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I enjoyed this Lancer mission, and as my principle interest here is giant robots, I will be satisfied by either more Lancer or more Battletech. edit: snipe, thus, image of giant robot 
vorebane fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 08:07
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Honestly, I would prefer the missions go back to BT. But if you're needing a break from it, I can sympathize, and I'll just continue to gloss over the Lancer stuff.
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Dec 30, 2021 09:04
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Conspiratiorist posted:Oh, no no no, AI isn't illegal in the Lancer setting - they're in fact widely employed. What you'd call your classical AI, that is a smart system with an adequately realistic user-facing personality construct is called a Companion/Congierge unit, or "comp/con" for short. Comp/cons are ubiquitious as personal assistants and most people in civilized space would carry one the way someone carries a smartphone nowadays. So what I'm getting is that the future is basically a DnD campaign against demon cultists and summoned devils, except the armor they wear is shinier and their swords are longer
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Dec 30, 2021 14:16
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At its core, Lancer is basically an overhaul of D&D 4E that brings the tactical combat to the forefront and encourages the GM to play for keeps because losing a Mech or a mission doesn't always mean loss of a character. Unless you lost your Mech because you chose to CASTIGATE THE ENEMIES OF THE GODHEAD  I really like the Manticore. It's basically one giant dare to your GM. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 14:33
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See, the more content like this I see the more I really want to play it. Absolutely looking forward to seeing how this all turns out.
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Dec 30, 2021 23:38
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mekilljoydammit posted:I'm with some others - it's proving interesting to see Lancer played, I encourage explanations of what's going on where people care to give it, and it's fun to take a little vacation. This turn was a continuation of the previous round's somewhat greedy play, taking advantage of numbers shifting in our favor for back-to-back player actions. We'd originally contemplated ignoring the Sniper for the sake of the objectives (hence the Pegasus taking a shot at the Hornet during its last Barrage), but in response to our LOS shenanigans with the Goliath wreck the Sniper decided to move around and got closer - into the Everest's HMG range. Both Everest and Black Witch took the Nuclear Cavalier talent ranks, which adds 1d6 damage to the first attack made in their own turns while in the Danger Zone (heat gauge at or above half). Everest was at 5/11 heat at the start of the turn, so it could safely Overcharge for 1d6 Heat since worst case it'd still fit within the cap, and critically even a minroll would land in the DZ to activate the Nuclear Cavalier bonus. 3d6+4 on an NC-buffed Heavy Machine Gun is pretty good odds of OHK on a Sniper's iirc 12ish HP, particularly if consuming a free Lock On as provided by the Swallowtail's Held Image core bonus and consequently rerolling with Spotter 1 as was done the previous turn - chances for a critical hit (20+ attack roll) were pretty high. As a fallback the Everest could do another Skirmish w/ a Lock On of its own for 2d6+4, finishing the Sniper off if it had been wounded by a low-roll on the first shot or at least bringing it down into NOAH rebound kill range if it tried attacking. Assuming one shot did the trick, as ended up being the case, next on the list was dealing with the Ace. Aces are on the lower ends of enemy HP so it was 10~12 doubled to 20-24 since it's a Veteran with two structure. It had already taken a combined 23 damage in the previous turns so I estimated 24, and to deal with that sliver left the Everest snapped a shot with the Unraveler - Reliable 2 means even a miss would've dealt the necessary damage. Since all of the above if successful would secure us the kills we needed for the mission, I set the Everest to perform a Scan of the Hornet as the leftover quick action. Scan posted:When you SCAN, you use your mech’s powerful sensors to perform a deep scan on an enemy. Scan is not a typically used action; while there is obvious value in knowing what hidden Optionals NPCs are coming equipped with, Actions are ultimately at a premium so you're usually better served spending a quick proactively to neutralize an enemy or otherwise prepare for threats that you know than to confirm if there are any that you don't. Exceptions exist (Ultras), but most enemies you'd be wary of just won't be an ongoing threat long enough for the intel to pay its opportunity cost back. The other two functions of Scan are mission-dependent, and in this case one of them did seem to apply to the objectives and was thus requested: use a deep scan to reveal information that'd help the party track the Hornet (ie comm frequencies, nav data, drive signatures). PTN gave us an analysis of the mech's exhaust we can track, which seems just perfect for our purposes - no matter how fast it tries to flee (and it is fast), that bugger is leading us back to the nest.
