I finished watching Battlestar Galactica a few days ago for the first time (in under a month!) And I needed more of that universe, which led me to purchased this game. I literally just got it today and haven't played any games as I really want to understand all the rules before diving in. Unfortunately, some of the rules in the rule book are vague or don't make much sense to me:

1. Cylon Attack Crisis: During the "setup" part of this kind of crisis card, do you place all the ships it lists IN ADDITION to those already on the board? What if it tells you to place two battlestars, for example, in a specific space, but you already have two on the board that may not be where it asks you to place them?

2. Heavy Raiders: Unlike raiders, when activated can heavy raiders move in spaces that have vipers and/or civilian ships, or must they wait til those ships move or are destroyed as they are "in the way"?

3. Raptors: Is there any other purpose for them besides risking them for rewards? Do they ever "go" anywhere? I'm curious because the models are nicely detailed and it would be a shame if that's put to waste with them just sitting in the reserve.

4. Vipers & Raptors: Besides the models themselves, is anythin of great importance lost if vipers or raptors are destroyed?

5. Basestars: Do basestars move when activated, or must they always attack Galactica and only Galactica?

6. Admiral:

Had to continue here. I'm using a tablet and it's acting funny…

Admiral: When selecting between the two destination cards when jumping, does he show the other players the other card before he places it under the deck?

Jumping: Is there a way to get rid of distance numbers? Also, on page 14 of the rule book, there's a jump example where it tells us in step 4 that the total (in the example) doesn't exceed 4 or 8, when it clearly does; 2 + 1 + 3= 6 … it should mark the sleeper phase, right? Am I missing something here?

Skill Cards: Can EVERYONE activate skill card abilities if the timing is appropriate, even if it's not their turn? Example: Declare Emergency - "Play after strength is totaled in a skill check to reduce its difficulty by 2." Does it have to be the turn player? Can other players use similar cards to reduce the difficulty further, besides "Declare Emergency?" (Only 1 of that card could be played per skill check). Is there an order to this or do people just start slapping down cards?

Sympathizer: Is there a reason why this card can only beused in 4 and 6 player games? Why not 5?

Ok, I think I'm good for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions, but none are popping up at the moment. Thanks for your time and patience.

1. Cylon Attack Crisis: During the "setup" part of this kind of crisis card, do you place all the ships it lists IN ADDITION to those already on the board? What if it tells you to place two battlestars, for example, in a specific space, but you already have two on the board that may not be where it asks you to place them?

Yes you leave everything that is already out on the board. If you run out of Ships (like the basestars) the current player picks which one(s) to remove from the board to use with the new attack card. A good example would be if you have 2 basestars out and you draw a Cylon Attack Card with a basestar on it. The current player chooses one of the basestars that is already on the board, takes it off, and then puts it back on bases on the new attach card.

2. Heavy Raiders: Unlike raiders, when activated can heavy raiders move in spaces that have vipers and/or civilian ships, or must they wait til those ships move or are destroyed as they are "in the way"?

Yes heavy raiders can move into sectors that have Vipers and Civilian ships, they also don't wait for those ships to be destroyed before moving on in their pursuit to board Galactica.

3. Raptors: Is there any other purpose for them besides risking them for rewards? Do they ever "go" anywhere? I'm curious because the models are nicely detailed and it would be a shame if that's put to waste with them just sitting in the reserve.

They're just there to risk. However, In the New Daybreak expansion they are adding new Assult Raptors.

4. Vipers & Raptors: Besides the models themselves, is anything of great importance lost if vipers or raptors are destroyed?

Well if you loose all your Vipers it's harder to defend Galactica, also if you loose all your raptors you can't send them on scouting missions any more.

5. Basestars: Do basestars move when activated, or must they always attack Galactica and only Galactica?

No, they just sit there and shoot at Galactica.

6.Admiral: When selecting between the two destination cards when jumping, does he show the other players the other card before he places it under the deck?

No, if he's a Cylon he might be picking a "bad" destination and you need to keep his other option a secret. Even if he's not a Cylon he still needs to keep it secret. After all the Cylons are revealed I wouldn't have a problem with the Admiral talking more about what his choices are though.

7. Jumping: Is there a way to get rid of distance numbers? Also, on page 14 of the rule book, there's a jump example where it tells us in step 4 that the total (in the example) doesn't exceed 4 or 8, when it clearly does; 2 + 1 + 3= 6 … it should mark the sleeper phase, right? Am I missing something here?

No your Distance will always go up. The Distance in the Example was already 4 so the Sleeper agent phase had alredy happened earlier in the game.

8.Skill Cards: Can EVERYONE activate skill card abilities if the timing is appropriate, even if it's not their turn? Example: Declare Emergency - "Play after strength is totaled in a skill check to reduce its difficulty by 2." Does it have to be the turn player? Can other players use similar cards to reduce the difficulty further, besides "Declare Emergency?" (Only 1 of that card could be played per skill check). Is there an order to this or do people just start slapping down cards?

Yes if the timing is right you can play your skill card no matter who's turn it is. If multiple people want to play skill cards at the same time the Current player chooses who plays theirs first

9. Sympathizer: Is there a reason why this card can only beused in 4 and 6 player games? Why not 5?

It's used to balance out the 4/6 player game, if you do really well early then there will be 3 Cylons if you aren't doing so hot you get a Human (maybe a Cylon) in the Brig. If you put it in the 5 player game you would have to take out one of the Cylon cards to make it work, and that would make it easier. Otherwise you could end up with 2 humans and 3 Cylons which would be much harder.

Thanks for the reply! Really helped clear things up. I have one more big one I forgot to mention, if you don't mind:

Activating Vipers (pg.25): "Each viper may be activated ANY NUMBER of times during a player's turn…" This is mentioned soon after, "When a player activates a viper, he may choose ONE of the following options: - Launch a Viper, Move a Viper, Attack with a Viper". I'm really confused. According to the COMMAND room text, you can activate UP TO 2 unmanned vipers, and doing so uses your action phase, which you could use only once per turn, correct? Wouldn't this mean one could only launch, move, or attack with up to 2 vipers per turn? And can these activations be a combination? For example: I use my action phase on the COMMAND room to activate 2 vipers; will I be able to move 1 and launch the second, or will I have to either launch up to 2 or move up to 2? It feels like everything in the "Activating Vipers" text in the rule book contradicts the action phase rule. I hope I'm making sense. I know this came off as a bit wordy. Thanks for your help.

EDIT: Another, sorry. When I said I was a newbie I really meant it, lol. This is only my 3rd board game.

When removing a basestar from one spot to place on a spot asked by a crisis card, does that basestar keep all damage toekns it recieved from previous battles, or is it wiped clean?

You can use Command to activate the same viper more than once. If, for example, you get Execuive ordered while on command you can use both your actions there in order to activate he same viper up to 4 times if you wanted.

OK, I think I'm begining to understand now. Thanks!

That page 25 text is just poorly written. This question has come up many times before.

I agree. I've finally wrapped my head around it, but it took several reads and a response from this forum to understand. Still haven't been able to get my group together to play, but we likely will play our first BSG game sometime this week. Looking forward to it!

If you run out of Ships (like the basestars) the current player picks which one(s) to remove from the board to use with the new attack card.

I'm pretty sure this is wrong. You just don't place more - the original ships stay where they are, and the current play chooses which of the new ships is not placed. Page 28:

That makes much more sense. Thanks!