Having run several games of T&T now at conventions and read through the rules twice and typed out 'crib notes' to help during game play, I think I can suggest a couple of things to watch out for as you start playing against the Martians and their invasion in your neck of the woods...
Special Damage to tripods - these icons are found in the A, B, C, and D decks - special damage to Martians is ONLY applied if you are firing through an UNSHIELDED side of the tripod base (the black sections). They are only applied through a SHIELDED side (the orange sections) when the shields have been 'knocked down' (that is, when there are no energy cubes left). The special damage can be quite debilitating to the tripods. In fact, special damage is like the points damage on the plane decks - it's only effective when hitting UNSHIELDED Martians. As a reminder - if the tripod is TOPPLED, then it is considered SHIELDLESS for the 2 maneuver cards it takes to stand back up again.
Recharging Energy - can ONLY occur if the tripod is 'standing still' - this means you have to plot one of your three 'stop' cards as your maneuver card and intend to recharge on that plotted maneuver phase. Depending on what's happening in a game, energy can be used up pretty quickly! The A, B, C, and D decks have a certain number of cards that cause energy loss when drawn as damage, so energy management can be really important for the tripod player.
Martian weapons - the Heat-Ray can ONLY fire every OTHER maneuver phase, at most. Once a Heat-Ray has been fired, it must take one maneuver phase to recharge - this recharge affects all Heat-Ray 'projectors' on the tripod. You cannot, for example, fire the front Heat-Ray on the first maneuver card and then fire the right front Heat-Ray on the second maneuver card. Firing any Heat-Ray effectively 'drains' all H-R projectors for the next maneuver phase. Similarly, when you fire Black Smoke, you must wait two maneuver cards before you can fire it again. Like the H-R, firing one BS launcher drains the other launchers for two maneuver cards. It is easy to lose sight of these restrictions during a game, and these limitations also affect how you might want or need to manage your tripod from turn to turn.
Hope these help smooth out your gaming experience with these beasties! I am sure folks can add more as we become more acquainted with the game
All the best,
Matt
Bookmarks