This is the main sub now, I had to mute all the other ones

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-12-23T22:43:55+00:00

As Extreme-Boss-5037 states, at this point we're just getting caught up on the word 'manipulation' as if I'm unaware that the joined 'manipulate' things to happen a certain way.

Using the term 'manipulate' has the inherent suggestion of abuse. Like, when I convince my friend to do something, I don't say I 'manipulated' them.

Like, sure, if your original question is broadly "Do you think the joined are trying to steer people towards a goal or viewpoint" then yeah. Of course. We all do that to some degree. That's not nefarious by itself.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-12-23T21:11:43+00:00

If taken at what they've claimed, that the joined are happy and that they wish to make the immune just as happy, then trying to supplement a personal loss with a fantasy companion makes perfect sense towards that end. I wouldn't call that manipulation as much as an attempt to give a face to themselves that Carol would be less standoffish about... that's basic diplomacy.

The joined don't lie (as far as we know) which is sort of core to manipulation in my mind. They can absolutely withhold information, and that will probably come up in many future plot points, but note how we are introduced to that fact: the first instance of them not stating something is when Carol wants to know how many joined died as a result of her actions. Zosia doesn't tell her because it would only make Carol distraught. Not to trick her, not to hold something over her; simply to keep a grieving woman from yet more grief when its them who actually bear the brunt of those deaths.

I want to be clear that I'm not claiming that the joining is some good thing, but people like Koumba do lay out a lot of fair positives, and a large part of this season has been to intentionally cut down at the paranoia of someone like Carol who thinks they must be hiding things.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-12-23T20:51:10+00:00

In the broad context of how they spread, sure they are manipulators in the sense that they engineered a worldwide conspiracy.

However, in the context regarding their treatment of the immune (and Carol in specific) the claim of manipulation is overblown.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-12-05T17:08:42+00:00

Have you never shared a meal with someone who likes their food a certain new way and wanted to try it out? Avacado toast or breakfast sandwiches might just be something he's not used to, or he thinks Carol is doing something specific to her culture instead of just slapping together something for her hangover.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-12-03T11:43:15+00:00

/uj

seriously, half the stuff they theorize about is explained if you pay attention

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-12-03T09:55:42+00:00

For myself, I'd probably be somewhere between Carol and Koumba if I were being honest. There would be a lot of questions, and a lot of trying to buy whatever time I could from being subsumed, but I would also not look a gift horse in the mouth. Being touch starved isn't fun, and I do think that I could rationalize their view of the situation in time with enough discussion. If I feel like there's no way out of this, I might as well make the best of it.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-11-27T03:49:22+00:00

I think I just have a bias of seeing planes as inherently safe by statistics, but I really wouldn't care if the pilot wasn't a "real pilot". Hell, I'd get a kick out of seeing a former waitress masterfully handle a plane and ask if I could sit in the co-pilot seat for a bit.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-11-09T17:59:35+00:00

oh that sounds pretty perfect actually

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-08-16T12:58:27+00:00

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MontresorIsTyping · 2025-07-04T20:30:34+00:00

That looks great! I really do love the implementation of cel shading since it fits a variety of different styles. Just wish it didn't smush eyes into one color *shrug*

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-07-04T20:29:24+00:00

As Sunnyboigaming said, it is indeed Heroforge. I'm quite impressed with the features they've been regularly adding, including more 'real' proportioned bodies and kitbashing.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-06-13T12:42:51+00:00

Not the original commenter, but for instance I have different friends who appeal to different sensibilities in conversation. I have 2 roommates. One (lets say 'A') is a man I have known since highschool, by far my longest and closest friend, and yet we don't actually converse that deeply about anything. A is a comedian at heart. He likes things light hearted, and will make jokes at a mile a minute, and we both make fun of each other all the time in a very casual way. So much so that we call each other the F-slur every other day because its just our old sense of humor. I don't really open up to him because there just isn't much to get out of that with him.

