Part 6 - Babylon 5
For the next three columns, we'll look at the three other "players" in the card game. Besides the Humans, Minbari, Centauri, and Narn, there is also Babylon 5 itself, as well as the Vorlons and the Shadows.
A Babylon 5 win can speed things up considerably. If the station itself reaches 20 Influence, it's game over, no matter what everyone's Power is. It can be tricky to push B5's Influence up to 20, since there are few "gimme" cards that give the station Influence (compared to the Vorlons and the Shadows).
The first question is: which race should you use? The Human Starter deck gives you a few advantages (Upgraded Defenses, Peace in Our Time, Alliance of Race, Support Babylon 5). Still, these cards can be transferred to another deck easily enough.
The main advantage that Humans have is that most Babylon 5 enhancers relate to Diplomacy, an area in which they are supreme. However, cards like Crusade can help B5's influence if you take a Military tact. Still, many of the Diplomacy Conflicts mentioned later require _lots_ of Diplomacy. You typically need to win the conflict by 10+ points. If everyone opposes you, this can be difficult.
The next question is what Agenda should you use? Peace in Our Time, The Hope of Peace, and Alliance of Races are your obvious choices. Alliance is the most powerful, and also Human-specific. With Alliance you can raise your Influence to 10 normally, then donate 1 Influence per turn to B5, spend three points and rotate an Inner Circle member to bring your Influence back up to 10 (gaining a point of Influence), and then have seven points to spare. This strategy is very obvious, but hard to stop. When B5 reaches 20, you'll have 30 power - typically more than enough to win the game.
Peace in Our Time is okay (+1 Power for each three B5 Influence). However, its secondary ability is so-so. The Hope of Peace isn't quite as good (+1 for 4 B5 Influence), but the +1 Diplomacy to each character is a better advantage.
Maintain the Peace is not a bad Agenda to use. Although it doesn't directly give B5 Influence, you can combine it with A Brighter Future, a Diplomacy conflict, that gives B5 one Influence each turn there is no war. Use MtP to stop wars, and A Brighter Future to benefit from stopping them.
This brings us to Conflicts. Many of these directly or indirectly influence Babylon 5. Those that help it include: The Great Machine, A Brighter Future, Affirmations of Peace and Power, Humanitarian Aid, Non- Aggression Pact, Parliament of Dreams, and Crusade.
Of these, the strongest and most reliable are probably A Brighter Future, Affirmation of Power, Parliament of Dreams, and Crusade. Affirmation of Peace can be strong, but you probably need a way to win Babylon 5 votes. Depending on the number of players, this can be tricky. In a two-player game, cards like Non-Aligned Support or Backroom Dealing almost assure a win. In three-player, both of these cards are necessary. In four-player it becomes very difficult without some extensive wheeling and dealing with another player to win their vote, and you'll still need Non-Aligned Support.
Among the other cards that give B5 Influence are the Censure, Isolated, and Shunned Enhancements, Grievance, Refugees, For the Common Good, and Support Babylon 5 (although the latter requires voting again). The Enhancement cards are particularly good. For example, with Shunned pick G'Kar if the Narn have ticked off the Centauri, and you're almost assured of a Centauri vote in your favor. Merchandising B5 is also a nice protection card, and gives you a net savings of one on any card you choose. Ranger Strike Team can give the station a quick boost in Influence for some purposes (such as the aforementioned Enhancements). And the Blessings promo card, if you can get it, gives you a 3-point boost.
One thing to watch out for: a second race trying to win with B5's Influence. This can push up the station's Influence before you're ready to take advantage of it. You really need Alliance of Races in this case: if they're using it and you're using some other Agenda, you'll probably lose to their higher boosted Power.
How do you stop a player from increasing B5's Influence? Besides opposing their B5-oriented Conflicts, many Military Conflicts reduce B5's Influence. Hate Crime can also be used to deliberately reduce B5's Influence. Forced Impairment, an Intrigue Conflict can take out their B5-oriented Agenda if they didn't use spares.
Overall, a player attempting to ride Babylon 5's influence to victory can pull it off relatively easily. A few specific cards, such as Alliance of Races, are almost mandatory. But any race can pull it off. Time it right, and you can be the one known as having brought about the last, great hope for peace.
Next issue: The Vorlons