Apologies if these have been answered elsewhere, the questions were not of a form easily searchable.
1) Are the cards in a deck (Station decks, Strike Force Ship decks, Mission deck) freely searchable, front and back? Given that the cards are all face up in a deck, it is hard to deal in such a way that this is hidden. Also, experienced players will know what is on the back of each card, which is a clear advantage. Should we try to "forget" this information and not take it into account when making decisions, or is it okay to page through the cards in a deck, preserving the order?
2) Are Mission cards that are flipped and appear as ships still Mission cards for the purposes of cards that affect Mission Cards? (Example: The Phantom Ship has flipped -- is it taken into account for determining the Sector with the fewest Mission cards?)
3) To be clear, Tech that is part of a starting deck is effectively removed from game when it gets scrapped, correct?
Thanks!
For 1, the way I have played it is that they are not searchable, but you also don't need to forget what you know. So yes, experienced players have an advantage. Just don't pay attention to the deck when shuffling it.
Been a while since I played through but I'll try my best to answer
1. I think knowing what both sides of a card are eventually is needed to go through advanced. I would knowing what the cards are helps your strategy so I don't see any issue knowing them. Now going through the decks once a game is started shouldn't be done as that is giving up a lot of information. You should only be aware of what the top card is on the decks that are double sided.
2. Unless it says it is a mission on the flip side still I don't think it should count.
3. Yes, if a card from the starting deck is scrapped a card you can't get it back through any means in that game.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
Hi! I'm excited to answer some GSF questions!! These are my specialty.
1) The cards in the decks are *not* searchable. For Instance, you can't look at the 3rd card down in the station deck, or what the last card in your SF deck is. There are effects (like the ones found in Marrot's Folly) that cause shuffles, and looking through the decks makes that mechanic kinda useless.
About the backs of the Station deck. Officially you are not allowed to look at the backs. However, there is no varience in the backs of those cards. The flip sides fall under "common knowledge" in my opinion, and I do not see any merit whatsoever to restricting things that are common knowledge to folks with good memorization skills. Frankly, and I tell almost every one this, don't feel bad looking at the backs of the Station cards to try and piece together what your best options for the turn is going to be. Just don't abuse it by using it as a tool to look through the whole deck.
2) This is actually a fantastic question. My GSF intuition says that "yes, they still count as mission cards", but that question has never been brought up before. However I feel faily confident in my answer.
3) That is correct!
I would agree with Foote that it is still a mission card!
“Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” ~Obi-Wan Kenobi