RR #1: Taris

This Card-Review article was written by Kathy McCracken and was published first on "Major Rakals Tal Shiar Headquarters (members.cox.net/majorrakal)" at Nov 21st, 1996.

This article is part of the article serie "Romulan Review" from "Major Rakal (Kathy Mc Kracken)". Also see:

• Next "Romulan Review" (# 2): "RR #2: Samaritan Snare".

For my first review, I've selected one of the new QC Romulans, IMO the Most Valuable Personnel in a green deck right now. No, it's not Sirol, though he's close. The honors go to...

TARIS

She's about 2/3 of a Jean-Luc Picard. And for the Romulans, that's saying a lot. She has OFFICER, Archaeology, and Music in common with the good Captain. Navigation is replaced by Transporter Skill, likely to prove quite valuable to nullify Anti-Matter Pods, even if you never need it against beaming interferences. No Honor, but no Treachery either, so she can get an Integrity boost from D’Tan from a comfortable 6 to a highly-respectable 7. No Diplomacy or Leadership, either; but both are common enough amongst other Romulans, and Leadership is largely redundant to an OFFICER anyway.

And these lacks are more than compensated for by her MEDICAL skill (second-listed, so immune to Tsiolkovsky Infection and Rascals). Finally, a Romulan doctor with other useful skills and decent stats! Until now we've had to get by with Takket (Exobiology, OK but that's all) and Vekor (slightly more useful with SCIENCE, Navigation, and almost useless Geology), the holographic Jera being virtually useless to the holodeck-deficient Romulans. Both are Firestorm and Thought Fire fuel without Lower Decks and D'Tan, as well as Hunter Gangs bait; Taris is immune to all three.

And while she helps run the Genetronic Replicator (which she could do alone with a Medical Kit) and get you by so many planet dilemmas, she also makes a new cornerstone of the popular Romulan Archaeology deck. With the new Plague Planet mission you can do a six-planet deck with Archaeology at every one.

But there's more. Romulans can now get a piece of the Ressikan Flute, which until now might as well have had a blue border. Add Galen (who also complements the Archaeology deck nicely) and maybe Amarie. Heck, Data’s Body if you can get the head to go with it. Stir well. 10-20 points, and it keeps your Fed opponent from playing his Flute (not duplicatable).

Want more? A big boost toward getting past Matriarchal Society for the predominantly male Romulans. With the same stats (+1 Strength) as Ocett and duplicating her OFFICER + Archaeology, Taris will probably displace her from a lot of decks where she was almost a necessity to augment the one useful universal and 3 unique females.

And finally, one "skill" dictated not by Taris' card but by the Haakona's lore "Subcommander Taris' warbird," deemed close enough by Decipher to qualify her for Captain’s Log benefits.

And this card has a green border??

The Major's Combos:
 

• Taris + Haakona + Captain's Log. 8-12-11.
• The above + Major Rakal + Roga Danar + Ira Graves + Kurlan Naiskos. 24-36-33. Go get an outpost. Throw in Plasmadyne Relay +Bynars Weapon Enhancement and anything bigger than a Scout Ship, and you can take out a Borg Ship.
• Taris + Toreth + Mirasta Yale. Just for the heck of it.