Battlestar Galactica strategy game

[Guest Wen Yang]

You do realize that the results of my actions are PUBLIC, right?

if I do not do as I say, brig me all you want.

[Zkirsche]

Ah yes, going from mafia, where everything is secretive and hidden, to this, where everything's so open, is hard to keep track of.

And FYI, I think it's rein anyway, but w/e.

[Excellen Browning]

I decided I will follow Wen's advice for now and will draw cards.

[Excellen Browning]

OH and I also think it's Rein. So if not this phase, next phase I would like to figure out a way to confirm him as either.

[Radiant Dragon]

Neither BK-201 nor Eclipse included themselves in the suspect list they each wrote.

BK-201 didn't include himself because he was only listing people with TAC 5 or greater like he said, and eclipse didn't include herself because her earlier bullet said she knew it wasn't her. While I'm not saying this means they aren't Cylons, I'm just saying that this point means nothing.

[Guest Wen Yang]

Well, i'm keeping track of what cards people should have, so it should hopefully help.

If you guys want, I can post it here. After my current FETO match that is.

[Guest Wen Yang]

RD, the point I'm making is that, While Haze and I also said that we aren't cylons, we admitted that we're also high on the suspect list of being one.

Neither BK nor eclipse did that.

Also, Tables said that if you do give your card to me, there is a chance that I might not be able to discard it this turn. I can still discard it later though.

[Jaybee]

Everyone draw 2 cards and we're good.

[Radiant Dragon]

RD, the point I'm making is that, While Haze and I also said that we aren't cylons, we admitted that we're also high on the suspect list of being one.

Neither BK nor eclipse did that.

This argument is only relevant for eclipse, since BK wasn't listing 'suspects'. He was listing people with a TAC equal to or greater than 5, which he is not.

And honestly, acknowledging whether or not they may be a Cylon tells nothing about whether they actually are one or not.

[Tables]

All actions are in, but it's been well under 24 hours so I'll give the people who may need it a chance to flip-flop on actions.

Also I'm going to refine how drawing skills works because the current explanation just needs too many exceptions:

If you draw skills, you can only draw each skill in your skill set once, up to a maximum of two skills.

If you use a character ability that draws skills, then you must draw from each skill in your skill set, until you've drawn every skill. After that you may repeat drawing skills until you've drawn each twice, and so forth.

Essentially it's the same as before, just, it's much neater to read and remember.

[Haze]

Hm, has it not been 24 hours now?

[Guest Wen Yang]

Okay folks, I confirmed with Balcerzak in chat that we do NOT get that list of how many of each card type each of us have in our hands. Therefore, we will have to keep tabs of that on our own.

Here's what I can contribute, namely, what our cards should look like at the moment:

EVERYONE that has played a card - 2 TRE

JB and WoMC - 1 out of TAC, LEA, or POL, plus 2 TRE.

What we get come next turn should be publicly displayed, so we can add that to the list as we go. Also, I will of course note what cards I draw using my ability to replace those TRE cards I discarded.

If anyone else has kept a list as well, may I request that we match lists after each draw and play? this way we can help iron out discrepancies and hopefully catch a lying Cylon.

Edited May 16, 2011 by Wen Yang

[WeaponsofMassConstruction]

Generally, mafia is more likely to refer to themselves as still suspects than town.

And if possible, we could try dumping all our treachery cards on one crisis if the result is not too bad. Right now, though, I don't see how it's that bad we have them in our hands if they're not doing anything unless we play them.

[Guest Wen Yang]

That's probably one of the best suggestions so far, WoMC. Let's hope we got a relatively harmless crisis next so we can get rid of all those TRE cards.

[Haze]

I don't see particularly think that any crisis will be "harmless", and I reiterate: the hand limit is TEN. Two TRE cards aren't exactly burning a hole in your pocket.

[Guest Wen Yang]

The main reason I'm worried about them is that we cannot exactly keep track on who still has them and who has played them, Haze.

