A couple of questions about the rules, couldn't find any reference in the rules, FAQ, or this forum.

1. Can revealed Cylons still use their character abilities? And are they still subject to their drawbacks? Intuitively I would think no, but can't find a rules reference for it.

2. When a player discards skill cards (eg, due to water shortage, etc), do they have to be discarded face up, or face down? Do you have to show the other players what you're discarding?

If anyone can help, much appreciated!

No to the first question.

For the first question here is the rule:
3. Action Step: The Cylon player may perform the action
listed on his current location. Revealed Cylons may not
perform other actions, such as those found on Skill Cards
or Quorum Cards. All of the abilities listed on a revealed
Cylon player’s character sheet are also ignored.

Yes to the second:

Whenever a player discards a Skill Card, it is placed in a
discard pile faceup next to the appropriate Skill deck.

Thanks, I knew it was in there somewhere!

Follow-up: with respect to Boomer... If she reveals before the sleeper phase, does she still get 2 loyalty cards as per her negative ability?

She only gets one, since we ignore character abilities for revealed Cylons. One Loyalty card is not dealt at all.

azuredarkness said:

Hmm, I see a potential problem with this. Step three in the Loyalty Deck setup says to add an extra Human card to the deck if Boomer is in the game. This is done before any cards are dealt. So if she reveals before the Sleeper phase, that means one loyalty card isn't dealt? If that card is the other Cylon card, that seems to be really unbalancing since even 2 cylons vs. 4 humans is pretty hard (assuming Symp. stays human), 1 vs. 5 would be **** near impossible barring some really lucky string of crises or something.

Playing the rules exactly as written, though, your way would be correct, since the only reference to Boomer's 3rd card is on her character sheet, which would be ignored if she's a revealed cylon. Good topic for a future FAQ? (Although a pretty rare circumstance, I guess)

ninjamatic3000 said:

Dem's da rules....

The point of it is if Boomer reveals, it is in her own hands. She is taking the chance that by revealing early, her potential partner may still be in the deck and that card gets buried. So Boomer has to weigh the risks - reveal early if it is that opportune, or potentially play solo with a Cylon card never distributed.

That may be the rule as written, but I think it's an unintended consequence. I would play with her getting both cards.

I just asked the Boomer question to Corey and this was his answer:

2) Boomer would receive the extra card, even though revealed cylons usually do not use character abilities.

FunkyBunch said:

Then that is a reversal of his earlier statements. He has posted in the past that the card would remain undistributed.

Hmmm, and I thought it was going to be an easy question... How will ColtsFan76 and I sort this out, if Corey can't even come to an agreement with himself??

ninjamatic3000 said:

Well let me make sure I correctly remember what he said first. I will try to find the source of the original ruling.

Found that fast:

www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2994310#2994310

I don't see this as a problem. Yes, technically if Boomer becomes a revealed Cylon before the sleeper phase then her negative ability will be ignored, and 1 card will remain in the Loyalty deck.

One thing that this does is encourage Boomer to not reveal until after the sleeper phase so that all of the loyalty cards will be dealt out.

ninjamatic3000 said:

May I suggest pistols at dawn?

At this point, since there are 2 different answers, maybe people should play it how they want? If you really want to have that small chance to screw Boomer cylon, you can. I however, will not play it that way because I think it's silly as Boomer would be the only character that can be completely screwed by revealing early. Her autobrigging is already bad enough.

Personally I can't recall an instance where Boomer revealed pre-sleeper in any of the games I've played, so it hasn't really come up for me. In the future I'd probably just give her the extra card...