade can be outfitted onto this craft which is definitely a more powerful version of the Galaxy Class with five Attack, five Hull and four Shield points although the one Defence stat is a little concerning and might mark this ship out for an early exit. The stats also outweigh the rather feeble Unique Action allowing you to equip anything to this ship and that the single Tech upgrade allowed will cost one point less. I wouldn't be adding this to a fleet for that ability - definitely the stats.

The generic version can be Federation or Borg with a loos of the usual Shield point and a Crew slot. As with Voyager it costs a lot less at only 24 points placing this also as a damn good option for any Borg or Federation fleet. The top speed of this one is a decent six although it will incur the dreaded Auxiliary Power Token as will the reverse one move and the hard turns at speed three.

The bank turns at speed one plus the forward speeds at one to three are green and for one I'd say this is a big step up from the truck that was the Starter Pack USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Shame that Assimilation Target Prime can't be a Federation starship but the generic version might just carry a little favour with the stronger firepower and Borg options.

Again this model's received a shiny new silver coat of paint with painted on Borg circuitry details top and bottom. On both this and Voyager the silver doesn't overpower the hull detail and the lifeboat hatches again standout against the hull. I think these two are a great couple of ships and a step up on earlier finishes but the Borg detailing should be added onto the hull not just painted. I can understand it's down to keeping costs low but there's a sense of disappointment once you get it out of the box to find it's not really much different to the originals.

We've covered the Captains and Crew already so let's load the tubes and discuss the Weapons. The Advanced Proton Beam (Borg faction only) costs three points and can be utilised on a full 360 degree arc at range one. Using the same number of dice as the equipped ship's primary weapon, this ignores Shields and goes straight for the hull, potentially inflicting Critical Damage in the process. Two Drone tokens will be used up and the card will be discarded but it does allow for a rather - cutting - attack early on. I do like this one a lot and it's a unique result for an attack.

Costing the same as the primary weapon of the ship it is equipped to is also the case with Bio-Molecular Torpedo. Able to be plugged into either a Borg or Federation starship, the Torpedo can be reused and attacks with the same number of dice as the carrying ship's primary weapon (same as its cost). Notably this one doesn't need to be discarded or disabled due to the token cost and if it hits then the opposing Captain and Crew onboard receive two Time Tokens each. If it's a Species 8472 ship then all of the cards on that craft are hit with the Time Tokens. 

I'd play this one if I had a captain with the maximum Drone Token amount just to use this as much as possible and close down your opposing fleet as soon as possible. 

There's a lone Tech upgrade with Integrated Borg Technology (Borg faction). The one point cost lets you drop another Borg upgrade onto your ship and with this pack there are five that can be packed onto your ship or fleet.

The five point Borg Multi-Adaptive Shields let you cancel a Damage result when defending and is only discarded when you run out of Shields. Best application for this has to be on one of the Borg craft without the ability to defend. Technological Distinctiveness (three points) is powered up with Mission Tokens which can be added once per round as your Action. These can be traded in to add attack dice to your turn. It doesn't specify if you have to use all in one go however the point that it rolls one extra for each Mission Token on the card does suggest this. Nor does it suggest discarding after use - potentially you could have a huge amount of tokens on here - and then add in a Target Lock...boom.

Assimilation Tubes gets discarded but for three points you do get to steal a Crew upgrade from an enemy ship up to range two and there are no restrictions to add it on to your own Borg vessel. Note this is one of those hugely situational cards requiring you to target a ship that has no Shields or a Cloak in operation.

Interlink Transceiver is a classic card for the under-defended Borg by increasing their defence by one - as long as they are within range one. Two points is a menial cost for this upgrade and I would have this onboard alongside the Integrated Borg Technology to add in another Borg option. 

Annoyingly these Borg upgrades are damn good and even a one point Distribution Nodes card is a winner. During Activation you can target a friendly ship at range one, deal a Damage point to that vessel so that one of the Hull points on the card carrying vessel is repaired.

The Borg Faction Pack comes with two new missions to play out as part of an Uneasy Alliance arc. Part One sees each player in this two player scenario picking a Federation ship and a Borg ship each. The Federation ship of each player is out to collect mission tokens from the planet while the Borg ships are there to try and prevent their opponent's Federation ship from getting within range two to complete scans (and thereby gain mission tokens). The winner either destroys their opponents ships or gets the most mission tokens when they are all collected.

