Field Guide to Castor and Pollux

[unkempt moth]

*In the last days before the Second Committee fell, a final wave of colonies was scattered across Union. They developed in isolation; lost to the reaches of time and space. Twin colonies rose in lockstep sheltered in the solitary system of Quetzal's Flight. First brothers and then enemies, Castor and Pollux leapt to war in their greed over the system's mineral wealth – until the unthinkable happened. A catastrophic stellar event left Castor scorched and unlivable, and ended the war before it could start. Their twin left for dead, Pollux became the sole inheritor of Quetzal's Flight.

Now over a century later Pollux is a plutocratic paradise petitioning for Union recognition. However, on their erstwhile twin, long-quiet forces stir. Castor's survivors rebuilt society from bunkers and caves under the radioactive waste of their home. Now they are set to reignite the war that never was; desperate for survival, raging at their abandonment, they hope to strike Pollux down before it can do the same to them. It is in this moment, the last days before the war begins, that this field guide is set.*

The Field Guide to Castor & Pollux is a homebrew setting guide to twin colonies with a tense past and looming conflict in the future. Along with setting details it contains 4 new Big 4 frames, as well as Pinnacle Industries - Orion Faction frames, a new homebrew manufacturer developing military hardware from old construction and terraforming equipment, new talents, downtime actions, and NPC classes.

• The wheel of the galaxy turns inexorable.

Quetzal’s Flight is one grain of sand amidst millions; one spark of humanity in the great bonfire of Union. It teeters at the edge of oblivion, of washing away into the great rushing darkness. There is no certain fate – only the unknown, the moment, the weight of one foot on the scales before the collapse.

Where do you stand, pilot?*

https://cicadashellsoul.itch.io/field-guide-to-castor-and-pollux

[errant torrent]

I still cry at the premise

[wise turtle]

This is a cool setting

[jagged lichen]

Hell yeah! Castor and Pollux is an absolute delight to read, and hella's a very skilled writer and designer! Everything in the book (from the player mechs, to the NPCs, to the general tone and setting building) is phenomenal.

Some personal favourites are the Vector and Packmaster NPCs, the PI-OF Anise and HA Tametomo frames, and the "Earn Your Wings" downtime action (and by extension the shipbuilding mechanics!).

[azure sand]

Personal favorite is the Cyborg talent, myself, on account that it made the game actually playable despite getting stunned basically every time I took structure

[outer veldt]

heads up: there's a tiny discrepancy in the 2.3 LCP (and probably earlier), where damage types in the npc_features.json file aren't capitalized (the first letter, that is) for NPC weapons

comp/con doesn't seem to mind, but i've noticed the lancer-system for foundry-vtt misreads them, and defaults them all to kinetic damage instead (the people running that appear to be more strict about the LCP spec than comp/con and i doubt i can change that), which caused me a mild nuisance in setting something up today and yesterday

otherwise, only want to say it's a very good supplement, and while i don't currently have an opportunity to use the setting, i am definitely making good use of the NPC classes and templates (i really like the Pyre - its fuel-rod sling was one of the victims, here)

[outer veldt]

one of my players has been eyeballing that talent too, it's a good one

(sincerely hoping i don't turn into the "there's a tiny bug in your file and i need to make sure you've been informed" lady, lol)

[unkempt moth]

no, that’s good to know! I don’t have any experience with the foundry module so I can’t bug test it personally, but I know that a lot of people rely on it

this is a pretty easy fix all said so I can wrap it into the next update whenever that is

[azure sand]

yeah foundry gets antsy about capitalization

[unkempt moth]

That update came a little sooner than I expected because I have other exciting news - the last of C&Ps big 4 now has new art! This is the last piece coming in from SkyCrime who did the other 3 too, and I'm so happy with his take on it

[errant torrent]

BOSTON DYNAMICS DOG DETECTED

[unkempt moth]

v2.4 of the pdf and lcp are now published and have the art for both the Sicklewing and Tametomo included, and the new capitalization edit + Basil timing edit

[errant torrent]

BUT SERIOUSLY holy shit this is good

[unkempt moth]

also the Tametomo now has an associated iconic pilot because it is blorbo season:

ARGOS “Lilac” LAVERRE, The Red Right Hand Mech: <It’s A Dry Heat>

[cedar jay]

hello castor and pollux friends and players. I have not explored this homebrew a lot aside from making use of the sabotage sitrep (great work btw) What should i know about the PC mechs available and what tools will i get as a GM here?

im slowly perusing the pdf atm

[cedar jay]

these extra corpo frames art pieces are awesome btw

[cedar jay]

after a quick skim, Pinnacle Industries is a colony building corpo with a security paramilitary branch?

[unkempt moth]

pretty much

or; it’s John Deere that realized the military industrial complex is highly lucrative

and is splitting down the middle as values are tested

[cedar jay]

i like the flavor, havent dug into the meat of the mech fluff and so on yet

how do you feel about its current state of balance with official content?

[unkempt moth]

I think it should be in a pretty good spot - the NPCs have gotten more total playtesting than the PC mechs I think but nothing has come up that’s been too egregious (and the one thing that did got toned back a few versions ago)

My goal was always to go for parity with core more than like, power fantasy homebrew

[cedar jay]

Sweet, I'm being a sneaky gm and sending screenshots of mechs they may like to them and just going "tell me if you want to know more"

Ofc for me I'm gonna need to dig more into the npcs and so on

[unkempt moth]

please do! And if you do end up using anything, let me know how it goes!

[cedar jay]

I like the general vibe of feeling grounded with stuff so I may do more shenanigans with fitting them into some of the playtest content

[cedar jay]

hmmm hmmm hmm pyre ronin makes a good tokugawa stand

oh hmm question

Cyborg Talent, is the Neural Link effect an always on thing?

any reaction a hostile mech attacks you with treats you as effectively invisible?

[unkempt moth]

yes, if i recall my own wording correctly

[cedar jay]

spicy, safe to say it doesn't stack with invisible?

[unkempt moth]

that is one that I’ve had my eye on but it also applies to a relatively narrow range of NPCs so I haven’t seen fit to touch it yet

it probably shouldn’t, yeah

[cedar jay]

im really liking this build your own ship stuff

i know mob is a thing on the distant horizon, but this is nice and neat

and leaves plenty of room to let the pc's breathe as they make decisions about it

[unkempt moth]

whenever MOB finally comes out I may revisit it to see how they fit together, but as it stands it seems to work well for people

it’s intentionally very loose and open-ended for that reason, lots of wiggle room for personal interpretation

[cedar jay]

hmm i have a player interested in the sicklewing

any overarching ways to describe its playstyle/niche?

i can see a love of burn checks and the horus heat gain on failed save thing

[unkempt moth]

the idea of it is that, yeah, it wants to force a ton of saves to leverage the Black Cat

it’s fragile and can hang back and send the Cat forward to harass at the front; the special invade-on-save on the cat also means it can pick up new Invades for its control stuff rather than just save forcing tools, so it’s a very credible hacker

but yeah it’s disruption/control, throwing out nasty effects to ruin NPCs days and split them up

[cedar jay]

the weird part lol, is that they were interested in the sicklewing and the cuatl which seem like VERY different ideas

i imagine the sicklewing benefits greatly from cross classing into something like a duskwing for flicker field

and using other defensive tools

[unkempt moth]

aye, it somewhat intentionally doesn’t have much internal defense so it either needs to play it’s control perfectly, have it’s allies protect it, or pick up tools elsewhere

and yeah hahaha while they’re both hackers+something else the Sicklewing wants to confuse and debuff people while everything the Couatl has is about screaming at them to pay attention to it instead of someone else

in this way they probably make a pretty good pair as two mechs on the same squad tbh

[cedar jay]

her og character concept was a bit of a daredevil "look at me" kind of thing, flies around doing tricks and flips and taunting the opponents so they can dodge tank them. That idea has fallen by the wayside currently in the interest of drone queening it up, which was the other major element of their story

i feel like having the cat drone + hacking n stuff might be a fun bridge

[azure sand]

The thing that confuses me about Coatl is honestly just why is it so white?

Like based on vibes I expected it to be a rainbow

(the art is still good don't get me wrong)

[cedar jay]

probably just that color because its surface is probably more like irredescent/multicolor in actio

action*

[glossy loom]

I would like to say, the Coatl makes a great mech partner for a rising idol lancer looking to use their idol skills on the battlefield.

[rigid plover]

question about the Vector NPC

Exact text for its Microjet Lance ability:

If a character would be affected by multiple lances simultaneously, they make a single save and take +2 damage and +2 Knockback per additional lance. The lance stops early if it hits terrain or an object, destroying that object. Characters flying above the line must also make the save. Multiple lances cannot originate from the same space.

The Vector can spend a quick action to take this free action 1 more times this turn.```

Does that line just stay there if nobody trips the wire, so to speak?

[unkempt moth]

Yes, they persist between rounds until triggered

[rigid plover]

Dope

[dim spear]

recently gave the field guide a look and I thought it was a cool read. had a few questions I wanted to ask though:

1. for the fennel’s parvati-class NHP, is there a check/save for enemies to remove the hive? it’s mentioned in the venom option that there is a check/save (no type given) to clear the hive, but it’s not mentioned anywhere else
2. does the spearmint’s TT.32 'glacier lake’ coolant hose’s speed reduction effect stack? if so, how would the enemy clear them: multiple quick actions, or just one quick action?
3. for the vector’s colossus quiver, would the vector take 1d3 + 1/2/3 heat or just 1d3 heat?
4. how does the pyre’s degradation field interact with HP gained from stabilising (e.g. if at 4/12 HP, would a mech only be healed to 8/12 HP?)
5. for the sabotage sitrep, only 3 ingress zones are given in the example setup. if reinforcements come through 2 of the IZs in one round, are reinforcements limited to 2 NPCs (or 4 grunts) coming through just 1 IZ in the next round?

also some minor formatting stuff I just wanted to point out in case you weren’t aware:

• on page 61, the license III heading reads dagger auto-missiles instead of carbonized auto-saw. carbonized auto-saw also doesn’t explicitly say what action is required to activate/rev it up (I assume a quick action though?)
• on page 62, the coriander is noted as an artillery but uses a striker icon
  - on page 66, an excerpt of the fennel’s intro text is missing some punctuation (“the Fennel scouts targets and seeds traps across the battlefield,”)
• on page 74, the peppercorn is stated as being size 1 but its size icon (which I think accidentally went into the previous page) is size ½
• on page 77, the rosemary’s size and role icons are arranged in the wrong order (i.e. role and then size, instead of vice versa)
  - on page 83, the flavour text for the 'glacier lake’ coolant hose refers to it as the GL chemical hose (my bad if this is intentional)
  - on page 99, consecrate states “until the start of your next turn” instead of the start of the virtue’s next turn

[unkempt moth]

1…… Huh, it sure doesn’t say what the save is meant to be. Wild. Iirc I think it’s either a Systems or an Engineering save as a quick action, but I’ll have to go back through my notes to confirm that.
2. It does stack, but a single save removes all reductions at once.
3. Yep, 1d3+1/2/3; they do take more heat at higher tiers but they get more lances too.
4. Yep, you’d heal 8 -> halve to 4, end up with 8 total.
5. If you deployed in two zones you’d be restricted to the third in the next round; I edited the wording to say you can deploy in up to two zones so you aren’t forced to always alternate 2->1->2->1 though, which was my intent with it (I’m copying the wording from one of the core sitreps I just don’t recall which one).

And thanks for catching these! All the little clerical stuff slips through, no matter how hard I try there’s always something left over that I’m blind to.

the little icons especially are annoying with gdocs because they do love to slide around between pages, and will also sometimes move between what I see on the doc and what gets exported to the pdf

[dim spear]

ah yea, I get ya. I find that no matter what editor I use the images are always handled funkily. no prob on those small bits though, and thanks for clarifying some stuff for me!

[unkempt moth]

oh I missed the actual question there too, yes the auto saw is a quick to rev up

[dim spear]

hey @unkempt moth, I’m back in this thread again. so I was making an LCP for the induction welder (cause I’m planning on giving it to my players as exotic gear) and noticed a discrepancy between the LCP and the PDF. because I clearly have nothing better to do, I figured I’d do a look through the entire thing; hope it’s helpful!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13cI7EUjnhYv5Rz9szzT1ZQ7KjbsrirwudJV1x1Gdo2I/edit

[unkempt moth]

Oh wow that’s a lot hahaha

Thank you Tetra, this is incredibly helpful

I think with all this + your stuff from earlier I might try to push out an update some time soon

[dim spear]

that's cool to hear! glad I could help

[gloomy bison]

One thing that I would appreciate, if its practical to do, is if the PDF was bookmarked, it is a pain to have to go hunting through it for stuff

[unkempt moth]

https://cicadashellsoul.itch.io/field-guide-to-castor-and-pollux/devlog/475771/cp-24-and-245

Okay, update pushed! I also discovered that I never published the devlog for the 2.4 update, so that got rolled into here too! This should account for everything Tetra found, along with a few minor fixes

[dim spear]

just wanted to report a minor thing: the formatting for the packmaster optionals seems to be a bit off (which has affected the vector and virtue pages)

[unkempt moth]

ah fuck

how on earth could this have happened

I didn’t even touch those 😔

well that’s alright actually I forgot I was going to add a better doc outline anyway so I can do that tomorrow

[dim spear]

word editors be like that

[vivid slate]

Anyone have any thoughts on the Secure sitrep, and how running it compares to the core sitreps? Anything someone would generally want to keep in mind running it?

[azure sand]

Btw Hella I just want you to know that I and a friend of mine both love the Coatl to bits

To the point we have both formed Strong Opinions about it and had multiple arguments on the topic of how colorful the paint job needs to be 🤣

[gloomy bison]

The correct answer being that if it does not include at least three colours that aren't on the natural spectrum its not colourful enough

[azure sand]

galaxy brain take there

it just looks white because most of the paint is outside the visible spectrum

(as a side note, is there a reason the banner display for Cuoatl's license sits center torso, rather than on its face like most mechs?)

[unkempt moth]

iirc I tried to fuck with it for a while but just couldn’t get it to line up

I think something about the resolution just makes it really hard to have it hit the head

[azure sand]

Huh, weird

[azure sand]

I did some fiddling with my own copy of the C&P LCP and I've concluded that the problem with Couatl is it doesn't have an easily identifiable eye level. I'm finding 17-18 to be a good offset, but you could conceivably go anywhere from 15 to 20 and still be on target for the head, so it really comes down to how you want it to look I suppose.