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Dec 30, 2021 23:54
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I have absolutely no clue what's happening each turn in lancer, but that's ok because I'm just going to read the fluff and go "yay" when I see number make hits or misses
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Dec 31, 2021 00:41
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I think finishing the Lancer quest chain is a good way to go about it, but I'm definitely looking forward to going back to Battletech. Although the fluff writing is still top tier and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Also, the super detailed posts about what exactly has been going on each turn are greatly appreciated.
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Dec 31, 2021 01:04
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Volmarias posted:I have absolutely no clue what's happening each turn in lancer, but that's ok because I'm just going to read the fluff and go "yay" when I see number make hits or misses Thats where i am. Go goon lance
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Dec 31, 2021 01:14
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Stravag posted:Thats where i am. Go goon lance Me too. I'd like to see how this ends/works, band it's definitely a fun side thing for a change of pace.
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Dec 31, 2021 01:24
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I do have to say, more of the deep-lore dumps would be great. It's a fascinating world.
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Dec 31, 2021 01:32
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Once thing to be aware of is that the players have ridden their reactors pretty hard. Overcharging heat doesn't reset until the mission is over.
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Dec 31, 2021 01:38
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Volmarias posted:I have absolutely no clue what's happening each turn in lancer, but that's ok because I'm just going to read the fluff and go "yay" when I see number make hits or misses This is really all I do in the Battletech missions as well, so it's not that much of a change.
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Dec 31, 2021 02:00
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wiegieman posted:Once thing to be aware of is that the players have ridden their reactors pretty hard. Overcharging heat doesn't reset until the mission is over. Elaborating on this, Overcharge comes in 4 stages: - First time costs 1 Heat. - Second time costs 1d3 Heat. - Third time costs 1d6 Heat. - Fourth, and any subsequent, it costs 1d6+4 Heat. If I'm not mistaken, our current heat/overcharge outlook is such: - Swallowtail has 6 heatcap, has overcharged once. - Pegasus has 8 heatcap, has overcharged once. - Black Witch has 11 heatcap, has overcharged once. - Everest also has 11 heatcap, and has overcharged 4 times but due to its Harrison Armoury Core Bonus, HEATFALL Coolant System, OC costs cap at 1d6. This one is built to really push the limits of that cold fusion reactor. Starting from zero and barring external heat intake (ie enemy tech attacks or special abilities), the Pegasus and Swallowtail can safely overcharge twice more, and BW has wiggle room for a third (though its own systems are quite spicy). They can of course push their reactors more than this and roll the dice to see if they'll get punished, and sometimes you've just got to accept that Stress Is A Resource and push the heat anyway. Related, as far as attrition goes: Everest 22/22 HP 4/4 Structure 7/7 Repairs 4/5 Fuel Rods 2/3 Redundant Systems 3/3 Stasis Barriers Untouched, though some LimSys were employed. Thanks to the Grease Monkey 1 talent could spend 2 repairs to restore charges on all, but there's enough for the next sitrep so I'll hold off on it. Nana's only Rest activity would be clearing heat. Black Witch 11/18 HP 4/4 Structure 4/5 Repairs Spent one repair mid-sitrep after dipping low, and Triada might opt to spend another to fully restore HP on Rest. Still relatively fresh. Pegasus 12/18 HP 4/4 Structure 4/4 Repairs In a similar situation to Triada, Charlotte could fully restore HP for safety. Swallowtail 15/16 HP 3/4 Structure 6/6 Repairs Missing only 1 HP, Frank might be feeling good about leaving that as is but definitely will want to spend 2 Repairs to patch up that Structure; the more Structure you're missing the more dice you roll the next time you make the check, picking the lowest which are worse results, and a snake eyes is instant wreck. Thankfully, the Swallowtail has a bizarrely good repcap for a Smith-Shimano Corpro frame, and Frank didn't lose any extra bits when they got structured during the battle, so they can pay up and be good to go. No reactor stress on anyone. So as PTN has been saying, we got out of this one pretty fresh. Furthermore, our Everest is packing the 3rd rank of Grease Monkey, which allows a 1/mission one point structure repair teamwide, so as long as we don't get messed up too badly next battle we should be able to enter the last with all our limbs still attached. Real powerful support talent.
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Dec 31, 2021 04:11
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PoptartsNinja posted:I really like the Manticore. It's basically one giant dare to your GM. Thats amazing. hows it actualy work in play, tho? the daring, that is.
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Dec 31, 2021 04:55
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It seems like a great mech for annoying the hell out of the GM. Just 100% suicidal plays all the time, if you die you die, next session you come back with a character in the same setup. Repeat until you're kicked from the group.
