The first part of this is that the mirror universe were not a faction at the beginning of the game and that means most of their expansions are still available in stores, unlike some of the older factions where key pieces have become hard to find and the second reason is that even the worst expansions are still worth getting. For that second reason this list is a hard one because you can easily swap parts around and buy them in pretty much any order!
That being said, I'd start with the ISS Enterprise, the first ever mirror universe ship. The ship itself is okay, with a nice named ability allowing you to up your offence when you already have a ship target locked. Thrown into the package is Mr Spock, that rarified thing an action economy captain, who pairs well with mirror Sulu, allowing you to get a TL essentially for free, which in turn synergises well with the Ship's named ability. Another Easter egg in the ISS Enterprise expansion is Tantalus Field, a means of discarding enemy captains and crew for a disable, but at the hefty cost of 6 SP. That cost is mitigated somewhat by Marlena Moreau who reduces elite talent costs by one and boosts CS for an action. I find I rarely take Marlena because of the action requirement and because sulu is just better, but when combined with the tech Agony Booth, you can potentially use her once a game as a free action. It's a good expansion pack because so many things work together, but you'll mainly buy it for Spock and Sulu.
The second expansion I'd go for is the ISS Defiant. An improvement on the USS defiant in terms of stats (swap a red die for a shield) and named ability, the ISS Defiant comes with Rebellion and Mirror Bashir, a combo that could potentially drop an opponent's attack power by 4 and give you a free return attack into the bargain. Strafing Run is another way to get a free attack and because the defiant only has 3 hull it can combo with Worf in faction pure play and Improved Deflector Screens in Unlimited play. Captain O'Brien (Smiley) gives you a good action (repair) and adds a tech slot, Whilst mirror Sisko gives you a good combo platform for building a ship with one mega attack. Jennifer Sisko messes with your opponent's fleet right from the get-go and Mirror Jadzia gives you some survivability for a relatively cheap cost (2 sp). There is little in this expansion that can't be used for something, and as I said at the start, this is as good a place to start with mirror as the ISS Enterprise.
Every good fleet needs a battleship and Mirror Universe's battleship is the Regent's Flagship. The flagship has a mighty 7 hull and a dial to match but the named ability compensates for this somewhat and allows you to run the ship as a linebreaker, firing twice into the heart of an enemy fleet. There is a good synergy here with multi-targeting phaser banks from the defiant expansion too. Mirror admiral Worf can really help to boost the fleet's damage potential and Brunt is one of the better 1 point crew cards in the game. The generic ship is also well combined with a cloaking device.The other three retail expansions for Mirror Universe are all at about the same level as each other; much as the three retail mirror expansions above are at more or less the same level. Any or all of the ships could be swapped within that paradigm, so don't worry about an order except to say that you should have the three above before you get the three below.
The Krenim Weapon ship, the Kyana Prime, is a bit of an oddball expansion. It has moderately high PWV (4) and good survivability (6/4). The action bar of TL,BS and Scan is lacking evade, although the named ship's ability makes up for that somewhat. What's most odd about this ship is that it has one of the more confusing manoeuvre dials currently in the game: No 4 or higher straight manoeuvre but 6 greens and a white 2 hard turn make this thing slow but surprisingly manoeuvrable. Where this expansion really shines is that you get access to the Weapon upgrade "Chroniton Torpedoes". Chroniton Torpedoes suffer the same problems as most torpedoes in that they are action intensive and lack quality, but the advantage with these is that they completely bypass shields. That's huge, and with the right combination of stuff can be deadly too. Annorax is the highest CS captain available at CS8, and his ability is okay (but linked to the timeship). In most factions the ability to add a tech slot would be great, but MU seems overburdened with that type of upgrade. Not to be dismissed lightly though. All of the Tech upgrades are expensive here and expansion limited so they may be fairly easy to overlook, although spatial distortion is a fun card to have.
The first true "support" size ship of the MU fleet is the ISS Avenger. Weighing in at only 16 points, the named ability is among the better named abilities, allowing you to fire 2 extra red dice if you have an APT by the ship. This ship was dubbed the "Anger Cannon" by Tucker Cobey on State of the Federation and the synergies in this pack mean that you'll often be firing with those extra 2 dice. With Mirror Captain Spock, as well as Admiral Black giving you an APT for an action, this ship can be brutal in the right hands. The expansion also comes with some useful generic crew and Enhanced Hull Plating that will, surprise, surprise, give you an APT too.
A different type of support ship is the USS Pasteur. Its durability of 9 (5/4) make it an unlikely candidate for a support ship, but with only PWV and Agility 1, it comes in a neat 22SP package. The reason you buy this ship is not necessarily to do with its stats though, and is more to do with the upgrades that come with it. Admiral Riker and Beverly Crusher (Not Picard) are both serviceable captains, but the real fun comes with Alyssa Ogawa and the Elite Talents. Ogawa has such great synergy with Mirror Spock and Mirror Sulu and the two Talents, Starfleet Intelligence and Yellow Alert, give good non-action dice efficiency. Well worth picking up and although I've never come close to using the ship myself, I have fought against it on one occasion (it died).
By my reckoning that's all of the mirror universe retail expansions dealt with, so a customary stroll through the prize ships: The Assimilation Target Prime/Mirror Enterprise-D pack is great, both for the ship and Captain Riker, but desperately difficult to find at the moment. The Terix is what a D'Deridex should be, although unfortunately it isn't prime universe. As it is, it's a good ship but in a Romulan fleet it'd be a great ship. The Prakesh and Toh'Kaht are both good ships; the Prakesh in particular has a great ability, the Dorsal Weapons array at 2 points is well worth having multiples of, and I really wish that Tasha Yar had been with the ATP, since she'd make more sense on a Mirror Enterprise D than a Mirror cardassian ship.
All things considered then, my retail shopping list for Mirror Universe would be:
1. ISS Enterprise
2. ISS Defiant
3. Regent's Flagship
4. Kyana Prime
5. ISS Avenger
6. USS Pasteur
You can also do interesting things in faction, and you could quite easily split the faction into 3:
The Terran Empire/Human Resistance: ISS Defiant, ISS Enterprise, ISS Avenger
The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance: Regent's Flagship, Prakesh, Toh'Khat
Alternative Timelines: USS Enterprise-D, USS Pasteur, IRW Terix
So there you have it, a faction well worth investing in, that provides you with a lot of flexibility and should, fingers crossed, be readily available.
As always, comments and criticisms welcome....
I'm Not Picard!
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