Tametomo clearly had some kind of offset going in at the start but for reasons unknown it displays as 0, so I also fiddled with that one and I think Y position 27 probably looks best, maybe 28?

idk if you particularly need or want this information, but I figured I'd share just in case!

[unkempt moth]

hmmm, yeah i can try changing it maybe

it’s usually the last thing I do before finishing a version (when I’ve had new art to add) so past a point I likely got lazy and just wanted it to be done

[azure sand]

valid! I know I've had that feeling before

[quick pelican]

Recently ran a one shot with the Tametomo - that frame is insanely cool!

Chiming in to also say the Coatl is a big personal favorite.

[unkempt moth]

thanks! They’re definitely the big flashy favorites of the bunch, i had a lot of fun writing them

[steady dawn]

Recreated footage of my pilot using Unstable Charge for two fusion grenades to blow themselves and two elite veterans up

10/10 would use again

[unkempt moth]

working exactly as intended

[balmy fractal]

I cannot remember if I ever came back and shared this idea or opinion.

I like that the Basil uses Repair Caps on a couple of its weapon/system. With the Woodsman Unit core bonus, I think maybe a number of the weapons and systems inherent to Pinnacle could lean on this design.

I do not think there is yet any Corp that plays with Repair Caps in their design?

I might be wrong.

@unkempt moth

Maybe it's a little late now, but I still wanted to maybe note an avenue.

[unkempt moth]

Yeah, it’s something that I came to a little late in the design process. At this point it would take reworking a few different things to really integrate it into the whole corp so it probably won’t happen, but it’s something I might keep in mind for things like exotics in the future

I’m glad you like it though! It’s toeing a potentially tricky line so I hope it lands well

[errant torrent]

finally taking a look at all the frames

god is the Tametomo fucking sick

also the lemongrass is such a shithead love em

[balmy fractal]

Oh, I got to see Tametomo in action, and it's legit an awesome design.

[glad breach]

Hey, for the people who've GMd for, played as, or played along side the Couatl, Pharos, Sicklewing and Tametomo, what did you guys think of them balance wise and gameplay wise?

Were they fun? Cool? Generally balanced

They all LOOK super cool to me

[quick pelican]

Gm’d for a Tametomo. It was incredibly cool and fun! The player had to manage their systems well for a strong payout, but it was glorious to see it work. I really liked the balance of that.

I’ve not the pleasure for the other 3 yet. Though this field guide has been nothing but impressive for the months I’ve used it. I strongly recommend it, especially the additional big 4 corpro licenses.

[glad breach]

Wonderful! That's really really great to hear.
It's my first time gming for the game, and my players have a mix of experience, so I wanted to allow some third-party content but wanted to still just keep it to the big 4 and GMS

But the four mechs for the big four are some of the coolest I've seen from their mechanics to their art

The Couatl's design lives rent free in my head

After their first campaign though it's open season, other mech companies are gonna POP UP, haha

[balmy fractal]

I personally really like both the Couatl and Tametomo.

Pharos could use a nerf on Payload tho', but it's also an interesting frame, as is the Sicklewing.

Black Cat is just cute and neat.

[glad breach]

That's actually good to know and I might keep an eye on that

Thank you!

[glad breach]

May i ask, how would you nerf payload at your games, if you found it too strong

Maybe make it only be on crits?

[balmy fractal]

Once per round.

@glad breach

[glad breach]

Got itttt

Thank you!

[unkempt moth]

mmm, if it’s proved oppressive in play then I think that’s a reasonable restriction

[quick pelican]

It's the nerf I've theory crafted too, but I've yet to see it in play so I keep it in my box of "just in case".

The other restriction I've thought about is keeping it to attacks made on the Pharos' turn.

I understand both these restrictions mess with the assumed-to-be intended synergy with Tactician talents. Thus, I've not incorperated them as of yet. Just brainstormin' and stuff.

[hollow lagoon]

yo folks

just faced a few Vectors

and unless our gm had an outdated version of the lcp

i really really think there should be some sort of limit or expiry clauses on microjet lances

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1069771577966727318/1129896768742633472/image.png?width=1327&height=623

this is how our map looked a few rounds into a sitrep, and they shat out a lot more lances after that

actually nvm, the green lines are additional lances that our kobold plugged up with Terraform

the way our gm played them, it just made the field completely untraversible

(and they agreed on this probably needing a limit, with their change pitches being:

• limit of 3 (?) on the field at a time
• expire at the end of scene
• expire when the vector dies)

[unkempt moth]

this is me not remembering what version of the lcp exists right now: Did your GM tell you that you can shoot them to trigger them early and get rid of them?

they should also deactivate when the Vector dies but looking back on the current doc I can see that that isn’t explicitly stated

it’s in the same unstated space as things like drones turning off when the controller dies but that is the intent for them

[hollow lagoon]

She did not

I'll bring that up, thank you!

[balmy fractal]

[ LICENSES ]
  HA Iskander 2, HA Sunzi 1, IPS-N Raleigh 1, IPS-N Nelson 2
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Reinforced Frame, Integrated Ammo Feeds
[ TALENTS ]
  Nuclear Cavalier 3, Sapper 3, Duelist 2, Spaceborn 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:2 ENGI:2
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:20 ARMOR:1
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:5
  TECH ATK:+2 LIMITED:+3
  SPD:5 EVA:10 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED MOUNT: Fuel Rod Gun x6
  MAIN MOUNT: Charged Blade (Thermal Charge x6)
  FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
  HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Shotgun
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Repulser Field, BB Breach/Blast Charges x6, Blink Charges x6, Type-3 Projected Shield```

I like the third rank in the talent for the Limpet option, because slapping BB Charge Mine on someone means getting to activate it later for a no save 2d6 damage mine. You can shift this build onto an Iskander for the higher Save DC to have better opportunity to Blink Charge them into their own team, and you Overcharge to then activate the BB Charge Mine.

I just think Limpet is better on Frames with a low Save DC.  Use Blink Charges or Shock Charges from GMS Crisis for no save Jammed that can be repeated unlike other Jammed sources.  I just like Size 2 Frames and the opportunity it grants in utilizing Spaceborn EVA with NucCav (and Projected Shield Type-3).

[unkempt moth]

ooooh, very nice

and yeah I’m very proud of Limpet for how it changes the way that you approach certain mine types

[warm fiber]

How many actions does the black cat drone from the sicklewing have? Is it 2 quicks/1 full + move + reaction?

[unkempt moth]

it doesn’t take any actions on its own, it’s just a drone

it can move up to its speed on your turn but that’s all it does for itself

and then the effect it gives to adjacent characters is just a passive Thing that happens, no action associated

[warm fiber]

cool cool

[warm fiber]

can you use drone commander 1 on the black cat?

[unkempt moth]

sure can! It’s functionally very similar to the hydra’s Orochi drones as another point of reference

[ivory hornet]

would anyone have advice on building a pharos (lets say LL6)?

I have no clue on how to make one but I love the mech-based ship combat flavor and figured it'd be a great way to port a battlegroup character to lancer

[pallid elm]

What do you want to do with it?

[ivory hornet]

I am simple
getting lock-ons for teammates by attacking enemies out of cover is neat (possibly destroying the terrain to accomplish this?)
tactician 3 seems fitting
otherwise not sure what combos well with it tbh

thematically pharos makes me think it'd be a great ship boarder alongside caliban and tortuga :)

also ingress rail is really funny

if I am reading prepared actions correctly, you could prepare to use it when an ally moves adjacent to you & then they could spend a quick action to go flying (presumably into an enemy)

[pallid elm]

Let me sleep on it.

[quick pelican]

Pharos is the mech outside the ship providing artillery and targeting support for the caliban and tortuga inside doing the boarding. Using the spacewalk trait to deliver attacks from unexpected angles, or utilizing arcing weapons to safely perform from far away

The bulkhead augur is your go-to weapon for erasing pesky cover from your enemies, and opening up new avenues of pathing for your melee frontliners.

Tactician 2 is great for your core power. But hovering and line weapons are difficult to use together. And tactician 3’s reaction shot is awkward with a loading weapon.

I think the bulkhead augur is a great weapon for when you plan on spending your actions using systems to support your team, and waiting for the right moment to level a 15 line in the map. It goes very well with a drone controller or hacker playstyle, which the pharos can do well. But if you want to be firing your heavy every turn, there might be more appropriate alternatives.

Outside of weapon choice, I think the pharos gets a lot from picking up swallowtail 1 for lotus projector and grabbing drone commander 1. Deploy the lotus drone and mark it as your eye in the sky when you know your team won’t be able to extend to where you need them for your payload guidance trait. This is extra useful if you like using the thresher drone to get rid of yet more cover options.

I like the integrated weapon core bonus with a light nexus for helping secure lock-ons with payload guidance. I think it makes gunslinger 2 a really attractive option to boot.

If you decide against the bulk augur for your heavy, take a look at heavy gunner for threatening more attacks which can deliver lock-on, assuming you choose a non-loading weapon. The Micro-Mass Driver from PI-OF’s Coriander is a very synergistic weapon for this talent.

While you can prepare for the ingress rail, and it will work, you don’t gain much from that over merely using the quick action. Except that you forfeit your prepared action if you decide to take a different reaction before it goes off. Nothing to gain, something to lose.

[royal swan]

Question, outside of HOROS1 possibly what systems do people like on the Coatl after you get LL3 on it

[quick pelican]

Minotaur has some pretty natural synergy with the coatl’s gameplan of getting enemies to stick close to you. I like duskwing for neurospike and flicker field projector. Manticore systems are a solid choice too. Balor is especially nice if you want to go melee instead of cqb

[atomic smelt]

I just want to say I love the Star Anise - the closest LANCER license I came across that feels like the classic "D&D Party Healer"

[unkempt moth]

I’d also say that tortuga, genghis, and gorgon all probably fit on it - anything defender-y and CQB can find a spot

[unkempt moth]

and I’m glad you like it! The Star Anise is a license that has a lot of love in it from my end, and I’m glad it resonates with people

[quick pelican]

Oh 100%. I guess I saw them asking for system recommendations and my head defaulted to all the invades it might like haha

[jagged osprey]

Question for yall, was researching for one of my players systems that can cause shredded and came across the incredibly awesome piton driver. Would it be bending the rules too much to allow White Witch's Pinning Spire (Specifically the "target is always considered in range of a melee attack") to activate Piton Driver at a distance?

[unkempt moth]

I would not recommend that change personally; the point of that clause on the Spire is less intended as a buff, and more a restriction so that the target can always swing back to break it (early drafts didn’t have that and you could make permanent Spires by dragging the two people involved away from each other). Needing to be up close is part of the Piton’s costing. It probably wouldn’t break anything, but it’s not really what I intended for it, if that helps.

[cedar jay]

could power at a cost for the effect

[jagged osprey]

That does help thank you!

[dapper zealot]

Do you plan to sell this book? Or turn it into a key kickstarter when it's complete?

[unkempt moth]

oh god no

not that there’s anything wrong with that I just don’t think it’s something I’d be able to manage

a kickstarter or something similar is most likely the only way that I would be able to get all of the art and whatnot I’d want to make a ‘finished’ version of the Guide but that’s a ton of stress for a project I just do as a hobby tbh

same for Coldcore, I’d love to be able to fill it with art and make it a whole huge thing but I think it would end up being more trouble than it’s worth

[quick pelican]

When a hostile character who is impaired due to frag signal ends their turn, and a Coatl uses their MY PLUMAGE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL reaction on them, would that hostile clear impaired before or after the systems save at the end of their turn?

Ie would they be impaired for the save?

[unkempt moth]

aiui they would be impaired for the save, following the example of things like Burn

[glad breach]

any good stuff on the big 4 mechs (ppharos, tametomo, sicklewing, couatl) that would be good for a caliban?

[unkempt moth]

I wouldn’t say I’m an authority on build plans but I think that they’ll be a bit tricky to fit on a caliban; Sicklewing is very techy for it, Couatl is nice for drawing people in but it’s both techy and hot, tametomo is hot, and pharos is longer ranged than Cali likes to play. The Bulkhead Auger could work as a knockback weapon maybe but its lacking that CQB synergy. Weirdly the next thing I’d think of would be the banshee mines from the sicklewing as a way to shred people for your Slam procs but that’s a lot of setup and investment.

I think the most CQB (as a concept not the weapon type) licenses in C&P are probably the Rosemary and bits of the Peppercorn/Basil

[meager valley]

hi, i'm very tired right now so apologies, but the black cat's "can hover, move and act independently on your turn" means that it doesn't have any actions or anything and just gets to move once on your turn as though taking a standard move, right?

[unkempt moth]

correct, yeah

it’s the same as the orochis in that regard

[meager valley]

got it! thank you

[nimble brook]

Hey, I recently found out about Lancer after DMing for a couple years and am now on a binge finding stuff to find all the mechs. May have got kinda drunk while doing it, not important. Anyhoo really love Peppercorn as a mech concept, but since again mildly drunk I came up with some ideas on what it would look like. But I can’t draw for shite. So I figured I’d just share them, maybe they’ll help others get creative juices flowing? Feel free to shut me up.

So Peppercorn is fascinating from a design concept because you have to take the pilot into account, as they will be clearly visible if you use the monowheel concept. The pilot therefore becomes a key part of the action shot for the image.

Going to use this monowheel for reference.

All credit to original designer.

Now there are 4 problems:

1. How to personalize this monowheel into a Peppercorn Monowheel
2. How to indicate options available within the license through the drawing
3. How to relate the mech to other PINCH-OF mechs in terms of design similarities
4. How best to make use of visible pilot

For 1: The base template serves well. A monowheel is pretty distinct. So just have come up with personal touches. A flaming wheel is good start due to the circulating plasma (blue flames or orange?). Since there are so many different colours of peppercorn (black, white, green, pink) a collection of coloured dots along the inner wheel as nod to that? Put red and green together to add extra racing feel. Add a similar set of dots to the arm the pilot hardsuit for a fun connection?

Finally, the animal skull is fun, but needs changing. Deer and Rabbits eat pepper plants in the wild, so maybe a chrome rabbit or deer skull? The circulating plasma flames could create the deer’s antlers or the rabbits ears. Keeps image of speed associated with those two animals while connecting to other personalizations.

