SantoriniPowerCastor

Introduction

As the brothers that spend all their time together, whether in mortal towns or on Mount Olympus, Castor and Pollux are great when they work together. The ability to build twice or move twice can be used to avoid a lot of zugzwang, which is a problem of Terpsichore. However, they cannot do both at the same time, so when should we choose to utilize them?

God Power

Instead of a normal turn, you might take a special turn in which all your workers build without moving or all your workers move without building.

Category

Player move/Player build

Explanation

Castor and Pollux can choose to take a normal turn if the player wishes. Besides, in the following contents, we will abbreviate Castor & Pollux by C&P.

Game Strategies

Early Game

A usually good strategy for C&P is to start with separated workers and use the power right away, by not moving and building with both workers in distant squares. For example, C&P can start with workers in C2 and C4 and then, in the next turn, build in C1 and C5 (he will move up to one of those squares in the next turn). However, C&P shouldn’t be too quick to move with both workers on different paths, especially to the perimeter (C&P, just like Graeae, is much weaker in the perimeter). For example, having separated workers will never allow C&P to build twice in the same square. In general, C&P works better when both workers are next to each other.

Mid Game

A worker, on a level 2, in an inner corner, e.g. B2, is very strong (especially if there is a dome in a square adjacent to the corner, e.g. B1. By standing in B2, since C&P does not have to move, he can just start creating threats adjacent to B2 (for example a level 3 in A1 is particularly hard to defend), while the other worker also does something (it can be defending). When to move with both workers? This depends very much on the position, but it is usually a good use of power when one worker moves up and the other either moves up or goes to a square neighboring the opponent’s builds (so that C&P can defend any possible threat by building without moving).

Late Game

C&P is very good in the late game since he has a lot of options. In particular, moving with both workers can be very good in the endgame.

Specific Matchup

Artemis

A very interesting matchup in which it might seem at first that C&P cannot make progress, but the ability of building twice in the same square will provide the imbalance in this matchup.

Charybdis

C&P is a good pick against Charybdis due to several reasons (I still think Charybdis should be stronger though). He can move twice, one of the workers being to the whirlpool so that it won’t function in the next turn. He can build in two different locations, which might be just what he needs to destroy one of the whirlpools. I think that in this game the ability to move twice will prove to be especially good.

Clio

You might be surprised to see Clio here since it might seem that C&P just dominates Clio… But this is not the case. It is very hard to play with C&P and an early corner strategy by Clio might even work.

Double builders

Among the double builders, C&P is one of the weakest, since most of them can build twice while moving up. Prometheus is the other only exception, but Prometheus is deadly.

Graeae: Actually this is a tricky matchup. It is scary to play on Graeae’s side (although she still might be stronger). It seems that if C&P starts building on opposite sides of the board, he will eventually move up to a level 2 and create multiple threats (which Graeae is not able to defend since she only builds once).

Jason

It can be very difficult for C&P to make progress since Jason covers a great part of the board, but this will still be a balanced game.

Harpies/Hippolyta

C&P is just the perfect power to play against these powers since the ability of not moving is very good in this case.

Limus

Moving twice allows C&P to move to “forbidden squares” (squares which would not be accessible if the power would have to build). Moreover, not moving at all is also a good possibility for C&P, he just has to make sure that both workers can build. However, as we know, Limus is very strong and even with these possibilities, it won’t be an easy game for C&P.

Zeus

This is an interesting combo since although Zeus can only build once per turn, he can follow C&P quite easily and it won’t be easy to create double threats. This is a balanced game, but C&P should have a slight edge.

Conclusion

While C&P can build twice, he is not at the same level as the other double builders. However, the possibility to move twice and to build without moving make him strong in many situations other double builders would just cry, so C&P is a moderately strong power in general.

Tier ranking: A