“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #24: Talon Puzzle 2 – Solution

I get to show off a bit of our Vassal module here; exciting stuff.  Stefano Tine’ and I (but mostly him) have been hard at work crafting the module. The pics here are of a work-in-progress so they may not reflect the final version… For instance: Please use your imagination and pretend that BC Victory is DD Predator from before. Talon DD’s aren’t fully operational yet.

When we last left Guderian she just had a barrage of Missiles fired at her from BC Honor.

Things don’t look great, her starboard and rear shields are completely down. If at least two of those Missiles hit, they’ll do hull damage and a critical.   It’s Terran’s go for Impulse A and Guderian has to move since her Power is 5. She’ll try to use the planet to box out the Missiles.

The Missiles have to move in Impulse B (Speed 6, Turn Radius 0).  They have an important decision to make. They must keep moving closer to the target but they have two options: Forward or they could turn to their right and move parallel to the planet. If they turned, Guderian, could turn to port which (A) Takes Guderian further away, at high speed, from the BC that wants to finish it off while in pursuit and (B) Likely pulls the Missiles into the planet, destroying them, in the process…. Talon pushes the Missiles forward, this may force Guderian to turn to starboard instead and keep the fight in close with the exposed shields towards Talon’s ships.

During Terran’s turn, Guderian hangs a right, hoping to pull in the Missiles. Herc moves forward.

For Impulse C, it looks like the Missiles will HAVE to move into the hex with the planet, destroying them… but not necessarily.  Thankfully, the Talon BC and the Talon DD (BC Victory here) both get AP this Impulse and AP comes before Movement.  Honor will spend her AP to re-target one Missile. Hercules is in the forward arc so she is selected as the new target of one Missile.  The Talon DD does the same, also targeting Hercules. Now at least 2 Missiles are “saved”.

Two of the Missiles move into Hercules, doing 4 damage, nearly causing a crit. The other missile careens into the planet where it presumably breaks up in the atmosphere and does NOT kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Presumably.

The Talon DD will move forward.  The Honor has an interesting decision that you could probably debate. Given that Guderian is stuck in a 3 hex turn for quite a bit, I think Honor should turn to starboard and attempt to pursue.  Where the battle goes from here depends on a bunch of other decisions and of course, whether or not there are other ships in this battle.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle. I might have made this one too easy. Plus the ideal play here isn’t as dramatic as it could be, but using Missiles and being aware of their turn radius is really important to smart Talon play.  I believe Niko on BGG arrived at the most complete solution first.  Give yourself a pat on the back.

I’ll cook up something better next time.

Previous Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #23: Talon Puzzle 2

Next Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #25: Talon Puzzle 3

Author: Bob Seifert