We just brought Exodus into the group and it looks like exactly what we needed to rejuvenate BSG. Pegasus was just too easy for the Humans to win, though I did love the expansion.

After reading the rules, we are using everything Exodus has to offer, but what happens to Pegasus? The rules aren't clear with what to do with all the cards/characters/rules/Pegasus itself from that expansion. It has suggestions at the end if you want to use both, but I want the "truest" sense of Exodus possible. I know its a modular game, where everything is optional, but is there a clear cut way to play Exodus with regards to everything in the Pegasus expansion? If not, what is the best way to play them?

My group has thought of ways but not tried any of playing the full set of games....go to Kobol, then New Caprica, then to the Ionian Nebula. Clearly the resources have to be higher and the distances have to be adjusted, but it could be the epic of all epic games.

The Ionian Nebula destination isn't compatible with the Kobol or New Caprica destinations, however the Conflicted Loyalties and Cylon Fleet options work fine with everything from Pegasus, and you can use the other Pegasus components just fine with the Ionian Nebula.

Basically, without heavy houserules, there's no way to have a "with everything" game. However, as long as you only use one of the destinations, everything else in the game is fully compatible.

In regards to the components from the Pegasus expansion, are there any recommendations on what to include/not include to make Exodus the best Exodus possible?

LinkN said:

Of course you can use all the destinations together. You just need to adjust the distances at which you will reach them, e.g. Kobol @ 8, New Caprica @ 15, Ionian Nebula @ 22, the resources the fleet starts with, and the number of trauma tokens that lead to being removed from the game.

brown said:

Well, you should ALWAYS use the updated Investigative Committee skill card, regardless of whether you're playing core, Pegasus, or Exodus. Same with the updated Admiral and President cards. Likewise, the updated Cylon locations are also much improved over the core ones.

Cylon Leaders and treachery cards are interesting but not mindblowing. Good to have for 6+ player games, or if you don't want to use the Sympathizer element (though Exodus fixes the sleeper-cell sabotage metagaming).

The extra skill cards ("Support the People", "Run Interference") add a lot to the game but you probably won't use them unless using Cylon leaders and/or treachery.

Most of the Pegasus characters can't be used unless you use Treachery cards, so evaluate them on an individual basis if not using Treachery.

The Pegasus board itself I would only recommend if the humans are losing very, very frequently.

Use the Scar crisis even when not playing Pegasus....so much fun.

As for New Caprica itself, most people aren't going to use it after playing it a few times.

Lastly, most of the destinations, quorum cards, and crises are good additions, just make sure to review them beforehand to make sure there aren't any that refer to other parts you aren't using.

We've played at least 6 games so far (all of them 7 player games, or maybe only 1 at 6 and 5 at 7). We still use all elements of Pegasus except New Cparica (which we stopped playing within a few weeks of Pegasus releasing). There just doesn't seem to be any reason not to use them. The Pegasus board adds more location options, and the Pegasus skill cards are still useful. I am hoping to play a 5 player game soon, perhaps this weekend. It's just that we don't really enjoy playing 3 or 4 player games. But I think that with the Crossroads cards, that phase might be more enjoyable with less players.

Yeah, we also just played with everything besides the New Caprica location, and everything seemed to flow really smoothly. No major issues with putting it all together.

Keithustus said:

We discusses something like that in an other thread with a little smaller milestone numbers

On an other note:

There are no NPCs on Pegasus, and there are WAY TOO MANY in Armory and Weapons Control (which you don't use that often), and even more in Hangar Deck (though that gets atleast used...)

So I propose "moving" some characters over to pegasus.:

Helena Cain to Pegasus CIC - that's a no brainer

Kendra Shaw to Main Batteries - she has to be on pegasus

Seelix to Airlock - well, that's a stretch, but she was a member of circle thus big fan of airlocking, and as I said, way too many in armory

Chief Tyrol to Engine Room - the only engineer beside him in the show was Gardner, and we don't have an NPC for him

Apollo to Pegasus CIC - he did command that ship for almost a whole season... And he got fat there (oh, the trauma)

That way Armory and Weapon's Control and Hangar Deck will only have three NPCs, so it feels more balanced...

What do you think?

I've only done one destination at a time, but I have an idea how to do both Ionian Nebula and New Caprica. Maybe we'll try it next game.

-Play with Trauma/Allies as normal for Ionian Nebula

-At 7 distance, issue the Ionian challenges, but do not do Trial/Boxing.

-Begin New Caprica phase. At this point with no allies and alternate crisis cards, there should be no way to gain/discard trauma tokens (someone correct me here?)

-When Galactica returns, do the trial/boxing the line.

-Basestar fleet arrives and evacuate as New Caprica rules

I've adopted three house rules when running the Ionian Nebula option with Pegasus (an awesome option I think a lot of people are overlooking; give it a few goes before writing it off like New Caprica!) . Written in my best imitation of Fantasy Flight's ocasionally pedantic prose, here they are:

HOUSE RULE 1: DUAL-LOCATION ALLIES
Certain Ally Cards represent "dual-location Allies", which are each associated with two locations instead of one: their printed location, and a second location on Pegasus.

