Titanomachina: Escape From Gaia

We know, of course, of the Titanomachy when the gods took sides with either the Olympian Zeus or the Titan Kronos. That saw the fall of the Titans from rulership, and the imprisonment of seven in Tartarus. Not all Titans had sided with Kronos. Amongst them stood chiefly Rhea, who had preserved Zeus from Kronos, and Tethys, who nurtured him, as well as Styxx, who granted her daughter Nike to the cause, and Eos and Prometheus and the Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires. The victors enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, a new golden age for Gaia. With prosperity came ecological collapse and extinction for the birds and mammals of Gaia. The civilization that arose after the collapse, was a civilization of ants once the insect kingdom was finally able to grow into the niches of mega fauna, named the Myrmidon Mega-Ants to describe their general approach to life. Near the end of a mega-ants' life-cycle, she leaves her nest and spends the rest of her life fighting the enemies of her nest to the death. Fully grown a mega-ant is nearly two meter tall and easily 500lbs. Armoured in a thick layer of chitin bonded to fullerene plating, and possessing courage to match, Myrmidons or 'Aunties' are generally genial and helpful people, until they decide to fight. What they have in abundance in quality is multiplied by their quantity, giving them the belligerence to push the Titans and their human crops off world, and the numbers to see it through. After eons in space, the Titans have returned to a cautious welcome of a civilization condemned to the surface of Gaia by the Hekatonkheires arrays, massive planet-encompassing rings of weapons left to guard the hearth. The threat of mutual extinction serves to improve neighborly relations, but with the expansion of the human cities serves to bring the Titans into direct conflict with swarms of Aunties. As with the Titans' own exuberant conflicts, all parties are careful to stand down once a Hekatonkheire asks nicely with targeting lasers. Whether the Aunties can push the Titans off world again depends on the rate at which Titans provoke conflicts. The Titans have yet to trigger another global war...

Why am I engaging in this little bit of world building? Well, the exodus from Gaia is informing a notion for another, different game to Titanomachina. Here the idea is that each player has a spaceship that must exit the Gaian solar system, using gravity from the local star and outer planets to build up escape velocity.

The components would be:

1 of rotating sections (1 central area for the star, an orbit of six spaces, an orbit of twelve spaces, and an orbit of twenty four)

4 planet markers, one for each orbit and the sun, and 1 dark matter anomaly

4 spacecraft markers, one for each player 

54 cards, of nine cards per player, including three 0 cards, five 1 cards, one 2 card. The zero cards include a sabotage card (for forcing an opponent to discard a card), an asteroids card (reduces velocity by one for opponent), and a dark matter anomaly card (places or moves dark matter anomaly marker). 

4 D10 dice for tracking velocity of spacecraft markers (for the zero side).

Costs to move:

• Up an orbit costs 2
• Moving along the same orbit costs 1
• Moving down an orbit costs 0
• Moving into space with a planet reduces cost by -1, moving out of space-with-planet increases cost by +1
• Moving into a space occupied by another player reduces cost by 1. 

Starting in the space of the planet (Gaia) in the lowest orbit, the players need to move up three orbits. After every player has moved the orbits rotate one increment or space starting with the innermost orbit. 

Titanomachina: Myrmidon Mega-Ants

 

For a while now, and perhaps ever since I played Battle Masters by Milton Bradley and Games Workshop, I've had the idea of a game wherein each unit has a corresponding card, and when that card is drawn that unit can activate. Sound familiar? Well, something that had irked me for a while was how Titans (and other 'war engines') were treated vis-a-vis infantry in Epic 40k and Epic Armageddon, especially after they worked reasonably well in Epic Space Marine (2nd edition). I think big things like Titans work best when they are treated as collections of small things, and that a big failure of games like Warhammer is because the big stuff is treated like big amorphous bricks. That's on top of stuff like heroes and commanders just being extra-elite workhorses rather than crucial morale and command-control nodes. 

I also really like how ants work. They're eusocial organisms, and my biggest disappointment with 40k was always how Tyranids did not work like them. 

