Name: Ralph David (USA)
Card: RF #060 (Common)
Points: 1
Ability: Hostile:Pirate, Eternal.
Gus Schultz and Ralph David are one and the same.
One has a Hostile keyword and costs a point less;
that's the only difference. If any faction has ever
gotten shafted on crew as badly as the Americans
were in RotF, I'd hate to be a fan of that other
faction.
Eternal is very handy if it's on a ship that gets
sunk, but it's far from a bullet-proof solution. All
the enemy has to do is shoot your ship derelict and
tow it home; bang, you've lost it, Eternal or no
Eternal.
For Gus' two points, you don't really gain much.
Ralph's one point is more of a bargain; you could
also use him as a sacrificial crew, and give him up
to a lost boarding action or a whirlpool without
losing much, as an alternative to the Oarsmen that
they don't make any more.
Unless you mix Pirates and USA in your fleets,
there's no reason to use Gus Schultz if you have
Ralph. And if you have one point left and don't have
Divers, then by all means use Ralph.
I’m somewhat annoyed at how widespread the Eternal
keyword has become, but American players will love
that they get two named crew who have the Eternal
keyword and they’re both very cheap!
Gus Schultz and Ralph David are almost identical.
They both give a ship the Eternal keyword, but Ralph
David costs one point less since he also has
Hostile: Pirate. Gus Schultz costs just two measley
points and Ralph David is only a single point! If
you only play single nation games, then Ralph David
is obviously the superior choice. Even if you play
multi-nation games, you still have dozen of fine
boats from all the other nations to choose from, so
you can still use Ralph David if you want.
But for two points, you can spare an entire,
expensive ship filled with expensive and valuable
crew from being taken out of the game! How great is
that?
