General game mechanics

The games starts with each player having a Mother titan, 2 breeders and a fighter - these are represented by symbols on a hex map. The Mother titan can do nothing except spawn new first generation Titans. The Mother and her offspring are immune to all attacks for the first 14 and 10 turns of their lives respectively. This means that the first turns are usually spent breeding the clan and establishing a foot hold on the map.

An example of the game map, showing five Titans, the terrain, consisting of impassable chaos sea, lowland, highland and mountains. The biomass is also shown in this view, together with the orders that the player has given.

Titans consist of five types of system, and players can decide how many of each to have, and which to improve with each generation. The five are linked, so it is impossible to simply have a weapons platform which is also well shielded and fast.

Each of the five systems also have a generation or tech level. These all start at 10 and a single tech can be increased by 1 as a new Titan is spawned. This will tend to produce strains within your clan, as a certain family tree increases a few technologies while another may be concentrating on different ones. Tech levels do have a maximum, so your clan will eventually be able to compete with the eldest clans, no matter their age.

Give me the real details!

What orders can I give?

Each of your Titans can be given the following orders:

• Resource allocation. Computers can be used to control engines, shields and weapons, or be allocated to damage control, engines are needed to power weapons and shields or are used for movement, and finally weapons can fire! This topic is covered in more detail elsewhere.
• Spawn a baby titan, providing that the parent has harvested enough bio-mass and the spawning chamber is full, and the clan size limit has not been reached, the player can open the design window to specify the new Titan.
• Move the titan - combat is only possible at close quarters, and so moving in and out of combat range is very important.
• Fire at the enemy. All weapons fire will effect the detonation hex for the entire turn, and any Titan who moves through the hex will potentially suffer damage. Evenly matched weapons and shield technologies will give a 75% chance of a hit. More details of this topic are given later.
• Damage control. Computer's can be allocated to rejuvenate units within the titan.

The design limitations within each titan will make the choices between fighting and fleeing difficult. Typically it will be impossible to design a Titan which can have its shields powered, its weapons ready and be able to move a great distance.

I want a holiday!

Your entire clan be issued a 'slide' order, in which case they will disappear from the map, and re-appear after the number of days which you specify. If you are away for 7 days or more, all forces will be brought back to full health and then be returned to the map.

How much does it cost?

You can play for free for as long as you like. However, after about 3 months you will be at the free clan limits and may decide to pay to gain a Clan Hall and an increased clan size. This is by no means a necessity to continue to play and enjoy yourself. If you decide to pay it will cost 10 pounds sterling for 90 turns which is approximately 16 dollars (as of Jan 1999). This will give you a number of credits which will be reduced by 1 for every turn that the go results are produced for you. The only time that your credits will not be reduced is if you issue a slide order.