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The Clown: Bitter Medicine

by Matthew Frid

Playing a tightly-packed mission solver with redundant mission requirements just became a riskier proposition in Fractured Time. With the release of The Clown: Bitter Medicine, your opponent now has the ability to place your mission's attribute requirement out of reach using a single dilemma (plus, it returns to their dilemma pile to hit you again – gasp!). This is a potent strategy against popular decks, like Klingon Sword of Kahless (choose Honor, Leadership or Security for best results) and Federation Science solvers (Engineer and Physics are good choices here).

The Clown: Bitter Medicine also breathes life into previously "metaed out" dilemmas like Armus Roulette and Impressive Trophies. These dilemmas really get some teeth again when set up with Bitter Medicine. Watch the skills on the high-cost/high attribute personnel your opponent reports when playing these combos, and say goodbye to the Borg Queen, Data, Emissary, or Lore spoiling the party again!

Overwhelmed did great things for both seldom-used and popular skill-based dilemmas; now attribute dilemmas are getting their due in Fractured Time. Get ready for The Clown: Bitter Medicine to make a big impact on dilemma piles.

Here's a couple more suggestions for added fun:

The Clown: Bitter Medicine + Rogue Borg Ambush/Gomtuu Shock Wave: Two of the best dilemmas just got even better. And when it hits on Gomtuu, there's no dilemmas overcome under the mission... ouch.

The Clown: Bitter Medicine + Misdirection + (any Founder or Naprem): Pick a skill, everyone's -1, some become -3.

The Clown: Bitter Medicine + Storage Compartment + I Don't Like to Lose: Store copies of your extra space and planet dilemmas on Storage Compartment for use with The Clown: Bitter Medicine. Use I Don't Like to Lose to offset the dilemma's 4-cost, guaranteeing the success of your combos.

September 2, 2004