Titanomachina: Prometheus and Epimethius

Alas, I am not introducing the famous and famously pro-human Titans to the game but instead trying to explain how it was that I was soundly defeated as rapacious Styxx (secondary config.) by sagacious Tethys (secondary config) despite what looked like a decent 7-rounds of play in a 9-round game. The answer is found in retrospect, the domain of Epimethius, but could have likewise be attributed to perhaps thinking ahead, the domain of Promethius. You see, I have given thought to how Styxx fits into the game and whether it's a weak build or hopefully requiring a different style of play, so I should have had a better plan. The problem, of course, is that I didn't really have a plan besides bullying my opponent and detecting short, two-habitat buildings. I think my deployment of Styxx reflects this, and my opponent capitalized on this by staging an ambush on Styxx's less defensive side. By starting the fight off early, my opponent was able to develop and maintain a card advantage by threatening Styxx with an early game injury. Additionally, my opponent casually threatened Styxx with a plasma shotgun, holding it in reserve, deploying it unactivated and then drawing it back to hand for potential use/threat next round. 

What could I have done about that? After all, Styxx benefits from having some time to build up some power. Well, given that I had the initiative, I would have gotten the first shot, and with 8 cards in the first draw, and I think a salutory exchange of fire in round 1 would have been best. While Tethys is a hard nut to crack, there's very little in the game that won't suffer a macro laser. So that is option one, to deploy first with weapons, crew, and turret loading first so anyone attempting to ambush Styxx regrets it. I did not do this... Alternately, and in the opposite direction, I could have loaded Styxx's arms and legs first, so that I had the option of moving Her in any direction, or even twice that round, to give Styxx some agility in responding to the ambush. Which I did not do either, even sacrificing Styxx's thrusters for some dubious benefit when having them to jump behind cover would have been much better. 

So as you can see, using the Titanomachina coordinate system, Styxx is deployed 25S with Tethys deploying 23SW, shields concentrated over legs and front while Tethys opts for a more conventional and fuller coverage of all around and twice on arms. West of Styxx, Tethys is on Styxx's claw side, which could have gone badly for Tethys had I thought to load Styxx's claw and capacitor in the first round draw. Tethys is well-positioned to be bottled using the habitat at 37 6P. A hard smack across the prow would see Tethys' turned left, and would either have to work to come back around, or hope that the plasma shotgun would work to slow Styxx down.

So rather than moving to engage Tethys, I had Styxx back off south-west up the street, and start detecting habitats to make up the starting deficit (6-4 Habitats), while kicking habitats (33 6P). Pink doesn't follow, but jumps forward, shadowing Styxx's south-west travel. 

Now I panic ever so slightly, having been informed by my opponent of how they plan to threaten Styxx with the plasma shotgun (which is, one must admit, probably integral to threatening someone with a shotgun) and I hold Styxx still hoping to loading more systems and power. Now my opponent back-pedals slightly, and gets Tethys' master crew on deck as its own kind of threat, having waved that shotgun at me. 

Since Tethys is managing to hold to Styxx' flank, I decide that I need to get Styxx turned around and facing down Tethys with Styxx's gun battery and macro laser. I want to shoot back. One arm pulls Styxx forward while another one spins Styxx a full 180 and that is a mistake because without a target available my opponent has Tethys' master crew operate Her lone sensor system to detect a 4-habitat tall pink building south at tile 94 (6-10-14-20P). Taking the bait I activate Styxx's turret, use Her thrusters to power Styxx's own master crew, and then the gun battery to destroy the building. Had I not turned Styxx 180 and instead just 90 then I wouldn't have needed to use the turret, and even with the master crew spent 3 cards to cancel a 4 card action by my opponent. To add insult to injury, Tethys also uses Her unused armour coverage to scan and seize the initiative, rather than desperately spending it on defense. Backing Tethys off, my opponent is making it more costly for Styxx to attack when I probably over-spent on defense. 

So round 4 involves me adding two green habitats to the board and my opponent subtracting two green habitats with a deft rocket pod attack on a row of buildings in the south-east quarter of the board, 67 and 76. This turns out to be worse for me because my opponent removes buildings outside of Styxx's line of sight, and I place a building inside of Tethys' line of sight. While the score doesn't shift, the advantage does, and given that I used Styxx's rapacious personality, and Styxx's positioning, I probably should have placed them over to the west. My thought at the time was to bait a trap for Tethys so my opponent would be tempted to come at Styxx directly, but as it turns out I was just playing into my opponent's hands. 

Getting carried away, perhaps, with all the cards in my hand, I launch Styxx forward, detecting more buildings in my trap and getting Styxx between them and Tethys, facing south and hoping to do something to Tethys with Styxx's claw, and hoping my opponent is worried about that. My opponent is not tremendously worried at all, and match's Styxx's fancy footwork with some dance moves of Tethys' own, seeing things end with Tethys once again on Styxx's flank and working on dismembering Styxx. So my opponent noticed the claw and perhaps even noticed my fixation on it at the expense of perhaps the more efficient gun battery that wouldn't be back in hand until round 7. 

Once again bravado took the place of real action, mainly because I was running Styxx on fumes, and my opponent was working on making sure that Styxx was bled dry, and unable to mount a proper offense. Using the turret, for example, to threaten Tethys with the claw was not very effective when Tethys had the plasma shotgun and a better angle. Nonetheless, we matched on master crews being put on deck to operate systems.

Now this round I felt like I had a chance to win it, perhaps even by ring-out, but even punching Tethys back and body-slamming Her through a couple of buildings on 33 didn't equalize the advantage like I had hoped, as putting some space between Styxx and Her green habitats behind Her meant that Tethys was able to leap-frog over Styxx and do a massive amount of damage with the plasma shotgun and Tethys' laser blade. Now dangerously close to the edge, I decided I probably had a better bet getting Tethys in a ring-out, revealing the trap She had unwittingly wandered into. 

My opponent wasn't having it though, and while I managed to kick Tethys through a green building (small sacrifices, right) Tethys reversed out of the situation and into cover. 

Without really thinking too hard about how Tethys now had more green habitats as targets, and Styxx had considerably fewer, I ran out the last round of the game trying (and failing) to equalize on habitats because I had burned my two available sensor systems to power Styxx's physical assault on Tethys in the previous couple of rounds. My opponent had, of course, carefully husbanded Tethys' lone sensor system and used it to make sure my last flailing actions were futile. 

So, again in retrospect, I definitely failed to consider well the layout of the board, even when my opponent noted how difficult it was to pick out green habitats using the weapons mounted on Tethys' secondary configuration, either high explosive or armour piercing, and thus prone to causing collateral damage. Clumping up buildings like that was asking for failure and my opponent jumped on it. 

Which isn't to say that my opponent wasn't clever in picking a strategy and patient in carrying it forward. It was a good idea to engage Styxx immediately, and to keep a threat like the plasma shotgun loaded and evident, but unused: a great example of how this game is about choosing between the first shot and the best shot, my opponent used Tethys' weapons where they counted most. It was also a good idea to use Tethys' superior agility and armour to keep Styxx bottled up in the south-east corner of the board once I had committed there. But they also benefitted hugely from my mistakes, and I think being prepared to counter-attack an ambush, or to exit an ambush, would have been better than staggering away and then staggering back. Yes, "don't get ambushed," is legitimate strategic advice, especially now we have all seen the results of what happens if you do. 

Final score? 17-12 for pink. Glory to Tethys and to my opponent!