Battlestar Galactica | BoardGameGeek

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Thoughts on game balance

paulclarke339 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:51:46 +0000

I’d prefer if the rules resulted in a 50-50 win ratio between teams. That way, whichever team you are on, you have about a 50% chance of winning. You can stray from this a bit, maybe as far as 70-30 and the game is still enjoyable. As it is, it is usually tougher for the humans so the Cylons tend to win more.

The most enjoyable games (as a human) have been those where the game can go either way and it comes down to the wire on the last jump cycle. If the game is not balanced to start with these close results will be rare, and sometimes the humans will know they have lost/can’t win long before 8 distance and just go through the motions or concede the game – which is anti-climactic.

The game has quite a bit of randomness (luck of the draw, dice rolls). The president and admiral are more powerful than other characters, and the loyalty cards they are dealt can go a long way to swinging the balance in favour of their team, partly through crises that say e.g. “president chooses” and control of the quorum and destination decks.

* Player numbers *

With more players there is more noise in skill checks, so it is easier for a Cylon to hide.

With only 3 players, a human knows one of the other 2 is a Cylon, so it is hard for the Cylon to foul things up without effectively showing their hand. With 5 or 6 it is easy to spike a skill check without getting caught. In terms of balance:

3 player feels right (1 Cylon) and played surprisingly well (1 play)

5 player is okay, but tough for humans (maybe 60-40 or 70-30 in favour of the Cylons). Perhaps 3 humans + 1 Cylon + 1 hostile Cylon leader would be closer to 50-50, but it removes some of the fun of working out who the Cylons are. (I don’t like Cylon leaders because the big appeal of BSG is working out who the Cylons are, and they remove a whole player from the equation. They’re still better than the sympathiser card though.)

6 player is often played as 5 player +1 friendly Cylon leader. I think just 4 humans + 2 Cylons might actually be balanced close to 50-50, considering 5 player is so hard.

4 player is problematic – the sympathiser card either gives you 3 vs 1 (too easy for humans) or 2 vs 2 (practically an automatic win for the Cylons). There are variants on the geek and the FFG site that involve fiddling with resources, or else have 2 humans + 1 Cylon + 1 friendly Cylon leader. None of these is ideal. I think if you have 4 players, either find an extra player or play something else. Most other games play well with 4.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:23:39 +0000

by iorlas

Solved a problem with Starbuck's and Adama's special abilities when they both were in effect.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: So Close

CitizenFry — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:52:39 +0000

by CitizenFry

MarkBertenshaw wrote:
The other mistake was letting fuel get too low. It seemed to us that fuel is the most essential commodity in the game, and that in future, we would try to use Raptors and other special powers to go and find fuel in the Destination Deck.

Yes, fuel is very critical in the base game. If you lose more than one unit of fuel due to Crises or the Galactica fuel damage token without gaining any back, it's very likely that you'll run out.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: So Close

Danath — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:51:24 +0000

by Danath

Also it sounds like Starbuck was on Colonial One most of the game. When a cylon reveals he can only target characters ON Galatica.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: So Close

David Goldfarb — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:09:49 +0000

by David Goldfarb

Colonial One wrote:
Also, not really sure what you mean by "deposing" Adama: did you brig him?

Can't have been brigging him, as Apollo would then have become Admiral, not Starbuck. I'm guessing they used the Encourage Mutiny Quorum card.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

David Goldfarb — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:04:50 +0000

by David Goldfarb

In particular, the Crisis card Build Cylon Detector has as one option discarding a nuke, and specifically says "The Admiral may not choose this option if he has no nuke tokens."

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Another brig question

James McMurray — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:20:45 +0000

by James McMurray

Also remember that people in the brig can only add one card to a crisis. It makes it much easier for revealed (or unrevealed and uncaring) cylons to nuke skill checks.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Another brig question

Mundane — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:30:29 +0000

by Mundane

finklehelm wrote:
Sorry -- one more brig question and my apologies if this has already been asked.

We played a game last night and our Admiral Helo was put in the brig through a failed crisis card. After he got in there, we started getting Exec Orders from him, he was contributing good cards to the crises and we started to really make some good headway. We realized that the people in the Brig don't draw Crises cards and that they can still contribute to the game. It was great! We considered sendig more people to the brig when the cylons came out -- just so we could have multiple people exec ordering Starbuck around the board shooting Max Firepowers.

Is this the right rules interpretation? We felt like we found a loophole.

Sounds like you played it correctly. That strategy can work but it can also backfire if you have too many humans in the Brig. Ideally the person should have access to multiple Leadership cards to ensure they can XO people. Also the President should stay out so he/she can use the President's Office.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Another brig question

finklehelm — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:26:20 +0000

by finklehelm

Sorry -- one more brig question and my apologies if this has already been asked.

We played a game last night and our Admiral Helo was put in the brig through a failed crisis card. After he got in there, we started getting Exec Orders from him, he was contributing good cards to the crises and we started to really make some good headway. We realized that the people in the Brig don't draw Crises cards and that they can still contribute to the game. It was great! We considered sendig more people to the brig when the cylons came out -- just so we could have multiple people exec ordering Starbuck around the board shooting Max Firepowers.

Is this the right rules interpretation? We felt like we found a loophole.

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

jaugusto72 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:18:09 +0000

by jaugusto72

]]>

Jogasampa - São Paulo 11/08/2009

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: So Close

dcorbin13 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:02:58 +0000

by dcorbin13

Colonial One wrote:
Actually, your character choices are slightly off.

Hence, in a three player game you can't have both Starbuck and Apollo, since they're both Pilots; someone should have chosen a Military Leader.

Someone did. Adama. You mean "Someone should have chosen a Politician."

MarkBertenshaw wrote:

There was just one rule that created a lot of discussion which was the "Administration" location which I tried to use to make Adama President. Katy said that you should be able to make yourself President, but I countered that loads of people had attempted coups and won in the past. In any case, it just said "Choose a character", not "Choose another character".

Your interpretation is correct. The player activating it can be the nominee. However, in most games, players nominating themselves on their own initiative seldom get elected.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: So Close

Colonial One — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:54:51 +0000

by Colonial One

Actually, your character choices are slightly off.

When you're selecting characters at the beginning of the game, once a category (e.g. "Political Leader", "Military Leader", "Pilot") has been chosen from, it may not be chosen from again until all the categories have been selected from.

Hence, in a three player game you can't have both Starbuck and Apollo, since they're both Pilots; someone should have chosen a Military Leader.

This is to help balance the game and make sure you're not running, for example, with a huge deficiency of yellow/politics cards.

~

Also, not really sure what you mean by "deposing" Adama: did you brig him?

~
It is a lot of fun with more players. =)

Glad you enjoyed it :D

Session: Battlestar Galactica:: So Close

MarkBertenshaw — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:37:44 +0000

by MarkBertenshaw

Players were:

Paul Gallea [Apollo, President]
Katy Maybin [Starbuck]
and myself [Adama, Admiral]

None of us had played the game before, although I had played a few test rounds previously to get the hang of the rules.

Everyone agreed that the games looked fantastic, although Katy was initially daunted by the sheer amount of stuff: 9 packs of cards, numerous space ships, cardboard tokens, figures and character cards; and thought it looked way too hard. I briefly explained the general concepts: One of us may be a Cylon working against us, the Skill Check and Crises. Once we had got past the first round, things seemed a lot simpler to us all.

From the start there was a healthy dose of paranoia. Apollo immediately got cross because Dad (Adama) refused to use a nuke versus the initial Base Star, which was in the vicinity of his Viper. Instead, Adama decided to use the Galactica's standard weapons, which promptly missed. Paul is my Warhammer Fantasy Adventures GM, so he got into character, criticising Adama's perceived failings. And just to stick in the knife, he rapidly used the opportunity to depose Adama and replace him with Starbuck, because that unreliability seemed too convenient. Maybe Adama was actually a Cylon! Things took a strange turn in which he further decided to make Starbuck the President as well. A decision which was taken by Adama both as very hurtful, and dangerous, with all the power residing in a single person. As it was, this decision turned out to be very wrong, but for different reasons.

We were doing quite well, with a number of attacks neatly avoided. Then we got to the halfway stage. Then suddenly Adama's memories started going haywire. He suddenly realised that he was actually a Cylon. To the other players, he started becoming less reliable, and whilst there were times when he seemed to be helping, there were other times when things began to go against the Galactica. Then, saying that it was too dangerous to have the President and Admiral in one person, he attempted his coup in Colonial One, at the point where Starbuck and Apollo were running out of skill cards. They were rightfully suspicious, so they used their remaining skill cards to reverse this action. Adama was a marked man, so shortly after, when Apollo was out fighting a Base Star and numerous Raiders, he revealed himself as a Cylon, promptly sending Starbuck to the Brig.

