Part 5 - The Vorlons
After the station itself, the next "faction," even if it's a non-player one, is the Vorlons.
If the Humans have the "in" at Babylon 5, the Minbari are the Vorlon's natural allies. Quite frankly, they have such a lock with the Vorlons that it's almost pointless for anyone else to try to use the Vorlons for victory. You'll end up pushing the Vorlons influence up, which will benefit the Minbari more than you. Unless you get the rare Minbari opponent who doesn't use the Vorlons.
So most of this column will talk about the Vorlons from the Minbari point of view. The first thing is, why do the Minbari benefit so heavily from the Vorlons?
For starters, Delenn is the only Ambassador to start with two Marks, and one of them is a Vorlon mark. This gives her an immediate jump out of the gate. The other advantage the Minbari have is Servants of Order. This Minbari-only Agenda is, to put it bluntly, the only reasonable choice for the Minbari to start with. It and one other card should be in the starting hand of any Minbari player.
What's the other card? Kosh Naranek. This rare card lets any player spend 3 Influence to buy a "temporary" Vorlon mark for their Ambassador. The Minbari can then purge this mark and use Servants of Order to go through their deck and take the next Vorlon card that gives or requires Vorlon marks. No rotation is even required for this.
(Note: Currently the official B5 FAQ states that if you purge a temporary mark given by Kosh, you must also purge one permanent mark unless you have no marks in your Faction. This makes the above strategy nearly invalid. I am not clear what the basis for this ruling is, and it appears to contradict the card text. More on this in a future column, once I hear back from Precedence.)
So for the three Influence cost of normally buying an extra card, you can instead buy an extra Vorlon card. This can give you any of the following cards: Order Above All, Delenn Transformed, Kosh himself, Vorlon Enhancement, Fixed in Their Ways, Triluminary, Contact With Vorlons, Early Warning, Hidden Knowledge, Secret Vorlon Aid, Vorlon Rescue, Who Are You?, You Are Not Ready, Chrysalis, and Rangers Surveillance. These are also the primary cards the Minbari will be using.
For starters, A Servants of Order strategy can readily give you the three- card combo (Triluminary, Chrysalis, Delenn Transformed) necessary to get the new-and-improved Delenn into play. This combo will leave you with Delenn, with 9 Diplomacy, 4 Leadership, 3 Destiny, and 4 Vorlon marks. Keeping initiative won't be hard for the Minbari after this. However, this can be expensive, and you might be better off putting your efforts elsewhere.
Who Are You? and Contact With Vorlons lets you increase the # of Vorlon marks you have, and pushes up the Vorlon Influence at the same time. Contact with Vorlons is a little better, since it doesn't require your Ambassador to rotate.
Vorlon Enhancement can help boost the strength of your Psis, either starting ones like Lyta Alexander (also discounted by your Vorlon marks) or ones you bring out later using Latent Telepath. Vorlon Enhancement gives a character Psi 15! Combine with the Telepathic Scan conflict to go through a lot of your opponents' hands. Hidden Knowledge is also useful here.
Early Warning and Secret Vorlon Aid can supplement the Minbari's rather weak Intrigue. Early Warning is probably a little better: it gives the Vorlons one influence, and doesn't require a character to rotate. Vorlon Rescue is a nice healing card, particularly for Delenn. Rangers Surveillance assures you keep initiative, which can be critical in the end-game.
Fixed in Their Ways is in this author's opinion a so-so card, since the Shadows may not even bother to pick on your fleets. It does provide another Vorlon mark, though.
You Are Not Ready is one of the most powerful cards, bar none. Not only does it give the Vorlons more influence, but it can stop an opponent cold. If they're going for a win with that last conflict, simply discard the conflict. Let them waste their time supporting this conflict, then remove it out from under them.
Order Above All is one of only two current Major Agendas. Not only can it stop a conflict, like You Are Not Ready, but it converts the Vorlon influence to power. Once you've used Servants of Order to get all of your Vorlon-related cards, bring in Order Above All. You need 10 more Power than everyone else. However, if you've been boosting the Vorlons, that shouldn't be a problem.
What are the weaknesses of a Vorlon-related strategy? The first is that Vorlon cards are not particularly strong. Vorlon-users main "loaned" strengths are the ability to stop conflicts, and the loan of Intrigue. Unlike the Shadows (see next column), the Vorlons don't make your fleets stronger, or help you take locations, or remove enhancements. You'll have to raise your personal influence on your own, using Diplomacy and Military.
The other weakness is the existence of the Shadows. If someone is playing the Shadows, the Shadows' influence saps away the Vorlon's influence with Order Above All. Of course, you're doing the same to the Shadows. However, this may simply result in a stalemate. Your speed in raising Vorlon influence (due to Servants of Order and Kosh) is your main strength here.
How do you stop a player from increasing the Vorlons Influence? There is no real way to. Don't take Vorlon influence yourself from Who Are You? Use Forced Impairment to "erase" their Agendas' effect text. Oppose at every turn their attempts to raise their influence with Military and Diplomatic conflicts.
Overall, a player attempting to gain the Vorlon's favor can do well. They'll need strong fleets and diplomats, but the Minbari have both.
Next week: The Shadows