Evasive Maneuvers
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| Evasive Maneuvers |
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With the Battle Bridge Side Deck, Decipher has created a entire new card type. Some players like the new Tactic cards while others do not. No matter what a players opinion is of them the new cards are sure to affect the playing environment. That being the case I have decided that my next review will focus on the Tactic card that I believe helps all players fend off the new Battle Bridge Tactics, defend your ships from an armada as well as help boost your armadas effectiveness. Let's take an in-depth look at "Evasive Maneuvers".
Wait a minute. Aren't these reviews suppose to have a Klingon flavor. How can "Evasive Maneuvers" benefit my Klingon Armada? Being a Klingon player myself this card jumped out at me as a great addition to my Klingon battle decks, but we will get to that in a bit First of all let's look at its benefits to other affiliations.
For those players who want to try to avoid battle this is a great card for you, especially if you use ships with no staffing requirements. This is sure to help Federation, Romulans and Bajorans that all have reasons to use ships with no staffing requirements anyway. Federation and Romulans will like it because they like to use Runabouts and Scout Vessels for there speed. When faced with an attack from a single ship the +6 Defense bonus may very well save your ship from damage all together and when be chased by an armada may give your crew a turn to escape to an Outpost or to land the ship on a nearby planet. All affiliations can benefit from the +4 Defense bonus to their ships especially if they are staring down a Borg Cube.
In the Blaze of Glory environment I would expect to see this card in Bajoran Pire for Hire battle decks. "Evasive Maneuvers" fits well into this deck type since most Bajoran battle decks employ the combo of Captain's Log, Rinnak Pire and Bajoran Interceptor. Since the Bajoran Interceptor has no staffing requirements what better Tactic to include in your Battle Bridge than the one that will bring each of the ships in your armada to have SHIELDS equivalent to a whopping 15. That can withstand an attack by a unenhanced Borg Cube or Borg Ship dilemma. All in all "Evasive Maneuvers" probably benefits the Bajoran Affiliation the most, based on current deck types.
As far as Klingons and other non-Bajoran battle strategies are concerned the Battle Bridge Side deck has an inherent danger. This danger is that most Tactic cards kill crewmembers on ships that have been damaged. This can be especially devastating to armadas made up of matching commanders. In any engagement guess who's ship is going to be the target of returning fire. That's right it will be the I.K.C. Rotarran for Klingons and the Kraxon for Cardassians. Your opponent will be hoping to hurt your armada by taking out the armada's primary commander who happens to give your armada a +2 to WEAPONS of all ships of his affiliation present. That is where "Evasive Maneuvers" enters in. With the +4 Defense bonus you will greatly be increasing the chances that your ship will be undamaged by all but the most determined of attacks. Now then what about that blasted -2 Attack bonus. Well if you are using an armada you probably have 4 ships participating in the attack, so who cares if your overall strength is less by 2. After all your ships are all sporting weapons of 10 to 12 WEAPONS each, for a total well over 40. So what if your 46 WEAPONS is reduced to 44 you are still going hit your opponents ship with a direct hit even if he is using "Evasive Maneuvers" himself. The Attack adjustment really only affects single ships firing not ships firing in mass.
The best benefit for all affiliations will be in defending against the Borg Ship dilemma. The Borg Ship dilemma has been a favorite of all players since the beginning of the game, especially with the release of Lack of Preparations that guaranteed that a player would loose a mission solving crew and a ship when attempting space based missions. With "Evasive Maneuvers" the Borg Ship dilemma will loose some of its sting as many ships used in the playing environment will be able to at least prevent a direct hit from the dilemma and save much of their crew. If the Battle Bridge Side Deck takes hold you might even see a slight decrease in the use of the Borg Ship dilemma because it will be seen as a less reliable way to kill off ships and crews.
The other benefits you get from this card are all pretty standard. 35% Hull reduction of ship damaged, makes sure that a direct hit will destroy the ship. -1 Range will make sure that your opponent doesn't get away from your armada. Hits does 2 cards worth of damage and direct hit does 4. In addition, like most other Tactic cards a personnel will die. I especially like how it affects a Nor by killing a personnel in Ore Processing Unit. This may make it much more difficult for a Cardassian player to Process Ore. It also gives you a way to shut down Double Ore Processing decks faster. You could combo it with Anti-Engineer dilemmas like Duonetic Field Generator, to make sure your opponent can't get away from The Sheliak.
"Evasive Maneuvers" is a good card to have stocked in your Battle Bridge Side deck no matter which affiliation you are playing. All affiliations benefit from its use but armada decks will be able to turn this card designed to help defend against battle into a card to maintain the strength of your armada. Klingons and Cardassians having the most to loose when facing an opponent with a Battle Bridge Side Deck and will find it useful in their battle strategy. As will Bajoran battle decks that rely on Interceptors. Looking at the full range of Tactic cards it is my opinion that "Evasive Maneuvers" is one of the best tactics in Blaze of Glory.
Until next time keep those Birds-of-Prey dodging enemy fire and then swoop in for the kill.
Qapla'!
Koloth
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Koloth. This page last updated on November 23, 1999. |
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