|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| Something Fishy |
Oct 19, 2009 |
|
| Total Cost / Value of this Deck: $ | Average Rank: 0/5 |
| There are no products in this list yet |
|
|
Philip Rowland
 |
Recent decks by this user
|
|
|
|
| |
The Tritons and Anglax are definitely my new fascination. In an effort to make this more coherent I'm going to talk about this army in pieces.
Anglax Alpha/Ultra:
Anglax is a ground-pounding machine. With no movement ability, he isn't going to be chasing down the faster monsters in the game. However, 7 Speed on the Alpha and Super Rampage can get you where you need to be in a pinch. Jam on both forms is surprisingly useful, particularly when going up against the likes of King Kondo and Gakura who would otherwise grant +1 B-Die to their brawling units. In fact, any Monster with a Blue or Red ability they rely on doesn't want to get too close to this fishy terror.
Command is perfect for moving the relatively slow Triton units into position. I've found I can usually spare an A-Die during every Monster turn to bring a Steel Shell Crab or Nautilus Blaster close enough to make use of it on a following Unit turn. Leach makes this doubly useful as those units hitting an enemy monster means that Anglax will last a little longer.
Blue High Impact and Weaken on the Ultra makes it even more likely to hit the enemy monster. Again, this is particularly true against enemies that want to get up close and personal like the Apes. With the Nautilus Blaster's Armor Piercing and Anglax's weaken, I was often knocking enemy defense down by 2 for a combined unit Blast attack. All of that on top of the aforementioned Leach means an easy health gained for Anglax.
Units:
Once the next set comes out and there's more variety available, I imagine this will change quite a bit. Until then, I think this is a fairly solid setup, though a splash here or there might not hurt.
Nautilus Blaster - Easily the most powerful unit (damage-wise) in the Triton arsenal. With Armor Piercing and Power Gorge (red) they're perfect for leading combined blast attacks, especially with Ultra Anglax granting High Impact. The major downsides are their low speed (3... blech) and only 2 Defense. Fortunately, the speed issue can be almost completely ignored thanks to Command on Anglax and Tow on Spadefin Skimmers.
Spadefin Skimmer - A decent general-use unit. Not particularly excellent at doing damage, but with Tow, they're more meant to bring your slower units into the fray. After some playtesting, I've dropped elites and only run two to take advantage of Tow. Extinguish could also prove useful as Anglax is a ground-pounder and most of the Triton units can't move through Hazards at all.
Steel Shell Crab - This is the kind of brawling unit that everyone dreams of. 4 speed isn't great, but Reach and Burrow make up for it admirably. With Dig In they can withstand a good deal of blasting from enemy forces as it jumps their defense to 5. Considering that 5 defense has become something of the baseline for Monsters, if your opponent is taking time to hit the crabs, they could instead be using that same attack to hit Anglax (almost).
Elite Marauder - Originally the only splash I made and only because Explosion is too useful to ignore. I upgraded to the Elite for a natural boost, however he'll have to combine with Nautilus Blasters to really make the grade, but the threat of Explosion should be enough to make most players think twice before clumping their units.
Spiral Relay - I had originally left these out because they just didn't make much difference in the games I had played. Trying to force the Synchronized Move trigger is generally a pain, however a six speed, 4 defense unit with Sprint can be a good instant screen. One of the two in the list should be Glass, as I'm trying it out on Vassal. Being able to bring another 1*1 blaster in to seal the deal is useful.
Saucer - The Saucer/Pod combos are obvious.
Power Pod - Power Pod is a no brainer if you like power dice. I only went for 1. I figure that more than 1 is wasting valuable army space.
Nullifier Pod - Being able to drop Weaken next to the enemy monster right before the Nautilus Blasters attack with Armor Piercing is too good to pass up. The only thing that could make it even better would be if I were to splash a Spy Fly.
Buildings:
Buildings are still my weak point. Knowing how many to have and where to place them is the biggest thing I need to work on. That said, here's my thinking behind my building choices. I definitely need help getting this part ironed out though, so please comment and criticize (with supporting arguments).
