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The Borg affiliation is rather different from the other affiliations in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game in several respects: their outpost is not located on the spaceline; they do not complete missions, but rather scout them; they score points by completing objectives. When it comes to dilemma resolution, however, the Borg are really not very different from other affiliations. Even so, questions frequently arise about resolving certain dilemmas when encountered by the Borg. This course explains the special principles that govern the Borg's interaction with dilemmas generally, and discusses specific dilemmas that affect the Borg differently from other affiliations.
Major Rakal's Romulan Reviews #16, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Dilemmas and #17, Major Rakal's 5-Step Guide to Dilemma Resolution remain the classic works on general principles of dilemma resolution. Every Star Trek CCG player, whether playing Borg or not, should read and thoroughly understand the components of dilemmas and the steps to dilemma resolution as Major Rakal lays them out in those Romulan Reviews. For Borg players, however, there are three additional considerations that supplement the general principles.
Gender is irrelevant. Whenever your Borg encounter a dilemma whose effects are gender-determined, discard that dilemma immediately and continue scouting. (Also, your Borg are invalid targets for any card whose effects are gender-determined [e.g., Canar].) Anaphasic Organism, Brief Romance, Female's Love Interest, Kidnapper, Male's Love Interest, Matriarchal Society, and Parallel Romance are gender-related dilemmas.
Bonus points are irrelevant unless otherwise specified. The point boxes on most dilemmas are irrelevant to your Borg, but the game text on cards bearing points boxes is not (unless the game text is concerned solely with bonus points, as is the case with The Higher ... the Fewer). When your Borg encounter a dilemma that has a bonus point box, play out the dilemma as normal. However, if your Borg overcome the dilemma, you gain no bonus points and you place the card into the owner's discard pile instead of your bonus point area. If the card presents a choice, you must choose an option that is not point-related, if possible (however, very few dilemmas actually present a choice; see specific entries below). A few cards, including the dilemma Balancing Act, are exceptions to this general rule and do manipulate Borg players' point totals; each such card bears a [BO] icon or a notice like "even if playing Borg." (Please note that there is a popular misconception that the Borg cannot score bonus points, whether positive or negative. This is not true. The Borg can score bonus points from cards that say the Borg can score bonus points. Any card other than a [BO] objective that grants points to or takes points away from the Borg--e.g., Balancing Act, Add Distinctiveness--is a bonus point situation.)
Borg do not attempt missions. Since the Borg do not attempt missions, they are not prevented from scouting by dilemmas that block mission attempts. However, if any such dilemma has conditions, your Borg who encounter that dilemma will probably be "stopped" if they fail to overcome those conditions. (See the entries on Dead End, Edo Probe, and Radioactive Garbage Scow below for three different applications of this principle.)
This section of the directive lists, in alphabetical order, selected dilemmas that affect Borg differently from other affiliations in ways that may be slightly more complex than, or not immediately obvious from, the above principles.
Alien Abduction. Since the Borg never complete missions, the only way for the Borg to retrieve a Borg affected by Alien Abduction is to bring 3 Leadership to the planet (using the Borg Queen or Locutus of Borg in conjunction with an Interlink Drone).
Cardassian Trap. Only a few Borg cards can actually be targeted by Cardassian Trap: any counterpart, Seven of Nine, and Third of Five. The Borg Queen is not unique; she is an enigma (neither unique nor universal) and therefore cannot be targeted by Cardassian Trap. If your Borg encounter Cardassian Trap without a unique Borg personnel present, simply discard Cardassian Trap, because it has no valid target.
Dead End. When first encountered, this dilemma affects Borg forces as normal. If your Borg crew or Away Team encounters Dead End and your current point total is less than 50, that crew or Away Team is stopped because Dead End's conditions have not been overcome. However, once Dead End is placed atop the mission, its continuing effects only block mission attempts, not scouting. Therefore, after your Borg crew or Away Team has been stopped by Dead End, you may immediately continue scouting with a different crew or Away Team, or you may continue with the same crew or Away Team once they become "unstopped."
Edo Probe. This dilemma has no effect on the Borg. They have no mission attempt to abandon, continue, or fail. When your Borg encounter Edo Probe, discard it immediately. (If it is helpful to do so, read the Edo Probe's game text as if it began "If attempting a mission, abandon ...")