2. Need to incorporate an Uzi, Boost or Jump pads, Plasma Caster, or grenades into design. But pilot also has to drive the monowheel.
   Solution: A set of gauntlets extending out of where the handlebars would be contained on an actual bike. One gauntlet holding the Uzi. Second one just about to touch the ground with a glowing arrow (boost pad). Give Peppercorn additional mech components to go with vehicle ones.

3. This proves difficult since I only have Lemongrass to go off of. Definite insectoid feel to the mech, but that would be hard to pull off with Peppercorn, unless the the pilot was stylized to look insectoid (possible). However a common thread could be elemental effects. PINCH-OF is known for terraforming and colonial development after all. So a Ghost Rider style trail of fire coming off the back of Peppercorn akin to the lightning coming off of Lemongrass?

4. A biker style hardsuit sounds like a good bet. Add the different coloured dots from 1 to connect them to the mech? Fun patches for personalization (maybe a few 🌶️ since peppercorns = spicy). Finally, if you give the pilot a winged helmet then you can draw small connection to NHP Mercury and also speed.

And…that’s it. I hope you have an excellent day.

[unkempt moth]

funnily enough the Peppercorn actually started out as a motorcycle

it was a also a bit of a joke and the first PI-OF frame ever but now it has a special place in my heart

if I were to ever get art done for it my first reference is honestly this

the worlds funniest star wars vehicle

[cedar jay]

man i love that thing

[azure sand]

tbh I envision Peppercorn like the Corpus monowheels you find on the Vallis in Warframe

https://x.com/Kuhri_/status/1162727534720638981?s=20

Kuhri (@Kuhri_)

Finished building a Lego Coildrive from Warframe

Twitter · Aug 17, 2019, 2:07 PM

(weirdly, the lego model has better camera work than any other image i can find)

but, importantly, enclosed cockpit!

protection from fatal road rash if you fall over!

[atomic smelt]

We need more Warframe inspired mechs in LANCER - and I don't mean more 1/2 licenses I mean trippy french scifi Mobius aesthetics looking things, just full on plain weird

Give me more space opera settings where the main FTL engine is a giant human finger stored inside a "Reliquary Drive"

What if instead of a day/night cycle you had two colossal skyworms competing for supremacy and you could tell the time by which one was winning

What if Venus had a livable constantly churning ice blizzard created by literal rivers of coolant maintained by biomechanical "fish" that support it like an ecosystem

[pallid elm]

Question: how does the Tametomo's resistance to Burn damage interact with self-inflicted Burn and damage suffered from failed Burn checks?

[unkempt moth]

resistance when it is inflicted, which reduces the Burn Stack that it takes from it, then it takes damage = stack on a failed check

same as the manticore’s

so if you take 8 Burn -> halve to 4

you take 4 damage rn and have 4 Burn Stacks, then take 4 damage if you fail the check

[pallid elm]

Ah, thank you!

Just to check, failed Burn checks can't bypass Plasma Halo (in other words, I can sit at 1 HP with all the Burn stacks in the world me), right?

[unkempt moth]

also correct, yeah

you just ignore any damage due to burn that would take you from 1 -> 0

[pallid elm]

Got it, thank you!

I imagine a Tametomo entering the field would be an 'Oh, fuck.' moment for all participants.

[unkempt moth]

You can feel the arrival of a Tametomo before you ever see it on the ground; the air fills with static, and radios hiss and pop with the screech of stranded electrons. Every flash of laser fire or damaged circuit becomes brighter as the gap between potentials is drawn taut, tense. The battlefield hangs by a thread, awaiting the tumultuous release.
there’s a reason Immolation Bolt’s flavor text is this

even if you don’t know what it is and you haven’t even seen it yet, you know that something is there

[cedar jay]

tametomo vs balor, kaiju battle music

[pallid elm]

'Oh shit, I'm feeling it...'

[cedar jay]

though also, toku vs tame feels like a fun heat filled face off

[cedar jay]

lol

[vague mist]

Does the Skip Drive count as involuntary movement? And how does it interact with Heavy Frame?

[unkempt moth]

hm

yes, and heavy frame would block it

looking back at it, I’m not sure why it’s worded the way it is and not as an explicit push

[vague mist]

Thanks for the clarification!

[ivory hornet]

dumb question
how would one build a pharos flavored as a mounted chassis wing from battlegroup?

ability to fly & lock-on support is already covered by the frame but I feel like destroying cover (hull breaching for boarders like caliban & tortuga flavor?), etc would be neat

I uh just don't know what licenses go well with it and whatnot

[hollow lagoon]

siege specialist destroys cover

oh im 2 days late

oops

chassis mounts are always tough to replicate since they canonically have 25 heavy mounts or something along those lines

[ivory hornet]

that's okay! it doesn't have to be a 1 to 1 replica
1 heavy mount is good enough for me :)

bulkhead auger from pharos 3 looks really fun but not entirely sure what synergizes with it (am open to suggestions for other heavy weapons too, am thinking of picking up the superior by design core bonus from HA so maybe something from there?)

[ivory hornet]

me being a day late 🤣

[glad breach]

@brave tide was telling me about his build idea and i wasnt sure about if i saw anyone else mentioning it before
Has anyone talked about building Pharos with Sunzi ?

[unkempt moth]

insertion catapulting someone into a realspace breach is very conceptually funny

or someone with tunneler on getting launched

[glad breach]

Yea, thats what Mario is planning to do, that kind of stuff

[glad breach]

he explictly mentioned "setting up the portals to do trick shots and fire people at angles not normally possible"

[restive patio]

My mental image of the Peppercorn is the Einerad from Victory Gundam

[unkempt moth]

that’s actually a very solid idea lmao

I might use that as a ref if I ever do get art for it

[ivory hornet]

https://tenor.com/view/general-grievous-wheel-bike-wheel-bike-speed-gif-17847124

[unkempt moth]

that is the other big one haha

[unkempt moth]

it’s def solid for any artillery in that regard; I’ll note that Payload Guidance still needs them to not have cover from your absolute position so you can’t get around that with the breach, but it does let you get some nasty Riptide impalements

[ivory hornet]

peppercorn looks like fun

very tempted to make one with 6 agility and pankrati 2 (maybe some other talents like ace and skirmisher, etc) 🤣

would be funny imo to move 33 spaces with just a standard move and a free action

[unkempt moth]

activate plasmatic treads and make your speed everyone else’s problem

[restive patio]

I mean my other mental image for the Peppercorn is just fuckin

sonic the hedgehog

But as a robot and packing heat

[ivory hornet]

this is my mental image of peppercorn

https://tenor.com/view/speed-racer-gif-25093341

but with mechscale guns

[restive patio]

Sonic the drive by BRAP BRAP hedgehog

[ivory hornet]

proof that peppercorn is what happens when you give the Flash weapons

[restive patio]

I beg you if you get art done of the Peppercorn PLEASE have the uzi held gangsta style

I need it

[unkempt moth]

the likely design would have the uzis mounted on the stationary inner rim of the wheel

but one could be held at a jaunty angle

I have actually also considered having it just be held by the pilot

[restive patio]

The uzi is mounted on the monowheel, and yet somehow is also gangsta style

[ivory hornet]

bmx autoprint pad is proof that peppercorn's biggest foe isn't mechs

it is rainbow road

the blue turtle shell

and other mario cart drivers

[glad breach]

oh i think riptide is @brave tides favorite part, he mentioned forgetting about everything else cool the mech does until he was halfway into building

[brave tide]

I read everything the Pharos could do, was like "Oh I love this", and forgot all of them one by one except for the riptide without that opinion changing

[dapper zealot]

@unkempt moth are you working on any other pilot talents? Or if not what do you recommend if I were to make my own?

[unkempt moth]

#homebrew-design is probably the best place for consistent help but to answer the first part

• Not for Castor and Pollux, it’s basically a finished product atm mechanically and I don’t want to bloat it by adding more.
• I am adding more to Coldcore Coliseum tho, they’re basically done but I haven’t folded them into the official document yet because I’m finishing other things

in terms of recommendations I think like….. hm. Talents are pretty hard because of how open ended they are

I think:

1. Not every rank of a talent has to be a perfect segue/synergy with the other ranks; some are sequential upgrades to the same ability (ex: Heavy Gunner, Walking Armory), but others are variations on a theme and that can be good too (Spotter, Executioner, Vanguard)

2. A talent should largely revolve around a core concept/keyword; this could be a game keyword like Lock-On or weapon types or a specific action, or a more general concept. To use C&P as an example, Architect and Sapper are obviously going for the actual Deployable and Mine keywords, but Wasteborn and Cyborg are loosely themed around ‘environmental hazards’ and ‘you are very hard to prevent from taking actions’

3. And this one goes for all design always tbh: simple is good. It’s easy to write a big complicated effect, it’s hard to write a small one, but the small ones are easier to keep track of in play and largely better in general imo

I guess also
4. Try to look for an area that isn’t already too heavily explored. The obvious thing is like, Walking Armory already exists so making another Main Ranged weapon talent would be competing for that slot for example — and, if not competing for it, now you’re stacking more power in the same place by taking both. The more unexplored your keyword/concept is, the more valuable the talent will feel, and the less your design will be constrained by what already exists. House Guard is a good example imo where prior to it there wasn’t really any talent that hooked into all of the defensive systems that HoG now does, and because of that it’s A) really popular and B) got to do some fun design things to fill the space

[balmy fractal]

👍

[velvet phoenix]

So a Robo-Shadow?

[restive patio]

https://tenor.com/view/scary-shadow-shadow-the-hedgehog-shadow-sonic-shadow-shadow-with-gun-gif-25939301

[bleak crypt]

really liking the star anise and considering playing in it for a campaign I'm in

quick question about t he cargo loader: does it obstruct space like a mech does? being able to poop out a size 3 man with bricklayer 2 seems quite good

[unkempt moth]

let me double check my own wording real quick and find out

[atomic smelt]

I kinda think the Star Anise is the mvp of the lineup

She deserves art

[unkempt moth]

As written, yes; it’s something that I hadn’t thought too much about when writing it/glossed over because you get to hop on top to share space

so for now I’ll say that yes it does unless that proves too oppressive

actually; one important note that isn’t reflected in the actual text is that it’s intended to be flat

so even as a size 3 the height profile is only size 1 still

but I guess I never wrote that down

[bleak crypt]

flat fuck friday...

[bleak crypt]

if she had save target 12 she'd be in the running for my Favorite Third Party Mech but she'd almost certainly be kinda broken if she did

as it is, I still love her

[unkempt moth]

I love all my children equally but I think you can tell that I love her just a little bit more

some mechs take a lot of work to get into a shape I’m happy with but she basically wrote herself

[bleak crypt]

I have a soft spot for builder mechs and anise is Great at that

nano-ceremate vessel is cool as fuck

[ LICENSES ]
  PI-OF STAR ANISE 3, PI-OF SPEARMINT 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  'WOODSMAN' FORAGING UNIT, 'CURVEBALL' BRACHIAL TUNING
[ TALENTS ]
  Grease Monkey 3, DEMOLITIONIST 3, BRICKLAYER 2, Field Analyst 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:4 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:4
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:21 ARMOR:2
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:9 REPAIR:11
  TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+2
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:6 SENSE:8 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
  FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
[ SYSTEMS ]
  SKADI-CLASS NHP, NANO-CERAMITE VESSEL, FROST CHARGE x4, CARGO WALKER, DEPOT CHARGE x4, Personalizations```
this is the build I'm currently looking at for ll6 and I'm really happy with it tbh

curveball with frost bombs and depot charges just seems extremely high value

[unkempt moth]

I’m honestly really waiting for someone to do something fucked up with the frost charges

Instant Wall is really high value as a support/control tool and I feel no shame fully ripping it from Destiny lmao

[bleak crypt]

frost charges with demolitionist and curveball seem really nutty

yes I would like to yeet out two ice walls at a time to range 11

and anise just happens to have a gigantic repair cap to abuse grease monkey with

the walls from the frost charges don't count as deployables right? for bricklayer

that would probably get out of hand real fast

[unkempt moth]

they do not, no, it’s like the kobold’s slag stuff

just generic Objects

[dim spear]

question on the packmaster: if they die while their behemoth drone is grappling someone, does that grapple end?

[unkempt moth]

Yes, without the packmaster the behemoth totally deactivates

[vale bridge]

Looking at the sitreps, Secure allows the PCs to defuse a planted bomb, while Sabotage doesn't seem to allow NPCs to defuse in the same way. Is this an intentional balance decision? Seems like it is, I just want to be sure

[unkempt moth]

It is intentional, yeah - especially given that NPCs usually outnumber PCs, it would make it really hard to actually detonate anything if a bunch of grunts could spend their turns deactivating every bomb you plant

[vale bridge]

👍

[dim spear]

ah, made a mistake in how I ran it for my group yesterday then. good to know, thanks!

[unkempt moth]

yeah, it’s not explicitly clear in the text how drones function when their controller is destroyed so it’s a fair thing to miss

[pure zinc]

About the Virtue's Particle Barrier, I'm confused due to the words I've bolded: "The Virtue starts the scene with 10/15/20 Overshield. It gains half as much at the start of each of its turns, adding onto Overshield it has up to that value."
Which value does that last part refer to, exactly?

[unkempt moth]

it means the 10/15/20, so it can’t ever exceed it’s starting value

[bleak crypt]

cargo walker: if it's flat and you occupy the same space as it when riding it, does that mean if you're size 2 or 3 riding a cargo walker, you technically shrink

[unkempt moth]

oh man I really need to go back and update the wording on that

The intent is that no, unlike the Mule Harness you’re actually standing on top of it and maintain your normal shape

[unkempt moth]

it’s… this is maybe silly to say, but it’s a Platform

so you have a surface to stand on that will move without counting as moving

[rough jay]

Roomba Steed!

[bleak crypt]

rip, there go my dreams of expanding nano-ceramite reach by standing on a platform

[unkempt moth]

yeah, it’ll let you move around while using it but not actually make the zone bigger

[bleak crypt]

probably for the best haha

[rough jay]

Combat Roomba

[vale bridge]

Another question about the differences in mechanics between Sabotage and Secure - Sabotage says that planted explosives detonate at either the end of the next round or at the end of the 6th round, but Secure only says they detonate end of next round. Is this intentional or should explosives planted in Secure also explode at the end of the 6th round?

