I played two games against Soxford's Silica deck this morning and we got to talking about the rocks. I was playing them a lot for a while after Maelstrom was released but lately I haven't at all. I still don't think I have a very solid deck and the reason, strangely enough, is that there are too many possibilities. There are way more good cards than you could put in a deck and several paradigms that seem (in theory at least) like they could be very effective. And most importantly, of all the strong cards and combos I can't sort out which ones go well together to form deck flow and synergy. It's more than I can get my head around so I thought I'd outline the possible ways to go and hopefully get some feedback. So, in true Silica fashion, 'The Silica Question' will quickly fragment into dozens of other questions coming at you in a slow but steady stream until you are totally overwhelmed. Ready for that? Here goes:

Assault Troopers?

The first card to come to mind is Assault Troopers. It's a hugely powerful and versatile card, but how is it best supported? I know I need lots of cits to make good use of AT. Peaceful Farmer's activated effect can churn out a lot of non-influence cits (at 3 Life a pop) so if you run PF you will need a lot of Life. Oath of Allegiance might also be good if I go that route, or it might be unnecessary. What about Creche instead of PF? I don't normally like limiting my options but if you've got ships coming out of your hand maybe it's ok. Maybe you can safely make your hw a cit factory when you know your cit's can also become troopers for instant offense. AT also turns t1 conq's into voters so you can run lots of them and not groan when you draw them endgame.

If you go with lots of t1 conq's you have lots of flags around. Field Commander puts them to use, and raises more questions. I don't normally like to run Archaeologist because I don't like to create targets that I must defend at all costs. I figure one of those (the hw) is enough. But with a high influence hero in play maybe it feels safer. What about Shared Knowledge? If you have the flags and the influence and you're going to make that target planet anyway why not go for the big bonus instead? Does creating such a choice target warrant a debuff like Upheaval or Solar Flare? Nice to create the target and then remove it from play if it's threatened, that would divert a lot of your opponent's resources to a much smaller than expected gain.

What about Field Commander

Field Commander also seems to beg the inclusion of Replicant. If you do get him to the opponents hw then a couple of Replicants can either win you the game or force your opponent to leave a lot of voters at home. Replicant is also a great answer to nasty heros like Archon Overseer, or to game breaking conq's like Field Agents and Iconoclasts.

Another question raised by Assault Troopers is that of heros and leadership. High beam loves high leadership of course and there are a few ways to get that. Born Leader is the obvious way but maybe not the most effective. I've seen very high leadership achieved with the Battle Readiness/ The Supreme Legacy combo. But lacking that Promo (as most of us always will) Battle-Hardened still works well with TSL for the same reason: the bonus leadership becomes permanent when the 'Heir' is created, and then is given to the new hero also, so it effectively doubles. Theoretically this should also work with Command Upgrade's activated effect (+1 leadership for each local cruiser), if you trigger it prior to playing TSL, although I haven't tested it. If Field commander is the target you would effectively keep your FC with +1 influence and get another hero with the leadership bonuses built in. Flagship's leadership bonus is also double-able with TSL. I haven't mentioned the most powerful Silica Leader, Stonecutter, since his true effect is generally to produce 5 destiny when he takes one for the team (Assassinate). Given that no one is dumb enough to fight him, does he warrant the deck space and the tech cost? He doesn't go with TSL at all since you would lose his sweet effect. Is he better or worse?

Which Ships should I Include?

And now the big question: what about ships? At what point do more big slow ships become redundant for Silica? (Tangent: If you're going high cyber Engine Upgrades are obvious includes, but if you're going high life do they still make the cut considering that they may come later in the tech curve?) Flagship and Bulwark make sense if you're going life, but if you're going cyber heavy the questions multiply in a hurry. I've had success with Battle Configuration and Dimensional Duplication (the capital is not unique) especially when I can get a cruiser to the SC for the fist vote and win PK to get the second cruiser ingredient. You've got 1 influence on that Bat Con ship, do you add Ship of Conquest's to make it a conq machine? Hopecrushers go well with that theme too as they can also be duplicated. Are Behemoth and Carrier redundant if you run BatCon/ DimDup? Are they a better alternative? Is Ship of the Line better than a cruiser and does it ever make the cut?

