One of the best things about this card is that it counters a first turn Temujin Contracts if you have at least one ice in your hand. The runner must pick a server to run when installing Temujin. Whichever central they pick, stop them before the run, rez your Assembly Lines, and ice the central they picked.

Advanced Assembly Lines holds a wealth of possibilities but is a bit dependent on the runner not running your remotes. With its low trash cost of 1 there is very little question that the runner will trash this card, unless you are Industrial Genomics: Growing Solutions and/or have some Hostile Infrastructure or Encryption Protocol installed. As an asset it will clog up one of your remote servers, so either you will need to protect it with Ice, or have a situation where the runner is reluctant to run your remotes (Gagarin Deep Space: Expanding the Horizon or Jinteki: Personal Evolution shell game).

It's important to note that Advanced Assembly lines has two seperate functions 1. Rezzing for 1 to gain 3, a net gain of 2. However this ability is not available to the corp if they have been Account Siphon/Lamprey/Vamped down to 0. 2. Installing any non-agenda card not during a run. This is similar to Executive Boot Camp or Tech Startup but far stronger because it can also be used for Upgrades or Ice and you do not need to reveal the card you installed. The disadvantage is that you can only install from what's in HQ and this ability cannot be used during a run, so if the runner runs on the server containing Advanced Assembly Lines, the opportunity is lost.

What can you do with Advanced Assembly Lines?

• Gain 2 by installing it, rezzing it and then using it to install something else. This can potentially gain more s if you have Turtlebacks installed. This effect vaguely resembles Green Level Clearance and has the advantage of getting two cards out of your hand, if you want to avoid discarding. While 2 for a card is not a horrible result, it's not optimum either. This could potentially be used as a response to Fisk Investment Seminar.

• Near-Earth Hub: Broadcast Center can install a new remote during the runner's turn to draw another card, trigger Turtlebacks and generally gain tempo. If you install SanSan City Grid you might even be able to score an agenda next turn. This is a great synergy since the runner might not check all your spammed remotes.

• This card is hidden credits. These credits can be used to punish runners face-checking Ice or running Ambushes when you are low on credits. Run Ice when you are down to 1? Hello Caduceus or Cortex Lock! 2 will get you to Architect/Rototurret and 3 will get you Komainu. What about Ambushes? 2 is enough for Snare! and just 1 is enough to trigger any psi game, so Caprice Nisei, Marcus Batty and Psychic Field are back on. The same goes for traps like Cerebral Overwriter, Aggressive Secretary or Edge of World. This does recommend it for play in PE shell game decks since you could even play it in a naked remote. Don't forget to use its trash ability at the end of the run and before the runner's next action. Now they know it's not an agenda, but could it be Jackson or a Ronin? You could also just install another Pup.

• Cyberdex Virus Suite that Clot!

• Install Corporate Town before the start of your turn and blow away an important resource.

• Install economy such as PAD Campaign, Adonis Campaign or Melange Mining Corp..

• Spend to purge viruses, gain 7 with melange or advance an agenda and then install something anyway.

• Install countdown/power-up cards like Public Support, Rex Campaign or Mumbad Construction Co.. In fact any non-agenda card that says "When your turn begins" can benefit from this treatment.

• Mushin No Shin and put two pieces of ice in front of the remote.

• Install Elizabeth Mills to instantly clear 1 bad publicity. Sadly you cannot do this in response to a Blackmail, but it will end any DaVinci/Activist Support/Aesop's Pawnshop nonsense. NB: Timing structure of a turn - you must wait til after they spend their 1st before they use their 2nd .

• Did the runner just install a breaker? Install Ice of a different subtype to protect your critical server.

• Keyhole, Medium or R&D Interface? Ice up R&D. Sneakdoor Beta? Ice up Archives. HQ Interface, Nerve Agent or Same Old Thing/Déjà Vu with/for Account Siphon in the heap? Ice up HQ.

• Did Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire or a bad Accelerated Beta Test drop some Agendas into Archives? Out comes Jackson Howard.

• Executive Boot Camp can give put the Asset you need in your hand for Advanced Assembly Lines to use. So can Project Vitruvius or Project Atlas. This works during any paid ability timing window except during a run.

• Did the runner just hit 3 Central Servers? Use the action window before the 4th click to install Hostile Infrastructure before the Apocalypse.

edit for Democracy and Dogma

• You can install the new Political Assets: Bio-Ethics Association, Clone Suffrage Movement, Sensie Actors Union and Commercial Bankers Group. You can also throw down Political Dealings for some fast advance trickery.

So this card is starting to sound really amazing! What about the downsides?

Again 1 to trash is really cheap, so it will make your R&D more porous to multiple access.

If you have agendas in hand then using it to install could raise the chance of a successful HQ access.

Also if your opponent runs on the server where it is installed it just turns into 2 for a and a card. (Although it's worth factoring in the cost of a 'wasted' run for the runner).

You must have the relevant card to install in your hand.

Lastly it costs 2 influence outside of so you'll need to budget for it if you want it.

The most popular use of Advanced Assembly Lines is in Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future. This is due to its ability to install a card on the Runner's turn, before he/she takes any action. Doing so maximizes HB:EtF's ability (as Manu l Humain has pointed out in his comment).

AAL has a similar effect to Lateral Growth, with a few notable differences.

Early in the game, it is played like an operation with a net effect of "When your turn ends, gain 3 credits and install a non-agenda card." This is potentially 4 credits (from HB:EtF) if it was the only card you installed during your turn.

Once you've built your scoring server, you can also place AAL there and bait the Runner to check it. In that case, you gain 2 credits, the Runner spends a bunch of clicks/credits breaking ICE and trashes AAL. Otherwise, you can pop it at the end of the Runner's turn to install Political Assets.

Naturally, AALs will be sitting in archives as the game goes on. Team Sponsorship allows you to put your AALs back to work again (because AAL! AAAAL!).

Holy money Batman! End of the Runner's turn, I'm playing ETF with one of these bad boys installed in a scoring server with Breaker Bay Grid. One free credit, from install alone.

Rez for free, gain 3 credits, pop it to install Adonis in the same server, gain another free credit because reasons. Rez, turn begins, gain yet another 3. Watch as the runner tries to comprehend the fact you made 8+ credits by only spending one click.