"The Collective" OP2 in Review

Rather than posting multiple articles for each event I though I would consolidate them into a single article.

Event 1 at Trilogy Games:

- Bioship Alpha w/ Bioship Alpha Pilot and Energy Focusing Weapon
- Romulan Science Vessel w/ Polarized Hull Plating
- Romulan Scout Vessel w/ Donatra and Interphase Generator
- Gavroche w/ Eddington and some other stuff

We only had three players come for this event, including myself. I wanted to try out a build using Bioship Alpha and some smaller ships to see if I could make Energy Focusing Weapon work. It did and I was able to score 12 hits on a single attack. When time was called I had lost one small ship but lost out in terms of damage dealt. I didn't really care however, since I accomplished what I had wanted to do with EFW.

Event 2 at Sentry Box:

- Borg Tactical Cube w/ Tactical Drone 4
- Borg Sphere w/ Tactical Drone 6
- booster ship

Other than the Soong (which I played as an Independent ship), I have not yet used a Borg ship in OP. While Sentry Box allows fully mixed fleet builds I wanted to see how much damage I could lay out using bare-bones Borg ships. Even with the minimal lists I figured that I'd be able to last a decent amount of time in scenario 2. Of course any Borg ship with an ablative armour on it will beat me in a matchup.

Event 2 at Imaginary Wars:

- Vor'cha class w/ Martok 8
- K'Tinga class w/ Gowron
- B'Rel class w/ K'Nera
- IKS Somraw w/ Klingon Captain

Imaginary Wars is the only place using modified rules, enforcing ship purity, building to 100pts instead of 90, and not using the booster ship in the build. This fleet is similar to several Klingon variations I've used or played against in the past.

We modified the rules at IW to play 45-minute rounds, and allowed the players to attack each other after each had done at least 25 damage to the cube. It didn't really change my impression of the scenario, but since I wasn't playing to win it did let me have some fun making my opponents sweat a little bit when I turned from the cube to lock my sights on their ships.

Final Thoughts on "The Collective OP2"

I didn't really enjoy this scenario. The cube doesn't do anything, and not attacking or really interacting with my opponent at all just didn't feel like a satisfying game experience. I understand it from a thematic standpoint, but it just didn't translate well into a fun scenario. Additionally, the USS Raven prize ship was really not an exciting addition to the game. I don't imagine these being sought after items at all.

I did like the Fleet Captain resources cards and think OP3 will prove to be much more interesting (although it feels nigh-impossible to win). Bring on the USS Stargazer and Assimilation Target Prime!