Last Thursday evening I got to throw down with my regular opponent and attempt a strategy of patience with Styxx Quaterary, Whom I recently modified with turrets instead of sponsons, and a coolant system instead of a capacitor. I had previously tried out the tertiary configuration, and my opponent had dastardly danced out of my limited range, and so this time I maxed out on range in what is Styxx's sniper configuration. On the whole it worked out, and we ground to a tie at the end of 9 rounds, which isn't bad when I started the game 3 VPs behind on habitats.
The plan was, in a plain sense, mainly based on vibes and the game started off in a pretty relaxed way with me forgetting to check my deck order. The order of a Titan's deck in Titanomachina is important, because it dictates when you will draw systems, and hence the general direction of your strategy as you try to balance the amount of power that a Titan can draw to activate systems against the requirements of the moment. The idea is that if you're clever then all else being equal you can out-smart your opponent on a strategic level. Of course, the rest of the design is also about players putting their thumbs on the scales of the game, giving players the option to customise the board with their allocations of habitat blocks, and customise their Titans with sets of modular systems. In the version on Tabletop Simulator players have a limit set of configurations to choose from, but there's a rock-scissors-paper at play whereby some Titans have definite advantages over others.
I had chosen Styxx Quaternary specifically because I didn't want a Titan with more agility (most Titans) being able to duck out of range or behind cover. I'm inferring that my opponent chose Tethys Secondary because She's an all-round bruiser (and my opponent was choosing first). The board layout was the latest default layout that seems like a pretty even, even 'fair,' distribution of habitats. What I forgot to do was to check Styxx Quaternary's deck order, reasoning (incorrectly) that the deck orders were all pretty reasonable orders that spread crucial systems like limbs and weapons across the four rounds that it takes for a Titan to load all of its systems. Which meant that Styxx's new turrets, an upgrade from a previous version using two sponsons, were unavailable to me for the first three rounds of the game.
Somehow this was not a disaster, as I had set Styxx up too close to Tethys, and was somewhat unable to escape until my opponent voluntarily backed Tethys off 300m (each tile is 100m wide) for reasons that seemed odd to me at the time and which I cannot entirely explain. I had been working on a psychological attack for the first three rounds of the game in the hopes of deterring my opponent from committing to an attack, and hence leaving themselves vulnerable to a counter-attack until I could muster the power and systems to really gut Tethys with a well-aimed macro laser. When my opponent mustered to block that attack with six shields over Tethys' side armour, I managed to switch to a kick that turned what would have been a 7-cog laser attack (Titan detected, 360 arc of fire) into an 6-cog kick that mashed Tethys through four habitats, and doing heavy damage (two points) to Tethys' left leg. I was left two VPs ahead on destroyed systems, but seven
At this point we switched somewhat to my opponent attacking Styxx and Styxx attacking my opponent's buildings in an attempt to deal with the points deficit that would have seen a knock-out certify a victory for my opponent. And I almost managed, taking out nine habitats, including the one I walked Styxx past in the second round of the game, by backing into it. I also got very lucky that when my opponent smashed a four-habitat building with Tethys' plasma shotgun, and accidentally caught a pink habitat with the high explosive effect to seal the tie. Of course, if my opponent hadn't destroyed that building I would have won by three points. As it was I had been aiming Styxx's macro laser at Tethys' damaged leg until I realised it would go through the leg into the internal space and merely injure crew instead of lopping off the leg, and settled for detecting a habitat instead.
At no point in any of this can I adequately describe the way that the game somehow cranked tighter and tighter until time-out was called at the end of nine rounds and we discovered the scoring pendulum rested evenly at 0 as the Titanic machines had ground to a halt. Maybe it was the way the way the score stretched one way and then the next, with my opponent at a full 24 habitats on round 3 and 13 habitats on round 9, or the build up to the kick in round 5 that switched the roles of hunter and hunted, having spent the first three rounds doing everything I could to avoid being hit.
I had forgotten to get screenshots so this is a recreation of the set-up.
A recreation of round 1, a slow start, with Styxx pining Tethys and Tethys flexing back.
It's go time and as Tethys attempts to close Styxx darts past and hops over some buildings once Tethys doubles back
After some brief struggle over the initiative Styxx retreats again and Tethys pursues, carefully though as Styxx hasn't used Her macro laser and Her master crew is clearly up to something.
Tethys backs off and catches a spread of rockets across Her rear as She ducks, losing Her rear armour. After some posturing in which Styxx activates Her capacitor and super-cools Her master crew off for a shorter turn-around, to maintain the threat of her operation.
Styxx's turrets spin up and Her sensors crackle and ping as Her crew races to bracket Tethys, and Tethys sensing what is incoming takes defensive action to raise and concentrate shields over Her left side, while lashing out at every green habitats within reach. Seeing the nigh-impenetrable defense, Styxx quickly changes gears and slides in for a kick that sees Tethys crunched through a block of buildings for 10 points of damage! Not the hoped-for lasering, but Tethys down 6 shields, Her left extra armour package, and heavy damage to Her left leg beats light damage to both after the beam is exhausted by all those shields. Regardless, Styxx is on the offensive now, and the fight begins in earnest.
It's not enough to knock Tethys out, Styxx has to claw back Tethys' massive lead on habitats, and She circles behind Tethys, looking to boot Her into those pink habitats, killing two birds with one stone. Tethys blocks the kick with Her laser blade, and slewing around right.
Tethys is in the lead, and so directs Her master crew to swing Her around a block of buildings where She brakes on a green habitat. A flight of rockets destroys a couple of habitats, including a green one. Styxx is starting to feel the pinch in Her power feeds and Her system cycles and uses the respite to spot a green habitat far on the opposite edge of the battlefield, as well as urge Her systems to cool and reload.
Loaded and charge, now Styxx can throw caution to the wind, swinging left and hip-checking the pink building behind Her for the mere cost of shields and light damage to Her left deflector array. Her rocket launcher lights up and destroys a swath of pink habitats behind where Tethys had been kicked through that block of buildings. Tethys, meanwhile, has gathered Her junior crew together to deliver a fierce kick to Styxx's other deflector array, bursting it's protective shield, destroying the array and staggering Styxx towards the edge of the battlefield, nearly flush up against a pink-habitat-topped building. Styxx's capacitor and coolant systems discharge and flush, bringing Her rocket pod back into action, and Her adherent crew is brought on deck.
Styxx now unloaded another flight of rockets on the tall pink building in the corner of the battlefield now in front of Her. This four-point swing goads Tethys into action, and She fires Her jump jets, flinging Her massive form forward to persecute green habitats. Styxx's master crew spots a tall green building, but it's not far enough away and Tethys surges forward for a blast from Her plasma shotgun operated by Her own master crew, and takes out additional pink and green habitats in one almighty blast. Styxx spots one last green habitats one She realizes She can't take Tethys's damaged leg. The deadline for peace comes down, and it's time to count the cost.
