I've been looking at getting BSG but it sounds like after a couple games people would get better at recognizing Cylon actions. Is this the case or does the game make it easier to hide your motives over numerous games?

Having played something over 15 games, with the same people, it does get slightly easier to notice cyclons, but all that really means is that the humans are about on even footing with the cylons. The games now go about 50:50, humans:cylons. There are so many possible choices that a cylon almost always has something that they can do without being obvious.

Some dumb things will be impossible for a cylon to get away with, that they could have in early games. Like firing nukes off like crazy or doing only one distance jumps. But all it really means is that the cylons get a bit more subtle.

in our first game the cylon jumped too early and won via that method

i wont fall for that mistake again so i think both factions learn and evolve

as for playability the game changes every game with different people playing the cylons plus the types of crysis change every game.

Gatha said:

This would only be true if the Cylon player acted the same way every time. Some of our players do not sabotage anything until a key moment. They play exactly as they would if they were human (though, they do not 'try' as hard, such as playing Declare Emergency).

Alright, so it seems like FFG has made a point of rewarding intelligent, veteran cylon players. Good to know.

Our playgroup has played this game every week, usually 2-3 games every time we play, since we picked it up in November. All told there are probably at least 20 different players, and often we have multiple games taking place at once. Last wednesday we started tracking the cylon-human victory count. The cylons are ahead, 9 to 1. I can't even tell for sure when my own wife is a cylon. On Saturday night we both were cylons, and neither of us knew it before revealing.

This game has so much replayability, it is scary.

To be honest though I am getting tired of being the Cylon. Since last Wednesday I have been the Cylon 5 out of the last 5 games I've played. 4 of those times I have been the Cylon that can damage Galactica as my reveal ability. Also only 1 of those games did I become a Cylon in the sympathizer phase. The next few games I play I am avoiding playing Baltar ot Boomer, but I am still having lots of fun.

JerusalemJones said:

This.

We also have played this game every week we've hung out since the game came out in December. Once people get a handle on how to play and act as a Cylon it can be VERY hard to find them out. My friends and I STILL have a hard time spotting the Cylon(s).

And yeah it definitely has a lot of replayability. We STILL haven't grown sick of it.

GREAT game.

It's replayable as is because of the randomness of the Crisis and Destination decks, but not quite as replayable as other FFG games like Runebound, Arkham Horror or Descent, especially if you play it with the exact same group.

To me the game needs more characters and more variety in the skill decks to be truly replayable on those otehr games scale.

Right now we randomly have to assign characters (while still maintaining balance) to keep the game fresh (otherwise we'd pick the "best" characters in our oopinions (and playstyles)). There are just certain characters whose abilities are overall better throughout the entire game (Roslin, Boomer, Helo come to mind). Starbuck, Apollo, Tigh, Tyrol, Zarek all have abiltiies that are good, but situational and maybe only used once or twice throughout the course of a game (compared to say Boomer and Roslin's which are used EVERY turn).

With the games above there are so many characters each game is new with a different character each time .. a different mix of characters. It would be hard, but BSG could stand to have at least twice as many characters to choose from (and they should be assigned randomly).

Last_Crusader said:

I can't game NEARLY enough for these issues to come up. I'm doing good to get in one gaming session a week. So I don't own a game where replayability could be a problem. But I get your meaning.

There's a lot of talk about how easy/hard it is for the Cylons to act secretly, but I'd like to point out to new players that this doesn't always matter. When I was a Cylon in my last game, I was absolutely obvious about it because I knew they'd have a heck of a time doing anything about me and all of the time they were wasting because of me was more time for the game to crush them. Being a secret Cylon usually means you get to make one nasty surprise attack before revealing. Not getting to make that surprise attack does NOT mean you're doomed as a Cylon.

The only "ruling" we've made with respect to character selection is that we randomly assign which copy of the game people are playing at. Most saturdays we have 8-12 people playing so we split them up between games. Otherwise people like playing the different characters enough that we get good variety. For example, right now I am avoiding playing Baltar and Boomer becasue 7 out of the last 8 games I've played I have been a cylon, mostly from the beginning of the game.

