Tia Thurnax

 is an extremely aggressive unit  which sacrifices a lot of your own economy to build. It is part of Antares.

Strategy
Tia Thurnax is easily the most aggressive unit in the game, providing 7 attack immediately on the next turn. Since she has 3 Stamina, she can only be clicked on three turns. Even so, Tia is relatively cheap considering the total damage she provides. The required seven Drones sacrifice means that a Tia player will quickly fall behind in economy, however. She should therefore be bought in situations where she's likely to put a tremendous strain on your opponent's defenses, ideally enough to close out the game.

Like other burst units such as Scorchilla, she can be defeated by strong or preventive defense units (Polywall, Shredder). If none are available however the resulting games will probably end in the early or mid game, and the winner will be the one timing Tia best.

Be wary of rushing Tia Thurnax too fast. She can only attack 3 times, so if you don't have any other attackers and your opponent survives the three shots you might end up strictly behind them in both economy and constant damage. You should usually build some other damage dealers before her while your economy is still intact (even just a couple of Tarsiers can make a huge difference).

Since Tia Thurnax is a burst unit and therefore gets value by forcing out inefficient defense, she is best against an opponent playing a strategy that leaves them vulnerable to counterattack - for example, a red rush. Against an opponent going for green or blue units such as Tantalum Ray or Tesla Coil, Tia will likely still be worth buying at some point assuming you already have Animus, but might just not put on enough hurt to make the green-red strategy win against the green-blue one.

Having the first Tia Thurnax in a mirror is a huge advantage, as it means you will be half a turn ahead in damage and your opponent will need to defend each of your Tia bursts just before you defend theirs. Therefore, it is generally good to give yourself the option of buying Tia if your opponent has access to her even if you don't plan on building her immediately, so that you threaten to steal the first Tia, encouraging your opponent to go all in before they have enough attack it for it to be winning.

Only standard Drones can count towards Tia's cost. Drone alternatives such as Vivid Drones and Doomed Drones cannot.

Combos
Protoplasm is excellent Tia support as you can buy it after Tia for additional pressure. Endotherm Kit can also be extremely effective if you time it to arrive on the same turn as Tia. In low-econ games, you will likely find yourself overteched after buying Tia and so green and red sink units such as Nitrocybe and Gauss Charge can be of help.

Naked Tia
This is the super fast Tia Thurnax rush, available to Player 2.


 * 1) ... DD
 * 2) ... DDC
 * 3) ... AC
 * 4) ... Tia Thurnax* (5 gold, 4 Drones and 1 Red remaining)

A Player 1 variation exists:
 * 1) DD ...
 * 2) DC ...
 * 3) CA ...
 * 4) Tia Thurnax (2 gold, 2 Drones and 1 Red remaining)

Both these rushes can be easily held off by getting an early Blastforge and Conduit and focusing purely on defense once Tia hits, spending all extra gold on Engineers. However, it can be a good idea to play one of these rushes in answer to a low-econ red-rush as the opponent will not have access to the necessary defensive units.

Replays
None yet

Player 2 Turn 4 rushing
Fast opening, reliable with an Econ or Red support (Attack is best).
 * CD
 * A
 * TT
 * 1) Tia Thurnax (3 left)

Player 1 may set first with Mobile Animus (1) Leaves 1G econ.
 * C
 * D1
 * TD
 * 1) Tia Thurnax (click Mobile Animus)

Chrono Tia
If Chrono Filter happens to be in a set with Tia Thurnax, it is possible to land a Turn 3 Tia. This is perhaps the most aggressive and risky opening in the game. It is available to Player 2.


 * 1) ... DC
 * 2) ... C + Chrono Filter
 * 3) ... Tia Thurnax* (1 Drone, 1 Gold and 1 Blue remaining)

The Turn 1 play DC is highly unusual and should arise suspicion.

As of the 2018 April update, Mobile Animus may be used instead.

Using this opening always loses, provided the opponent is focused on Defense and there's not a tech sink of attack, such as Gauss Charge. Turn 3 CBE is enough for 7 defense a turn.

