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: A Veritable Chess Match

My opponent remarked that it would be cool to have names for opening moves in Titanomachina, like they do in Chess, and I agree. Usually I think of them in representative terms, like 'ambush' when Titans set up directly next to each other, and 'challenge' when they are set up facing each other down a road-way. But I think it would be something to start naming various manoeuvres and strategies. 

Which is a deft segue into the following Titanomachina battle report that saw something of a reversal from a previous one that saw me operating a gracious Titan against a rapacious Titan. In this battle I took rapacious Eos in Their tertiary configuration with dual plasma howitzers, vulcan gun, and buzz saw  against my opponent's gracious Tethys quaternary configuration with dual rocket pods and matching laser blades. Rather than a running battle, chasing each other around the board, or a steely-sensor'd staring match punctuated by a quick series of precise, shattering blows, this was a straight-up brawl initiated by Tethys when She was set up facing Eos directly behind a row of buildings. 

I had set up Eos to cover both ends of the street with plasma howitzers, but was prepared to swing them both around far enough to fire directly forward where their 180° sponson-enhanced arcs overlapped. The ensuing game proved, somewhat, that agility only really makes up for thick armour and heavy shields when there's space to use it. I realize now that I had boxed Eos in, and didn't place Them well to pivot away from blasting Tethys from a safe distance away from those laser blades. The game ended with a 26-25 Victory Point score in a time-out favouring Tethys, and almost a draw until I recalled that Eos' back-right arm had been too heavily damaged to knock a pink habitat.

What happened?

Eos deploys expecting an ambush, and Tethys obliges...

Tethys flutters Her cyclopean sensor pod as though aiming at Eos through the intervening buildings, but re-routes power as Eos' sponson system spools up. A quick scan assess the situation just as Eos' titanic foot crashes though one of the buildings, and reveals the glowing mouths of Their howitzers. The first one discharges, connecting the two Titans with an arcing stream of plasma! Tethys blocks the stream with a laser blade, and deflects it across Her the armoured faring of Her rocket pod. It's too little, too late as Tethys fires a spread of rockets into Eos, bursting shields and exposing Eos' core. Eos pauses as Their capacitor fires, shunting ichorplasma to Their other plasma howitzer while Tethys seizes the initiative. Eos then discharges Their other plasma howitzer into Tethys' other shoulder, looking to disarm Their opponent. Having seized the initiative though, Tethys' sends Her junior crew scrambling to stations!

Now Tethys stabs Eos, angling for a decapitation, but Eos twists and the searing blade of photons gouges through shields hastily sent to intercept the blow, through armour and length-wise down the barrel of Eos' right howitzer. Forced on Their back foot, Eos braces against the buildings behind Them, and blocks Tethys' colossal follow-up stomp with Their prow, crashing Them back through the buildings behind Them! Eos' front armour is shattered, and Their rear arms are broken! Perhaps importantly though, Their front arms and armaments are unharmed and ready to return the favour...

Tethys swings right around the remaining yellow & pink building, stepping out of the arc of Eos' vulcan gun, but Eos lurches forward to drive a heavy punch into Tethys' face, Tethys ducks absorbing the punch on Her back shields and armour, but catches Eos' buzz saw to the face as She straightens up. 

Now Tethys' crew assembles to operate Her arm as Eos turns to bring Their vulcan gun to bear on Tethys. They wrench Tethys up into a flying elbow drop onto the broken remains of Eos' rear left arm, tearing it off and crushing the deflector array below it in Eos' hip assembly. This wrenches Eos around left, enabling Them to discharge a stream of bullets from Their vulcan gun into Tethys' face, merely splintering armour as She whips shields up off Her leg to intercept. In the distance Eos' roving eye greedily spots an unaccounted blue habitat atop a building..

Tethys' situational awareness is second to none here, and She immediately back-pedals away from the glowing maw of Eos' re-charged and fully operational left plasma howitzer. Eos' right plasma howitzer isn't fully operational, but it manages to spit out enough plasma that Tethys is forced to block with Her shielded left leg, leaving Her right shoulder open to a solid kick that smashes the remains of the rocket pod off!

Tethys arrests the momentum by having Her junior crew swing out Her arm and catch a blue building to step out of the arc of Eos' left plasma howitzer and Eos turns and steps back in case Tethys is thinking of inserting another laser blade into Their hull, but Tethys' position at the very edge of the battlefield ferments a notion in Eos' many heads as They fall behind on buildings and body parts...

