Didn't it state in an earlier article that it didn't matter how many units of one type you had in a battle - if the fate card says they deal just 1 damage, then it's one damage for all those units as a group (not 1 each).

One mistake I've read about people making several times (and it's a biggie) is giving each detective 12 Time at the beginning of each day. It should, of course, be only 6 Time (barring special abilities).

Hem said: Svavelvinter said: It feels like the right thing to do is give the ordinare rules a go befor anything is changed to tribute this great creation and my group usually end up making house-rules anyway. You answered the good way to yourself I'll say it again : the game is good as it is. Even my woman, not being geeky, likes it. The world, the narrative texts, the moves... fiddly but enjoyable, definitely. The Variant of Lizzard-guy (sorry, name too long to remember... come on, me name is three letters !) his variant then is just another way of seing this world of Kevin Wilson, with other mechanics. Everyone should do the game in its original form (because ****, it IS good, thank to Wilson, period). But, I think everyone not a hundred percent satisfied with it (and who is anyway with any game ?) should give Lizzard's variant a try. Or even just someone curious, at least : because what Lizzard did is actually... hm... sorry, Lizzard, don't take it bad, but, simply put : turning Android into a more "Cluedo" approach game, the same world, but with more traditionnal mechanics kind of close (just a tiny bit) to Cluedo. And, well, it's worth a look. Yet, I do disagree with you about the house rules coming naturally after some time - I never done that, we accept the tiny flaws of a game as the flaws of someone. Deal with it, or leave it (and to those who'll argue about my use from time to time of Lizzard's stuff, it is not house rule, it is a complete rework - you definitely don't play the same game). Hope I answered ! Anyway, the basic point : enjoy ! Cluedo?? CLUEDO??!!!! Pah! Saying my variant is "a bit like" Cluedo is akin to saying that Lord of the Rings is "a bit like" Harry Potter! By the way Hem, I've gotta say that I always love your posts. You have a style of writing that's very enjoyable to read and a smile-inducing wacky sense of humour. Keep it up!

I think the thing a lot of people are forgetting about are the battle cards (as opposed to the fate cards). The fate cards determine the "general" outcome of the battle, and are luck based. The battle cards are what the players can use to influence the combat in a deterministic way. It's also quite likely the battle cards and fate cards will interact in some way.

So in the case of a Cylon admiral, what's the alternative?

GrooveChamp said: We haven't retired it, but we're not too crazy about the Pegasus ship. The guns are a little too good at shooting down raiders and pretty much make manning vipers obsolete. It's rare that you can't shoot down raiders before they reach civilians, the civilians are cornered, and you're not ready to jump yet. Plus using the Pegasus as a damage spongue makes ship damage a non-threat in general. We're thinking there has to be a house rule that either ship damage is randomized (humans don't get to choose), or the cylon player gets to choose which ship is damage (before making any rolls). Two easy rules: 1) All non-combat damage is applied to Galactica only. 2) When basestars activate, roll twice - once for Galactica, once for Pegasus. We've found this works well.

Holy Outlaw said: Hmm, I guess we have been playing it wrong. My confusion stemmed from the first sentence under the heading "New Caprica Crisis Cards" on p. 14 of the Pegasus rulebook (emphasis mine): "During a player's Crisis step in the New Caprica phase, he draws from the New Caprica Crisis deck instead of the normal Crisis deck." The term "a player's" instead of "human player's" caused me to believe NC allowed all players to draw a New Caprica Crisis. I guess that entry's just telling players to switch crisis decks. Hmm, here I was arguing with the OP. Now I find myself agreeing with him. Are there consequential actions for cylons on NC? Guess I'll be watching this thread closely ... thanks to both of you for clearing up my confusion! The stem of your confusion: the passage is correct - all players DO draw from the NC crisis deck during their crisis step. It's just that Cylon players don't have a crisis step.

JerusalemJones said: Since I don't recall any place in the rules that allows for the cylons to resolve a Crisis Card on their turn, I'm not sure if you are playing it correctly. However, if it is the case that there is a Crisis Phase for cylons on NC, then this is a good tactic, and in many ways would change the aspect of the New Caprica phase to a more challenging one especailly considering that all but 6 NC crisis cards have prepare for jump icons. Correct - Holy Outlaw is playing it wrong, I'm afraid. Cylons do not draw crisis cards during their turns on NC (unless they are infiltrating, in which case they cannot use Breeder's Canyon for its Cylon action).

Okay - I held this one back 'cos I would expect everyone to go *WHAT?!!!* if I mentioned it, but seeing as you kinda asked... One further houserule we use (and we introduced this one to counterbalance Pegasus' extra firepower and to give pilots something to actually DO) is to give Cylon ships double activations. After resolving a crisis card, we draw another one and if the Cylon ship activation icon is different from the one on the first card, then we activate those ships. This means that, yes - civilian ships are destroyed pre-NC and the fact that all the 1-pop ships come back does make a difference. It also makes it possible for the Cylons to actually win by destroying Galactica or, more importantly, by boarding party. There are also other houserules we use, but I think those are the main ones relating to this issue.