[unkempt moth]

that’s intentional, yeah - given that NPCs just have to destroy enough objectives rather than specific ones for Secure, and that NPCs tend to outnumber PCs, making the explosives go off early at the end of the scene would make it too easy for the GM to (potentially) plant a bunch in the last few turns of the round with no real recourse from the players to prevent it

[vale bridge]

Okay, that's what I was thinking, but I wasn't quite sure - thanks!

[opaque cedar]

Lore question

Does the Couatl P-G have any distinct origin or can I make that one up for myself?

[unkempt moth]

Nah, feel free to attach whatever origin you want to it; the lore is written to imply that there might be someone handing them out but they might also just be a general thing that several different people have given out at different places and times. The defining feature is that their appearance tends to coincide with other unrelated events, with the frame and it’s pilot being potentially unknowing distractions for someone else’s plans.

i.e. suddenly a radical group gets a hold of a couatl p-g and uses it to raid a military outpost or something, and in the aftermath people notice that a totally different installation got hacked at the same time while everyone was distracted

there is a little easter egg in the lore entries which is that the I and K text logs are referencing the first Lancer pilot OC I ever made haha, but it’s not a hard origin of the frame

[opaque cedar]

Perfection

[stark canyon]

#gm-corner message

also;

one heat per, i assume?

[unkempt moth]

they can start in any space adjacent to the Vector, as long as two start points arent in the same space

and yeah 1 Heat per lance

[olive nacelle]

playgroup came upon an interesting question; does judas exploit interact with anything that can cause a save, or only things that force you to make a save?

Basically, can I theoretically use DIDYMOS with Judas Exploit?

[unkempt moth]

you could, yeah, if you targeted a hostile character - it has to actually force the save to count (so it won’t trigger from using it on an ally)

[glad breach]

Hey @unkempt moth , @brave tide had a VERY specific wording question in regards to pharos and skirmisher i was wondering if you could answer

[brave tide]

I gotta run to dinner soon so I don’t have time to check the whole base game for precedent-

Skirmisher 1’s soft cover ends if you force another mech to make a save
Nearlight Sling prompts a save if the target is unwilling
The closest base game feature I’ve found so far is Lancaster’s Active Winch Cable System, which is worded… also ambiguously but more to the tune of a willing creature makes you automatically succeed

So, if I have Skirmisher 1 and Skip Drive, does using it on an unwilling mech count as a save being forced, since they chose to make it?

[glad breach]

i had. no clue how to answer this

[unkempt moth]

it’ll still break skirmisher yeah

someone is still making a save as the result of the action you took

[true mantle]

Can I ask who the credit for the Pharos art is? It's so cool it's stuck in my head, and the whole "boarding action cover-destroying sniper" concept just sings.

[unkempt moth]

it (and the other big 4 mechs) were all done by @long raven (skycrimedraws on twitter) - incredible guy, and super fun to work with

…hm that wasn’t supposed to ping 😬 sorry Sky

the Lemongrass art is a fair bit older and was done by Gen (GenTrigger on twitter) way back when it first got featured by dragonkid11

but yeah I gave him like, bullet points and design concepts but he really made them his own and knocked them out of the park

[glad breach]

out of curiosity, do you have like, bullet points and design concepts for all the mechs of PIOF ?

dang that wasnt meant to tag

[unkempt moth]

Not actually written out, no - I have rough ideas and a few reference images but not much more than that. I basically know the bodyshape for each of them, some guesses at color, a few details about equipment to show off and detailing, but until such a time comes as I feel willing to drop the cash on them I’m not planning more than that yet

[glad breach]

Thats fair!

[unkempt moth]

in terms of overarching motifs

• lots of dust jackets/cloth covers on limbs
• handles, pouches, containers. Square shapes with rounded edges.
• a visual split between the more industrial refurbished colony frames vs the smoother and more military purpose-built ones
• head/face motif is patterns of lights and grooves (kinda like the pokémon regis)

and then for frame specifics

• Basil is bipedal, plantigrade
• Coriander is…. quadrupedal? no arms, big missile pods on top
• Fennel is bipedal, digitigrade(maybe).
• Lemongrass is as shown
• Peppercorn is a general grievous monowheel
• Rosemary is a big centaur shaped thing
• Spearmint is quadrupedal with arms
• Star Anise is bipedal, plantigrade and has a big amphora full of clay (and the Amphora drone looks like a paintbot from deBlob, because thats what it always was in my head for some reason. Very satisfying shatter.)

[glad breach]

Ooooooo

[olive nacelle]

i love the lemongrass btw. it's adorable.

[glad breach]

Would you say that they would all follow that sort of round and slightly buggish design style of lemongrass?

In the same way that all Harrison armory like being squareish and that specific glass pattern?

[unkempt moth]

yeah, I think more rounded and buggish for the other milspec ones (so Coriander, Fennel, ssssslightly the Peppercorn because it’s right on the edge of the development timeline)

and then harder angles and blockier shapes for the older frames but also like

this kind of like, rounded angles and smooth faces without being super futuristic looking

[glad breach]

Oooo okok

[mighty mauve]

Situation:

• A size 1 attacker (Blue) makes a Skirmish with a Line 15 weapon, the direction is to the right of the scene.
• There is a Height 2 Wall obstructing the line of sight to 2 enemies behind it (Orange and Pink).
• A size 1 ally (Green) is an Eye
• I did not put the Pharos in this image but let's treat it as all characters in this image are in Pharos Sensors

IPS-N Pharos trait: Eye in the Sky:

The Pharos and its allies may trace line of sight from the Eye's position for the purpose of determining cover for Ranged attacks they make as long as they are both within your Sensors.

Question:

• Does this mean that those 2 enemies (Orange and Pink) behind the wall are still not the vaild targets correct? Because Blue doesn't have Line of Sight for determining valid targets, only line of sight for determining cover from Eye in the Sky trait.

[unkempt moth]

correct, orange and pink are still not valid targets. If the cover was size 1 instead (so they had hard cover instead of being totally LOS blocked), Eye In The Sky would nullify that hard cover because they’re being flanked by the Eye

basically, it will never make an invalid target valid, but it will make valid targets easier to hit

[mighty mauve]

I thought that way too. Thanks for clarifying!

My table is about to start a new campaign and our GM threw us Castor and Pollux mechs. Now I'm hooked to Pharos and Coatl haha.

[unkempt moth]

lmk how it goes if you use them!

[mighty mauve]

Question about IPS-N Pharos

Question 1: 'Riptide' Ballistic Harpoon:

If the Knockback from this weapon causes your target to hit an object or terrain, they become pinned to it. They become Immobilized

Is pinned to it a flavor text or a combat mechanic? e.g. If that object is later destroyed by other thing, will the target lose Immobilized condition?

Last night I played it as they are still Immobilized and need to spend Quick Action to remove it (and take 3 AP) but I just want to make sure.

[mighty mauve]

Question 2: Core Power Active: You may deactivate this core as a protocol, otherwise it lasts until the end of the scene.
I'm new, I'm not sure wheter there is any benefit of ending the Core Power early? As I think this Core Power does not have downsides, or will I get CP back when deactivate?

[mighty mauve]

Question 3: Trait PAYLOAD GUIDANCE:
Without Eye in the Sky, does the target gains Lock-On when Pharos hits it with Goblin's Autopod or other seeking weapons?

[quick pelican]

Gonna take a crack at answering these for the sake of you having an answer. Cicada can correct me if I’m wrong, but this is how I understand it:

Is pinned to it a flavor text or a combat mechanic?
Flavor text
e.g. If that object is later destroyed by other thing, will the target lose Immobilized condition?
No
Last night I played it as they are still Immobilized and need to spend Quick Action to remove it (and take 3 AP) but I just want to make sure.
I believe you ruled it correctly.

[quick pelican]

I'm not sure wheter there is any benefit of ending the Core Power early?
I don’t think it is bad to have an off-switch. There are some NPCs that have weapons or optionals which specifically get bonuses against flying enemies. But that’s niche.

or will I get CP back when deactivate?
No

[quick pelican]

Seeking does not affect payload guidance. If the target is benefiting from cover, you can’t lock on. Seeking technically only lets you negate the difficulty of targeting a character benefiting from cover, but that character is still benefiting from cover.

[mighty mauve]

Thank you very much! I will play like that for now.

[unkempt moth]

Talon’s answers are correct, yeah

being able to turn off the CP is a bit of an artifact of older versions I think, there was a bit where it Slowed you while it was active but then I took that out because it doesn’t actually affect the Pharos that much

[mighty mauve]

Thank you!

[mighty mauve]

We had Dusk Wing launching the Ingerss Rail to knock enemy prone, and next round Dusk Wing came back to launch the rail again XD

[unkempt moth]

Hahaha, nice

the ol’ cannonball special

[mighty mauve]

Hi, i have more questions:

• If there's an Eye to the target (given that it has a clear sight so no cover) when Pharos hit the target, will the PAYLOAD GUIDANCE trait gives Lock-On?

• SKIP DRIVE (Nearlight Sling) can Pharos chooses itself? If yes, does the movement from reaction counts as involuntary? (To move when Immobilized from Ingress Rail)

I'm planning some blast weapons to mass apply Lock-On. The Auger and Riptide are great but loading makes them compete between Stabilize and other Tech actions (Lock On, Invade). I have to play more to learn its play style.

[unkempt moth]

No, and No

• Payload Guidance cares about whether they have cover from your absolute position or not; you ignore cover with Eyes, but they still have cover (same as stuff like Tac3 or the DH core power)
• Similarly, popping a blast behind someone won’t apply lock-on if they still have cover from your absolute position

for the skip drive it is involuntary movement, you just cant pick yourself with it

[mighty mauve]

Thank you!

[mighty mauve]

Question about IPS-N Pharos - SKIP DRIVE (Nearlight Sling) in this situation:

Given:
Pharos starts its turn, activate SKIP DRIVE, targetting an ally Everest which is 1 space to the East, moves 3 spaces, end its turn. Triggers Nearlight Sling to move Everest North 4 spaces. (Current distance between Pharos and Everest is 4 spaces).

Question: Does Nearlight Sling has to be maintain within Range 8 of each other at all times, or only when activate the SKIP DRIVE?

• Example: Everest (SPEED 5) uses standard movement forward 5 spaces more. (Current distance between Pharos and Everest is 9 spaces). At the end of Everest's turn, can Pharos trigger Nearlight Sling reaction and move Everest forward 4 more spaces?

My guess is Pharos can use Nearlight Sling reaction because it only requires maintaining Line of Sight at any Range as long as both are in Line of Sight.

[mighty mauve]

Questions about IPS-N Pharos - INGRESS RAIL
Quote:
If they hit terrain or an object, they may choose to deal 10 Kinetic/Size to it. If this destroys the terrain, it does not obstruct them.

Question 1: Does If this destroys the terrain also includes object?

Question 2: Does the Quote above happens only once or continue?

• Example: An ally Genghis (Size 1) uses Ingress Rail to launch 10 spaces north. There are five Size 1 objects (10 HP each) in its way, and one Size 2 object behind those. Genghis chooses to deals 10 Kinetic damage. Will Genghis continue until it stopped in front of the Size 2 object (with 10 HP left)?

Question 3: like Question 2 but can Genghis choose to deal damage to object one by one, or all or nothing?

• Example: - Example: An ally Genghis (Size 1) uses Ingress Rail to launch 10 spaces north. There are five Size 1 objects (10 HP each) in its way. Genghis chooses to deals 10 Kinetic damage to only 3 of those objects, making it stopped in front of the 4th Size 1 object. Is this valid?

[unkempt moth]

yes, it only needs to be in Range 8 for the initial targeting

[unkempt moth]

1. Yes, this includes objects too, i just didn’t repeat the same wording there
2. They can keep dealing damage as they encounter new objects; for this example the Genghis can break all of the size 1 terrain if they want to (but would be stopped at the size 2 like you said)
3. And yeah, they choose per object, so it could stop halfway through if they wanted to

[mighty mauve]

Ohhhh nice. Thank you! I will play Pharos this Saturday!

[quick pelican]

Finished hosting my campaign in the Castor and Pollux system tonight. Every one of my players had a great time with the setting! Tons of inspiration for taking the story how we wanted it, after jumping into such a great flash point! Very happy

[unkempt moth]

Awesome! That’s very heartwarming to hear, I’m glad your group had a good time with it

and congratulations on the fabled Finished Campaign that wasn’t cut short by scheduling issues

[quick pelican]

Thank you! We made it all the way up to LL9 - and we started the C&P adventure at LL5

[prisma drum]

is the target from the packmaster's tracer rifle referring to the character from its trait "skilled hunter" or are they 2 separate things

[unkempt moth]

two separate things

tracer gives +1 accuracy to whoever attacks the same target next

skilled hunter picks one character at the start of the scene and gives the Packmaster + Behemoth drone bonuses against that character specifically, but they can’t change who it is

[mighty mauve]

Hi, regarding RADIANT PLUMES (Couatl 1)
Any hostile character that makes an attack against an allied character in the zone first takes 1 Heat, and hostile characters treat the zone as difficult terrain.
Which is correct?

• A hostile must be in that zone, the target allied character can be outside.
• A hostile can be outside, attacking an allied character which is in the zone.
• Both hostile and allied must be in that zone.

[unkempt moth]

Only the allied character target needs to stand in it

[mighty mauve]

Thank you! I thought that way too. It is like a radiant sphere protecting allies (and radiates Heat back to hostiles) like a smoke grenade. Just want to make sure that it is not a flash bang.

[quick pelican]

Radiant plumes was always hilarious to me if used against an op-for with grunts. Big fan

[unkempt moth]

Yeah, I’ve pondered if that particular application is so strong that it needs to get dialed back somehow but

eh

seems fine so far

[quick pelican]

I haven’t had any issues.
The grunts can always choose to attack the user instead. In which case, the user is doing their job of defending. It fits nicely.

[mighty mauve]

Hi, Tresher Drone:
You may deploy this drone to a point in Sensors and line of sight as a quick action. When you do, and at the end of each of your turns after this one, it emits a Burst 1 pulse.

• If I spend 1 Quick Action to redeploy the Tresher Drone, will it pulse immediately like the first time of deployment?

[unkempt moth]

yep

[mighty mauve]

Thank you! I never take the drone because I misunderstood about the redeployment. I am hiring it now haha.