Whilst they were one jump from Kobol, the Galactica had only a single unit of fuel left. What used to be Adama took the final blow, and using a Super Crisis "Inbound Nukes", wiped out the remaining fuel, leaving humanity to die in the cold depths of space.

Everyone enjoyed the game, and agreed that it would have been even better if we could have more players. There was just one rule that created a lot of discussion which was the "Administration" location which I tried to use to make Adama President. Katy said that you should be able to make yourself President, but I countered that loads of people had attempted coups and won in the past. In any case, it just said "Choose a character", not "Choose another character".

The mistake that might have lost them the game was to have Starbuck inside Colonial One, when she would have been a lot better fighting in a Viper (with that extra action, this makes her the best pilot). With his politics skills, Apollo would have made a better President.

The other mistake was letting fuel get too low. It seemed to us that fuel is the most essential commodity in the game, and that in future, we would try to use Raptors and other special powers to go and find fuel in the Destination Deck.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:30:40 +0000

by iorlas

Found the error with Evasive Maneuver... it was the skill check code that never informed the card that it had been played into a skill check and thus no longer was in the player's hand. Tricky!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:28:54 +0000

by iorlas

byronczimmer wrote:
What are you using to post to BGG and to get data back from a given thread?

So far it is very close to BGG implementation and will break if(when) BGG changes its implementation. I have analyzed the request sent to BGG to read and post to forums and geek mail. From this information I have written http-request code that performs the different tasks. This code is separated from the BSG game engine and is reusable for other purposes.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

byronczimmer — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:16:31 +0000

by byronczimmer

What are you using to post to BGG and to get data back from a given thread?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:36:18 +0000

by iorlas

Tried to fixed problems with Evasive Maneuvers and Helo's reroll ability.
Helo is fixed, but I still have some problems with Evasive Maneuvers, I think they work in a basic way now, but I had to put in a line that shouldn't have to be there. It is only possible to play one per attack instead of one per dice roll, have to fix that as well.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: Who are the cylons? Just go with the best odds.

MasterDinadan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:39:36 +0000

by MasterDinadan

I had to in order to take credit for the win. At any rate, they knew I was when I used my once per game to automatically fail a crisis. It just happened to be the second to last turn of the game.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: Who are the cylons? Just go with the best odds.

ElCid91 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:00:29 +0000

by ElCid91

I'm Curious, did you tell them you were a Cylon when the game ended?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

Rulemonger — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:05:42 +0000

by Rulemonger

But following the logic the nuke discard could also be chosen -- unless the card restricts it right?

Yes. If there were a card that offered a choice in which a nuke is discarded but did not explicitly restrict that choice from being chosen when there are no nukes to discard, then you could choose that option.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: Character Card blanks?

revclayton — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:10:16 +0000

by revclayton

Here you go.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/444775

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Revealed cylon vs playing openly as a cylon

DaveD — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:56:23 +0000

by DaveD

Cwlvyn wrote:
We had a similar scenario where one cylon has reveald himself and the other didn`t because

- he was the Admiral and continued to use hin ability even as he was put into the brig
- he played the green card that give an player two actions on the reveald cylon every turn, so that the revelad cylon could use the actions to perform 2 crisis actions

It that allowed by the game?
how can you take away the Admirals titel from someone?

If the Admiral goes to the brig, he is stripped of his title. The only time you can have an Admiral in the brig is if all the human characters are in the brig and then the Admiral will be whichever human is highest in line.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Revealed cylon vs playing openly as a cylon

mrmarcus — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:32:01 +0000

by mrmarcus

You can't target a revealed cylon with Executive Order cards.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Revealed cylon vs playing openly as a cylon

Cwlvyn — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:18:15 +0000

by Cwlvyn

We had a similar scenario where one cylon has reveald himself and the other didn`t because

- he was the Admiral and continued to use hin ability even as he was put into the brig
- he played the green card that give an player two actions on the reveald cylon every turn, so that the revelad cylon could use the actions to perform 2 crisis actions

It that allowed by the game?
how can you take away the Admirals titel from someone?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

ColtsFan76 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:34:25 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Acenoid wrote:
you can't choose to discard a nuke

...But following the logic the nuke discard could also be chosen -- unless the card restricts it right?

The card specifically restricts it in the case of zero nukes. And so it is an exception to the rule.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

Acenoid — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:32:25 +0000

by Acenoid

you can't choose to discard a nuke

...But following the logic the nuke discard could also be chosen -- unless the card restricts it right?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:34:04 +0000

by iorlas

Went through my todos. Fixed "Ragnar Anchorage" so that the admiral gets to select whether or not repair vipers and raptor.

Fixed so that a Pilot can launch in a Viper even if there is none in the reserves. (Take one unmanned from a space area)

Session: Battlestar Galactica:: Who are the cylons? Just go with the best odds.

MasterDinadan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:27:25 +0000

by MasterDinadan

Had a chance to play a 5-player game with one newbie. I had plenty of time to go over the rules with him before the game began. The characters were as follows:

Cody (newbie) - Helo
Me - Boomer
Paul - Baltar
Josh - Chief
DJ - Apollo

I was a human at the start, as was everyone in fact, and our first couple of crises went exceedingly well. We had probably lost a grand total of one resource by the time we managed our first jump, and our first destination took us a distance of 3 (which I had scouted beforehand).

The cylons appeared again shortly after our first jump. In our scramble to defend them, we didn't have the piloting cards to spare to pass the next few crises, and we saw our resources get hit a bit more. I scouted another destination (2 this time, I decided not to get greedy and left it on top as it was rather good overall). And we managed to jump again. I had tried to save up cards in case I ended up on the other team, which included making a stop at the Press Room. This turned out to be highly advantageous as I ended up a cylon!

As soon as the loyalty cards were dealt, Baltar asked for an XO in order to use his detector on Helo (the Admiral). It was Chief's turn, and I was happy to encourage him to XO Baltar. I wanted him to get it out of the way before he decided to turn it against me instead.

After some deliberation, he decided to check out Apollo instead (I guess he just seemed suspicious). As his first action, he looked at Apollo's cards and declared he was human. Apollo then said something along the lines of, "If you were to reveal yourself as a cylon, it would be make me look really suspicious." It was pretty much a joke, but as his second action Baltar did indeed reveal himself, sending Helo to the brig.

Incidentally, this chain of events left Apollo with both titles, making him look even more suspicious, while Helo was not sure whether he could trust either me or Helo. I used the opportunity to try to subtle turn Helo and Apollo against one another, while repeatedly scouting bad destinations and crises. I knew revealing would be a bad idea, since my scout-recon combo made me nearly as effective as a revealed cylon, I was still very capable of sabotage, the paranoia of the other humans was ruining their efficiency, and I still had my once per game to use.

Progress to the next jump was very slow, with only two humans out of the brig to draw jump symbols. I was holding a lot of Strategic Planning and figured I would just hang on to them so the humans wouldn't draw them, and eventually use them against the humans. I used a Consolidate to draw 2 green, which allowed me to play into YG skill checks without outing myself, claiming "I'm using one of my two greens." Then, with the greens still in hand, I was able to sabotage checks that had all three of my colors without anyone raising an eyebrow.

I was suspicious for most of the game, but I still managed to sabotage nearly every check without the humans even being suspicious. Unfortunately, my scouting and recon were not very useful, as Helo to my right had a bad habit of scouting and leaving good crises on top which I couldn't remove without implicating myself.

In spite of me leaving a short destination on top of the deck, the second card down had a 3 which they needed to reach 8. All of my sabotage (and the help of the revealed cylon) had hammered food and morale to very low levels. With only one more jump to win, I decided it wouldn't be at all worth it to give up an entire turn to reveal. I would get more use out of just playing the last few turns as a "human."

So I continued to scout and recon, but now more aggressively sought out crises that hit morale or food, even bypassing cylon attack crises in the process. This worked well, since the revealed cylon to my left could immediately play what I scouted, and I could even deny that it was the card I left him (since he had a choice of 2). Best of all, stuck in the brig without any green draw as I was, the humans literally couldn't ask any more of me.

With morale at 3, Baltar played a very low difficulty crisis with -1 morale Fail. I decided the humans could pass this easily, so I used my once-per-game to skip it and have them fail automatically. The next crisis to come up gave the humans a skill check which could cost -2 morale if failed or +1 morale if succeeded. They decided to go for it, deciding they needed the morale. But their hands were exhausted and most of their characters didn't even draw the appropriate colors. With Baltar and I playing our biggest negatives in, the check was failed quite easily, draining the last of the humans morale.

At the end of the game, I was still unrevealed. In fact, my loyalty had only been known without question during the final two turns of the game, yet I sabotaged quite a lot throughout. I love Boomer more every time I play her. I've seen a lot of complaints about how her drawback is really horrible, but I don't think it's so bad at all. Being in the brig isn't such a terrible thing when you can still scout every turn, recon every turn, sabotage skill checks, and have one of the best once-per-game abilities. There's no reason to "give up" and reveal yourself just because the humans won't let you out.

