Infinite Diversity Remastered (ID2) | openCards

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[Infinite Diversity Remastered] Infinite Diversity Remastered (ID2)

    Regular expansion of 21 virtual cards published by The Continuing Committee (2016-05-27).

    Overview card types:
    DilemmaEquipmentEventMissionPersonnelShip
    8
    1
    5
    1
    5
    1
       Overview rarities:
    V
    21

    UCT-IDNamesort descendingRarityTypeAffiliation
    ST2E 37 V 1VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 2
    Dark Pageimage (reprint)
    VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 3
    In Developmentimage (reprint)
    VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 4VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 5VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 6VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 7VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 8
    The First Dutyimage (reprint)
    VirtualDilemma
    ST2E 37 V 9
    Hyposprayimage (reprint)
    VirtualEquipment
    ST2E 37 V 10
    At What Cost?image (reprint)
    VirtualEvent
    ST2E 37 V 11VirtualEvent
    ST2E 37 V 12VirtualEvent
    ST2E 37 V 13
    Raise the Stakesimage (reprint)
    VirtualEvent
    ST2E 37 V 14
    Slightly Awkwardimage (reprint)
    VirtualEvent
    ST2E 37 V 15VirtualMission
    ST2E 37 V 16
    Automated Serverimage (reprint)
    VirtualPersonnelNon-Aligned icon
    ST2E 37 V 17
    Doranimage (reprint)
    VirtualPersonnelNon-Aligned icon
    ST2E 37 V 18
    Garrenimage (reprint)
    VirtualPersonnelNon-Aligned icon
    ST2E 37 V 19
    K'wovimage (reprint)
    VirtualPersonnelNon-Aligned icon
    ST2E 37 V 20
    Sumekimage (reprint)
    VirtualPersonnelNon-Aligned icon
    ST2E 37 V 21
    Olarraimage (reprint)
    VirtualShipNon-Aligned icon

    "The great secret is not the variety of life... it's the variety of us."

    Today, The Continuing Committee is proud to announce the release of Infinite Diversity Remastered, a reimagining of the Second Edition virtual expansion first released in 2010. Infinite Diversity Remastered is free for download from The Continuing Committee's website.

    Infinite Diversity Remastered contains eighteen (18) reprints from the original ID draft as well as three (3) alternate-image versions of existing cards. The rules of the draft have also been tweaked and the drafting cardpool thoroughly scrubbed- and it now incorporates every Second Edition expansion!

    Why was this project undertaken? Well, after the release of Infinite Diversity in 2010, several problems with the format became apparent to the community and the designers. First was the quality of cards in the cardpool. The original cardpool was formed by combining all the printable cards available at the time. This meant all non-unique personnel and ships, missions and all Virtual (V) cards. This system worked, but it also included a lot of chaff in the draft- overly-complex and useless cards that players could easily skip. The second problem was headquarters missions. Each mission pack included two HQs, but the draft rules created situations where a single player could be stuck with two copies of one HQ. Furthermore, having to draft HQs made them feel “assigned” which felt at best un-“diverse” and at worse could skew the draft if too many of one HQ randomly found itself into a draft pod. Finally, not all the HQs were created equal. Some, like DS9, had huge natural advantages over more remote ones like Founders’ Homeworld.

    The goal of the Remastered project was to fix the problems above and streamline the draft experience. How did we do that?

    The first act was to thoroughly scrub the cardpool. Starting with Premiere, we looked at every Second Edition card in the game and chose a draft status. This status was based on several criteria including: complexity, interoperability, thematic fit and playability. We wanted low complexity on each card to limit reading during the draft. We wanted cards to be able to operate largely independently (so no teams in the draft). We wanted cards that splashed in thematic flavor for each affiliation. Finally, we wanted cards that would be useful and playable in the draft.

    The next project was to adjust the draft rules. The biggest change made was to eliminate the quadrant rules. Having missions in different quadrants made a large percentage of those in the Gamma and Delta quadrants basically useless. With the change, all missions are now in all quadrants. This opens up drafting opportunities for those missions and helps struggling HQs like Founders’ Homeworld. The next change we made was to change the “reinforcement” rules. In original ID draft, players could play personnel native to one HQ to their other HQ provided they played a +1 penalty. Several experiences with inexperienced players drafting convinced me that this might be too restrictive. The new rule allows a player to play any personnel they draft to a non-native HQ at cost +1. This eliminates problems with new players drafting themselves into a corner, and it also provides experienced players with interesting strategic choices- “Is this personnel worth drafting at cost +1?” Finally, the old rule allowing for dilemma recycling has been removed. Draft experience showed that players rarely risked running out of dilemmas and this rule was more often used to recycle the one-stop In Development. Rather than continuing to slow down games, it was removed.

    The final group of changes was to the Infinite Diversity set itself. The original set contained a second copy of Product Placement and a reprint of Mark of Gideon. These two slots seemed ripe for replacement with more exciting cards. In order to make a wider range of missions and strategies available to players in their games, Raise the Stakes and At What Cost were chosen. Maybe you could draft that 40-point mission now? Maybe that 30-point mission is viable? These strategic options enticed me and the testers. Also, while it’s not a part of the ID set proper, we changed how headquarters missions are allocated. Rather being drafted, each player will now receive one copy of each HQ in the pool at the start of the draft. This means players can choose their HQ at the end, after the draft, rather than being “assigned” one at the beginning. Breaking HQs out into a “fixed” pack also allows us to tinker with the cards and include more than missions. The most exciting application has been to make it possible for Voyager to be included in a special “Defeat the Borg” draft scenario!

    I would like to personally thank Chris Lobban for his help with the project, his insight and technical expertise is truly invaluable. I would also like to thank the Texas group who helped me test the new draft rules and tweak the cardpool. Finally, thanks to the art team for giving us a beautiful new product.

    We hope you enjoy the new Infinite Diversity Remastered. Stay tuned over the next two weeks for articles about draft strategy, the new draft rules, card extras, and more!

    by Tyler Fultz, Lead Designer