I haven't played this game in a very long time, but I just bought exodus and have been going over rules, FAQ and forum stuff to get back into it.

A couple of things really jump out at me, namely loyalty deck stuff.

#1 the FAQ says to add the “You Are a Sympathizer” card at the very beginning. This seems very silly.
That means someone could be a revealed cylon from turn 1 and they have to show it. none of the resources will be below half.
might as well just be a cylon leader.

Don't think I like that.

#2 there will always be 1 extra loyalty card left at the end. Is that correct?

does that mean its possible the clyons could be short 1 person? although I do acknowlege with executions the chance of a cylon card being left over will go down.

#3 - The other thing I noticed is with Cylon Leader objectives. namly the ones where resources need to go down. From what i've been reading Food and one other one hardly ever go down any more. Has anyone found that?

although to be honest I don't ever remember loosing from lack of food anyway.

There seems to be a lot of hate for this new expansion. but after reading everything I think it sounds pretty cool.

I know a lot of people seem to hate the Nebula end, but I love the Ally stuff. I think this is a fantastic idea. I can't wait to try it.

But, like i mentioned my only real concern (before playing) is the loyalty deck stuff. I'd like to hear some thoughts of people who have played.

#1, I always play with 5 players. I don't remember.

#2, Yes there will be an extra loyalty card. There's a chance that card could be a Cylon card. However there are other mechanics which will result in someone needing to draw a loyalty card (execution, completing a personal goal, crossroads, etc) which can cause someone to need to draw another loyalty card (at which point another Not A Cylon Card is added, the two cards are shuffled, and then one is drawn) so the chance of the humans winning with a Cylon card remaining there is pretty low.

#3, I don't use Cylon Leaders either. Regarding resources, using the Cylon Fleet Board means you're pulling out the Cylon attack crisis cards so you'll hit crises like Water Shortage and such more often. Most of my friends prefer Exodus, and given how they neatly divide up three different things that it adds to the game, you can easily pick and choose which ones to use each time you play.

I wrote a reply and it got zapped on accident!

Try introducing the elements in steps. Cylon Fleet option is a great start - its like a new game with lots more for the Pilots and Cylons to do.

I think Ally and Ionian are best for groups that play regular as they effect the outcomes of the games more which are "more important" when tracked over time. It can also make Cylons compete with each other a little so they are not eliminated.

Item #1: This is not much different then the normal game. You add the sympathized to the cards ATER the inital deal, since in this version you can draw from that pile anytime someone is executed. So, you would not be the Symp from the start, but the first exectiion could be. Otherwise, it "might" come out after sleep. With Pegasus we have been known to execute suspected cylons after the sleeper phase since if we are wrong, we KNOW they are human for the rest of the game! haha Sorry Admiral Cain! You can always come back as Adama!

Item #2: Yep, always one lingering card. It has been the 2nd Cylon in games. Best one was a serious (lone) Cylon victory as the humans were SO SURE one of them was an unrevealed Cylon they couldn't get it together to win! haha.

Item #3: Agendas can make for some strange Leader Play, but that is the idea. I remember a leader who fought with us against Cylon destruction, and boy did we need it that game! Finally, he turned to the revealed Cylons and said "OK, we can kill them now"… he had only saved us long enough to meet his objective.

Oh, and we absolutely have lost a game on Food, rare as that is. It happened two times I believe. One time it was because we actually took food hits over other reasources because "whoever loses on food?" then came the crisis cards and a president who gladly took 2 sets fo 2 food hits. Ouch.

Wish I was playing tonight! Wa! Instead I will go to a cool Bar with awesome cocktails! What is my problem!

Happy New Years everyone!

KAGE13 said:

We like the Allies but dont like the Nebula ending with possible player elimination and such. Tried to come up with a way to house-rule the Nebula ending but so far no luck.

Mephisto666 said:

I'm not sure we have ever lost on Food. We don't even use/need the QC to help, its just never a problem compared to all the other horrible deaths awaiting us…

thanx a lot for your answers guys.

we played this weekend and it was pretty good. There is a lot of "HATE" for exodus on BGG, and after playing I have no idea why. Its awesome.
with every bad review I read none of thier points seemed valid. Any money says they were playing wrong.

The allies are super cool. I have zero problem with the ionian nebula stuff. Its not as complicated as everyone claims. Having one player lose is no differant then having a cylon leader with "its" own objective. If you don't want to loose manage your trauma tokens better.

It seems to be this game is being set up for some kind of campiagn the way they are doing the differant seasons.
I wonder how hard it would be if you added New Cap at jump 4 and then IB at jump 8.

I would think they will do one more expansion for sure.

I love it all.

KAGE13,

It's good to hear someone else is enjoying Exodus as much as my group does. Obviously, every change in components is a trade-off and with a base game as beloved as BSG it's understandable that many players dislike replacing any aspect with some new component. Personally, I've found it most satisfying to approach each expansion component as a great option but one with a clear on/off switch. I love the cylon fleet board and the dogfights it creates, but I also love the intrigue of rooting out deep cover cylons which is an experience less common with the CFB. I actually am with you in loving the high-stakes climax that the Nebula creates but I admit it sometimes produces results that seem random and arbitrary. Very few things in either expansion have seemed to me to be categorical improvements over the base game (the exceptions being Investigative Committee, cylon leaders replacing sympathizers, and the Exodus loyalty deck nerfing executions). My group finds that all other new modules add variety at a cost, and sometimes we like to just break out the base game for some old school fun but we're very satisfied with the variety and freshness that Exodus injected into the game; I'd say we use most of its components most of the time. and like you said, we love it.

Skowza said:

How often do you experience player elimination?

I've only had it happen once. Unrevealed but out of the closet cylon went into the Crossroads phase with two benevolent trauma. A human played The Opera House with a sympathetic trauma to cause the "Draw 3 trauma tokens. Then choose another player to also draw 3 trauma tokens." This caused the unreleaved cylon to draw one each of antagonistic, benevolent, and disaster trauma, so he was executed and came back as a revealed cylon with three benevolent trauma and was boxed.

That's what he got for refusing to have any ally encounters to leave good encounters behind for the humans.

KAGE13 said:

I enjoy it all too. Your New Caprica + Ionian Nebula concept sounds interesting.

dwightsboardgame said:

The Opera House situation could happen in ANY game; in fact, its in the best interest of the Human players to try to force more Trauma on Cylcon players in the hopes of them being eliminated. The worst was a game where a Cylone player was revealed by a Crisis card and then executed before that player had even taken a turn, leaving her with poor options to get rid of the 3 Benevolent Trauma tokens she got at the beginning of the game. Since Allies can go to areas that cannot be damaged and areas that Human players dont want to visit (i.e. Sickbay, Brig) there may be no option for Cylons to discard their trauma (and again, its in the Humans best interest to leave those Allies alone so Cylons can't get rid of Trauma). There should be a more reliable way for Cylons to get rid of Trauma, especially since they can gain handfuls of it from "Personnel Damage" or the (admittedly rare) Disaster token.
And the Opera House situation is even worse if a Cylon gets it and causes a Human player to be eliminated, Humans should probably just give up entirely at that point. Maybe I'm more disgruntled about it than I should be, but at least 3 times we have had player elimination from the Opera House, and it was me twice.

KAGE13 said:

This is not the same at all. The CL at least stays in the game and can keep playing even if he/she has no chance to "win" by fufilling the Agenda objective; eliminated players just have to sit there and watch everyone else play.