BSG Probabilities Calculator ("The Probabilitron")

played tonight with three first timers. Excellent roleplaying from the Cylon, although we didn't make it till the end. Bastard got away with some obvious stuff. Great game!

OMG did you guys see the new episode? I can't believe Steve Avery turned out to be the fifth Cylon!

Played it again tonight with 3 noobs and my wife (vet of 1 game). It was AWESOME. And no major AP--this game fucking RULES when it's shorter than 4 1/2 hours! I have no idea about balance since the 2 noobs got Cylon so kind of fucked it up, but this game is fucking amazing.

four and a half hours? Sweet mother of god, thats some AP! Our first game took 3 1/2 and we thought that was long. Its around 2.5 now, and thats with a lot of BS

The 4p game last night took about 3 1/4 hrs, and that was with three noobs and two of them are from my old euro gamer crowd so there was a bit of AP going on - although in the end the host (euro gamer) was telling his son to move it along as he pondered over two crisis cards (as the sympathiser cylon) even though us humans were pretty near screwed anyway. But the other games at our club have never gone over 3hrs.

Frank - what the fuck do you do to get the humans actually in with a chance in teh last quarter ?!!! Admittedly the cyclons have been pretty lucky with crisis cards in 2 of the 5 wins with Galactica under nearly constant attack (at one stage last night every raider and nearly all the heavies were on the board, plus both basestars) and the vipers getting blitzed with good dice.

But I can't see myself not playing this for a long time yet, except .............. Cosmic Encounter just got delivered this morning, by-ee - must start punching.

My last session....

Me(after getting a free peak and seeing Susan was a cylon on turn one): Ok everyone,listen to me. Susan is a cylon, we need to put her in the brig ASAP.

Susan: I'm not a cylon, this is Chapel we're talking about. He's always the cylon/werewolf/traitor/etc...right!?

Everyone else: Yeah, no doubt. Chapel is the cylon! Put him in the brig.

Me: Sigh.

MWChapel wrote:

My last session....

Me(after getting a free peak and seeing Susan was a cylon on turn one): Ok everyone,listen to me. Susan is a cylon, we need to put her in the brig ASAP.

Susan: I'm not a cylon, this is Chapel we're talking about. He's always the cylon/werewolf/traitor/etc...right!?

Everyone else: Yeah, no doubt. Chapel is the cylon! Put him in the brig.

Me: Sigh.

I think everyone at the Fort and most of the TOS would brig you first turn ... it just seems the right thing to do.
My gaming club have renamed it to 'Tom is a cylon', so I think I know where my first location will be in our next game.

PS The artwork on CE is pretty awesome - but it is a bit weird packing up a FFG box and there's no board in it .

Chapel: that's awesome, haha. Well played, Susan.

That kind of play is exactly what makes BSG amazing- it's about play, not rules. All of the depth and complexity is in interaction and player behavior, not in manipulating ROI systems. This is one area I think that Eurogames have lead the hobby into ruination, by making games about rules and process and not about playing.

I always wonder why people wait so long to use the Cylon Detector. The best thing a Cylon Baltar can do is to use it and claim that somebody is a Cylon even if it's a . The problem is timing though, if you do it _too_ early then it looks suspicious but too late and there's probably already adequate suspicions. But to plant that seed of discord early I've found is pretty effective because that's the best weapon the Cylon has. If you do it that way though, popping the detector early, you've got to play it straight for at least the first half of the game and make a big show out of playing the right cards.

But a human Baltar using the detector early can have a 1 in 2, 3, 4, or 5 chance of outing the Cylon on the first turn or at least eliminating a suspect and identifying a trustworthy ally.

We've had a couple of games where there have been some positively diabolical events surrounding the identification of the Cylon. That's the worst feeling when the Cylon player tells everybody that you're the Cylon...they're taking a chance by basically outing themselves to you but then it turns into a "my word versus your word" thing, and I can not possibly win in those kind of situations. Like Chapel.

Then there's the "Incompetent Cylon" theory that I love...it's when the newest/most inexperienced players are the Cylon and they make some kind of stupid move. I love it when that happens.

I'm really thinking, after 10 plays or so, that BSG is top five material. I think it's definitely in the league with COSMIC ENCOUNTER, DUNE, SETTLERS, CIVILIZATION...it's the kind of game I love to death. Say all you want about the license, but that never hurt DUNE.

MWChapel wrote:

My last session....

Me(after getting a free peak and seeing Susan was a cylon on turn one): Ok everyone,listen to me. Susan is a cylon, we need to put her in the brig ASAP

I was already irritated at being a Cylon in my very first game and then I was totally pissed that you were able to out me on the first turn. But then I realized that accusing a human after peeking at their card was such a very Cylon thing to do and yeah, who was going to believe Chapel over sweet, little ol' me!??1 Muhahahah!

The problem was that the seeds of suspicion had been sown and I'd already been accused of being a cylon before the game started because I "was too quiet when I got dealt my identity card." WTF? So, I had to be veeeery careful not to let anyone see me do anything negative. I finally said "screw this" and revealed myself so I could start doing really diabolical stuff.

In my second game (no MikeC this time), I was once again a cyclon. This time I was able to keep my identity a secret for the first half of the game. I decided to throw the worst possible cards into the skill checks with reckless abandon and the Destiny Deck did not let me down in making people wonder whether or not a cylon was at work. I talked a good talk and avoided suspicion. I finally revealed myself when the Galactica was surrounded by enemiy units that I wanted to activate before the humans jumped. Worked beautifully! I've got this evil thing down...

What a great game!

Gary Sax wrote:

Really? Cool. How many games did it take for that to happen?

Not many. The turning point is when the players all know what the different abilities on the skill cards are off by heart - once you know that it becomes very hard for a cylon to hide.
The other thing is at least some of the players have to be 'bullies' - you know how some co-op games have the guy who tells everyone else what to do? You need at least 2 players doing that. That way they keep the hidden cylons in line.

"Jack, you're drawing purple and you haven't scouted in 2 turns, so you have to have at least one +2 card in your hand. Play it now for this FTL jump or I'm calling you out as a cylon!"

Then there are the little tricks to learn - never executive order the guy directly in front of you, don't keep people in the brig, don't be scared to ftl, never let an unknown president over quorum, scout scout scout, etc.

Really, provided im playing with at least a few of the 4 other 'experienced' guys I have been playing with the hidden cylons are having a prick of a time doing damage without getting caught. The pendulum has swung for us - the cylons now need to learn new strategies to keep up.

Totally agree on the bully thing Skeletor, I can see that after two plays. You need people that will publicize the good moves and threaten anyone who doesn't make them. That doesn't mean min/maxing but this is a game that it really isn't hard to see the best move most of the time.