Sinis said: Bleached Lizard said: These are the houserules we use: Any ships that are destroyed during the game pre-NC are returned to the supply rather than the box if they show a ship that loses 1 population only. This prevents players from destroying ships pre-NC to make the NC phase shorter/easier. Ships that are destroyed during the NC phase are not revealed and the resources are not lost until the fleet jumps away. This helps retain uncertainty about the best time to jump (rather than just figuring out which ships are still remaining on NC and doing the math). Occupation Forces destroy prepared ships first, then locked ships. This means that OFs are not destroying ships that are going to be left behind anyway. The Admiral may not use his action to jump the fleet until the jump marker reaches the auto-jump space on the FTL track. This not only means that at least a few ships should be able to get airborne before the fleet jumps, but also prolongs the NC phase to give Sleeper Agent Cylons more chance to do stuff before the game ends. We also start the resource dials with 2 extra population and 1 extra morale. Wow. Your civ ship rules and extra resources would be brutal in our group; it's pretty rare that a significant number civilian ship will be lost before the new caprica phase. We tend to have problems with humans winning more than losing. Huh? I don't get you... Brutal for who - the humans or the Cylons? If it's rare for you to lose ships before the NC phase, do you just mean that the extra resouces would make it too easy for the humans?

These are the houserules we use: Any ships that are destroyed during the game pre-NC are returned to the supply rather than the box if they show a ship that loses 1 population only. This prevents players from destroying ships pre-NC to make the NC phase shorter/easier. Ships that are destroyed during the NC phase are not revealed and the resources are not lost until the fleet jumps away. This helps retain uncertainty about the best time to jump (rather than just figuring out which ships are still remaining on NC and doing the math). Occupation Forces destroy prepared ships first, then locked ships. This means that OFs are not destroying ships that are going to be left behind anyway. The Admiral may not use his action to jump the fleet until the jump marker reaches the auto-jump space on the FTL track. This not only means that at least a few ships should be able to get airborne before the fleet jumps, but also prolongs the NC phase to give Sleeper Agent Cylons more chance to do stuff before the game ends. We also start the resource dials with 2 extra population and 1 extra morale.

Dangofrank said: Revealing 5 cylon characters would be kinds hard...in a game with 6 or 7 people at most Presumably not *all* of the Final Five would make their appearance in a single game - only one of the players would be "one of the Five", but that's all.

James McMurray said: It's a board game, not an RPG. Practically everything you do is metagamed. I hate this argument to excuse unthematic metagaming in board games. The qualification of a board game is not binary - there is a range of different styles of game, which is where the whole Eurogame/Ameritrash divide comes from. BSG is obviously an Ameritrash game, meaning that it is meant to be a board game simulation of the events it depicts. When something so jarringly unthematic finds its way into the game, such as executing the admiral for completely unsuspicious behaviour, people will complain and I don't blame them.

As to the question in the title of the thread, it's a bit too late for that; the game is listed as being "at the printers" meaning the playtest stage is long over.

angus of one said: Sorry for bringing up a REALLY old post. Last weekend was the first time I played the game. For the most part, I was given the basic understanding of the rules, however I just kind of played along not expecting to win, but to take in the game so I could play better next time. Out of all the complaints I have (most are nitpicking complaints), this is the biggest one. Thematically, it doesn't make sense that a conspiracy is completed halfway through a story, and that's what happened during our game. The 4 VP for a row or column basically encourages everyone to get those puzzle pieces on the board ASAP. Additionally, during this game, a lucky player was able to start their turn with 3 open spots that would complete a row/column. Just for being next in line, he got 12 VP for doing absolutely nothing (didn't connect anything). Thematically, you could write this off as the character screwing the rest and being part of the conspiracy and covering up any loose ends, but 12 VP for being the lucky person to go next just doesn't make sense to me. I like the idea of limiting the scoring this way to once per turn. For example, once you finish a row or column, you get your one +4 VP chip. You may place more puzzle pieces on your turn, but you cannot receive any more VPs from completing rows/columns. Additionally, if maybe you are lucky enough to place one piece to finish both a row and a column, you can get two +4 VP chips (I can live with that). What if a player places a corner piece that creates three 5-in-a-rows? Should they get 12VPs? Check out the link in my sig for a variant that tempers the conspiracy puzzle a whole lot, and is a hell of a lot more thematic.

