When you play a card on someone, they should be allowed to read the card so that they can make a decision based on the outcomes presented. For those of you who think it would be more 'realistic' or 'RPG-like' to keep this information secret, just imagine a few games in when one player gets to know the cards. And you then play with a new player who doesnt know the cards - they are at a big disadvantage.

Like all other cards in the game, all players should be able to see them, read them, etc.

There is nothing in the rules that tells you to draw the card, keep it secret and only read out certain things from it. All games that I have that should be played like this specifically state that in the rulebook.

When you Dig Deeper instead of picking a conspiracy puzzle piece, does this cost an extra time? The rules don't explicitly say so, but the caption in the rules suggests it. Or does that represent the time spent following up the lead?

Phantom said:

No it does not cost more time. The cost has already been paid and this is one of the outcomes of uncovereing the conspiracy. The 1 time was spent in "Following up a lead" and "digging deeper" was how he resolved it.

In relation to the Louis Blaine plot that states something like "Each time you sacrifice a Sara favor, put one good baggage on this card," do you have to wait until something else forces you to sacrifice a Sara favor, or can you sacrifice a Sara favor on your term.

I was getting confused with the use of that term, which seems like you need to wait until something else forces you to sacrifice a Sara favor, with the use of the term "you may." Like in the Rachel plot that says, "You may sacrifice a Lena favor for $2,000." But then was further confused with some other Louis plot that like "When you discard two light cards, gain a good baggage."

So, do plots like this let you fullfill these on your term versus waiting for something else to fulfill the condition?

I think ANDROID has 2 strong points:

1. It's 3 types of games in one, 3 income streams for Victory Points, so you have to either balance your efforts or go hog-wild to focus on either Plot Points, Evidence on Suspects, or Conspiracy bonuses. The big points seem to be more on the Conspiracy Puzzle side, since Plot Points and Points from successful Hunches are capped, you can't get any higher than certain numbers, but possible Conspiracy linkages and 5-in-a-row (4 VP) seem to go on and on. But then again, some successful conspiracy linkages give bonuses to your Plot Endings or Hunches as well.
2. The strong "cyberpunk" theme appeals to me, and the plot card Endings are beautiful! I thought it was very joyful when Floyd the Bioroid got a breakthrough and could imagine animal shapes in the clouds, taking a step on the path to becoming a Real Boy (lol!) And it was depressing when Caprice could not quite control her psychic flashes or shut out people's unwanted thoughts and grim emotions and, with tears in her eyes, had to start taking medications to suppress her powers rather than go insane.

These endings resemble the post-climax bits in drama series, some personal vignettes after the action and violence. Each "episode" ends in a hopeful uplifting ending, or a nasty depressing incident that paves the way for the character to try harder to overcome problems (in another episode!) Viewers invest in the characters' stories, identify with them, and get primed to keep following the developing story. This is great that a game does this!

I well imagine "ANDROID" and its well-defined characters and relationships as a TV series. The only thing it's missing for a series is more interaction and personal rivalries between the detectives instead of impersonal bomb-dropping at a distance. Or maybe a romance between Floyd and Rachel since they appear to be the only unattached detectives?

For the love of all that is Science Fiction, SOMEBODY get a copy of this game in the hands of Joss Whedon (writer and director of BUFFY and FIREFLY).

The play of the cards means someone else can force you to LOSE a Sara Favor if you have one. Sacrifice means more that you own and control a thing but may choose to destroy it at any time (paying any other costs mentioned) to gain something else. LOSING and SACRICIFING something are not the same but arise from different causes.

Is there a linkage line coming off the top of the Jinteki and Haas puzzle pieces? either

• the artwork of the linkage line above the building in each icon looks broken to me, so the Conspiracy linkage ends at Jinteki or Haas without being able to connect to something else as well, or
• the linkage line can continue and connect to a Conspiracy group on the edge either directly or eventually with more pieces. The break is just an artistic stylization.

Which way is it?

Draconian said:

Oops, I found an answer to my own question; silly me.

Page 38, the scoring example, shows the Haas Bioroid puzzle piece below the Order of Sol conspiracy group, but the Order of Sol's bonus is not scored, so there must be no connection going up from the top of the Haas Bioroid building to the edge.

That blue nub represents a break in the linkage line, but it's a bit confusing.

Why print it on the piece at all if the Haas Bioroid building is a Conspiracy group and represents the end of the line? ...I guess to show that you can up-end the piece and use it to block a linkage line legally, without actually having to extend a linkage line elsewhere. You can then connect the linkage line below the Haas Bioroid building to something else, or leave it exposed to be connected to the Conspiracy eye later (this would be the ONLY case in the game where you can play a piece without extending at least one existing line.)

What do you think? I'm thinking out loud, and maybe I was the only one in the world who didn't get it but my multiple personalities have reached this conclusion. :-)

Just to clarify, you have to be able to pay a DL cards full cost in order to play it, correct?

tommh:

Yes. But remember that you can discard additional cards to lower the twilight cost.

Oops, somehow I botched this quote, but I want to respond to those two.

Don't forget also that there is a bonus for a Light or Dark Card matching the color of the current Plot Card for a character:

This is all a clever idea: good events and bad events are balanced in pendulum swings, and you can fine-tune the back-and-forth with color-matching or just go for sacrificing less-valuable cards for a break on the Twilight Cost.

