Battlestar Galactica - HomeMade mini Expansion.

By fuzguz, in Battlestar Galactica

Got an idea couple of days ago for a mini expansion (or should i call it a module?) so i quickly made a board and couple of cards.


The module consist of a ship called Celestra (research ship in the colonial fleet) and 10 research cards.


Players can go to Celestra and draw a research card and activate it on 1 of 2 positions (alpha or beta). They continue game as normal, with a slight difference. Between action and crisis phase, current player may add 1 skill cards to one of the researchs. Skill points on that cards go towards finishing the research. Once there is enough skill points in one of the research projects players can activate it and get transported to sleeping quarters. Activated cards are in play untill the end of the game and rules on that card supercede base game rules.


Board and 10 research cards: http://imgur.com/a/SABmz


any thoughts/comments/ideas?



p.s. picture on the celestra board taken from: https://gmd3ddesigns.wordpress.com/tag/classic-battlestar-galactica/

Edited by fuzguz

I like it. It adds more human choices, which would then make the humans a bit more powerful. Do you have a mechanism to balance it?

I like the idea and appreciate the aesthetic quality, especially the expansion board looks amazing. I do have my concerns, though.

First of all, I don't really see how is the Sleeping Quarters supposed to work, or is it even necessary (just a reminder: you cannot voluntarily move to a hazardous location, but unless otherwise noted, you are free to leave it. Is it supposed to be more like a "Soft Brig"?). The proposed cost is already very high, as I explain below.

Second, I think the values on the cards are far too high to ever use, with no expansion-specific way of providing extra cards. Consider similar expansion module - the Demetrius from Daybreak. Not only do Missions replace crises, but there is also the Captain's Cabin which adds a lot of cards into the mix.

Third, "X of one skill, Y of another" is perhaps too restrictive. I like the concept of "skill check over time", and a way to deal with cards over limit in early part of the game. I still don't see a point in such restrictive treatment. The cost is already very high - sure, 2-3 cards would have been discarded otherwise (giving us what - perhaps 9 points, probably less since we draw some 0s and less useful low-value cards?), but other than that, this cuts into the standard "action & crisis management" card pool.

And last but not least, the Research Projects themselves could use some more thinking. Take "Fair Trial" - the idea seems to be that we reinvent a legal system for the fleet. Apart from that being more in line with Quorum card effects, and also quite overpowered when you consider it affects Demetrius and Missions, how do you suppose it should work? Probably by discarding cards from the check after they are revealed - but that's not the same as "prohibiting play" (and there is the Destiny deck to consider, too).

Some other quick examples: there are no "Mark III Vipers" in the game, only base "Mark II" and "Mark VII" from Exodus; except for New Caprica, centurions never share a location with players. And how are we supposed to know who is a Cylon, unless we play with Cylon Leader? Do we force reveal, and thus, break the game? Same goes for the Last Chance, which doesn't look like a "research project" at all - more like a bad houserule.

I propose you draw up a rulebook for the expansion to cover the basic assumptions and changes to the game rules. You may also scrap the current Research Project and come up with something that will be:

- balanced in regard to other game effects and costs;
- intuitive/easy to use;
- different yet comparable to exisiting mechanics, esp. Demetrius.

You should probably stick to the idea that at least some locations can be upgraded, especially the underused ones - like Research Lab or Weapons Control, and maybe Communications and Command, too.

EDIT: If you would like some more feedback and visibility, take your idea to the BoardGameGeek BSG Variants discussion board:

http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/888086/battlestar-galactica-exodus-expansion/variants

http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/1400622/battlestar-galactica-daybreak-expansion/variants

The Exodus board is the more active of the two, or at least it was before. You can also try the base BSG variants board:

https://boardgamegeek.com/forum/649/battlestar-galactica/variants

Edited by Zsu-Et-Am

It's a neat idea, and I like the design that players contribute cards to a project that can then either be completed or abandoned for cards. Some of the project effects are neat too; however, basically nothing is correctly costed, and it will prohibit the effects from ever coming into play. One of the cheapest, Shuttle Bay, requires you to spend 25 points of cards (roughly 8 cards) in order to...not have to discard cards. Quite frankly, the effect would be questionable, although interesting, if it only cost the two actions needed to activate it. Likewise, New Research Lab and Fair Trial require spending 25 or 30 points of cards to get slightly more efficient card selection; both of these would also probably be reasonable if not over costed at 0. FTL booster is neat, but not worth 25, Last Chance requires enough cards to pass 3 Airlock checks, and the notion of spending 45 points for Observatory is laughable.

I like both your system of creating protracted skill checks for new effects, and a number of your current effects, but they don't match up: even at 0 points many of these cards would be marginal, so I'd recommend focusing on one or the other; either make the card effects much more significant, or alter the method you acquire them to be far less costly. Many of these effects would probably be fair at two actions, or one action and a check of around 10 points.