Preview here. Loving the continued references to other sci-fi.

The rest of the article 's interesting, but doesn't seem to add anything new beyond the discussions we've already seen on the forums.

While I agree that the sci-fi references are cute and add something to the game, with this card I'm beginning to wonder if they might be a bit too overt and/or overdone? It's one thing to make the occasional covert nod to the forerunners of the sci-fi genre (I especially stress the word covert ), but I feel it could become a bit distracting should references anywhere near as blatant as this one appear with any frequency.

Still no explanations of the blue dots. But since neutral cards don't have them I guess they are some 'loyalty' points as in Warhammer : Invasion…

MarthWMaster said:

I am not sure if this help but there are actually two works the card is referring to. One is an old classic and the second much more recent classic. Can anyone name them?

Mikko Leho said:

I'm not sure how old "old " is, ditto with "new", from your point of view, but the idea of "an escaped clone" coming from a life of hard labor is obviously a Blade Runner reference, which will qualify for one of your suggestions, just not sure which…

Melange Mining Corp and the moon colony being named Heinlein are also in the board game. It has quite a few of these overt references (the Weyland corp card has already been revealed, for instance), but the names are pretty much as far as it goes. Having read Dune or RAH's work (or knowing the Alien movies) won't give you any advantage or otherwise change your gameplay with respect to it.

cleardave said:

Actually I don't think they are referring to Blade Runner with that one. Blade Runner had artificial androids which I think corresponds to bioroids in Android universe.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I believe to correct reference is the movie Moon (2009), in which humanity is harvesting helium-3 from the moon using a workforce of clones. I am not going into more details, but there might be some escaping and/or morally corrupt corporation involved. The movie is a modern scifi masterpiece and I can recommend it without any reservations if you have not yet seen it.

Melange is another name for spice, which was one of the center elements of Frank Herbert Dune book series (1965->). There are few mentions how the spice must flow for the empire to function.

Mikko Leho said:

Keep in mind that Android was released in 2008, so no core elements of the setting were based on a movie released in 2009.

Bohemond said:

People have speculated about Helium-3 mining from the Moon for a long time. The escaped clone comment about brutal practices when mining he3 fits the movie perfectly. You can easily add references to works without making them core part of the setting.

Rick Henry is likely one of the many copies of the Henry clone line that Jinteki has developed; his "brother", Mark Henry, makes an appearance in Android as one of the murder suspects.

You've seen Juan, then you've seen Amahl.

Big Head Zach said:

You, sir, are FIRED!