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Dec 31, 2021 05:50
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Conspiratiorist posted:(Snip) This is pretty neat, actually! So like, dumb/computer driven/learning machines and what we think of AI like Neural Nets, Siri, all the way up to Halo's Cortana are a-ok and useful products, but going full shodan isn't. Beyond the constraints of reality is a big solid no-no. Is the omni-net thing a reference to another bad/wrong event where things went wierd shaped?
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Dec 31, 2021 05:58
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The omninet is the sci-fi space internet in Lancer, a sister development to the blinkgates that allow instant travel between stars, though much more widespread as it is comparatively much easier to distribute omninet terminals and further hook other devices to them for access. Both technologies are derived from research into blinkspace, which just like NHPs was discovered as a result of the Deimos Incident - that one time when humanity accidentally a god while trying to predict the future. TheParadigm posted:Thats amazing. hows it actualy work in play, tho? Manticore has this... situation going on where its fluff is being a kind of suicidal berserker, possesses as a trait the ability to explode even harder than other mechs do on meltdown (and always meltdowns on getting wrecked), and its equipment runs super hot or causes self-damage which circles back into the playstyle the fluff is selling, and as if to balance around this expectation that players will pilot Manticores recklessly, the frame is super tough, with powerful offensive/defensive traits and good stats across the board, to make sure they'll burn bright and gloriously. And I've seen these kinds of Manticores in play and they're indeed pretty solid, with the big final boom putting in work, so long as they abstain from being a little too reckless - you want to last till the last sitrep of the mission, then feel free to pump your reactor for all it is worth. But here's the thing: if it's meant to be so rugged it works even when throwing all caution to the wind while employing its gimmicky in-license gear... then what happens if you optimize? Manticore is one of the strongest frames in Lancer. Obscene scaling. IME sits alongside Everest, Sherman and Genghis at the top of Mt. Striker. And this is without blowing up in the opfor's face, which I'm not saying not to do, because that's a hella strong play you can have on top of the disgusting things the frame can do.
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Dec 31, 2021 07:26
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TheParadigm posted:Thats amazing. hows it actualy work in play, tho? You become very familiar with the rules for flash cloning your player character.
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Dec 31, 2021 19:14
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TheParadigm posted:This is pretty neat, actually! Lancer really adopts the "everything and" mentality in a lot of ways. The paracausal space ghost NHPs and their progenitor RA are straight up sci Fi magic mostly on a leash and distilled into a product with military applications. Their magic powers and potential to go all 2001 A Space Odyssey crazy colors on you are features. However, Lancer also has conventional super-AIs. Union operates a group of one type of those, which are called bicameral minds, in secret as part of their intelligence apparatus. But, the origin of RA and the so-called Deimosian NHPs is that the afforementioned bicameral minds (called GALSIM or sometimes "the choir") simulated an alternate universe in which RA existed so good that it sprang into existence from the sim. The same event allowed humans access to blink space and set the stage for the creation of the FTL OmniNet. But, depending on who you believe, the Deimos event didn't just allow humans to study and access blink space; it created blink space from whole cloth in an instant. The reason the aren't more bicameral minds floating around and why all the NHPs in the game mechanics are Deimosian? RA made humanity sign the First Contact Accords and promise to stop loving around or they'd Find Out. So conventional hyper-AI development and high transhumanism are banned under threat of getting killed by spacegod. Ask John Creighton Harrison II for more information. Meanwhile of course there's this whole other human society outside the reach of Union, the Aunic Ascendancy, and they've got their own space God with very different ideas. And guess what? Blink space doesn't exist in their territory; they have access to a different magical space dimension called The Firmament and a completely different type of paracausal technology with totally different rules and applications. And the two can't coexist...
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Dec 31, 2021 19:35
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So, players. What are you up to during your brief downtime?
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Jan 3, 2022 17:40
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Frank spends 2 Repair cap to fix the gaping hole the sniper left in his mech; leaving him at 4/6 RC and dropping back to 1st Gate since this is a rest.
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Jan 3, 2022 18:54
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I'll leave my HP as-is. My Black ICE Module rolls back to +1 since the scene ended.
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Jan 3, 2022 21:58
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Everest clears all heat. That's that.
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Jan 4, 2022 00:18
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I will spend 1 Repair to restore to full HP. I will also clear all heat.
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Jan 4, 2022 00:31
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Everyone clears heat as a consequence of combat ending, you shouldn't need to specify that.