Bringing the Myrmidon Mega-Ants into Titanomachina is thus my way of showing that it can be done better, and in a way that I can find fun and satisfying. The notion is that players can build a deck of 22 cards with a matching set of 22 bases-worth of Mega-Ants. Players have different types of bases, and as well as a card for each base activating all instances of that kind of base, each card can also be used for some other purpose, like returning destroyed bases to the board, and coordinating mass actions by several different types at once. 

The tricky part now is, surprisingly, figuring out how to fit the Myrmidon figures into a base that gets under the maximum file size for Tabletop Simulator. I mean, also figuring out the card layout and meaning, but mainly playing with the models that miniature master Jason Miller has provided.

It's a nice little game development distraction while I figure out how to deliver the incredible giant robot action of Titanomachina. I might even release it as a separate-but-compatible game...

Hal-con 2024: The Next Round

Hal-con 2024 was, I think, a rousing success in that everyone who tried Titanomachina seemed to enjoy it, or at least they were 'locked-in' by round 3. The Extra Life game turned into two games in the two hour time limit, with a knock-out in round 8 for the first game, demonstrating just how fast the game can go with experienced players. It was also great to see familiar faces coming back to give the game a go, especially with Mario and Luigi bouncing around in their game. I had a great time, and it was fantastic to share the game with new people and friends alike. 

The one specific failure was the same one as last year: no units to sell. However, with this year's improvements (option to not charge systems, changes to collisions) bringing 9-round games in under an hour that it might actually be a blessing, because now I can sell a much faster game. The actual changes that I want to make after Hal-con have dwindled to tweaking the boards to include increased definition of board squares (overlaying a 4pt grid over the map) and adding a little bit of sign-posting in the otherwise empty margins of the board to clarify stuff like arcs and turns. Where these changes have dwindled to tweaking graphic design, I'm making a renewed push to produce something that people can buy. 

What would that be? Currently there is a fantastic company that has produced many of the prototype components that I have used in development, the Board Game Makers, based in China. Here's the plan as it stands right now:

• Box (10.5" x 12" x3")
• Box insert
• Rule book (A5 size, 24 pages)
• 2x 55-card Poker-size decks including 2x dual-sided Dashboard cards, seven Weapon cards, eight Crew cards, thirty system cards colour-coded to each Titan, two Personality cards, two Pass cards, two Damage diagram cards, and two Shield diagram cards. 
• 52x blank 25mm dice (black)
• 4x 50mm tall plastic standees (colour-coded to each Titan)
• 1x Sticker sheet of 48 Titan-specific habitat stickers (12 each)
• 1x Sticker sheet of Titan-specific images for plastic standees and initiative stack dice 
• 40x Shield tokens (transparent plastic poker chips)
• 2x Dry-erase markers
• 4x poker-size card sleeves

This would also include the cost of shipping, not only to the buyers, but also to the distributor warehouse. The rule book would contain a link to the .stl files so that those inclined could print the miniatures for themselves (or use a printing service, which is something else I'm exploring).

Note that the current version has 100 cubes for players, which makes for a pleasantly dense board. However, dice, even blank dice, are not one of those products that gets significantly cheaper in bulk. Having 12 habitat cubes for each player rather than 24 simplifies and speeds up set-up and opens up the board a bit more for interactions between the players. It's not worse for game-play and significantly cheaper. 

Likewise just 48 stickers to mark the blank dice as habitat blocks belonging to whichever Titans rather than 240 to mark and decorate the blank dice seems like an acceptable compromise on cost, aesthetics, and utility. Likewise the extra Titan stickers can be used on the dice in the initiative stack, since the sheet has more than enough for four plastic standees and I'm not sure if I can buy fractions of a sheet - something to explore to see if sheets can be split between boxes. 

Other cost-savings can be found dispensing with boxes for the cards, although I'm much less inclined to do that because the card boxes protect the cards and can look rather nice with a little effort. Likewise the box-insert. Where these things help preserve the set from damage they seem worth it.  