Part Two follows a similar vein with each player once again fielding a Borg and a Federation ship. This time your objective is to collect Mission Tokens from the Objectives set around the board which are set as wrecked starships.

Again either destroy or conquer in order to find out who has been destroying these craft. For those with some background knowledge  you'll spot that both of these scenarios are loosely based around Scorpion!

Federation ships can collect tokens by rolling five defence die and achieving at least two Evade results. Borg ships can target the Federation ship of their opponent to steal away those tokens as long as a five defence die roll includes two Evade results.

The Borg Faction pack might not be the most impressive when it comes to new models but the cards, especially the captains and Borg upgrades are extremely useful. As always the Borg are ridiculously overpowered and under defended but you can at least face off Federation Borg versus Borg Borg with some level of fairness on the table. I tend to use the Borg more for practice in one player set ups and now there's a decent spread of options to set out.

Playing straight from the box the two missions are a little too samey although they do offer some new gameplay elements with the defence rolls and use of Objective tokens. In the deck there aren't any revolutionary new moves however the inclusion of Locutus outside of the oversize Cube will keep fans happy - perhaps more surprising is the choice to put three high skill captains in one pack. 

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We Are Borg: Faction Pack Part One

Deadlier, stronger and with some new twists, the Borg Faction Pack returns one of Star Trek's greatest foes to Attack Wing.

This time, of course, it's personal with one of the most ferocious line ups of all time - a Scout Cube and a Sphere now joined by a Borged USS Voyager and Assimilated Target Prime, a Borged Galaxy Class starship both of which we'll cover in Part Two.

First up lets tackle the updated Borg Scout Cube 609. Carrying screenshots from I, Borg, the ship packs three dice for attack and defence alongside two hull points and four shield points. Its basic actions are Evade, Scan, Target Lock and Regenerate while the four upgrade slots provide one for each of the available categories - Weapons, Crew, Tech and Borg. Offering some form of defence for the horribly under-defended Borg ships, the Scout Cube can regenerate one shield and one hull point as its Action. 

It can perform this when at Range one and might be a big help to the Sphere as a support craft since it has no dice to roll in defence.   As for speed and movement, the Scout Cube can punch up to speed four along with a reverse pace of three. As with all Borg ships it can only perform right angle turns at speeds one to four with all moves at four or reverse three incurring an Auxiliary Power Token. Given the size of ship this is pretty impressive maneuverability to be offered up especially from the Borg which already have significant advantages.

Also note that the cost of this ship for your fleet - 22 points is not double the total of the four ship stats. The generic Scout Cube is also a bargain at a mere 17 points offering strong upgrade possibilities sacrificing a Weapon upgrade and a shield point for the price.

In terms of the model, it's a slightly lighter shade of grey than the solus edition we have reviewed previously and carries exactly the same details; no big improvements here and nor are there any changes when it comes to the model of the Sphere - even down to the idiotic way it's been orientated. The Sphere is still 90 degrees incorrectly aligned with the panelling running front to back rather than top to bottom. With a minor adjustment, some filler and a drill you can have the Sphere the right way up in about ten minutes...

Sphere 634 packs a bigger attack loading up six dice on the offensive although there is nothing to counter an assault with zero for defence (so keep the Scout Cube close to hand). 

Additionally, the Sphere bears seven hull and seven shield points so its going to last a little longer than the Scout Cube. It only has built in Actions for Target Lock, Scan and Regenerate which could leave you desperately needing some assistance.   As for cards you can equip up to two Borg, one Weapon, Crew and Equipment upgrades onto the Sphere to make even more of this dangerous ship.

During Combat, Sphere 634 can spend a Target Lock to discard a Scan, Evade or Battle Stations token from an enemy craft within range two, thus depriving it of means of additional defence or attack. I've always felt this is one of the criminally overpowered ships in the game and one that is a hard target to eliminate. Even the generic version losing a Borg upgrade and a shield point barely has an effect on its dominant presence in the game. 

