Why is the Titan so expansive?

[legowarrior]

In CBM the titan cost 75 points, while the lord of storm costs 25. Why is that? What perks do you get with the titan?

[brxbrx]

I don't play CBM, but I imagine that the Golden Shield might do it.

[shatner]

Stat-wise, there isn't all that much of a difference between the two. The gold shield is nice, as is the lightning, but neither amounts to a 50 design point difference. Now, the Titan does start with A2E1 whereas the Lord of Storms gets A2W1. That Air-Earth combo makes getting an earth blessing as well as forging elemental staves much cheaper, especially when comparing pretenders with heavy initial path costs.

This next bit is speculation on my part, so keep that in mind. The other reason, the meta-reason, why the Lord of Storms is so cheap is because he's meant to help out water nations, whose choice of gods are much more restricted than land nations. A large part of the latest version of CBM was bolstering underwater nations and it was in that version that the lord of storms was introduced.

[Shangrila00]

A/E are also ideal buffing paths for a SC. Honestly though, the Titan is kind of awkward. The shield is nice, but it still can't fight naked because it has no special abilities. (and it can't fly, all the best combat pretenders can fly) Its paths aren't great as a bless platform, and it's too expensive as a do nothing scales pretender. So it ends up never being used.

[Kobal2]

The Titan is inherently lightning immune and his default weapon is magical (not sure what the Shock secondary effect does though. Fatigue ?).
It's probably not worth a whole 50 design points, but it's still pretty sweet.

[Corinthian]

The titan is probably expensive in order to prevent it from being a cheap E bless chassis. Every pretender with dom 3 and E1 costs 75+ points. The titan just happens to be slightly worse that most other E bless chassis. I could see it as a niche chassis for Jotun/Utgard though. With E9A6?

[Shangrila00]

Maybe push it up to A3 so it can get into the air bless niche but isn't any better at providing an earth bless. It really just is the case that it's the worst of the Earth bless chassis. Only by a little, but enough. Same for all other potential roles, except providing access to earth and air for nations that just happen to need those 2 and only those 2.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally Posted by Shangrila00

A/E are also ideal buffing paths for a SC. Honestly though, the Titan is kind of awkward. The shield is nice, but it still can't fight naked because it has no special abilities. (and it can't fly, all the best combat pretenders can fly) Its paths aren't great as a bless platform, and it's too expensive as a do nothing scales pretender. So it ends up never being used.

All the best combat pretenders can fly!?

The Wyrm and the Great White Bull sneer at this claim!

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Peter Ebbesen

All the best combat pretenders can fly!?

The Wyrm and the Great White Bull sneer at this claim!

The Wyrm isn't that great of a combat pretender. It's just that what it lacks in fighting capability it makes up for in not losing much when it dies, as there's little reason to put magic on it and you can just bring it back.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally Posted by Knai

The Wyrm isn't that great of a combat pretender. It's just that what it lacks in fighting capability it makes up for in not losing much when it dies, as there's little reason to put magic on it and you can just bring it back.

It is a top tier SC pretender in shorter games or blitzes and an excellent choice for anybody wanting an SC pretender for exansion plus the ability to establish an early water presence in a game with few or no water nations.

Its lack of magic makes it a poor choice for most nations for most long games, but that doesn't detract from its undeniable power as an early-game SC pretender.