I can’t imagine playing this at open, unlimited table talk to be honest: the Field Commander problem is both way too large and way too profitable towards winning.

The game really shines when you have people who understand the rules, and there’s all puzzling along and mostly working together as a silent team. Full table talk feels like a co-op logic puzzle from a puzzle book. There’s something kind of awesome about the rush of talk once a loop ends, and you all discuss your theories together.

The intermediate table talk setting (useful for newbies) is “players can still ask questions about the rules”

(It’s also worth noting that protagonists being able to perfectly coordinate their actions is a huge advantage, and is not part of the expected difficulty.)