Titanomachina: Danger Prone

Gracious Eurybia crushes Sagacious Rhea in a round 2 ring-out, 22-20VP. Notably Eurybia seizes the initiative, and moves west to engage Rhea as She retreats south behind buildings in tile 63 and clears a couple of habitats with Her vulcan gun. Eurybia uses initiate crew to operate Her gun battery to clear a couple of yellow habitats (21 & 31). Then Eurybia uses adherent crew to operate a coolant system, restoring the gun battery, initiate crew, and an arm to my hand. Without the yellow top of the building blocking line of sight, Eurybia and Rhea exchange fire, Rhea using a master-operated plasma howitzer, and Eurybia again firing the initiate-operated gun battery. I block the plasma shot to the gun battery that would have taken it off, destroying the extra armour I used to block it, removing a shield and doing heavy damage to the extra armour beneath it. Rhea is defenseless now though, and two shots to the front pushes Her off the battlefield.

Eurybia is down 7 habitats and caused a ring-out for +5VP. That's 22VPs. Rhea is down 5 habitats and destroyed an extra armour system for +1VP. That's 20VPs. Victory to Eurybia!

My worry is that something is too powerful, either the extra armour, or the coolant system. However, my opponent made a number of critical mistakes. One of those mistakes, I think, was using the vulcan gun to clear habitats. Yes, it put my opponent in the lead, but it meant that my opponent had zero cards in hand to respond to me doubling down on the gun battery. Furthermore my opponent did so in the danger-zone of the board, the outer ring of three tiles, that put them at risk of being pushed off the board. 

To pull off this trick I needed six cards, the initiate crew and gun battery, the adherent crew and a charge card, and the coolant system to do what two gun batteries, two initiate crew, and a sponson would have also done. Had I used Tethys' tertiary configuration to pull this off it would have been five cards as well, as the digitigrade leg could have also turned the Titan to face Rhea. There's some argument that the plasma howitzer would have disabled the initiate crew operating one of the guns, but it could have easily been the one who had operated the gun that freed up the line of sight.

In a way I was also lucky that my opponent retreated into a quadrant of the board rich in yellow habitats all ready to be targets of opportunity for Eurybia's gun battery and buzz saw, because without those three habitats that Eurybia destroyed, the score would have been 19-20VP favouring Rhea even with the ring-out, so the game would have gone on with Rhea having Her edge in the initiative cemented by Eurybia's loss of frontal armour, albeit with Eurybia enjoying a 2-card advantage.

Now, just because my opponent could have rationed Rhea's strength more wisely does not mean there is not a problem. At the last Halcon, for example, a player managed to play two games without having ring-outs explained to them, and so when I went for a quick ring-out they were taken aback, and probably didn't have a great experience. While that was possibly a problem with one of the demonstrators not following the demo script, it shows that this lethality can feel bad for players. 

Of the player types, the competitors, the explorers, achievers, and socializers, I am an explorer. I think all designers and developers are, even if we are exploring how the game might work for other types. I feel like my opponent is probably a competitor in the main, given their record against me and general strategic nous. As an intuitive player, I think they may have been taken by surprise by the combo. 

But since I could have pulled off the move without the coolant system, and the double-layered extra armour systems would have yielded similar results to damaged crew, weapon, or sensor systems, I feel like this is an example of something similar to the Fool's Mate in Chess. I would propose calling it something like 'Danger Prone,' which is to say hanging around in the danger zone without any defenses loaded in your hand and getting shot off the board for your trouble. Certainly of late our games have involved a kind of relaxed and bluff attitude to ring-outs, and perhaps that is all.

Titanomachina: Mirror-match Mayhem Encoded

Habitat Coordinates (xy - building randomizer colour)

• 13 - 3G 7P 8Y | 14 - 3G 4Y | 16 - 1Y 2P | 19 - 3G 7G 8G
• 22 - 3B 4G 7Y 8P | 28 - 3B 4Y 7Y 8B
• 31 - 3G 4B | 34 - 3B 4P 7Y 8B | 36 - 1P 2B 5B 6Y | 37 - 3G 4P 7P 8G
• 41 - 7B 8G | 43 - 3P 4G 7G 8Y | 47 - 1G 2P 5Y 6G | 49 - 5Y 6P
• 61 - 1Y 2P | 63 - 1B 2Y 5Y 6G | 67 - 3P 4Y 7G 8B | 69 - 3Y
• 73 - 3G 4Y 7P 8B | 74 - 1P 2B 5G 6P | 76 - 3Y 4G 7B 8P | 79 - 3G 7G 8Y
• 82 - 3B 4G 7Y 8P | 88 - 3B 4P 7Y 8G 
• 91 - 3Y 7G | 94 - 5Y 6P | 96 - 7G 8B | 97 - 3P 4 B  

Titan Deployment (Colour, Tile, Heading, Shield Configuration using Titan randomizer & Shield Tokens)

