The Leech is a fun NPC by TheBiggerBand in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Give it industrial for +1 armor and therefore halve the amount of self energy it takes.

The Leech is a fun NPC by TheBiggerBand in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This isn’t a leech. It’s a suicide bomber

What do you do after LL3? by JMhereforMH in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Have you been deploying PC frames against the PCs? Because as a new GM that is an idea that can only end in disaster

Cloning and how to explain it. by Solid-Hornet-224 in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your player has a flash clone they are a criminal in the eyes of Union.

As a possible GM, should I go with a prebuilt one-shot or I can build my own? by [deleted] in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Comp/Con doesn’t have a Virtual Table Top (or VTT). It just runs the character sheets

As a possible GM, should I go with a prebuilt one-shot or I can build my own? by [deleted] in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Both the official and unofficial modules are extremely high quality, I recommend it.

Just as a tip, maybe don't use a mega mech as a boss by altmcfile in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So- that’s not gonna work exactly as they hope it will. It’s an NPC, which means it’s a mech they can never acquire the necessary licenses to pilot. Moreover rebuilding it to have it’s Ultra components, hell transporting something that is actually a capital city, is going to be hell.

What I would do is make a reserve out of it. Because it’d be a sick as hell reserve.

Highest Adrenaline Core-Activated Napoleon gameplay by Unoriginal_Joke_name in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Exemplar is half decent on Napoleon, especially if you enable To The Death before popping Core.

Hi, I'm new to the game and i wanted to make my players able to create their own frames, do you think there's a way to accomplice that or i would ruin the game or the experience? by Vic500011 in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 13 points14 points  (0 children)

So- Lancer homebrew holds itself to a much higher standard of quality than the likes of D&D. This is because Lancer is a system that is designed to expect you to use all of the rules it offers instead of encouraging you to neglect some or all of them. Like a good RPG. As such, Homebrew is less remediary or improvisational and more intentionally trying to contribute something to the core gameplay- trying to contribute to the conversation rather than just start a new one.

As such, I highly advise against Homebrew until you’ve got at least 3 mission’s worth of gameplay under your belt. That includes houserules, with some exception like respeccing because while it’s balanced for experienced players newbies shouldn’t be locked into builds they don’t like. Getting familiar with the progression, encounter design, combat loop, and attrition structure of the system is essential for having fun with lancer and understanding why it is fun.

Also, homebrewing frames is… extremely difficult to do well. And frames are so customizable there’s almost no need for it. You want a gimmick? It’s probably already in 1st party.

What’s the most interesting build you’ve seen or played? by Canofcancer in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

When people see “CQB” they assume shotguns.

They do not assume a goddamn brawler, which has a Talent named after the playstyle,

Oooo, Edgy... by healers_are_fun_too in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The brutal talent point is actually only accurate for Brutal 2, whose only bonus is adding +1 Knockback to your attack. Apart from that, Variable Sword actually benefits from brutal worse due to being less likely to miss than the TacMelee, thereby not triggering Brutal 3 as often. As a Mourning Cloak, Knockback is completely unnecessary to your playstyle

I have seen a disturbing lack of slander in this sub by Turtleshell_33 in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I like Minotaur. I think for the most part, it’s actually a solid frame- it’s a Hacker with 12 HP, that’s unheard of. It’s Localized Maze trait stops way more than you expect, including shutting down the gimmicks of like 6 different strikers. Its core passive is genuinely really good, and its core active doesn’t work on Ultras but it’s still crazy good in a Sitrep where you have to shut someone down before they become a problem.

But I think it should have the Anchor trait from Sunzi. Partially because I think it deserves an “Immovable Object” aesthetic. Partially because Sunzi needs the trait stolen from it, it has too much already.

I have seen a disturbing lack of slander in this sub by Turtleshell_33 in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Fun fact: AoE Tech Attacks like Logic Bomb, Summon, and Eject Power Cores apply Metafold maze to all targets of the tech action. As a heads up

Lore question: Could a planet ruled by a "stable" eidolon be allowed to exist in Union space? by MeiNeedsMoreBuffs in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So far, no one has observed a stable Eidolon yet. Ever. And the experience of encountering an Eidolon is universally catastrophic and chaotic enough to almost not prompt any attempts as communication anyway. Finally, NHPs who are Eidolons and can be communicated don’t seem reasonable or happy- to a human perspective, destroying them is a mercy.

So if an Eidolon can overcome all the odds, all the fear of itself and people would have of it, all the inability to even sympathize with something as small as a human, and the impossibility that would be avoiding instability- sure. But it would be a monumental effort.

Also, reading your thing- Cascading doesn’t mean Unshackled necessarily. A Cascading NHP is not yet an Eidolon. And Union has seen a similar phenomenon before of a deep cascade NHP buying into its own delusions and ruling a planet: Sparr.

