Today I got my ass handed to me by my "friend". The reason for this is the Productioncard (nr 4) from the expansion.

The very frustrating thing about this card is that it makes players able to spawn units in systems without activating them. Even when not using the primary ability you get to spawn 3 units with this card, making it (for me at least) the very gamebreaker of our last game. My enemy even had warsuns, meaning he every turn could bring into battle a serious amounth of firepower very fast (including fighters for flac). Is there any particular trick to avoiding beeing taken by suprise by this strategycard, other than to take this into estimation, or was I just not aware enough?

SigurdIronfist said:

When you say "every turn", do you mean "every turn in the round", or are you saying once per round? Hopefully you mean the latter; you cannot use a Strategy Card more than once in a round. You have to take a Strategic Action to activate your Strategy Card, and then everyone else can do the secondary, and then it's inactive, meaning it cannot be used again that round. Yes, it can be powerful, but it also gives everyone else the chance to build up some forces without having to activate a system.

If you do mean "once per round", one way to avoid this is to not let the same player take it each round; other players should be taking it, because it is a powerful card, and if a player has a lot of potential for using it, other players SHOULD be aware of it and not let him have it.

However, even if they do get it, it's use should never be a surprise - you'll know they have it, and can begin to plan early for countering it. For instance, attacking that player early in the round could force him to use it earlier than expected. Or, if you have a good political card in your hand, take Assembly, and wait for him to use all his resources (and likely much of his influence) building, then activate Assembly - his votes will be minimal, and depending on the card, you could potentially hinder his build a lot.

Take away his planets, reduce his resources - the less resources he has to build with, the less use he'll be able to get out of Production.

In short, while Production can be nasty, it should never be a surprise - if someone takes it, assume the worst that they WILL use it to build up as big a fleet as they can, and then either whittle away at them before they can use it, put some "screens" in the way (IE, single destroyers as a buffer zone, to prevent a direct assault), etc. Really, if Production is making them unstoppable, it means that players weren't paying attention to them earlier in the game when they were gathering resources and building their fleet. Don't let a player continually take this card if they are using it to amass a huge set of ships - it will only lead to pain!

Like all of the SCs, Production can be very useful in the right circumstances. I've never known it to be a game breaker though. (Game maker, maybe, but not breaker.) I think at this point it would be prudent to mention that I think a lot of people use terms like "overpowered" or "game breaking" too loosely. Just because you lost doesn't mean the other guy cheated somehow. If your opponent has a good strategy built up around Production, it might well be difficult to stop him, but that doesn't mean the card is broken.

Sigma's suggestions are all good ones. And he's right, Production should never be a surprise, especially if the same guy keeps taking it turn after turn. If you don't want him to have it, take it first (or make a deal with one of your allies to take it, if you can.) Don't focus so hard on your own plan that you ignore what other people are doing, the ability to react and change is an important part of any strategy. As the military types like to say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Thanks for the replies

I believe my greatest mistake regarding this was like both sigma and steve points out, being oblivious to what my neighbour were doing. So to look over my shoulder a bit more often couldn't hurt. The solutions provided by sigma are good, but picking the assembly-card requires a lot of strategycards in play each round (as it is traditionally a low-pick when playing with 5 players and 5 cards as I did). Cards like leadership, technology, trade, production, and warfare seems to go first. By the way, noone picked bureaucracy very often, and so we were in round 3 before we got any objectives in our 5-player game. Is this normal?

Being knocked off ballance early by this card by a good player was gamebreaking for me this time, the but next I will be prepared (I hope). So I agree with steve it is by no means "imba". Thank you both!

SigurdIronfist said:

Assembly is a situational card. But it can be very powerful! Don't undersestimate it. You get action card from it, for one thing, which can be good or bad, but it also allows you to take the Speaker Token (or give it to someone else, often the player to your right) - and controlling the Speaker Token can be a HUGE advantage in many situations.

However, Assembly is just one possible counter - there are definitely others that can help put pressure on the Production-grabber. As you say, don't be oblivous to your neighbor - this is not a game where you can win by focusing on your own plans and ignoring the other players for any length of time. You need to constantly adjust strategy to not let others jump ahead when you can prevent them from doing so!

SigurdIronfist said:

It's somewhat common for it to not be picked the first round or two. That's part of the reason that you turn up an objective to start the game - to at least have SOMEthing to work towards. It can have some usefulness in the early game to control the direction of the objectives, but typically it's not until it gets a few Bonus counters that it gets picked.

In the late game, however, Bureaucracy can become the most powerful card - especially in the hands of the leader. When Imperium Rex has the potential of coming up, it is imperative that the players prevent the leader from getting ahold of Bureaucracy, because if the leader grabs it, and Imperium Rex is in the next two cards, they can end the game! That, and Bureaucracy can be a great way of catching up if you are falling behind.

All the Strategy Cards can be very useful - you just have to know the game situation, know how and when they are most effective, and the power that they COULD give other people. Sometimes taking a card you don't want quite as much to prevent someone else who could abuse it is worthwhile!