As with the Scout Cube its movements top out at speed four and bottom at reverse three. The left and right turns at speed four and reverse three will lead to an Auxiliary Power Token while forward speeds one, two and three are ranked green. The movement plus high attack make this a difficult option to ignore in a Borg fleet.

The pure named Borg captains in the faction pack are just as hardcore as the two ships. The Borg Queen and Locutus both pack a nine Captain skill with the former costing five points to the latter's four. Looking at the abilities of both it's clear why one is more expensive. Both are set up with nine Drone tokens however the Queen can be any other captain ability in your fleet that requires spending at least one Drone Token. 

That's a bonkers ability giving you the chance to play any Action in your fleet wherever that ship is on the board since it's not range limited. The Borg Queen is also able to field am Elite Ability. Pick wisely...

Then there's Locutus. A much wanted card since he's only appeared in the original Oversize Borg Cube pack in retail stores but don't get too excited for to see his visage. His abilities aren't as useful as the Queen as he only provides the chance to add an extra two Crew slots on your ship and cannot be equipped to a fleet that also has Picard onboard. No faction penalties are caused when equipping Crew upgrades here so it's a good card to let you take full advantage of your collection. Picard will also allow the addition of an Elite Action. Bit of a downer in my opinion and should have had some form of ability to predict movements if the opponent was Federation.

Kathryn Janeway (Borg or Federation faction) starts off with a Captain Skill of eight with a cost to your fleet of five points. Each time an opposing ship within range two performs an Evade, Scan or Battle Station Action, one of the Drone tokens can be used and the opponent ship can be targetted. The Action it performed can then be completed as a freebie and leads to your opponent gaining the joys of an Auxiliary Power Token - so a win, win situation for your team. 

The final captain option is the Operations Drone costing a more affordable/reasonable three points. Initially working with a skill of six, the Drone can target a ship at ranges one or to during the Planning Phase of the game and lumber that craft with an Auxiliary Power Token at the cost of one of its Drone Tokens. 

All of the three would be a good punt to team up with the Borg Queen although my personal choice out of the box would be to link up the Queen and Janeway to nullify any Action effects across the board.

If you've got the Elite Action slot in play then the pack provides three new options to play with. The five point Collective Consciousness is effective between ranges one and three and incurs three Time Tokens to target all Borg captains. The result is pretty hardcore especially if it's coupled with Crosis and/or the Borg Queen/Locutus meaning potentially all your Borg commanders could be punching with a skill of up to nine allowing for some early attacks.

Root Command is our first look at a discard feature in this pack with a cost of four and useful up to range two. Initially it's not the greatest but for the chance to select which one of your ships gets attacked could well extend the life of your fleet - however it will rely on there being another ship in range to use to take the heat off your ailing ship for instance. I can get the use but it's very selective when it could be played - maybe one for those who fancy a good bit of close combat.

Third up is another Elite Action costing four points with Ocular Implants. Offering up the chance to spin out a free Scan Action when you perform Target Lock it's one that can be played every single round and if you can twin it with a Target Lock Action this could being a nice series of combos.

Crew slots on your ships can be filled up with five possibles - Three of Nine and Tuvok cost five points a piece with Crosis and B'Elanna Torres costing three points and finally Seven of Nine costing two. 

Three of Nine Is well worth purchasing for your vessel as his ability means the Regeneration function will repair a Hull and a Shield point at the same time plus there's no loss of attack from using the Action and it's neither a discard or a disable. For five points you can't do any wrong with this card as it'll certainly provide lasing benefits for any Borg ship especially those with zero natural defence ability - we're looking at you Borg Sphere.

Tuvok can be equipped either as a Federation character or a Borg crewmember. During the modifying of your attack dice step of an attack you can use the assimiliated Vulcan to spend a Drone token from your captain stopping the opponent from rerolling any dice and if the attacking ship carries any Federation Weapon upgrades it will flip a Damage or Critical Damage result over to a blank. Wow - Tuvok is rather useful and moreso to the Borg than the Federation in faction pure situations.Utilising the Drone tokens does mean this becomes a multiple use card over, potentially, consecutive rounds to beat down heavy attacks from Battle Station use in particular.