Hal-Con 2024 Deck Orders

My current plan for Hal-con 2024 is to run two boards for demonstration gaming. The first is going to be the Titans in their primary configuration, and the second is going to be the Titans in their secondary configuration. Deeply creative, I know... Anyhoo, I've decided on a card order that should be friendly for people who haven't played before because, you know, demonstration games. Each round players will have access to a crew member and a limb, meaning they can move and attack, and see how important the crew is to manage the Titan's systems. They all have an extra armour system to block that first shot, their sponson/turret system to explain the arcs, and their thrusters/jump jets for another source of movement (combined with their sponson so it doesn't feel quite so restrictive). Likewise sensors and capacitors (for the three Titans equipped with them) are front-loaded so that players have a variety of options for that first round, and more importantly a variety of systems to explain in an open-hand. 

I've included the Personality cards for a sense of symmetry, since those cards get put into the decks anyways. These are something like ideal personality/Titan match-ups. Styxx really benefits from the bonus move, Eos is weak on defense, so a bonus repair is handy, Rhea needs to dominate the initiative, and Tethys needs the edge on detecting habitats. 

 

Titanomachina: Glossary & Such

When I was working on the rule book recently, to which I'll link at the end of this blog post, one of my readers took a look at it and asked about its index and glossary. Now, I think a full table of contents, index, and glossary is overkill where the rules are intended to be expressed in a 24-page saddle-stitched booklet. Nonetheless, it's probably a good idea to add in a glossary where there is space, because there are some terms that it would help to define. 

Cogs - originally termed 'effect' because it literally measured the action's effect on the board. An effect of 2, for example, would mean a Titan could walk two squares, or cause two damage, or rotate two multiples of 90°. The icon I ultimately chose to use for the cards was the cog, with the number of cogs in the icon indicating the value of the effect. So for the sake of clarity, I should include the definition of cogs, and particularly of 'total cogs' which is the cogs on the card, plus the cogs on any preceding crew cards that are operating, minus any points of damage to the system being activated. 

Tiles - tiles are squares on the board that can be either foundation tiles, or road tiles, and that is because I toyed with the idea of using a board made up of cardboard tiles instead of a classic folding board. I still think it is a better idea and want to maintain the nomenclature for when I can sell the tiles as an expansion so that people can build their battlefields from the board on up. 

What else? 

Rule book as of October 1st, 2024: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x0iBUSvfPr2YDyVxx6WSfv9LxW8Y2hmo/view?usp=drive_link

Titan Tech Manual as of October 1st, 2024: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AmFR938WleNYGsSC3tM3_e3n_SB5VlWd/view?usp=drive_link

Titanomachina: People in Glass Houses

Okay, so here's a new idea: You can land on however many buildings as can fit in a tile, and it will clear the square. It will also do that much damage to the Titan's legs. So you could jump a Titan two tiles and do eight damage, four damage to each leg. 

Why? 

Two reasons. The first is in answer to the question of wanting to land Titans on buildings. Which is like asking how many glass tables a stuntman can go through, because someone is going to get hurt. 

The second is in answer to how many plate-glass windows you can drop a stuntman because they lose both legs? A block of buildings stacked 3 habitats high will do six damage to each of a Titan's legs. Without shields it will lose both and give away 8 VP of Titan damage to the opponent with the lowest score. 

If players voluntarily avoid it, and use it cleverly and judiciously when they don't, why not permit it? The main argument is that the game will turn into players going Koolaid Man on buildings. But they already do that with abandon when walking. Players clip a building here and there, but only a few are willing to plod face-first through three separate 8-habitat blocks, and it seems to amuse them. 

Titanomachina: Speeding up the game

Lately I've been trying to put some cogs into figuring out how to speed up the game. Most of the ways I brainstormed didn't work, so I identified other stuff to work on. One of those things was problem of wear-and-tear on components. Part of the game is putting down cards that your opponent doesn't expect, so they're placed face-down and then everyone all flips them over together, for the cards to be charged & activated in initiative order. This also involved a pass card that would result in end-round condition if every player put one down. The pass card would then be pulled back to the player's hand. The capacitor system allows cards to be pulled back to the player's hand, so that wasn't some weird kludge. It would result in extra wear-and-tear though, enabling players to identify if their opponent was passing (and essentially going nowhere and doing nothing pro-active). 