Apartment Building - I'm running these more for High Occupancy than Discount, since I can't always rely on the units to get a hit in before Anglax gets thrown around. I like the concept of Spire on the Posh Apartments, but the lower defense on these make it slightly easier to consistently brawl for a health. However, since Anglax is a Power Attacker by nature, Posh Apartments probably make more sense to run.
Posh Apartments - That said... I'm running a couple of these for their general usefulness to Anglax. Spire for the throw/bodyslam/smash attacks, High Occupancy for an emergency health, and Discount to drop units for nothing make this an all-around solid building for the Tritons.
Sports Arena - Since the Crabs don't get any help from Anglax directly, I thought dropping one of these on the map could be a good idea. 6 Defense and 4 Energy doesn't make them very friendly targets for an enemy monster looking for a snack. The Crabs will probably be securing it and if they do they should get 2-3 Boost on their brawls, depending on whether an Elite is nearby. By dropping this mid-map toward my side (unless I can be really aggressive with the Crabs, on a Teleport map, for instance) it gives me a place to take advantage of Fortified and build a sort of hard central point around which I can base my attacks.
Newspaper Office - Intel grants free movement to adjacent units. Since I've already talked about the low-ish speed on some of the units, that should be a clear choice. One of these dropped in or near my powerbase has proven useful. Ideally this is dropped and secured next to one or two spawn points in order to allow me to spawn and move for free right away.
Radar Array - Nautilus Blasters are incredible, but Nautilus Blasters with 7 range are beyond incredible. It also helps the Spadefin Skimmers and the lone Marauder, but the primary goal was to give the Nautili more range. So far I haven't ever needed to use this or really secured it successfully, but it's a good option
Oil Refinery - This is more of an option than anything else. I don't expect to play it, but increasing the speed on my units would be useful as they're generally slow.
Office Building - Two words, Rampage Bait. Anglax is Pedestrian. Anglax has Super Rampage. Anglax needs low-defense, hazardless buildings I can setup to allow him to rampage out of potentially boxed-in positions. If he weren't pedestrian, these would be Construction Sites... and if he didn't have Leach, they'd be Cathedrals.
Imperial State Building - Primarily, I want Attraction. One of the problems I had with Anglax (possibly due to my lack of buildings or experience) was not having any Power Dice during my first monster turn, making it virtually impossible for me to do anything worthwhile. Being able to have 1 P-Die guaranteed could let me get a first-turn Super Rampage. I also like that it's worth 3 on a power up. Between this and the power pod it's not too hard to get a 5-6 die Power Up, provided your opponent can't or doesn't disrupt.
Insurance Company HQ - In reality this should be a Stock Exchange. Regulated is always worthwhile to drop on the map for Anglax, in my opinion. |
| Comments: |
|
Zach Bunn says: |
Add a description! I know how the deck works, but I want something to read with it! |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
Yeah, I will. Just gimme some time. I have this thing called a job that makes me do things other than write descriptions! :P
Also, it might be good to make these work like the blog posts are supposed to and not "post" until I'm done with it. Just a thought. |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Zach Bunn says: |
Ha. Okay, I'll take it easy on you. Of course, soon enough you might just be able to fix that issue yourself! I will think on the buildings and let you know what I come up with. |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
Steven Wooley says: |
It's unfortunate that everything capable of healing you will also heal the Apes =/
I can't think of any buildings that are a MUST HAVE for Anglax. The Radar Array is huge. Maybe an Oil Refinery? As you said, there's nothing that synergizes incredibly.
Oh, wait! One thing for sure is the Privateer Press building. Having an indestructible screen on your side of the map will make the turtle/healing SO much easier. I'm glad you didn't have it when I played you =) |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
Yeah, actually Privateer was one of the ones I was thinking of. I got stuck on R&D and thinking that it was useless for me in that regard since I don't really care about splashing out of agenda.
I'm looking forward to getting some Vassal games in and being able to seriously test some different builds. |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Zach Bunn says: |
Vassal will be nice! |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
Will Grant says: |
Buildings to add:
Imperial State - These are as no brainer as Statue, and they are harder to disrupt.
