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...
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