So I thought, why not allow players to charge the pass card like they do system cards, and these cards could then go back to the player's hand with the pass card. Instead of playing the pass card and retrieving it, the players would draw all the cards back at the end of the round. This was developed so that players could play cards, but didn't have to charge & activate them, and all those un-activated systems (and the pass card) would return to the player's hand. 

This also seems to speed up the game, so I made a couple of other changes like simplifying the shin-kicking optional rule, made the simultaneous card play the core rule, and make knock-outs based on a 5VP difference in destroyed systems during 9-round games. I've also been experimenting with limiting players to 12 habitats instead of 24, just because it would make it so much cheaper to produce and sell copies of Titanomachina games where sourcing 25mm cubes is an incredible hassle. So far it doesn't seem to negatively affect games. Certainly the table looks emptier, but it also opens up the board a bit, and that is something of a dead-heat. 

I'm going to be implementing a change freeze then, until Hal-con 2024 is over. This will be something of a fair-well, as I wasn't able to get Titanomachina produced this year and hit something of a financial wall. On the bright side, now the game grabs you with both metal claws and doesn't let go!

Here's the rule book: 

Titanomachina October 2024

Titanomachina Memes

 

Titanomachina: Tethys Board Control

Okay, so here's a plan for Tethys (primary configuration of Macro Laser, Gun Battery, and Claw). 

1. Master Crew (1)
2. Macro Laser (2)
3. Claw (2)
4. Jump Jets 1 (2)
5. Jump Jets 2 (2)
6. Capacitor (0)
7. Plantigrade Leg 1 (0)
8. Extra Armour 1 (0) - Round 1
9. Adherent Crew (1)
10. Gun Battery (0)
11. Sponson (0)
12. Plantigrade Leg 2 (0)
13. Extra Armour 2 (0) - Round 2
14. Initiate Crew 1 (0)
15. Shields 1 (2)
16. Sensor 3 (0/1)
17. Arm 1 (0)
18. Extra Armour 4 (0) - Round 3
19. Initiate Crew 2 (0)
20. Shields 2 (2)
21. Arm 2 (0)
22. Extra Armour 3 (0)
23. Personality card (0) - Round 4

Start near the centre of the board, lead with the left arm. Aim for a ring-out in round 8.

Titanomachina variation

What if we took all the habitats off the board? And we go back to starting from an empty board? The question, of course, being how to put them back on the board... 

The easiest way is using sensors. It leaves the game as is. In a 9-round game a single-sensor system Titan can place 16 habitat buildings in towers of 8. At best. A three-sensor system Titan can place 22 in the same 9-round game. 

There is also the issue about perverse incentives for putting buildings on the board. On the other hand, destroying line-of-sight blocking terrain has the effect of exposing oneself to retaliatory fire. It also wastes an attack on a building. Players aren't restricted to only placing their own habitat blocks though.

If we did this, the numbers on the Titan dashboard cards could represent a starting score. 

Originally the notion was that the Titans would be able to place habitat blocks as they move. I don't know how to make that work. It was intended to give an empty board something of a fog of war effect without clumsy extra counters. 

Titanomachina: Beating the Champion

One of my goals for Titanomachina has been making it a robust competitive experience, one in which a player can surprise their opponent, or simply out-think them. I have a regular opponent/play-tester that is very good at the game and typically can beat me 2/3 games. When this player has control of Rhea, whichever configuration of Rhea, the odds are very good that they are going to win. On one hand this is the game working as designed, and on the other hand, I'm slightly concerned that Rhea unbalances the game by having five extra armour systems. The thing about extra armour is threehold. The first is that it can be used to block incoming attacking, redirecting them from their original targets to the extra armour system's stack, which is okay when a Titan has three extra systems and three weapons. Where a Titan has more armour systems that their opponent has weapons, and potentially attacks, they're going to be able to control where incoming damage is going. Second, where an opponent might elect to simply batter through these systems they only yield one victory point each when they are destroyed, making them disproportionately poor investments. Third, players can stack shield tokens on locations that have available extra armour cards, allowing them to soak incoming attacks that might otherwise go straight through their extra armour. Rhea has both shields systems and extra armour, for maximum defense.