Privateer Press - Good against power base destruction too :)
Oil Refinery - As essential as Radar.
Units to add:
Despoiler (you want to add this for red sniper. Nautilus blaster at -2 defense is nice). We're not talking forward shooting here as that would be hard to set up. You can set this up for units/monsters that get too close. Not to mention having them close together will help secure your power base.
Saucer/Pod: It's in faction, and you can't pass it up. With the meta potentially going to power base destruction on some matchups you'll want Amplify. 1-2 pods and one saucer should do the trick.
1x Grunt Fire Khami - I will be suggesting this for every build. The potential to do 1 damage for 4 A dice is just so nasty. Not to mention, you can force the opponent into mistakes by denying their ability to stand on rubble |
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Will Grant says: |
The Apes are the exception to what I am about to say.
Healing is generally bad, and brawling buildings is worse.
Brawling a building is a waste of monster turn's attack, and it is a serious drain on Action Dice if you use more than one. The "building brawler" players here in baton Rouge and the ones in Austin usually go 1-2 or 0-3. The exception is of course things like Chain Attack.
|
Oct 19, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
On the buildings, I'm still figuring this out, so I really appreciate the input. I'll be playtesting with a lot of different builds, once Vassal is running with the latest stuff.
On the Units:
Despoilers I don't really care about. Giving the Nautilus Sniper doesn't help him do Monster Damage (Snipers can't be in combined attacks) most of the time. In theorypocalypse if I had Sniper, Armor Piercing, and Ultra Anglax's Weaken, I'd be looking at 2-3 defense most of the time. Against a 3 Defense, the Nautilus Blaster (even with High Impact from Ultra Anglax) only has around a 43% chance to hit. If I could bring all of that to bear against Monster that naturally has 5 Defense (dropping it to 2), it's a 74% chance. Even so, it's a very iffy proposition. I'd be just as inclined to bring Reapers for Penetrator combined attacks with the Crabs.
As far as threatening units, the Despoilers in support of Nautilus Blasters would be a clearly winning proposition. Without more playtesting against a greater variety of armies, I can't say how important this would ultimately be to Anglax.
Saucers and Pods are something I'd like to try. I would have loved to have them for my MM army, but so far I have none of either. As with most things, I'll give it a shot and see what happens, though I don't feel that it's particularly vital for Anglax. I could be very wrong though.
Fire Kamis are definitely worth consideration, but like you said, that's 4 A-Dice for 1 damage. I'd almost rather spend the dice on getting my Agenda units to damage the monster so that I can regain lost health. There's a time and place where the Fire Kami would be useful though, so I'll be testing it for sure.
On healing by brawling, Anglax certainly doesn't rely on it, but I don't think it's a bad option to keep open. Even when facing Gakura, having Posh Apartments around didn't seem to hurt me too much and actually saved my Alpha during one of the Ape unit turns (I brawled an apartment to go from 1 health to 2 just before). It's not something I intend to rely on, but as a fallback plan I think it's a viable option to brawl for health if you can't reach the opposing monster or if you're just in a tight spot. Again, more playtesting will tell. |
Oct 20, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Will Grant says: |
I see your points on Sniper.
Pods are a preventative measure just as much as offensive. If someone destroys your power base, you still have P Dice coming in. There's a reason it was such a popular splash at the masters.
I just see not taking at least one saucer/pod combo within agenda as looking a gift horse in the mouth.
As for building brawling, I suppose it's nice to have as an option as long as you realize how conditional it is. Not to mention, it opens up a lot of alignment avenues for smashing and throwing (assuming you are playing with a non hit and run on brawl monster). I've seen an opponent lose based on a building he brawled down against my flying monster. |
Oct 20, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Will Grant says: |
Also, you'll want a Spiral relay.
You want command on your unit turn.
Command on Monster turn = Screen
Command on Unit Turn = disruption.
With a spiral relay you can move your skimmers 10 and contact your opponent's power base.
Trust me, Command is really good, and you don't want to limit it to Anglax's turn. This gives you options on your unit turn: Beacon, Tow, Command. |
Oct 21, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
Spiral Relays have Red Sprint, not command. Red Sprint is situational at best, if it were Command, I'd be all over that.