Just sit in the brig for a while and mess with the humans until they tear themselves apart. Hey, it worked in season 2!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

bhz1 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:29:52 +0000

by bhz1

And tell your friends that we, the bunch of people on the internet (and UK head coach Rich Brooks) think their skepticism is bulls***. :)

*goes looking for the topic in Cosmic Encounter where someone argued that fewest ships meant having at least 1, and that 0 was not less than 1*

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

Poor Frisco — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:22:41 +0000

by Poor Frisco

Yes! Thank you!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

greglios — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:17:35 +0000

by greglios

"Choice Crises: When a player makes a choice on a Crisis
Card, he can always choose the top or bottom section of
the card, regardless of whether he will be able to fulfill the
game text listed (unless the card specifically restricts this)."

From page 30 of the rulebook.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

Poor Frisco — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:03:25 +0000

by Poor Frisco

I can't convince my friends that you can choose a discard option on a crisis card, such as "Admiral discards 3 and President discards 2," even if the Admiral doesn't have 3 cards and the President doesn't have 2. Their logic is that, for example, you can't choose to discard a nuke if you don't have a nuke, so you can't choose to discard skill cards to discard skill cards. I know they're wrong - I just know it! - but I can't remember where I originally read that rule. I couldn't seem to find it in the FAQ or in the original manual. Does anyone have a source for it? It's gonna take more than "a bunch of people on the internet said so" to make them believe. Thanks.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Need clarification on "Sleeper Phase" rules.

James McMurray — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:26:35 +0000

by James McMurray

The only time the deck should be modified is if there is a possibility of a sympathizer, in which case you add a "You are a sympathizer" card after the initial loyalty cards are dealt.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Need clarification on "Sleeper Phase" rules.

AsthmaticZero — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:24:21 +0000

by AsthmaticZero

Thank you, this is how I originally thought it was supposed to play out, but they were convincing enough that we tried it the wrong way. Very Cylon-like, no? Now I know better for future games. Humanity was on it's way out long before the Sleeper Phase, though. I doubt I would have lasted more than one or two more rounds.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Need clarification on "Sleeper Phase" rules.

ColtsFan76 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:25:50 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Loyalty deck is created once at the beginning of the game.. If the Cylon reveals early (assuming you are playing with a number of players that would only have one Cylon in the Loyalty deck), so be it. the Cylon player should be made aware of the deck make-up and play the game accordingly. He needs to weigh if it is better to reveal early and let the humand know who they can trust, or stay hidden and continue to spread confusion.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Need clarification on "Sleeper Phase" rules.

AsthmaticZero — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:17:34 +0000

by AsthmaticZero

I just played my second game (first was the 2-player variant, this was with 3 players) and I need a rule clarified for me.

When you create the Loyalty deck during setup, is that deck ever altered for the sleeper phase? In our 3-player game, the single Cylon player revealed himself before the Sleeper Phase. If the Loyalty deck is untouched when the Sleeper Phase occurs, there are obviously no "You are a Cylon" cards in the deck... so how does this affect the game at all?

The people I was playing with said that it probably meant that you need to recreate the Loyalty deck just like in setup and deal out the cards so there is a chance for a second Cylon, which we did when we couldn't find what I considered an actual clarification in the rulebook. There ended up being 2 Cylons, and I, as the only human player left, lost.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

Acenoid — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:39:05 +0000

by Acenoid

Great to see that you are still working on this :) Hope to beta test it once its ready.

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

personwholives — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:46:08 +0000

by personwholives

]]>

Boxes made from hholzgrafe's files in a bit of downtime at work.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:26:44 +0000

by iorlas

Made a rewrite of the Executive Order code. I knew there was a problem with the rule "Only one executive order per player turn", but when I examined this in greater detail I realized that there was a can of worms in my first version. I didn't take into account the fact that a revealed cylon can play an attack card, which deploys vipers which makes it possible for Apollo to jump into a viper and then play an executive order in that cylon player's turn. So even though a cylon player cannot play an executive order it can still be played in that player's turn... oh the horror...well it should be fixed now.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:37:49 +0000

by iorlas

I plan to include conditional orders later. The current interface is simple to use and simple to display to the user. I will have to do several things differently to fix conditional orders. Therefore this needs some severe tweaking which takes time.

So not likely in the first release, but most likely the first on the list in a second one. Way before I try to implement Pegasus, if I ever get to do that. Programming all the Crisis Cards is sooooo boring. The Characters are much more fun (and often more challenging as well).

Fantastic work, by the way - a huge(-ish) GG tip coming your way once it's up and running.

Hmm... Sounds like BGG also could use conditional orders too :)
If (post A exists) Then (Give Geek Gold (A.poster))

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

bleached_lizard — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:07:13 +0000

by bleached_lizard

Does/will your program allow for conditional orders?

Fantastic work, by the way - a huge(-ish) GG tip coming your way once it's up and running.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:01:23 +0000

by iorlas

My implementation runs on a single machine and communicates with all the players through BGG, or possibly some other interface such as email. It holds a complete shuffled Crisis Deck in memory and thus it is possible, and rather easy, for a person with access to that machine to go through the whole deck checking which cards that are coming. If the other players are afraid of this, the only solution (and the simple solution) is to run the program on a neutral machine that the players don't have access to.
My approach is to mimic the way Play By Forum games work today, but have the moderator substituted with my program. There is no communication between the program and any program on the players machines, the players doesn't have to install anything on their machines. They just have to know how to respond to the game's questions about their actions. Today all the players trusts the moderator to not interfere with the game - the same goes with my implementation. If you distrust the moderator or program then the whole model brakes apart.

If, and when, I get the start-up of the game written it would be possible to add joining a game into the game sequence. Then the players doesn't even have to know who is actually running the moderator program since all they are doing is posting answers to GeekMail to another GeekMail address - which could be an anonymous user account. Anyone could start one on their own machine hosting a game.

I must admit I never even considered they secrecy of game data an issue, since my original though was that it would be started by me and others would play. And I know that I can be trusted - it is just a matter of getting you to trust me. And no I am not trying to solve the whole trust over internet issue :)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: 2 players seem stuck -- what would you do?

AsthmaticZero — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:30:46 +0000

by AsthmaticZero

Today, I played my first ever game (just bought it on Tuesday) and was forced to play the 2-player variant just like you. We couldn't find anyone else to play in the middle of the day and wanted to try it out and get accustomed to the rules.

I, too, ended up in the brig immediately before my newly-revealed Cylon "teammate" completely destroyed what little resources we had left, and I couldn't escape for the life of me. I ended up losing to a Centurion on the Boarding Party track.

I am completely in love with the game, and will be playing again tomorrow with the same friend and my girlfriend, at least.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Character Card blanks?

Wood4Sheep — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:06:17 +0000

by Wood4Sheep

Does anyone happen to have an image file of a character card background stripped of all the text and pictures? I am working on a few homebrew characters, and while I can just hack up existing cards, it would be great to have a blank slate to work from...

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Play By Forum:: PBF #40 - Day of Judgement

mathguy6189 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:04:04 +0000

by mathguy6189

This is number 40 in the series of BGG play by Forum Battlestar Galactica game and will follow the format established by [username=ColtsFan76].

I am initially inviting the following players, who are identified on the waiting list as wishing to play a game, (and also a couple of alternates), please post your acceptance or not of the invitation in this thread.

I'll get responses as to a base game or Pegasus from the first 6 players invited.
Some have P! listed, and others have nothing listed in regards to Pegasus, so if you don't have Pegasus, or if this ends up being a base game only, I won't mark you as a declined invite.

Nekura
Gantolandon
ackmondual
GhostOfChristmas
DaveD
Capt_WaRPed

The play of the game will generally follow the pattern established in the others in the series and for an idea of that please see some of those game threads. I will be using a spreadsheet developed from the one Brian created for the original game and board graphics again developed from Brian's originals

Some particular notes for those taking part follow.

0) SUBSCRIBE TO THIS THREAD.

1) All players must have their own copies of the base game and the expansion(should we play with it) as I am only going to publish card titles (this is an FFG request).

2) Private communication will be by geekmail between me and particular players, all other communication will be by posting in this thread.

3) Interrupt cards and abilities may affect play and the way they are handled will depend on the card or ability. In general, I will ask that if there is a possibility of interrupts, players post in any order whether they will play or pass and will hold on resolving the current situation until all possible players have passed or all possible interrupts have been played. As there are now a lot more possible interrupts to deal with, I have endeavoured to divide them into levels and will generally ask for lower level interrupts to be posted first with COs for higher level interrupts.As the game proceeds and situations arise for the first time that previous statement will probably be clearer.