[mighty mauve]

BLOODHOUNDMK3.3 PACKET-SNIFFER and PAYLOAD GUIDANCE:
"gains Lock On"

• Does BLOODHOUNDMK3.3 PACKET-SNIFFER breaks Pharos's hidden status?
• Do those system/trait trigger Spotter 2 (learn target's Armor, Speed, Evasion, E-Defense, Mech Skills, and current HP)?

[unkempt moth]

• I don’t think so, as it’s actionless and saveless
• I think so? I don’t think Spotter2 needs the actual Lock-On action, it just works on any lock you apply, but I could be wrong - it’ll be the same as however it works for Athena and the Blackspot

[loud elk]

the first part of spotter 2 requires the specific quick action but the 2nd part is vague enough that i would probably argue it works

[unkempt moth]

that’s my understanding of it, yeah

its fairly low impact so I don’t think it would break anything to run it that way even if it’s unintended

[mighty mauve]

Normally it would yeah. I'd like to make sure that 'the target gains Lock On' means Pharos inflicts Lock On to the target, not the target just has Lock On, to trigger Spotter 2 latter sentence 'When you Lock On..'. Or maybe just the source of that Lock On that matters, like, it comes from that Spotter pilot so it works?

[proud ice]

question that might betray my inexperience with lancer: does a pyre need to be exposed and in the danger zone to get the max bonus from Core Channel (which is what the wording seems to imply) or does being exposed override the danger zone requirement in this instance?

[versed swift]

I've been running it as you don't get the bonus if you're not in the danger zone and the bonus is doubled if you are exposed and in the danger zone. Word of God might disagree though.

[unkempt moth]

Aye, they have to actually be in the DZ to make it work

[proud ice]

👍

just wanted to be sure

[cedar jay]

any tips for a player looking at the sicklewing?

[quick pelican]

• Orator 1 talent from SSMR works suuuper well with the eye spy frame trait.
• The sicklewing wants enemies near its blackcat, so manticore 1 for the beckoner system is really great to use the summon invade on the blackcat.
• Minotaur 1 viral logic bomb can also do some work. Since you can center it on the drone and ping enemies all around it.
• Either that or goblin 1 for the strong invades it offers.
• Hydra 1 for puppetmaster simply makes sense.
• With those 3 licenses from horus, you can look at getting lesson of the open door core bonus to increase your save target; making your blackcat more effective at landing invade options.
• Ssc swallowtail 1 to pick up lotus projector will help the team deal with invisible enemies nicely. And you’ll already have the tools to make drones excel.

Was there a particular way the player was looking to play the sicklewing? I myself like looking at the frame as a hybrid invade/drone specialist. But maybe I can give more directions.

[cedar jay]

They're not set atm but looking to take on a hacking/support role and drone mech, largely as you'd mentioned. We're doing silly business though and have a wide array of 3rd party available as well, can say which ones specifically if you wanted to know

[quick pelican]

Unless there’s something your player has already decided they want to use from those 3rd party splats, then I don’t feel it’s too important you list them out. I think Sicklewing makes stellar use of all the 1st party options it has

[cedar jay]

fantastic, ill pass that info along

ty

[mighty mauve]

Questions about Pharos's Payload Guidance again:

• (Q1) Does it basically mean that I trace the Line of Cover between absolute position of Pharos and the target and see whether it is unobstructed?
• (Q2) per Q1, does tracing the line of cover (for free Lock-On) happen before or after the attack?. If a target is behind a hard cover. Pharos uses a generic Blast weapon to hit the target and also the damage happens to destroy that cover. Does the trait give free Lock-On?
• (Q3) If Pharos (Size 2) is adjacent to Size 2 cover and shoot over/around to hit the target so it doesn't obstruct the attack, does the trait give free Lock-On?
• (Q4) Just to confirm, Pharos attacks a size 2 mech but there is a size 1 object in the way. I guess the trait will give free Lock-On because tracing the line per Q1 is unobstructed, correct?

[quick pelican]

Payload guidance reads to me like it has a timing of “On Hit:” so presumably after the attack rolls is made but before applying damage.

All you care about for payload guidance is “Does this character have cover? Yes or no”

With those in mind;
Q1 you determine cover normally.
Q2 after attack roll is made but before damage. (If using something like bulkhead augur to destroy the target’s cover, then you can resolve that first as part of the “On attack:” phase before “On hit:” and thus the target would no longer be benefiting from cover during the attack roll)
Q3 you determine cover normally. Arcing and seeking are irrelevant for payload guidance. You can ignore the difficulty imposed by cover, but your target is still in cover.
Q4 you determine cover normally. If the target has soft cover due to a size 1 object in the way of your attack, then the target has cover, and payload guidance will not apply lock on

I recognize the trait relies a lot on ruling when a character is in cover, but I think that confusion is tied to the way the core book advises determining cover. Once you have your method for that, payload guidance should resolve rather naturally imo

[mighty mauve]

Thank you very much for the detailed answers! I forgot that it is "on hit" because I always bypass that with Bulkhead Auger which destroys objects first.

So Q4 will give free Lock-On if all things are at the same elevation because Line of Cover is unobstructed.

[quick pelican]

Yes. From my new understanding; in Q4, the target does not have cover because a size 2 can’t take cover behind size 1, and thus would receive lock on from payload guidance.

Apologizes for misreading Q4 the first time haha

[mighty mauve]

No worries! Thanks for helping me!

[unkempt moth]

aye, Talons has the right of it here

[wind patrol]

@quick pelican Moved to here so I'm not bothering non-third party rules questions. But I was going to say, thats why I picked Blast weapons with arcing, which should be able to ignore cover in a bunch of places on its own, with Eye in the Sky allowing for some extra wiggle room hopefully.

[mighty mauve]

No you need actual open no cover for Payload Guidance to work.

[quick pelican]

What you have to care about is wether or not a target is benefiting from cover against you. I'm not actually certain how that'll interact with blast weapons. But my guess is that using blast arcing to negate their benefits doesn't stop them from still having hard cover against you. Afaik the intent with payload guidance is that you either destroy their cover with something like bulkhead augur or you get a flank on them. Either by yourself or with help from your Eye in the Sky

[mighty mauve]

#1057789763341516913 message

Also welcome! I play Pharos too!

[quick pelican]

ty for the confirmation Plearn!

[wind patrol]

Arcing doesn';t negate, nor does seeking as you mentioned further up, but Blast determines cover from its epicenter, not your firing lane, and so if they are not standing in some soft cover cloud effect, you can simply place the Blast where it is hitting around the cover (even airbursting over top of them if necessary)

[quick pelican]

You need to draw a line from the center of their space to the center of your space to determine if they have cover for payload guidance to activate

[wind patrol]

Also yea, the Bulkhead weapon seems like a great synergy for it too, especially if the mission is very siege focused

[quick pelican]

negating that cover with seeking or blast arcing doesn't affect that interaction

[wind patrol]

Ahhhh so "Pharos hits a character that does not have cover from it with a" emphasis on IT being Pharos itself, not cover from the Attack itself?

[quick pelican]

Yep

[wind patrol]

That would probably be something that should be given a few more words in the sentence to clarify

But now it makes WAY more sense, cause it seems kinda too strong otherwise haha

[mighty mauve]

Which Bulkhead AUGER will work because it destroy obstructions before the actual attack.

[quick pelican]

I think it reads okay as is.

[wind patrol]

Yea its even more attractive now

[mighty mauve]

I'm married to it.

[quick pelican]

Thresher drone is great too

[wind patrol]

Yea that also seemed very cool, again, especially for siege scenerios

I also love the Bloodhound sniffer

[mighty mauve]

I've never had a chance to use it fully. I met a Size 3 Ultra grappler with Heavy Frame so I can't do anything 😦

But the little Drone aaved my life, as I deployed it for the sake of deploying it and then used Manticore's Summon to pull me out from the grapple to clear Immobilized.

[wind patrol]

I think if IT was changed to ITSELF, it would read smoother as not allowing for Blast to bypass it.

its just that extra confirmation etc

[quick pelican]

I'm not sure how that'd make much of a difference, given that it and itself are synonymous - so if one leads to a misinterpretation then so will the other. But subjective reads and all that.

[wind patrol]

It just causes empahsis on it in the mind is all

[quick pelican]

The thresher drone is fantastic at passively bulldozing an area. And having a drone in-license is very attractive for Eye in the Sky partnerships. Plus it has resistance so it isn't fragile by any means

[wind patrol]

but yea people will still read otherwise, tis the nature

oh, I didn't think about drones counting as characters for Eye in the Sky. You can probably tell I am very new 😓

[mighty mauve]

I always know that Drones are characters but never had an idea of making them an Eye. Wow

[wind patrol]

Yea didn't even cross my mind when I read it

[mighty mauve]

Thanks for bringing that up!

[quick pelican]

Yeah it's what helps secure payload guidance if you don't have any teammates who can pair with you. Self sufficient and all that

at the cost of first getting the drone on the board and then probably drone commander 1 to move it around

I'm a huge fan of grabbing the swallowtail's lotus projector on a pharos

[mighty mauve]

iirc Payload Guidance needs an absolute position from Pharos and the target, which the Eye won't work

[wind patrol]

Yea I kinda want to roll up a drone heavy support Pharos in comp/con and see what all I can come up iwth

[wind patrol]

"he Pharos and its allies may trace line of sight from "

[quick pelican]

You can trace your LOS from the eye, and if the target doesn't have hard cover against the eye, payload guidance activates

[wind patrol]

Not the weapon, but Pharos ITSELF can trace from the EYe

Also on that note, you are your own ally yes? So you can Eye yourself I assume

[quick pelican]

You are NOT your own ally in lancer

[wind patrol]

dang

CURSE my intrusive thoughts making me my own enemy!

[mighty mauve]

It is neither ally nor enemy

[wind patrol]

Ah well teh ally/enemy statuses cancel out :P

to neutral

[mighty mauve]

Also a little note that everything requires Line of Sight, unless they explicitly says they don't. I had some trouble with some effects. (Because the Eye only works for ranged attack and determining covers only.)

[quick pelican]

yeah you still actually have to have LOS to the target, or arcing/seeking

but the eye will help you avoid taking difficulty from shooting at a target in cover

[wind patrol]

I still love the Pharos, feels right up my alley

even after all the clarification

[quick pelican]

All the big four mechs from C&P are super fun and have me smitten

[mighty mauve]

Wait I just have an idea. That drone can be redeployed to clear enemy's Hidden instantly without rolling Search contested check.

[quick pelican]

Yes

[mighty mauve]

But THEY will roll for prone. Sick!

[quick pelican]

assuming they aren't using invisibility or a zone of soft cover to meet the criteria, and are instead just taking cover, drones will ruin that for them. And it's cool

another win for the lotus projector btw

[mighty mauve]

As a fellow Pharos enjoyer, this might be useful. This link and many more below that, are the rulings regarding Pharos, from itself to its systems and weapons. Might be useful
#1057789763341516913 message

[mighty mauve]

Oh that's cool! I might consider going for Swallowtail 1 for the drone.

[quick pelican]

One day I will find my Couatl duo and we can both be the most beautiful together

[mighty mauve]

Right now I gain mini-Scan info from Lock-On and Spotter 2

[quick pelican]

(the enemy will never have LoS to anything ever again)

[mighty mauve]

The Sun hops on the Ingress Rail and bowling into enemies.

[quick pelican]

Ingress Rail is hilarious

But you 100% need your team to want to use it

[mighty mauve]

I built Pharos leaning to Hull to counters low Evasion, Systems for Invade attacks, and sit still for the rest of the scene. Heat Cap is only 4 so I can't Overcharge more than 2 times per mission.

I had troubles with not having enough actions. Any tips of what can I do?

Though good thing is that I never waste an action because of too many available things.

[quick pelican]

Do you have the build on hand somewhere that I can take a peek at?

[mighty mauve]

Yes please. Does the Pilot share code work outside of foundryvtt?

[quick pelican]

iirc it won't populate any changes that were made in the foundry but not the compcon

you can go from compcon to foundry but foundry doesn't feed back to compcon

[mighty mauve]

F6U3TH

Last updated build I had the Drone Commander Talent. If the talent is there, then it is my current build.

I plan to remove Drone Commander 3 (and maybe 2) as I find it difficult to use.

[quick pelican]

[ LICENSES ]
  IPS-N PHAROS 3, HORUS Goblin 1, HORUS Manticore 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  
[ TALENTS ]
  WEAPONSMITH 3, Drone Commander 3, Spotter 2
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:3 ENGI:0
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:15 ARMOR:2
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:4 REPAIR:6
  TECH ATK:+4 LIMITED:+0
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:11 SENSE:20 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
  HEAVY MOUNT: BULKHEAD AUGER
  FLEX MOUNT: Autopod (WEAPONSMITH MOD RANK 3)
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Beckoner, INGRESS RAIL, THRESHER DRONE, H0R_OS System Upgrade I, Weaponsmith Modification 1: Knockback 2, Weaponsmith Modification 2: Armor Piercing, Weaponsmith Modification 3: +2 Bonus Damage```
Double checking that this is all correct?

[mighty mauve]

Yes I believe.

[quick pelican]

What core bonus did you grab?

[mighty mauve]

I went with the GMS extra +2 Heat/2nd invade option

[quick pelican]

Ah, I think that's from Suldan. Weird that compcon didn't notify me about that missing source

[mighty mauve]

oh

My 3 more teammates,

• Third Party Striker (forgot the name)
• Ranged Artillery Pegasus
• Tricky Dusk Wing

My gameplay:

• Position myself at the center of the scene to cover almost all things with 20 Sensors.
• Fire Bulkhead Auger situationally.
• No Barrage.
• Invade ally/hostile with Puppet System, Summon
• Reacts with Autopod and hopefully free Lock-On.

It depends on the situationwhether to use which choices, but my basic action economy is:

• Manually Quick tech Lock-On for Spotter 2 free Lock-On.
• Another Quick might go to Invade (and triggers additional Invade option, or fire the Bulkhead Auger situationally)

[quick pelican]

Gotcha gotcha

[mighty mauve]

I plan to upgrade my Engineering for Heat Cap as I can't Overcharge pass 2 times and not stress out.

When there are more SP available I might add the Bloodhound Sniffer back in. But I find it less and less chance for it to trigger as not many enemies want to target me for Lock-On. And my teammates will scatter around the map and not being near me (Because Pharos has a huge Sensors but the teammates' attack Range is not that far.)