B57E 12 21 32 41 51 61 71 81

P32S 12 21 32 41 51 61 71 81

Round 1

B - Pass

P - Plantigrade Leg 2 - Attack 31 - 4B Walk 33S

B - Deflectors 1 inactive

P - Pass

Round 2 

B - Deflectors 1 inactive

P - Shields 2 inactive

B - Capacitor 2 inactive

P - Sensor 3 inactive

B - Pass

P - Adherent 2 Operate

B - Deflectors 2 Raise Shields (rotate shield harmonics) 51 & 61 to 83

P - Pass

Round 3 

B - Sponson 1 Twist

P - Sensor 3 Detect Building 61 7P 8P 15P

B - Jump Jets 2 Jump to 34N

P - Capacitor - Full Power

B - Laser Blade Attack to P8 (Block to P2), -1 Shield Extra Armour 3 light damage Initiate Crew 2 heavy damage

P - Sponson 1 Twist

B - Capacitor 1 Full Power

P - Jump Jets 2 Jump to 66S

B - Capacitor 2 Full Power

P - Initiate Crew 1 Operate

B - Plantigrade Leg 1 Walk east 25S

P - Plantigrade Leg 1 Walk west 56N

B - Master Crew Operate

P - Pass

B - Pass

P - Arm 1 inactive

Round 4

B - Rocket Pod 1 Attack Building 61 7P 8P 15P and 2P via High Explosive

P - Master Crew 2 Operate

B - Adherent Crew 2 Operate

P - Gracious Repair Extra Armour 3 Initiate Crew 2 restored to no damage

B - Arm 1 inactive

P - Arm 1 Walk 55N

B - Plasma Shotgun 2 Attack to P3 Plasma Shotgun -3 shields 2 heavy damage

P - Plasma Shotgun 2 inactive

B - Pass

P - Rocket Pod 1 inactive

B - Arm 2 Attack 34 4P

P - Extra Armour 2 Scan (seize initiative)

P - Jump Jets 1 inactive

B - Plantigrade Leg 2 Walk 26SW

P - Pass

B - Extra Armour 3 inactive

Round 5

P - Rocket Pod 1 Attack 43 - 8B 3B & 34 - 4G via High Explosive 

B - Pass

P - Plantigrade Leg 2 Walk 56N Attack 67 - 8B

B - Jump Jets 1 inactive

P - Laser Blade 1 Attack 36 - 2B

B - Deflectors 1 inactive

P - Capacitor 1 Full Power

B - Capacitor inactive

P - Adherent Crew Operate

B - Arm 1 Attack 37 - 4P

P - Plantigrade Leg 1 Walk 35NE

B - Sponson inactive

P - Pass

B - Extra Armour 3 inactive

Round 6

P - Sponson 1 inactive

B - Laser Blade 1 inactive

P - Arm 2 Walk 24E

B - Pass

P -  Pass

B - Deflectors 2 inactive

Round 7

P - Sponson 1 Twist

B - Plasma Shotgun 2 Attack P3 (Block to P6), Extra Armour 41

P - Initiate Crew 2 Operate

B - Sponson Twist

P - Sensor 3 Detect Building 19 - 1P 2P

B - Plantigrade Leg 2 Walk 25 Attack P3 (Block to P4)

P - Arm 1 Walk to 15NE

B - Initiate Crew 3 Operate

P - Pass

B - Plantigrade Leg 1 Walk 25NE Attack P3 (Block to P2)

P - Jump Jets 2 Jump 18NE

B - Master Crew 1 Operate

P - Jump Jets 1 inactive

B - Extra Armour 3 inactive

B - Pass

Round 8 

P - Plantigrade Leg 1 Walk 27SE

B - Arm 2 Walk 26E Attack P6 (Extra Armour 4 destroyed) 27S

P - Jump Jets 1 Jump 57S

B - Extra Armour 3 Scan (seize initiative)

B - Initiate Crew 4 Operate

P - Pass

B - Arm 2 Walk 27S

P - Initiate Crew 1 inactive

B - Adherent Crew 2 Operate

B - Jump Jets 2 Jump 57S Attack P6 (Sponson 1 destroyed) P67S 3P 4Y 7G destroyed

B - Capacitor 2 Full Power

B - Laser Blade 1 Attack P6 (Capacitor light damage, Master Crew heavy damage)

B - Jump Jets 1 Jump 67S Attack P6 (Capacitor destroyed, Master Crew destroyed, Knock-Out)

Titanomachina: Detection and Detectability

Last Thursday evening I got to throw down with my regular opponent and attempt a strategy of patience with Styxx Quaterary, Whom I recently modified with turrets instead of sponsons, and a coolant system instead of a capacitor. I had previously tried out the tertiary configuration, and my opponent had dastardly danced out of my limited range, and so this time I maxed out on range in what is Styxx's sniper configuration. On the whole it worked out, and we ground to a tie at the end of 9 rounds, which isn't bad when I started the game 3 VPs behind on habitats. 

