These rulings are organized as follows. -*- Name or card (or card type) Person who made ruling Date of ruling The ruling on the card. -*- These rulings were culled from the b5ccg list, rangers list and USENET. Only those rulings made by Doug Williamson, Kevin Tewart or John Hart are included here. These rulings supercede any previous rulings and will be superceded by any subsequent rulings. This file is available via the web at http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~northrup/b5ccg/rulings.jan28 -*- Heralds of the Grey John 26 Jan 1999 Cannot sustain as it does not meet the requirements to sustain (it requires an additional card to rotate (namely the Grey Council Fleet)) -*- Who Are You John 26 Jan 1999 Non-Aligned characters with 'Species Ambassador' in their effects cannot rotate to gain a Vorlon mark unless they are the faction ambassador -*- What Do You Want John 26 Jan 1999 Non-Aligned characters with 'Species Ambassador' in their effects cannot rotate to gain a Shadow mark unless they are the faction ambassador -*- Trade Windfall John 26 Jan 1999 Only the faction playing the card gains the benefit from Trade Windfall (not any other factions of the same race). -*- Border Raid John 26 Jan 1999 If there are two (or more) factions of the same race in play (not in a state of Civil War) and one of the factions is in play, and one of the factions is targeted with a Border Raid, an alternate racial faction may participate with one of their fleets instead of the targeted faction. In other words, any of the factions of the targeted faction's race may participate in the Border Raid, but only one fleet from that race may become a participant fleet. -*- Londo Mollari Doug 27 Jan 1999 Londo only gains an additional Strife Mark if he does not already have a weapon. He does not lose the additional marks if he loses the weapon. -*- First/Second/Third United Fleet John 25 Jan 1999 When you bring out a United Fleet, you use the current military of the fleets being replaced. Leaders of the replaced fleets are not neutralized or put out of play. Support Fleets targeting the replaced fleets are not neutralized -*- Ranger Training Doug 27 Jan 1999 If you use Ranger Training on Susan Ivanova, then replace her with Commander Ivanova, Commander Ivanova does not get the effect text of "Ranger" -*- Maintain the Peace/Shadow Cloud/Vorlon Planet Killer John 26 Jan 1999 A person with Maintain the Peace can use its ability to prevent Shadow Cloud or Vorlon Planet Killer from resolving. If it does this it is discarded at the end of the round that it does not resolve -*- Telepath Recruit John 26 Jan 1999 The telepath recruit has no species and does not count for the purposes of Fulcrum of Power. -*- Empire Builder/(any Contingency or Aftermath) John 26 Jan 1999 Contingencies played on a Military conflict are discarded when revealed. For Conflict Contingencies played on a military conflict targetable by Empire Builder, they go to the discard pile before the conflict does. Any aftermaths played on the military conflict are discarded simultaneously with the conflict and can be done in the order the owner chooses. -*- (any Character Leading a Fleet) John 25 Jan 1999 You cannot attack Characters leading a Fleet in a conflict. The only characters that may be attacked are those who have previously rotated to either support, oppose, or attach during a current conflict. Leading a fleet is none of these (even though the character becomes a conflict participant by doing it). -*- Glitch John 25 Jan 1999 You may not play a second copy of an enhancement on the same target if the first enhancement is Glitched. The title is unchanged by the glitch as is the fact that it is an enhancement. The fact that they might have different text does not chance that the enhancements both have the same title and cannot have the same target. -*- Declaration of War/(States of War) John 25 Jan 1999 When to factions go to war with a different race, any other factions of the other race are at war as well. -*- Full Mobilization John 25 Jan 1999 Full Mobilization increases the cost to sponsor, play and promote cards including those cards for which there is generally no cost (including Conflicts, Contingencies and Aftermaths). Note that this does not apply to replacing an Agenda. -*- Seizing Advantage/Obstacles to Victory John 25 Jan 1999 Permanent power gained from fulfilling the requirements on Seizing Advantage is not affected by Obstacles to Victory. OtV affects continuous power bonuses, not instant power changes. -*- Londo Mollari/Lord Mollari John 27 Jan 1999 If you give Londo a weapon enhancement with a Strife Mark (say a Concealed Weapon) then replace him with Lord Mollari, Lord Mollari will now have 3 Strife Marks (one from the Lord Mollari and two that transfer from Londo). -*- Defense in Depth John 27 Jan 1999 Influence from DiD counts as power. The +5 Military granted by DiD applies to all locations you control, not