Power Overwhelming

My favorite dilemma was discovered at first sight, and before I even played a game with it. As soon as I had finished reading the text of Overwhelmed, I knew that I had to have three copies to build a dilemma pile focused around it. It has been a while since Overwhelmed first showed up in Call to Arms, and many new dilemmas have been added to the game since then. It is time to revisit my favorite dilemma and see what new tricks it can do.

If you are unfamiliar with Overwhelmed, then I know what you are thinking: "This dilemma doesn't stop anyone by itself. What's the purpose?" Well, the purpose is simply devious. It stops personnel when they use a skill to meet a dilemma's requirements. Using Overwhelmed along with a wall guarantees personnel will be stopped. If the mission team does not have the skills to pass a dilemma, then they are stopped. If they do have the skills to pass the dilemma, each personnel using his or her skills is stopped. Then, Overwhelmed returns to its owner's dilemma pile to be used until your opponent either burns your cards from frustration or quits with much yelling and mean looks.

Now that you know what you are playing with, you should carefully consider which dilemmas you put in a pile with Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed is what I would call a thinking-man's dilemma. It has limitations that should be taken into account. High cost is a hindrance when playing a dilemma with Overwhelmed. At four cost, Overwhelmed is an expensive dilemma. Couple that with the fact that it must be used with another dilemma to work, and you can find the price pretty steep to pay. You may be able to pull off the combo during your opponent's first mission attempt, but as dilemmas pile up, you will run out of total cost to spend. To overcome this, stock events and other cards that give you a higher total cost to spend on dilemmas.  Complications, Stir Crazy, or Entanglement all fit the bill. If you plan on playing some dilemma-manipulation events, you can consider using dilemmas that cost one less for each event you command, like Whisper in the Dark.

Another way to deal with the high cost of Overwhelmed is to use dilemmas with the Consume keyword. These dilemmas often have higher skill requirements for a smaller cost. For example, Cave-In has some high skill requirements but at one cost it is a good match for Overwhelmed. You will want to use the Consume dilemmas on the third or fourth mission attempt. After using a Consume dilemma you will probably not be able to find the cost to make using Overwhelmed useful on the next attempt. Usually, dilemmas that cost three or less are the most cost effective ones to use. Anything higher, and you will find yourself without enough total cost to spend. However, if you stock some of the dilemma manipulation cards specified above, you can add a few dilemmas with a higher cost.

Using Overwhelmed is about taking the guess work out of dilemmas. Instead of hoping someone will be stopped, you know he or she will be. A combo that takes the guess work out of who will be stopped is Overwhelmed and Counterinsurgency Program. For each skill you name, someone will be stopped, or the entire mission team is stopped. With this combo, you can choose for Counterinsurgency Program which skills you think your opponent's personnel have. Even if your opponent cheats to get skills, you still have stopped personnel. You can take out a key skill for a mission attempt by discarding a few events or equipment, and they end up with only one dilemma beneath their mission. Name a specific skill and then play A Bad End or Don't Let It End This Way to kill a certain personnel. The combos are only as limited as your imagination.

A good wall to pair Overwhelmed with is the space dilemma Invidium Leak. Its low cost and ability to stop everyone if they do not have the skills works well. Even if they have the skills needed, you can stop at least two or possibly three personnel. Another dilemma that is not a wall but works well with Overwhelmed is Temptation. If they have Treachery or Honor they are stopped, and if they do not, they are stopped.

When I first started playing Overwhelmed, my opponent would try to find one personnel to meet all the skill requirements which often ruined my attempts to stop them. That is, until Reflections 2.0 brought us Urgency. When Urgency is paired with Overwhelmed, your opponent has to use a different personnel to meet each separate skill requirement. The rule I try to follow in choosing dilemmas to use with Overwhelmed is (1) the dilemma should not cost more than three (except for Where No One Has Gone Before), (2) it should have skill requirements numbering two or three, regardless of which way its requirements are met, or (3) it should be a wall. Two new cards that To Boldly Go brings that I would use with Overwhelmed are Covert Insertion and Between Duty and Respect; both only cost two and require at least three skills to pass.

Another consideration in using Overwhelmed is this: if you play a dilemma that only stops one personnel and your opponent does not have the skills, then only one personnel is stopped and the rest of the team will sneak past to complete the mission. The dilemmas you play should either stop the entire mission team or hinder it enough that it will not complete the mission. Dilemmas that ask for a double-skill personnel like Failure To Communicate or Antedean Assassins are risky to play. If they have the skills, only one personnel is stopped. Never use a dilemma like Trabe Grenade, which can be passed on just attributes, because it makes Overwhelmed useless.

Did You Know?

Rarely does a card's title during design, development, or playtesting have it's final version on it. Often, card titles and lore have placeholder names or even inside jokes. But from the begining Overwhelmed was called Overwhelmed.

Another memorable moment that happened while this card was being made, was during a casual conversation between game designers Brad DeFruiter (who had designed this card) and Evan Lorentz. The subject of this card came up and Evan snapped his finger in an eureka moment and stated, "I have the perfect image idea for this card." And soon the image of Sisko being "overwhelmed" by reports from Doctor Bashir and the Genetically Enhanced members of the Jack-pack was put on the card.

There is a danger inherent in building your dilemma pile around a specific card. If you lose that card, you run the risk of losing the game. A few cards to look out for are Krim, Thoughtful Tactician, who could clean out all your copies of Overwhelmed. Also, Analyze and Lauren, Seductress could grab a copy. To lessen the likelihood that you lose Overwhelmed, you should stock The Manheim Effect to retrieve an Overwhelmed if you lose it this way. Another strategy would be to use Thought Maker to grab another copy out of your pile if you lost only one. Actually, using Thought Maker this way could be a great boon to this strategy since it guarantees that you can draw a copy of Overwhelmed every time. Since most of these (Krim, Lauren) are affiliation specific, you can anticipate your opponents playing them. The only surprise you might see is Ohhhh! Nothing Happened!, which could snatch Overwhelmed from your dilemma pile before it even sees play.

I have certain dilemmas that I never play because my opponent's personnel always have the skills to pass them. Overwhelmed can breathe new life into those dilemmas. Simply pair-up Overwhelmed with the dilemma they always pass, and those personnel that help pass it are stopped. There is a degree of metagame when playing this way. If you did not see the skills played, then do not risk playing a dilemma that stops or kills only one personnel.

I have used a dilemma pile focused on Overwhelmed, and my opponent's frustration is scrumptious given the fact that regardless of whether they pass a dilemma or not, it still results in a failed mission attempt. Sometimes the fact that your opponent has not seen Overwhelmed used, and has no strategy against it, can be enough of an advantage to give you the win. By exploring every card in a set, you gain the opportunity to find new combos or uses for cards that no one else has seen. So, the next time you're feeling overwhelmed, like you just cannot defeat your opponent, revisit your cards and you may see something new.

Live long, prosper, and overwhelm.

Dilemmas (27):
Dual
3x Overwhelmed
2x Temptation
1x Dangerous Liaisons
1x Covert Insertion
1x Between Duty and Respect
1x Worn-Out Welcome
3x Entanglement
3x Urgency

Planet
1x "Rock People"
1x Captain's Holiday
1x Quaint Technology
1x Code of Honor
1x Picking Up the Pieces
1x Cave-In

Space
1x Invidium Leak
1x Short Circuit
1x Where No One Has Gone Before
1x The Three Vipers
1x Disgraceful Assault
1x Personal Duty