Also 5 AP Autopod relies on my Lock-On because teammates have many more thing to do rather than applying Lock-On. I intend to utilize it every round but I struggle to fire it, so it went every other round instead which lower the damage output.

[quick pelican]

It feels like you're playing a hacker with manual lock-on sprinkled in, which isn't my first choice for the pharos ahaha.
I feel you're doing yourself a disservice by relying on the autopod for regular applications of payload guidance. I would sooner like to see that swaped out for a pegasus smart rifle to make your turns Invade/Skirmish. Retraining manticore 1 to make that happen right away.
Smart rifle is a great chassis for the intercorp weapon mods, so it won't be a huge change.

It'd let you be more proactive with applying the lock-ons without disrupting your gameplay very much

I'm sure you've used this trick before, but for anyone lurking or reading this later: invade puppet systems an enemy to make them walk out of cover and then skirmishing them helps to secure the payload guidance lock-on rather effortlessly

[mighty mauve]

Also plan on the next core bonus, addtional Flex mount for double Missile Rack for mass blanket Lock-Ons.

[quick pelican]

That does pair nicely with the bulkhead augur's loading.
I like the integrated aux with a light nexus to let my skirmish potentially tap 2 enemies with payload guidance, or give me a second chance if my first attack misses. But my own pharos build doesn't perform at the ranges you're looking at covering

[mighty mauve]

Yeah I think I lean too much to the Controller side, so that makes me contribute less damage output

[quick pelican]

That's not a bad thing. You just gotta figure out how best to leverage the pharos frame to enable what you want

And puppet systems into skirmish does that really well. You're just hurting for a better skirmish weapon. Smart rifle fits the bill

[mighty mauve]

Huge thank you for all the tips, and previous answers! You've helped me a lot.

[quick pelican]

Always happy to talk shop about C&P - it gave me and my group some 8 months of joy with its setting. And the mechs are super cool!

[ LICENSES ]
  IPS-N PHAROS 2, SSC Swallowtail 1, PI-OF CORIANDER 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Integrated Weapon
[ TALENTS ]
  Heavy Gunner 3, Gunslinger 2, Drone Commander 1, Siege Specialist 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:0 ENGI:2
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:16 ARMOR:2
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:6
  TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+1
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:20 SAVE:12
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED WEAPON: Nexus (Light)
  HEAVY MOUNT: MICRO-MASS DRIVER
  FLEX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Nexus (Light)
[ SYSTEMS ]
  GHILLIE CLOAK x3, Lotus Projector, Armament Redundancy, Personalizations, SKIP DRIVE, Custom Paint Job```
Here's my own Pharos while it's topical

[wind patrol]

-- IPS-N PHAROS @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
IPS-N PHAROS 2, PI-OF FENNEL 3, SSC Swallowtail 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
BUILT TO LAST, Overpower Caliber
[ TALENTS ]
Grease Monkey 3, Sysop 3, Field Analyst 2, Drone Commander 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:4
STRUCTURE:4 HP:15 ARMOR:2
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+2
SPD:3 EVA:6 EDEF:10 SENSE:20 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
HEAVY MOUNT: Howitzer
FLEX MOUNT: 'APOTHECARY' MARKSMAN RIFLE (PARVATI-CLASS NHP) // Overpower Caliber
[ SYSTEMS ]
VIPER DRONE, THRESHER DRONE, Lotus Projector

Silly LL6 Drone heavy build I came up with

Hmmm, how are you all blocking it in like that?

[quick pelican]

Surrounding your message with these 3 of these `

[wind patrol]

Like this?

I see

ty!

[mighty mauve]

I revisit here to recheck because I've gained a License Level so time to adjust my Pharos. My recall was correct, Payload Guidance needs absolute position between the Pharos and the target. The Eye can't help applying Lock-On. The Eye only ignores cover when Pharos attacks with a Ranged weapon.

Source: #1057789763341516913 message

[quick pelican]

Ah dang

[mighty mauve]

Question regarding Eye of the Sky, and Line of Sight that all things require Line of Sight unless explicitly specified they don't.

If an ally attacks an enemy and wants to trace Line of Sight from the Eye to determine cover. All characters have LOS to one another and are within Pharos' Sensors, except Pharos is Blinded or in a sealed box and has no LOS to anyone. Can the Eye be utilized or does Pharos still need to maintain LOS between the Eye , the ally, and the enemy?

[mighty mauve]

Question regarding Payload Guidance and Knockback. Since both are on-hit effects. Does that mean I can re-order the simulteneous effects the way I want?

example sequence

• Pharos attacks with a Blast + Knockback weapon.
• on-hit Knockback: knocking the enemy away from the Blast origin, out of cover. That makes the absolute positions between them and Pharos are all clear.
• on-hit Payload Guidance: apply free Lock-On

[unkempt moth]

You do need LOS to the Eye and your ally, but not the enemy

[unkempt moth]

and for this one, the Payload Guidance trigger needs them to already not have cover when you hit them, so even if you move them out of cover with knockback, you still don’t get the initial trigger for PG so it won’t work

[mighty mauve]

Thank you!

[cedar jay]

Question, Judas Exploit can use all its charges in the same turn if they wanted right? So long as enough new targets existed within range? And the 1/scene would be per target?

follow up question, would it count the initial target as a judas exploit target or the entity you target within their sensors?

[unkempt moth]

• Yes, you can keep spending charges to keep chaining it
• Yes, 1/scene/target……. I think. I honestly don’t fully recall putting that tag on it
• The initial target still counts as having been targeted by the ability, so you can’t chain back to them to double dip

[cedar jay]

awesome, thank you

have a player test running the sicklewing rn

they were not liking their build/feeling like they couldnt do things RIGHT until we started walking back through her choices and how they could be used

and it turns out for them it was a complexity of options problem, not a lack of options problem

judas exploit opened some doors as far as strategic choices to make

very cool

also very like "This is my GO turn" vibes

they havent quite gotten the hang of leveraging their cat though i think

[unkempt moth]

one of the big (intended) tricks with the cat is that by targeting a save rather than an attack you don’t trigger anything that triggers off of attack rolls

but otherwise it’s mainly just a nice tool to add difficulty to saves, and doesn’t have to be 100% central to a build

It’s definitely a frame that’s more about having a box of tools than any singular plan

[merry herald]

hey can i send a tametomo build in here? i saw it when looking through the list and thought that its lore and what it can do is sick so i was just messing around with a build of it

[merry herald]

and im not fully familiar with how heat and the dangerzone works so i was hoping i could get some advice on how to play around that too

[unkempt moth]

Aye, here or #mech-hangar both work

[merry herald]

yea they told me to come here cause they might not know what it was

***
[ TALENTS ]
  Nuclear Cavalier 3, Skirmisher 3
[ LICENSES ]
  HA TAMETOMO 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Superior by Design
[ MECH ]
  « SAVAGE MESSIAH »
  HA TAMETOMO
  H:1 A:1 S:0 E:3 SIZE:1
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:14 ARMOR:1
  STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:4
  ATK BONUS:2 TECH ATK:-2 LTD BONUS:1
  SPD:3 EVA:9 EDEF:6 SENS:8 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED MOUNT: PT3 FLARE BOW
  INTEGRATED MOUNT: Fuel Rod Gun
  FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
  MAIN MOUNT: TYPHOON-PATTERN ION CHANNEL
[ SYSTEMS ]
  EVAPORATIVE COOLING PLATES, EXTINGUISHING CELLS,
  IMMOLATION BOLT, Armament Redundancy```

something that i thought was pretty cool, i randomly generated both the pilot callsign and the mech name, and they somehow both fit perfectly for the Tametomo

[quick pelican]

Try to get even numbers into your Hull, Agility, Systems, or Engineering. Odd numbers are very yucky in those stats. Skirmisher 3 is a bit lack luster. I’d look at taking a different talent - something that’ll help your bread and butter weapon of choice

The tametomo is one of the trickier dangerzone mechs - since it also wants to risk its hp with juggling burn. I do not think it’s for the faint of heart. If you’re new to Lancer, spend some time really wrestling with those mechanics in more forgiving licenses before committing to the walking firework

[wind patrol]

To expand on what talons said about H.A.S.E. stats, even numbers are generally preferred in build crafting as you get more boons on the evens than the odds, making those break points more worth while. For example you could move an agility to Hull for more repair, and then put your missing point (should have 6 to play with, not 5) into Engi

[merry herald]

👍 ill look into it, thank you. and yeah, i am very much new to this, but the mech sounds interesting and i thought id just mess around with it

in comp/con at least, i dont really plan to run it in a game

[wind patrol]

...yet...

[lament fable]

Reading through this setting book. Most of the way through. What would be the sketchy core of Pinnacle industries? Just all good manufacturers should have one. As a general sentiment I feel like the danger/narrative Pinnacle presents is that of corruption. That they have in the past been fairly benign but that might be starting to shift with the emergence of the Orion Faction. That they might shift from a passive actor into a more controlling colonial force. Does that make sense?

[unkempt moth]

that’s largely the crux of their current moral crisis, yeah

Their origin is coming from the cultural impetus of the Fall; they want to make a safe home for humanity across the stars, to give people good lives and strong homes — but human interest and short term gains can get in the way of those goals

so you get the military industrial complex, or their resource extraction deals with colonies they set up that they provide for but struggle to become fully independent

and those goals can also be perverted; the desire for a strong home and the control of ‘undesirable’ elements leads to stuff like the Coriander which is a ‘low-collateral’ tool for urban warfare — it can protect from pirates or whatever but the subtext there is also that it’s the kind of thing a government could turn on its own citizens

and then because of this there’s a lot of balkanization within the company as the different Factions are drawn in different directions

They’re probably closest in character to IPS-N given the corporate goals, but also with some of HA’s paternalism and humanitarian vision

[lament fable]

Castor and Pollux is cool. If I get myself to write fic based on Lancer right now I would use the setting as the basia of the story. Team of mercenary Lancers hired by Pinnacle industries because they were conveniently close by when things started to get weird in the system. Only scene I have in mind is the most "normal" one hoping that the other weirdos dont screw it up

Also. I know very little about gundam. But Castor and Pollux seems like the sort of place a Gundam inspired atory should be set.

[unkempt moth]

Yeah, you could probably play the worker’s conflicts in Gundam pretty well through that lens

[lament fable]

Hmm. Randomly thought about PI-OF mechs. Lot of good spice names still available. Did come up with an idea for a civilian design that could be adapted into a support/defender. A larger mech originally designed as an emergency shelter/search and rescue platform. I imagine something crablike. Possibly call it the PI-OF Wasabi.

[mild pecan]

hoo boy the vector
im excited (terrified) of deploying it on the field

[olive nacelle]

vectors are fun.

[mild pecan]

Gonna deploy it and some Atlas Missile Rainmakers in a Signal Chase Sitrep :>

[olive nacelle]

in my experience, vectors are pretty nasty with anything that forces you to move to a specific spot. you set up a triangle zone where they can't help but trigger at least one microjet lance, then force them to move inside it. hive, cataphract, goliath are all pretty neat for that.

[glad breach]

Okay doing a couple of test runs for the Pharos

Thinking the ability that applies lock on might need a slight debuff, at least for the game I'm running (a mix between a couple of other things I'm adding into the game, and the fact that it's a six-person party)

@unkempt moth
Would you say a pretty fair minor nerf would be making it 1/turn/target?
So you could target one person shoot them and lock on, then Target another person then shoot them and lock on
But you can't target one person, lock on, consume it, for the second attack, and then apply it again after

[unkempt moth]

oh yeah, that’s probably a fair idea

and should probably be the way it functions tbh, just an oversight on my part

[glad breach]

Perfect!!

[glad breach]

From my partner

The main thing that’d stop is like… me shooting someone, applying lock on, shooting them again, consuming lockon, hitting them, and consequently applying another lockon

Which is the thing that I was concerned about when I brought up this change to him

[unkempt moth]

yeah that’s a pretty fair concern

and not really the intended setup so 1/turn/character is much more in line with how I’ve envisioned it

[glad breach]

Actually wait my partner brought up a suggestion that might work better? Unsure

Right now its

When the Pharos hits a character that does not have cover from it with a Ranged weapon, that character gains Lock-On.

My original suggestion was

Once per round per target
When the Pharos hits a character that does not have cover from it with a Ranged weapon, that character gains Lock-On.

Shes suggesting (which i think I'm gonna go with)

"When the Pharos hits a character that does not have cover from it with a Ranged weapon, that character gains Lock-On.
A character whom you've consumed Lock-on from this turn can not gain Lock-on this way"

[unkempt moth]

Mmm, both could work but I do actually like that Pharos can eat lock-on from a previous turn and then reapply it for someone else

it lets it be less selfish as a combo spotter/artillery

[glad breach]

Perhaps this?

"When the Pharos hits a character that does not have cover from it with a Ranged weapon, that character gains Lock-On.
You cannot consume Lock-on from a character who gained this way during the same round you applied it"

[unkempt moth]

I think the 1/turn/character might be enough of a limiter, I think I’d start with that

[glad breach]

So you can consume previous rounds lock-ons, but you can't lock onto someone, attack them, and set up another lock on

[unkempt moth]

but then if it tests out as still too oppressive that’s probably the next step

[glad breach]

Got it!

Thank you so much

My partner has expressed before that I do think this is one of his favorite mechs alongside the Zheng.

The Zheng lets her do positioning mechanics up close, and this lets him do it from afar 😂

[unkempt moth]

hahaha

[glad breach]

I'll keep you updated on how it feels !

[somber arrow]

Any advice on how to play a "traditional" Basil?

Something that mixes solid damage and durability with a healthy dose of team support

And overall flexible frontliner

[lament fable]

Looking at it. Nothing immediately stands out as an intended direction, so pick frontline support stuff? A lot of the Basil's stuff is pretty close ranged.

[somber arrow]

ANy suggestions for LLs then?