Eos charges in with a savage punch, wrenching Her around and exposing Her savaged back armour. Tethys is not inactive though, and has Her crew aim a knock-out kick to Eos' right leg, and only the hasty intervention of Eos' vulcan gun sees the fight continue despite Their dismemberment. Eos' return back-hand hammers Tethys back but Tethys takes the hit on Her opposite leg to slash Eos with Her laser blade as Eos discharges Their plasma howitzer. The exchange leaves Eos with a damaged buzz saw and another broken arm, while Tethys' rocket pod explodes!

It's nowhere near enough though, and Eos staggers away, hoping that They can equalize the score on buildings. Tethys isn't done with them yet though...

As Tethys lines up a final stab, Eos spots a tall blue building in the west and staggered south-west waving the stump of Their back-right arm as though They could knock down one more pink habitat. Tethys is left with victory, although perhaps not the gory knock-out Her crew was hoping to achieve.

In terms of learning from my mistakes, I think primarily it was not setting up where I could take the best advantage of Eos' forward armament and all Their arms to clear pink buildings. Tethys' player did a great job of starting with a building advantage and then cramming laser blades in Eos' face to distract me from that deficit. While I took Eos Tertiary with the objective of oppressing my opponent with plasma howitzers, I think that would have worked better had I used the crew to aim them rather than relying on snap-shots, as I don't think I was able to really exploit the shock effect as well as I could have to push a card advantage. 

There was some discussion about vulcan guns, particularly the use on round 4 as a single big shot rather than several smaller ones, and I think I have changed my mind, in that the single shot did not really work to inflict damage, while several smaller shots would have cleared the shield coverage that kept Tethys in the game. My opponent did a really good job of using the shield systems to maximize Tethys' initial shield coverage rather than wasting time and power restoring it, which struck me as clever. I think that's potentially how I lost the card advantage, because my opponent was able to distribute damage more evenly and that's pretty clinch where the Titan is also gracious. In a game where 1 can be a big number, and stand between scoring 3 and 0 points, I think it made a big difference. Multiple shots might have overwhelmed that strategy, clearing those rocket pods faster, and getting more 3 cog shots against Tethys' surface rather than Her shields. 

All that said, after the game my opponent noted that in round 5 that Tethys had turned further left than She should have, moving Eos out of the arc of Her laser blade, and preventing an early knock-out. But importantly that did not happen, and while part of the design is to enable players to identify and analyze mistakes in play with an eye to improving as players, another part is to allow players to make mistakes (and to allow other players to capitalize on them). A perfect game is possible, but I like to think it remains an open question what that would look like.

Certainly the game was an interesting switch-up from the more careful, more studied games of late, and as a designer its nice to see how pitching into an immediate exchange of blows right away is a legitimate strategy! As a nod to Chess, perhaps this should be called the "Hammer's Gambit."

Titan Hanger Update: Efficiency Be Damn'd

 

I've added several figurines, three yellow, four green, three blue, and three pink to the Titan Hanger DLC for Tabletop Simulator (TTS). I haven't added their dashboards yet, but in some cases they are just like existing configurations of Titans with just a weapon swap, so I'm not panicking. It's playable, but obviously I need to put up their own dashboards and decks for players that just want to swap out easily. 

Some are not so easily playable. In the case of the configuration of Styxx that leaves off its turret-mounted weapon system and mounts two claws, I think that just swapping in a capacitor should make this configuration perhaps barely playable. I am uncertain quite how this would play out, and I think the best way would be to start in the middle, even in a three or four player game. This means the other players either need to set up in the middle as well, within range of the claws, or away in the danger zone in the outer three squares of the board. Sounds pretty good eh?

Well, there is a configuration of Rhea with two gun batteries and two hands, but also with big arms and digitigrade legs. Literally has more armour, more weapons, and only missing the jump from the thrusters. There is a configuration of Styxx with two turrets, two hands, coolant and capacitor systems, two thrusters, two legs, three extra armour, three sensors, four crew, and two deflectors. Maybe a pair of arms would off-set the higher rate of action.

There is also the two pink configurations, one with all lasers and one with all plasma. I'm actually pretty curious to see how those would fair against Rhea Quaternary with Her guns. I've tried with the all-plasma configuration, and while I lost in that particular encounter, I feel like a path to victory exists there. But lasers right? 

Would that even be fun? 

Give up shields to fire both laser batteries, and the capacitor to fire both macro lasers in conjunction with the fore and aft extra armour. That leaves arms, sponsons for powering digitigrade legs, sensors using junior crew, leaving leg armour to do the majority of defensive work blocking incoming fire. That leaves two senior crew, one junior crew, and the personality. That's for senior crew bonuses. First on the laser batteries, then on the macro lasers once shields are shredded.