Locutus Zero said: Dan said: If Cain blind jumps in the red, is it -3 population? And if not , why? Could a -3 population rule "in the red", be a solution to Cain's seemingly too powerful OPG ability? seeing as how "red" is to the left of "-3", why should jumping in the red be "better" or safer, than a -3 jump which comes later and which is more prepared? You don't loose 3 population. You lose 2 civilian ships.. AND you only get to draw one destination, not choose from two. As for why.. it's not in the rules. I agree her OPG seems too powerful, but I've found it isn't AS powerful as it seems. She is still a better character all around that anyone else in the Military (which sucks), but that's mostly because her skill draw is great, her downside isn't very bad at all, AND her OPG is above average. If I were to balance her I think I'd give her a worse downside. "While you are admiral, the "FTL Control" and "Engine Room" locations may not be used"...?

Omnisiah said: Hey guys, My first post here in a while, since the game was launched really (back when Bleached first launched the Director's Cut , which at the time I couldn't understand because he launched it before the game was even released... crazy man) and the topic caught my eye. Okay, it wasn't quite before it was released... but I guess it was quite quick. Omnisiah said: An expansion for Andriod could signficantly rework the twilight decks and improve the pace of play, and that would be all that is required to see the game assume its rightful place as one of the greatest games of all time. I can send you the pdfs of my completely revised twilight decks, if you like...? Depends if you have the patience to cut up 200+ cards, though...

Norgoth said: I usually play in a war gaming group(40k.fantasy) and we have played BSG a couple of times and have had some complaints about the game being nothing more than a politic game between the players. This is usually from the side that ends up losing.I don't believe it is a political game but wanted to get some other peoples thoughts..... What do YOU believe it is? What do the players who are complaining about it wish it was?

I would actually recommend the opposite: use the hand limit. Even before Pegasus was released we were getting of the opinion that the unlimited hand for the president was too much, and we started using a seven card hand limit, which made the game much better. Then Pegasus was released and it was confirmed that the president should have a hand limit, so we'll certainly be playing both the base game and the expansion that way from now on.

We are implementing a house rule that after Galactica returns you continue to use the jump-prep track and the admiral can't jump the fleet until the marker reaches the auto-jump space. Gives the humans a little more time to not only determine the loyalty of the admiral, but also time to get at least a few ships off the ground before jumping away.

Draconian said: Bleached Lizard said: Just as a little tip, in any chit-heavy games where you're constantly moving the same chits back and forth, just keep a little pool of the chits close by - don't hand them back to the chit-keeper. In the case of AH, keep any stamina/sanity your investigator has ON your investigator sheet, and any stamina/sanity he's lost just OFF to the side of the sheet. Then it's a matter of just moving a few chits back and forth a couple of inches rather than having to return them to the bank each time. Huh? Someone let the players keep a mini-bank of chits next to their actual gained chits? No itchy fingers accidentally knocking more chits onto the sheet? What a trust-worthy bunch! I'd like to buy insurance from them! :-) Dude, it's not even like it's a competative game! You're all cooperating, so you can only cheat against the game system itself, and if you're gonna do that you might as well not play. Anyone who does is just a bit... lame.

The official rule is that skill cards are discarded face up next to their respective decks.

According to the rules, you should have given both presidency and admiralty to Cain. There is nothing in the rulebook that says the same character can't start with both titles.

cedthebear said: Locutus Zero said: -In both cases you can only choose one thing to destroy. 5 Raiders OR 2 Heavy Raiders OR a Basestart. I disagree with that, i must check the pegasus FAQ but Brutal Force uses "OR" keyword, so there must be a choice of unit, but Kat's ability use "AND", so to me she destroys ALL the listed units. No - Kat's ability also uses OR, so she has to choose.

Sacred Voice said: DCAnderson said: Corey Koneiczka himself has talked about (on boardgamegeek.com) how the new ressurection ship allowing you to draw multiples is balanced so it seems the designer thinks it works that way. Hmm wish it was given at least a one-line mention in the rulebook, looking back through the book now though I can't find the emphasis on Cylons getting ONLY one Super Crisis Card, maybe I imagined it. On a not entirely separate issue I was wondering when Cylon Leaders receive a Super Crisis Card? It's not listed in their setup but at the same time they're revealed from the beginning so they don't go through the reveal process, I assume they're given one from the start though I wish it was mentioned in the rulebook. Also, how does a Cylon Leader infiltrate once on New Caprica but before Galactica returns to orbit? I know that if they're infiltrating before the jump that reaches NC but if they decide to de-infiltrate then re-infiltrate for whatever reason then how would they do it? The infiltrate capacity is only do-able at the Human Fleet location, I've just assumed they can do it from any location on NC. You seem to assume an awful lot. Yes - you imagined reading in the rulebook that Cylons should only receive one super crisis. I would highly recommend you try out the strategy of drawing multiple super crisis cards and see what happens. Cylon leaders do not receive a super crisis unless they spend an action at the Res Ship location (this is why nothing is mentioned in the rulebook). Cylon leaders may only infiltrate from the Human Fleet location. If Galactica is not in orbit of New Caprica, then it is not possible for a leader to infiltrate (as they cannot move to that location). A Cylon who de-infiltrates while Galactica is away (either voluntarily or through execution) is moved to the Medical Centre (instead of the Res Ship).