With Crosis, this character pumps your Captain Skill up by a point (useful if you have an opponent throwing another nine out there) but also means that a Borg Captain can go up three skill points which can make this a very cost effective addition to your fleet. The extra benefit with Crosis is that he can take over as captain if your ship's commander is discarded and starts out with a skill of five.

Certainly a good and multi-use card in this but B'Elanna can operate as either Federation or Borg. Not too hot an option initially but consider this - she'll let you add a Borg Tech slot to your ship and for each unused slot it'll cost a point less. Now here's a thing - if you're playing faction pure this is a non-starter since Borg upgrades are always Borg faction. B'Elanna is one of those specific use cards if you're chucking in anything to make the perfect combos but will be of more benefit on a Borg pure ship to reduce your outgoings.

The surprisingly low priced Seven of Nine is cheap for a reason - she adds a Borg Tech upgrade to your bar and reduces the cost of all your Borg upgrades by a point.... and that's it. Very direct use but really one that you'll be leaving in the pack unless you're really, really really desperate to fill a slot.

In the second part of the Borg Faction Pack review we will be taking a look at the two new starships plus the Weapon, Borg and Tech upgrades...

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Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff welcomes the Alpha Quadrant

Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff was more Star Trek than anything else this spring as the crew of The Next Generation descended on Quahog. Could the most ambitious event yet to hit TinyCo’s addictive freemium mobile game tap the right nostalgia buttons? Against quite a few odds, and Borg, absolutely says Matt Goddard.

“Stop poking me” – Deanna Troi (Family Guy version)

Your chance to revitalise Quahog's Star Trek Quarter

It’s been a long time brewing. Despite some major hiccups, Family Guy remains one of the pre-eminent lampooners of American culture on the air, pop or otherwise. And despite being placed on hiatus after its third year – which, as every Star Trek fan knows is a sign of some quality – it’s now somehow reached its 13th series. Packed full of references, it likes few things better than a strong dose of science fiction and has dutifully paid tribute to Star Trek over the years. So, it had to happen - for just over a month Family Guy’s freemium mobile game, The Quest for Stuff (TQFS) was all about strange new worlds. 

The Star Trek Event that ended last week was TQFS’s fifth in-game event since it launched just over a year ago – tent-pole, short-lived seasonal specials that introduce more targeted in-joking gameplay. Previously Comic-Con, Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day have expanded the Quahog universe, but this was the boldest leap yet, hurling the player straight into The Next Generation. Of course, it remained a mainly comedy game, and more importantly a Family Guy game. Even the greatest The Next Generation fan setting coordinates near TQFS was unlikely to be convinced if they’ve never quite gelled with Seth MacFarlane’s work. That’s a warning worn on the sleeve of any uniform freshly purchased from Al Harrington’s Outfitting Store…

“I know I can be a little dramatic…” – Khan

A nice night for ornithology. With phasers.

But what Family Guy creator MacFarlane certainly is, is a Star Trek fan through and through. That’s evident from all his shows, with countless references and cameos (particularly Patrick Stewart’s regular role in Family Guy sister series American Dad) and not least his own two appearances in Star Trek: Enterprise as Ensign Rivers. In 2009 MacFarlane even managed the unthinkable, staging a cast reunion of the The Next Generation crew on Family Guy! Although they didn’t record together, it was the first time they’d appeared as a 'crew' since Nemesis in 2002. MacFarlane is one of the key people in American media determined to keep The Next Generation going. 

So not surprisingly, what really hit about this Star Trek Event was the attention to detail, no matter how skewed. From classic show design, the fact that most characters were voiced by the original actors and ridiculously canonically correct in-jokes and parodies: it was certainly a work of affection. And just as the best comically bad piano can only come from a pianist of Data’s ability, this heightened, tongue in cheek, intrinsically well-researched Star Trek fitted right in to the Family Guy world. 