FAQ above says:

Can I voluntarily get rid of Twilight cards to make room?

1. You can spend 1 Time to discard a Twilight card in your hand. It goes face up on the bottom of its respective deck.
OR...
2. You can discard Twilight cards to help pay the Twilight cost of another card you're playing (reduce the cost by 1 per card discarded in this fashion, down to a minimum of 0). Light/Dark does not matter.

-

Given this, if I have a dark side card I want to play on someone with a cost of 6, it's not my turn, so I have no time to discard, can I then discard cards to reduce time without paying time? Yes?

If yes, why would anybody pay 1 time ever to discard cards? Play a white side card on yourself and discard a few cards to get rid of them.

It's pretty uncommon, but it happens. Most likely because you have a hand full of cards that you can't play, for example dark cards with really specific conditions.

I really like Android, but after playing my first game, I have a few questions, I hope more experienced players know the answer for:

What happens if my hand is full and I receive a card in my hand out of turn? I was playing Caprice and my hand was full. It was Louis' turn and he played a light card which allowed him to look at all the evidence on a suspect and remove up to 3, and all other players draw a Louis dark card and he gets bad baggage. In this case we decided that Caprice should not receive the dark card. Is this correct?

Raymond's plot cards state, that they last 6 days. Shouldn't it say 12 days instead of 6? Should he get his crossroad card at the end of the first week and his resolution at the end of week 2, and get nothing during the two plot crossroads mid-week? (After reading the rules, I thought he had more cards in a plot, so he could take part in every resolution, but he has the same amount as the others.)

If I understand it correctly, then sacrificing things for something else means you get the extra ability, that for 0 time you can "exchange" those things for that something. For example, Louis can sacrifice any favor for good baggage (plot card "We need to talk, Li") means he can "trade" a favor to get a good baggage piece once per turn?

Thanks.

1. Yes.

2. That's right. The language is a bit ambiguous, but what it's saying is that each individual card lasts six days (rather than three), and that the plot as a whole lasts 12.

3. Yes, except that it's not limited to once per turn; if Louis really wants to pass that plot, he can spend all his favors on the last day. The faq explains sacrificing in more detail.

Now, if you still have some spare time, you should do the same for a few other games!

Great FAQ! It helps a lot!

I just played my first game of Android and soon a question came up. When is something considered "sacrificed"? Quite a few of the player plots has bad baggage triggered from other players sacrificing favors or cards. And is a sacrifice directed to a specific event?

My character had a bad baggage triggered by another player sacrifice 2 dark twilight cards. Does that person have to:

1. Sacrifice the cards to lower the cost for another twilight card, show that they are 2 dark cards an trigger the effect as well as lower the cost?

2. Specifically trigger the bad baggage effect on my card by sacrificing the 2 twilight cards with no additional benefits?

3. Use the rules for discarding cards and spend 1*2 time to trigger my bad baggage effect?

We went for option 1, but that made the plot pretty much impossible to complete and I suspect we should have settled for option 2. But there were also valid arguments for using option 3. What are the rules on this?

Yeah, it's option 2. From the faq :

Q: Could you explain sacrificing more
thoroughly?
A: Sacrifices only happen due to a card effect
or ability. A sacrifice must be performed during
your turn, but they cost 0 time unless the card or
ability states otherwise. A player may sacrifice
as many times per turn as he desires, as long as
he can play the cost. Finally, sacrificed items
(such as favors or evidence) are returned to the
pool that they came from.
So, for instance, if your plot says that you may
sacrifice 2 favors to gain 1 good baggage, then
you may discard 2 favors during your turn to
gain 1 good baggage without spending any time.
Note that in the example above, you could not
gain any other benefit from sacrificing those 2
favors, even if you had another game effect that
you could trigger by sacrificing favors.

I have searched BGG, rules, and FAQ and can't find anything specific to this. When you pay a twilight cost of a card, if it costs more than you have shifts, can you play by shifting or do you have to be able to have the amount? I ask this because Raymond (maybe others, I just finished reading the rules and tried to go through a couple turns last night to get a better handle on it) has a light card I think it is which costs 6. But the max you can shift if you're completely shifted is 4. So does this mean you have to have modifiers enough to reduce it to 4 or less? I did realize that playing matching the plot can reduce by 1 but for this card it would have to be reduced by at least two.

Another question I have is of the conspiracy puzzle. In the rules it mentions the Haas and jinteki conspiracy piece but it says that they can add a bonus...or not depending on how it's played. What does that mean? I never expands on that. What I can deduce is that jinteki or haas have to be on the EDGE to get the bonus but if they're in the middle somewhere there is no bonus. Also in the rules it shows Haas in the upper right on the edge but right in front of another one but that one doesn't get the bonus. So if Haas or Jinteki are in front of another organization on the end does that mean the other organization doesn't count? (Even though it looks like the line continues). Very confusing and not explained although in the sample, since the one doesn't get the bonus, I'm assuming it blocks them. So, I'm guessing that there can be only 4 bonuses coming form the puzzle?

Thanks for the help! I think that's all my questions.

Check out the section titled "Discarding Cards for Discounts" on page 28 of the rules, Ohbeone.

As for the second question, it means this: if you intentionally play a connecting piece to NOT connect to anything else, you're making sure no one gets that bonus. That works for any piece in the puzzle, really.