If you have flags in play Remote Fort is 20/18. That's nice to drop on a key artie. Outpost would seem to be a better play if you're going to 4 Life though, at 20/28. A Border Guard would take it up to 24/28, and a Battle-Hardened to 28/28 since it has 4 attacks as opposed to RemoteFort's 2. But there's little hope of getting it out before the first vote.

Deployment and Dry Dock

Speaking of 'deploy anywhere', the Underground Hangar. I haven't playtested it yet but in theory it seems pretty awesome. Does Decoy become viable with UH's in your deck? Or is Deployment Module still a better approach since you can also deploy personae (like FieldCom's for instance)?

And Dry Dock? Building cruisers for 5bp seems like a no-brainer but I've heard it dismissed by a couple of vets. Certainly the crazy combos with Hand of Assimilation and Transformation Pad are clunky and unnecessary, but on it's own it seems like a winner. Using Leto's bp index it takes a while to pay for itself strictly in terms of production: if scouts are worth 5bp or 4tech and cruisers 8bp/6tech then it takes 20 bps, 4 scout-cruiser conversions, to make up for the initial 8 tech investment. However, it is a ship in itself, 8/30, and gives +2 hull regen to all locals, both of which are harder to factor in.

Advanced Missile Technology was conceived as an attempt to give Silica some teeth but it seems inferior to Neural Graft Interface. Do either make the cut?

Defense

Defensively, Titanium Plate is a favorite of mine since it makes you more able to get into defended planets with the intention of getting off a Ground Assault. If you run 4 Scrapyard Scavengers (which is maybe the only given in this whole equation) is TP redundant? What about Ularium Plating, does that make the cut on the cyber side? What about life where it by necessity falls further along the tech curve?

Ground Assault is key for cit removal, but what about Blitzkrieg? It's great if you're going hw but that decision is determined by the map and your opponents race and military strength, neither of which are known when deckbuilding.

One 'auto-include' that I have a hard time including these days is Hand of Conquest. On the wrong map it's dead weight, but it's another card that screams to take a spin with Field Commander.

Visiting Ambassador/Cloned Tralnaxran? Awesome to force your opponent to discard 2 cards and then kill his persona and pick up a minimum 2 influence for your trouble. But neither card is great by itself so that's a lot of dross if one doesn't turn up. CT takes out the persona with the most influence, but if there's a tie (all 1 inf cits at the SC) that persona may be your own. Are there other cards that can support this combo to make it more viable? Would you run Xenology Degrees with it? Or is it all fool's gold?

How About Heavy Life

Back on the life side of the coin, what about Remote Informants and Underground Resistance? You're going to 6L for the Flagship anyway, right? The obvious answer is 'just play Omior' but maybe the political advantage with AT makes Silica more attractive. Speaking of political, is there any reason not to run 4 Foreign Aids if you are going up the life side (and you have them?)

There aren't many cheap cards I've mentioned so far except for t1 conq's. Hull regeneration makes skirmishing (entering inconclusive battles) more attractive to Silica so maybe Empathy is a good include to take advantage of your ability to get into and (hopefully) out of enemy territory. Does it come before or after Archaeologist on the list of priorities? Veteran Crew is one of my favorite 1 tech cards but is it worth running in silica where the shield regen effect is lost? I think the other 2/3 of the card are still more than worth the 1 tech. But does it warrant taking deck space away from more expensive cards if you have the 1 tech slot full of conq's already?

In Conclusion with Confusion

When I build for any other race there's a natural progression that leads to a deck. When I build for Silica these questions pummel me into submission. I don't expect anyone to answer all of them one by one, so how about answering them all at once by publishing a deck? There are still only two Silica decks on Kit's site, neither of which really help: one because it's Common Ground, the other because it splashes 3 entropy. Can anybody publish something with a brief explanation of their choices?

It would be much appreciated.

As a starting point for discussion here's an untested 40 card deck based on the above (and the rares I have):

4 Scrapyard Scavengers
3 Mark of Life
3 Advancing Horde
4 Peaceful Farmer
3 Ground Assault
4 Field Commanders
3 Silica Cruiser
2 Stonecutter (Veteran of the Exchange)
2 Replicants
4 Assault Troopers
3 Foreign Aid
2 Underground Resistance
1 Flagship
2 Shared Knowledge