“My Beard is warm face blanket” – William Riker

Riker crash lands: Little regard for the Prime Directive

On with the event! Once you reached a sufficient level of the standard TQFS game (Quahog District 3, you know) you were pushed to the mobile equivalent of amber alert anticipation: a battered Commander Riker crash-landed his shuttlecraft in Quahog and off you set on grabbing ‘stuff’ to fix him up and unlock as much Star Trek as possible. On the way there was time for the loose plot that unravelled around the Borg. The crew’s mission to 21st century Quahog was all to do with a weapon that Stewie Griffin would invent in the future and would have been very useful at Wolf 359 - culminating in various upgrading boss battles with a Borgified Bertram – who, as fans of the show will know, is Stewie’s sworn nemesis. As always nemeses prove a killer formula - even in a parody Star Trek universe.

Defeating Borgified Bertram was the name of the game 

That ‘stuff’ part, the transaction and reward system that necessarily propels the game, was – truth be told - where this event came slightly unstuck. With every character you discover, comes the task of gathering a quantity of specific items. By making other characters, Star Trek and otherwise, complete tasks and building special monuments in your town centre to earn everything from cat food for Spot to beard trimmers, medical tricorders and emotion chips, you can expect an increase in time and perseverance as the game progresses. But as Riker’s unlocking led you variously to Geordi, Troi and Ten Forward, Locutus and the Bridge, Crusher and the Sickbay, Data and the Holodeck and so on… There was an inevitable push to pay for shortcuts as you work against the Event’s deadline. Some terse criticism of the time and effort it took to obtain items, combined with what will forever be called the ‘Enterprise bug’ that hit in the game’s final weeks led to a week-long extension to May 7th. I’m certain the balance could have been better pitched. While this ‘inflation’ may be expected from freemium games, it’s not a great fit for Star Trek or a fan frothing at the mouth against a deadline… 

Sometimes visual bugs had comic consequences 

There was very little chance of fully completing this Event without investing, unless you got few other things done during April. The price of every achievement was steep and the dedicated collection items took almost just attention to threaten sucking some of the fun out of an event that really needed to feel spontaneous and full of potential. 

But inevitably, sometimes it was nothing short of irresistible. Once Riker was unlocked and Peter Griffin had earned his own Star Trek uniform – and was crucially able to perfect his ‘Peter manoeuvre’ and sit in ‘that chair’ - access to the Enterprise-D made things a whole lot more interesting. Alright, it wasn’t an accurate representation of the ship, rather a wonderfully toy-like breakdown of the saucer section into five key areas. It managed to distil the essence of that iconic flagship and the show’s chemistry while picking up and running with all The Next Generation tropes you’d expect. In fact, the Event was less predominantly The Next Generation than definitively 1987 to 1994. There were no First Contact jumpsuits to be seen – although the Borg got a latter television colouring and a couple of the character’s sound-bites had a very movie feel. And there was defiantly no reboot. None of that.

Starfleet Lois shoots some stuff while a Red Shirt gets typical short shrift 

That meant an event hinged around the crew of the Enterprise-D you’d expect, albeit Locutus is manning the Bridge during this Borg incursion. In opposition, the troubled and battered The Next Generation crew were aided by unlocking various Star Trek spins on the inhabitants of Quahog - from Ferengi Mort to Klingon Chris - who could board the Enterprise and carry out their own Starfleet missions. And once that’s in the mix, there’s no harm in bringing in some golden classic guest cameos from of the rest of the Star Trek pantheon. Yes, The Next Generation was supplemented with icons from the Star Trek canon. The Original Series Kirk was the golden aim, although Spock, Uhura and Khan all made memorable appearances.

Montgomery Scott: Who could resist that equation? 

This intrepid explorer did invest in some extra Clams (premium Quahog currency) to unlock Scotty (movie version) after being sucked in by an advertising conjunction: a 23 hour deadline and a hilarious character equation that told me that accessing Khan, Spock and Locutus would unlock the venerable engineer instantly. That comedy pact between the Locutus and Khan was irresistible. Still, springing a just-out-of-reach iconic character on a game player was really tugging on the heart strings on this ship. Perhaps it should have stuck more to that strong The Next Generation base. 

“Would it hurt the Captain to say please sometimes?” – Geordi la Forge

Can you feel it? Assimilate this! 

