To me it seems that Boomer as an unrevealed cylon is too powerful even when in the brig. Even when you know 100% she is one she just has so many ways to hurt the humans. While in the brig she can still:

Recon the crisis deck and dump the easy ones.

Play Evasive Manuevers and Strategic Planning to help the Cylon ships when they attack.

Try to escape each round while playing Scientific Research to make the humans burn cards.

She draws red and blue cards which help her mess with most skill checks.

Boomer can still be very devestating to the humans even in the brig and there really isn't anything the humans can do about it. I was thinking about making a house rule that she can't use her recon ability while locked up. She would still be strong enough to screw with the humans by virtue of the cards she draws and it would keep with reality. How the heck can she recon from a cell anyway?

What do you all think?

I'd be careful about house ruling stuff like that. Yeah, she may be really good as an unrevealed cylon. But other situations can be just as bad.

I was playing a 4 player game as a Cylon Tigh, started admiral, and got myself the president's title in the middle of the game. Sometime after the sympathizer went to my side it was pretty obvious that I was the cylon to everyone, but I was Admiral and President, and sitting on some cards that would boost morale which was really low and didn't want them back in human hands. They didn't have enough strength to throw me in the brig, but even if they did I'd hold on to make sure they couldn't raise morale. I felt cheap for being an obvious cylon and not revealing (I was doing things like jumping to the tylium planet and not scouting for fuel, moving civilian ships into harms way, and stocking up on political cards in case I needed to get out of the brig), but sometimes that's just how it goes. You shouldn't gimp someone just because they can end up in a good situation.

Ironically, I think I ended up winning on fuel or population.

I think that Recon is not quite as good as the Caprica location. It's the difference between looking at two and resolving one, and simply looking at one and possibly moving it.

As for your other points, they're well taken. An unrevealed Cylon can use Strategic Planning and evasive maneuvers to very good effect, but I'm not sure that these powers outweigh the benefits afforded to revealed Cylons (Supercrisis).

phosrik said:

1. A revealed Cylon already can do essentially the same thing at Caprica.

2. Hmm. The humans can blow it off and let destiny decide. Ever if both cards go in her favor and she adds another, she may not succeed. Alternatively, just play cards to make sure she doesn't get out. That's no more expensive than dealing with a skill check if she were able to draw Crisis cards. Heck, it's probably cheaper to keep her in there most of the time.

3. True whether she's in the brig or not. She does have a bigger hand to work with in the brig though.

4. The only bit that really bugs me here is playing those skill cards to help the Cylons. That is 100% obvious Cylon. Everything else about her I can live with.

I'd say that Evasive Maneuvers can only be played when a hit is rolled.

Strategic Planning is a bit more difficult to "fix". The easiest way might be to restate the probabilities. For example, a Cylon raider hits a Viper on a 2-4 and destroys it on a 1. But then you're giving the humans another out in combat.

Maybe instead of changing any of the cards, just allow for an Execution Action (Out the Airlock!). Perhaps using the Admiral's Quarters on someone already in the Brig? Or maybe giving all people outside of the brig a vote and it has to be unanimous?

It just feels wrong that you can be obviously Cylon and suffer no repurcussions.

Evasive maneuvers reads: "if a viper is attacked" so as written you could say that you can reroll misses.

IMO it's okay that Cylons can use cards like Strategic Planning to hurt Galactica. TBH, Cylon fleet attacks rarely cause much significant damage before the Galactica and human fleet jump away, and cylons shooting at humans are the only harmful applications of adding two to a roll.

Secondly, being in the brig hurts for Cylons. You don't resolve crises. You're restricted to one card anyway. It's been stated that recon, etc. is not any better than simply being a revealed Cylon.

I guess I'm saying that if Galactica gets hit by a basestar every now and again, or a viper gets damaged/destroyed because of a reroll, you're probably not going to be in any serious trouble. Far more harmful would be a Cylon player commanding an entire Cylon fleet to fire more often, than simply helping an individual raider or basestar's attack rolls.

Sinis said:

If this was meant for me, I know this already. I was suggesting possible "fixes".

Sinis said:

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines after my last post. The abuse of these skill cards is only relevant when there are Cylon ships present... which there are often aren't. Even when there are Cylon ships, you can cause more grief with the ships as a revealed Cylon. It DOES give you a way to give the humans the finger while you're sitting in the brig waiting for your turn to reveal though.

Another thing that makes Boomer's Recon worse than spending an action at Caprica is if the next player can use Launch Scout. If an obviously Cylon but as yet unrevealed Boomer leaves a Crisis on top of the deck, it's a sure bet you can take a look with Launch Scout, and then decide how harmful it is. With the Caprica location, you simply pick one and go.

I just got the game and haven't played yet (roll on Saturday!), but from my reading of the rules I can't see how you can move civilian ships around, is this on a card somewhere?

GaijinZero said:

It's done from the comunications location on the game board... And I don't see how that has anything to do with Boomer as unrevealed cylon

Ah, of course, thanks for answering a 'noob' question

It isn't directly related, it was something Timonkey mentioned in his post in this topic.

If you feel Boomer is too powerful then when a person selects Boomer, have the next person pick Roslin. That effectively cancels her out unless they both end up Cylons.

Boomer is pretty good, but not any worse than some of the other characters. The main thing with Boomer, is that she easily has one of the worst drawbacks. Like come Sleeper Phase, she is inevitably going to the brig, and I doubt people will let her out if a bunch of bad Crisis keep "somehow" coming up. Yes, she could still use her power in the brig, but being in there is going to limit a ton of the other stuff she could mess with then. That's the tradeoff.

I think Boomer is probably one of the better characters .. equally as good as cylon or human. Definitely the best pilot to pick.

Too good as a cylon? Nah. Just one of the best characters.Using her piloting cards while in the brig to help cylons attack is only useful IF there are ships on the board .. a lot of time space is empty.

Her ability to dump the top crisis card is handy, yes .. but I'd rather have boomer in the brig only being able to throw one crisis card into the mix and NOT drawing her own crisis cards than out free OR as a revealed cylon.

The ability to use the skill cards in either direction (for good or bad use) is what makes the game exciting. Being able to use the Communcations action to move colonial ships INTO danger .. activating vipers to move them AWAY from the action.