Titanomachina: Mirror-match Mayhem

In this battle report I took Sagacious Eos vs Gracious Tethys, with the both of us choosing to arm our Titans with plasma shotguns, rocket pods, and laser blades. Of course, one significant difference was that Tethys had rear armour and two extra habitats while Eos packed another capacitor in Their frame. As my opponent would prophetically comment on the two habitat head-start: It's basically nothing. So when the game ended with a knock-out in round 8, seeing Eos crush in Tethys' sponson with a body-slam, damage Her capacitor and master crew with a swift stab from Their laser blade, and a final body-slam to destroy those systems, the final score was 21-19 for Eos. Had Eos executed in a different order, two body slams in a row, it would have been both a knock-out and a 19-18 victory for Eos. Notably there was a point in round 6 where Tethys might have blocked a kick to Her plasma shotgun with Her leg instead of Her prow, which would have seen Tethys suffer both a ring-out and a 19-18 victory.  

There are, perhaps, two reasons for this somewhat bizarre situation where Eos has ripped Tethys open, but barely squeaked out a win. The first is that Tethys did a reasonably good job of increasing that initial two-habitat lead. The second is that Tethys was overwhelmed by Eos' higher rate of activity, with round 8's evisceration happening because Tethys ran out of gas while Eos had loaded both capacitors with 50% more power available. There is a third reason, I think, in that Tethys played defensively, and Eos really shines in situations where opponents are not hitting Them back effectively. But Eos managed to control the initiative fairly effectively by also maintaining not only a card advantage, but also tempo. The specific armament of plasma shotgun and laser blade, in combination with dual jump jets and capacitors is a real killer because a jump jet or weapon can be activated, its power recovered with a capacitor, and then another one fired. It's not easy to run away from that.  

Eos deploys aggressively, confident that the initiative will give Them the first shot, while making a rear approach dangerous, and a frontal assault costly. Tethys deploys much more circumspectly than Her previous frontal assault on Eos. 

It's a slow start, with Eos concentrating on building power, while Tethys looks to stretch both Her legs and Her advantage in habitats. 

Tethys sees Eos' aggressive posture and gets Her adherent crew on deck so She's ready to respond when Eos comes knocking, while Eos brazenly reinforces Their left side shield coverage, just about announcing Their imminent attack vector. 

Eos fires up Their sponson to vector Their jump, and leaps in to stab Tethys with Their laser blade, and Tethys twists enough to take it in Her check rather than letting the blazing knot of light lame Her leg. Not interesting in taking another hit like that, with Her prow compromised and junior crew injured, Tethys makes Her own leap. With some distance achieved, the Titans square up just out of range for their respective plasma shotguns, and Tethys spots a pink building on Her left and driving up Her habitat lead.  

Eos isn't having it, and activated senior crew last round to guide the rockets They fire, and these rockets demolish not only the building, but the pink upper habitat of the building beside it in the fireball. Tethys' own master crew beseeches the gracious to preserve the life of Her injured junior crew and manages to not only get him back on his feet, but also seals up the gaping hole in Tethys' hull from Eos' laser blade. Then, perhaps emboldened, Tethys slides Herself into plasma shotgun range and catches a blast from Eos' plasma shotgun that disables Her own. She targets Eos with Her own rocket pod, but doesn't fire. Eos demolishes the pink upper habitat of the building beside Them, on general principle, perhaps confused by Tethys' display. But Tethys shifts Her massive weight almost imperceptibly and Eos realizes that Tethys now has the initiative and is angling for a body slam, and steps back behind the  buildings on Their left, realizing it will cost Them in habitats. 

Now Tethys storms forward, blasting blue habitats with Her rocket pods, stabbing them with Her laser blade, and kicking them down as She storms forward into contact with Eos, who remains mostly still and charging, sneaking in a desultory elbow in a pink habitat on Their left and blue habitats are reduced to rubble. 

Tethys has little interest in being stabbed again, and slides left up the street from Eos, turning to present Her damaged plasma shotgun as something of a lure. Eos is patient though, and has plans for Her mounting power levels and loading systems. 

Now Eos unloads, blasting Tethys in the hopes of disrupting Her ability to resist further stabbing, but She spots a pink building off in the corner of the battlefield. Having ducked the plasma shotgun blast, letting it burst shields and cook armour off Her back, Eos slides in with a snap kick to Tethys' plasma shotgun that Tethys catches with Her shin as She slides in between Eos and the edge of the battlefield. Eos is still angling for that expensive but damaged plasma shotgun, aiming a reverse kick catches Tethys on Her chin instead. It's tempting for Eos to keep going, but even a bare minimum knock-out at this point will see Tethys emerge victory from sheer number of pink habitats. 

Tethys uses the initiative to turn and jump for safety, but now Eos is running hot, and not only gives chase, but leaps over the same buildings to mash Tethys' own front through more buildings, discharging Their capacitors to activate first Their laser blade for a quick gouge, and then firing Their second jump jets for a body slam that caves in the weakened capacitor and crew compartment to destroy Tethys' capacitor,  kill Her master crew, and see a knock-out of sufficient violence to overcome Tethys' massive advantage in habitats, scoring 7 victory points in the round! 

Note, it looks like we forgot the damage that going face-first through those buildings would have done to Tethys. The loss of Her frontal armour or the plasma shotgun don't seem like it would have affected the outcome.