Sorry, that's my main question

[signal tundra]

heyo, i need a rule clarification on a very specific thing so i wanted to ask if the second rank of bricklayer (When you place a Deployable system you can choose to make it one Size smaller or larger) would increase/decrease HP when you increase/decrease the size of a deployable? since deployables have wording that states that they have 10 HP per size unless stated otherwise

[unkempt moth]

it will not, instead using whatever is in that deployable’s statblock

as that is the ‘unless stated otherwise’

[unkempt moth]

off the top of my head, Basil plays well with Drake, Lancaster, White Witch, maybe Sal or Napoleon (but they’re heat intensive), maybe also Kobold

it’s midrange/frontliner that can look for tools to support/defend allies, hold a position, or just let it put pressure on enemies

Tortuga or Genghis too probably

[somber arrow]

Oooooooooooo Drake would be a great option

Yeah those are good ones

[lament fable]

I was worried for a moment I would have to figure something out myself. I just showed up because no one else had answered the question

[true mantle]

Looking at Sicklewing to play in my next game. I was thinking of going through Fennel to get the Viper Drone, Apothecary Rifle, and Parvati, but I'm curious what else might pair well.

Since it already has a movement invade, I was wondering about Minotaur instead of Goblin to work towards a Horus core bonus.

[quick pelican]

quick link to a message where I talk about some sicklewing synergies #1057789763341516913 message

TL:DR Sicklewing makes excellent use of horus license and you should absolutely rush for that first to get Open Door, assuming you plan on using the blackcat's save-based invades. Minotaur's logic bomb, Goblin's h0rus_upgrade, and even Manticore's beckon (specifically summon) are all great systems to pair with SW

[true mantle]

Thank a ton, that's really helpful!

[olive nacelle]

Psst, about Sapper 3; which system is it restoring charges to? The Toolbox, or the mine that triggered Sapper 3, or both, or 1 to each?

I think it's the last one, because it doesn't make sense to get two charges to the mine just because a sapper optional was installed on it.

[unkempt moth]

1 to each, yeah

the wording on it got a little funkier because Demolitionist came out and I had to change it to not weirdly give you back more charges than you spent if you had both

[olive nacelle]

thanks!

[true mantle]

Does using Black Cat's save to invade cause heat?

[unkempt moth]

it does not - all it does on a failed save is apply the actual Invade effect

• kinetic damage from being near the drone, so it’s basically replacing the heat with the damage

[true mantle]

Got it, thanks

[glad breach]

https://x.com/PirateGonzalez/status/1836042748572418197

Tim Gonzalez | BEACON RPG (@PirateGonzalez) on X

Realized that I just don't get around to reading pdfs anymore, so I printed out some lancer pdfs for personal use so I can actually finish them!

Twitter · Sep 17, 2024, 2:01 PM

[unkempt moth]

Hahaha I saw that first thing when I woke up today

C&P jumpscare

[balmy fractal]

👍

[balmy fractal]

Sharing here, 'cause I like the build, even if it includes Exotics, but this can have nice turns and half the build is Pinnacle based.

[ LICENSES ]
  BDF AKINAKA 3, PI-OF BASIL 2, PI-OF FENNEL 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Improved Armament, 'CURVEBALL' Brachial Tuning
[ TALENTS ]
  Demolitionist 3, Grease Monkey 3, Drone Commander 1, Field Analyst 1, House Guard 1, (Centimane 1)
[ STATS ]
  HULL:4 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:2
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:19 ARMOR:0
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:7 REPAIR:10
  TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+1
  SPD:4 EVA:7 EDEF:12 SENSE:15 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
  FLEX MOUNT: Yazata Rapid Fire Turret Drone
  AUX/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Nexus (Light)
  FLEX MOUNT: Dispersal Bow
[ SYSTEMS ]
  ADJUTANT-Class Comp/Con, 'HEALING HANDS' Greenwash Suite, Pattern-C Advanced Charges x6, Overgrowth Charges x5, Turret Drones x4
[ EXOTICS ]
  ADJUTANT-Class Comp/Con, Pattern-C Advanced Charges```

BDF Akinaka is used 'cause it gives a lot of Repair Caps to use with any Drones it equips.

Instead, though, I use the Repair Caps with the Dispersal Bow.

Demolitionist 3 and CURVEBALL means Range 11 on Advanced and Overgrowth Charges.

CURVEBALL means throwing two Advanced Charges to inflict Lock-On on several enemies, and this Frame could then use the Dispersal Bow twice with an Overcharge to consume all those Lock-Ons to potentially inflict Prone on each enemy hit.

[glad breach]

Oh could we get this pinned?

[glad breach]

thank you!!

[onyx pasture]

So I may be misremembering this but on the win with dice podcast episode there was another field guide mentioned that had some base building rules that were an inspiration for the ship building portion of this does anybody know what that field guide was? Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask

[unkempt moth]

Tom has talked in the past about making a base building ruleset, theoretically as part of an HA field guide maybe, but it has not happened yet

so it was only ever a theoretical thing but it sparked a lot of homebrew talk at the time

[strange igloo]

Been trying to theorycraft a possible Couatl build since I haven't really seen much about the frame.

More or less either sparking discussion or just inspiring others! Any tips/feedback on this build? I feel like I may be spreading myself a little thin on this (building too wide).

-- HORUS COUATL @ LL4 --
[ LICENSES ]
HORUS COUATL 3, SSC Dusk Wing 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
The Lesson of the Open Door
[ TALENTS ]
Nuclear Cavalier 3, SHADOWCLOAKED 2, Hacker 1, Ace 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:1 AGI:0 SYS:3 ENGI:2
STRUCTURE:4 HP:14 ARMOR:2
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:5
TECH ATK:+4 LIMITED:+1
SPD:3 EVA:6 EDEF:11 SENSE:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
Integrated: Fuel Rod Gun
HEAVY MOUNT: DEMISOLAR LENS
MAIN MOUNT: CORONA PURGE
[ SYSTEMS ]
Personalizations, PALADIN DEFRAGMENTATION SUBROUTINE, RADIANT PLUMES, OBSESS.RECURSE(T), Armament Redundancy

[strange igloo]

Some thinking on it... made some changes. Went more full into the Invade aspect of the Couatl.

[ TALENTS ]
Nuclear Cavalier 3, Centimane 3,
LEGIONNAIRE 1
[ LICENSES ]
HORUS COUATL 3, HORUS Gorgon 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
The Lesson of the Open Door
[ MECH ]
« EYES OVER HEAVEN »
HORUS COUATL
H:3 A:0 S:3 E:0 SIZE:1
STRUCTURE:4/4 HP:18/18 ARMOR:2
STRESS:4/4 HEAT:0/6 REPAIR:6/6
ATK BONUS:2 TECH ATK:4 LTD BONUS:0
SPD:3 EVA:6 EDEF:11 SENS:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
INTEGRATED MOUNT: Fuel Rod Gun 3 3 1d3+2
HEAVY MOUNT: DEMISOLAR LENS 8 3 3 2d3+2
MAIN MOUNT: Nexus (Hunter-Killer) 10 1d6
[ SYSTEMS ]
Personalizations, PALADIN DEFRAGMENTATION SUBROUTINE,
RADIANT PLUMES, OBSESS.RECURSE(T),
Armament Redundancy

[olive nacelle]

couatl is very funny

[strange igloo]

I do want to try it in a game sometime for sure Ahah

[glad breach]

@unkempt moth
Hey there! I know that Castor & Pollux, a lot of it's mechs are named after herbs .

One naming scheme I was floating for the company I want to design is spices, but I was worried that might step on your toes a bit? You wouldn't mind if I also had a similar naming scheme, by doing spices right?

Spices are just important to me as someone who studies food anthropology, haha

I know this is like really silly probably, but I want to make sure I'm respecting your work!

[unkempt moth]

oh that’s totally fine! Obviously I’m attached to my own idea but I don’t like, own the concept

it wouldn’t be the first time homebrew has overlapped and I’m sure it won’t be the last either

[glad breach]

makes sense! thought id ask first, haha, thank you

[frosty bronze]

hey, i'm looking at the Architect's GUNGNIR laser optional -- if it hits every space adjacent to the line, wouldn't that, by the strictest RAW interpretation, include the emplacement itself?

[unkempt moth]

by strictest RAW yes, but this is not the intent

[static blaze]

May build a Spearmint, any tips on talents?

I wanna ulitlize glacier lake well

[icy vector]

heya there folks! I did a funny and made the pharos frame! Anyone can use it as they wish if they want to make their own version :3

[glad breach]

wait what

[glad breach]

Is this an edit, a kitbash, a custom sprite you did? Is this doable in retrograde or do you need to download the sprites all together

[icy vector]

Oh this is a kitbash! More so I used alot of sprites from the retrograde discord! :3

Mainly the chest, the backpack, the legs and the railgun are from the retrograde discord c:

So yes, it's theoretically doable! :3

[glad breach]

Ohhhhhh nice

Im also in there I may reach out at some point and ask if you could send me over the ones you used

[icy vector]

Oh for certain! hell I could do it now if you wish! :3

[glad breach]

Oh hell yea

[icy vector]

oh! and if anyone else wants to do something with it, here's all the parts!

[scarlet granite]

Hey not sure if this has come up before, but does Judas Exploit allow chaining Osiris RAW?

[unkempt moth]

worry not, it has

it doesn’t allow chaining it because you’re still blocked by Osiris’ 1/round clause

Judas let’s you repeat an action as a free action, but it’s still otherwise the same action, with all the costs/limitations otherwise attached to it

[scarlet granite]

Right, that makes sense

I felt like it definitely shouldn't work 😄

[icy vector]

so! I dedided to paint up that pharos and holy shit does it look great-

[sly frost]

That does look good. Great job! 👍

Do Couatl next.

[sly frost]

No need to rush or do it if you don't feel like it, tho. I'm not paying for it, after all. 😆

[icy vector]

I mean.... Eeeehhh.... I could... see what I could do?

Mainly considering I'll need to be really creative to get even remotely close to it-

[sly frost]

Yeah, the weird dragon look is tough. That is the reason I like the art, but no need to push yourself too hard.

[icy vector]

Aye! Plus there are many other designs I'm gonna paint up :3

[sly frost]

👍

[icy vector]

one of them being this silly purple flytrap :3

[sly frost]

Oh, the one from wazal, eh? That is a good one. Rocket launchers for everyone! 🥳

[icy vector]

Funny you say that because I'm thinking of doing the orange one next c:

[icy vector]

I return from my kitbashing cave with an alertnate version of the calais! :D

[languid token]

oooooo

wait is the calais castor and pollux?

We admit we've forgotten

[icy vector]

wait oops! no that's an error on my part! it would be the field guide to odeon! sorry! :3

[final phoenix]

heads up that the image links for some of the c&p frame art is getting mini-CORS warnings. noticed it when trying to figure out an entirely unrelated compcon error. semi recent browser changes (firefox & chrome both) have technically dropped support for how dropbox handles image embedding. it's not something that'll actually stop working anytime soon (for compatibility reasons), but if you ever push any LCP changes, might be worth looking into putting them on a different image host

the ones my compcon seems to dislike are pharos, sicklewing, tametomo, if you're curious. it just has to do with weird cookie shenanigans, so rehosting on dropbox as a new file / refreshing the file may be enough to make compcon like it fine. it's only actually hiding the image if i'm running my firefox in "secure" mode anyway

[unkempt moth]

oh interesting

yeah I can take a look at just hosting elsewhere

[languid arch]

So I just downloaded Castor and Pollex and I LOVE the Pheros frame and license as a whole, I'm curious about what kind of builds I could with it

Like I could go into the more supportive part of the mech or go into the artillery aspect to it but I'm not completely sure

[gentle swan]

Honestly form what i can see looking at it you might be able to do both depending on what you want. The harpoon gun is hilarious though.

[glad breach]

Oh @brave tide my beautiful spouse, what awful evil things did you conjure up with Pharos

[brave tide]

I feel like it'd be dishonest to say that I "Made builds for the Pharos", as much as I "Found increasingly silly applications of the Riptide Ballistic Harpoon"
That being said, let me take a look...

[brave tide]

The thing with Pharos is that it's very much a grab-bag, there's not really a magical thing you can latch on to to tie it all together. It gives itself and allies clear sightlines and accurate shots, it repositions people, it destroys terrain- There's a clear throughline, but you really need to find what you want to make of it

I like the idea of using Sunzi 1 to turn all your positional abilites into portal shenanigans
Plenty of Aux weapons make it fun to spam attacks and lockon- Missile Rack, Oracle LMG-1, and Vijaya Rockets all are notable, each with their downsides
Brand new idea as I typed all this- Goblin's Autopod.

[languid arch]

I decided I might go a more controlly route with Pheros by putting two into Lich and one into Minotaur for their systems

And getting the core bonuse where it increases ur save target while dealing heat to anyone who fails their saves

[brave tide]

Oh, that's very fun
I feel like every time I theorize a Pharos, I always fall back on the extra mount core power; It's hard to resist the Licenced loading weapons, but it also definitely encourages having ones which can be used more frequently

[languid arch]

True but I think having systems that can be used for controlling and supporting can offset u from focusing on shooting with loading weapons

And having the added bonus to cause heat to enemies is pretty useful for a frame with 20 sensor range

[glad breach]

Mario was looking at mixing pharos with Carmilla from liminal space (she has express permission to have one cross 3rd part content from me) and it hits a similar vibe there i think

[languid arch]

Ah I see

Also this is what I came up with

[ LICENSES ]
  IPS-N PHAROS 3, HORUS Lich 2, HORUS Minotaur 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  The Lesson of the Open Door, Overpower Caliber
[ TALENTS ]
  Heavy Gunner 3, Spotter 3, Ace 2, Crack Shot 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:4 ENGI:0
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:15 ARMOR:2
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:4 REPAIR:6
  TECH ATK:+5 LIMITED:+0
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:12 SENSE:20 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
  HEAVY MOUNT: BULKHEAD AUGER // Overpower Caliber
  FLEX MOUNT: Unraveler
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Armament Redundancy, BLOODHOUNDmk3.3 PACKET-SNIFFER, SKIP DRIVE, Rapid Burst Jump Jet System, Unhinge Chronology, Viral Logic Suite```

Tho I think I might go with Swallowtail and Monarch

[true mantle]

There seem to be some weird tag issues in the LCP, especially around Grenades & Mines. I've been trying to clean them up hoping it'll fix some foundry errors.

Do you want a diff or PR somewhere?

[unkempt moth]

this is a very low tech answer but if you could shoot me a dm with a txt or just a list of issue locations that would probably be the best way

[true mantle]

Sure thing

[gentle tusk]

Already posted this on the itch.io page but the Tametomo can't actually do damage with its PT3 Flare Bow because 1d3/charge isn't rollable. You're gonna need different profiles per charge

[gentle swan]

Okay on the subject of the flaming lunatic frame as some folks at my table have called it how exactly do you build it?

