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Players who choose to play Borg in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game have several methods available for assimilating opposing personnel. The variety of choices can sometimes be confusing. This primer is designed to quickly and clearly explain the various possible assimilation methods.
Borg Servo (First Contact). The Borg Servo dilemma offers you the possibility of assimilating an opposing personnel without the direct involvement of any of your own Borg personnel. Unless Cybernetics and MEDICAL are present in the opposing crew or Away Team that encounters this dilemma, that crew or Away Team is "stopped" and one of the personnel in that crew or Away Team (randomly selected from those encountering the dilemma) is assimilated and undergoes the transformations specified in the First Contact Rules supplement. The assimilation is immediate. Your new drone remains where it is, whether aboard an opponent's ship or outpost or on a planet, until retrieved somehow by your Borg (e.g., by a Borg ship arriving and beaming up your new drone). Your opponent's forces may, of course, attack your drone (once they become "unstopped"), so you will probably want to spirit your drone away quickly.
Talon Drone (Three of Nineteen) (First Contact). Whenever your Talon Drone stuns an adversary in a personnel battle, you have the option of abducting and assimilating the stunned adversary. If you choose to exercise this option, your Talon Drone and its adversary are immediately removed from the personnel battle and the adversary is immediately assimilated, undergoing the changes specified in the First Contact rules supplement. You may beam your Talon Drone and the new drone away if you wish (and if you have the means to do so, such as a Borg ship, present), but both your Talon Drone and the new drone are "stopped." Note that you may not assimilate a counterpart in this fashion (see Assimilate Counterpart below).
Assimilation Tubules (First Contact). The Assimilation Tubules interrupt gives you an additional option when your Talon Drone is involved in a personnel battle. Since Assimilation Tubules plays after the overall winner of the personnel battle has been determined, this option will obviously not be available if you elect to have your Talon Drone abduct and assimilate a stunned adversary (unless you have multiple Talon Drones in your Away Team). If a Talon Drone is in your Away Team at the end of a personnel battle, you may play Assimilation Tubules to assimilate a mortally wounded adversary instead of having that adversary die from the mortal wounds. The target personnel is immediately assimilated, undergoing the changes specified in the First Contact rules. Note that you may not assimilate a counterpart in this fashion (see Assimilate Counterpart below). Also note that the Talon Drone's special ability does not grant you permission to attack an opposing crew or Away Team. You must acquire that permission in some other way.
Assimilation Table (First Contact). The Assimilation Table is currently used only for assimilating a counterpart (see Assimilate Counterpart below) or for downloading Ocular Implants to one of your Borg. You cannot currently use the Assimilation Table to assimilate a drone.
Assimilate Counterpart (First Contact). Assimilate Counterpart is the most valuable, and correspondingly the most difficult, way to assimilate opposing personnel. When you play Assimilate Counterpart, you must immediately select an opponent's unique male personnel as your target. Once you have done this, your Borg have permission to beam to and battle the target's crew or Away Team. If any of your Borg personnel engage the target in combat, you may elect to have that Borg abduct the target. If you choose to abduct, the target and your Borg who engaged him in battle immediately cease to participate in the battle. You may beam them away if you wish (and you have the approriate cards present), but both are "stopped." After the cards are "unstopped," you may "escort" the abducted target to an Assimilation Table and place the target on the table. Once the target is occupying an Assimilation Table, you have permission to probe. If your probe card bears any Borg subcommand icon, the target is assimilated and immediately undergoes the transformations specified in the First Contact Rules Supplement. Also, you attach the Assimilate Counterpart card to the counterpart. As long as the Assimilate Counterpart card remains on the target, Assimilate Counterpart gives you 5 points for each skill dot icon in the counterpart's skill box. These points are not considered bonus points, since they are granted by a Borg-only objective card. These points are lost if, for any reason, the Assimilate Counterpart objective is removed from the assimilated counterpart (e.g., by He Will Make an Excellent Drone).
Add Distinctiveness (Enhanced First Contact). This incident grants you 1 point for each skill dot icon in the skill boxes of personnel you assimilate as drones. Since the points come from an incident card, not from a [BO] objective card, they are bonus points.
Avoiding Drone Assimilation. There is no sure-fire method of avoiding drone assimilation. If you are concerned about Borg Servo, make sure you include Cybernetics and MEDICAL in your crew or Away Team (if you're playing Klingon, Kitrick will give you both; if you're playing Federation, you can get both from Lal with a little setup). If you are concerned about having your personnel assimilated by a Talon Drone, carry some phasers or disruptors (the Talon Drone has STRENGTH 7, which will increase by 2 for each Assault Drone [Eight of Nineteen] present). Better yet, simply avoid personnel combat with the Borg. Unless the Borg player's current objective is Assimilate Counterpart, the Borg player is not allowed to initiate personnel battles against you.
Avoiding Counterpart Assimilation. There are even fewer sure-fire methods of avoiding counterpart assimilation, but you are not without options. Prepare Assault Teams and Emergency Transporter Armbands can be effective ways of removing the target from danger, at least temporarily.
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