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Feb 25, 2024 08:17
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Regalingualius posted:Well, my Wallflower group finally got to the fight with the giant Enkidu tonight. How does a single LL1 Chungus make a non-Limitless Ultra Berserker meltdown in 2 turns?
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Feb 25, 2024 17:18
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Conspiratiorist posted:How does a single LL1 Chungus make a non-Limitless Ultra Berserker meltdown in 2 turns? That’s what I was wondering as well. I don’t have the combat/roll log from roll20 handy right this moment, but I was surprised to see it go down so quickly after getting to see its stat sheet.
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Feb 25, 2024 17:34
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Spending everything: 2 Brilliance 2 Overcharge 2 Nuclear Cavalier 1 4 Full Tech 2 System Crusher = 12 Heat turn 1 (one Overheat check) 2 Nuclear Cavalier 1 4 Full Tech 2 Overcharge = 8 Heat turn 2 (two more Overheat checks) If their LL1 dip was Minotaur for VLS then that's a potential +12 heat which squares the numbers better, but otherwise it's fairly unlikely since Ultras reroll Structure/Overheat results and you need snake eyes to Irreversible Meltdown. ED: tangentially, I recall the entire first third of NRFAW hinges on never holding a conversation with the ~mysterious raiders~, so I'm curious how you've been making that work with the PCs capturing every enemy pilot they can. Conspiratiorist fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Feb 25, 2024 |
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Feb 25, 2024 17:57
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Conspiratiorist posted:ED: tangentially, I recall the entire first third of NRFAW hinges on never holding a conversation with the ~mysterious raiders~, so I'm curious how you've been making that work with the PCs capturing every enemy pilot they can. In my case I wasn't sure how to handle NRFAW with them actually holding convos with them since it has the potential to derail things in a big way, so I chalked it up to Evergreen impounding them in some facility that my plucky band of mercs who crashed on the planet didn't have immediate access to. Only after were they more trusted by the colony would they have been able to and by then, well, you're onto the second third.
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Feb 27, 2024 22:33
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Yeah, the guy who’s been intent on capturing everyone we can has had one conversation with them (and rolled a verified nat 20 on his attempt to persuade the colony to release the sniper from the very first combat back to the natives and begin a rapport with them), which got us in contact with a sympathetic but unidentified commander. Supposedly, our GM’s workaround for making the reactor and Regret fights still happen was “a rogue faction”.
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Feb 27, 2024 23:06
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Regalingualius posted:Yeah, the guy who’s been intent on capturing everyone we can has had one conversation with them (and rolled a verified nat 20 on his attempt to persuade the colony to release the sniper from the very first combat back to the natives and begin a rapport with them), which got us in contact with a sympathetic but unidentified commander. Supposedly, our GM’s workaround for making the reactor and Regret fights still happen was “a rogue faction”. This is pretty close to what the book recommends to happen, yeah.
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Feb 27, 2024 23:12
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I believe NRFAW does a rather poor job of communicating to the GM what information should be doled out to the PCs in its introduction section, which besides causing friction with player agency as much of the book is heavily railroaded, also kicks things off in a fairly awkward manner for people who don't already know all the Lancer deep lore. Running the splat I'd do something like this: - Inform the players they're being deployed to answer a distress call from Evergreen, seat of the planetary administration for the recently colonized (book says ~50y but let's go with a decade maybe two) Ardennes-3. Over the past year they've come under deadly, sporadic attacks by unidentified assailants likely to be pirates or, even worse, claim jumpers. - The planet's colonization charter is managed by a company called Landmark Colonial, and it's one of its forays into establishing settlements in hostile/less-than-ideal environments. Being a distant subsidiary, its ties to SSC shouldn't be readily apparent, but can be dug up by entrepreneuring PCs. - Whether part of their briefing or not, it should quickly become apparent to the PCs that Ardennes-3 was the site of one of SecComms infamous TBKs: planet-wide genocidal operations perpetrated against resistant populations towards the end of the regime (plausibly explaining Landmark Colonial's interest in this kind of venture). Evidence of a disrupted biosphere, radiation hazards, unexploded ordnance, etc should consequently come as little surprise, however signs of still-active SecComm military infrastructure, while not unheard of, should be a concerning oddity. - If operating under the auspices of Union, they should be further briefed that despite the TBK the planet shows evidence, so far denied by Landmark corporate HQ, of a possibly surviving indigenous population. The situation is thus to be considered politically sensitive, and should indigenous habitation be confirmed then efforts should be made towards conflict de-escalation pending relief