Lancer: The Beautiful Machine

[Bowerbird]

Actually, operating your Horus Mech with a subjectivity-enhancement suite is perfectly safe! Absolutely no side effects! Here, try it!

[Ishikar]

Actually, operating your Horus Mech with a subjectivity-enhancement suite is perfectly safe! Absolutely no side effects! Here, try it!

Hey this is ni…- all glory to Ra!

Yeah I’m vaguely aware of the general lore of the setting from YouTube but NHPs and eldritch math are certainly interesting. My random brain is exhausted from Con rush so I just imagined a goblin hacking and trolling people while flooding comms with Carameldansen.

Yeah, I’m definitely running in less than optimal amounts of sleep.

[Bowerbird]

Hey this is ni…- all glory to Ra!

Yeah I’m vaguely aware of the general lore of the setting from YouTube but NHPs and eldritch math are certainly interesting. My random brain is exhausted from Con rush so I just imagined a goblin hacking and trolling people while flooding comms with Carameldansen.

Yeah, I’m definitely running in less than optimal amounts of sleep.

"Why is my sound system playing Walk Like an Egyptian on repeat? Oh no, there's a Goblin out there..."

[Bitter]

Though none of them are super hard or anything, I’ve always thought that HA has the hardest mechs to utilise just because their high heat caps and heat related bonuses are basically asking for nuclear cavalier overcharge loop type shenanigans which are hard to balance.

[Volthawk]

Ah bugger, lost track of things here for a while, busy couple of weeks recently. Better get a backstory together for Ognen.

On the mech/frame plans topic, this is my first time actually planning on going for a HORUS frame - always found them pretty cool, but then I've always ended up going with something bulky and IPS-N. Guess that's part of why the Lycan appealed, it has that initial bulky defender thing going on but with that bit of HORUS wildness going on under the hood (and the fact that it's a Manticore variant means it's in that subsection of HORUS licenses that goes "okay you're mainly gonna kill people with weapons but here's some fun hacking options to do the thing better"). In general Manticore's always been something I've found cool but not been sure what to do with, so seeing the Lycan having more of a baked-in game plan was kinda appealing.

[Zelphas]

As someone who hasn't played Lancer myself, the more I look into it, the more it seems like there is to figure out. I'm aiming Artillery, probably Death's Head and/or Pegasus, but I don't know if Levi's built in a way to make that work or if there's a build that I'm missing that would utilize him/his skills better. Should I get into the game, I'll turn to the more experienced people for advice on the frames/licenses that would work for a stealthy sniper without explicit tech skills, and I'll see how things develop in-game as well. But that's getting ahead of things.

[Bitter]

It might just be a case of picking up the terminology, but just to clarify your skill triggers don’t impact mech combat and are used for the narrative play. The key things which will define your build are the licenses you pick, the talents you pick and the Hull/Agility/Systems/Engineering points you assign.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it as the most important aspects are licenses and talents and you have respec options for those after each mission. As you’ll generally want to get at least two licenses in the same frame as your first two level ups, it also lets you build up experience before you branch out.

Also FYI just checked your sheet and your main and heavy should be two seperate mounts, there isn’t a Main/Heavy mount in the same
Manner as the Main/Aux mounts or Aux/Aux mounts.

[Zelphas]

Also FYI just checked your sheet and your main and heavy should be two seperate mounts, there isn’t a Main/Heavy mount in the same Manner as the Main/Aux mounts or Aux/Aux mounts.

Welp, that's what I get for copy-pasting a sheet without paying full attention. The mounts should be fixed to read properly now. Thanks!

[ProgressPaladin]

I bought the long rim recently, and am debating between a different mech. I have so many characters flashing through my head and not enough outlets!

[Thunder999]

Hmm... trying to think of what frame I would want. Originally, back when a friend of mine was talking about the merits of Lancer, I'd decided on the Hydra, but I don't think I really want that for this character. I wanted something less... esoteric, more down-to-Earth, with a simpler purpose. Leaning towards a long-range sniper/artillery type, or failing that, support. Seems in line with my character's personality. Tentatively looking at the Swallowtail. In the long run, of course. I like the focus on stealth, but I could probably switch things out based on feedback or party needs.

I will say, though, the aesthetics of a lot of the mechs, at least in the core book, are... I hesitate to use the term "anime" because I haven't actually seen an anime with this aesthetic, but I feel like it would not be out-of-place in some anime. Normally this isn't a problem for me, as my own settings draw inspiration from anime on a regular basis. Hell, my own PC is based on a certain character from a mecha anime. However, as far as mecha go, I was effectively "raised" on Battletech and Armored Core, and while those series don't always place function over form, they do look much more down-to-Earth and... mechanical. And tend to look like things someone would actually put on a battlefield.

And yet, I think I actually like HORUS mechs the most aesthetically, since they reinforce the designers' shtick of bizzare, almost alien technology.

If you like Horus then Pegasus is a great sniper, the Ushabti's 15 range is plenty, it's got great mounts, the average damage thing is actually a damage boost for odd numbers of dice, Smargun is a very reliable weapon, Hunter Lock is more damage, Autogun means you can genuinely fire 3 mounts every round and the Eye of Horus is a great counter to some annoying enemies.

