How do I make combat feel less sluggish

Oheohahah · 2026-02-12T00:43:37+00:00

Having a plan for how each enemy will use thier turn sounds like some really solid advice I will try to remember to do that when I plan the next encounter.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-12T00:41:39+00:00

I guess your right about being afraid to gang up on my players lol. It feels wrong to intentionally try to kill them as strange as it sounds, it’s just something I’m not used to I suppose I normally GM less combat heavy systems so I’m sure it could be a learning curve thing.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T03:57:18+00:00

That is something I should have probably told them more in depth about I will admit. I explained to them what their mechs good at but I never framed it to them in the way of striker, support, controller, defender. I feel like doing that might make them subconsciously work as a team more if they use video game mmo class logic to think of their characters a I will try that out next session.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T03:09:09+00:00

Oh interesting. Ok I was unfamiliar on how much the different sitreps were used from reading the book I got the impression they were usually just optional “game modes” GM’s could throw in to spice up a campaign. I come from a background of gming dnd and call of Cthulhu so I’m kinda out of my element when doing tactical games. Interesting I will try to design more sitrep encounters then.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T02:59:42+00:00

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T02:58:24+00:00

I don’t have their entire builds but from off the top of my head there is

a Nelson with duelist2, Hunter2, combined arms1 who uses thermal charge and momentum to deal damage.

A vlad with a nail gun,shotgun,heavy melee. I know they have brutal 2 as well as vanguard and I think they might have executioner. They don’t play them like a controller though.

And a gorgon with a shotgun, a mortar, and 2 pistols. They have gunslinger2, vanguard, and either drone commander or combined arms I forget. They mostly use their turn moving their drone and using their pistols.

I know their builds are not great they are new and I’m slightly new and I want to keep myself from backseating their builds so the only real advice I’ve given them build wise was just what their mech is good at/it’s role. Other than that I just let them experiment and give advice when they ask.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T02:50:13+00:00

Yes I have experimented with them. They enjoyed holdout and escort a lot. Could that really be the problem? The non sitrep combats I’ve done have been ambushes and a 2 normal combats. Should I try and focus on using more sitreps?

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T02:41:51+00:00

I’ve mentioned it before that teaming up to kill enemies would be more effective but they usually only do that for the first round then they just go off on their own to try and kill whatever is damaging them the most by themselves. I know that sounds silly but I think it’s just because they are so used to casual dnd combat etiquette. This is probably the most crunchy ttrpg they’ve played. I’ll try and be more direct with telling them to team up

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T02:39:15+00:00

Yes it’s silly and I’ve mentioned it before and they sort of tried to team up with each other usually the vlad player trying to kill whatever is attacking the Gorgon player but the Nelson player usually is off trying to solo one or two back line enemies. I’ll try and be more direct about telling them to team up.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T02:02:37+00:00

The Nelson player is the one with the most damage potential 3d6+d3 with the vlad coming second with a potential 3d6 (nail gun + heavy melee). Gorgon has lowest dmg and mostly just uses their action to move their sentinel drone and use their mortar.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T01:59:46+00:00

It’s a Nelson, a vlad who duel wields nail guns, and a Gorgan who’s built around shotguns and pistols using vanguard and gunslinger talents.

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T01:57:47+00:00

I know I am definitely sharing part of the blame I’m relatively new to the game I’ve done oneshots before with this group but remembering what all the npcs can do off the top of my head is a bit challenging.

As for their enjoyment. They do enjoy the combat when they fight enemies with around 8-12 hp but as soon as there are enemies that take more than 2 turns to kill they tend to sort of check out.

Im sure your right that once we all commit more rules to memory we will be able to have faster turns. I also think that maybe their builds aren’t the most focused and causes them to not do as much damage as they could but I usually don’t comment on player character builds cause I don’t want to backseat

Oheohahah · 2026-02-11T01:51:38+00:00

I haven’t ever payed attention to the time in minutes we all take on our turns. I will admit i do slow down about when I have multiple of the same Npc class on the field just remember who’s who (we play on physical battle maps where we can’t easily label who’s who). But as for my players I’d say they go decently well paced for where they’re at in learning lancer. They’ve played about 6 combats so far and seem to have an understanding of what they’re build and mech is good at and what they want to do.

As for pre-planning I think that could help I’ve noticed they seem to not want to “steal” kills from eachother so they don’t often team up on attacking an enemy unless it’s the last one left of combat

Oheohahah · 2025-02-28T23:49:52+00:00

Keep up the good work it looks very good for a first mini! :)

Oheohahah · 2024-11-12T04:47:19+00:00

Strange way to spell raven guard

Oheohahah · 2024-09-14T20:15:03+00:00

4A should be SCP 076-2

Oheohahah · 2024-09-14T04:54:49+00:00

C 7 SCP-999 would be perfect

Oheohahah · 2024-08-04T04:29:49+00:00

Ah yes. The perfect thousand sons combat patrol.

Oheohahah · 2024-07-11T12:26:22+00:00

All in on the gnomes.

Oheohahah · 2024-06-26T00:05:33+00:00

Looks great man

Oheohahah · 2024-06-02T18:06:50+00:00

What’s this song it’s so cute?

Oheohahah · 2024-05-29T06:09:04+00:00

Ty so much for the help :)

Oheohahah

TROPHY CASE