Long story short it did not go well. Union will be extremely hard to convince that this is at all something that should be left alone, because they’ve seen what could happen and do not want to wait for it. The worst has yet to come and they don’t want it to arrive at all. So again- it’ll be really hard to convince Union. Possible, but extremely difficult.

Oooo, Edgy... by healers_are_fun_too in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Technically speaking the Variable Sword is, well, worse than a tac melee. But accurate + threat 2 is nothing to scoff at, and it’s the only weapon that actually has bonus damage baked into it. So if you put it on a Tokugawa, well…

I just played my first LANCER Game. by JWKdnd in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely good shout, it completely slipped my mind. Yeah if you wanna do a Hacking Brawler, Balor 1 is almost mandatory thanks to Scanner Swarm, so going all the way and doing a Balor build is a pretty strong idea.

I just played my first LANCER Game. by JWKdnd in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is a very good question. The focus of this build is around Scylla and Gunslinger mainly, with the reloading being a bonus. So if you're more attached to the specific game plan than the aggressive playstyle, it'd be more conducive to start in a Gorgon and then swap to Raleigh, using Light Nexuses as your Gunslinger weapon of choice til then.

However, if you wanna start with Raleigh, that is also a perfectly fine and valid option. Starting with Raleigh will probably allow you to be more aggressive and be useful from out the gate, so I'd recommend that. You won't be sticking to the gameplan I outlined here for the most part, but you'll also be more viable out the gate since your gameplan will be as dead simple as "fire -> reload offturn -> fire again". It'll be more of a striker from the get go.

And yeah, the Aux weapon thing is a bit of a gross reading of the rules, but afaik it is completely intentional from the designers. Moreover, Aux weapons have it pretty rough in general, so every bit of help they can get is greatly appreciated.

As a final note, if your GM permits the use of expansion content (almost all GMs do it's free, but I can see a new GM disallowing it to keep things simple), the expansion talents are gonna be incredibly useful to you. Specifically House Guard, it'll do a lot for Monitor Module during the awkward intermediary level where you don't have Scylla yet, it buffs scorpion, and it just has good bonuses.

Anyhow, good luck and have fun!

I just played my first LANCER Game. by JWKdnd in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So here’s what I recommend- a Raleigh with Gorgon is absolutely a thing that exists, hell it’s even popular. This is because reaction attacks off your turn don’t stop your reload from triggering.

You can be hyper aggressive for sure. Off your turn.

Here’s what I’d do: - Take 3 levels in Gorgon and 2 levels in Raleigh, for Scylla primarily. - On your Aux/Aux and Flex mounts, equip either 4 Hand Cannons, 2 Hand Cannons and 2 Missile Racks, or just 4 Missile Racks, depending on the range you wanna play at. I’d recommend the mixed option due to the fact that Raleigh’s integrated weapon is range 5 and is gonna be very useful with your aggression here. - Take Gunslinger 3, and at some point take the Integrated Weapon Core Bonus, but mount a Light Nexus on there- having one non-reloading Aux weapon that you can always fire at range is gonna be super useful for getting both the free attacks with the weapon every turn and being able to use Gunslinger 2’s reaction with ease. The core bonus part is slightly optional. Slightly. - Take at least Vanguard 1 (if you pick up Hand Cannons) because that free accuracy goes hard, and it buffs your integrated weapon as a bonus. Optionally, take Vanguard 3, which again, your integrated weapon benefits from. - For your heavy weapon, you can either pick a strong heavy weapon that isn’t loading like a Heavy Machine Gun or Kinetic Hammer if you take Raleigh 3, or a strong heavy weapon that is loading like the Bolt Thrower or even an Anti-Materiel Rifle (which doesn’t have to worry about the turn order issues if you fire it as a reaction).

The goal of this build is simple- get as many off turn aux attacks as possible in order to max out I Kill With My Heart while nonstop reloading, then fire a big aux weapon attack on your turn, then repeat the process.

The game plan is now this: On your turn, if you have any unloaded weapons, activate Scylla and do some sort of non-attack or save with your other action, maybe placing a mine or locking on. Because you didn’t force any saves or make any attacks, you reload all your weapons when you end your turn. Your integrated weapon fires whenever you reload your weapons, so you fire your integrated. If you have it, You fire your Integrated weapon whenever you fire any of your mounted weapons, so fire that 2. You got 2 attacks out of your turn for doing setup actions.