just locations of your race. -*- Vorlon Enhancement/Lethke Zum Batrado/Chosen of God John 27 Jan 1999 Vorlon Enhancement does not alter a character's printed Psi. Therefore, a Vorlon Enhanced Lethke Zum Batrado with Chosen of God targeting the Brakiri has a total Psi of 15 (his printed Psi doubles to 4 which Vorlon Enhancement raises to 15). -*- New Priorities Doug 27 Jan 1999 The influence cost referred to on the card is the current cost-to-sponsor for both the card being replaced and the card replacing it including doubling for cards loyal to another race, effects of Disaffected Characters, etc. -*- Strike at the Heart John 27 Jan 1999 If your faction loses Strike at the Heart and another player has your Assistant in play, your faction is eliminated. Interpret the phrase "your assistant" to mean "the ambassador's assistant for your ambassador who is in your faction." If you do not control your assistant, they will not lead your faction. -*- Strike at the Heart/Plague John 27 Jan 1999 If the Non-Aligned player initiates SatH, another player plays Plague targeting the NA player's Ambassdor's Assitant's race (Markab), the SatH conflict fails and the Plague conflict succeeds, the new Ambassador stays around. No other cards of that race may (re)enter play. -*- Strike at the Heart/Attacking Pawns/Extreme Sanctions John 27 Jan 1999 If Player 1 initiates SatH, Player 2 initiates AP or ES targeting Player 1's Ambassador's Assistant, Player 1 loses SatH and Player 2 wins their conflict, Player 1's Assistant is the new Ambassador and stays in play. Player 2's conflicts succeed but have no effect. -*- Valarius John 27 Jan 1999 If the Valarius leaves play, all faction enhancements sponsored through the use of the Valarius stay in play. -*- Valarius/Fast Transport John 27 Jan 1999 If sponsored as a faction enhancement using the Valarius, Fast Transport may be used on any fleet in your faction. However, since it must be rotated to use its effect, it can only be used on one fleet per turn. -*- Force Majeure John 27 Jan 1999 If you rotate a fleet to enhance another fleet's military, you may count it's Military rating in addition to the bonus it gives to the enhanced fleet. -*- Master of All/To The Victor John 27 Jan 1999 If you apply more support to a Master of All conflict (i.e. the final all abilities conflict) than the initiator and play To the Victor as an aftermath, you win a Major Victory. -*- Guarded Resource John 21 Jan 1999 Guarded Resource played on an enhancement which has specific conditions for discarding in general will prevent a card from being discarded if the condition is an "instant" effect. Guarded Resource used on the following Enhancements prevents the enhancement from being discarded if the requirements on the card's text for discarding are fulfilled: To Stand Alone, Commerce Raiding, Isolationism, Luxuries of Homeworld, No Alternatives, Overworked, Premonition*, Propoganda, Prove Your Worth, Shadowwatch, Unrelenting Pressure, Vital Interests, We Are Not Impressed, Babylon 5 Unrest, Forced Commitment. For Premonition, you have the option of not playing the event in which case it stays around to be used later if possible. Guarded Resource will prevent the following Enhancement's effects from being used when used in conjunction with them: Shadow Medallion, Knowledge, Then Action, and Recalled. When used in conjunction with Vorlon Proxy, Guarded Resource will prevent VP from being discarded due to voting, but not if another faction has more Vorlon marks than you. -*- We Are Not Impressed/Internal Opposition John 22 Jan 1999 Internal Opposition may be used to discard We Are Not Impressed. -*- (No Cost Cards) John 22 Jan 1999 In general, if you are playing one card which refers to the influence cost of another card, it cannot target a card which has no influence cost. For example, you cannot use Forced Evolution to discard a United Fleet nor may you use Eliminate Threats to discard a Forced Impairment Enhancement. -*- (Tournament scoring) John 22 Jan 1999 If every player fulfills the requirements for a Major Victory on the same turn, every player scores a Major Victory. For tournament scoring purposes, you total the points for the first X places in the tournament (where X is the number of players scoring a Major Victory) and divide the total by the number of players who scored the Major Victory. For awarding bonus points, you split them up as evenly as possible and have each of the winners award the points. When the number of points is not evenly divisible by the number of winners, both players must agree on whom to give the odd point. -*- (Ambassador's Assistant) John 22 Jan 1999 Works exactly as stated in the new rulebook. This states that if Faction 1 sponsors Faction 2's Ambassador's Assistant, the Faction 2 may, as an action, rotate the Ambassador's Assistant to either increase their Ambassador's abilities or reduce the cost of the next card sponsored by their