by the Union patrol group already en-route to Ardennes. The Landmark planetary administration and colonists planet-side genuinely have no knowledge of any of this, and any corroborating data the PCs may have been granted access to by Union does not match their own surveys (and cannot currently be optically verified due to the ongoing monsoon season). PC groups working for different factions should similarly have their available information adjusted to the needs and goals of their employer. - The Ardennes-3 administration and colonists do not call their world "Hercynia", nor do they call the rumored hostile megafauna "Egregorians." You can come up with your own names if desired. - If the connection is made that this might be the Hercynia from the much mythologized Hercynian Crisis (ie by way of unearthing SecComm equipment, decrypting comms noise, or investigating HUC wrecks), it should be met with awkward disbelief. Patience specifically should point out that even that were the case, and depending on the weight of evidence admit it would merit further investigation in better circumstances, the ongoing attacks against Evergreen are a real and far more pressing concern than entertaining centuries-old myths about alien civilizations. If pressed they should elaborate that the bulk of what is "known" about the Hercynian Crisis were post-facto romanticizations meant to further indict SecComm's atrocities, and what hard data from the period persists indicates the "Egregorians" were aggressively territorial, possibly pre-sentient tool-users - no doubt a fascinating species, but intellectually not much different from Old Cradle's great apes, and almost certainly just as extinct. The current crisis is undoubtedly being perpetrated by humans, and they should become mildly annoyed if because of the PCs rumor spreads that they're being attacked by vengeful aliens. - If HUC personnel are captured they should be highly reluctant to divulge any information, paranoid as they are regarding the colony's allegiances and intentions, at most denying involvement in the deadliest attacks (let's say those were The Machine). If sufficiently worked they could bend protocol and claim this is their world, and if the PCs mean to help they can prove it by leaving them to their own problems and have all interlopers depart the planet (which Evergreen not only lacks the capability to do given the size of the colony, but would of course refuse without a formal inquiry on the matter). If the party does a very good job negotiating, these interactions could be what leads them to Dthall contacting them following Regret's ill-conceived attack. That should sufficiently file off the rough edges up to the HUC revealing their side of the story, from which point on it's relatively smooth sailing narrative-wise.
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Feb 28, 2024 02:15
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Ceebees posted:Well, a fun little idea i had got wildly out of control, and now i have this: an Operation: Winter Scar team built out in medium-sized plastic robot kitbashes. These are amazing! I've thought about when (if  ) I get a regular group going for Lancer dedicating a whole room for the tactical battle using gunpla lolI only recognized the HGUC ECOAS Jegan, what else did you use for these kitbashes? EDIT: Are some of the others 30MM?
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Feb 28, 2024 04:53
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Conspiratiorist posted:Running the splat I'd do something like this:
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Feb 28, 2024 08:53
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Holybat posted:These are amazing! I've thought about when (if Thanks! If you click through on the link there's a gallery with a bunch more pictures where i do actually mention the base kit for each one, but i can go into a little more detail here. There's some 30MM accessories, but the figures are all HG's - the IPS-N ones just come from a bad show that got mostly ignored, but bandai keeps making kits for some reason. Everest - HGUC, ECOAS Jegan Chomolungma - HGUC, Jesta Raleigh - HG AMAIM, Brady Hound torso with Jo Hound arms and legs Blackbeard - HG AMAIM, Jo Hound torso with Brady Hound arms and legs Metalmark - HGWfM, Pharact with Schwarzette lower legs and Zowort second arms (I had a zowort, the arms are nearly identical, and for some reason despite the previous hundreds of dollars of accessory kits buying a second Pharact just for the arms was where i drew the line) I kept the mechs from each manufacturer in the same HG line, to try to give each one a sort of distinct manufacturer's style? Most of the weapons are actually Frame Arms guns, which is troublesome because their hands are a little bit different, so each one required a bunch of carving down the handle to make it fit in HG hands.
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Feb 28, 2024 16:05
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Still haven't redesigned the update image format, but still! Made some more stuff for the Phoenix. 
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Mar 1, 2024 15:31
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Been using the retrograde minis and cutting out a lot of stuff and had an idea. For half size units - I trim down the whitespace above and below the unit so they're standing half as tall as a full length size 1 or 2 stand. For my custom prints, I've just started placing them just below the centerfold line so I don't have to glue/trim them like the stock printouts where they're placed in the middle. No idea how feasible it would be, but a neat printing feature for half size units would be to have them shifted up to the fold line. 
