“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 #7

Jim’s Under the Hood segment will continue next week.  In the meantime, here’s an article about Talon afterburners, which was the brain child of our Lead Playtester and “Chief Tactical Officer”, K. Patrick Barley.

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When I first learned about Talon, Bob was cracking open some plastic baggies with homemade counters in them and laying out his Space Empires board. I was excited by the concepts that make the game so unique, fleet level combat, micro-decision tactics and the glorious dry-erase markers. Bob and I eagerly got into it, and divided up six heavy cruiser tokes from each faction, leaving me with what might have turned out to be the most fated decision in Talon’s design history, “Terran or Talon, sir?”

I eagerly chose the Talon’s powerhouse weapons, high maneuverability and powerful forward shield array. I lined my fleet up in the right corner of the map and waited for Bob to take a similarly tight formation. Turns took off and I loved the six part Impulse breakdown, weapon charging mechanics and the inverse relationships of power to speed and speed to maneuverability. Then came the big moment, Impulse D of Round 2, I had reinforced my forward and flank side shields, moved my ships into a solid concave on Bob’s point ship and was eagerly waiting for Bob to move his ships into range three so I could get an alpha strike off before his ships got within weapons range. If I could cripple one of his three ships before they could even fire, I would be way ahead!

“I don’t get power this turn, but I’m going to use my battery to take the initiative,” Bob says confidently.

HE WHAT!?!?

That moment, right there, I learned that (at this point) Terran was the better faction in this game. They had a special ability, something Bob could use to alter and disrupt the predictable dance our ships were performing. No longer did my Talon cruisers have the element of surprise, but instead the Terrans had used their sensor arrays to predict our movements and slip in under our weapons envelope, getting the opportunity to take that first shot.

In the end, Bob missed with his Torpedoes, and that turn of luck helped me bloody his nose, but I still lost the day. I loved the game, but something wasn’t sitting right. A month later when Bob brought the game back to test some more, we played again, and I posted my ships in a 2 and 1 formation toward the middle of the board. Bob, trying to get the flank on me, divided his ships in a wide 1 and 2 formation. I immediately took the opportunity to close my formation and hightail it after his solo ship. Realizing his mistake, Bob did the best he could to close ranks, but that only exposed his sides to my dual arc disruptors, and I was able to pick of that first, exposed, ship before it could even fire a warning shot. The match went on after that, with me eventually winning, but only on the back of two heavily wounded cruisers.

Then it happened:

“Talon really needs a button to press,” I said to Bob. “Something like your battery, but really it just needs to be something interesting.”

Thus, Afterburners were born. We talked the ideas over, and eventually came up with an idea to present to Jim. Terran battery lets them use power out of impulse. Power and Speed are inversely related. Therefore, good game design would have us giving Talon a mechanic that allows them to move on an impulse they normally couldn’t.

Bob said he’d take the idea to Jim, and I waited eagerly to see what decision would be made.

It wasn’t long before Bob called me up and said that Jim loved the idea.  The Talon would be able to move on impulses they would not normally be allowed to move, but, each ship could only do this twice per battle.  Their afterburners would “burn out” unlike the Terran battery.  This meant that Talon ships want to rush in and hit hard earlier in the battle. It fit the flavor of their empire perfectly. With our current playtest results showing Terran with a slight margin, we decided it would be something we could add straight in, and see how the pieces landed around it.

I was hooked. I felt like I had become the advocate for the Talon faction – making sure they were properly represented. Bringing them this powerful tool, I now felt it was my responsibility to help guide them along until their dawn: publishing. So, Bob and I started testing more and more. We took the game to not one, but two Dice Tower Cons, and pulled in every person we could to at least stop and look at the game, if not demo it. We ran through spreadsheet after spreadsheet of weapons and ship balance and we talked endlessly about new ideas that would increase the feel of balance amongst the fleets.

Meanwhile, Jim and an army of playtesters were giving us feedback on our ideas and the new mechanics we suggested. Some got scrapped, some got bounced back and forth a dozen times before we finally settled on them (here is looking at you missile hit points) and lastly others dramatically upped the tactics, flavor and nuance of the game.

I am proud to say I am happy to have been a part of this team and be privileged to work with Bob and Jim on this game. Jim’s inspired design and Bob’s diligent work behind the scenes wrangling playtesters like me really helped to make this game the wonder that it is.

But honestly, don’t take my word for it.

Actually, do. Take a few more of my words in fact.

Playtesting Words like:

-”Space Shotgun”

-”Galactic Railgun”

-”Talon still needs something else, how about more power to the weapons?”

Or eureka moments like

-”OH! Terrain!”

-”We’ll call it The Battle of Saturn!”

-”Black holes might be too powerful ….better put one in any way!”

And of course the typical sound of a Talon victory:

-”Mwuhahahahah!”

If these ideas don’t get you excited to explore the depth of this game, I’m sorry to say, I just don’t know what will. But if you ask, I’m sure we can find something!

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Previous Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #6: Under the Hood

Next Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #8: Under the Hood (Part 2)

If you like Talon or are interested in space games in general, check out these other GMT titles:

Space Empires (Reprint on P500 List)

Space Empires: Close Encounters

Space Empires: Replicators (P500)