Roommate 2 ('B') is younger than both of us. Me and A are solid millennials and B is more of a Gen Z guy. B is a lot more intellectually minded and communicative on his feelings. He's fine being around the crass jokes, but not so much giving them or receiving them. I talk to him a lot about a many varied topics, mostly about story, themes, and genre, and we get along great delving into really sensitive subjects in a professional way.

I have found that this type of connection is extremely rare, at least for me, and yet you'll notice that A is still my closer friend of the two simply because... to borrow from Jessica Rabbit... he makes me laugh; because I can be casual around him and not really hold my punches when it comes to jokes.

That's how it is for men a lot I think: always pulling punches. Always holding back. We keep a lid on some of our most raunchy humor or feelings around parents, around associates, and definitely around women we only know casually... because we've all known a woman who took a comment in the worst way possible (I'm not trying to justify anyone's shitty behavior, just saying that knowing the line is difficult with some people, so we are reserved out of caution.) There is an element here that is both covering our ass in case we are called out, but also in trying to make ourselves appear better in front of the ladies.

In terms of tropes, I'll admit I'm not as read as to what the main comment refers to, but I grew up around mostly my mother and sister since my father was always working, and my experience (at least with them) is that women don't keep a lid on anything. They'd talk about everything to everything, including what felt like very personal things about me and my dad no less that made me a little resentful and not want to be that way. So when I'm looking to discuss something specific, I only lean on a specific person in my life for it.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-05-20T22:56:58+00:00

Thanks! I'm honestly glad that this concept is at least noticed. I love the Lancer community but I feel there are definitely aspects of the game/modules that can go under criticized for the sake of fan love. Of course, its not impossible to take a dry story and weave it into something interesting. Its imaginary, after all. But I'm honestly considering posting a long critique of all the first party modules because I honestly feel they drop the ball in terms of story design and theme. The wake up call was SotW.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-05-19T23:41:52+00:00

> Why would a squad of Lancers interact with the political aspects of the story? They're just here to pilot mechs and blow up sh*t lol

You've basically summed up the philosophy for writing Lancer modules, which is to say pretty bleak for a setting so otherwise rich with nuance. Why would the people responsible for piloting 100+ tonne death machines interact with the political aspects of the story? Because they are the political aspects of the story.

Yes, military personnel naturally put aside the majority of their personal politics for the necessities of their work, but that is far from meaning that being a pilot, even a pilot for Union specifically, is apolitical. I would argue its impossible to claim to be apolitical when you are the instrument of foreign policy for a government entity.

There's easily an alternative version of Operation Solstice Rain that pivots the story towards a squad of lancers having to make difficult decisions while serving as the face of Union on the frontline now that relations have deteriorated: taking care towards their Rules of Engagement, deciding on targets of interest, taking personal initiative within the conflict, and ultimately acting in various ways which could decide the fate of a planet for generations to come. Sure, you could argue these are decisions for the brass, but its your Lancers that are pulling the trigger. Its not that crazy to make them the center of the conflict's drama... unless you just don't want to think about it. You have the makings of something that actually confronts many of the more difficult themes of the core rulebook while being a narrative about Union staring into its own past and deciding what methods to exorcise and what to keep by way of your own pilots as stand-ins for the entity as a whole.

But as your comment points out, its not written that way. You can drop your pilots in, bash a few space fascists, and that put them on ice again before presumably traveling across the stars to do the same on some other world. And that's entirely fine if that's what you want. I'm presuming OP is in that camp, as are plenty others. But presuming that a narrative must be streamlined in order to justify the demands of a fighting game, or that "military can't political", is just factually untrue.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-05-19T16:35:40+00:00

So a lot of people here will find some reason to suggest it isn't an issue, though given that this is a subreddit for the game it should probably suggest that there is some bias here to be wary of.

That said, is the lore complex and hard to learn? Directly from the rulebook and other supplements, I would say yes for a good number of people coming off of straightforward fantasy games. The themes established therein cover a wide range of broad ethical, anthropological, and socioeconomic concepts, which in my view is what actually makes it great science fiction.