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Mar 1, 2024 19:22
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Ok so I just had a speedy read through Wallflower. Not sure if I'll run it or not, there's a hell of a lot in there. Am I right that act 2 and 3 are only drafts and look like they'll never get published? Is there any story there as to why? Seems odd when it looks like Wallflower is well regarded and then there's just no publisbed second act.
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Mar 1, 2024 22:04
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One or both of the writers got hired for another job and are intending to go back to it when they get the chance iirc, though who knows when that might happen.
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Mar 1, 2024 22:16
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The rough draft stuff is all freely available on the official discord, from what I’ve heard, though I’m not poking around in the Wallflower Spoilers channel when I’m still playing it for the first time.
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Mar 1, 2024 23:49
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More specifically, the team is two people, and one of them was hired by Wizards of the Coast so any further RPG work would run afoul of their non-compete. This sucks for lancer, but when someone offers you a steady job with benefits in the elfgame industry, you loving take it. Anyway, this is why they pivoted from first party official modules, to second-party approved modules under the Massif label - like Kai Tave's own OSR, Ralf's Dustgrave, and Shaka's SSMR.
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Mar 1, 2024 23:55
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Ah that clears that up, I assumed there had to be a good reason!
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Mar 2, 2024 00:01
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The drafts for Wallflower part2+3 are also pretty incomplete, though fans have done some work on "here's how I would do it". With that said my personal opinion is that Wallflower's status as the 'first campaign' and also the fact that it was being written as the lore was being written too makes it feel a bit overstuffed and odd (especially if you peek at the latter acts). Solstice Rain and the upcoming Winter Scar, both by Kai Tave cover almost the same level range and are closer to the kinds of adventures/themes I like in Lancer. Solstice Rain also gives explicit advice for GMs new to Lancer. My only complaints with it are that compared to Wallflower's easy combats, Solstice Rain can be rough on newbies - you definitely want to run a "training combat" to make sure everyone properly understands the rules before you run the first fight. It also showcases a variety of enemy types so it's tough for newbies to learn "OK, this is what a Ronin type enemy does" and then oops no more ronins for the rest of the adventure.
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Mar 2, 2024 00:05
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bewilderment posted:The drafts for Wallflower part2+3 are also pretty incomplete, though fans have done some work on "here's how I would do it". I realized that it was going to take my group probably like w years to get through it though, so I went looking for something shorter and found Solstice Rain. It looks the perfect length, but I saw some complains that the story beats and the back drop were kinda bland. I guess I'm not super upset about that, but Wallflower had some pretty interesting stuff going on.
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Mar 2, 2024 00:19
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I don't think Solstice Rain is bland at all, it's the kind of thing I prefer in Lancer - messy politics on a human planet where Union and the PCs get involved. Specifically I believe Solstice Rain is going for an Ace Combat kind of feel. Though since I rain Solstice Rain and Dustgrave back to back, I made the comment that SR feels like Mass Effect 1, while Dustgrave feels like a big Mass Effect 2 mission (and features a particular NPC more directly than I would prefer, but that's not too tough to adjust). Siren's Song I haven't read so much but goes all in on NHP issues. Since Wallflower, SR and SS all have such a big NHP focus, the next slate of licensed modules (Winter Scar the sequel to SR, Shadow of the Wolf, and I assume there's more on the way) intentionally features them less heavily or as just 'regular' characters.