The Red Synchronized Movement on Blast might be worthwhile, but I only had it work once in 5 games last weekend. |
Oct 21, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Steven Wooley says: |
Yes I don't think Synchronized Move is actually worth much. Red Sprint, however, may be. If you can keep a Relay a decent distance from the spawn points, it can act as a way to get units where you need them. Need Vassal!!! |
Oct 21, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Will Grant says: |
Wow, that is crap.
Tow is 10x better.
I wish I had a strategy guide :( |
Oct 21, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
In reality, the Spiral Relay is not a liability. It has higher Def than the units it would be helping (4 Def where the Blasters are 2/3) and it has the range to get to the action for the trigger. The problem is that they don't do much else.
Sprint on a Nautilus Blaster is equivalent to Command because they only move 3 in the first place. Command would be MUCH better simply because I could move a Crab or Skimmer instead and I wouldn't have to be adjacent to pull it off.
If the Glass Skimmer has Command instead of Sprint, I'll be in love with it. I can't tell from Pax Pics, but it doesn't look like there are any differences in the stats, so either the Glass has a cost of 0 or the first ability must be different (the other three are Synch Move Red on Blast, Hover, and Fragile). |
Oct 21, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Steven Wooley says: |
Synchronized Move is pretty much trash, considering the Relay has to lead the attack. Lame. You're not going to want to miss out on Armor Piercing. |
Oct 21, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
It's Red Synchronized Move. As in it's a RED ability. So it doesn't have to lead, it just needs to be next to a Nautilus Blaster (or any other blaster) to make use of it.
I'll probably try playing around with them a little more, as I'm still learning to balance utility and combat units. I get the feeling it's more shine than material, but only testing will tell.
For the umpteenth time, VASSAL! |
Oct 22, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Will Grant says: |
On the point of Vassal, someone help the guy that's updating it.
I saw some mention of this awhile back that Wooley or Zach would be helping them.
I don't care what features the site/store has...just vassal :). Yes, I'm a selfish person. |
Oct 22, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Steven Wooley says: |
I want Vassal too, you know. We ALL want Vassal.
I want to be able to pwn Anglax on Vassal and write about it. |
Oct 22, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
Steven, we'll have to see how that goes. You beat me in my first "real" game, but hopefully I've learned some since then. If nothing else I'll have the virtual resources to build a force with buildings I want instead of borrowing Zach's Power Plants. :P
Only time will tell, but I look forward to it. |
Oct 23, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
Pingu says: |
The more I think about it, the more I find a glass spiral worth taking.
I mean... Its threat range is 6 spaces + 5 squares of range... That's pretty close to a Katana's threat range. And it still has 4 DEF against attacks. Considering that it is G-tank tough, it is highly unlikely that your opponent will send units after it to destroy your glass unit.
However, beware of monsters in a position to swat, stomp, or multishot those guys. |
Oct 29, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
Actually, it's threat range could be as much as 9 + 5, don't forget Red Sprint.
Glass Relays are DEFINITELY on my must-have list. |
Oct 29, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
Jason Miller says: |
I have to honestly laugh when people say the Spiral Relay isn't worth putting into a Triton army. |
Nov 8, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Pingu says: |
It's always worth putting in a couple, even if you only plan on using it as a screen.
A 4 DEF 6 speed (potentially 9) screen is nothing to laugh at. |
Nov 8, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
I just haven't been able to use them effectively. More than likely, that's user error and no fault of the Relay's. |
Nov 8, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Pingu says: |
Relays weren't meant to be extremely user-friendly.. I mean, the spawn cost of 1 kind of justifies this.
However, doesn't mean that you shouldn't use them, as you already pointed out. |
Nov 8, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Zach Bunn says: |
You should write a blog on this army... What do you think? |
Nov 22, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Philip Rowland says: |
Zach, I could... not really sure there'd be anything worth reading as I haven't been able to play a whole lot. Send me a message and we can talk. |
Nov 23, 2009 |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
|
| |
| |
|
| |
|
|
