The solution was to reinvent the original game along the basic lines, still allowing a depth of gameplay but avoiding complex rules and concepts. The standard card types and gameplay would remain, allowing some new cards to be used with the original cards, known as
backward-compatible cards, or
First Edition Compatible (abbreviated as
1EC) and attempting to satisfy longstanding fans of the original game. These cards are able to be used in First Edition gameplay, though some key words need to be changed to fit the First Edition's old rules and setup. Further information on how to use Second Edition cards in First Edition gameplay are listed in the First Edition Conversion Rules. Many cards central to the new form of the game can only conform to the new rules and setup. Second Edition, commonly abbreviated "2E", was launched in 2002, and came to a close with its final expansion in December, 2007. Because the game was essentially starting from scratch with the hindsight of seven years' work, the initial Second Edition set was able to progress quickly. As a result, six affiliations debuted in that set compared to three for the original. It could be argued that the number was really seven, because of a unique new system that divided the Federation affiliation into groupings based on the shows' casts. The focus of the Second Edition sets has been on characters and situations in
The Next Generation and
Deep Space Nine, though 'supporting' cards have images and concepts drawn from every part of the canon
Star Trek universe. Furthermore, the scope of each card type could be realized in the early planning and a permanent seven card types were created: "dilemmas", "equipment", "events", "interrupts", "missions", "personnel", and "ships". Decks would consist of five missions, at least twenty dilemmas in a dilemma pile (see below) and at least thirty-five cards made up of the other five card types.
Cost and resources One major difference in Second Edition was the addition of a cost system to equipment, events, personnel, and ships. A card's cost is listed in the top left-hand corner of a card, directly preceding the card's title as a single digit number (currently anywhere from 0 to 9). A player receives seven 'counters' at the beginning of each turn; to play a card, the player must spend a number of counters equal to the cost of the card. Only interrupts (of the card types in a player's deck) do not have a cost and are treated as 0-cost.
Dilemma pile Another major change in the gameplay of Second Edition was the new method of handling dilemmas. Instead of using First Edition's lengthy procedure of a 'seed phase', which could last upwards of 15 minutes, Second Edition employs an 'on-the-fly' method for constructing dilemma combinations. Whereas a First Edition player was constrained to using the same dilemmas in each game of a tournament, the Second Edition player has a side deck, or 'dilemma pile' from which to draw a random selection of dilemmas based on the number of personnel the opponent uses in a given mission attempt. This concept is similar to First Edition's Q-Flash side deck, and also to a rules variant of First Edition introduced by a group of players from the
San Francisco area called 'Trek 1.5'. This more dynamic method of selecting dilemmas is dependent on a player's ability to remember which personnel his/her opponent has played and their ability to satisfy a dilemma's requirements.
Gameplay considerations While First Edition attempted to sometimes literally represent instances from the
Star Trek universe in the game, Second Edition has focused more on a consistency of gameplay as a priority over design consideration with regard to remaining faithful to the source material. Effects on cards sometimes lack the "Trek sense" that First Edition cards contained and can be purely conceptual, but are generally much more equitable when compared with other similarly costed effects.
Affiliation uniqueness The affiliations found in Second Edition all follow rules that give them focus and distinguish them from one another, unlike most of the affiliations in First Edition. Playing an affiliation in Second Edition
feels more like that affiliation than First Edition, given the themes.
Bajorans are religious and think about how the past affects their lives. This gives them strengths in one of the game's three attributes: Integrity. They can also manipulate the discard pile (conceptually, what has passed on).
Borg are half-mechanical lifeforms that use their superior numbers to overcome resistance and even make an enemy into one of their mindless number. This is represented by a number of abilities that manipulate decks and ignore or otherwise force through dilemmas. They also are very effective in taking over another player's resources, including their personnel. They do not work with any other affiliation.
Cardassians are wasteful in their pursuits of resources and can make great use of political prisoners. This is shown in a variety of drawing mechanisms, which allow players to find cards they want faster at a cost of discarding others. Also, they are the best at holding an opponent's personnel for gain. The
Dominion are a hierarchal society that, as the name implies, dominates other societies. They are conceived in the game as a kind of anti-Federation (see below) and often hurt all players to further their goals. Their personnel are usually
Jem'Hadar, who act as shock-troopers and are treated as disposable,
Vorta, who act as commanders and diplomats, and
Changelings, who are the overall leaders of the Dominion, are protected at all costs, and often use their shape-shifting abilities to infiltrate an opponent's personnel, often meddling with their progress. The
Federation focuses on cooperation and mutual advancement and work to better themselves. In gameplay, their effects often help all players, but planning for this allows a player to take a larger advantage than his or her opponent who does not have advance warning. Their personnel are often the best individuals in the game, but most effects cost a little more to achieve. Each reporting icon (see below) has other themes unique to their show. The
Ferengi are the greedy capitalist of the future, but are mostly weak in each of the attributes. This is achieved in the game by giving them bonuses in almost all areas simply by having more of some resource than an opponent. Also, they will hoard their resources by stacking cards beneath their headquarters mission, using those resources to great effect later. Non-Aligned personnel are a catch-all affiliation for personnel that do not fit in one of the other affiliations.