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Mar 2, 2024 01:18
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bewilderment posted:I don't think Solstice Rain is bland at all, it's the kind of thing I prefer in Lancer - messy politics on a human planet where Union and the PCs get involved. It's clearly written as a new player/GM intro to Lancer and the combat sections all sound rather interesting, strongly tied into the narrative and are well explained for a new GM. Nice! The rest seems under baked though. I'll spoiler just in case. The setup of the planet as a whole is neat, a cool idea but then it's boiled down to basically one city, good guys vs bad guys. Something goes wrong when the obvious bad guys do something obviously bad. Players come down and there's basically back to back railroaded combats (I think there's at least one which the book says "feel free to do this as a skill challenge if you don't have time") where the outcome of the combat really just determines a small reward vs some damage. I didn't see any sections where pilots were encouraged to explore or understand more about the setting or what was going on or why. The downtime sections seems strictly about getting reserves. And it doesn't seem to offer GMs much in the way of information to give to the players if they do ask. I don't expect (or want) a TTRPG module to give me 100 pages of lore and every option and every NPC dialogue. But I want it to give me is the major faction and NPC goals. What OS gave me is flowery and forces me either have to hand wave it or make it up. All that said, as an intro to Lancer combat I think it looks pretty decent. I think if I run it I'll probably shoehorn in some more NPCs with actual thoughts and feelings and maybe a third faction to keep it spicy. kaffo fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Mar 3, 2024 |
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Mar 3, 2024 10:27
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Theres a sequel coming out that, having read the early preview of, I think fleshes solstice rain out significantly, and once it releases I think it should probably be viewed as a single module by most gms. in it, the hostiles unleash a secret weapon, drive unions carrier from orbit, and leave the pcs trapped fighting a guerilla war as things go deeply, deeply south.
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Mar 3, 2024 15:20
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kaffo posted:All that said, as an intro to Lancer combat I think it looks pretty decent. There was an exchange about this a couple pages back starting here https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3865179&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=155#post536364259 I'd consider changing the enemy composition (fewer NPC types, no perma-invis enemies) and the sitrep special rules for several of the sitreps
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Mar 7, 2024 21:07
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There were a few more invisible enemies than I like but I only remember one perma-invis dude. He was where the group discovered that A) save effects like throwing grenades don't care about invisible and B) You can throw something like four grenades in one turn if you really wanna. I thought it was pretty good as an introduction to LANCER, honestly. I focused more on getting the PCs to interact and figure each other out so they had less to do with the planet and governance than I normally would have, which neatly solved a lot of problems. I combined that with as much of a laser focus on the critical objectives as I could. Player: "So why exactly are these guys opposed to the Cressedium joining Union?" Lt. Kim: "I have no idea and we can ask about that after we rescue the captain and ambassador." In this case someone, probably Ambassador Bannarjee, would know but I hustled everyone off to Dustgrave before anyone thought to ask. I also changed the 2nd combat to a skill challenge as suggested by the module, and added an alternate win condition to the 5th (open ballast tanks, 20hp 3armor, that could be blown up and instantly ended the fight) to encourage something other than standing still and killing everything.
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Mar 8, 2024 00:51
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I went kind of overboard on the legs. 
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Mar 16, 2024 12:24
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wrong, go harder.
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Mar 16, 2024 14:05
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Seeing the monster truck mech has made me spend the last hour spitballing a monster-truck-rally-mech-destriction-derby thing in my head. Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
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Mar 16, 2024 15:19
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Extreme Metal Slug energy there.
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Mar 16, 2024 21:15
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McKilligan posted:I went kind of overboard on the legs. My group actually discovered the socks and shoes you can put on the Lancaster when we were mid session last night. Holy gently caress I thought some of us were gonna die laughing. Love retrogrademinis.
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Mar 17, 2024 01:04
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My favorite decision is provoking SSC hitsquads to hunt me by putting socks and sweet kicks on my SSC mechs.
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Mar 17, 2024 05:59
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kaffo posted:I had a read through SR since posting and I think I see what the reviews mean. Most of what you want is already in there? The Leandric States Alliance ('good guys'), 'Vestan Sovereignty' (bad guys) and there's even the third faction you add in if you want there to be one, the Republic of Okasnia. It's as much of a setting as you'd need for the equivalent of Ace Combat. The LSA wants to (re)join Union, the Vestans don't, for evil reasons they choose to derail negotiations with a surprise attack on the LSA. Yeah, you don't get a lot of faction info beyond that because... what more do you need? It's a modern-ish planet and the entirety of SR takes place literally over two days. As far as downtime goes, I felt there was enough for the PCs to dig into in the break between two missions where you've got NPCs to chat to. It's intentionally a pretty fast-paced module. Though if you do want something Wallflower (or bigger) sized go check out In Golden Flame which spends pages 12-46 basically all on lore so the PCs can feel invested in the setting.
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Mar 17, 2024 11:12
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This update has it all: Hooves AND toes. 
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Apr 1, 2024 12:55
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Requesting terrifying Actual Toes like Dann of Thursday has in GunXSword, tia. Maybe some Getter Pupils as well for maximum discomfort.
