"I think her only regret was that she let you down."
For far too long, Trek players had to endure the heavy sigh of Ro Laren, Maquis Sympathizer. While she had valuable skills and a standard attribute set, her being the only Bajoran affiliation Maquis member (until the Virtual Tabor was released) always put her out of sync with the rest of the freedom fighters. From a thematic standpoint it made sense that she should not be piloting (staffing) a Maquis ship alone, however, it was frustrating in game play. Traditionally, Maquis have struggled to solve missions as efficiently as other affiliations, which ultimately made her game text useless slop. Even virtual cards that enhanced reducing an opponent's hand size hardly made Ro Laren an exciting choice for a deck. With the eventual release of the latest Virtual Set by the Continuing Committee, Tacking Into the Wind, MS-sufferers have a new Maquis femme fetale choice: Ro Laren, Apologetic Defector.
I, and many others, have been calling for a Federation Maquis affiliation Ro Laren for years now, whether publicly or privately, and this version rocks. As has been suggested by others, the elements of design seem to be a combination of what both appealed and worked with the MS-version and the Virtual Ro Laren, Headstrong Ensign, and the thematic flavor of the character's identity crisis (where do her loyalties lie?) in the Star Trek episode, Preemptive Strike. In addition, several recent Maquis themed decks have crept away from what was considered their traditional home turf, Region: Demilitarized Zone missions. I certainly have (in favor of easier to solve missions) in an effort to avoid Modified Wins. AD-ness looks like a concerted effort to reenergize the DMZ for game play. Perhaps the mysterious Cosette AD commands will have a similar effect. So...
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= As has been suggested by others, AD's game text allows for some clever Event retrieval (when completing a DMZ mission), so traditional Maquis disruption cards (Organized Terrorist Activities, Stalling for Time), as well as some others (Ohhhh! Nothing Happened!) may get additional game play. Secret Identity will most certainly have a new targeting choice in AD. Her cost, staffing icon, and attributes all remain the same, and reasonably so. What I am most excited about though are AD's skills: Anthropology, Leadership, Navigation, Security, and Treachery. Anthropology. Now my decent Integrity Maquis, such as Chakotay and Tamal, are slightly more protected from dilemmas targeting this skill. In addition, Maquis have a slight improvement in attempting some non-traditional Maquis missions, such as Secure Strategic Base. Losing MS Programming is hardly bothersome, considering Pitching In (Maquis have an abundance of Leadership and Security) and Picking Up the Pieces are still popular in several tournament locales, so having AD ignored is awesome. Her skill set remains perfect for DMZ missions when combined with For the Cause or the Javert.
What AD does for Maquis is that she creates more options for players, while MS was more of a hindrance or an afterthought (unless in a Bajoran Treachery deck). Again, if the Cosette turns out to be a standard Maquis ship, additional Maquis builds may be improved, such as Deploy the Fleet and Maquis-inspired engagements. All of the elements put into the design of Ro Laren redux have come together well.