The plan was, in a plain sense, mainly based on vibes and the game started off in a pretty relaxed way with me forgetting to check my deck order. The order of a Titan's deck in Titanomachina is important, because it dictates when you will draw systems, and hence the general direction of your strategy as you try to balance the amount of power that a Titan can draw to activate systems against the requirements of the moment. The idea is that if you're clever then all else being equal you can out-smart your opponent on a strategic level. Of course, the rest of the design is also about players putting their thumbs on the scales of the game, giving players the option to customise the board with their allocations of habitat blocks, and customise their Titans with sets of modular systems. In the version on Tabletop Simulator players have a limit set of configurations to choose from, but there's a rock-scissors-paper at play whereby some Titans have definite advantages over others. 

I had chosen Styxx Quaternary specifically because I didn't want a Titan with more agility (most Titans) being able to duck out of range or behind cover. I'm inferring that my opponent chose Tethys Secondary because She's an all-round bruiser (and my opponent was choosing first). The board layout was the latest default layout that seems like a pretty even, even 'fair,' distribution of habitats. What I forgot to do was to check Styxx Quaternary's deck order, reasoning (incorrectly) that the deck orders were all pretty reasonable orders that spread crucial systems like limbs and weapons across the four rounds that it takes for a Titan to load all of its systems. Which meant that Styxx's new turrets, an upgrade from a previous version using two sponsons, were unavailable to me for the first three rounds of the game. 

Somehow this was not a disaster, as I had set Styxx up too close to Tethys, and was somewhat unable to escape until my opponent voluntarily backed Tethys off 300m (each tile is 100m wide) for reasons that seemed odd to me at the time and which I cannot entirely explain. I had been working on a psychological attack for the first three rounds of the game in the hopes of deterring my opponent from committing to an attack, and hence leaving themselves vulnerable to a counter-attack until I could muster the power and systems to really gut Tethys with a well-aimed macro laser. When my opponent mustered to block that attack with six shields over Tethys' side armour, I managed to switch to a kick that turned what would have been a 7-cog laser attack (Titan detected, 360 arc of fire) into an 6-cog kick that mashed Tethys through four habitats, and doing heavy damage (two points) to Tethys' left leg. I was left two VPs ahead on destroyed systems, but seven 

At this point we switched somewhat to my opponent attacking Styxx and Styxx attacking my opponent's buildings in an attempt to deal with the points deficit that would have seen a knock-out certify a victory for my opponent. And I almost managed, taking out nine habitats, including the one I walked Styxx past in the second round of the game, by backing into it. I also got very lucky that when my opponent smashed a four-habitat building with Tethys' plasma shotgun, and accidentally caught a pink habitat with the high explosive effect to seal the tie. Of course, if my opponent hadn't destroyed that building I would have won by three points. As it was I had been aiming Styxx's macro laser at Tethys' damaged leg until I realised it would go through the leg into the internal space and merely injure crew instead of lopping off the leg, and settled for detecting a habitat instead. 

At no point in any of this can I adequately describe the way that the game somehow cranked tighter and tighter until time-out was called at the end of nine rounds and we discovered the scoring pendulum rested evenly at 0 as the Titanic machines had ground to a halt. Maybe it was the way the way the score stretched one way and then the next, with my opponent at a full 24 habitats on round 3 and 13 habitats on round 9, or the build up to the kick in round 5 that switched the roles of hunter and hunted, having spent the first three rounds doing everything I could to avoid being hit.

I had forgotten to get screenshots so this is a recreation of the set-up.

A recreation of round 1, a slow start, with Styxx pining Tethys and Tethys flexing back.

It's go time and as Tethys attempts to close Styxx darts past and hops over some buildings once Tethys doubles back 

After some brief struggle over the initiative Styxx retreats again and Tethys pursues, carefully though as Styxx hasn't used Her macro laser and Her master crew is clearly up to something.

Tethys backs off and catches a spread of rockets across Her rear as She ducks, losing Her rear armour. After some posturing in which Styxx activates Her capacitor and super-cools Her master crew off for a shorter turn-around, to maintain the threat of her operation.

Styxx's turrets spin up and Her sensors crackle and ping as Her crew races to bracket Tethys, and Tethys sensing what is incoming takes defensive action to raise and concentrate shields over Her left side, while lashing out at every green habitats within reach. Seeing the nigh-impenetrable defense, Styxx quickly changes gears and slides in for a kick that sees Tethys crunched through a block of buildings for 10 points of damage! Not the hoped-for lasering, but Tethys down 6 shields, Her left extra armour package, and heavy damage to Her left leg beats light damage to both after the beam is exhausted by all those shields. Regardless, Styxx is on the offensive now, and the fight begins in earnest.

