Last week I played a game of Titanomachina that convinced me that I needed to separate out the extra content from the Tabletop Simulator DLC. So I put the extra Titans, usually arranged in a corner, into their own DLC, and likewise removed the Formicide infantry expansion to its own DLC. At some point soonish I'll make them both public-ish. Why haven't I done so sooner? The hand of moldy old Babylonian Nergal.
All that aside, what happened? Well, I was crewing Eos Senary against Eurybia Primary and it seemed like I was winning, despite being behind on buildings, and prepared to do a ring-out/knock-out combo when the connection crapped out and could not be restored. Eos was gracious, and it turns out that the Senary Configuration is brutal with those dual capacitors behind it. Which is funny, in a sense because Eurybia Primary gives up the plasma shotgun for a vulcan gun, and my opponent noted that he should have used the coolant systems to maximize the crew operation so it should have been Eurybia bulling Eos around the board.
The fact that the habitats are 25mm cubes in their meat-space prototype should alert players to the fact that Titanomachina is a game of inches. I set up Eos in a dead-zone off Eurybia's starboard prow for an aggressive start, utilizing Eos' gracious personality against Eurybia's sagacious personality. I wouldn't have the initiative, but it made my opponent decide whether they were going to turn and fight, or attempt to lead me on a chase. But first, junior crew got into position...
A chase it was, but despite equivalent foot-speeds, Eos' jump jets gave Them a distinct advantage to close, and being in the reaction position let me push Eos in. It's worth noting that half the game here was not merely the promise of damage, but also the promise of card-advantage. Remember, I had a plasma shotgun, and even if it didn't do interesting damage, it was still going to shock Eurybia and force a discard. What I gave up could be equalized.
Then it starts, sponsons activate and it's go-time, I swing Eos around the corner of a row of buildings and as my opponent hammers some blue habitats into mulch I get a flight of rockets into Eurybia, destroying Her back armour and shields as She ducks. While it doesn't compare to the habitats Eos has lost, it cracks open Eurybia's defenses in a satisfying way. The rocket pod is, after all, the least of Eos' weapons.
Now because Eurybia is retreating along the edge of the board, I'm able to step backwards and re-address, and slightly against my better judgment (and making sure I have an avenue of retreat in case I need to fire Eos' jump jets) try for taking the initiative so my opponent can't dodge. Since that takes Eos through a yellow habitat all the better. That doesn't really work, but the intent is also to try and get my opponent spending precious power on an initiative Eurybia may not need either. Then a friendly blast of plasma to help equalize that card advantage.
Now it's Eurybia's turn to strike back, reversing course and rampaging back down that winding avenue and Eos fires those jets to make sure Eurybia's laser blade isn't buried in Their back. They brake on a yellow habitat, and a capacitor fires to keep them in the fight as Eurybia vents coolant to signal She's not slowing down.
Eos now takes something of a breath as junior crew scramble to stations inside Them, and swings back around to stalk after Eurybia. Eurybia hasn't stopped moving and presses the lead on surviving habitats detected on the board. It's a strong defensive move because if Eurybia is knocked out, my opponent may still win from an insurmountable lead; the damage to Eos' population may be too much. The upshot is that Eos has to be very careful to avoid triggering a knock-out before the damage done to Eurybia outweighs the damage to Eos' habitats. So a careful application of rockets should offset Eurybia's attempt to recover shields over Her remaining armour.
Eos has a good firing firing solution, blasting away with the plasma shotgun, looking to spread the damage and clear Eurybia's shields before executing the knock-out with enough damage to offset Eurybia's 5 VP lead. Her systems are locked and loaded, and even junior crew can make a laser blade really hurt. Yet Eurybia is building up to something, something that might see Her scrap enough shields and armour off of Eos to stay in the game, but She's backed into a corner. However, the game ends on a time-out, as something about the DLC (possibly all the stuff that makes loading it kind of slow) times out the connection. The decision of the Hecatoncheires orbital installations cannot be questioned...
Could I have won? I think so. Would I have won? In the past week I've been pretty confident that I could have forced a knock-out/ring-out with the cards I had in hand and the cards I recall from rounds 4 and 5. Keeping track of games by taking screenshots at each round really helps, since it acts like something of a study aid.
There is also, to a degree, an opponent style, plus the commitment to a direction. Eurybia lacks jump jets for speed and using a coolant system to super-cool a limb gives you a walk for the same cost, with some trickier timing.
Timing is everything. The game is set up so that your ability to react to your opponent offsets their ability to react to you. Generally speaking it is perhaps an open question as to whether having the initiative is always good. I think I was doing very well despite being behind in the habitats. After all, a knock-out/ring-out. My opponent pointed out the only system I could score with the laser blade would be the arm mounting the vulcan gun, which is a fair point, with other systems triggering a knock-out loss for me. If my opponent did nothing else to Eos in the meantime, despite the master operating initiate crew, it would be a tie then.
Yes, my hope is pinned on the Eos Senary Configuration's smooth capacitor action to just hammer Eurybia. I don't think I played a deflector system in the entire game. I think I recall having card advantage at that point,
Which leads me to a second point as Nergal's hand lifts from my chest, that now I'm torn between taking Eos in my next game or taking Eurybia's Tertiary Configuration, with a gun battery, laser battery, and hand. Which is funny because the first and third choice would be Eos Primary and Eos Tertiary.