Klingons are brutal, but honorable warriors. They can achieve their goals by fighting an opponent either ship to ship or personnel to personnel. The average Klingon has a high Strength, which is one of the three attributes used by the game.
Romulans prefer espionage and sneaky tactics as opposed to direct confrontation. This is realized in the game by manipulating another player's deck, hand, and other resources. Rarely do they affect cards already in play, but they can mess with an opponent's ongoing attempts to score points.
Starfleet is based on the pre-Federation days as depicted in
Star Trek: Enterprise. The humans in this era are eager to get out into space and get bonuses for completing a space mission first. As a result, they can be slow to start, but then can easily make up time.
Reporting icons One aspect of affiliation uniqueness that Second Edition has continued is specialized reporting icons. While not a new idea (First Edition's Mirror, Mirror set first featured Empire and Alliance icons for affiliated personnel and ships), Second Edition's widespread utilization of the icon as a cultural identifier has allowed designers to introduce support cards that better represent the various
Trek shows' themes. This is the primary tool to divide the Federation affiliation into separate groups (
The Original Series,
The Next Generation,
Deep Space Nine, and
Voyager each have an icon representing their personnel and ships). Other likeminded groups can have these icons as well; the
Maquis incorporate members of four different affiliations into their arsenal, while the
Terok Nor personnel and ships represent the brief period of Cardassian/Dominion command of Deep Space Nine.
Releases 1.
Second Edition (release: December 12, 2002) The 2E premier was a 415-card introduction into the new mechanics of the restarted game. It introduced the affiliations of the Bajorans, Cardassians, Federation (with
Deep Space Nine,
The Next Generation, and Earth factions), Klingons, Non-Aligned, and Romulan. The cards were sold in
Deep Space Nine, Klingon, Romulan, and
The Next Generation starter decks, which were pre-constructed to allow a player to have a playable deck right away, and in 11-card expansion packs. 2.
Energize (release: May 21, 2003)
Energize consisted of 180 cards intended to jumpstart the game from the premier. It introduced the Federation faction of the Maquis and expanded the core play of the game. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. 3.
Call to Arms (release: September 10, 2003)
Call to Arms was a double-sized set at 208 cards. It introduced the affiliations of the Borg, Dominion, and the Ferengi (although the Ferengi consisted only of two cards that played with the Terok Nor faction of both the Cardassians and the Dominion; the full Ferengi affiliation would be released two years later in Strange New Worlds). The cards were sold in Borg and Dominion starter decks, which were pre-constructed to allow a player to have a playable deck right away, and in 11-card expansion packs. 4.
Necessary Evil (release: March 17, 2004)
Necessary Evil finally established the standard expansion size as 120 cards. Gameplay included personnel crossing affiliation lines and paying larger costs (including losing points and hurting future chances at stopping an opponent with dilemmas with a new keyword (Consume)) for bigger effects. This set also began a tradition of foiling a select eighteen rares and inserting them into one of every seven packs. The foil cards were further made important as 2004 was the 10th anniversary of
Star Trek CCG, so a special Tenth Anniversary icon was added to the corner of these foils. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. The set unfortunately suffered from a small print run and became a rare commodity. Efforts were made in Reflections 2.0 to offset this problem of unavailability. 0.
Tenth Anniversary Collection (release: May 3, 2004) This set was a foiled promotional collection of eighteen unique ships and commanders. It was labeled with a set number of 0, which is otherwise associated with reprints of various cards with alternate images, as foils, and/or labeled with the promotion in place of the cards' otherwise descriptive, but non-gameplay related lore. The cards themselves were numbered 6 through 23, as five promotional cards had already been printed, and continued the declaration that all foils printed in 2004 would carry the Tenth Anniversary logo. This set, however, does include the last of the cards with that icon, even though Reflections 2.0 also had foil cards in 2004. The collection itself was later reprinted without the Tenth Anniversary logo and numbered 54 through 71. The cards were originally given away with a recommended $3.00 purchase of other
Star Trek CCG products, one pair at a time, over a period of nine weeks. The reprints were available for purchase on the Decipher website. 5.
Fractured Time (release: October 13, 2004)
Fractured Time was a 40-card boutique product that introduced events that had an effect over time by use of a new keyword (Decay) and concepts involving alternate timelines, which the
Star Trek universe has often called upon, including the first cards from the "
Mirror Universe" that would eventually be revisited in three years with In a "Mirror, Darkly". The cards were sold as a complete set in boxes, complete with the icons of six different affiliations, designed to carry decks. The boxes also included a starter deck and some expansion packs from previous releases with the expectation that the game could be played right out of the box in a sealed tournament format. 6.