Three cog 2 armour piercing shots and one cog 1 armour piercing shot is a knock-out on an unshielded Titan. That's ignoring any work the arms and legs can do. It's also going to need to coordinate those with the sensor for a very deliberate and expensive rounds (arm or sponson, sensor, senior crew, laser battery for 7 cards), probably alternating with a leg activation. 

Titanomachina: Eos vs Eurybia

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. 

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: Single Player Training Missions

Lately I've been pondering the notion of a single player game. Following the Warhammer product design, the game is supposed to be played with other people, or in anticipation of other people, and it is this anticipatory part of the Warhammer hobby that is part of its genius, both because it creates a single-player section that loops back into the multi-player, social part of the Games Workshop Hobby ecosystem. Magic The Gathering uses a similar loop, creating a kind of treadmill to players that grinds out money. Not that, you know, I've managed to sell a box yet. Somewhat amusing me is that the greatest barrier to selling boxes of Titanomachina is not having boxes to sell... Nonetheless, I think that many people would like to be able to move forward with the solo part of planning the next game to playing the next game in spite of that.

Which came to me as I did some gardening, in that some people learn from doing and that Titanomachina should reward practice. So here is the notion, a set of game set-up that would make a single player game a puzzle to solve. 

The first such 'Training Mission' I think should be called "Pruning" and involve the player attempting to destroy as many non-player habitats as possible. The player chooses a personality, adds it to to the Titan deck of their choice at the bottom and deploys that Titan. They then need to get a high score destroying buildings. They have 9 rounds before Time-out game-end. The board set-up would be that of the current Tabletop Simulator default set-up (see picture at the top there). 

My plan is to run this mission in Tabletop Simulator, and to record each activation so that I can go make a little stop-motion animation of it.

So far so good:

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: The Revenge of Styxx

I finally got a chance to run Styxx's tertiary configuration, pugnacious here in a battle against Tethys' sagacious primary configuration, and the modifications to upgrade the sponsons to turrets and swapping the secondary capacitor for a primary coolant system worked out pretty well. Pretty well, in this case, means that I managed to fight my opponent to a tie after nine rounds. Going the full nine rounds in an open-arena like the current default set-up is pretty good considering this configuration of Styxx is supposed to be engaging at short ranges and bouncing around the board. I did want to see if I could abuse the coolant-capacitor-combo, and I was definitely able to take advantage of it, but not in any way that seemed overwhelming. Notably Styxx ended up with something like 5x the damage that Tethys took, but in an interesting turn of events this was because Styxx ended up chasing Tethys as She bounced around the board. Where Styxx started out 3 VPs down, this is a good ending, and I'm pretty happy with how it played out. I would have been happier to take more, larger chunks out of Tethys, but my opponent is wily and has the measure of Styxx (Her short, stubby measure) and fought to the last. 

Deployment started with Tethys wisely deploying cautiously as She entered the battlefield, and the broadcast intention of Styxx to start hot, by hosing Tethys down with super-heated plasma from Her plasma shotgun.

Tethys boosted forwards using Her jump jets, and as Styxx purses, detecting a building, Tethys swings back around to boot Styxx in the shotgun that She was trying to bring to bear, and Styxx takes it on the left leg, resulting in Styxx's shields down 20% and armour cracked. 

Now that Styxx is in claw-range, and under some light gunfire from Tethys She decides to take the initiative by scanning with Her primary sensor and boosts away on Her thrusters. 

Having gained some distance, and some equivalence in firepower, Styxx swings around to start stabbing and blasting. Tethys backs off though, just out of range of Styxx's laser blade, and knocks the top off of the green building that Styxx had detected. Styxx has tricks though. Styxx floods Her leg (and the inexperienced crew operating the coolant system) with coolant, deactivating it, and then activating Her capacitor to recover the power spent on leg and coolant! She's still moving. Tethys had not been standing idly by either and puts a macro laser beam into Styxx's face, searing through shields, armour, and Styxx's primary sensor pod! Nothing destroyed yet, but the damage is severe.  

Styxx's forward momentum isn't arrested as Her pugnacious personality pushes the buttons, and while Tethys falls back, Styxx ramps up the threat, first with Her master crew being readied, and then Her starboard turret activating. Tethys shakes Her claw at Styxx, but keeps backing up until Her jump jets are up against the edge of the battlefield. Fortunately someone on Styxx's crew has a clue, and Her adherent crew brings Her shields back up in preparation for the ensuing clash! 