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Jan 4, 2022 00:38
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Just an FYI, one of my coworkers had a death in their immediate family so I'm going to be covering a few shifts to help. It's going to slightly delay things but I should have the map and intro up tomorrow or Thursday so the players can plan their first moves.
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Jan 4, 2022 21:48
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A totally unrelated question that has probably been asked before, but there's no way I'll be able to find the answer in the monstrous number of posts in this thread: Hey PTN, what program do you use to do your hex maps?
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Jan 4, 2022 21:53
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loving bet it's either him hand placing layers with Photoshop / GIMP, or he has, somehow, taught excel to render hex cells.
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Jan 4, 2022 22:32
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Zurai posted:A totally unrelated question that has probably been asked before, but there's no way I'll be able to find the answer in the monstrous number of posts in this thread: To generate the maps themselves I use a truly ancient program called BME (BattleTech Map Editor?), which does the hexes and elevations for me (one click at a time, so any time you see an elevation or hole in a map I've had to click on that hex that number of times). It's so old it uses 8 point font by default. For the actual missions and things like that, I move the units by hand in GIMP. Movement is always the most time-consuming part of each update.
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Jan 4, 2022 22:57
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Lancer Interlude: Round 1 – Turn 0 After a brief pause to repair their most egregious damage, the mercenary quartet set to work following the Hornet’s exhaust trail. They’d traversed rock fields, and a grand crevasse that hadn’t appeared on any map as they followed the little mech up the side of one of the few mountains that breached the glacial surface. Such mountains had been favored by the early settlers as elevator sites, but constant subterranean—for lack of a better term: predation—by the native mineral-eating megafauna had seen most of the exploratory elevators dismantled in favor of icebound models where the noise of moving machinery on ice better kept the native frost worms at bay. Spires of dense volcanic rock pierced the sky, the sedimentary stones that had surrounded them long-since sheered away by glacial action. As the paths between the basalt pillars grew narrower and more winding, Nana called for caution, slowing the mercenary advance lest they round a corner and stumble directly into the enemy. Even that timely warning wasn’t quite enough. Movement Map [N/A] Combat [N/A] Active Map  Primary Objective 1 - Open the Exterior Blast Door - - Exit your mech and hack the door using the computer in 0923 (0/1) - - Deal 40 damage to exterior door (0/40) - - Bait the Bombard into damaging the door twice (0/2) Primary Objective 2 - Open the Interior Blast Door - - Exit your mech and hack the door using the computer in 2404 (0/1) - - Deal 40 damage to interior door (0/40) Alternative Objective - Defeat Most Enemies (0/?) Waiting Players     Activated Players Waiting NPCs        Activated NPC(s) Special Rules - Any attack launched by the Bombard that would strike the Exterior Door is delayed in striking by 1 turn (not round). Orders Due Wednesday - Turn 1 Thursday - Turn 2 Friday - Turn 3 Saturday - Turn 4
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Jan 6, 2022 00:46
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Oh, that's exciting! They have 1hp bombs! Sucks to be a grunt.
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Jan 6, 2022 01:49
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Should have named the Bombard "To Whom It May Concern".
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Jan 6, 2022 02:09
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Farseli posted:Oh, that's exciting! They have 1hp bombs! Sucks to be a grunt. They have 1hp bombs and alllies that can teleport them! Thats amazing. geek the mirage.
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Jan 6, 2022 03:08
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I told you I had a plan to make things more exciting!
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Jan 6, 2022 05:28
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Using grunts against a group with a Pegasus is a choice, I'll give you that.
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Jan 6, 2022 06:01
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If they want to use their core power in this scene they won't have it later. The Ushabti does let them pick their targets, but it's a question as to what they chose to prioritize. There're a lot of high priority targets here. The follow-up question is: what else do I have planned that leaves me completely unconcerned whether or not the grunts die instantly?
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Jan 6, 2022 09:27
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Hey, Sleve McDichael rides again. Glad to see he's moved up from being a Draconis BA commander and got his own artillery robot now.
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Jan 6, 2022 10:36
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Grunts are made for dying. Remember Lancer is an asymmetrical attrition game so trading a pack of Grunts for a core power use is a usually a favorable trade for the GM. Unshackle Ushabti is quite strong however in that it stays on for the entire scene and 3 irreducible free damage per turn on basically any target is hard to waste.
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Jan 6, 2022 19:56
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JackSplater posted:Should have named the Bombard "To Whom It May Concern". Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the final boss labelled "AS PER MY LAST SPACEMAIL"
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Jan 7, 2022 00:58
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