With them gone, at least it would be somewhat easier to notice the Cylons, but with them in play? the Cylon can just play them at will and we'd be none the wiser as to WHO actually plays it.

[Tables]

Sorry, guys, I thought we were ready, but then I realised that someone's action was incomplete (it was an easy mistake to make - Zarek gave an order to draw two skills but not which two to draw). So I'll wait for his decision on that. And while we wait...

A little trivia information, in lieu of writing flavour. This month, inspirations for character abilities!

[spoiler=Character ability inspiration]Laura Roslin

President: You have three one-shot abilities: action - Presidential Pardon (move someone out of the brig); immediate - Investigative Committee (Who played which skills into the crisis is made public at the days end, must be called within the first 36 hours of a crisis); action - Probation (play on any other player, then once after you may: immediate - call in their probation to see what skills they play)

Politics rating-5, Leadership rating-3

Let's start with one of the most complex ones, eh? Okay, so, in the board game one character will always be the President (by default Roslin if someone chooses her, but it can move around). They have a deck of Quorum Cards which they can draw and play as actions. Two of these are Presidential Pardon and Probation, which both have exactly the same effect they have here. In the game, skill cards have two effects - one is their numerical value, and another is a text effect that can be played at various times. One of those is the Politics card Investigative Committee, which is played before a skill check to make all cards played public (played face up).

Gaius Baltar

Cylon Detector: Action - once before and once after the sleeper phase, may find out one player's loyalty

Politics rating-4, Leadership rating-3

This one is more or less a copy of Baltar's once per game ability in the board game - once per game he can look at all of another player's loyalty cards.

Tom Zarek

Friends in low places: Immediate - your vote for brigging/release (not execution) counts twice, and your vote wins draws

Politics rating-5, Tactics rating-4, Leadership rating-3

Friends in Low Places is the name of Zarek's ability in the board game, but the effect is different. Normally if you want to escape from the brig, or change the President title's hands, you have to pass a relatively easy skill check to do so. Zarek can increase or decrease the difficulty of those skill checks. This ability kind of reflects that in a more forum game setting.

Ellen Tigh

Politically Adroit: action - choose another player, give them a skill you have, then draw three skills (you may draw from one of your skill ratings twice)

Politics rating-6, Leadership rating-4

This one is more or less a copy of Ellen's ability but works a little differently. Ellen has to move to the same space as another character to do this, and only draws 2 skill cards (You draw 5 skill cards at the start of your turn, so Ellen effectively gets 6 and gives 1 to someone else - BUT one of her skill card draws is Treachery).

William Adama

Admiral: action - once after a skill check, you may take all of the skills played and keep them. (You may have to discard down to the hand limit of 10)

Leadership rating-5, Tactics rating-3

This is a direct copy of Adama's once per game ability, but with a different name - the Admiral title, like the President, can change hands during the game and has various perks and downsides (but mostly perks). In game it's called, uh, Command Authority? I don't even know why I changed it.

Saul Tigh

Declare Emergency: action - after any skill check, you may play up to three skills from your hand

Tactics rating-5, Leadership rating-4

Declare Emergency is a Leadership skill card which says 'Play after any skill check to reduce the difficulty by two'. So similar to this but diferent. This is actually more similar to Six's once per game ability in the board game which lets her play any number of cards after a skill check. Why did I choose Saul to get the Declar Emergency ability? Because he appears on the picture on the skill card :P.

Felix Gaeta

Mutiny: immediate - once during the game, choose any player and send them to the brig - they cannot play skills into this crisis (if they attempt to do so or have already sent them in, they'll be given the skills back)

Tactics rating-5, Politics rating-4

This is kinda the opposite to Gaeta's once per game mutiny ability in the board game, which gives him the Admiral Title and moves him out of the brig. But that seemed a little boring and there was no Admiral title, so I changed it.