Replays
None yet.

Delayed Tia Thurnax
Compared to the Naked Tia, this opening gets an extra 3 Drones, as well as 2 Tarsiers that attack the same turn as Tia, at the cost of only one additional turn.

The delayed Tia Thurnax build is available to Player 2.


 * 1) ... DD
 * 2) ... DDC
 * 3) ... DA
 * 4) ... DDTT
 * 5) ... DDT + Tia Thurnax

This build order was shared by Pseudoradius on the Prismata subreddit, where he stated:

''"This gives you 9 Attack on turn 6 and leaves you with 9 Drones. Enough to go double Tarsier or Tarsier + Rhino every turn afterwards.

''This build severely punishes opponents that opt for a high economy strategy. If Thurnax is available, going for triple Drones probably is suicidal."''

(That was with 4 Tia)

A Player 1 variation:

Perforator greatly improves the rush at turns 4, 5, since it adds answers to an opponent attack.
 * 1) DD ...
 * 2) DC ...
 * 3) DA ...
 * 4) TTD ...
 * 5) T + Tia Thurnax

Wild Tia (Outdated)
A player 1 opening using Wild Drone:


 * 1) Wild
 * 2) Wild + C
 * DA
 * 1) TTD
 * 2) Tia Thurnax + T/R

This used the old Wild Drone, can be recreated if Doomed Drone is in the set, use Doomed Drone pair on Turn 2.

Pressure Tia
Attack of Player 2 with delayed Tia: Quick rush which adds 2 more attackers before the final attack. Has some Defense. Units such as Perforator, Gauss Charge or Doomed Drone greatly support it.
 * DD
 * CA
 * TT
 * 1) TT (TR vs Attack)
 * 2) Tia Thurnax +T (2 Drones left)

Player 1 has a faster line with Auric Impulse (1). This has the weakness of not leaving any Economy. Perforator avoids turning the Animus into dead weight. Gauss Charge or Barrier avoid Conduit waste.
 * D1
 * CA
 * TT
 * 1) T1 (TD with green sink)
 * 2) Tia Thurnax +T (0 Drones left)

Mobile Animus normal Tia
Opening for Player 2 with Mobile Animus (1) requires some Green sink such as Cryo Ray or Trinity Drone. Leaves 5 Drones, enough to buy T or R every turn, or other actions, such as breaking the Mobile Animus.
 * CD
 * D1
 * 1) TDD
 * 2) Tia Thurnax +D (1 gold, 5 Drones left)

Rush with Gaussite Symbiote
Player 2 has a fast line for it.

Protoplasm increases the efficiency of the Tech choice, can play against an enemy Tia, and has Pressure.
 * DD
 * CA
 * 1) Gaussite Symbiote
 * 2) Tia Thurnax +D
 * D

Player 1 has a less fast line for it.


 * DD
 * DC
 * DA
 * 1) Gaussite Symbiote +D
 * 2) Tia Thurnax +EE
 * 3) Gaussite Symbiote click

Player 2 with Galvani Drone (0)

Gets 8 Econ and extreme timing. A delayed line presents a much larger threat: Gets a burst of 15 Attack first. It's available if opponent tries to play Defense to some extent.
 * A0
 * 1) Gaussite Symbiote
 * 2) Gaussite Symbiote
 * 3) Tia Thurnax +0
 * A0
 * 1) Gaussite Symbiote
 * 2) Gaussite Symbyote
 * 3) Gaussite Symbiote
 * 4) Tia Thurnax +0 click Gaussite Symbiote

Player 1 very early Rush: All-in rush that punishes a Red build. May be delayed for 1 turn, which opens an extra Burst after.
 * D0
 * CA
 * 1) Gaussite Symbiote
 * 2) Tia Thurnax +0

Change Log

 * December 9th, 2015
 * Cost increased from + sacrifice 7 Drones to  + sacrifice 7 Drones.
 * February 15th, 2015
 * Cost increased from + sacrifice 7 Drones to  + sacrifice 7 Drones.