4) Please post anything, that I need to take action on in BOLD and it would be useful if played cards were colour coded (you will see that I prefer to use Background colouring because it makes yellow so much clearer, but please do whatever you feel most comfortable with in this respect). Other than that, I am fairly easy. Role playing is not required (as I’m by no means a great role player myself) but by all means do so if you wish, I enjoy reading it. One thing I would ask is not to put a load of stuff in spoiler tags as I find a lot of this awkward to read. Also please do not post any BSG spoilers in the thread.

5) When posting in character or posting your play, please identify your character at the beginning of the post, either by using a picture or just by stating the character's name (although pictures are better.A useful selection of possible character pictures is hosted on this geeklist by GerryRailBaron, though by all means provide your own if you wish. If you do use an image previously provided by another user, please thumb the picture.

6) Anything else I think of I will post in the thread as we go along, if I feel it is particularly significant I will edit this OP to include it.

I will post a geeklist later, when all players have checked in.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

Flyboy Connor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:56:34 +0000

by Flyboy Connor

This is interesting. I just now found out you are doing this. I have been contemplating something similar, and I have been considering ways of making it work as I wanted.

My idea was that each player should be able to run the program on his own computer, and the program would visualize everything needed for the player, and would allow him to enter choices when it was time to do so. The problem I saw was that the program would need to store all data, such as the crisis deck, and the players should not be able to look into that information. The players should also not be able to "look ahead" before deciding on their move, e.g., it should not be possible for a Cylon player to simply copy the game and data to a different map, then decide to go to Caprica and draw two crisis cards, and when finding out that they were not useful, decide for another action in the real game.

The solution I came up with was that the game would generate all needed data from random numbers, which would be seeded by player passwords. Each player, when choosing his character, would also choose a secret password. The game would use those passwords to generate data. Every time before the game would reveal new data, it would ask all players to ratify the current game state by entering their password. They could do this, for instance, through a small module that would generate a small passcode file, that each player could then load into his own version of the program, after which the program could generate the new data and show each player the state of the game from that player's perspective. It would know the player's perspective, because a player would need to log on to his version of the program by entering his password. The passcode file would not need to be a real file, it could simply be one big number or something that could be copied and pasted.

The big advantage such an approach would have is that you would not need to have a server running somewhere, and the game would be immune to tampering or cheating. I think that last bit is really important, since quite a few people would be tempted to cheat sometime during the two months that the game would last.

I realize you are quite far in your implementation yet, so you probably have this all figured out. Still, I am curious to know what kind of approach you have chosen for communication and secrecy.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Super crisis strategy

ackmondual — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:30:20 +0000

by ackmondual

hdb07 wrote:
ackmondual wrote:
In the cylon simpathizer case, you have 3 people moving the centurions, and you need 6(the track + the heavy raiders path to Galactica) to win.

I don't know how your sympathizer can move the centurions since s/he CANNOT activate the Cylon Fleet.

FYI, this is misquoted from the wrong person :)

bhz1 wrote:
Correct, James. I guess in the future, we should probably make sure to clarify whether or not the OP is using the Cylon Sympathizer card (base game), or the Sympathetic Cylon card (Pegasus). The latter affords the player a lot more options than the first one, and according to the Pegasus rulebook, doesn't follow the same rules as the former.

Well, ideally this would be put in the Pegasus forum if there's going to be infiltration. If it's in the base game, many of us will just assume the rules are based on that. Otherwise, need to state variants up front. Again, if it says strategy, many of us will assume we're sticking to the rules laid out in the official rulebook.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: CAG title cards now available in the Pegasus files section...

Acenoid — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:28:48 +0000

by Acenoid

Yeah, in the series he had the deal going with Tigh, but in game terms I think you cannot hold briefings from the brig :)

Btw I have finished writing up the cards and I'll upload them after the weekend.

I think it came out pretty good :)

Thanks for the font info! I will keep my eyes open for it hopefully it's none of those "pay 20 bucks for it" fonts :)

I will post here when I uploaded the cards :)

Last Words:
I think its not really complicating things, 1 action few choices that give your vipers certain bonusses (or penalties)´. Maybe a marker should be activated to show the current tactic.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Super crisis strategy

bhz1 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:28:21 +0000

by bhz1

Correct, James. I guess in the future, we should probably make sure to clarify whether or not the OP is using the Cylon Sympathizer card (base game), or the Sympathetic Cylon card (Pegasus). The latter affords the player a lot more options than the first one, and according to the Pegasus rulebook, doesn't follow the same rules as the former.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:19:42 +0000

by iorlas

Introduced a backup mechanism so that the state of the program is saved after each player's turn. Still missing a way to restart the game from that state, that will be the next thing to do.

Feels a little like this is related the standard joke about compression software. The hard part isn't to write a compression code that compresses anything to one byte. The hard part is writing the decompression code.

Feels like I am getting close to a real test now. (Even if there are features missing, but they are not crucial for game play)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Super crisis strategy

James McMurray — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:04:56 +0000

by James McMurray

If using the variant, the sympathetic cylon can do whatever they want, including infiltrate.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: CAG title cards now available in the Pegasus files section...

bleached_lizard — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:49:12 +0000

by bleached_lizard

Well, in that situation you have to ask: why did you move the CAG title away from the original player in the first place?

Remember, the Admiral title says that you can give the CAG title to the player highest in the line of succession who is not in the Brig excluding the current CAG. This means that if no one is in the Brig, then using the Admiral's action will move the CAG title back and forth between the same two players until one of them either reveals as a Cylon or is in the Brig. The situation you describe is only a problem if *both* the players highest in the line of CAG succession are unrevealed Cylons (so not a problem at all in 3/4-player games). In which case... at least one of them has to go to the Brig! :)

If you check the thread a few days older than this one where the idea was first discussed, you'll see that a few people thought (and I agree) that it was best if the CAG title was not lost if the player was sent to the Brig, as the CAG was in the Brig at times during the show and didn't lose their title. Also, it makes things more interesting if each title has a different method of being moved...

President has Administration
Admiral has the Brig
CAG has the Admiral title

I think your idea for "stances" is a little over-complicated for a title (how would you even fit all the information on the card?). However, feel free to steal away and adapt however you like! :)

The font used on BSG cards is Eurostile. Card titles are all in caps with a larger font size for the initial letters.

Happy gaming!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Super crisis strategy

hdb07 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:41:03 +0000

by hdb07

ackmondual wrote:
In the cylon simpathizer case, you have 3 people moving the centurions, and you need 6(the track + the heavy raiders path to Galactica) to win.

I don't know how your sympathizer can move the centurions since s/he CANNOT activate the Cylon Fleet.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: CAG title cards now available in the Pegasus files section...

Acenoid — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:01:12 +0000

by Acenoid

Niiice :) Lets look at this situation:
Say I have announced a new CAG as admiral with an action. I promote the the player to my right, during the round we notice that he moved the vipers activated by the others not efficient.

Now the admirals turn starts. He has no option to take away the cag title from the offending player (until he reveals or is airlocked).

- The admiral should have the power to remove the cag title (and not announce a CAG)
- The cag title should be lost when moving into the brig

- One suggestion would be to be able to select from different tactic / stances for the vipers the other player moves... Stance can be changed when the CAG has an action. I find it offers more variety and can backfire in wrong situations and the other players still got smth to do.

for example:
Action: Change the tactic of your Viper Pilots
Textbook -
reckless vipers+1, cylons+1
spread out vipers+1, if raiders>vipers in field -2
wingman if 1+n vipers in field +1
fortify 1 chosen field vipers+2, other fields cylons+1
Objective 1 chosen field vipers+1, opposing field cylons+1

Hope its okay to steal your idea, I think I will try to create such a card. Another card idea would be a president's advisor card, maybe he could play a quorum cards for the president in his turn....or throw it away if he doesnt like what he has been given :)

probably roles should not be too common...

--- Oh and which font do the Galactica cards use?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: Gaius Baltar and His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Gamer10150512 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:45:30 +0000

by Gamer10150512

A fun read - it's great to laugh at the end of a not quite terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Timing of Alert Viper Pilot vs. Heavy Assault

Epworthian — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:30:16 +0000

by Epworthian

Thanks.

I also finally found the thread with the FFG response:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/392313

I missed it the first time around because I was searching specifically for Alert Viper Pilot.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: XO Yourself?

Wood4Sheep — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:50:20 +0000

by Wood4Sheep

Also, Roslin still must discard cards to activate a location during an Executive Order. She could get around the discards by XOing someone else to do it...

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: XO Yourself?

Mundane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:28:59 +0000

by Mundane

The text of the card says "...choose any other player..." so you can't use it on yourself. In the Pegasus expansion there is a Tactics card called Critical Situation that you play on yourself to get an action in place of your movement step.