 

It's not enough to knock Tethys out, Styxx has to claw back Tethys' massive lead on habitats, and She circles behind Tethys, looking to boot Her into those pink habitats, killing two birds with one stone. Tethys blocks the kick with Her laser blade, and slewing around right. 

 Tethys is in the lead, and so directs Her master crew to swing Her around a block of buildings where She brakes on a green habitat. A flight of rockets destroys a couple of habitats, including a green one. Styxx is starting to feel the pinch in Her power feeds and Her system cycles and uses the respite to spot a green habitat far on the opposite edge of the battlefield, as well as urge Her systems to cool and reload.

 Loaded and charge, now Styxx can throw caution to the wind, swinging left and hip-checking the pink building behind Her for the mere cost of shields and light damage to Her left deflector array. Her rocket launcher lights up and destroys a swath of pink habitats behind where Tethys had been kicked through that block of buildings. Tethys, meanwhile, has gathered Her junior crew together to deliver a fierce kick to Styxx's other deflector array, bursting it's protective shield, destroying the array and staggering Styxx towards the edge of the battlefield, nearly flush up against a pink-habitat-topped building. Styxx's capacitor and coolant systems discharge and flush, bringing Her rocket pod back into action, and Her adherent crew is brought on deck.

Styxx now unloaded another flight of rockets on the tall pink building in the corner of the battlefield now in front of Her. This four-point swing goads Tethys into action, and She fires Her jump jets, flinging Her massive form forward to persecute green habitats. Styxx's master crew spots a tall green building, but it's not far enough away and Tethys surges forward for a blast from Her plasma shotgun operated by Her own master crew, and takes out additional pink and green habitats in one almighty blast. Styxx spots one last green habitats one She realizes She can't take Tethys's damaged leg. The deadline for peace comes down, and it's time to count the cost.

Titanomachina: Efficiency is Oppression

Once again the Titans walk the surface of Gaia, and once again they clash anew! This time rapacious Styxx pushes to see just how far efficiency will get Her, and gracious Rhea is there to return fire... This was something of a test match, seeing how Styxx performs under what is arguably a much more efficient load-out than Her usual primary or secondary configurations. Despite the lack of existing cover in the current default set-up on Tabletop Simulator, the general conclusion was that this configuration of Styxx was 'oppressive' to play. Which is one way to say that where-ever Rhea could go and whatever She could do, She was going to get out-manoeuvred by Styxx, and shot/kicked/punched for Her trouble. Without charge-hungry systems to slow Her down, Styxx could keep up a similar rate of activity as Rhea and generally faster, harder-hitting, and more punishing. 

And yet, when the ceasefire came down at the end of round 9, Styxx was down on both habitats and destroyed systems, missing extra armour and a gun battery while Rhea was only missing a couple of extra armour systems. The final score was 24-21, a solid victory to Rhea, and perhaps a good example using Rhea's endurance to take a beating and turn the tide. Which isn't to say that this experiment with Styxx's load-out failed. Indeed, it succeeded to such a degree that like Icarus, I got carried away and make a couple of mistakes that snatched victory from the jaws of Styxx. 

Styxx storms onto the field of battle, an appropriate arena in which the Titans can clash, while Rhea approaches at a low angle, content to keep things at a distance to begin with.

Styxx doesn't want to give Rhea anything to react to, a way to get behind Her right away, but Rhea has other ideas and opens fire with a master-operated macro gun, blasting off Styxx's left leg armour despite an effort to intercept the shot with additional shields. But it's early, and Styxx has always benefited from patience. 

Now Styxx pulls around and returns fire, bursting Rhea's rear shields as She ducks and takes the spread of rockets to Her rear armour. It's no recompense for Styxx's leg armour, but this is just the beginning and Styxx blows Her capacitor to keep ichorplasma pumping through Her titanic frame.  

Now Rhea is on the move as Styxx's master crew moves to operate something, possibly one of Styxx's gun batteries, and demolishes a green habitat with a kind of skipping kick as Her thrusters ignite and hurl Her forward and onto the edge of the board. Styxx detects a tall green building and having detected it, walks around the middle of the board to see if She can't catch Rhea with some gunfire from the waiting batteries. But Rhea has scanned the battlefield, and has seized the initiative...

Now Styxx moves in as Rhea slaps a green habitat to flinders with Her hand, spraying Rhea with heavy-weight anti-titan bullets from Her gun battery and then leaning into a kick to Rhea's hip to smash Her bodily into a tall building topped by a green habitat(!). Rhea kicks back up, but Styxx swings back with punch that Rhea takes to Her prow that sees Her slewed around. 

With Her shields down to 30% and armour falling off in chunks the size of pavers, Rhea takes another bludgeoning blow from Styxx and hits the tall green building that Styxx had detected with macro gun burst operated by Her master crew, collapsing the vast tower, and then reversing in behind Styxx as Her adherent crew scrambles to a new post.  