Ambassador. -*- Alliance John 22 Jan 1999 The influence gain from successful resolution of Alliance is based on the two targets' influence immediately prior to alliance resolving. -*- Playing Both Sides/Ulkesh John 22 Jan 1999 If you discard or replace Playing Both Sides while Ulkesh is in play, you will lose the Shadow Mark and keep the Vorlon Mark. -*- Short Term Goals/Not Meant To Be John 21 Jan 1999 If you play Short Term Goals, gain an influence into your unspent pile and someone NMTB's your STG, you may lose the influence from your spent pile. -*- Conscription John 21 Jan 1999 You may play conflict if your unrest is already at 5. When looking for a card, you must put into play the first card of any type that specifies your race (including Agendas, Characters, Locations, Fleets, Groups and Enhancements) -*- Guarded Resources John 21 Jan 1999 When the target of an Enhancement leaves play, all attached cards must also leave play. Guarded Resources cannot prevent this. -*- (Contingencies)/(Replacing characters) John 21 Jan 1999 When replacing a character, contingencies do not transfer from the replaced character to the replacing character. -*- Nhuk/Vrek John 21 Jan 1999 Nhuk/Vrek may use his ability multiple times in a single round because he does not Rotate to do his affect. -*- Vizak John 21 Jan 1999 Leading a fleet does not count as supporting or opposing a conflict. -*- Forced Impairment/The White Star John 21 Jan 1999 You cannot Forced Impair The White Star because this fleet may not be enhanced. If you target The White Star with Forced Impairment, the conflict may succeed for aftermath purposes, but will have no effect. -*- (Replacing Characters) John 21 Jan 1999 When replacing a character, you transfer all enhancements from one character to another (and purge any apporpriate marks) if specified, transfer all marks from one character to another if specified, remove from play the replaced card and discard any attached aftermaths and contingencies attempting to purge from the character any appropriate marks. -*- Tu'Pari/(Attacking Characters) John 21 Jan 1999 You cannot attack if you would be attacking with a zero ability. -*- Chosen of God John 21 Jan 1999 In order to qualify for the +1 bonus, all participants including fleets must be of the chosen race. -*- Combined Fleet/United Fleet John 21 Jan 1999 Since Combined Fleet has no species, you must discard a fleet of another race or two fleets of different species in order to use it to bring a United Fleet into play. -*- Limited Strike/Border Raid John 21 Jan 1999 If a race is targeted that has multiple factions in play, either of those factions may participate in the conflict (though, with Border Raid, only one ship from the race as a whole may participate). -*- Alliance John 21 Jan 1999 Alliance generates influence from the conflict, not the State of Alliance it creates, therefore you may rotate your homeworld to generate an additional influence from it. -*- Feint John 21 Jan 1999 You may initiate the same conflict that you returned to your hand. -*- Inflexible Plans/Not Meant To Be John 18 Jan 1999 If you are targeted by Inflexible Plans, are forced to discard 2 NMTBs from your hand, play the remaining NMTB, return the 2 NMTBs to your hand, then your opponent NMTBs your NMTB, you discard "all but one" NMTB leaving you with one remaining. -*- Changeling Net/Du'Rog John 18 Jan 1999 You may not use Du'Rog's effects text if you fail to successfully use a Changeling Net on another character to copy his text because the targetted character is removed from the game, not discarded. -*- Changeling Net Kevin 6 Jan 1999 The target of Changeling Net has its current text blanked when using Changeling Net to copy another character's text. -*- Buy Favor John 18 Jan 1999 The recipient of Buy Favor may not rotate their homeworld to gain an additional influence. -*- (Cards with 'could be sponsored' in the text) John 18 Jan 1999 If a card states that its effects depend on whether or not another card could be sponsored (i.e. Consultants, Conscription, Ranger Operations, Reservations, etc) you must be able to satisfy all state and mark requirements but do not need to have a ready Inner Circle character or the necessary influence to actually sponsor the card. -*- Fast Learner John 18 Jan 1999 Fast Learner changes the printed ability rating on the card. -*- Fast Learner Doug 26 Jan 1999 If Fast Learner leaves play, the ability bonuses granted by it are still in effect. -*- Exploration Kevin 26 Jan 1999 Exploration works based on the current printed military of the targeted fleet. -*- (Enhancements) John 18 Jan 1999 Enhancements do not continually check for legal placement. If a card becomes an invalid target for sponsorship of an Enhancement, the Enhancement is not discarded. -*- Grassroots Support John 18 Jan 1999 If you play this on one of your conquered locations, you do not need a second copy of the location to re-play it immediately. -*- Lethke Zum