:ninja:'ed

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: XO Yourself?

ColtsFan76 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:27:39 +0000

by ColtsFan76

The text on the card says choose "any other player." That means anyone but you. So you cannot XO yourself.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: XO Yourself? http://boardgame.geekdo.com/thread/460191

DKahnt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:26:32 +0000

by DKahnt

Nope.

You may not XO yourself.

-DK

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: XO Yourself?

mattnaik — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:23:57 +0000

by mattnaik

Is it possible to XO yourself? I can't seem to find any rules that say you can't or anything in the errata. The only reason I wonder is because this would allow Roslin to use an XO instead of discarding 2 skill cards to activate a space.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: Second Game with new players to BSG: Human Victory

Dr Schlotter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:28:17 +0000

by Dr Schlotter

Officially the only game where nobody complains when, after three hours of play, the winner is determined by a 50/50 dice roll.

Nice report!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Vice President Quorum Card

Acenoid — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:54:04 +0000

by Acenoid

Seemed we played it right after all :)

Poor vice presidents ;)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Vice President Quorum Card

Blackfaer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:33:04 +0000

by Blackfaer

Having been watching the show, I can only say, without giving any minor spoilers away, that this seems appropriate. Being Vice President does not seem to guarantee that you will be President when the President is not around, unless you have the support of both the Quorum and the Admiral...

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Vice President Quorum Card

bunjee — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:20:03 +0000

by bunjee

Next in line per the rulebook. Politics on Galactica are not quite normal :D

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Vice President Quorum Card

Acenoid — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:05:28 +0000

by Acenoid

Hello!

Quick question after our first real BSG game:

The president played the vice presidents Quorum card. After sleeper phase the president reveals. Who gets the title? Highest Rank or Vice President?

The card just says that the location cannot be used to make someone else president than the person that has got the VP card.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: New solo version: cooperative rules (tweaked) + Cylon

DrStoopid — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:50:46 +0000

by DrStoopid

Grudunza wrote:
Ah, it's been quite a while since I've tried that... It did seem to liven things up a bit, but what I recall is wanting to change the rule to be that one of the set aside Cylon Attack cards is implemented if you roll 4 or less instead of 5 or less. It's still likely to happen at some point in the round, but a little less surety of if/when that will happen, especially if you play a Strategic Planning card.

Thanks. I'll try playing with that rule when I get the chance. I'll let you know how it goes.

Session: Battlestar Galactica:: Second Game with new players to BSG: Human Victory

golfingsteve — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:18:26 +0000

by golfingsteve

Playing, William Adama, Tom Zarek, Boomer, Lee Adama, and Helo. After voting to use up a nuke on the initial Basestar attack and nobody yet being a Cylon, we were able to make a few jumps and got to the midgame quite easily.

At mid-game, Tom Zarek and Lee Adama became Cylons, Boomer's extremely harsh disadvantage put her in the brig automatically (and because Boomer has the greatest chance of being a Cylon, for most of the remainder of the game nobody trusted her enough to let her out). Also ironically Tom Zarek immediately accused Lee Adama of being a Cylon and put him in the brig, to deflect attention away from him and keeping it on Boomer, who with 3 loyalty cards and automatic brigging after 4 jump points was an ideal candidate for suspicion. After several turns and realizing he probably will not escape the brig Lee revealed he was a Cylon and went to the resurrection ship and proceeded with hampering the efforts of Battlestar Galactica.

After using its last nuke, Galactica also plagued with more Cylon attacks, for much of the second half of the game it was constantly fighting off 2 Basestars and fleets of raiders. Unfortunately, with two of the three pilots out (Boomer in the brig as a suspected Cylon, and Lee Adama either in the brig or as a revealed Cylon), Helo was left on his own to defend Galactica from the Cylon fleets, although Boomer (from the brig) was able to assist Helo with her evasive manuever pilot cards which proved invaluable as the assaults from the Cylons led by Lee Adama (and later Tom Zarek) were relentless and unending. Admiral William Adama, was left to other duties such as FTL control and getting Galactica through many crises.

The last few rounds of the game were the most nail-biting for both sides. Galatica was one jump away from victory and a mere preparation step away from being able to use the FTL control for an emergency jump to end the. However, at the same time population, morale, food, and fuel supplies were all critically low, some of them just one step away from defeat, all raptors destroyed, three quarters of the viper fleet damaged and unusable, the remaining few out defending Galactica and the colony ships with Helo.

The Cylons destroy a few more colonial ships reducing supplies even further, needing just one more for the Cylon win. Tom Zarek accuses Helo of being a Cylon and tries to send him to the brig. But Helo being the only thing between the raider fleet and the Colony ships, both William Adama and Boomer support Helo and he narrowly manages to escape the brig, however several key resources were used up to prevent Helo from going to the brig. Soon after Tom Zarek knowing that he is highly suspect of being the second Cylon reveals himself and becomes the next Cylon.

Galactica finally barely gets the ability to jump, but by then the FTL control is damaged due to basestar bombardment. William Adama the only human on Galactica not in the brig is frustratingly unable to repair the FTL to jump Galactica (Boomer being the other human on the ship who is able to repair with engineering but stuck in the brig). Cylons get another turn to end things, they attack with their raider fleet one more time trying to blow up another precious colony ship to take the game. Only thing between the colony ships and the 7 Cylon raiders being Helo and one other Viper. Two of the raiders takes down the unmanned Viper, the other 5 fire at Helo, using superb evasive maneuvers piloting skills supported by Boomer he was able to dodge 4 of the Vipers, the 5th one taking him out. But his sacrifice was just enough as all the raiders had used up their attacks.

Against 2 Basestars, several fleets of raiders and heavy raiders, all vipers gone, several colony ships undefended and about to be destroyed, and Galactica badly damaged and on the brink of destruction herself, the humans are nearly done for.

Boomer gets one last chance to break out of the brig and supported by William and Helo narrowly manages to escape. Boomer heroicly makes it to the FTL control, repairs it, and activates the jump with 1 population left. Since it was an emergency FTL jump there was a chance that the jump would cause population loss. A +2 to dice result was played so it came down to a 50/50 die roll on a D8.

As Boomer nervously activated the FTL, everybody was standing at the table waiting for the result. The die came up as a 5 and the Humans rejoiced as they successfully jumped without losing their last population, thus winning the game!

CitizenFry — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:11:07 +0000

by CitizenFry

If there aren't enough cards for a player to draw, including in the discard pile, that player just does not get those cards.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

Danath — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:56:46 +0000

by Danath

Wait, what happends if the person next to draw had to draw 2 cards and there was only one in the deck and none in discard???

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

GerryRailBaron — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:03:55 +0000

by GerryRailBaron

As I cited above, we had to immediately "reshuffle" and all there was was a single face up card in the discard pile. So everyone knew what that one was. And yet it wasn't drawn until two more cards were discarded. And yet, rules-as-written! Given the number of decks, I'd rather re-shuffle immediately just to keep things going in a f2f game.

Gerry

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: New solo version: cooperative rules (tweaked) + Cylon

Grudunza — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:48:01 +0000

by Grudunza

DrStoopid wrote:
Have you played this variant again since you suggested adding rule about the 2 Cylon Attack cards?

I am keen to give this variant a go and I want to know if you still think this step is worthwhile.

Ah, it's been quite a while since I've tried that... It did seem to liven things up a bit, but what I recall is wanting to change the rule to be that one of the set aside Cylon Attack cards is implemented if you roll 4 or less instead of 5 or less. It's still likely to happen at some point in the round, but a little less surety of if/when that will happen, especially if you play a Strategic Planning card.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: New solo version: cooperative rules (tweaked) + Cylon

DrStoopid — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:37:25 +0000

by DrStoopid

Have you played this variant again since you suggested adding rule about the 2 Cylon Attack cards?

I am keen to give this variant a go and I want to know if you still think this step is worthwhile.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

ColtsFan76 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:27:46 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Well then we have been playiong wrong this whole time. I was under the impression it was when a deck needed to be drawn from, not when it was empty. Seeing the slow motion of a PBF, I say it makes a significant difference.

I will have to change the way I play.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

GerryRailBaron — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:27:21 +0000

by GerryRailBaron

He got it better, but wrong. I had a case where the pile was empty, and nothing was available. As soon as there was a discard, I had to "reshuffle" that one card into the draw deck for that skill. Rather than wait until someone HAD to draw from it, which happened after two more discards. There would have been three cards being shuffled, not one "known" value.

Gerry

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Destination Strategies

Calmen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:24:27 +0000

by Calmen

This "this is realistic, that is not" conversation in board games ruling is a little bit lame. I talked about it on Fury of Dracula forum. Every game has realistic and gameplay rules. They can't always be the both. The question is, who the cares and why cares?

