Titanomachina Report and Analysis

The deployment is Styxx configuration 5, nee configuration 2, two plasma shotguns and a macro gun, two big arms, two digitigrade legs, a thruster, a turret, a capacitor, two deflectors, three sensors, three extra armour, and a standard crew. This Styxx starts with 17 habitats on the board.

Arranged against this is Rhea configuration 3, two laser batteries, a macro gun, and a hand, two arms, two plantigrade legs, two sponsors, two shields, one sensor, five extra armour, and a standard crew as well. This Rhea starts with 22 habitats on the board. 

Styxx is Rapacious, Rhea is Gracious. Styxx therefore has the initiative. 

Rhea telegraphs either a heavy punch or a tall building, and Styxx steps into cover, knowing that this will waste Rhea's heavy punch, or exhaust Rhea's lone sensor for three more rounds. Activating Her own master crew, Styxx detects a tall, four-habitat somewhere that is risky for Rhea to shoot, nearly the opposite arc from Rhea's macro gun. However, instead Rhea makes a play for position, using the master crew to operate Rhea's legs, swinging around behind Her own cover and ready to come out swinging.

Styxx brandishes Her turret, and Rhea, taking a moment to scan the battle-field takes notice and the initiative!

Rhea operates an arm with an Initiate crew member, using it to swing forward in front of a block of buildings, and out in front of Styxx. Fortune favours the one with armour! Styxx has Her own Initiate crew blast Rhea with the macro gun. Thanks to Rhea's preparation, blocking the shot with Her armoured right side and intercepting the shot with a shield from Her left back, the shot only wings Her, hammering the presented right side, and bursting shields, but only doing light damage to Rhea's armour. Rhea has even used the impact of the attack to slew starboard and lay Her own macro gun for a reply. This macro gun is operated by an Adherent crew and does far more than light damage to the right side of Styxx, destroying all of it's armour, bursting shields, and knocking Styxx askew. Styxx turns this into a right arm-driven power slide to the left, determined to bring Rhea into range of Her plasma shotguns. Rhea activated Her sensor and notes that the line of sight is blocked by a hitherto undetected yellow habitat.

Rhea moves right, matching Styxx and working to maintain that 4 tile sweet spot where Styxx's plasma shotguns are ineffective, and Rhea's laser batteries can carve Her up. Styxx is still moving through, moving left faster than Rhea can track with Her left-shoulder laser battery, which perforated a green habitat instead. Spotting another green habitat, Styxx is ready when Rhea changed tack and closes sensor-to-macro gun with Styxx; Styxx has Her Adherent crew take careful aim before Rhea blocks the stream of giga-voltage plasma with Her left side, reducing Her shields to 40%, and taking heavy damage to Her armour. The shock to Rhea's own power system sees Her hull crawl with snakes of lightning. Styxx now engages Her right leg, swinging around behind Rhea and outflanking Her!

Suddenly going into reverse as Rhea tenses with Her Master crew at the controls, Styxx backs up between two blocks and dares Rhea to kick Her. Rhea obliges, stepping up to deliver a hard crack to Styxx's left shin, hoping to avoid another plasma shotgun blast. Instead, Styxx fires Her thrusters, leaping over a building to relative safety as Rhea's Initiate crew take over.

Now Styxx is in trouble. She's not out of danger yet. She's up against the edge of the board and low on power, deflectors and armour down to 50%. As Rhea reaches out to seize Styxx, She slips under the yellow Titan's reach, working to distance Herself from being unceremoniously ejected from the battlefield. However, it was a feint, as Rhea's Adherent crew operated Rhea's right-should laser battery, its dual-beams carving Styxx's left leg clean off, for a technical knock-out!

Styxx is defeated 27-23, in the sixth-round. I haven't used Rhea configuration 3 in a long while and while I've been thinking about the potential of those dual laser batteries, it's interesting to experience the down-sides. Rhea is heavily armoured, maybe even excessively so, and perhaps that is actually an advantage, but the arms and plantigrade legs mean Rhea is either hitting hard, or moving fast, or detecting tall buildings. Styxx can combine moving and hitting more effectively, and detect multiple small buildings. Detecting large buildings is a trap, because they can usually be seen from far away, are efficiently leveled, and require a Master crew to spot the vast and obvious building. Operated by initiate crew, sensors can detect two-habitat buildings that can block line of site to Styxx. Likewise they can be used to detect enemy Titans behind known cover. 

Which isn't to say Styxx is easy to use, but that this configuration 5 looks it needs to play for time, and attack an opponent's city rather than their Titan directly. Shooting an opposing Titan in the face with a plasma shotgun is not a trap though, despite the temptation of it. Shooting anyone with such a weapon is a sound tactic, but it needs senior crew. Already a highly powerful weapon, it's also efficient at causing damage for its charge cost. Having a pair should be treated more like having one with a 180 arc. 

I think it's an interesting idea to maybe use Styxx's crew members on Styxx's capacitor. Two plasma shotguns, a Master crew, and a capacitor recovering all five charge cards to press a card advantage. My point is, I think I need to run Styxx the next time I play...