[CateranEnforcer]

As someone who hasn't played Lancer myself, the more I look into it, the more it seems like there is to figure out. I'm aiming Artillery, probably Death's Head and/or Pegasus, but I don't know if Levi's built in a way to make that work or if there's a build that I'm missing that would utilize him/his skills better. Should I get into the game, I'll turn to the more experienced people for advice on the frames/licenses that would work for a stealthy sniper without explicit tech skills, and I'll see how things develop in-game as well. But that's getting ahead of things.

The good news is that every level you get the chance to alter your talents and licenses and every full repair you can adjust your mechs components. I actually have had success with just the Everest as a sniper as well using Barbarosa for Auto Loader Drone and a GMS Cyclone Pulse Rifle.

[Ishikar]

I'm looking to move into the metalmark as my frame of choice and just pushing evasion as high as I can as a skirmisher using the combined arms talents and then rolling into Ace when the ATMS core bonus opens up. After that first core bonus I'm not sure if I want to use the ghostweave option to lean into invis or the FSS to stack evade or even drift to a few of the other options. The blitzkrieg ninja pinball mech just feels like something fun to play.

[ProgressPaladin]

and just pushing evasion as high as I can as a skirmisher

Hey! No, that’s MY job. MY job!

[Thunder999]

A awrning for going all in on evasions: there's quite a few things that just don't care about evasion, Reliable damage, targeting E-defense (not just hackers, but the Smart tag), forcing a save instead of rolling to hit and even a few abilities that just don't involve any rolling. About half the NPCs in the game can do at least one of those.

[Ishikar]

A awrning for going all in on evasions: there's quite a few things that just don't care about evasion, Reliable damage, targeting E-defense (not just hackers, but the Smart tag), forcing a save instead of rolling to hit and even a few abilities that just don't involve any rolling. About half the NPCs in the game can do at least one of those.

That's a fair point which is part of why I was looking at leaning a bit into the Invisibility that the Metalmark tends to play to as well as bumping Hull and Heat when I got a few more skill ups. Probably put 2 more points in Agility to beef up the evade/speed so I can make best use of my hybrid ranged/melee talents and then boost 2-4 points into Hull followed by a similar number into heat because invis systems like to boost that up as well and having to back off to vent every couple of turns could become an issue.

I think the only attack that fully gets around invis is the pegasus with his "Gun".

[n0ble]

Apologies for the delay in selections everyone, working back to back nights after a HUGE (passed) test IRL. I also just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who applied-its really quite something to see so much interest in Lancer here on the Forum and with so many strong entries too! Choosing was difficult but the five players Ive picked are:

Bitter as Lupo "CALIBURN" Teutonborg
Cateran Enforcer as Derek/THANATOS
Zelphas as Levi "ECHO" Royston
ProgressPaladin as Rowan "POLTERGEIST" Holden
Belgareth as William St. Aloycius III/BIFF

I will be getting an OOC link up here later today in the afternoon-thanks again for applying everyone!

[Bitter]

Well done on passing the test and looking forward to playing with everyone else who was picked!

There’s definitely a lot of Lancer interest and people who didn’t get in, so if someone wants to run another game I’m sure they’d get players (and then I can apply for that one too!)

[ProgressPaladin]

Well done on that test! And thank you for picking me. I look forward to this campaign.

[Ishikar]

Congratulations to everyone who got in and to n0ble on passing his test. Good luck with the campaign.

[YuweaCurtis]

Have fun everyone. Got distracted so oops.

[Dusk Raven]

There’s definitely a lot of Lancer interest and people who didn’t get in, so if someone wants to run another game I’m sure they’d get players (and then I can apply for that one too!)

Funny enough, I recently got an idea for a Lancer campaign, though I don't know if running it now is a good idea considering how new to the system I am. That, and my current workload.

[Bowerbird]

Congrats on the test, and congrats to everyone who made it in, have a fun game everyone!

[Zelphas]

Congrats on passing the test! Now to brush up on the rules again so I know at least a bit of what I'm doing...

[Ishikar]

Funny enough, I recently got an idea for a Lancer campaign, though I don't know if running it now is a good idea considering how new to the system I am. That, and my current workload.

I fully understand the workload issue but I'd definitely be interested. I think several of us are new to the system but thankfully it seems easy enough to work with so we could all learn together.

[n0ble]

Thanks all, huge relief having it done! And yeah I'm with everyone else where if somebody wants to run a game I will gladly throw my hat into the ring with an application.

Here is the OOC thread for players

[Dusk Raven]

I fully understand the workload issue but I'd definitely be interested. I think several of us are new to the system but thankfully it seems easy enough to work with so we could all learn together.

Well... I will say, with pretty much every game I run I'm compelled to make my own setting. I was mulling over what I would have it be for Lancer. Didn't have any ideas, but I figured I'd develop some as I played and learned the rules... then I got a wild idea. A Lancer game, in the setting of Armored Core V/Verdict Day. With the frames effectively replacing the Armored Cores themselves, of course. But while the tech would be different, the world would essentially be the same. As a bonus... something I'd wanted in a custom Lancer setting was to have each of the four company lines be from a different fueding faction, and there are four such factions I can use in Verdict Day. And I know exactly who makes the HORUS frames...

But, I'll have to read the rules further, and also take a look through whatever DMG/MM analogue Lancer has.