Design Log: Stardate 08.07.2003

Droning Along the Interlink Highway

If you were expecting another Interlink Drone to enable First Edition-type skill-sharing, the Interlink keyword revealed on yesterday's Cartography Drone may have come as a surprise. But really, it shouldn't be that surprising, if you recall the extensive 1E rules on skill-sharing in light of our unofficial "no new rules" motto for Call to Arms. As you may have guessed, the Cartography Drone is far from the only drone to maintain an interlink; the Guidance Drone does for Navigation what the Cartography Drone does for Astrometrics, and there are quite a few more waiting in the regeneration alcoves.

The other new Borg-related keyword – Drone, also seen on both the Cartography and Guidance Drones – is probably much less of a surprise, being little different from "Shape-shifter" or "Dissident". With the elimination of the standardized First Edition "Three of Twelve" drone-naming convention (which posed some real headaches of constraints on the designers when coupled with the alphabetization of the "Identifications"), most drones now actually have "Drone" in their card title – but that's not going to be the case for all of them. Having "Drone" as a keyword eliminates the necessity for finding a drone name for a unique character like Seven of Nine, and allows more scope for subtitles.

Like most such keywords, the Drone keyword is useful for grouping cards to work with or be affected by another card. That "other card" may be just another Drone, like the Negation Drone. This guy – who does not have the Interlink keyword, lest you think all the drones do – can be killed along with "your other Drone" present to destroy an opponent's event. So you'd better have another honest-to-gosh Drone along with him if you want to use that ability, because Locutus or the Borg Queen just won't do. Nor will your opponent's non-drone personnel you assimilated (for example, with the Abduction event), because assimilation is just taking command of the personnel – they don't undergo any transformations or gain a "Drone" keyword, so while you may command them you can't just use them as cannon fodder with the Negation Drone.

Even a ship may utilize the Drone keyword. Locutus' Borg Cube lets you exchange a Drone aboard the ship (returned to hand) for the download of a Maneuver card. Not a bad trade, if you're looking to pick a fight with your big bad cube, even if it does take five staff stars to fly it. And it's not like it should be too difficult to get another drone aboard later if you use Regeneration Alcoves to drop it directly on the ship.

Kathy McCracken
Major Rakal
Star Trek Intelligence Officer

August 7, 2003

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