Gabriel Lorca is an epic science officer in the Terran Empire officer group. He’s a hull breach officer, potentially the most powerful one in the game.
And like other Terrans, like Emperor Georgiou and Captain Tilly, he’s going to require Independent credits to upgrade.
Captain’s Maneuver
At the start of each round, if the opponent has a Hull Breach, Lorca decreases the opponent’s Weapon damage by 100% for this turn.
It’ll be interesting to see if this plays out this way in practice, but if you can reduce weapon damage by 100% every time you’ve got your opponent having a hull breach, AND you’ve got a 50 % chance of having a hull breach for two rounds, this ability seems like it should be firing off quite a bit.
Officer Ability
At the beginning of each round, Lorca has a (50% 60% 70% 75% 80%) chance of dealing a Hull Breach to the opponent’s ship for two rounds.
If you’ve got a powerful D4, you’re as excited about this as those featuring Augurs were when Phillippa Georgiou was introduced to the game. Unlike the previous best Hull Breach officer, Gorkon, who gave you a 70% chance of activating a hull breach every time you hit your opponent with a critical hit, Lorca gives you a flat 50% change in each round – to be set off for two rounds.
Now 50% is less than 70%, but when you realize that it’s 70% of a much smaller fraction, this should really set off your hull breach abilities much, much more often.
It’s also better than Kang’s captain’s maneuver, which ends after three rounds.
And that’s before you promote him. The odds are in your favor when it comes to running a hull breach crew with Lorca on board.
Of the new officers, Captain Tilly would be a good match, as her offensive and defensive abilities are both set off by hull breaches.
Jason Isaacs Trivia
Jason Isaacs was born in Liverpool, England on June 9th, 1963. (And I know, Liverpool in ’63, you’re probably wondering what the Beatles were doing that Sunday. They were playing a concert at the King George Hall, Blackburn to wrap up their third British tour.)
Isaacs was first exposed to American audiences when he played a NASA scientist in the 1998 JJ Abrams co-written movie, Armageddon.
When he first showed up as Lorca, I knew I recognized “that guy” from somewhere. So I looked him up, and he was the sadistic Tavington (based on the real-life Banastre Tarleton) in the Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot from 2000. That movie, by the way, also features the late, great Rene Auberjonois from both Star Trek VI, and Deep Space Nine – so I think it’s a safe bet we’ll be talking about him later.
In another Trek-connection, he appeared with Colm Meaney in 2004’s Battle of the Brave. And to be honest, I’m so looking forward to getting Engineering officer Miles O’Brien on the Defiant … someday. Hopefully.
And here’s where I think most of you will hate me. I’ve never watched a Harry Potter film.
Not one.
So I didn’t place him as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.
I’m sorry.
(cover photo, CBS All-access)