Having five such systems, including two mounted on the front of the Titan, and then one on both sides and back, gives the Titan considerable resistance to damage. Of course there are options in place to enable other Titans to deal with that combination of armour and shields. High explosive weapons, shield breakers, armour piercing weapons, and even guns can be used to defeat this armour/shields combo that lets Rhea soak incoming firepower while handing it out. In fact, let us consider Rhea's quaternary configuration, in part because it is a deliberate attempt to try and min-max the Titanomachina system. 

Using high explosive weapons, particularly rocket pods, might encourage Rhea's players to cover Her arms (front-left and front-right stacks) and butt (back-left and back-right stacks). A rocket pod destroying 3-6 shield tokens a round could clear one side of Rhea supposing even shield coverage. A buzz saw could take out 4 shields without any crew assistance. Likewise a hand could take out 3, not including any extra from a collision due to its grapple trait. A laser blade could also take out 3, but ideally it's going to be going through shields and not just taking them out. A plasma shotgun taking out 4 shields, or even 7 when operated by a master crew (for 5 cards). A plasma howitzer will take out 3 shields, but at a higher cost than a rocket pod or macro gun. 

Weapons like the claw, gun battery, and vulcan gun probably aren't going to be tremendously effect because they're all moreso weapons of opportunity. The laser weapons, the macro laser, laser battery, and the laser blade are all going to struggle until those shields are gone, and then they're going to cut Rhea into bits. I think having four weapons, one of which is a laser, and the other three being the most efficient high explosive weapons might be something. 

In fact, what about a rocket pod, a buzz saw, a plasma shotgun, and a laser blade on Tethys? Her capacitor would enable a double shotgun/laser blading on five cards. Similarly Eos might do well with a plasma shotgun, a laser blade, and two rocket pods. In terms of having three weapons, I think that maybe Eos Primary could do well perhaps swapping out the plasma howitzer for a plasma shotgun. On the other hand, the plasma howitzer would come in handy once Rhea's shields are compromised, and there's always the good old master-crew operated howitzer shot. Actually, a buzz saw, laser battery, and plasma shotgun could be interesting...

Titanomachina: Dumbing Things Down

I'm not a game designer. I'm a technical writer by trade, and the prevailing philosophy of that trade is to dumb it down for people. That's the short of it. A longer description might be that a technical writer's job is to take the guesswork out of using a tool. There's certain assumptions that you just have to roll with, such as the user being able to read, and have something they want to accomplish that requires them cracking open the manual. But a technical writer cannot rely on anyone making connections that are not explicitly indicated. So if the rules are going to mention that someone needs to charge a system before activating it, then those rules need to state what a system is, and what a charge is before they get to explaining what activating is. 

However, it is not enough to explain this in the rule book. This also needs to be sign-posted on the cards so that players could figure it out without access to the rule book. So while I thought that using a hexagon on the back of the cards would indicate (or hint, even) that the backs of cards were somehow related to the hexagons on the front of the cards, that is not actually the case. The problem was that the hexagon on the back of the cards had no lightning bolts in it, and the hexagons on the front of the cards had 0-2 lightning bolts in them. There's no particular reason to suppose that the number of lightning bolts refers to the number of cards played face-down to charge a system for activation. 

There's a reason to think that the empty hexagon on the front of the cards relates to an empty hexagon on the back of the cards, but no reason to think the one on the front means you don't need any cards played face-down. Where the front and back have matching empty hexagons it seems to convey exactly the opposite message. I believe I've seen the same look on many people's faces when they're told the logic of this choice, a look that says "This is in fact the opposite of what I would have guessed given the evidence in front of me." 

My solution to this, following my design philosophy of implementing the most minimal change possible, is to put a lightning bolt in the hexagon on the back of the cards. Because if the column on the front of the card has an empty hexagon, the system requires no additional cards to be played face-down to charge it for activation. Similarly, if the column has a hexagon with a single lightning bolt, it requires one additional card played face-down to charge it for activation. Finally, a hexagon with two lightning bolts requires two additional cards played face-down.

So one lightning bolt per card back. Zero lightning bolts means zero additional cards face-down. One lightning bolt means one additional card. Two lightning bolts means two additional cards. 

This may take some time to implement on Tabletop Simulator, since I would need to redo all the cards. 

