A game wrap-up. First, congratulations to the Cylons, commiserations to the humans. Come New Caprica, with 9 Population and 4 Morale, the humans were looking at a tough run, but not an impossible one. Alas, your Cylon President used her position of power to kill no less than 3 Morale, and spiked one more point with a very effective use of Red Tape. (At the right moment, that card can be a real killer for the Cylons.)
In fact, pre-NC the humans caught a number of breaks. Six was forced to be helpful in order to buy time to cause the damage she needed. Baltar was likewise very helpful; and when he finally did break out his OPG in the hopes of stirring something up, it so happened that his crisis let the humans execute him immediately.
In fact, easily the most volatile period in the game was the few turns 4.4 to 5.1:
Turn 4.4:
Baltar uses his OPG. Despite a crisis that puts his own head on the chopping block, he goes ahead and accuses Dee, and is executed for his troubles.
Turn 4.5:
Dee scouts both crisis and destination, and buried a Cylon attack (from the crisis deck) and Icy Moon (from the destination deck).
Turn 4.6:
the fleet jumps! Dee gambles on rejecting Cylon Raiders (which would have reached New Caprica, but with only 1 Fuel and with 3 extra raiders to await Galactica's return) to take Algae Planet and another whole jump cycle to reach NC.
Turn 4.7:
in a pivotal move, Tigh escapes the Brig, and restores the Presidency to Roslin.
Turn 5.1:
Dee's destination gamble pays off, as the crew passes Legendary Discovery with the help of a favourable Destiny and a very well-timed Establish Networks from Cally.
One last comment, about Destiny: throughout most of the game, Destiny was surprisingly strong. At game start, its average value per card was 3.1, well above average. After the first refill, it was even stronger at 3.17. For the most part, that worked out in the humans' favour, as Destiny helped out on most checks. (There were only two checks that the humans tried to pass and failed, both of which cost Morale.)
This was the first New Caprica game where Population wasn't a problem. You finished the game at 9 Population; the remaining civvies only had 8 Pop. You could've jumped away without a single ship and you'd still have had 1 Population. Unfortunately, Morale was more than happy to take up the slack.
Out of three New Caprica games so far, you guys have found three different ways for it to kill you. Game 1, you had many more ships than Population, and needed to evacuate almost all of them. (Not that Ellen Tigh gave you a chance.) Game 2, you only had a few ships, but Population was so low that the Occupation Forces could finish the job. And in this game Population was safe but Morale was a killer. I'm actually pretty impressed that the module can offer so many different play experiences.
Finally, I'm interested to know how you all (Chris in particular) found the Cylon leader experience. Interesting? Didn't really have much impact? A bit isolating? (From my perspective, Six' agenda was a tough one for her - hard to influence Galactica's damage, especially while infiltrating, leaving her fairly dependent on the luck of the crisis draw.)