Star Trek: Ascendancy - Vulcan High Command

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER - Everything you need to add the Vulcans, and another player, to your games of Star Trek: Ascendancy. Discover New Star Systems, Encounter new Exploration Cards plus more Space Lanes and Resource Nodes!
The Vulcans, or Vulcanians, were a warp-capable humanoid species from the planet Vulcan. They were widely renowned for their strict adherence to logic and reason as well as their remarkable stoicism.

[@florianschneider2803]

When playing with vulcans you really need a spreadsheet of the victoryconditions for the other players and make sure to tell everybody that ambassadors have nothing to do with winning conditions. Otherwise the whole table is just to suspicious of the vulcans especially letting them place ambassadors. Ps: Observation fleet will also greatly increase the chance to meet neutral civilisations.

[@Trueflights]

Just a simple card sized printout of the various Agenda's does the trick. That way everyone at least knows what they are and knows what to keep an eye out for. At the same time, as I mentioned in the video, it is very easy to make it look like you are going for a specific one, while actually secretly working on another.

[@KC-xd3ro]

Love your videos. You missed the word "connected" when reviewing the starting advancement Vulcan High Council. I don't think you described it correctly.

[@Trueflights]

@@KC-xd3ro you're correct, I misread it in the video. The systems have to be connected for either ability

[@Mdhneo007]

Great breakdown as always. Thanks for the review, helped me decide to purchase.

[@Trueflights]

Anytime. I hope to have faction strategy videos for the two new ones here at some point after I've played with them for a while

[@philipkindreddick3517]

@@Trueflights would be great if those still came along!

[@Trueflights]

@@philipkindreddick3517 To be honest, I didn't realize that I never made them and forgot about it. Lockdowns last year kind of ruined group games like this and I didn't get to play all that much. I got disagreed by other things. I'll try to get to them at some point.

[@philipkindreddick3517]

@@Trueflights any insights would be appreciated, I just bought them!

[@Trueflights]

@@philipkindreddick3517 be sure to check out the "Unofficial Complete Rulebook" ver 3.0 for the game. The actual rulebook for the Vulcans had a few inconsistencies and rules ambiguities in it that were updated in that. Most notably, Vulcans cannot win by Ascendancy victory (unless they have the one specific Agenda that allows them to). This is due in part to the fact that they start already higher than all the other races, but it would also make that one Agenda pointless. As the Vulcans, you have to play pretty sneaky. You have one Agenda that is known to everyone and one that is secret. You can win with either of them. The problem is that if you make your moves too obvious, your opponents can guess what your hidden Agenda is and try to block you from it. If you can make them think that you are working towards one thing, while secretly doing something else on the side, they might not notice, and you might get one step closer to your goal. There is more to them, but that will have to wait for their video. The Vulcans are definitely one of the more advanced races, and I would say to save them for more advanced players to even out the playing field when playing against people who are new to the game. Played correctly in the right hands, they are a force to be reckoned with.

[@shinraco]

The amount of culture they can generate is pretty crazy. I am thinking they're super powerful, especially with the agendas. I wonder how they'll do with a Borg in the game.

[@statkizprzyszlosci]

Dark Reflection Discovery card - what can you do with that rival ship or fleet besides moving it to hazard? Disband fleet? Invade its owner planet to destroy nodes? Broke trade agreement?

[@Trueflights]

There really aren't any restrictions on it. You would be able to do anything that you could normally do with one of your own ships/fleets by issuing a Command. Disbanding a fleet is not a Command Action, so that would not be allowed but movement, Braving Hazards and Phenomenon, Attacking other players/systems, and so on would all be possible. I think the only limitation that makes sense would be that they could not attack their own colony, since it is against the rules for players to attack their own things. Other than that though, go crazy.

[@statkizprzyszlosci]

@@Trueflights You can always act like Ferengi and burn rival command tokens... unless they'll give you a profit :D I like to play with home rule that allow you to revoke trade agreement only in your turn (like in advanced rules) but it cannot be the same turn it was given and you still need permission to enter rival space. I hope that maybe in future expansion GF9 will add some new content to boost diplomacy aspect of this game (some additional, unique trade agreements for each playable race maybe? or something that will give option to trade with resources from your pool? ).

[@Trueflights]

Have you ever looked into Twilight Imperium? While it lacks the Star Trek theme, it has its own song, more, and stories. TI 4th edition has 25 different playable races and each one of them has a couple faction specific trade agreements and you are allowed to trade resources and other things freely with other factions that you are adjacent to. In fact you kind of have to at times since your own race produces a type of commodity that you cannot use yourself and have to trade with someone to get usable items.

[@Trueflights]

Also, while you could not enter another players system without their permission, nothing prevents you from stopping a controlled fleet adjacent to that system and then using another of the Commands to declare an attack, which would also break any trade agreements the player had. There are still many ways you cna use this ability to your advantage.

[@statkizprzyszlosci]

@@Trueflights Of course, I play Twilight Imperium regulary with my friends, but I do not have my own copy of that game. TI 4th edition with the expansion is the best 4X space themed game I ever played 😄 Diplomacy in that game is very cool and can be very worthwhile. Some of ideas from TI could be great addon to Star Trek Ascendancy. Both games are very good and I could recommend them to anyone interested into sci fi themed games 😄 (but also you will need plenty of time to play them) Star Trek Ascendancy however have 3 advantages compares to TI: 1) Building the galaxy seems odd but it is very cool designed and have critical role in your whole strategy, especially with the Borg on table 2) Borg as major galactic crisis event in multiplayer game 3) Exploration system and minor civilizations - this is my favourite part of that game 😄

[@eomat]

At 10:25 the card Vulcan High Command has a typo. “Plantary” not many cards in these packs. It’s a shame a typo can make it through production.

[@Trueflights]

that's far from the worst mistake that made it through production. you would think with a year delay they would have had more time to find these things

[@eomat]

@@Trueflights thats a real shame. I'm hoping they bring out more factions. Like you said as there are lane dice for the existing races hopefully that won't mean that's that. Hopefully at some point they could reprint some of the cards that had errors and release them. Also the issue with the Vulcan "resource" for research.

[@jab2505]

Does Tachyon Detection Array omit First Strike by the Romulans and Klingons.

[@trueflightgaming9104]

Sorry for the delay in answering. I never got a notification. Yes, it cancels the effects of Romulan Cloaking Devices (the Klingon one is still a Romulan Cloaking Device) in space battles against you. That would include their ability to give first strike.

[@MrSnaetch]

Vulcans don't win with 5 Ascendancy like the other players, so the 8 Ascendancy card isn't that useless.

[@Trueflights]

Technically yes, but this isn't actually on the Rulebook. It has since been errata and changed, but at the time this video was made RAW they could

[@MrSnaetch]

@@Trueflights Thank you for clarification. I initially understood the original rules that both ascendancy and supremacy victories are replaced by the agendas.