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Strike Force scrap

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Spiff
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Strike Force scrap

I'm re-reading the rules to discover all the stuff we missed (there's a ton), and I'm completely confused by the Stike Force scrap pile. There's just one pile for all scrapped good guy cards? It didn't even occur to me that each player wouldn't have their own discard pile and that if our deck ran out we wouldn't shuffle our scrap to make a new deck. I have this completely wrong, don't I?

Seriously, is there a video online somewhere that shows a group who actually know how to play so I can just watch them do it?  Trying to figure out which side of cards is "face up" when they're double-sided, and where various cards go when various things happen to them, and what else should be handled differently than I'd normally expect doesn't seem to be working out too well for me. :(


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Karrde
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As far as I understand, scrapped cards never make their way back into your deck. Cards can only get back in play by being recycled, and those specifically say on them to recycle. So the majority of boosts and techs are gone from play for good (unless they make their way back into a station deck) once played. This goes hand in hand with recquisition cards being placed on the bottom of the deck to keep your deck from being totally depleted.

 

It's very different from SotM in this regard in that you only have one living deck that you play with.

Pydro
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There are 4 types of cards, each are treated differently, and behave differently:

1) Opp ship cards: These are single-sided, and every card is an Opp ship. The back of the card says the name of the Opp. There are in play, face down. When an Opp Ship card is scrapped, it is put on the bottom of the Opp ship card deck. If you go through the cards enough, and you have a good memory, you can know what is coming next.

2) Opp Mission cards:These cards are double-sided. On the top of the front it will say what Opp it belongs to as well as the word "front." The back of the card can vary drastiaclly in what type of card it is. These cards are put aside face-up, you will know what the next mission card will be. When an Opp Mission card is scrapped, put it on the bottom of the Opp Mission deck.

3) Station cards: These cards are double-sided. One side is blue (the SF side), on side is red the Opp side (orange). The SF side can either be a Tech of Boost, the Opp side is either a Boost or Ship (these are considered Opp ships). At the start of the game, 5 Station cards are put in each spot of each Sector. These cards are SF (blue) side up, you can see what you are buying. All cards that were not put in play during setup form the Station Scrap, Opp side up. When a Station card is scrapped (it doesn't matter from where), you put it on the top of the Station Scrap, Opp side up. If a spot on a Sector ran out of cards, you shuffle the Station Scrap, and deal five cards into the empty spot.

4) Strike Force Cards: These cards are single sided (green), with the name of the SF ship on the back. When these cards are scrapped, they are removed from the game, unless the card explicitily says otherwise. Be very careful, many SF ships have a key Tech, and if it is scrapped, there is no way to get it back. During setup, you will put the SF deck into play face up.

The Opp ship and Mission cards have their own deck. However, as the game progresses, your SF deck will consist of Strike Force cards and Station cards. This deck is always face up, so you will see a blue or green card, as opposed to a SF back or red card.


Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
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Spiff
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This is fantastically helpful, thanks.

So, sometimes when you scrap a card, it's out of the game (a Strike Force card) but other times it goes on the bottom of a deck (Opposition deck, Mission deck), but other times, it goes on top of a deck (Station cards). And when you recycle a Strike Force card, you put it on the bottom of the hero's deck, even though when you put an Opposition card on the bottom of the deck, that's called scrapping. This whole what-to-do-with-cards process feels a little over complicated to me...


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Pydro
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It is a little. But here is a simplier way to think about it.

Recycle: Only applies to your cards, puts something on the bottom of your deck.

Scrap: Remove from play and put on the bottom of the appropriate deck (Technically, where you put scrapped Station cards doesn't matter since you shuffle them before putting them back in play).

Even if you accidently scrap an SF card and put it in the Staion deck, you will instantly notice the mistake: 1) They are different colors. 2) They don't say how much they cost.


Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"

Ronway
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I don't think it is game breaking if you decide to make a scrap pile for both Opposition decks. The only reason they go to the bottom is to reduce the amount of shuffling in the game. Doing so will cause all four decks to go into a scrap pile. Then whenever a deck runs out, you do the reshuffling the corresponding trash and make the new deck. Strike Force will never run out of cards, since the all the starting decks consist of 4 boost, unless there is a way to scrap boost that I don't remember.

Pydro
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The other difference is the order. You are supposed to get them in the order that they were scrapped once you go through the deck.


Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"

Ronway
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Pydro wrote:

The other difference is the order. You are supposed to get them in the order that they were scrapped once you go through the deck.

Yeah, but it's not really game breaking to get them in a slightly different order, is it?

Pydro
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No, it is more of a loss of a disadvantage, but only if you were paying attention.


Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"