To be honest, I thought the Admiral was a toaster for the longest time.

To be honest, I thought the Admiral was a toaster for the longest time.

(blink, blink) Me? Really?

BSG

Let's do the end-of-game summary:

Round 10.3 - Tory

Locations and Hands
Kat: Occupation Authority; 4 cards
Adama: FTL Control; 1 card
Tory: Communications; 11 cards
Gaeta: Caprica; 2 cards
Apollo: Hangar Deck; 9 cards

Sectors
Sector 1: Empty
Sector 2: Empty
Sector 3: Empty
Sector 4: 4 Raiders
Sector 5: 1 RSV, Civilians C G
Sector 6: 2 RSVs, Civilians A B E F H I

Resources
Fuel: 1
Food: 3
Morale: 2
Population: 6
Viper Reserves: 0
Damaged Vipers: 3
Raptors: 2
Boarding Party: Alejandro (2)

Other
Nukes: 0
Jump Track: Galactica
Distance Travelled: Earth
Galactica Damage: 0

Locked Civvies: 0
Prepped Civvies: 0
Occupation Forces: Zwanzig (BC)/Michaud (BC)/Balthazar (BC)

For those who were interested, the ships' contents were:

Civilian ship A: 1 Population
Civilian ship B: 2 Population
Civilian ship C: 1 Population
Civilian ship E: 1 Population, 1 Morale
Civilian ship F: 1 Population, 1 Fuel
Civilian ship G: 1 Population
Civilian ship H: 2 Population
Civilian ship I: 1 Population

You were good to go once you'd evacuated civvie F; though that really only meant one turn faster than you managed anyway.

BSG

Perhaps I should they hardly ever got skill checks after I had good cards to spike them with.

On the other hand, failing Second Thoughts should only have cost 1 Morale. Each side had their share of lucky moments.

If I were asked my opinion, I'd say the decision to decamp to Caprica when there were four OA centurions on the board might have something to do with it. Spamming OA activations would have kept us busy punching, and maybe destroyed more ships.

Activating the OA only moves one Occ force at a time. There were only two times the Cylons did anything but hit the OA; if they had kept using it, all that would have happened is that the last civvie would've been destroyed, for a loss of 1 Population.

My assessment is the opposite; activating occupation forces was largely a low-return option. A better choice would be Breeders Canyon. Over half the NC crisis cards threaten Morale, and a lot of them are Current Player's Choice. When the humans have to deal with more crises than they have human turns, eventually something's going to slip through the cracks.

BSG

Congratulations humans, commiserations Cylons. The first successful escape from New Caprica! And it only took 48 turns.

The humans reached New Caprica with Fuel at 1 and Morale down to 3, so clearly it hadn't been an easy trip; but there were a few things that had gone their way. Both Cylons turned at the Sleeper Phase; for the first couple of jumps, everyone was on the same side. They both did good damage on the way out (Kat killed 3 Population, Gaeta 2 Morale), but then they were both executed without any trouble, denying them their reveal powers and super crises (though Kat took a turn to pull an SC anyway). They reached New Caprica with both nukes, which proved crucial for the final battle.

Even so, I count at least three ways the Cylons probably could have pulled off a victory. If Gaeta hadn't tipped his hand when he did, the humans would've lost. Galactica returned just before his next turn, and he had a Critical Situation in hand. He could've played it to get two actions - use his OPG to take the Admiralty, then order the fleet to jump away. Final resource loss: 11 Population, 1 Fuel, 4 Morale. Three resources would've fallen to zero. (I'm glad he didn't, really. The toaster Admiral is a bit of a 'gotcha' way to lose.) Second, as mentioned before, if the Cylons had just kept throwing crises at the fleet, Morale would likely have not survived. Finally, if they'd gone to the Cylon fleet to egg on Galactica's boarding party, it would have given them victory on Apollo's last turn (or at least forced them to fight it). That last one wasn't obvious - there happened to be three crises activating heavy raiders in short order - but it was an option nonetheless.

BSG (Kat)

Second, as mentioned before, if the Cylons had just kept throwing crises at the fleet, Morale would likely have not survived.

Well, we tried! Would Breeders Canyon have been a better choice than Caprica because even though we wouldn't get a choice, they wouldn't have get Jump icons?

Finally, if they'd gone to the Cylon fleet to egg on Galactica's boarding party, it would have given them victory on Apollo's last turn (or at least forced them to fight it). That last one wasn't obvious - there happened to be three crises activating heavy raiders in short order - but it was an option nonetheless.

Honestly, I considered that, but I didn't think it would be very fun, and I also wasn't sure we had enough time to pull that since the damn basestars were gone and they had very little threat in the air.

BSG

Would Breeders Canyon have been a better choice than Caprica because even though we wouldn't get a choice, they wouldn't have get Jump icons?

Before Galactica's return, of course, it's the only choice open. Afterwards, it depends on the circumstances which is better. I think it would've been better for you; Morale crises are common enough that you don't need so much choice.

New Caprica is basically a race - can they prep and evacuate enough civvies before something destroys them? Hitting Caprica may speed up the one horse, but it speeds up the other one too.

They reached New Caprica with both nukes, which proved crucial for the final battle.

And I had 2 SPs in my hand when Galactica returned. That turned up to be crucial enough I'm willing to say, unless someone plays Build Nuke, both should be saved for New Caprica.

Finally, if they'd gone to the Cylon fleet to egg on Galactica's boarding party

That was the other thing I was worried about, either that or spamming the remaining Raiders to go after the civvies.

That was the other thing I was worried about, either that or spamming the remaining Raiders to go after the civvies.

I considered that option too but didn't think 4 Raiders would do much good. But maybe it would have at least split focus. Hard to say now what would have worked except...clearly what we did, didn't.

BSG

And I had 2 SPs in my hand when Galactica returned. That turned up to be crucial enough I'm willing to say, unless someone plays Build Nuke, both should be saved for New Caprica.

I agree, wherever possible. Of course, it's still possible to lose the game before they get there, and being overwhelmed in a space battle is one of the more common ways that could happen. In that case, the fleet may need to use one or both nukes just to reach New Caprica.

It's still possible to win without the nukes, but most likely on a much less forgiving deadline. Without the nukes, it's likely the humans will need to evacuate what they can and jump away before the raiders can reach the civvies and start doing damage. Where they only have a deficit of a couple Population, and Morale isn't too bad, that's achievable. If you need to evacuate a lot of civvies, though, you need to control the space battle.