Frame of Mind. A Borg affected by Frame of Mind will be under "house arrest" if aboard a ship or isolated if on a planet, and may not cooperate with the collective in any way until cured.
Hippocratic Oath. This dilemma affects Borg personnel as normal. In a skill-sharing situation, it is important to understand that the affected Borg must have MEDICAL when it arrives at its destination. Thus, the affected Borg must have MEDICAL printed on its card (or, if a Borg Queen, must have selected MEDICAL using her special skill). Even if an Interlink Drone and another Borg with MEDICAL are in the hive, a communication Borg may not satisfy Hippocratic Oath's MEDICAL requirement, because once it leaves the hive's spaceline location it is no longer part of the hive and thus loses its MEDICAL.
Make Us Go. This dilemma affects Borg personnel as normal. If an Interlink Drone and another Borg with ENGINEER are in the hive, any communication Borg may satisfy Make Us Go's ENGINEER requirement, depending on its CUNNING, because it is still part of the hive while being held by aliens at the same spaceline location and thus may access the interlink.
Punishment Zone. One of your Borg who encounters this dilemma must die. You are not permitted to beam that Borg up at a penalty, because you must choose the option that is not point-related.
Radioactive Garbage Scow. When your Borg encounter Radioactive Garbage Scow, it is placed atop the mission as normal. However, since Borg do not attempt missions, Radioactive Garbage Scow does not impede scouting. Also, since Radioactive Garbage Scow has no conditions, it does not stop your Borg when they encounter it. (Moreover, the point loss incurred by Destroy Radioactive Garbage Scow is irrelevant to your Borg.)
Rascals. If any unique Borg (a counterpart, Seven of Nine, and/or Third of Five) are in the crew that encounters this dilemma, they will be affected (up to its limit of four). Otherwise, your Borg present no valid targets for Rascals, so the dilemma is immediately discarded. Since Rascals has no conditions, it does not stop your Borg when they encounter it.
Royale Casino: Blackjack. If your Borg encounter this dilemma, play out the game of blackjack as instructed on the card. You ignore the points adjustment that results, but your opponent, if not playing Borg, gains or loses points as appropriate.
Royale Casino: Craps. If your Borg encounter this dilemma, play out the game of craps as instructed on the card. If you win the craps game, you receive no bonus points.
Sarjenka. Borg Away teams must ignore (discard) Sarjenka.
Tarellian Plague Ship. This dilemma affects Borg personnel as normal. If an Interlink Drone and another Borg with MEDICAL are in the hive, any communication Borg may satisfy Tarellian Plague Ship's MEDICAL requirement, because when it reaches the Plague Ship it is still part of the same hive (being at the same spaceline location). If your Borg overcome Tarellian Plague Ship, you receive no bonus points. Discarding a MEDICAL personnel in response to Tarellian Plague Ship is a condition of overcoming the dilemma, not a point-related choice, so you may do so even if playing Borg.
Thought Fire. Thought Fire is not discarded until it is overcome. Therefore, Borg personnel whose owner is affected by The Traveler: Transcendence may scout past Thought Fire only by overcoming it with Empathy, by nullifying it with Adapt: Negate Obstruction, or by nullifying The Traveler: Transcendence. If The Traveler: Transcendence is not affecting you, or you have no Borg present with CUNNING + INTEGRITY < 12, simply discard Thought Fire.
Tsiolkovsky Infection. This dilemma affects Borg personnel as normal. Each affected Borg loses its first-listed skill, whether that skill is a regular skill or a special skill. Note that newly arriving Borg will become infected before they are able to cure the infection.
Zaldan. Zaldan is not discarded until it is overcome. However, if there are no personnel with Diplomacy among your Borg encountering Zaldan, simply discard Zaldan, because it has no valid target. If your Borg Away Team encountering Zaldan does include Diplomacy, two of them (if applicable) will be killed by the Zaldan unless your Away Team overcomes Zaldan with Treachery x2, Exobiology, or a "stolen" Disruptor or by nullifying it with Adapt: Negate Obstruction (if previously encountered). An assimilated Wesley Crusher cannot overcome Zaldan, because his name becomes irrelevent the moment he is assimilated. If Zaldan kills any of your Borg, it will return to its place beneath the mission to be encountered again.
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