• Helena Cain (Command / Pegasus CIC)
• Louis Hoshi (Communications / Pegasus CIC)
• Lee “Apollo” Adama (Hangar Deck / Pegasus CIC)
• Brother Cavil (Research Lab* / Airlock)
• Ellen Tigh (Admiral’s Quarters / Airlock)
• Tory Foster (Administration / Airlock)
• Leoben Conoy (Communications / Main Batteries)
• Kendra Shaw (Weapons Control / Main Batteries)
• “Chief” Galen Tyrol (Hangar Deck / Engine Room)

* Huh? Anyways, moving on...

When a dual-location Ally is in play, a player who ends his Movement step in either of that ally’s locations must encounter that Ally as normal, unless that location is damaged (see below). When placing a dual-location Ally, place the corresponding Ally token on their printed location, and place their Ally Card near their associated Pegasus location.

Dual-Location Allies & Damaged Locations
If a dual-location Ally is in play when one of its locations is damaged or destroyed, the Ally is discarded and a new one is drawn as normal (even if its alternate location remains intact). If a dual-location Ally is drawn while one of its locations is damaged or destroyed, that Ally is NOT discarded: It is placed as normal, following the rules in the above paragraph (even if that means placing an Ally token on a location with a damage token).

Dual-location Allies are not encountered by players in damaged locations (but could be encountered there once the location is repaired).

Example: Tory Foster, a dual-location Ally (Administration/Airlock) is in play when Colonial One is destroyed by the “Bomb On Colonial One” Super Crisis Card. Even though one of her locations remains intact (the Airlock), Tory Foster is still discarded along with any other Allies on Colonial One. "Chief" Galen Tyrol, a dual-location Ally (Hangar Deck/Engine Room), is drawn to replace Tory Foster. If both of the Chief's locations are currently damaged or destroyed, he is discarded and replaced as normal. Otherwise, he remains in play, and must be encountered by players ending their Movement step in either the Hangar Deck or the Engine Room, unless that location is damaged at the time.

HOUSE RULE 2: AIRLOCK TRAUMA TOKENS
This house rule and the next were both designed by our group together, and are intended to create a palpable distinction between Airlock'ing someone with Treachery, and Airlock'ing someone by the "rule of law" (Politics) or military maneuvering/fiat (Tactics).

When placing Trauma tokens on the “Brig” and “Sickbay” during the Setup phase, also place two Trauma tokens facedown on the “Airlock” location. Unlike the Galactica location Trauma tokens, the Airlock Trauma tokens are not automatically acquired by players during the Movement step. Instead, a player acquires both Airlock Trauma tokens when all three of the following are true:

1. The player activates the Airlock location, targeting someone for execution.
2. The Airlock skill check succeeds, executing the intended target.
3. The skill check would NOT have succeeded without the help of Treachery Skill Cards.

In other words, any time someone is executed via an Airlock skill check, determine whether the Airlock skill check would have passed without counting any Treachery Skill Cards that were played into it. If so, the player who activated the Airlock location does not receive the Airlock Trauma tokens. Otherwise, the player acquires both of them according to the normal rules for acquiring Trauma tokens, and replaces them from the pool of unused tokens.

Example:* Ellen Tigh activates the Airlock location, targeting Helena Cain for execution. The resulting skill check has a total strength of 13 (10 Politics and 3 Treachery), which is enough to execute Cain.

If Cain were in the Brig at the time, the difficulty of the check would have been 8. Because the 10 strength in Politics was enough to succeed with or without the "help" of Treachery, Ellen Tigh would not acquire the two Airlock Trauma tokens.

But, if Cain were not in the Brig at the time, the difficulty of the check would have been 12. In this case, Treachery was necessary to pass the check. Helena Cain is still executed, but Ellen Tigh would acquire both Airlock Trauma tokens (and, if either of them show the disaster symbol, would be executed immediately after resolving Cain’s execution).

* Note that this example doesn't add up if you also adopt the changes to the Airlock location described below, but the Brig/no-Brig thing made the math easy so I rolled with it.

HOUSE RULE 3: EXECUTIONS & THE RULE OF LAW

The Airlock location, in addition to incorporating the wall of text above, now has a difficulty of 10 and reads as follows:

Action: Choose a character and pass this Skill check to execute him. If that character is NOT in the "Brig", all Politics Cards in the Skill check count as zero strength unless the player activating this location declares the Skill check to be Reckless . (This replaces the "-4 difficulty if the target is in the Brig")

--- OK. I was going to clean things up a bit and pare down the words, but honestly Fantasy Flight, UPGRADE YOUR @&$%ing FORUM. No preview, a grey edit link in tiny letters on a grey background, an underline button that doesn't underline, and an input field that bounces around so much it feels like a game of keep-away every time I hit Enter. I swear I've had to edit this WYSI NOT WYG thing like ten times.