Helena Cain

Guts & Initiative: immediate - during each skill check you may add three skills at random with Skill Ratings Tactics rating-5, Leadership rating-5, Politics rating-3. You do not get to see the added skills.

Tactics rating-6, Leadership rating-5

This is another amusing one, actually - Guts & Initiative is a skill card that removes cards from the 'destiny deck' before a skill check - normally, you have a deck of 10-12 random cards (2 from each skill deck) and you add two face down into each skill check - it gives the Cylons more room to move without being overly suspicious, so G&I removing that generally helps the humans. This ability is pretty much the opposite, adding uncertainty. But go figure. Again, Cain appears on the G&I skill card, so I gave it to her.

Lee "Apollo" Adama

Support of the People: immediate - once during the game, choose any two players (including yourself). They each draw three (any of the skills within their skill set, as many times as they want up to 3 skills) and may add them immediately to the skill check

Politics rating-4, Tactics rating-4, Leadership rating-4

This... I don't even know why I gave this to Apollo. It kinda fits him name wise but that's it. Support the People is a Politics skill card that has to be played before a skill check, if you do everyone with 4 or less skill cards in hand can draw 2 skill cards. The ability is similar-ish to that. The actual ability is pretty much the same as Dee's once per game, Fast Learner - she can draw three skill cards before a skill check and either keep them or add them immediately to the check. I should have given this straight to Dee.

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace

Expert Pilot: action - once before and after the sleeper phase, take three actions

Tactics rating-6, Leadership rating-3

Expert Pilot lets Starbuck take two actions if she's piloting a Viper at the start of her turn. Since there are no Vipers, she needed something different of course. She actually stole Cavil's once per game ability to take three actions (which is more effective in the board game since you don't typically draw cards for an action, you do more interesting things like shooting stuff).

Louanne "Kat" Katrine

Hotshot Pilot: other - One of your skill draws is the Piloting skill. When this is played into a crisis, you may convert it into any other skill type immediately (Politics, Leadership, Tactics or Treachery)

Tactics rating-5, Piloting rating-4

The board game has actually got 6 skill types: Politics, Leadership, Tactics, Piloting, Engineering and Treachery. The first five of these have abilities for humans to use and come up as skill types in skill checks (so rather than having 1-3 types out of 3, you'd have 2-4 types out of 6 that are positive - but Engineering and Piloting are rarely positive, and Treachery is only positive if you try and execute somone (or play a card to make them positive in a skill check). So, uh, since I wasn't really using Piloting or Treachery, I decided I might as well shoehorn them in in some places. This was one.

Samuel T. Anders

Pyramid Player: action - discard any number of skills, then draw the same number from your skill set (that is any number of Tactics rating-6 and Leadership rating-4 skills)

Tactics rating-6, Leadership rating-4

His ability in the board game. It's actually called... something else, I think. It's a fairly lame skill in the game, since you rarely get a good chance to use it.

Galen "Chief" Tyrol

Blind Devotion: immediate - once during the game before skills are revealed, you may halve the value of one colour of skills

Politics rating-6, Tactics rating-4

Almost exactly as in the game. In the game it completely negates one skill type, but with only 3 (real) skill types instead of 6 I decided that was too powerful. Also note I accidentally mentioned 'colour' of skills - whoops. I wasn't planning to bring in the colour codingness of skills, but, well, there is one :P. It doesn't matter much. Also possibly interesting, but Chief doesn't draw Tactics in the board game. I figured I didn't want too many people drawing Leadership at the time, though, and... well, uh, that was a mistake, since hardly anyone does draw Leadership now...

Callandra "Cally" Tyrol

Discharge of a Firearm: immediate - once during the game if you are not in the brig, you may execute another player. Then you are moved to the brig.

Tactics rating-4, Politics rating-3, Leadership rating-3

Cally shoots people. Yay! In the board game execution is slightly less severe (if you're a human, you discard your hand, reveal your loyalty cards, the fleet loses 1 morale, and you pick a new character and get a new loyalty card (with the Exodus expansion, anyway)). As such it doesn't need the penalty of sending Cally to the brig, but she does have to be in the same location as her victim.

