I just bought the game and haven`t tested it extensively. However, i got to try it out a year ago in a gameshop/bar (it`s both and it`s awesome).

In that game, we had someone from the company explain the game to us and i was, after the sleeper phase, the sympathiser. (Character was "Helo", if anyone cares, 6 Player game)

However the rules were quite different back then. We already had one resource in red numbers, so i did not immediately turn cylon.

Now, the one who knew the rules explained that i did not turn cylon (obviously) and that i would continue working for the human fleet. However, should at one point ALL resources go into red i would turn, with no way of turning back.

This happened, the humans lost the game, it was still fun anyway. The one who explained the game was also a cylon in this particular game.

After reading the official rules i was suprised this rule didn`t exist. Is it some kind of extra rule that i overlooked, was only posted on the Internet, etc...?

It was kind of an intresting dynamic beacuse now the humans had another thing to be careful of.

Of course, the sympathiser yould just run amok with it, knowing that he will turn cylon once the game looks bad. I didn`t do that. So the rule is open to abuse.

Anyone ever heard of this rule and would you include it?

Thanks for answers, sorry for my english.

Hm, never heard of that rule, no.

The sympathizer was generally felt to be "half a cylon", since he didn't get any Super Crisis to toy with, it could override his being a "real cylon", and he could end up being either cylon or human after all - his inclusiong being mostly a balancing mechanic. The expansion thus includes rules for Cylon Leaders and Sympathetic Cylons, making this particular part of the game a lot better.

But coming back to your question, after it is revealed who is the symathizer, he remains human or cylon, whatever he revealed as.

My apologies for another question. I guess you resolved my original one, tough i would really like to know if anyone else ever heard of this rule or where the hell this guy came up with it.

However you wrote: "after it is revealed who is the sympathizer, he remains human or cylon, whatever he revealed as"

In my Rulebook it says (translated) : If one resource or more are half or less (red area), the sympathiser player goes immediately to the brig. The card will then be treated as a "you are not a cylon" card.

This means, as far as i figure, that if i only held "not a cylon" cards, i would be a human player, though in the brig.

However if i held a "you`re a cylon" card, then i`d be a cylon player who is for all purposes unrevealed and in the brig. Now logically, because everyone can see one of my cards and knows its (practically) a "not a cylon" card, chances should be better i`m human and i could try to convince my "fellow" humans to release me - or at least not oppose my checks.

Question being: I do not have to reveal if I am a cylon, correct?

And if i am turned, i could still pass my cylon card to another player, right?

Thanks a bunch for the answer haslo.

Edited for corrections.

Right. That's what makes the sympathizer so interesting and potentially useful to a cylon.

And yes, if you turned into a cylon you would be able to pass on your unrevealed card(s), potentially creating another cylon.

Captain Moron said:

True, sorry for the confusion. The symathizer does not change loyalty all of a sudden later in the game due to the sympathizer card itself though, that's what I tried to say.

Since you said you got a demo from someone who worked at the company, I would guess that the sympathizer rules was something that was in the game during playtesting, but eventually removed probably for the reason you gave, about the sympathizer having a free hand to sabotage Galactica. I also learned the game from someone who worked for FFG, and there were a few differences between how he taught it and how the rules actually worked, but nothing as severe as your sympathizer situation.

I've ordered the game so I haven't gotten to playing yet but I've watched a couple videos about gameplay and read the rules. I kind of understand the balancing aspect of having the sympathizer card. What I'm wondering about is this hypothetical situation:

Let's say we're playing a 6-player game. At the beginning I'm a cylon. I fail my pokerface, get smoked out early and it seems the second cylon is in the remaining loyalty deck so we reach the halfway point with none of the resources in the red. My second loyalty card is the Sympathizer. I can hand it to another player, causing a situation of 3 cylons in play?

Although 2 of us would be on the cylon locations and the sympathizer can't use the cylon fleet to launch more attacks. Even with everything still in the "green", it seems pretty bleak. There can easily be at least 3 cards against crisis skill checks and there might not be any human pilots left to stop the increased attacks..

Yep, that's how it works. The humans better hope that they were doing really well up to this point, and get some fast jumps to finish the game.