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Apr 1, 2024 13:10
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Wallflower Act 2 Crime Squad starring Zee Qing aka Youxia driving pre:RACK, TAP, BANG pre:5 Shooter pre:Planning Committee pre:GET BACK HERE The Oldest Man fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Apr 5, 2024 |
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Apr 5, 2024 05:42
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-- SSC Viceroy @ LL7 --
[ LICENSES ]
SSC Monarch 2, IPS-N Caliban 3, SSC Mourning Cloak 1, SSC Metalmark 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints, Reinforced Frame
[ TALENTS ]
Vanguard 3, Skirmisher 3, Gunslinger 3, Combined Arms 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:4 AGI:3 SYS:0 ENGI:2
STRUCTURE:4 HP:27 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+1
SPD:6 EVA:11 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
AUX/AUX MOUNT: Vijaya Rockets / Vijaya Rockets
FLEX MOUNT: Missile Rack / Missile Rack
HEAVY MOUNT: Hammer U-RPL // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ SYSTEMS ]
Flash Charges x3, Rapid Maneuver Jets, Personalizations, Stable Structure
-- SSC Dusk Wing @ LL7 --
[ LICENSES ]
SSC Dusk Wing 3, SSC Death’s Head 3, HORUS Lich 2
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Integrated Weapon, Neurolink Targeting
[ TALENTS ]
Centimane 3, Gunslinger 3, Brutal 3, Ace 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:4 AGI:2 SYS:1 ENGI:2
STRUCTURE:4 HP:18 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:7
TECH ATK:+2 LIMITED:+1
SPD:7 EVA:14 EDEF:9 SENSE:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
INTEGRATED WEAPON: Nexus (Light)
AUX/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Nexus (Light)
FLEX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Nexus (Light)
[ SYSTEMS ]
StunCrown x3, OASIS Wall, Flicker Field Projector, Kinetic Compensator, Unhinge Chronology
-- SSC Swallowtail (Ranger Variant) @ LL7 --
[ LICENSES ]
SSC Swallowtail 3, HORUS Pegasus 3, HA Sunzi 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Full Subjectivity Sync, The Lesson of Shaping
[ TALENTS ]
Field Analyst 3, Leader 3, HOUSE GUARD 3, Bonded 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:6 SYS:0 ENGI:1
STRUCTURE:4 HP:16 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:5 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+0
SPD:9 EVA:18 EDEF:8 SENSE:20 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
FLEX MOUNT: Autogun
MAIN MOUNT: Autogun
[ SYSTEMS ]
ATHENA-Class NHP, SISYPHUS-Class NHP, Personalizations, Accelerate
-- HORUS Balor @ LL7 --
[ LICENSES ]
HORUS Balor 3, HA Sunzi 3, SSC Black Witch 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints, Heatfall Coolant System
[ TALENTS ]
Executioner 3, Technophile 3, Skirmisher 2, Black Thumb 2
[ STATS ]
HULL:6 AGI:0 SYS:1 ENGI:2
STRUCTURE:4 HP:30 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:7
TECH ATK:+2 LIMITED:+1
SPD:3 EVA:6 EDEF:11 SENSE:5 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Warp Rifle
HEAVY MOUNT: Nanobot Whip // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ SYSTEMS ]
Accelerate, Ferrous Lash, Final Secret, Personalizations, Enlightenment-Class NHP
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Is it worth trying to play this game on paper? Everyone seems to say it's digital for life. I have a bunch of battlemechs and some battletech maps I'm sure I could whip up a one shot
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Apr 5, 2024 08:33
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I've played in person and it's fine. The gm at least needs to have compcon on a laptop, but beyond that it works just fine Just to note with the way movement and mussions work in lancer you'll want at least 2 battletech maps for most fights since battletech spaces are huge and lancer maps want to be like.. 25x25 plus.
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Apr 5, 2024 10:22
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Kitfox88 posted:Requesting terrifying Actual Toes like Dann of Thursday has in GunXSword, tia. Maybe some Getter Pupils as well for maximum discomfort. Wait. The toes have getter pupils?
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Apr 5, 2024 10:26
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NachtSieger posted:Wait. The toes have getter pupils? No just regular getter pupils, but getter pupils on the toes would be exponentially more horrific.
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Apr 5, 2024 14:39
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If your HORUS Chassis starts doing the weird esoteric absorbing people poo poo that later getters do, you should probably get outta there.
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Apr 5, 2024 15:45
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