I've read through the rules twice, but I'm sure I've either misread or misunderstood something. I am assuming that an Admiral thrown in the brig is stripped of his title, but a president thrown in the brig is not stripped of her title. Is that correct?

Correct.

Correct.

Correct.

(Hopefully this post is long enough now).

Also, the admiral's title is given to player highest in line not in the Brig - not the next in lines as stated in the rules.

And if the Admiral gets out of the Brig, he does not immediatly reclaim his title.

Mike said:

Where exactly does it say that the Admiral's title is given to the player highest in line of succession NOT IN THE BRIG?

Technically, it does not specify that they are not in the brig, but it seems pretty obvious this is the intent. As for highest as opposed to next in succession, it says that in the FAQ (although technically for revealed cylons, not for brigging).

However, one of the FAQ questions asks when happens when all the players are in the brig (the highest in the brig gets Admiralty), suggesting this does not happen when some are out of the brig.

timonkey said:

It isn't " technically ," it is the RAW . There is nothing at all in the RAW that addresses whether or not the character highest (or next) in line for succession can or cannot be in the brig. As to the FAQ, it addresses one specific situation, and says nothing about any other situation.

As to " intent ," I see as the " intent " that stripping the Admiral of his/her title is a penalty for being thrown in the brig; the fact that the next in line for succession is not relevant. Otherwise, why, when all other humans are already in the brig, would you strip the title from the Admiral and give it to the next character in line for succession? Why not just let the Admiral keep the title? The problem is, of course, I am arguing intent rather than RAW and I cannot know the designer's intent unless he has expressed it in some forum.

The FAQ makes the intent pretty clear. If the intent was other than what I'm saying, then the FAQ entry would not be present.

So let's say it's a three player game and Baltar has revealed as a Cylon, and sent Tigh to the brig with his reveal. That leaves us with Admiral Boomer. Then we hit sleeper agent phase, and Boomer is automatically brigged, Tigh is admiral again as the highest ranking character in the brig. All makes sense according to the Rules and FAQ so far... but what happens if Boomer is the first to get out of the Brig? Normally, the old admiral doesn't automatically reclaim the title for getting out, but the intent of the rules seems to be that admiral in the brig should be the last resort.

I'd say Tigh stays admiral. Why move it around more than necessary?

timonkey said:

I'd agree but we have this discsussion on BGG and it hasn't been resolved there. ( www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/389718 )

The otehr side of the issue is that Corey said teh "only time" the Admiral can be in the brig is when all human players are int eh brig. So some see it as as soon as someone gets out of the brig, they automatically become Admiral again. Logic being an Admiral cannot be in the brig if there arwe players outside of the brig.

But I thik this needs to be clarified because other rules state that titles do NOT automatically revert back when higher ranked individuals can become that title again. Something has to trigger a title change. So I would say the Admiral sits in the brig until the event would cause a change and Boomer, in this example, would then be the only one qualified to accept the title.

Either way though, Corey should issue a clarification.

I'd tend to say the first one out becomes admiral. Here's why: There's no Administration location for other players to change the admiral; all they do have is the brig and one "encourage mutiny" quorum card, so if there can be a brigged admiral while other players run free, it means that one player can hold on to the most powerful title for a *long* time as long as he stays in the brig. So what we end up with is a loophole that neuters the mechanics for changing admiral.

That is correct. This is based (I presume) on the series where Laura was thrown into the Brig on many occasions

Ummm... just once, and she was never the admiral (and the players can always use Administration to pick a new president). President stays president until the political power is seized by another. If the admiral retained his military authority he wouldn't be in the brig in the first place. He'd tell his marines "Don't take me to the brig, you knuckledraggers" and they would comply.

(In game terms, the requested resignation card came up and the admiral chose to ask Laura for her resignation. She refused and was sent to the brig, but she still got to see Billy and the Quorum so she was still able to draw from the quorum deck until "Declare Martial Law" came up and the admiral became president.)

I think it's pretty clear that Corey is only talking about when the transfer happens. So it would stay where it was until something else triggers a move

timonkey said:

I disagree as I have said on BGG, but I have just submitted this as a rules question, that hopefully will resolve this one way or the other.

Have just recently asked this question as, even though most of us thought it obvious to the theme, it wasn't spelt out explicitly in the rules:

If all players are in the brig, and a player leaves the brig, he claims the Admiral title.

I hope this answers your question!
-Corey Konieczka
Fantasy Flight Games
Design and Development

Pretty obvious I thought, but always good to have it in print.