Hunting with Holograms

by Michel Albert

Young hunters, today I, Harkan, trainer of Hirogen, will teach you how to hunt using the newfound resource known as holograms. We have, until now, only used them as simulated prey, but did you know they could also lend support to the hunt of real prey?

Rituals (preparation)

In Holodeck Adventures, the Hirogen gain nine dual-aligned holograms, many of them universal. So obviously, to run a holo-deck, you should stock many or all of them. Start with their leader Iden, and put him on the Olarra, a unique Venatic Hunter for which he is matching commander. Both cards are a must. The usual standbys should still apply. If going out on the hunt, you need Hirogen Hunt, Rituals of the Hunt and Relics of the Chase. Hirogen holograms are just as able as flesh and blood Hirogen to use these cards to capture stunned personnel, place killed personnel in the point area, use Hirogen Talon, etc.

To give your holograms all the options open to normal personnel, you should include Disengage Safety Protocols, a couple Holo-projectors and a Mobile Holo-emitter or two. You should also keep any Holodeck-enabled ship staffed with at least one flesh and blood personnel (I suggest Donik) so that intruders do not board your ship and erase your all-holographic crew.

The Hunt (know your prey)

Prey vs. holographic Hunters: All affiliation-specific lessons apply, but a word should be said about holographic hunters. Though there are no "Alpha-Hirogen" among them, these holograms are still Hirogen and able to partake in the hunt. Many of them have the high STRENGTH the Hirogen are known for, very seldom falling below 7. The half-Dominion holos, Dar and Wodek'idan have very comfortable 9s, for example. They are all very easy to report (see Access, below), cannot be killed aboard their ship or facility, or if wearing a Holo-Emitter (only deactivated), and cannot be targeted for assimilation or organ donation.

They also have a nice, wide range of skills for you to play with, and make an excellent contingent of mission solvers for pre- or post-hunt activities. Iden in particular has Anthropology, which allows him to "know his prey" and add to his large skill list.

The Chase (stalk your prey)

Access: Holographic personnel can exist on any of your Venatic Hunters, but the Olarra is uniquely suited to the task because 1) it's commanded by a hologram (who may be downloaded there via Ready Room Door), and 2) it allows [Holo] personnel to report aboard, regardless of quadrant nativity. If you use another Venatic Hunter, you can achieve the same effect by having Donik present. He too allows [Holo] personnel to report to his location. Hunting Vessels aren't recommended, though you could always play Holodeck Door on them, which again, would allow you to report hologram directly where you needed them. Furthermore, a good number of Hirogen holograms are support personnel, fully usable with Assign Support Personnel. And of course, the Hirogen Outpost can be used to report such cards normally.

Excursions aboard other ships will be costly, since your holograms would need Mobile Holo-emitters to partake in the activity, but hunting on planets is quite doable using Holo-projectors. When played on a planet (and Kejal conveniently downloads the card), it allows your holograms to beam to it.

And in no way are you limited to the 9 Hirogen holograms. All reporting options discussed above, save the Outpost, are non-Quadrant-specific, and would allow you to use a variety of Non-Aligned personnel, whether they be from the Delta Quadrant (the Captain Proton holograms) or the Alpha (from the Dixon Hill holos, to those of Baker Street, Deadwood or the Secret Agent program). Duchamps would be particularly helpful, as the more personnel you stun the better.

But why stop there? Iden downloads the Children of Light incident, which allows all holograms to mix regardless of affiliation. Not only does that open up plenty of vistas as far as missions go (the holograms need not be tuned to Hirogen), and without Hunting Group to boot, but it allows them to make use of Crell Moset's very nasty skill, the Doctor's MEDICAL expertise (and Emitter download) and Fek'lhr's amazing STRENGTH.

Terrain: Thanks to Children of Light, you really have access to almost every mission in the game (except the ones exclusively meant for Vidiians, Kazon, and Ferengi. Space missions will be easiest because your holograms don't need a special support system, but planets are still pretty accessible with Holo-projectors, if more dangerous (deactivation can be fatal there). The holograms have missions tailored to their specific tastes in Revive Settlers (beats discarding a unique personnel), Answer Distress Signal (for extra points) and Establish Home Planet (using holograms only, the mission is worth a whopping 55 points).

Relics (capture your prey... i.e. the other player)

Hunting with holograms should not be attempted without flesh and blood Hirogen until you can be sure no intruders will pop up on your ships, but a light crew of "meat" personnel can easily supplement a larger holographic crew. Since hunting as intruders aboard another's ship is impractical, ambushing prey on planets is recommended. Mission Debriefing is perhaps the easiest way to strand them, if temporarily, on a planet surface, but there a dilemmas which can do the same, like Duonetic Field Generator or more simply, walls and "stoppers".

With Holodeck Adventures, Hirogen have considerably expanded their power in the universe, both as far as hunting strategies go, and in their mission solving capabilities.

But what if the holograms were ever to rise against their Hirogen masters? Would they make worthy prey? If you do not think it possible, my young hunters, I have stories to tell that... Ah, but I must leave that tale for our next lesson.

December 11, 2001