Titanomachina Tempo Problem

Correct me if I'm using the wrong terminology but I have been concerned about the tempo effects between charge 0, 1, and 2 systems. Originally the notion was to represent the way plasma cannons and destructors in Space Marine 2nd edition and Epic Titan Legions. In case you haven't played these games the plasma cannon prevented a Titan from using any other.weapons, and the plasma destructor prevented a Titan from moving or firing any other weapon. Naturally these weapons were generally equivalent to two or three other weapons in a system that didn't quite math how to hit rolls and multiple dice worked. The notion was tbat each additional cog after the first costs +1, so the curve is 1 card per cog. 

However, this is only in a vacuum. In a series, as in a round, costing two to three times as many cards leads to an imbalance in when and how many actions each player can make. This leads to card advantage disproportionately benefitting the player that has it and leads to cagey play where it turns into a game of chicken. Ideally the best shot is evenly balanced against the first shot, but instead it becomes about exhausting another player's hand. It could also be the way that I've been playing but even then it's something of a red flag for the game. 

Some solutions that have been tabled include converting unactivated systems to charge cards to activate systems, discarding pass cards in favour of unactivated systems acting as passes, and banking charge cards by not flipping them over as each is played. 

The latter places something of a lockstep on the 'everyone plays a card at once' framework, and does some weird things with systems that recover cards to player hands. It still allows card advantage and forcing an opponent to run out their hand where you can play capacitors or coolant. Where unactivated cards count as passes, it is harder to run out the proverbial clock, but it does lose the pass cards and their lovely artwork. Converting unactivated systems to charge cards makes sense in terms of minimizing card advantage, letting players match card for card, but it advantages Titans with lower-charged system where they already have an advantage. 

Removing pass cards appeals the most because it hews most closely to the original design where players could play a card or pass, triggering the end of the round when all players had passed once. Removing parts always seems a benefit for fewer epicycles to keep track of, and easier to cognize for player. It frees up cards in the decks for other uses. It even removes the tricky issue of commercial use, as the images weren't licensed for that. There are two per deck... It should also be compatible with alternating activations as well as simultaneous.

It does change player behaviour as well. Each round needs to chain together a set of activations. I feel like it should reward aggression as well as caution. Whether it actually does this is an empirical question. Time for some play-testing.