Playing Picard’s Away Team
The United Federation of Planets is more oriented towards diplomacy and exploration than conquest and warfare. Few officers embody this as completely as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Rather than fight, he prefers to talk, backed by a competent team of specialists who can solve any problem.
Your Goals
Picard is a negotiator, using his diplomatic skills to resolve problems in the Federation’s favour. You can succeed by completing negotiation missions, or by wearing down your opponent and exhausting their entire Support deck.
Your Secret Weapons
One of Picard’s key tactics is to offer a deal to his opponent, one that has mutual benefit. Your opponent is attacking your crew? Pacify them with an offer of peace. If they accept, they get victory points. If they don’t you do. Are they struggling with a mission? Give them extra dice, but you score points for each success. Suffering injuries? Declare a ceasefire. Everyone gets to heal, but if they take your offer, you get even more healing. The ship’s counsellor, Deanna Troi can use her empathic abilities to further Picard’s plans.
Good Tactics
Combine a selection of routine missions with Picard’s negotiations. That gives your crew a way of earning points and drawing your opponent into positions where Picard’s negotiating skills come into play. If you are focusing on exhausting your opponent’s deck, take every opportunity to offer them the chance to draw more cards. Just be ready to counter the resulting actions with further negotiation, especially ones that force them to discard cards.
