Titanomachina on Tabletop Simulator: Eos configuration #2 vs Styxx configuration #2

 

I have a game planned for later this week, wherein my opponent wants to take the updated Eos configuration #2 for a spin. The Eos #2 has two Plantigrade Legs, four Arms, two Plasma Howitzers on the rear pair of arms, and a Mega Gun 2 and Buzz Saw 1 respectively on the front pair of arms. It has the usual suite of Extra Armour, Deflectors, Sensors, and Crew. It is, by design, very difficult to outflank. They would definitely benefit from the Pugnacious or Vivacious personalities, for the extra Walk or Twist action. While the challenge is managing systems so that one of those monstrous Plasma Howitzers can fire every couple of rounds, on the receiving end each shot from one of those is going to do some serious harm as well as shock. It's kind of scary to be on the receiving end. 

My best response, I think, would be to take Styxx #2. At first glance Styxx #2 is wildly under-armed, lacking arms entirely, and sporting a Mega Gun 2 and Laser Blade 1. In the case of this configuration of Styxx it's really what is under the hood that counts, and possibly those two Sponsons mounting their only two weapons. Styxx has two capacitors: a Plasma Cell and a Plasma Capacitor; and two jump jets: Plasma Jets and Thrusters. In theory Styxx should be able to jump into an opponent's weak spot and open up a gap in its shield coverage, and shank them with their Laser Blade operated by a senior crew like the Adherent or Master. Activating one Sponson should give Styxx the flexibility in both the jump and the arc of their weapons to cope with their opponent deciding not to cooperate with their position and orientation. Plus it doesn't require additional cards to activate. Suppose that the addition of an Initiate crew to Styxx's hand means it's a wash whether it's the Plasma Jets or the Thrusters activated, that's three more cards used to jump into position three squares away for a total of four so far. 

Now, depending on the angle Styxx is either going to be in position to activate either both or one of their weapons. That'll be two for the Mega Gun including the weapon itself. It's three for the Laser Blade, so five in total if both. And they're going to want some crew to operate those mid-range weapons. Fortunately both weapons have ranges over 1, so Styxx can jump in at a relatively safe distance from the Eos' retaliatory kicks, elbows, or slashes from that Buzz Saw. In fact, the quarter of the Eos armed with the Buzz Saw is probably the safest bet unless I can guarantee taking off one of those Plasma Howitzers. In other to do that I'd need to have a Crew-operated Mega Gun, and the Laser Blade is just going to destroy the Arm supporting it, and even a lightly damaged Plasma Howitzer is going to ruin my day thanks to its Shock trait requiring me to discard a card out of hand (and suffer heavy damage to something). 

Both weapons have the Shield Breaker (1) trait, meaning that they're not going to have to chew through much, but the Laser Blade is going to have a harder time since its Armour Piercing trait will be disrupted by any shield tokens that survive the Shield Breaker effect. Hoping that my opponent will go light on their Buzz Saw's protection may be a little optimistic. If the Eos has light protection on Extra Armour systems, then the Laser Blade'll be the go-to because with the assistance of an Initiate crew will enable it to lop off a limb or valuable sensor system. In total then I will need ten cards in hand to pull that jump off. That first round is going to be critical and I'm going to need to be stoic when my opponent decides they're going to either try to move out of position, or line up a shot on me. After that I'll need to be able to both jump to safety and engage in whatever damage control will make Styxx ready to pull off another pass. 

Supposing I don't need to activate anything else, and execute on round 2, that'll leave me with 3 systems in hand, and 8 for whatever needs doing on round 3. Of those 8 I'm going to need a Digitigrade Leg to re-orient Styxx so that they're pointing in roughly the right direction back towards the Eos; I'll be able to spin a full 270 in either direction, so it shouldn't be terrible, and maybe I'll be able to kick a few buildings of opportunity down as well. That leaves me with another 10 system cards on round 4 to do it again, and frankly with only two weapons I think it's probably wiser to split them up between rounds 2 and 4 instead of trying to draw them together so I can maintain a steady pace of hit-and-run attacks. If Styxx takes significant damage on that first pass then I'll need to kick the can down the road and delay until round 5: receiving any Shock will disrupt my finely tuned charge requirements, and if I lose a leg then I'm toast.

In terms of my own shield coverage I think putting five shield tokens on each weapon is the way to go, trusting to my Extra Armour to last long enough to either lame the Eos by severing a leg or two, or to disarm it of those terrifying plasma weapons. If I lose a leg I'm toast, but fortunately the Eos doesn't have any Armour Piercing weapons, so using the senior crew as my damage control while my junior crew operates the weapons is my plan, while I let Styxx themselves handle the running and jumping around in circles. Perhaps also the clucking. 

At some point in round 3, and perhaps again in rounds 5 & 6 I think I'll need to start producing my own cover, making sure my senior crew operate the sensors to discover some handy cover behind which I can collect my thoughts and accrue points for building blocks on the board. Certainly direct engagement of the kind I enjoy with Rhea and Tethys is out of the question; it'll probably be the hardest part avoiding the urge to try and ring-out my opponent, or even to close and deliver a nice, hard emu-kick. Likewise getting right behind Eos will be tempting, but Deflectors are only 2 VPs each, and doing so will place me dead-center in the sights of both Plasma Howitzers. 

Mind you, Titanomachina is predicated on the notion that players can build intricate clock-work plans, and then see what happens when those same plans encounter an enemy. As the philosopher Mike Tyson once said "Everyone has a plan until they're punched in the face." Maybe I should allocate shield tokens to Styxx's frontal armour? Decisions, decisions...

