General EXP Question

[dudeenriquez]

Back with another clarifying bit. Can you spend exp on your bridge through say a basic character and then upgrade it through either Starfleet Academy or Peek Performance? Same question for characters and other upgrading effects (i.e. can Yar upgrade a maneuver before turning into Riker off Peek Performance).Sorry for the multiple questions, but Starfleet Regulations just require a few clarifying clauses (and not like Santa Clause the Tim Allen).

[Alex_Bandai]

Yes, you can.
You can play a card, apply its effect and then play an effect that upgrades that card.
The only thing you lose are the stats that card added to your ship because those are constantly checked.

[Alex_Bandai]

This was done on purpose to help speed up the game.

[dudeenriquez]

Excellent reasoning Right now the game seems to move at about Full Impulse, which isn't bad just different. The pun is brought to you by Delost.

[hepcat]

So you could play a basic card, use its XP to buy something, upgrade that card then use the upgraded card's stats on your flagship for a battle or what not?

[Alex_Bandai]

Almost got it but not exactly.
You can:
1) Play the Character and apply its effect (with Basic Characters that means gaining the XP)
2) Spend that gained XP
3) Play a card such as Starfleet Academy to upgrade that Character BUT the new Character that you upgraded into will go to your discard area, so you will lose the stats that the original Character was giving your ship.
Although you could choose explore first while the Character is still giving your flagship stats, then after the explore you can upgrade the Character.

[hepcat]

Ah, the latter half of step 3 explains it all. Thanks!

[iustus]

Two followup questions.

(1) Does the exp you gain from basic character(s) remain after you have upgraded the character(s), or do you need to spend the points before you upgrade the character(s)? (We guessed that you have to spend the points while the card is still on your bridge)

(2) If you explore, and an event or starship comes up that will result in a battle, and you have not yet either (a) spent all your exp or (b) upgraded a card you intend to upgrade; can you do that before resolving the battle? If not, and your flagship is destroyed, then you lose your chance to spend the exp correct? If I read this correctly, the player basically has to take a risk that their flagship will not be destroyed when choosing to explore when they also have upgrade possibilities and the player should almost always spend their exp prior to exploring.

Thanks!

[Mr. Domino]

(1) Nope - once you play down a basic character (or gain XP in any other manner, such as The Traveler), that XP goes into a pool, sort of like mana in Magic: The Gathering. Whether or not the cards that gave you the XP are still in your bridge or points area, the XP itself remains until either you spend it or the end of your turn, whichever comes first.

(2) No, once a card is explored from the space deck, you must immediately resolve any flip effects, and flagship destruction will result in the end of your turn - however, there's actually very few cards in the exploration scenario that can destroy an undamaged starter ship.

[Space Elmo]

For 2b, Peak Performance and Starfleet Academy are both Setup-type cards which cannot be played in battle.
A character like Toral can probably still use their effect, but you do loose the stats when the old card gets trashed and the new one is in your discard pile.