Reflections 2.0 (release: December 8, 2004)
Reflections 2.0 introduced 61 new foil cards to the game and 60 foil reprinted cards from 2E Premier, Energize, Call to Arms, and most importantly, Necessary Evil. The set featured cards that attempted to entice affiliations to try different missions, as mission selection among top decks had become fairly static. The cards were sold in 20-card expansion packs, which included two of the foiled cards and eighteen random cards from past expansions, including Necessary Evil. 7.
Strange New Worlds (release: May 13, 2005)
Strange New Worlds continued the standard expansion size of 120 cards. It introduced the full affiliation of the Ferengi. Gameplay included a personnel for each affiliation that further took advantage of alternate mission selection, like the personnel in Reflections 2.0. This set's eighteen-card foiled subset was the first to be called an archive foil subset and was numbered separately. In addition, two archive portrait cards were put in one out of every eighteen packs, featuring a larger picture area and restricted gameplay for upcoming cards. The archive foils in this expansion featured two female characters that male fans had historically liked:
Seven of Nine (previewing the upcoming
Voyager faction of the Federation) and
T'Pol (previewing the upcoming Starfleet affiliation). The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. The set unfortunately suffered a stalled release date. '
Adversaries Anthology' (release: ??, 2005) The
Adversaries Anthology was a collection of eighteen of the most popular
Star Trek problems, enemies, and their ships in the game reprinted as foils. The archive foils in this set featured two movie villains: the
Borg Queen and
Shinzon. The cards were sold in a large card storage box. 8.
To Boldly Go (release: August 18, 2006)
To Boldly Go was another full 120-card expansion. It introduced the affiliation of Starfleet, the pre-Federation crew from
Enterprise as the last full affiliation to be introduced in the game. Gameplay included affiliation-specific dilemmas and reusable events utilizing a new keyword (Replicate). The archive foils in this set featured two show captains:
James T. Kirk (previewing the upcoming
Original Series faction of the Federation) and
Kathryn Janeway (previewing the upcoming
Voyager faction of the Federation) . The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. 9.
Dangerous Missions (release: September 1, 2006)
Dangerous Missions was another attempt at making the
Star Trek CCG draftable. In other words, players could make decks within a small pool of sealed cards and play. New rules were developed to make the game slightly smaller in scope to adjust for limited resources, including the allowance of a secondary affiliation that would supplement the one sponsored by the product. This draft method remains a sanctioned format. The set consists of nineteen cards broken up into three different boxes, each focusing on an episode or movie for featured personnel, ships, and missions. They also included one unique dilemma and one shared by all three boxes. The boxes also contained Reflections 2.0 packs and three packs from expansions. 10. '''Captain's Log'
(release: October 27, 2006) Captain's Log
was another full 120-card expansion. It introduced the Federation faction of Voyager'', which began with a unique ability to have an all-space deck. Gameplay included strategies based on having the right commander aboard his or her ship and following the opponent around. The archive foils in this set harkened back to the original archive foils. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. 11.
Genesis (release: November 13, 2006)
Genesis was a 27-card expansion that has the distinction of being the only completely First Edition compatible set in 2E. Each card was designed to work in both versions of the game, with varying degrees of success and introduced the first
Original Series personnel and the ability to have an all-planet deck. The cards were sold exclusively from Decipher's website. 12.
These Are The Voyages (release: March 13, 2007)
These Are the Voyages was another full 120-card expansion. It introduced the Federation faction of
The Original Series. Gameplay included the new faction's ability to upgrade by paying more for enhanced abilities, dilemmas based entirely on
The Original Series (specifically the slide show images at the end of the classic episodes), and new strategies with ''The Original Series' ''main enemies: the Klingons and the Romulans. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. 13.
In A Mirror, Darkly (release: June 25, 2007)
In a Mirror, Darkly was another full 120-card expansion. Gameplay included cards named after each of the previous releases, more Mirror Universe content, and alternate versions of other personnel who had not been featured in the Mirror Universe, including a battleship version of
The Next Generation crew from ''
Yesterday's Enterprise and a historically inaccurate Voyager
crew from Living Witness''. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. 14.
What You Leave Behind (release: December 14, 2007)
What You Leave Behind was the last full 120-card expansion. Gameplay included finishing some incomplete themes in the game so far, bonuses for attempting harder missions, and multiple versions of ships telling the story of those ships being commandeered. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs. The name of the set itself comes from the last episode of
Deep Space Nine. This set was sold exclusively through Hill's Wholesale Gaming. ==The Continuing Committee==