Hunting in the Gamma and Mirror Quadrants

by Michel Albert

Hello, young hunters, once again this is Harkan, trainer of Hirogen. As you no doubt have learned, hunters must be ready for any possibility, and hunting grounds are far more diverse than you would imagine. Follow me now to the far corners of our galaxy, and beyond the pale of our space/time continuum...

Rituals (preparation)

Rituals of the Hunt? Check. Relics of the Chase? Check. Hirogen Hunt? Check. Now that you're armed with the essentials, let's see if we can venture into the so-called "smaller" quadrants.

The thing to remember about this kind of prey is that, most of the time, they will be leaving for the Alpha Quadrant at some point. You should decide if you want to trap them in their native quadrant (and possibly from the missions they actually plan to attempt), or hunt them down abroad. The first option should feature ways to close down the Bajoran Wormhole. There's also a lack of missions for Hirogen to attempt in those parts of space, so a trip there cannot always be your only source of points.

Fast ships aren't really required if you're going to stay in a "small" quadrant because the spaceline will usually be shorter. Recommended personnel really depend on your willingness or need to solve Gamma Quadrant missions, and the ones available might require a little Reflection Therapy or at least a Temporal Micro-Wormhole (see below).

The Hunt (know your prey)

Dominion prey: There is a way to play the Dominion in a Gamma Quadrant-only deck, but many of their deck archetypes have them going to the Alpha Quadrant instead. In any case, they feature a variety of prey, each with their own weaknesses your hunters can exploit. The Jem'Hadar are strong, but their dependence of Ketracel-White makes them susceptible to Disruptor Overload; Vorta make great prey because of their skill lists, but don't have the STRENGTH to resist your Talons; the Founders have ways of getting out of being killed or captured, but at least their shape-shifting tricks can't be used to infiltrate the Hirogen; and finally, the Breen, a staple of Alpha Quadrant strategies, are like Jem'Hadar without the Ketracel addiction (stock Hirogen Disruptor Rifles). What's more, the Dominion has powerful ships and, not unlike yourself with Hirogen Hunt, Invasive Transporters. Let them come, then hang them on your wall. What makes them dangerous is what makes them great prey: high STRENGTH. Most of your targets will yield between 9 and 12 points, even among some universals.

Alliance prey: Aside from Overseer Odo and Regent Worf, you won't find a lot of good trophies in the Mirror Quadrant Alliance. This doesn't stop them from having some interesting skill lists, so they could be targeted as Prey, studied for those skills, and never be captured. To do this, you don't even have to be in the same quadrant. In any case, Mirror personnel are pretty much expected to cross over to the Alpha Quadrant at some point because of the low resources available on their spaceline. You're more likely then, to encounter then with other Klingons, Cardassians, or Bajorans. Be ready for that kind of prey as well.

Terran prey: Terran personnel form a more viable "micro-affiliation", thanks mostly to some rather good OS personnel, and as prey, they have most of the attributes present in Alliance personnel - relatively low attributes but large skill lists. They too will run for the Alpha Quadrant, but are more likely to stay with their own, or at least, other OS personnel. Those Disruptor Overloads you were stocking against the Dominion can be used here also since the Terrans have a lot of equipment downloads. As you target their personnel as prey, be ready to be targeted by a Tantalus Field yourself. It is imperative to destroy any ship so equipped immediately.

The Chase (stalk your prey)

Access: Access to either of these quadrants can be achieved by one of two methods. The first is the always-reliable Quantum Slipstream Drive, which will get you to the end of these spacelines. The other is to start out in the Alpha Quadrant with a Neutral Outpost and Spacedoor your ships abroad. You'll then have to staff them through Rituals of the Hunt and fly them through a Bajoran Wormhole whose diverse ends will take you to the appropriate quadrant. You'll need a way to get to the Alpha Quadrant anyway if your prey decides to leave for its greener pastures. Maybe they'll have seeded a Bajoran Wormhole for you.

Terrain: The Gamma Quadrant has exactly two missions that can possibly be attempted by the Hirogen. That's not a lot. One of these is Aid Fugitives which requires a lot of MEDICAL (know the right prey to help you there), the other is Tulaberry Wine Negotiations, which is very hard given that no Hirogen hunter is adept in Acquisition. If your opponent has an Acquisition personnel out, it would make great prey giving each of your Hirogen with Anthropology the necessary skill. If you can't bank on that, Reflection Therapy may be the way to go, or better yet, use Temporal Micro-Wormhole to get Pel and any Quark working for you. The two missions' 80 points mean you don't have to hunt for prey that much. Note that massive hunting of the Dominion, at around 10 points a head, could give you a win with only Aid Fugitives.

The Mirror Quadrant, on the other hand, has only 3 missions, none of them attemptable by Hirogen unless accompanied by a Non-Aligned personnel. This isn't so impossible given that they have no aligned females, so often go out of the herd for support personnel. Still, some good back-up missions in the Alpha Quadrant are paramount if you want to cover all bases.

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

The thing to remember is that you can't be sure your prey won't leave the quadrant at the earliest opportunity, so always be ready to either head them off or leave after them. After that, it's a matter of exploiting each specific prey's weaknesses. Against the Dominion, beam onto their ships to kill their Vorta, thereby crippling their Ketracel-White rationing ability. Use a lot of hand weapons to get the best out of the Jem'Hadar and rake in the bonus points their high STRENGTH can give you.

Against Mirror Quadrant personnel, it wouldn't be a bad idea to use a Feedback Surge to balance their multiple special downloads, or Computer Crash to outright counter them, especially before going into a calculated battle against them. You'll also need to seed some missions in some other quadrant for your base points. Best prize here indeed is First Officer Spock. (grin)

Hunters, I'll let you go with this knowledge in the hopes to you may never be surprised, for this prey is as wide-roaming as we are. May the spoils of the hunt be worthy of you.

September 11, 2001