Warp Speed Transfer

Have you ever started a mission and, halfway through facing your opponent's dilemmas, realized you should have brought over a key personnel you just played at your headquarters? If your answer is yes, then this is the interrupt for you. I have always been drawn to quirky cards that do completely unexpected things. This card is a prime example. If you are attempting a space mission and you have a staffed ship at another mission, you can move the ship over and beam someone onboard to join the mission attempt using Warp Speed Transfer.

I know what you are thinking: there is just too much set-up involved to make this card viable. First, you have to have a team that can attempt. Then, you need another staffed ship at a different mission. You are probably looking at a few turns worth of counters, depending on the affiliation. Why not just have those personnel attempt the mission with the rest of the crew and save the resources you would spend on a separate ship? With that logic, even I might need some convincing that this card is worth playing.

The advantage this card gives you is that if your personnel is not in the attempt when your opponent plays dilemmas, then it is like you were playing Running a Tight Ship. Your opponent is out a drawn dilemma and a cost to spend on dilemmas (or, alternately, you are up a personnel). Also, if your opponent targets (and eliminates) a personnel with skills key to an attempt, then you can send a back-up over with Warp Speed Transfer. This can help you avoid dilemmas like Personal Duty. Instead of loading down your team with Leadership personnel, hoping that at least one makes it through, you can hold back until the last moment and then send that all-important skill over.

The affiliations that may have the potential to best utilize this card will have cheap ships with low staffing requirements. If you are thinking Maquis, then you need to stay out of my head. They have low cost ships that can be flown by a single personnel, and they already have a card that triggers off of having multiple ships. However, if the Maquis is not an attractive affiliation for you, both Starfleet and the Ferengi have some low-cost ships with small staffing requirements. Despite its potential, I foresee this card being under-used... which is great, as far as I am concerned, because my opponent will never anticipate my putting in for a transfer.