About Roslin fixing a viper, I guess Consolidate Power doesn't means getting able to do something. It means getting influence enough to ORDER SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING. So, when Roslin goes to hangar deck and play a repair card, she is in fact ordering Cally or someone else in the hangar deck to fix it. CP is a politics card, so this makes perfect sense. Same thing with that Quorum card that allows you to buy any card.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

Smoo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:56:11 +0000

by Smoo

Wait, what? Brian got one wrong?

Dungeons Master, please... what does this mean?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

James McMurray — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:54:54 +0000

by James McMurray

The rules say to shuffle the discard to recreate the deck as soon as the deck runs out of cards.

Waiting until someone goes to draw from it isn't that big of a difference (either in saving time shuffling or in changing the randomness or availability of cards), so if your group prefers that, go for it.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Reshuffle?

ColtsFan76 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:51:12 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Danath wrote:
Hey I was wondering... when a skill deck runs out do you shuffle it once it's exhausted or once someone goes to draw?

For example I draw the last leadership card. The next player draws leadership cards... do you reshuffle after I draw the last card and I don't need any more or do you wait until the next players turn which could allow cards I play and crisis check card to be put into the deck before a reshuffle.

Also I think the destiny deck is reshuffled immediately after it is exhausted since it needs to be rebuilt. Right?

When someone goes to draw. That way you collect as many potential discards as possible.

The only exception is the Destiny deck which is recreated as soon as it is discarded.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Reshuffle?

Danath — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:04:42 +0000

by Danath

Hey I was wondering... when a skill deck runs out do you shuffle it once it's exhausted or once someone goes to draw?

For example I draw the last leadership card. The next player draws leadership cards... do you reshuffle after I draw the last card and I don't need any more or do you wait until the next players turn which could allow cards I play and crisis check card to be put into the deck before a reshuffle.

Also I think the destiny deck is reshuffled immediately after it is exhausted since it needs to be rebuilt. Right?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Play By Forum:: BSG 39A - Bellerophon take 2

David Goldfarb — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:07:19 +0000

by David Goldfarb

Starting over the incomplete BSG 39. Look there for ground rules.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Timing of Alert Viper Pilot vs. Heavy Assault

David Goldfarb — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:48:29 +0000

by David Goldfarb

I agree with DaveD. Also on Besieged, Apollo could use Alert Viper Pilot to take out some of the newly-placed Raiders before they can fire. (If he has a Maximum Firepower, he might be able to get all four of them.) This has come up in at least one of the PBF games.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Cylon Locations Overlay in base game?

bhz1 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:09:16 +0000

by bhz1

Wolfling wrote:
InfoCynic wrote:
"it's a way to prove someone's loyalty but it's hard to do, if you get executed it doesn't mean you're out of the game

Gah. I hate when execution is viewed as a stronger version of cylon detector. It should be a way to get rid of a character when you are fairly sure he -is- cylon.

It's a way to ensure a Cylon doesn't get their Loyalty effect, and that they must spend at least one turn languishing in the Res Ship milk bath just to get a Super Crisis card (since you don't get one when you are executed).

As for using it as a Cylon Detector, I suggest increasing the Morale penalty by 1 for each human that is executed. When you've killed 3 humans in this fashion and your Morale is in the red by executions alone, you'll reconsider that as a tactic.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Cylon Locations Overlay in base game?

InfoCynic — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:48:41 +0000

by InfoCynic

Keep in mind that's my 30-second explanation, not necessarily a comment on strategy. As a point of 'this is how the rules work' during teaching the game, it suffices. :)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Cylon Locations Overlay in base game?

Wolfling — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:37:52 +0000

by Wolfling

InfoCynic wrote:
"it's a way to prove someone's loyalty but it's hard to do, if you get executed it doesn't mean you're out of the game

Gah. I hate when execution is viewed as a stronger version of cylon detector. It should be a way to get rid of a character when you are fairly sure he -is- cylon.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Cylon Refinery Destinaton Q.

ackmondual — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:16:17 +0000

by ackmondual

One dice for the pair of vipers. It's all or nothing, there is no risking only 1 of them.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Revealed cylon vs playing openly as a cylon

awp832 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:36:22 +0000

by awp832

that seems like some talented cylon play to me =). Not much you can do but shake the guy's hand at that point and admit you've been outsmarted.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Cylon Refinery Destinaton Q.

awp832 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:19:39 +0000

by awp832

Posted this on ff, but havent gotten an answer yet. For the cylon refinery destination, you risk 2 vipers. Are they risked together or seperately? in other words, do you roll 1 die or 2 dice when risking them?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Revealed cylon vs playing openly as a cylon

Wolfling — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:43:18 +0000

by Wolfling

How exactly would you want to judge what's 'playing openly like a cylon' and what's just plain stupidity of a player for example? :>

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:36:11 +0000

by iorlas

Fixed Declared Emergency and Tyrol's Blind Devotion timing.
Fixed problem with Viper activation (second activation could crash)
Fixed problem with Communication activation.
Found a new problem that you can activate the same ship twice from Communications.
Fixed Besieged and Jammed Assault special actions.

Fixed 5-10 presentation problems.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: simple thing, probably, but first game: can galactica shoot at raiders?

colmenarez — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:56:09 +0000

by colmenarez

It can also be useful if you have vulnerable civvies in far sectors (2,3 especially) and no vipers can reach them in time (Jammed Assault in effect, or damaged communications). It's situational and I hardly ever see anyone shoot a raider with weapons control, but it should still be in your options toolbox.

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

GerryRailBaron — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:17 +0000

by GerryRailBaron

]]>

Cylon Raider Activation, Part 1. Cylons in the aft sector attack 3 Vipers and a Civilian.

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GerryRailBaron — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:03:13 +0000

by GerryRailBaron

]]>

Cylon Raider Activation, Part 3. A trio of cylons on the port quarter attack a flight of vipers and a couple of civilians. Even worse, another trio fly in to join them for future attacks. This is a great example of how the Raider Threat builds up activati

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GerryRailBaron — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:03:09 +0000

by GerryRailBaron

]]>

Cylon Raider Activation, Part 2. One of the Vipers was damaged. It makes a combat landing, and Chief now has something to do.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

Blackfaer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:19:23 +0000

by Blackfaer

I got the game, played the game, loved the game. After playing online in forums, I was intrigued by people talking about the characters enough I decided I had to see the show. After seeing the pilot movie, I decided I needed to see the rest quickly before I got too many spoilers from the expansion.

I am hooked on the show now, it's absolutely fascinating...

but the game is still the best part. Had the show never existed, this still would be my favourite game.

That said, now that I've seen it, it does add a fun flavor. Particularly the expansion, with the addition of certain characters and events.

But no one I play with has seen the show, and they are all in love with the game too. Well, everyone but Zack. He hates it. But we like him anyway, even if we don't understand.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:04:13 +0000

by iorlas

Implemented the last part of Starbuck one time ability.
Implemented Launch Scout of destination deck (only had crisis deck before)
Fixed the Strategic Planning code (broke it day before yesterday)
Fixed presentation of damage done to Basestars.
Implemented effect of crisis card that Loyalty cards cannot be looked on any longer.

Went through my TODO comments: 12 left.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Variants:: Re: CAG title cards now available in the Pegasus files section...

revclayton — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:54:34 +0000

by revclayton

I really like this. I've toyed with the idea of a CAG card before, but I think this encourages communication more.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Quorum Cards and a Revealed Cylon President

DaveD — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:19:27 +0000

by DaveD

nastycleavage wrote:
Once revealed as a Cylon, President title is passed on to according to President progression table. Quorum cards are secretly placed in discard pile so no one knows what they were.

This is incorrect, the Quorum hand is passed on to the new President.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Revealed Cylon President

nastycleavage — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:16:51 +0000

by nastycleavage

Once revealed as a Cylon, President title is passed on to according to President progression table. Quorum cards are secretly placed in discard pile so no one knows what they were.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

revclayton — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:22:39 +0000

by revclayton

Most of the people I've played with had not seen the show at the time they played their first game. A good number of them then went on to watch and love the show, so be ready for the same thing to happen to you. :)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: Ever play in less than a half hour?

ElCid91 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:21:52 +0000

by ElCid91

I've played in less than a half hour ... in that game. I was one of the two people playing the chief. I rememeber asking for advice and it was the concensus at the table to XO Adama. I think Adama himself may have said something like: If I'm a Ceylon I'll kill you all or something like that and laughed. As soon as I XOd him ... yup he basically killed us all.

My first game of BSG and it was over before I blinked. We played a second game right after that and I was a ceylon. I got IDd early and the humans won with ease.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

One_Wolf — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:19:05 +0000

by One_Wolf

I concur with the above, you can play (and enjoy) the game without the series.

However, if you watch the mini-series that started it all, you will know just about everythng you need to appreciate the characters and overall theme of the game.