Titanomachina on Tabletop Top Simulator: Eos & Styxx

Styxx is one of the children of Tethys, and Eos one of their cousins, and although they lack the intense rivalry of Rhea and Tethys, what they lack in personal animosity they make up for in general bellicosity. They're the second half of the 4th wave of Titans for Titanomachina on Tabletop Simulator.

Eos is ready to punch up Their pace somewhat, taking on Big Arms in a raptor-configuration, and retaining the reaper-configuration's internal sponson. While lightly armed with a Buzz Saw and Mega Gun, this configuration for Eos is going to rely heavily on the agility the sponson, plantigrade legs, and two capacitors (Plasma Cell and Plasma Capacitor) should give Them. Raptor-configurations are very much intended as control-decks, so I think the following is a good default: 

1. Mega Gun, Adherent 2, Plantigrade Leg 2, Extra Armour 2, Plasma Capacitor, Sensor 1, Sponson 1, Deflectors 1

2. Initiate 3, Big Arm 2, Extra Armour 1, Sensor 2, Plasma Jets

3. Initiate 4, Big Arm 1, Buzz Saw 2, Sensor 3, Extra Armour 3

4. Master 1, Plantigrade Leg 1, Plasma Cell, Deflectors 2

Where Eos is going for agility, Styxx is going for power (seriously, at 9 Habitat Buildings you're going to need to do some pretty merciless things).   

With Digitigrade Legs backing up Styxx's Big Arms, and no jump jets, playing with Styxx is going to need a patience to open up some lines of sight as well as exploiting them when they come open. Then again, with only 9 habitat buildings to worry about, some indiscriminate violence is only going to benefit Styxx, and in particular combining that Macro Gun with both capacitors should yield some entertainment. I think the following is appropriate:

1. Initiate 1, Macro Gun 1, Extra Armour 3, Plasma Capacitor, Plasma Cell, Turret, Deflectors 1, Big Arm 2.
2. Initiate 2, Plasma Shotgun 1, Sensor 2, Extra Armour 2, Big Arm 1
3. Master 2, Plasma Shotgun 2, Sensor 1, Extra Armour 1, Digitigrade Leg 2
4. Adherent 1, Deflectors 2, Sensor 3, Digitigrade Leg 1

Notice that while Styxx can start off with three shots from Their Macro Gun, it's probably not a great idea until there's three ripe high-value targets right in front. Otherwise the turret is going to enable Styxx to find two targets right on round 1, and get in some shots. There's also something to be said for using the Deflectors to respond to an immediate attack, or to create or extinguish a line of sight, depending on who's attacking. 

Titanomachina on Tabletop Simulator: The Rhea & Tethys' Show!

They're sisters, they're enemies, they're rival mega-corporations! Here's the first half of the 4th wave of Titans for Titanomachina on Tabletop Simulator, to be uploaded as a set once the second half is ready.

Rhea is ready to do some serious punching with two hands and a pair of gun batteries. Admittedly, this configuration is moreso going to gently slap other Titans until the crew intervenes, but with a hefty amount of buildings to protect, I think this configuration is going to do what Rhea usually does and try to control the fight, and go for a ring-out. Deck-wise, I think the draws should probably be:

1. Extra Armour 3, Sensor 3, Gun Battery 1, Gun Battery 2, Digitigrade Leg 1, Big Arm 1, Initiate 3, Sponson 1

2. Extra Armour 2, Sensor 2, Hand 1, Hand 1, Initiate 4

3. Extra Armour 1, Sensor 1, Shields 1, Shields 2, Adherent 2

4. Digitigrade Leg 2, Big Arm 2, Sponson 2, Master 1

To complement Rhea's configuration as a grappler, Tethys is combining armour piercing with high explosives, in a similar double-double. 

Here I've given Tethys the ability to make an unholy mess of whatever unfortunate city finds itself at Her mercy. Likewise those rocket pods are going to make a mess of whatever shields an enemy Titan presents, opening up opportunities to shiv them with those twin laser blades. The laser blades will also be handy clearing lines of sight, and while the big arms and laser blades make it clear She is ready to get up close, I think this configuration is going to do best when a player can figure out how to keep their distance. It's probably to keep moving: 

1. Extra Armour 2, Sensor 2, Rocket Pod 1, Rocket Pod 2, Plantigrade Leg 1, Big Arm 2, Initiate 3, Sponson 1

2. Extra Armour 1, Sponson 2, Laser Blade 1, Laser Blade 2, Initiate 4

3. Extra Armour 3, Sensor 1, Plantigrade Leg 2, Shields 2, Adherent 2

4. Shields 1, Big Arm 1, Sponson 2, Master 1

Notably I've changed the layout ever so slightly, moving the last system in every stack to the bottom of the stack, rather than starting from the top system at the top of the stack. I've done so for good reasons, and I'll point out part of the layout of the system diagram is intended for modularity. Originally the plan was for players to create Titans using tokens that would slot into the system diagrams, and lack-of-interest/bad-marketing (I'll cop to it) torpedoed that. But, playing the Godzilla vs Kong mod that I'd made with my co-developer, I was reminded that part of the original design was to enable Titans to not only be created at the beginning of the game, but also to transform and combine, adding parts stored in buildings, and discarding parts as they were broken (but not destroyed). Picking up a weapon, say with a hand, would put that weapon on the top of the stack, and requires something of an open space for players to slot a system token. Obviously not something a regent-configuration can do until a sponson-mounted weapon is destroyed or discarded, but something to think about for the 5th wave.