There's less immediate ensuing clash than expected, but Tethys squares up and Styxx uses the lull as an opportunity to detect another green building (equalizing the score on habitats). The Titans are charging up their power...

Now the battle begins in earnest, as Styxx stomps forward to optimum range to apply a laser blade without receiving a claw in response, and cycling up Her other turret to make sure Tethys' fancy footwork won't save Her. Styxx's master crew readies the weapons, but Tethys blasts Styxx with Her gun battery, slewing Her right off target, and then jumping into Styxx's back-left quarter out of the arc of Her plasma shotgun even assisted by the turret system. Having anticipated this, Styxx lays Her laser blade on target, but Tethys jumps again! This time Styxx can still draw a bead on Tethys, but it's the containment limiting the laser blade's range (and giving it its infamous shield-breaking abilities) that Tethys exploits and She's out of range! Styxx gives chase again, figuring that the weapons are still hot and loaded, so maybe next round, but even as She seizes the initiative, Tethys seizes it back!

Styxx activates adherent crew to shank Tethys with Her laser blade, but Tethys has used the initiative to raise shields, concentrating them on Her front, and when Styxx stabs, all Tethys loses is 50% of Her shields. Now Tethys steps back and out of the arc of Styxx's follow-up plasma shotgun blast, and lines up Her own macro laser for an execution shot guided by Her own senior crew. 

In desperation Styxx blocks the shot to Her damaged face with Her plasma shotgun, bursting the shields protecting it, searing through the weapon itself, and destroying the sensor system nestled behind it. The ravening beam of photons drills into Styxx's body, badly hurting the master crew in the crew compartment as the console She's using erupts in a burst of ichorplasm and sparks! Styxx isn't out of the fight though, even if Her master crew should be, and steps behind Tethys. Tethys isn't done either and steps back and right to bring Her claw and gun battery to bear now. She attempts a kick, but Styxx takes on Her heavily shielded front, and activates some crew to return the favour. 

With Styxx's master crew out of action (or at least considerably less enthusiastic about moving around0 the remaining crew work together to kick Tethys, even as Tethys wrenches Styxx around with Her claw; despite the chaos, the crew lands a solid kick that destroys Tethys' gun battery (and heavily damages Her claw). Tethys gives Styxx a sharp elbow, further damaging Her plasma shotgun, but it's moreso insult to injury. With that, the cease-fire deadline arrives and the Titans stand down as the orbiting Hecatoncheires tell them to knock it off.

Now my opponent notes that he should have used that arm to destroy the lower half of that green building that survived the battle next to to the two Titans, and although the arm was out of arm, he could have moved Tethys through the building, losing a shield but taking no other damage. So maybe technically a tie rather than a 19-20 loss for Tethys, but still a pretty good showing. 

In terms of what I could do to improve my strategy here, I think, would be to make sure the weapons are paired with the capacitor, and the legs with the coolant system, although I've noticed coolant and crew go together well. Having those systems available in the third round, I think, threw my opponent for a "What are you doing?" look, but but I would have preferred to have been holding them in my hand rather than wondering how to hang in there while they loaded. 

Likewise I think with the lack of cover I should have used the sensor systems to seize and maintain the initiative even though a sagacious Tethys (four extra armours and a sensor for scanning) should have been able to prevent that at the cost of being able to tank the hits Styxx would be able to give. Certain the advantage of having more cards in hand than one's opponent was critical. Encouraging an opponent to waste power on inefficient moves and whatnot is a good strategy against a heavily armoured puncher like Tethys Primary. As it was I took damage on Styxx's armour and was therefore unable to seize the initiative at what might have been a critical moment. 

Otherwise, yeah, Styxx's quaternary configuration (macro laser,  rocket pod) wouldn't have been out-ranged by Tethys. 

On a slightly related note, we identified that while capacitors are handy and do indeed synergize well with coolant systems, the emergency power reaction was both somewhat uninteresting and complicated for new players. I think I've maybe used it once or twice, and less than I would have expected it to be used. The coolant system's emergency venting is, by comparison, more interesting and more in line with the system's primary action, that of de-activating systems. 

Originally the emergency power reaction was the result of less perceived game space available for a reaction that wasn't block (changing the target stack) or intercept (move shield tokens to target stack), both of which kind of jive with their relative actions (attack picks a target stack, raise shields moves shield tokens around). Allowing a player to pick a face-down card and play its block or intercept reaction isn't great for players either. I think it would be simpler, and perhaps more interesting, to just have emergency power allow a player to pull a face-down card back into their hand when they're attacked as part of their reactions to being attacked. So like a regular full power action, but half the effect (not considering damage).