-One Wolf

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

SybotCB — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:57:39 +0000

by SybotCB

]]>

Cylon Ships

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

Elyt007 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:45:59 +0000

by Elyt007

iorlas wrote:
Fixed bug with Starbucks double action if piloting viper -

Apologies, but just had to point it out - Kept on imagining the coffee franchise chain piloting Vipers.

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

GerryRailBaron — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:57:58 +0000

newuser — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:40:32 +0000

by newuser

One warning: There are some minor spoilers given away by the game if you plan on watching the show later... but nothing too serious.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

surfitch — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:25:27 +0000

by surfitch

Yes. I didn't watch the show until AFTER i played the game. I liked the game so much i had to check out the show. glad I did.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

nilus — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:53:20 +0000

by nilus

Yeah my group has a mix of BSG lovers, BSG Haters and people in the middle(or who have never seen it) and they all love the game. The game even got a few of my friends interested in the series.

Whats even better is that the base game really doesn't spoil anything that you don't know after just watching the Pilot. So playing the game doesn't really ruin any suprises if you do watch the show. That being said the Pegasus expansion does start to blow some of the season 2 and 3 surprises.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

kenchan13 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:30:29 +0000

by kenchan13

bhz1 wrote:
I've introduced it to people who have heard of the show from friends but never played it, and they got real interested in the new series after a couple of plays, if only to see where certain cards appear in the series' storyline.

If you're approaching this game from "saw the original series, but not the new one", I've best described the difference between the two shows in the following statement:

Original Battlestar Galactica is a science fiction show that has a dramatic feel. You can watch it and feel warm at the end of every episode, because the heroes always triumph without a doubt in their minds. It comes from an era of science fiction television that still had the goal of portraying a hopeful future utopia (even if that utopia was under attack by bad guys in metal suits and evil goatees/bald spots).

Reimagined Battlestar Galactica is a prime-time drama with a science fiction setting. You watch it and see humans acting human (i.e. paranoid, untrustworthy, gullible, selfish, idealistic, impulsive), and hope that they piece together the mysteries surrounding them before the enemies who walk among them succeed. You could almost see it as a submarine movie in its intensity and pacing; like Das Boot, if a third of the men onboard were suicidal Russian spies waiting for the right moment to sabotage everything, and who initially have no idea who the others are, and everyone has been told that 1/3 of them are going to betray the rest. Picture that weird scenario in your head.

Therefore, the gameplay of the board game stresses these sorts of puzzle-solving challenges, in that it's about management of dwindling resources in a crisis situation, like many co-op games of its ilk (Arkham Horror, the whack-a-mole of supernatural horror, and also Pandemic). The game is perfectly capable of kicking your butt if you let it and do not focus on the most dangerous threats as you see them coming, but it also can be lenient if you work together...

...and to this end the game automatically adds an unknown (and unquantifiable at least until halfway through) element that is doing its best to undermine your efforts as quietly as possible, and to sow dissent, fear, and distrust amongst everyone. If you have a group of friends that would be comfortable "playing the bad guy/other team" every couple of games, then BSG is a fun game - combining elements of a whodunnit with a group decision-maker.

This sealed it for me.I am so asking for this game.I like the idea of the cylons hiding among the humans,It reminds me of one of my favorite films john carpenters the Thing.hmmm that would make a good board game!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

ackmondual — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:00:56 +0000

by ackmondual

My observations with various groups and people show that if you like this sort of game (including but not limited to co-op with traitor, some combat, sci-fi theme), you'll like the game even without seeing the show. This is apparent in many games (mostly eurogames, but does appear in some ameritrash games, and moreso hybrids of the 2 genres) like Shadows Over Camelot where you can have people who don't know anything about Arthurian lore/stories, have barely heard of what a dragon is, but still enjoy that game immensely. Also true with various European themed games such as Puerto Rico and Endeavor where the mechanics of the games are what are the main attraction.

In fact, what I've also noticed is that while watching the TV series increases enjoyment of the game, the extra amount of enjoyment is negible compared to the extra amount of enjoyment you get from liking such a type of game and its mechanics. The latter will likely put people over the threshold of liking the game whereas watching the show can only do so much to have people like the game more.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

Jormi_Boced — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:34:33 +0000

by Jormi_Boced

My first play of this was before I had seen the show and I enjoyed it. I have since watched the show and enjoyed it as well.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

mrbeankc — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:32:30 +0000

by mrbeankc

I play the game with two separate groups. One is a wargame group and one more of a eurogame crowd. In both groups about half of the players have never seen the series and still enjoy the game. So from my experience being familiar with the series is not required to enjoy the game.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

James McMurray — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:18:59 +0000

by James McMurray

I think it can, though the new show was almost nothing like the old, so I wouldn't come into it expecting nostalgia. It's a fun system with a lot of political maneuvering in and out of the game, deception between players, and sometimes not even knowing yourself which team you're on.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

bhz1 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:18:46 +0000

by bhz1

I've introduced it to people who have heard of the show from friends but never played it, and they got real interested in the new series after a couple of plays, if only to see where certain cards appear in the series' storyline.

If you're approaching this game from "saw the original series, but not the new one", I've best described the difference between the two shows in the following statement:

Original Battlestar Galactica is a science fiction show that has a dramatic feel. You can watch it and feel warm at the end of every episode, because the heroes always triumph without a doubt in their minds. It comes from an era of science fiction television that still had the goal of portraying a hopeful future utopia (even if that utopia was under attack by bad guys in metal suits and evil goatees/bald spots).

Reimagined Battlestar Galactica is a prime-time drama with a science fiction setting. You watch it and see humans acting human (i.e. paranoid, untrustworthy, gullible, selfish, idealistic, impulsive), and hope that they piece together the mysteries surrounding them before the enemies who walk among them succeed. You could almost see it as a submarine movie in its intensity and pacing; like Das Boot, if a third of the men onboard were suicidal Russian spies waiting for the right moment to sabotage everything, and who initially have no idea who the others are, and everyone has been told that 1/3 of them are going to betray the rest. Picture that weird scenario in your head.

Therefore, the gameplay of the board game stresses these sorts of puzzle-solving challenges, in that it's about management of dwindling resources in a crisis situation, like many co-op games of its ilk (Arkham Horror, the whack-a-mole of supernatural horror, and also Pandemic). The game is perfectly capable of kicking your butt if you let it and do not focus on the most dangerous threats as you see them coming, but it also can be lenient if you work together...

...and to this end the game automatically adds an unknown (and unquantifiable at least until halfway through) element that is doing its best to undermine your efforts as quietly as possible, and to sow dissent, fear, and distrust amongst everyone. If you have a group of friends that would be comfortable "playing the bad guy/other team" every couple of games, then BSG is a fun game - combining elements of a whodunnit with a group decision-maker.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

Grudunza — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:14:49 +0000

by Grudunza

I played BSG and enjoyed it several times before ever watching the series... then I watched the series and appreciated it more.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

Kobold Curry Chef — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:12:30 +0000

by Kobold Curry Chef

Even my best friend who HATES the show loves this game. So yes, go for it!! If you don't like the game, you must be a toaster. ;)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Can this be enjoyed without ever seeing the show?

iklinck — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:08:33 +0000

by iklinck

Yes. I've played it with people who had never watched the show, and they enjoyed it and played well.

You just need a few concepts:

- There are humans, and there are cylons.
- Cylons are trying to destroy the humans.
- Some cylons look like humans. Some of these cylons don't realize they're cylons at first.

CaptStrange — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:38:36 +0000

by CaptStrange

]]>

BSG actor Richard Hatch signing my Tom Zarek game card.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:47:29 +0000

by iorlas

Fixed some more presentations issues.

Run a long test as noticed several problems with the presentation. Will have to work on that. Most importantly the skill checks doesn't seem to work and they don't get presented correctly. Investigating committee doesn't make the player name appear, destiny decks cards seems to be missing, declare emergency is played before the result is known. A lot to do there obviously.

iorlas — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:44:27 +0000

by iorlas

Over all the program is getting close to a playable release now.
The main thing missing is the actual start of the game. How to set who is to play etc. Once that is written I think it will be playable, if even it will most certainly still contain many errors.

I still have to implement a feature for saving the current game state and continue from a given state. The idea is to store the state after each players turn so that if it crashes you should be able to replay the last turn and then be back in business. This is a lot of work there are plenty of different objects that holds state that needs to be saved. But it is still playable without this.

