turkinaa said:

Speaking of "33"-type moments, here's a better version:

files.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/69y2cjzhf5/Thirty_-_three.jpg

Also, yes, even if not playing with Pegasus, use its Cylon locations (and reveal steps) and Investigative Comittees.  Big improvements.

TheFlatline said:

Iv'e stated it elsewhere on these forums, never, ever, under any conditions. waste an action drawing a quorum card.

If you were to (or had to) choose just one expansion, I'd recommend Exodus. Not because it's the better one but because it gives you more variety of what to include and what to leave out. Pegasus doesn't do that for you. If you include Ellen Tigh and the Cylon Leaders, you also have to include Treachery cards. If you include Treachery cards and the aforementioned characters, you pretty much need the Pegasus board. You can leave out the New Caprica board (which I do most of the time) but if you want to include some of Pegasus you will have to include the majority.

That said, I have to mention that the characters of Pegasus are a fun addition. I own both expansions and I wouldn't have it any other way.

About this talk of specific expansions and the core game being too one-sided:

The one thing I keep seeing at cons in both Europe and the US, in different gaming groups wherever I go, is that it really depends on who is playing. Some players are more competitive than others. Some groups are more competitive than others. Some players or groups grasp the depth of BSG (with or without expansions) much better than others. Some players will discuss possible actions more than others, some will even make a decision simply based on the fact that anyone could be a Cylon and therefore they don't trust anyone, period. So if you play with the same kind of people most of the time then, yes, your experience will likely be the same.

In my experience it strongly depends on how well you know the game and expansion(s) you're playing. If the experience is bunched up on the human side, yes, then the humans will most likely win...and vice-versa. Some players have a great poker face and some don't. There is this one player I can read like an open book. And I tend to play him like a fiddle. With other players that doesn't work so well.

What I'm trying to say is this: if you think BSG, with or without specific expansion(s), is too one-sided then go and find a different group at a local game store and play. I garantee you will have a very different experience...if this new group plays a different style.

XAos said:

Well that's an overstatement, and I doubt it's the "single basic mistake" that I seem to have missed the memo on.

This is just an educated guess, but it may be to execute the Admiral at the end of New Caprica, no matter what.  (Ellen, too, if she hasn't used her once-a-game yet.  ... And probably anyone who would become Admiral after the executed character has chosen his new character.  Bah, just kill everybody.) 

Execution of a human costs only 1 morale, whereas not executing a Cylon Admiral gift-wraps the Cylons a victory (... for reasons I can't recall; I'm only vaguely familiar with New Caprica).  Execution guarantees he'll be on the human team---so he'll want a human Admiral---which means it's best for him to pick a Military Leader to become that (guaranteed-human) Admiral once the execution is resolved.

Exodus, with its Loyalty Deck shenanegans (of a most awesome variety), fixes this by removing the "guaranteed-human" part from executions.