Rather than swing around and chase Rhea, Styxx backs up and detects a green habitat block preventing Rhea from putting lasers into Styxx's exposed front. Styxx's master crew rushes into position as Rhea's shields generators build up cracking energy barriers over the Her left side. 

Now Styxx springs Her trap, spraying measured gunfire and high-energy EM beams out onto the battlefield, destroying Rhea's habitats, detecting Her own, and dusting Rhea with bullets as She bounces off Styxx and closes with a knot of green habitats close to the opposite edge of the battlefield. 

Styxx seizes the initiative and gives chase, hoping to knock Rhea through some buildings and perhaps even off the battlefield. Rhea starts to work over the green habitats, crushing them with sweeps of Her arms and blasts from Her macro gun. As Styxx closes with Rhea, and starts to batter Her, Rhea's master takes control of Her hand, reaches out, and rips off Styxx's right-hand gun battery! Rhea is now ahead on both habitats and destroyed systems...

As the deadline for the cease fire comes down, Styxx desperately casts about for a green building, and finds one, but it's not enough as Rhea has had the same though and after a quick defensive step beind Styxx detects a yellow building. The ceasefire hits and the battle is over, with Rhea leading 3 Victory Points to 2 in destroyed systems, and 21-19 in habitats!

So that was going well until it wasn't and while it seems like things started to fall apart for Styxx around round 7, it happened earlier on round 2 when Styxx's master crew operated a sensor system instead of being able to blast Rhea with a gun battery, or simply stay on deck as Styxx exercises patience to get Rhea in Her crosshairs. This created a four-habitat tall building that acted as fire-magnet, drawing fire away from Styxx, but also because it was a high-value target when Rhea couldn't lay Her macro gun on Styxx. Had Styxx just put down down habitats, Rhea would not have been able to destroy the whole thing on a whim, and given Styxx two more habitats at the end of the game. 

Likewise Styxx kicking Rhea into a building containing a green habitat that then got destroyed wasn't a great idea and had Styxx still had the master crew on deck for the kick (or a punch) then the lure of doubling the damage by mashing Rhea into a building might not have been so strong. I mean, technically speaking that is my fault for wasting a green habitat when Styxx starts behind on habitats, but again that could have been a green habitat for Styxx at the end of the game that, combined with the two above, would have made for a tie. 

Moreover the cards and effort that went into detecting these habitats may have been better utilised elsewhere in the game, with the master crew operating the sensor could have operated an arm or a leg to batter Rhea. I had been trying to keep a reasonable distance because at a range of 4 tiles or greater Styxx was out-gunning Rhea and out-running Her as well. The reason why things seem to go pear-shaped in round 7 was because Styxx was running out of gas, so Rhea was able to carry off a number of actions virtually unopposed. In that my opponent definitely displayed more patience than I did, and while this configuration of Styxx is very efficient, that still doesn't stop Styxx from suffering if She is pushed too far, too fast. 

Still, glory to my opponent for outlasting me, and for ruthlessly exploiting the unforced errors that I put out there. And glory to Rhea for Her grace and Her thick armour! 

Titanomachina: Dal Games Expo

I had the privilege of running demonstration games at the Dal Games Expo held at the Dalhousie University Student Union Building this past weekend and it was a great time! It was great meeting people and playing Titanomachina with them, and learning how to use a bingo marker! To explain that last comment, the organizers had the fantastic idea of giving participants a bingo sheet and a stamp passport style of thing that really drove engagement. I really can't say enough good things about the organizers, as they put the Titanomachina table front and center as people walked in, with a handy QR code for the Tabletop Simulator version, and later provided a larger table when I requested it. But what really warmed my cogs was seeing people get locked in as they engaged with Titanomachina. 

I should also take a moment to applaud the incredible patience of the workers at the local Staples at Bayer's Lake, as I wandered in there on Thursday evening when they were busy closing and asked them to print up the copies of the rule book at I would need for this past weekend, and I was able to pick up copies of the rule book on Friday. Having wrestled with getting booklets printed, it was a relief to finally have some properly printed and available for people to peruse. 

There is, of course, also thanks to my demonstration ringer who has done a great job playing a Titan during demo games, and who has helped to develop the game over the years. 

A seven-hundred meter green tower appears out of the fog and tumult! 

Uh oh, Styxx is in a fix!

Styxx can be very distracting when protecting Her towers.

Titanomachina: Eurybia Walks!

 While I haven't been able to get Eurybia's model up on Tabletop Simulator, I do have a beautifully printed version that I was able to get onto the table last night for meat-space testing. I was reminded of the advantages of playing live, such as the opportunity to game out the set-up stage of the game, using every dastardly trick in the book to make sure my opponent couldn't sweep the board of my habitats and vice versa. 