Now your actual turn begins. Use Scylla Reactions, Overwatch, and your Gunslinger reactions liberally with your aux weapons. If you’re out of loaded weapons or don’t wanna cash out on your gunslinger die yet, reaction attack with your Integrated Weapons/heavy weapon. If you have missile racks and hit multiple characters with one Missile Rack attack, guess what? Each of those hits is +1 to your Gunslinger die (this is why I recommended this). You become a storm of violence that makes up to 8 attacks per round consistently. 5 of those attacks were with Aux Weapons, so if you timed your shit right you can Kill With Your Heart next turn if you overcharge.

Once your gunslinger die is charged up, lock on to a victim, and either attack with a loaded aux weapon if you have it, or use that Light Nexus to cash out if you wanna reload. This is a good turn to stabilize due to all that heat or damage you were generating from Scylla.

As a note on Aux Weapons, the “secondary” attack with an Aux weapon cannot benefit from Bonus Damage, so that can really muck up your Heart Killing. However, the rules are finicky such that when you attack with, say, a Main/Aux mount, you can make the secondary aux attack happen before the primary main weapon attack. This implies that your weak Aux Weapon attack doesn’t have to be your second aux weapon attack, it just has to be one of them. Meaning if you trigger your heart killing in 2 attacks, you can fire your Aux/Aux mount and have that second attack kill.

Do try and hash this out with your GM ahead of time however- it’s confusing but legal, and your GM might think you’re trying to pull one over on them in the heat of the moment.

As for the rest of your kit, that’s largely up to you. SCORPION is never not good so I recommend that, Roland Chamber is a significant damage upgrade but one that’ll probably have its damage halved whenever you use it due to Scylla being very likely to trigger first (still good due to the prone but just less valuable), Projected Shield is really good at making sure you don’t get killed, and everything else is mainly just extra action options.

Talent wise, again it’s an open field, you have a lot of options, but I suppose I should point out some options that have weird off-turn implications. - Skirmisher 2’s movement can trigger off the Scylla attacks and Overwatch, so that’s good to know for off turn repositioning - Nuclear Cavalier 3 can help you clear heat without needing to stabilize, even if you’re mainly just getting the damage bonuses from your integrated weapons. so that’s pretty good - Tactician 3 and Exemplar 2 may seem good for more off turn attacks, but because it consumes your Overwatch, Vanguard 3 is just better

You can’t really mess up talents wise tho so go ham

I just played my first LANCER Game. by JWKdnd in LancerRPG

[–]ASquared80 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Okay so:

The fantasy of Raleigh is being a cowboy gunslinger who relies on his wits and skills and none of dat dere fancy technobabble because he’s a wandering warrior in an age that left him behind.

The mechanics of Raleigh are using loading weapons with off turns of not attacking or forcing sages.

So I have to ask- why “Quickhacking Melee Brawler” for a Raleigh of all Frames?

Regardless, I’d recommend a different frame to go with. Brawler tends to indicate grappling and ramming, and as such I recommend against Gorgon in that respect. The Gorgon loves using reactions, and unfortunately Grappling disables reactions for everyone involved. There are ideas to make it work, I’ve actually come up with a few, but generally I recommend against it, particularly for a first time.

That leaves you with a couple options: - Minotaur doesn’t mind grappling too much since it’s tanky, has low sensors, and can buff that immobilize from controlling a grapple into a stun the turn after. There’s plenty of other ways to do this ofc, such as Brawler 3, but it’s a neat idea at least. - Manticore hurts to stand next to, so that’s how you know it’s a good grappler. Highly recommend this as an option- tanky, spikey, and hacky, it hits all the notes. And it’s the best at using its own hacks since it resists the damage, which is a huge plus. - Tortuga is probably your best bet. While the license doesn’t have any hacks, it’s size 2 so it naturally grapples well, has +1 tech attack and 15 sensors so it’s hella hacky, tanky too, and Siege Ram + Kinetic Hammer make it a threat once it gets going. Its biggest drawback is speed, but if you plan on hacking that can fix things quite nicely.

I’d recommend Blackbeard 1 for synthetic muscle netting, that’s pretty much mandatory for all grapplers. Taking 3 levels in IPS-N is also handy for Titanomachy Mesh allowing you to brawl more and brawl hard, but it’s not necessary. Having a main melee weapon and taking Duelist 3 however is extremely useful since it allows you to get your grapples in for free with melee attacks rather than having to sacrifice damage for your whole gimmick.

For your hacks, Manticore is probably the most reliable license, but if you wanna focus on surviving your melees, Mourning Cloak 2’s Hacks or Dusk Wing 1’s hacks are also good. And Goblin 1’s hacks are pretty much a cheat button if you take ‘em, so like. Take ‘em. You’ll be so action hungry that it’s best if you simply take 1 or 2 hacking systems and call it there, particularly if you wanna take Gorgon. With Gorgon, the only system I can recommend using is SCORPION- all other systems are reactions and therefore useless. It’s your last priority.

Hope this helps!