Bartrado/Consultants John 18 Jan 1999 If you play LZB with Consultants and use his ability, the card under him is returned to its owner's deck when LZB returns to Consultants -*- Day of the Dead/(Replaceable character) John 18 Jan 1999 If you Day of the Dead a replacable character then replace them the replaced character stays in play at the end of the turn. -*- Peaceful Unification John 15 Jan 1999 If you have a neutral character who has 2 stats that are qual, he does not gain a +1 bonus because he does not have a single highest statistic. -*- High Level Connections/Power Play John 15 Jan 1999 High Level Connections prevents the increase in unrest for Power Play. Since the increase did not occur, the cost was not paid and no Shadow marks are gained. -*- Consultants John 14 Jan 1999 Using the ability of Consultants does not count as sponsoring the character. Treat hiring a consultant in the same way you would treat Soul Hunting that card. Note that these effects when used on Emperor Cartagia will kill Emporer Turhan. -*- Soul Hunter/Day of the Dead/Unexpected Return John 14 Jan 1999 You may use DotD or a Soul Hunter to bring a character from the discard pile even if you do not satisfy the mark requirements to do so. If this character is only able to enter play via replacement (ala Mr. Morden) you may bring the character into play even if you still do not satisfy the mark requirements. -*- (Cards that say "X gains Y" and cards that say "X gains a bonus to Y") John 14 Jan 1999 There is no functional difference between the two phrasings -*- Changeling Net/Forced Impairment John 14 Jan 1999 Bold text on a card is not part of the standard effect text and is not copied or blanked by CN and is not blanked by FI. -*- ("Neutralized in the conflict") John 14 Jan 1999 This means being neutralized during a turn in the action round in which an attack takes place where the attack was permitted because the target of the attack was a participant in said conflict. -*- Plans Revealed John 14 Jan 1999 You can play this on your own hidden agenda. -*- University Complex John 14 Jan 1999 The bonus from UC does not apply to the Ambitious Captain or Captain Pierce. -*- We Are Not Impressed John 14 Jan 1999 A player may initiate a Leadership conflict to get rid of WANI. -*- ("may initiate a conflict of any type") John 14 Jan 1999 If a player may initiate a conflict of any type, they may initiate a Leadership conflict. -*- (Racial cards) John 14 Jan 1999 Anything that does not specify "Neutral" (or is blank, e.g. "Groups") counts as being a part of a "race" for game purposes. -*- (Cards which purge marks) John 14 Jan 1999 In general, effects on cards do not require that all effects take place. So, for cards which say to purge a mark (as an effect, not a cost) if you are unable to do this this does not prevent the other effects of the card from occuring. This applies specifically to Shadows Fall and Light Shines. -*- We Are Not Impressed John 14 Jan 1999 If a card provides a power "sink" (i.e. negative power) it is negated by WANI. -*- Playing Both Sides John 14 Jan 1999 Assuming PBS is blanked somehow and you gain another Mark (either Shadow or Vorlon), you retain the extra mark if PBS is ever unblanked. -*- (Neutralized characters) John 14 Jan 1999 Things that must target a ready character cannot target a neutralized character. -*- (modification of abilities) John 13 Jan 1999 The official way to apply multiple modifications to abilities is to take the printed value (which is modified only by effects which specify they modify printed abilities), perform all multiplications or divisions to this value, then perform all additions or subtractions to that result. -*- (cumulative effects) John 13 Jan 1999 Effects that halve something (i.e. damage) are not cumulative. -*- Defector Revealed John 13 Jan 1999 The Disaffected Character being replaced is removed from play. -*- (Cards which specify "cannot") John 13 Jan 1999 Cards which specify "cannot" are not overridden by any card unless the card specifically says it overrides the effect. -*- Kosh Naranek John 13 Jan 1999 Kosh Naranek pictures a Vorlon Mark to indicate that he is a potential source for Vorlon Marks. He does not provide any automatically. Any player can sponsor this group but a faction with shadow marks could not use his abilities. -*- Playing Both Sides/John Sheridan John 13 Jan 1999 Sheridan will only gain 1 Vorlon/Shadow Mark if PBS is sponsored into a faction with him as the Ambassador. -*- Ambassador Kosh John 13 Jan 1999 Ambassador Kosh's Vorlon Mark cannot be purged. -*- Lorien/Ulkesh John 13 Jan 1999 A faction with Lorien and Ulkesh in play may not purge Vorlon Marks. Ulkesh's cannot supercedes Lorien's requirement. -*- Diplomatic Intrusion Doug 25 Jan 1999 This card blanks the target agenda during resolution, not before. The effect it has if unsuccessful is to prevent the Victory Check for that round only. -*- ("Count every X as 1 power") Doug 