When my group first started playing, EVERYONE wanted to be Cylon... but last gaming session we had an interesting turn. One player who was dealt a Cylon Loyalty Card at the beginning of the game snorted and asked for a redo; because he had been a Cylon in the previous game and frankly... SUCKED at it. While my group conceded to a redeal, we all said that if he got the Cylon card again he would have to take it and play it, or he could go home.

Being a Cylon in a game of veteran BSG players is NOT easy (and apparently not fun for everyone). BSG players WILL evolve, their strategies and tactics will change.

Basically what I'm saying is that replayability is VERY high for this game, just be sure that your fellow players REALLY want to be there AND be playing THIS game. BSG's all fun and games when you're a newb, but if you're at a table with a bunch of vets... this game WILL challenge you.

A new player who draws the Cylon card in a group of more experienced players will be very easy to spot. If you have a group of people who all play roughly the same amount, you'll all evolve. However, as many other posts on these forums have shown, there are people who manage to lose to the Cylons quite effectively without having any Cylons in their midst, due to incorrect loyalty deck set-up. The possibility that other players are Cylons leads to paranoia and actions being taken on these suspicions, effectively reducing the efficacy of humans who, in turn, become convinced that the person who attacked them is a closet Cylon.

It's a fascinating game - one that you can lose without having any actual opponents... this is what gives it such great replayability because it's really based on what the players do, not what the dice or pieces do.

Or, you can just throw all the suspicion towards to newb, when in reality you are the cylon and using your own playgroup against itself. Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

(to be fair, though, my 15 year old nephew makes the worst cylon, because he always throws cards against the skill checks.)

I've lost count of the number of games I have played. The total number of players I have played against is in the region of 25-30, in varying combinations and overlapping and separations of the groups involved.

Greater familiarity with the way particular players play or how they do their cost/benefit analysis does help in some respects in that you know the players and if they deviate from the norm it can flag alarm bells. On the flip side, it also provides those players with very strong bluffing potential - 'but I only did what I always do in that situation, Im not a cylon'. Overall results - neutral. You gain some things, and lose others with familiarity (in my experience I hasten to add). Also the scope of the game is such that even with the group that I most commonly play in we stil see new situations, hence limiting the familiarity.

With new players you have to avoid making the mistake of assuming that they will play the same way as you do, and that their analysis of the threat is the same as yours. This does make the game more difficult to play in some respects but also allows you to slip the odd weird thing through that you'd never manage with an established group. Again neutral end up.

The Cylon players need to mix up their actions to not make it obvious. Some games sabotage efforts right away, but not too obviously. ANother game, help 'less' and then sabotage the humans efforts at a key moment. Half the fun of being a cylon is implicating someone else as a Cylon. Sending your wife to the brig for being a Cylon when she's not often leads to an interesting discussion later

We've just started to play BSG although most of us are vets at gaming in general but the triator mechanic in this game is great fun and really does add to the replayability. Without it this game would go stale very quickly but with it the paranoia and the tension it can cause is wonderfully machiavellian.

Bruzza said:

Sounds like one of the games I played Saturday night. I talked my wife into jumping the fleet early after getting all resources back up into the blue. This led to the sympathizer joining the cylons and we handily won the game.

Here are but just two accounts of games I've encountered. The first was a mere 4 man game with Baltar, Apollo, Chief and Tigh. It was smooth sailing till the just before the symphathiser phase when Baltar prepped the FTL and failed to -3 pop the team. Loyalty cards were dealt and surprisingly Apollo and Chief were cylons lol. Galactica crashed and burned soon after.

Second account a full on 6 man game and no cylons till the very end when Baltar and Roslin revealed themselves to be players for the other team. All this after Baltar helped ensure BSG failed a crisis which involved losing 2 morale and telling the Admiral to take the ship home. Priceless it was. When they found out a little to late.

Argonel said:

Your wife is such a wild card when we play. You can never tell how she is playing, because she seems to always "make a mistake" regardless of which side she is playing on. And I believe she uses that to her advantage. Kinda like Seth -- once we realized he "talked too much" when he was a cylon, he started talking too much all the time.

Introduced two new players to the game last night. Both of them are looking forward to their next game. Nate was funny -- "I got me a cylon detector. I flip my quarter, and if you call it correctly, I'm throwing you in the Brig."