“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 #23: Talon Puzzle 2
My copy of Talon arrived! It’s so weird seeing the counters and rules I’ve spent the last couple years working on come to my doorstep in an actual game box. It was also nice to not have to CUT sheet after sheet of prototype counters by hand… they did all the hard work for me this time.
I’ve already done a bit of work pimping it out 😉
All I did was put the more frequently accessed half inch counters (shield reinforcements, turn radii) into a low profile jewel/tackle box. Incidentally, I love the game box. Eric Williams did an outstanding job on the art and both Roger and Mark did outstanding work on the components and layout. Thanks, guys.
I figured I’d try to use my game pieces for the puzzle this time instead of illustrations. Not the best pics but they work…. On with the puzzle!
We arrive mid battle above a planet. Talon has a BC and a DD while Terran has a CA and a DD. In Talon’s part of Impulse A the BC fired off 3 Missiles aimed at Guderian. Guderian is a little beat up and does NOT want to take 6 Missile damage. It is now Terran’s turn for Impulse A.
How can she avoid taking the damage from the Missiles?
Talon has an interesting response that can be accomplished before Impulse D, do you see what it is?
I have an optimal set of moves for both players in mind. Let’s see if the community can top my answer!
Stay tuned!
Note to development team members: Please feel free to take part in the discussion and nudge fellow players in the right direction… however don’t just post the full solution. I KNOW you guys can figure it out!
Previous Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #22: Talon Puzzle 1 Solution
Next Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #24: Talon Puzzle 2 – Solution
Author: Bob Seifert
The Terran CA Guderian can duck behind the planet (moving straight forward on impulse A) and turn to avoid the missiles – unless the Talon split them up on impulse B. Then they will avoid one group. Since the Talon would greatly prefer the Guderian to turn to starboard, into the BC Honor, they should in impulse B send two missiles straight forward while one turns to starboard. Guderian can then turn to port avoiding one missile and probably eating two, which will hurt, or turn to starboard avoiding two missiles but coming into firing range early next turn for the Honor’s disruptors, the small bank of which should be charged. It won’t be enough for a quick kill either way (barring a lucky critical hit) but will tilt the playing field even more toward the Talon.
Good job. You took it in a bit of a different direction than I did. Here’s the official solution:
http://insidegmt.com?p=7199
Heh, didn’t realize the solution had already been posted. I don’t think the date of the puzzle posting is visible anywhere on this page, and I unfortunately can’t get to Inside GMT from work, so I usually don’t. 😉
Don’t feel bad about it being too “easy” – this appears to be the sort of thing you have to learn how to figure out to play the game effectively. It also shows off how a fairly simple rule set has surprising amounts of depth.
For anyone else reading this, I think it’s worth going over the alternatives as well; I had to work out a few different options to see if there was any way of making those missiles hit the front of the Terran DD and blow IT up (pretty sure there isn’t), as well as looking at potential initiative shenanigans. Even uncharged Terran batteries allow the Terrans to *briefly* take initiative, since they can be used to defer a power point to an impulse where the Talon won’t be getting any. In this case, though, that can’t happen before Impulse D.
So there’s a heck of a lot of possibility packed into this “easy” puzzle.
It’s absolutely worth thinking of alternatives to this situation and the one you proposed isn’t even “wrong”. Talon kind of lends itself to these puzzle-like situations but I do challenge any of our Talon Tuesday readers to come up with a better solution than we have. Hopefully I’ll have another puzzle up soon…