Still, switching between Quahog and the Enterprise-D added a certain away team styling to the game. With Riker’s crash-landing came a Tribble invasion of Quahog that would continue aboard the Enterprise-D. Later, fan 'Trekkies' of two varieties strolled around the corridors who –like their small and furry, multiplying friends – were be dispatched for dilithium with a quick stab of the finger. Later still hordes of Borg stalked the corridors alongside rather hapless panicking red shirts (inevitably on fire – the game played the red shirt card a lot). 

Energise 

Aboard the ship, a plethora of Star Trek experiences were laid on, tugging even more desperately on those nostalgia strings. Phaser crystals allowed for phaser fights against Petercrafts (Starfleet vessels via Thomas the Tank Engine with a rather familiar visage) and even decloaking Romulan Warbirds. Away missions sent assembled crew off to comedy planets (Cesspoulus?) as a hit and miss way to capture certain items faster. A fully powered replicator allowed you to trade special monuments and characters for gathered items, collecting them on a replicator pad in Quahog. The end result were rooms that chopped and changed aboard the Enterprise as your goals changed– most with their own comedy stylings – as Quahog quickly developed a lasting Star Trek quarter. From a branch of Latinum Loans to the Klingon Forehead Clinic, floating Borg Cubes to Romulan Ale Bar these were built to last.

As the missions heated up, the comedy didn't stop. Borg dispatching played an important part, but was only available to certain characters. When Deanna Troi starts dispatching Borg by hurling Tribbles at them you know the Federation was far too humane when they chose not to pump Borg cubes full of the critters. Sisko wouldn't have thought twice, which is presumably why Deep Space Nine had no presence at all while Voyager’s Seven of Nine managed to sneak in during the Event’s final days. 

“You will be assimilated” - Locutus

Riker's quarters - you had to ask? 

The cast added hugely to the occasion. All the regular The Next Generation crew came equipped with comedy Family Guy one-liners - and the power of that authenticity became clear when other characters weren't so lucky to be voiced by their original actors. Dishonourable mentions for Khan (oddly, only once unlocked) and sadly Scotty. Otherwise, all of the characters were stretched to the max. Here’s lascivious womaniser Riker, sex-bomb Troi and irritably logical Spock. Locutus may not have anything amusing to add, but that just served to aid the meta-jokes. Other great examples of that were Beverly Crusher casually asking if she missed anything during season two and multiple character asking you not to poke them. 

The same was true of tasks which grew as characters gained more experience and levelled up. While Starfleet Lois may have run off to spy on Riker, Troi could grow a perm while Khan could equally tame his mane or dig a grave with relish. Most amusingly Locutus could be set to work playing with a Borg kitten or brilliantly, assimilating tea. 

"He's here. Spock is here." - Spock

Whoever thought Khan didn't know how to have fun? 

What this Event really did show was, as if we’d forgotten, how vivid and brilliant The Next Generation ‘brand’ was and still is nearly 30 years on. From Trexels to Timelines, we’re not short of Star Trek mobile games, but anything touching this level of respect and addiction would be superb in a 100% Star Trek game. The catch may be that so much of this gameplay relied on parody and in-jokes. So much so that it would be virtually impossible to scan across to a real universe game that sought to give a ‘realistic’ mix of comedy and drama. Still, it was a pleasure to hang round with that famous crew again, even in a sitcom... 

The Live Long and Prosper monument standing proud 

But above all else, even the pang of The Next Generation nostalgia, this TQFS event was a timely tribute to the legend of Spock. Quagmire and various blue shirt Trekkies running around the Enterprise imitated the look, but unlocking Spock and having him stroll around the ship and Quahog, sometimes playing 3d chess, sometimes indulging in a bit of Pon Farr, was a treat. Voiced, of course by Leonard Nimoy - the only posthumous vocals in the game - this prolonged tribute was touching even in an occasionally coarse game like this. When I placed the Event’s Live Long and Prosper monument in Quahog only to later arbitrarily place a propelling Star Trek II casket launcher and find it’s its torpedo arc perfectly sparked at the monument… Well, it truly felt a little bit special. Highly illogical though it may be, small moments like that left me rather adrift when the Event’s suddenly concluded last week. 

But while I may have been pondering where that re-imbued nostalgia would take me next, I’m certain of one thing: it won’t be long before Star Trek makes a return to Quahog…

Been playing the event? How did you get on? Drop us a line below!

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