My opponent piloted Eurybia Primary, in all Her unpainted grey glory, since he has a better win-record, and would probably suss out any overwhelming effects of Her dual coolant systems better than I could. I took Tethys Primary, as She is a fantastic all-rounder, and would be a good test for Eurybia. Speaking of, Eurybia got the Gracious personality, while Tethys got the Sagacious personality. 

This is how we set up the buildings, with the non-combatant blue and green habitats often capping or blocking off the yellow and pink habitats from easy targeting. Notable was the fact that most of the exposed yellow habitats were close to my opponent's side of the board. 

Deployment for me was a matter of preparing Tethys for an ambush while planning how I would move Tethys into the top-left quadrant of the board and pick off those yellow habitats without letting Eurybia get behind Her, or use Her coolant systems to bombard the heck out of Tethys without worrying about returning fire. Eurybia was set up conservatively, apparently leveraging that edge in sensors and ranged weapons that would see Her just out of the arc of Tethys' gun battery, and the opposite side of Tethys' body from Her macro laser. 

Thins started off relatively slowly, both Titans working to amass an extra card for the next round, while Tethys re-oriented towards Eurybia, and Eurybia starting pushing Her habitat advantage by smashing the first of Tethys' habitats, and using Her coolant systems to deactivate Her initiate crew for use next round. 

Both Titans comfortably flush with power and systems loaded, Eurybia advances to the centre of the board and Tethys advances to meet Her, tearing into Eurybia with Her claw and macro laser, which Eurybia is able to tank on Her shields and armour. Eurybia makes a threatening motion with Her laser blade in return, but having survived the initial clash with relatively minor damage, it's not fired yet, despite Eurybia's crew members lining up to use the power of friendship and teamwork to gut Tethys like a fish. 

Realising that standing in front of Eurybia is begging to be knocked out, Tethys steps back and away, preferring to risk vulcan gun fire rather than a close-range laser blade hit, and manages to block the incoming storm of fire (5 cogs for the first shot, 1 cog each for the following shots, lost because of the block of the first shot takes their designated targets out of contention after pushing Tethys 45 degrees counter-clockwise) on Her left leg, while using both shields systems to pull in shield tokens from Her flanks to prevent the loss of 1/4 of Her armour. Notably, dumping three cards in reaction to Eurybia's vulcan gun attack means Tethys also sacrifices Her cards-in-hand advantage, but doesn't lose the armour...

Here is where I make the decision to back Tethys off from direct confrontation and start working on those yellow habitats with Tethys' gun battery. Tethys keeps going left, working on getting away from the laser blade and rocket pod on Eurybia's own left side, and drawing a bead on those yellow habitats on the west side of the board (the left of the image above). In terms of buildings, the score has been equalised, having started off with Eurybia one habitat ahead. Eurybia gives chase...

I activate Tethys' adherent crew, and post off of a two-habitat yellow building to bring Tethys around to bear Her macro laser on Eurybia while Eurybia swings around to lead with Her left arm. I've moved into the lead, but there are still yellow habitats laying around and Tethys will be reloading Her gun battery soon-ish. Eurybia's scans give Her the initiative, to which I respond by taking it back, and my opponent activates Eurybia's sensor to take it again, now blowing the coolant system to make sure it'll be available next round. Eurybia now has the initiative, meaning She has the edge in the following confrontation. 

This edge means that Tethys eats a face-full of rockets from Eurybia's rocket pod, reducing Her shields to tatters (down to 40%), and leaving Tethys open to whatever Eurybia has to throw at Her. Except that Tethys cannot as Eurybia steps back into cover, leaving Tethys with only sub-optimal targets a macro laser. After some quick, Propeller-aided cognition, I realize this calls for the second oldest trick in the book. Tethys is, after all, ahead on buildings, and if I push that to 6 or more, then it doesn't matter if Eurybia follows up with a knock-out, as Tethys will still win. So Tethys' master crew grabs Her sensor and peers east (the right hand side of the board), and detects a tall pink building where initial scans had indicated a much shorter building. Eurybia cannot let this building stand, and comes about...

Eurybia's adherent crew takes control of Her vulcan gun and annihilates the tall pink building at the edge of vulcan gun range and Tethys comes about and steps forward to likewise pick off yellow habitats off the tops of buildings, exposing more to Her macro laser. But, for various reasons, I decide that Tethys should try to exploit that damaged frontal armour of Eurybia, because although it would be fewer points that the two yellow buildings that are beautifully lined up for a laser, attacking Eurybia should force my opponent to spend Her power on protecting Herself, and that should minimize the counter-attack. Which is does, to a degree, and Eurybia is able to absorb the snap-shot by blocking with Her right side and intercepting with a shields system. 

Eurybia is now ready to square up, and moves left, coming about to shank Tethys, taking the initiate back from Tethys' sagacity with a quick scan. Tethys banks off of a yellow habitat, destroying it, and closes to face Eurybia. Tethys' claw crunches into Eurybia's frontal armour and Tethys smashes Eurybia right into the building on Eurybia's left, demolishing it. Eurybia brandishes Her laser blade, but doesn't activate it until the next round. 