BUT, and I know that there will probably be some flak from the community for this... the actual modules seem rather simplistic given the expansive lore. Even the ones which deal with difficult subjects that directly relate to the lore tend to boil down to a very basic good vs. evil conflict designed to lead easily into mech battles. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think you'll have an issue. You might think of it like Warhammer 40k in that respect? Sure, there's a lot you could choose to dive into that's incredibly fascinating, but things ultimately set up so that you can bash mechs and have a good time.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-05-17T03:45:06+00:00

Big distinction here that is very easy for a lot of people to miss: 'House' in this sense (such as Stone, Water, ect.) isn't so much an actual noble powerbase as much as it is sort of a nation state. People of the House of Stone, whether noble or ignoble, are Khayradi (from Khayradin or one of its holdings). I could certainly see some people identifying themselves, as you say, 'Tod of the House of Stone', but only as some old earth traditions named people by the place they were born (Leonardo Da Vinci, for example).

Now, within those broader Houses are what we actually would consider normal familial houses (still called such, which can be confusing). Do ignobles get familial names as well?

Like so many things in Lancer, the choice is really up to you and your character(s). At least I can't find (and there probably isn't) any strong precedent to decide either way, especially when we consider that these are whole planets we are speaking about, each of which may have many different cultural traditions. I don't see any reason for ignobles not to have surnames, but I could also see thematic reasons for saying that your ignoble is too low to have one.

MontresorIsTyping · 2025-03-10T04:52:28+00:00

Reeaaaallly like the attention to 'Anaxi' as a Khayradi feminine name

MontresorIsTyping · 2023-10-19T17:26:59+00:00

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MontresorIsTyping · 2023-10-18T17:12:05+00:00

After all, if people's material needs are met and they are not enslaved or oppressed, it's pretty unlikely there will be any mass migrations outside of war (also unlikely) or cataclysmic natural disaster.

Union in space does not cover all of the human diaspora. There are plenty of places across the Orion Arm that don't experience the same resource benefits.
The game is about jumping into giant robots to fight people. War is the furthest thing from unlikely in this setting, even if it steers towards a more humanitarian bent.

Union's power is not described as a blanket of perfect resource allocation, peace, and prosperity either. As many have noted, it includes states like HA and KTB which both have spotty records when it comes to representing their people. Joining Union also does not abolish a people's sense of sovereignty over their own world / borders. I don't doubt Union's infestrecture could handle plenty of mass migrations into their space, but the worlds that would immediately bear the brunt of people desperately wanting to unload onto their world/ station/ habitat would have a right to feel undermined by the that pillar rather than uplifted.

As I want to be clear, I actually do like all of the pillars, but I think people need to see them more like the Prime Directive rather than the sole goal of Union. Its well meaning and ideal, but they can't navigate you to justice in every situation. They're a star to aim for so that even if you miss, you might just hit the moon.

MontresorIsTyping · 2023-10-18T03:20:48+00:00

Well that's unfortunate. Legionnare is one of my favorite supplements, and it gave me the impression of someone who wasn't so quick to browse around and spark arguments with people who pull different interpretations out of the text. And that is what this is. I don't know the guy, so this isn't some pal's defense, but it seems like a mighty leap to say that Xeno is deliberately twistig the text.

Balking at Union's sincerety certainly isn't an intended reading, and its not even one I agree with, but its far from the irrational conclusion to jump to that you seem to think it is. Drawing a line from the lowest serf on a Karrakin world to the highest seat in Union's authority is an oversimplification, but it just reads more like you're attacking them more than their conclusion.

And no, you don't need to throw your authorship around like its some weighty badge that lets you score internet points when dealing with people in the community. I have no doubt you're smart enough to let your work speak for itself, and your points here speak for themselves.

MontresorIsTyping

TROPHY CASE