Titanomachina: The Goal

 

I updated my prototypes with new cards and a board to reflect the changes made to the Tabletop Simulator version. The old prototype vinyl board I've used as something of a back-drop to distract from the flooring in my apartment. I've also noticed that three production personality cards (Sagacious, Rapacious, and Gracious) all have matching pass cards, so I've worked up one for Pugnacious. I've put it up in TTS, and I think it'll be in the production version. Likewise the production version should contain some dry-erase markers for marking up the damage diagrams in their sleeves. 

Otherwise the set would be:

• 1 Rule book
• 1 Titanomachina Game Board
• 4 Titans (siocast?) or 4 plastic pawns w/stickers
• 108 cards including personality, pass, damage diagram, shield diagram, and system cards
• 100 habitat blocks (siocast) or 100 blank dice w/stickers
• 2 Dry erase markers
• 40 Shield tokens
• 1 Box and insert

Titanomachina: Tactical Analysis

 Lately I've noticed that I can free up cards for the Damage Diagram, Shields Diagram, and Pass cards in each 55-card deck by making the secondary configuration of each Titan a weapon-swap with another Titan. So instead of Titan decks carrying 12 weapon cards each, they would have 6 each for a complete set of 12 together. In some cases, however, the weapon swaps aren't quite so easily straight forward. For example, Tethys primary to Styxx secondary.

With Styxx sporting a Gun Battery 2 (right hand gun battery card) and Tethys with a Gun Battery 1 (left hand battery card), and both a Claw 1 (left hand claw card), it means that I would need to either use the 55th card slot in each deck to carry an extra weapon card, or I would need to swap Tethys' gun battery and macro laser. I mean, I could swap Styxx's weapons, but that's a good configuration. 

Swapping Tethys' medium and long-ranged weapon would create something very like Rhea's primary configuration, with a left-shoulder laser and a right-handed gun. Certainly Tethys would still have a capacitor instead of a 5th extra armour, and jump jets where Rhea has thrusters, but it seems kind of same-y, or at least not showcasing the difference the placement can make. 

I think the clincher might be that both the hand and the claw weapons can grapple an opponent across into their left or right hand quadrants. This is most useful for opening up a target to stab with the laser, I think, but also for slamming them into a sufficiently large block of buildings. While the macro gun is good for the occasional snap-shot, the gun battery requires crew operation to get the most out of it. Additionally, Tethys' secondary configuration already carries a laser blade in its left arm.

Tempo-wise, Tethys would need to spend three cards to grab with the claw, and then at least three more to shoot with the macro laser, possibly five to operate the weapon with senior crew (adherent, master). That would also be a chain of three actions, possibly four if a capacitor is used to regenerate the cards spent on activating the claw to fire the macro laser. Five cards for a crew-operated attack in two actions might actually be best, as a 5-cog attack with a laser is going to amputate something even under two shield tokens. Having that on both sides of the Titan might be best, with the gun battery backing up the claw at range. A macro gun would do a 5-cog attack in two actions (operate, attack), for four cards, but it would take five cards and three actions (operate, operate, attack) for a hand to do that. I think there's an edge there, removing a part of the enemy before they act with it.

So if I go the other way and use the 55th card for a Gun Battery 2 to make the conversion to secondary configurations workable, then that suggests I could use the 55th card in the other deck to do something similar. I'm leaning towards a reference card illustrating the incoming and outgoing arcs though.   

 

Titanomachina: March & April 2024 Changes

 

I recently made a couple of significant changes, the first being a reduction in the charging costs of all limbs, such as the Plantigrade Leg. I think it's a very positive change, making Titans more mobile, and generally doing interesting things to the card economy (making activating capacitors less of a no-brainer, freeing up cards for Charge 2 weapons). It also maintains the ponderous, weighty feeling of the Titans.  

I've also re-jigged the Detect action so that Titans can detect either habitats or Titans, and a single stack of habitats at that. To remind players I've added a Detect (Titan) icon on the Sensor cards. 

Titanomachina: What If?

All limbs had their charge cost reduced by 1? So arms and plantigrade legs would just be played by themselves, while big arms and digitigrade legs would cost one card face-down? This puts the Arms and Big Arms on the power curve (1 card played : 1 cog of action), while putting Plantigrade Legs and Digitigrade Legs squarely above it at 2:3 and 1:2 respectively.