Now Eurybia attempts to stab Tethys in the initiate crew compartment, but Tethys ducks and instead takes the laser blade through the sponson. It's a slightly more acceptable loss, and as Eurybia side-steps, Tethys comes about with a punch to Eurybia's side. Eurybia vents a coolant system, and Tethys has to pour on the gas to smash Eurybia through a block of buildings. Eurybia's master crew operates Her sensor and detects a tall yellow building, but it's not enough, and Tethys spots a pink habitat crowning a blue building instead of executing a body slam to crush Eurybia through another block of buildings (having run out of power thanks to Eurybia performing an emergency coolant venting and nearly freezing Tethys' arm). 

It's a time-out, and the final score is 21-19, with 3 victory points of destroyed systems to Eurybia and 2 victory points of destroyed systems to Tethys, while the building score is Tethys with 19 habitats remaining on the battlefield and Eurybia with 16 habitats. It raises something of a question as to what, exactly, is a comfortable lead as it would not have taken much to push that to a tie, or even a victory for Eurybia. Unfortunately Eurybia wasn't able to indulge in such tricks as using an initiate crew to operate the coolant system and deactivate both a senior crew member and a weapon, but this was Her first time in action and there was some discussion of the economy of a coolant system. 

There's also the matter of set-up. As it currently stands in Tabletop Simulator there's a default set-up and players can add/subtract habitats as necessary for the Titan they're using, but it's a very generic set-up intended to be relatively neutral. In this game I was able to both set up Tethys' pink habitats in ways that were both relatively well protected, and able to keep Eurybia occupied in a section of the battlefield where Her habitats were most exposed. My opponent's early set-up also involved a lot of buildings composed of a yellow habitat capped with a blue habitat, which is good for neutralising those pinky one-cog gun battery shots, but less so for resisting a claw or a Titan pushed through a building with a claw. 

Given then that the battlefield favoured Tethys somewhat, I think it was a good first out for Eurybia, particularly when my opponent was able to use Her coolant system to deny me that last body-slam, which would have seen the score more heavily weighted in my favour. I think the next time I'm playing the game I'm going to be running one of the Styxx configurations with a capacitor and a coolant system, or perhaps take the helm of Eurybia Herself to see what sort of envelop I can push. 

It's also interesting to note what is going on when a player declines to activate a system. It's a bit like in those shows (super sentai, tonkatsu, etc) where fists/weapons/what-have-you are brandished so that they (a) do nothing, and (b) are shown to be available in the future. 

We discussed what would happen when a sponson is deactivated, and I think the best thing (for now) is that a deactivated sponson's arc bonus lasts until the end of the round, unless it's damaged, and deactivating it doesn't need to remove that bonus. 

Titanomachina: Battle Begins Anew!

Some days you win, and some days you hear a record scratch and have to explain how you got into this position via a flashback. This recent game was one of those, where having gotten the Gracious personality (while my opponent drew the Pugnacious personality) and having first choice of Titan I decided to abandon my plan for taking a configuration of Styxx with a coolant system, and took Eos' tertiary configuration of a plasma shotgun, laser blade, and rocket pod instead. My opponent chose Rhea's tertiary configuration, which is a beast of a Titan, but also nearly the ideal target for Eos Tertiary's armament. 

The first problem, I think, was looking at the default order of Eos Tertiary's Titan Deck and going for a kind of round four frenzy, instead of daring Rhea to waste time and power trying to get that armament into position. As it was Rhea was set up with Her macro gun pointing directly at Eos, and in range of the laser batteries. Eos is a bit of a glass cannon, so I figured I'd do what I could to get Them dodging, ducking, weaving and dodging...

Needless to say it did not work, with the final score being a knock-out for 27-19 victory points on round 7! How did this happen?

The Titans are set up on the board, with Rhea reacting to Eos' conservative deployment by setting up outside of the arc of Eos' plasma shotgun, and with a clear line of sight for macro cannon shots. So help me I was spooked right then and there. Not in a panicky way, but in a "Well, I don't get arms and legs loaded until rounds 3 & 4, all I have are jump jets and a single sponson" kind of way. 

Here is where I got too clever for myself, using my sponson to threaten my opponent but then not following through on the implied threat in order to strengthen the shields protecting Eos' left leg, the leg I with which I was planning on blocking the upcoming macro gun shot. That puts me down three cards to my opponent's two, which isn't a great start where having more cards is a crucial advantage Eos should have. Especially since Eos still holds the initiative...

As I prepared Eos for a jump by activating an initiate crew to operate the jump jets, strictly forward now that the sponson's thrust vectoring is finished for the last round, Rhea storms forward, presumably to do something awful to Eos with masterfully-operated lasers. Eos makes the jump, and blows Their capacitors to recover the cost of charging those jump jets. Eos is outside of the arc of Rhea's lasers, and I feel like I accomplished something. However, Eos now has Their back turned on their opponent, and still no arms or legs until the next round.