25 Jan 1999 In general you must have a full increment of X to gain 1 power. -*- Power Play/Luis Santiago Doug 25 Jan 1999 You may use Luis Santiago to reverse the tension change due to Power Play. The Shadow Marks conferred are not affected by this reversal to unrest. -*- (Global Enhancements) Doug 25 Jan 1999 Only one of each Global enhancement may be in play at any given time. -*- Shadow Implants Doug 24 Jan 1999 If you play this on your Ambassador, you do not gain control of the Shadow Faction (gaining its influence and the ability to sponsor Shadow Fleets and Shadow Characters without restriction). Any character enhanced by this card loses their original racial designation (if any) and becomes a Shadow character. -*- Tu'Pari/(Attacking Character) Doug 22 Jan 1999 If Tu'Pari (or any attacking character) has enough damage to reduce an ability to 0 he cannot use that ability to attack. -*- (Non-Aligned Ambassadors) Doug 22 Jan 1999 If a card says it can target your Ambassador only and you are playing Non-Aligned, it can only target your starting faction's Ambassador (unless the card states otherwise). -*- Unrecognized Data Doug 15 Jan 1999 A fleet targeted by this event cannot be attacked. However, if it attacks it will still take damage as a consequence of that attack. -*- (Agenda generated conflicts) Doug 5 Jan 1999 If an agenda which allowed the initiation of a conflict is removed during the action phase, the conflict resolves normally. -*- (Non-Player Influence) Doug 5 Jan 1999 Babylon 5, the Shadows and the Vorlons can have their influence drop below 3 influence. -*- War Footing Doug 11 Jan 1999 If another faction has a copy of your limited Fleet in play, you may not sponsor a second copy of it into play. -*- Master of All Doug 4 Jan 1999 If this agenda is replaced, you must begin again in winning your conflicts. Any conflicts won prior to replacement do not count towards fulfilling the requirements for victory. -*- Plague Doug 28 Jan 1999 Plague must target a species which has a card in play. -*- Confusion in Chaos Doug 7 Jan 1999 You may use Shadow influence provided by Mr. Morden for Confusion in Chaos -*- Minister Durano Doug 12 Jan 1999 Minister Durano cannot gain a strife mark by any means, period. -*- Carrier Group Doug 14 Jan 1999 This card should read "This fleet may be the target of any number of each squadron enhancement. If one of your fleets participating in the same *conflict* as Carrier Group is neutralized, you may transfer all squadron enhancements from that fleet to the Carrier Group." The card has a typo and says "squadron" instead of "conflict". -*- (Major Victory) Kevin 2 Jan 1999 If you win a game by 10+ power, you automatically win a Major Victory even if you are eligible to win a standard victory. -*- Lethke Zum Bartrado Kevin 2 Jan 1999 There is not a way (other than neutralization) to allow LZB to discard/return a card he has hidden with his ability back to the top of the relevant pile. You may not use his ability to look at cards without placing one underneath him. -*- (Cards with "apply extra influence" on them) Kevin 5 Jan 1999 Cards with the text "apply extra influence" do not directly modify your influence rating and do not provide any power. -*- Prime Minister Mollari Kevin 6 Jan 1999 The Great War version of the card specifies "replace your Londo or Lord Mollari". The promotional version of this card says "replace a Londo or Lord Mollari". The Great War version takes precedence. -*- Entrap Kevin 17 Jan 1999 Fleet 1 attacks Fleet 2. Fleet 2 reveals the Entrap contingency. Fleet 1 does damage equal to its printed Military minus any damage it might have before Fleet 2's damage is applied to it (no other sources of Military or damage increases are taken into account). Fleet 2 does normal damage to Fleet 1 using it's Military before Fleet 1's damage is applied to it including any bonuses to Military or damage. -*- Call Their Bluff/Contingencies John 28 Jan 1999 Cards under Consultants are targetable by cards that target contingencies such as Call Their Bluff -*- (Targeted cards) John 28 Jan 1999 All cards that require a target require a target in play. For example, you cannot target a species without a card in play with Plague. You cannot target the Centauri with Euphrates Treaty if the Centauri faction is not in play. -*- Join the Corps John 28 Jan 1999 This may be played on any Neutral character with Psi including those targeted by Latent Telepath. Neutral characters targeted by JTC are treated as if they are Human characters and are no longer considered Neutral for any reason. -*- Knowledge, Then Action Doug 28 Jan 1999 When using this card, the character becomes rotated as part of the cost of using KTA. The player is then allowed to take two actions. -- Dylan Northrup <*> northrup@nwe.ufl.edu <*> http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~northrup/ "And Vir -- don't give away the homeworld." -- Londo, "Born to the Purple"