Similar cards above the curve include the Turret (1:2), Master Crew (2:3), the Macro Gun (2:4), the Capacitor (1:2), , Plasma Shotgun (3:4), the Laser Blade (3:4), and the Rocket Pod (2:3).

Systems on the curve would be the Initiate & Adherent Crew, the Extra Armours, the Sensors, the Deflectors, the Shields, the Gun Battery, the Hand, the Claw, the Laser Battery, the Plasma Howitzer, Macro Laser, Buzz Saw, the Sponsons, the Jump Jets and Thrusters. All 1:1.

Systems below the curve would be the Vulcan Gun (2:1), at the low end. However, there's a potential (1:3) involving operation with a Master Crew and Initiate Crew. 

It follows, additionally, that all systems on the curve can be pushed above it with a Master Crew. With just a Master Crew operating it, a Vulcan Gun might achieve a (2:5) depending on positioning, but minimally 1:1.

Why though? Aside from the obvious 'feel good' of making it easier for the Titans to move, turn, and fight, the limbs' combined actions are some of the most common actions in the game. It also makes for a better, more defined offset in the most efficient option vs the most efficacious option. Playing a capacitor card is less straightforward too.    

Forming a Green Strategy

Styxx is difficult to use, especially when it mounts expensive Charge 2 weapons. In part this is because the player will find themselves facing opponents with a card advantage of having more cards in hand with the opportunity to make more actions. Styxx players are forced, almost, to play more slowly, at a lower rate of activity than players with other Titans. This can be ameliorated by the green player holding off on the initial rounds to build up a big hand of cards they can use to match an opponent's rate of activity. That is pretty unfriendly to a new player though, trying to keep up with the other players and not the tempo dictated by the Styxx cards. 

Take Styxx's primary configuration, for example. In order to use both arms and both legs, Styxx needs to spend 12 cards (including the arms and legs). Rhea, Tethys, and Eos primary configurations only need to spend 8 cards. Now Styxx may get 10 cogs to Rhea's 6 cogs, for all that, but there's a question of when and where that makes those four extra cards mean something important. Notably Styxx may only use Her legs, spending 6 cards for 6 cogs, but that is two actions to Rhea's four. So either Styxx is giving up a card advantage, or a tempo advantage. 

Likewise Rhea's primary configuration can use all three weapons for 6 cards (for 5-8 points of damage) meaning Rhea can move and attack at capacity for 14 cards. Styxx primary can use all three weapons for 8 cards, meaning moving and attacking for 20 cards. That gives Rhea 9 cards to enhance movement and attacks with crew (their entire crew) and then cards to block and intercept attacks. Styxx gets 2. One of them is a capacitor, but that makes it equivalent to 3 cards if it's used at its basic effect. Where can Styxx get those six cards to make up the difference? It's going to have to be weapons, and possibly the thrusters. If we swap out the laser blade and plasma shotgun, that reduces 6 cards to 2 cards. After that, the rocket pod can be swapped for a laser battery as a dead heat, but also for weapon synergy. Take out the thrusters for a second capacitor, and that is 12 cards for limbs plus 4 cards for weapons. That's 16 cards, leaving 7 including two capacitors for an effective 9. 

Styxx's tertiary and quaternary configurations have similar issues, but have a slightly different flavour due to these configurations lacking arms. With legs and thrusters and sponsons, and only two weapons, these configurations of Styxx need crew to ensure those shots Styxx takes don't miss and hit hard. That's 12 cards for 10 cogs (and 90-180 degree arcs). Setting aside 4 cards for senior crew and their charges, lazy gits that they are, that leaves 7 cards for shooting and sensors. Including the two capacitors, that means a Titan may be able to activate legs and weapons at the same time, leaving 5 cards for sensors (two for detection, one for scanning) and blocking with extra armour. Weapon-wise, it's going to need to be guns, rockets, and maybe a laser battery. It's kind of funny to be returning to those historical roots in Adeptus Titanicus (1989) where a Warhound Titan would have a turbo laser and vulcan gun...