Seeing Eos' ample high-energy systems, Rhea reverses course and stomps back after Eos, who slides back behind Rhea and then swings around for a friendly plasma shotgun blast to the rear before Rhea also ducks and swings behind Eos! Nothing to worry about, I think. Eos has another arm and leg coming right up. But Rhea scans the situation and seizes the initiative...

Now it's time to settle Rhea's and Eos' scan seizes the initiative, only to have Rhea seize it back! With no chance to claim the initiative, Eos attempts to settle Rhea's hash with a reverse kick into the buildings behind Her, but Rhea is able to take the kick on Her knee to little effect beyond heavy damage to Her armour and a slight clockwise slide. This slide segues into a leftward slide as sponson rotate right, and Rhea cuts loose with all Her guns! Despite Eos' best efforts Their rite side is savaged, plasma shotgun and armour lightly damage, jump jets and deflectors heavily damage, and shields burst! Nothing destroyed yet though, therefore so far so good, right? 

Reloading Eos' cooled sponson, They take a swipe at Rhea with the laser blade, looking to perhaps slow Rhea down, but Rhea can't be shaken off Eos' back quite so easily, and Eos' rite deflectors are destroyed as Rhea continues to boot Eos in the hip! Eos has crew on deck though, originally intended to operate the laser blade until Rhea dodged out of the way. So Eos' position hasn't improved, and perhaps is worse. Still, perfectly salvageable.

Thinking Eos' biggest problem is having Rhea on their six, Eos moves to get Rhea in front of them and Rhea keeps on trying to shatter Eos' kidney-area, destroying their jump jets and putting them on the precipice of a knock-out. Eos puts this behind them, and prepares to do some damage to Rhea in return. 

In a final and perhaps most ill-considered round, Eos desperately tries to tank Rhea's firepower on Their armour while manoeuvring for a solid kick to the right leg, but it's not enough. However, perhaps it is too much, as it exposes Eos' plasma shotgun to a close-range shot from Rhea's macro gun, and a knock-out shot. Having lost armour, deflectors, jump jets, and a plasma shotgun Eos cannot go on, and is indeed quite salvageable.   

So that was the game, a series of increasingly bad decisions that culminated in my opponent winning on both buildings and destroyed enemy systems, and ending the game on a knock-out. Typically things are slightly closer, and they certainly felt closer than the final score might have indicated, particularly since my initial strategy for my Titan deck was to hit hardest in the fourth and eighth rounds. 

Often in a game of Titanomachina, often a closer game, there is a single decision that stands out in retrospect as where everything went definitively wrong, but in this case it was the slow attrition of increasingly bad decisions, from not going for a head-on exchange of fire in the first round, to staying too close to Rhea where Her agility and armament wasn't going to be outweighed by Eos' capacitors and jump jets. The fact that Eos barely landed a hit on Rhea is at once extremely pleasing to me as a designer seeing a Titan's mobility and agility being its primary defensive measure, but also indicative of a bad decision being made to turn Eos' back on Rhea, which itself can be traced back to silly buggers with the order in which Eos would load systems instead of a solid, conservative spacing out of crew, limbs, and weapons for a solid, straight-forward fight. 

In retrospect my initial impulse to pile shield tokens on my front and legs, the stacks containing Eos' extra armour packages, was probably correct when facing a laser-boat like Rhea Tertiary. Any high explosive damage from the macro gun could essentially be cancelled by Eos' Gracious personality, a free point of damage repaired, and then the hits from the lasers and macro gun blocked by the armour. Conversely then the rocket pod might have been fired, the plasma shotgun would have shocked Rhea's own systems offline, and that laser blade might have done what it was supposed to do. 

In fact, this can all be traced back to what I think of as the army-building phase of the game, which is in between games when players get to think about what sort of material, tactics, and strategy they want to bring to their next games. I wanted to bring a Styxx configuration with the combination coolant and capacitor systems, but I didn't really have a good game plan in case my opponent decided on Eos or Rhea's Quaternary configuration. I was also planning re-actively, in the sense that I wasn't really thinking about what to do if I had the initiative rather than my opponent. With this gap in my planning, I lacked a proper plan to lean on once the game had started. Let that be a lesson. 

That said, it was a fantastic game despite the loss, as I was constantly on the cusp of taking control of the game and doing unto my opponent what they ended up doing to me first. In particular I had found that my decisions were being guided not just by who might get the first hit, or the best hit, but how any action might lead to a chain of hits, and hence events, that would somehow be worse than the present circumstances. Indeed, as round 4 shows, I had plenty to be worried about. And I enjoyed that because it felt like a cool gun-kata (referenceing 2002's Equilibrium) style of match where one wrong move is a knock-out!

Glory to Rhea and my opponent!