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

Guantanamo — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:25:51 +0000

by Guantanamo

]]>

Charles, John, Brad and Henry at Mike's Mini Meet VII

New Image for Battlestar Galactica

Guantanamo — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:23:15 +0000

by Guantanamo

]]>

Henry, Mike, Seth and Charles resolve a skill check at Mike's Mini Meet VII

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:02:41 +0000

by iorlas

Fixed bug with Starbucks double action if piloting viper - she always got two actions and no crisis phase (Now is that a good human character or what!)
Fixed bug so that players doesn't have to move.
Fixed bug so that Caprica location doesn't crash the program.
Fixed bug so that revealed Cylons cannot play skill cards after/before skill check
Fixed display of several actions (10 or so)
Fixed so that players get their current status before each of their turns.
Removed trace messages in the code.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Shooting At Basestars

James McMurray — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:02:08 +0000

by James McMurray

Yeah, but you're Baltar, so we have no idea whose side you're on. :)

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: Shooting At Basestars

Alex40K — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:41:55 +0000

by Alex40K

If a basestar would show up while the jump-track is still in the red, I would always opt for some shots at it, since it can give you some big headaches (damaging Galactica, pouring out Raiders and Heavies).

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Cylon locations, breaking many of them down....

Mundane — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:06:56 +0000

by Mundane

zearoth wrote:
GerryRailBaron wrote:

[BGCOLOR=#99FF66]Baltar and Boomer actually can give away up to 2 loyalty cards? [/BGCOLOR]

As per the location, give away ALL your unrevealed cards. They'd only do this once.

I am sorry to dig this up again, but an interesting question raised... What if Baltar reveals BEFORE the "sleeper" phase? Can he pass his unrevealed cards before the game hits the "sleeper" phase? And if he can, what he should do with the loyalty card re receive AFTER the sleeper phase hits?

In the base game Baltar could reveal prior to the sleeper phase and use the Resurrection Ship to pass his one unrevealed card to another player. He could do that again when he gets his third card at the sleeper phase. Note this changes when you get the Pegasus expansion. In that case you pass any unrevealed cards as soon as you reveal; it does not require using the Resurrection Ship.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Cylon locations, breaking many of them down....

zearoth — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:49:59 +0000

by zearoth

GerryRailBaron wrote:

[BGCOLOR=#99FF66]Baltar and Boomer actually can give away up to 2 loyalty cards? [/BGCOLOR]

As per the location, give away ALL your unrevealed cards. They'd only do this once.

I am sorry to dig this up again, but an interesting question raised... What if Baltar reveals BEFORE the "sleeper" phase? Can he pass his unrevealed cards before the game hits the "sleeper" phase? And if he can, what he should do with the loyalty card re receive AFTER the sleeper phase hits?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Computer BSG Game Engine

iorlas — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:15:09 +0000

by iorlas

Todays progress:

Fixed a bug with Apollos initial placement.
Fixed presentation of some 20 different actions. (Still have 50 or more to go *sigh*)

Noticed at least two bugs with Helo.
1) His moral compass is active when he has himself made a selection
2) His stranded capabilities are broken. He can do too much.

Noticed a problem with reporting back choices made by players. Need to include presentation of what the player actually did. This is only printed in my logg instead of as information to the players. Problem here is that some times this should be kept partially secret as well, so this could potentially be a lot of work.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Re: Play by Forum program

InfoCynic — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:05:53 +0000

by InfoCynic

Looking good, keep it up!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Sessions:: Re: My first one-player game -- my first win

hudarklord — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:49:38 +0000

by hudarklord

Emperor JD wrote:
That means discarding up to five cards at the end of every turn and with Apollo's random discard, this was extra annoying.

I believe that in the solo game you ignore the disadvantages. This made Apollo great. I chose Boomer so that I could choose to pick up an extra Tactics, Engineering, or Piloting if I wanted.

Without Apollo's normal disadvantage he was very strong in solo play. He could take the political card "Consolidate Power" to draw extra Engineering. I rarely had a problem with most crisis cards. So, I had a completely different experience than you did playing Apollo solo.

Lee Valentine

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Play By Forum:: BSG 39 - Bellerophon

David Goldfarb — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:17:41 +0000

by David Goldfarb

This will be the 39th play-by-forum game of Battlestar Galactica, following the general format set by ColtsFan76. (Kudos to Brian for starting all this up...it's been very successful.)

We will use the Pegasus expansion. The other Pegasus games so far have had 7 players, so to be slightly different I'm going to invite 6 people. In the (probably) event that nobody chooses a Cylon Leader to play, I would like to use the Sympathetic Cylon variant instead of the regular Sympathizer -- however, if a majority of the players prefer the regular Sympathizer rules then we'll go with that.

ETA: The Destination will be New Caprica.

I'm inviting 6 people. As I type this it is approximately 8 AM GMT on Monday October 26; I'm going to give everyone 36 hours to respond. I previously modded game #19, and things went nicely fast there; I'm hoping that'll be the case here too. Anyone who doesn't check their geekmail often enough to respond within 36 hours won't be checking in often enough to give the game the pace I'd like.

Obviously, players should subscribe to the thread.

When posting: please post general game commentary in normal text;
use italics for in-character roleplaying and general fluff (this is not required but can greatly increase a game's fun factor);
use bold for definite orders.

Sending orders to me via geekmail about what you want to do in various circumstances (also known as "conditional orders" or "CO's") can greatly speed things up; I strongly encourage this. I will occasionally claim that someone has ordered a pass (e.g. of playing Strategic Planning on a die roll) when I know they don't have the relevant card, although I try not to overdo this. Nobody in #19 complained.

I will not prompt for use of interrupts on Cylon attack rolls, or use of Once-per-Game abilities. If you think you're likely to want to do either, please be sure to geekmail me with CO's.

Players invited:
dcorbin13
Tymaster
Oeternalis
Riptorch
Hoyt
CitizenFry

Alternates, who will be in if people above don't respond:
arkibet
IllogicalLynx

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Play by Forum program

iorlas — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:34:03 +0000

by iorlas

Just wanted to give a notice that I have continued on my play Battlestar Galactica over BGG program. You can read about the progress in this thread:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/402150

And you can see some "output" from the program here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/456142

This weekend the status of the project improved significantly. A first version of the BGG-interface has now been completed. It is possible for the program to send and receive order through GeekMail. It can start a forum thread and post progress to this thread.

Plenty of bugs. Problems with the setup and several features that are missing, but now you can see my test-runs!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: simple thing, probably, but first game: can galactica shoot at raiders?

Snipafist — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:37:28 +0000

by Snipafist

Agreeing with Robert - yes, Weapons Control can target raiders. It is often a superior option to use Command to activate two vypers (if available) to take two shots at it or to Executive Orders a pilot to shoot at it, though. Weapons Control is superior for taking out basestars, but if you're about to jump away (so chipping away at it isn't worthwhile), the raider poses a more immediate threat and you've got no better means of dealing with it, then it's not a bad idea to go after raiders with Weapons Control.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: Re: simple thing, probably, but first game: can galactica shoot at raiders?

Gattolardo — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:18:24 +0000

by Gattolardo

Sure it can.
Weapons control can shoot at any Cylon ship. not only Basestars.

You still use the table at the back of the rulebook, so the raiders are still killed on a 3-8, and the Heavies on a 7-8. (yes, Galactica has bigger guns, but then they would be more difficult to hit).

I always saw a single ship a whole wing, both regading raiders as well as vipers.

Cheers
Rob

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Strategy:: simple thing, probably, but first game: can galactica shoot at raiders?

superjosef — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:12:39 +0000

by superjosef

simple thing, probably, but it was our first game day before yesterday: can galactica (by location usage) shoot at raiders?

there are no result tables i found in the rules, so probably not. but i wanted to ask anyway. i know thay do it in the series, but, well, there are not only about 8 raiders around galactica there, so because there is some automatic "thinning out" by the guns of the bsg silently considered then.

spinningdice — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:48:24 +0000

by spinningdice

As everyone else points out, it's generally a low-priority job (usually raiders/heavy raiders are much more threatening) but sometimes it just needs to be done.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Drawing Skill Cards

kushiel — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:17:00 +0000

by kushiel

Great. Thanks!

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Multiple Evasive Maneuvers

DCAnderson — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

by DCAnderson

Mundane wrote:
Torian wrote:
oh, o.k., so there actually is no limit to the number of EM cards any player may play. If he e.g. has four and needs four die rolls in order to not get damage he can play four times an EM card?

Yes, that is correct.

Which coincidentally causes the issue that made me have to start this thread in the first place.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Multiple Evasive Maneuvers

Mundane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:42:51 +0000

by Mundane

Torian wrote:
oh, o.k., so there actually is no limit to the number of EM cards any player may play. If he e.g. has four and needs four die rolls in order to not get damage he can play four times an EM card?

Yes, that is correct.

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Multiple Evasive Maneuvers

Torian — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:19:54 +0000

by Torian

oh, o.k., so there actually is no limit to the number of EM cards any player may play. If he e.g. has four and needs four die rolls in order to not get damage he can play four times an EM card?

Reply: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Re: Multiple Evasive Maneuvers