Leoben Conoy

Glimpse the face of God: action - draw one skill. After you see the next crisis, you may draw any skill (with a skill rating 4)

Tactics rating-4, Politics rating-3

This is actually Baltar's general ability - after revealing a crisis on his turn, he gets to draw 1 skill card which can be from outside his skill set (normally, Baltar only draws 4 skills, so he essentially gets 4 skills fixed and one of what he needs). But Baltar already has his even more iconic ability, so I gave this to Leoben instead. It's pretty similar to Leoben's ability (he can draw two skills of the destiny deck then put two back - but we don't have a destiny deck and this was a nice ability to include somewhere).

Caprica Six

Intimate: action - choose another player, draw a skill from their hand at random and choose a skill for them to draw (with skill rating 4). Then draw one skill.

Politics rating-5, Politics rating-2

This is an ability Six has in the game. It's fun! I saw someone play this brilliantly in a game where she was a Cylon - in the game only 1 person drew Engineering, so she went around drawing a skill from everyone, and making them draw Engineering. Nobody knew what she was doing, until a skill check came up spiked - with Engineering. And nobody had a clue who it was, thanks to Six's meddling. I think the Cylons went on to win that came.

[Tables]

There's a good chance I won't be back on for about 18 hours so, Bal, updating is up to you

[Aleph]

Generally, mafia is more likely to refer to themselves as still suspects than town.

I'm all for psychoanalysis but where did this come from?

[Balcerzak]

Instant Flavor Just Add Water.

Month 2. This month's crisis is:

Bomb Threat

Pass: No Effect

Fail: -2 Morale, -1 Population

Difficulty: 15

Skill types (positive): Leadership, Tactics

Results of the previous month's actions are IN!

Ceadeus as Helena Cain has drawn 1 TAC and 1 LEA, and has 4 skills in hand.

Kevin as Laura Roslin has drawn 1 POL and 1 LEA, and has 4 skills in hand.

Excellen Browning as Gaius Baltar has drawn 1 POL and 1 LEA, and has 4 skills in hand.

Wen Yang as Samuel T. Anders has used Pyramid Player, discarding 2 cards and drawing 1 LEA and 1 TAC, and has 3 skills in hand.

JBCWK as Felix Gaeta has drawn 1 POL and 1 TAC, and has 5 skills in hand.

BK-201 as Tom Zarek has drawn 1 LEA and 1 TAC, and has 4 skills in hand.

Queen as Kat has drawn 1 TAC and 1 PIL, and has 4 skills in hand.

Eclipse as Cally has drawn 1 LEA and 1 POL, and has 4 skills in hand.

WeaponsOfMassConstruction as Leoben Conoy has Glimpsed the Face of God, drawing 1 POL, and has 4 skills in hand. He will draw one further skill of his choice following this posting.

Radiant Dragon as Ellen Tigh has exercised her Political Adroitness, passing 1 skill to Wen Yang as Samuel T. Anders, drawing 2 POL and 1 LEA, and has 4 skills in hand.

[Radiant Dragon]

I knew I should've drawn two LEA skills... I'll be throwing the one I do have in anyway, though.

[Balcerzak]

Also, please, anyone if I screwed up and gave you skills not in your set, or otherwise herped when I should have derped, let me know immediately.

[Haze]

Surprisingly mediocre draws for me.

Playing two cards into the pot.

[WeaponsofMassConstruction]

I'm all for psychoanalysis but where did this come from?

In order to seem more trustworthy and to stay close to truth whenever possible, mafia leaving themselves in a suspects makes sense from their point of view. From town's perspective, they know they are absolutely not a possible suspect and will then find it more okay to throw themselves out.

I can chip in some, and then chip in some more.

[Zkirsche]

I too, will play a card, as this crisis seems to have a very bad loss requirement.