Happy New Year!

 

A challenger!

Lately a regular opponent has established a winning streak with the configuration of Rhea that carries two vulcan guns and two macro guns. It's one of the configurations that screams "I am over-powered" by being a Rhea configuration accompanied by so few habitats. Driving down a low habitat score is hard, so you really have to focus on the Titan. Direct, head-on confrontation is very difficult, either being knocked askew by the vulcan guns, or slammed into buildings by the macro guns. Centered on the board this one doesn't need to chase, instead staggering around in spinning circles constantly firing, which is cool, but shouldn't be a no-brainer, and I don't think it is. I think what I need to do is attack from low angles with this configuration of Tethys:

Rockets to clear shields, digitigrade legs for that mule-kick, and lasers to gut and dismember. She has a movement advantage in both stronger legs and a jump jet system. Without a capacitor, Rhea may have an edge in mobility. Certainly I would want the second initiative position, so that agility is not compounded by being an easy target. I think maybe spending a few rounds charging up is possibly the best policy.

In fact, I expect my opponent to commence hostilities by detecting Tethys, and then activating a macro gun operated by the master crew, to hopefully clock me one first and perhaps into a building. This is where it is important that I set up at a low angle so that Tethys cannot take a direct hit from a macro gun and be crushed back into a building. Between the macro gun's high explosive and the vulcan gun's multiple attacks I want a solid two shield tokens on both arms, the front, and both legs. Load shields first in order to realign shields on the fly. So starting with three extra armour, two shields, a digitigrade leg, jump gets, and a sponson. If I have to set up and get ambushed, then that is going to get me turned around without succumbing to the temptation of a solid kick to open hostilities. Moreover I have these all in hand before I start building up to overwhelm Rhea's shields with high explosive, and with laser shield-breaker weaponry. 

Damage per gun, Tethys edges Rhea out by two points, essentially the shield breaker trait on the lasers. At the top end the guns can do extreme damage if they can impact Tethys hard into a building. So don't get popped into a building. Oddly, the easiest way to do this is to avoid physical attacks, use limbs for moving, and focus crew on operating weapons and maybe damage control. At point blank range the guns can almost always choose a center-mass. Two squares away is still in laser blade range. Senior crew on rocket pods, initiate crew on the lasers.