[keen sorrel]

Step one: set yourself on fire
Step two: set the enemy on fire
???
Profit

[gentle tusk]

Build for high heat capacity and health if you can

You're going to be burning alive and it's going to make you easy to kill

So pump that hull a bit

Second, get Wasteborn

The talent is practically tailored towards the Tametomo's playstyle

Third, get external batteries

It helps

A lot

As far as using the PT3 Flare Bow goes, you basically get a ton of heat and then dump it all by stabilizing

Gaining/clearing 5 heat is one charge for it, and the Typhoon Pattern Ion Channel is there to aid in that heat buildup

[gentle tusk]

Tametomo moment

[unkempt moth]

he’s fine

[gentle tusk]

Tobi abusing her mech's deep well heat sinks badly enough to still somehow fill out her mech's heat cap of 10

[gentle tusk]

peak Tametomo :)

https://i.imgur.com/0Hi1QXE.png
https://i.imgur.com/nnu4Tmk.png
https://i.imgur.com/G1P385T.png
https://i.imgur.com/qcnL0n6.png

[keen sorrel]

not to rain on your parade but isn't the PT3 1d3 a charge not 1d6?

[gentle tusk]

Yeah I fucked up

Because it doesn't work in foundry I had to put it in manually and fat fingered the die type

I asked the GM if I could reroll and he just said he'd take it

Frankly the fact Overkill triggered this many times on D6s is more impressive...

[keen sorrel]

Ahhh okok

[true mantle]

Life’s been chaotic but I’m still planning to get that tag-cleanup draft back to you. My Sicklewing campaign is closing on LL12 so definitely got mileage out of it.

[vocal yoke]

@unkempt moth Hello 😄 (sorry for the double ping, was in the wrong chat initially) one of the players at my table had a Castor and Pollox question they put on the Itch.io page, but I thought this might be a better way to see about getting an answer haha.

The Coriander has the Smoke Generator and the Scramble Charge.

The Smoke Generator can be triggered by "you or an allied character." However, the effect only mentions your allies benefiting from the smoke. Is this correct?

Following a similar train of thought, the scramble grenades also only affect allies. The language is much more clear in this entry but I was curious as to whether or not it was supposed to affect you and your allies seeing as a grenade going off at your feet would probably affect you.

Any input would be very appreciated

[unkempt moth]

oh yeah, both of these should also work on you - that’s just some miswording on my part

[vocal yoke]

Great! 🙂 thanks for the clarification

not sure if my player is in this discord. hmmm

ill have to invite him lol

[jagged osprey]

Hey all, quick question here on Coatl's Radiant plumage, how does that heat gain interact with enemies who 1. make multiple attacks against a single target in the zone and 2. make an aoe against multiple targets who are all in plumage's zone?

[balmy fractal]

They take 1 Heat for each Attack.
Tier 2s and Tier 3s just get to make more Attacks as an action.

@jagged osprey

And AoE attacks are themselves multiple attacks against all the targets in the AoE.

So more Heat.

[jagged osprey]

Oooooh good to know thank you, that makes plumage a lot more impactful than my first glance!

[balmy fractal]

Shared these two builds with some other friends, using the Gilgamesh with the provided material in this book. Kinda wish I could play either of them now, but alas.

[ LICENSES ]
  HA Gilgamesh 2, HA Sunzi 1, HORUS Couatl 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Integrated Ammo Feeds, The Lesson of the Open Door
[ TALENTS ]
  Nuclear Cavalier 3, Demolitionist 3, Vanguard 2, Duelist 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:3 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:5
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:19 ARMOR:1
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:12 REPAIR:5
  TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+5
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:16
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED: Fuel Rod Gun x8
  MAIN MOUNT: Corona Purge x6
  FLEX MOUNT: Superthermal Blade x7
  HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Shotgun
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Blink Charges x8, Pattern-B Shock Charges x8, Pattern-B HEX Charges x8, Armament Redundancy, Personalizations```

[ LICENSES ]
  HA Gilgamesh 2, HA Sunzi 1, PI-OF Basil 2, PI-OF Spearmint 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Integrated Ammo Feeds, 'CURVEBALL' Brachial Tuning
[ TALENTS ]
  Demolitionist 3, Engineer 3, Heavy Gunner 3
[ STATS ]
  HULL:4 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:2
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:19 ARMOR:1
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:9 REPAIR:6
  TECH ATK:+2 LIMITED:+4
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED: Prototype Weapon III x10
  MAIN MOUNT: Assault Rifle
  FLEX MOUNT: Dispersal Bow
  HEAVY MOUNT: Apex-Hunter Nexus
[ SYSTEMS ]
  *Munition Sling, *Pattern-C Advanced Charges x7, Blink Charges x7, Overgrowth Charges x6

(*) exotic```

[balmy fractal]

@unkempt mothActually, shoot, I have a question, from what I see on compcon.

Does Bramble Grenade just automatically deal 1d6 before the save is taken into account?

[unkempt moth]

the damage is attached to failing the initial save (so, attached to the immobilized)

but once you fail the initial save yeah, the damage is automatic until they pass the save to remove the effect

[balmy fractal]

Gotcha.

[autumn ravine]

C&P may be far in the rear view mirror for you, but I was workshopping a trait for the Packmaster NPC, thought it might be worth putting here:

The Behemoth Drone is replaced by a pack of smaller FOXHUNT drones. The Behemoth drone becomes a Size 3 Drone that always has soft cover and can no longer benefit from hard cover. It is immune to Knockback. The Behemoth drone can occupy the same space as any other character or cover, as long as the Behemoth occupies at least 2 free tiles when it ends its turn. It can pass through any gap at least one space wide as long as it ends its turn in a valid location. The Behemoth drone has 1 Armor and can move unimpeded over difficult terrain.```

its not proper lancer technical language, but it's not quite cooked yet

[unkempt moth]

oh interesting - making it a squad basically?

that could be a fun way to shake it up

the one thing i’d caution about potentially is that changing size affects its ability to control grapples

[autumn ravine]

That's a good point. I may have to give it a special rule that states it always grapples as if it's size 2

[quick pelican]

Coatl my beloved

[gentle tusk]

Oh yeah so will the Tametomo's integrated weapon be given profiles?

[summer dew]

Hello, a player of mine has a question. On the Sicklewing (Castor and Pollux) does the Stack Overflow damage scale with the amount of characters nearby?
AKA: Is the max for the invade 1 AP damage and 6 Movement or 6 AP damage and 6 Movement.
Trying to settle a grammar debate, thank you

[unkempt moth]

yes, both the damage and the movement scale off of the number of characters nearby

[summer dew]

Is the cap for both 6 or just the damage?

[unkempt moth]

6 for both

[quick pelican]

Does Corona Purge care about engage penalties? I'm assuming it eats the penalty but my heart yearns for ignoring that like bristlecrown does without grabbing combined arms II

[unkempt moth]

it does still suffer from engagement, yeah

[balmy fractal]

Sadness.

Welp, Couatl time.

-- HORUS COUATL @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
  HORUS Couatl 2, IPS-N Blackbeard 2, IPS-N Zheng 1, SSC Atlas 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Reinforced Frame, Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ TALENTS ]
  Executioner 3, Weaponsmith 3, Ace 1, Exemplar 1, Heavy Bracers 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:0 AGI:6 SYS:0 ENGI:2
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:18 ARMOR:2
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:5
  TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+1
  SPD:6 EVA:12 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
  HEAVY MOUNT: Nanocarbon Sword (Weaponsmith Mod Rank-3)
  MAIN MOUNT: Kraul Rifle // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Weaponsmith Modification 1: Crit: Prone, Weaponsmith Modification 2: Range/Threat Increase, Weaponsmith Modification 3: +1 Accuracy, Armament Redundancy, Personalizations, Type-3 Projected Shield, Synthetic Muscle Netting```

Another idea is to go Atlas 3 for Terashima and Jager Kunst II.

Another is to go Atlas 1 and Dusk Wing 2, picking up Flicker Field Projector to use in concert with the Kraul Rifle.

But then I'd have to give up my base Speeeeeeeeeeeeed... of 6.

Moving points into Hull.

Heavy Bracers Rank-1 (from Field Guide to Dpok) counts the frame as 2 Sizes larger for Engagement.

So, this build can Kraul-Boost and stop the movement of even Size 2s and 3s.

Which is kinda where Flicker Field might be good to have.

Getting to also Kraul Rifle while Core Power is up is nutty.

[quick pelican]

Vanguard 3 nailgun is so tempting on Couatl

But it’s also tempting on anything with a main mount lmao

[balmy fractal]

Ye, I wanted something different than that.

Something to consider also is that the Couatl is one of those frames that is not dependent on its own Licensed Gear.

You could take the frame as an Exotic, and you might be better for it, depending on the build.

I could probably do that here.

Then I could go three ISPN licenses and three SSC licenses.

Like so.

-- (Exotic Frame) HORUS COUATL @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
  IPS-N Blackbeard 2, IPS-N Zheng 1, SSC Atlas 1, SSC Dusk Wing 2
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Reinforced Frame, Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ TALENTS ]
  Executioner 3, Weaponsmith 3, Tactician 2, Heavy Bracers 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:0 AGI:6 SYS:0 ENGI:2
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:18 ARMOR:2
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:5
  TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+1
  SPD:6 EVA:12 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
  HEAVY MOUNT: Nanocarbon Sword (Weaponsmith Mod Rank-3)
  MAIN MOUNT: Kraul Rifle // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Weaponsmith Modification 1: Crit: Prone, Weaponsmith Modification 2: Range/Threat Increase, Weaponsmith Modification 3: +1 Accuracy, Armament Redundancy, Personalizations, Type-3 Projected Shield, Flicker Field Projector, Total Strength Suite I```

Could swap out Ace 1 and Exemplar 1 here too... hrm...

Skirmisher. Pankrati. Tactician.

I like Tactician.

[quick pelican]

I’m preferable to open door on coautl to help with the plumage reaction and core power saves - which means horus licenses.
But an innately flying armor 2 frame with a core power to draw people towards you will always be fun to build as a melee striker, which does need other licenses yeah

[gentle tusk]

God this is such a fucking stupid build

-- HA Gilgamesh @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
  HORUS COUATL 3, HA Gilgamesh 2, HA Genghis 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Integrated Ammo Feeds, Overpower Caliber
[ TALENTS ]
  Exemplar 3, Combined Arms 2, Vanguard 2, Grease Monkey 2
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:4
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:17 ARMOR:1
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:11 REPAIR:5
  TECH ATK:+2 LIMITED:+5
  SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
  MAIN MOUNT: CORONA PURGE // Overpower Caliber
  FLEX MOUNT: Superthermal Blade
  HEAVY MOUNT: Krakatoa Thermobaric Flamethrower
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Personalizations, IRIDESCENT HOLO-SCALES x7, Armament Redundancy, Utility Drone x7, OBSESS.RECURSE(T), PALADIN DEFRAGMENTATION SUBROUTINE

The fact I can use Corona Purge on this up to 6 times is cursed

I could trade GM2 for NucCav 2 maybe

You can actually combo the utility drone with this btw

Pop one up next to you before Corona Purging

And even if they don't want to take the save you can heatgun with Superthermal

[balmy fractal]

Want to know another trick with the Couatl gear?

[gentle tusk]

Sure

[balmy fractal]

Puppet Systems them away from you after you turn on Iridescent Holo-Scales.

For added spice, use Enhanced Systems Upgrade to apply 2 more heat or a secondary Invade.

[gentle tusk]

Oh that's evil

That said I do want my extra limited just to spam the Corona Purge

[balmy fractal]

But I kinda have a similar build up there somewhere.

#1057789763341516913 message

[gentle tusk]

Honestly idk how good this actually is

But y'know

It's Gilgamesh lol

[balmy fractal]

Yeah, Gilgamesh is just generally good.

Tied with Stortebeker and Monarch for my fav' frames.

[gentle tusk]

Ngl every time I have seen a Storte on the field someone gets gored

I'm actually with one in an OWS campaign with some house rules and the Bolt Thrower is doing a lot of heavy lifting for them

Aaaaaanyways that's a bit off topic

But I won't say no to seeing one on the field

[balmy fractal]

I do think that adding Overpower Caliber to the Corona Purge is its own spiciness.

Potential 12 energy and 12 heat there.

12 down to 6, anyways.

[gentle tusk]

It'd be halved I think?

Wait nvm you already considered that

[balmy fractal]

I accounted for that.

[gentle tusk]

But yeah 12 Heat is enough to overwhelm most NPCs

Including Pyros lmao

[balmy fractal]

Even Scourers don't like that.

[gentle tusk]

With NucCav though it's straight up silly lol

That's what?

17 heat?

[balmy fractal]

12 maximum from Corona Purge.
4 maximum from Superthermal Blade.
2 bonus from Nuclear Cavalier.

So, 18.

If we assume the least from the Overpower Caliber die, then it is 16.

[gentle tusk]

Oh my god lol

Nuking the berserker from orbit with the sun

https://tenor.com/view/the-sun-is-a-deadly-lazer-gif-8691250

[balmy fractal]

Sicklewing time.

-- SSC SICKLEWING @ LL6 -- "Black Bird of Black Fortune"
[ LICENSES ]
  SSC Sicklewing 3, IPS-N Vlad 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  All-Theater Movement Suite, Reinforced Frame
[ TALENTS ]
  Vanguard 3, Drone Commander 2, Skirmisher 2, Script Kiddie 2
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:4
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:18 ARMOR:0
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:9 REPAIR:4
  TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+2
  SPD:6 EVA:12 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
  MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Impaler Nailgun / ID-820 “Sermon” Compact SMG
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Insight Para-Mind x5, Judas Exploit x4, Erebus Suite, Type-3 Rune Suite, Armament Redundancy, Charged Stake```

@unkempt moth Is the Invade Save inflicted by the Black Cat Drone supposed to be a Quick Tech action?

I need to fine tune this; this is a little of a mess.

[unkempt moth]

it is a quick tech, yeah

[balmy fractal]

Niiiiiiiiiiice.

[balmy fractal]

-- SSC SICKLEWING @ LL6 -- "Heavy is the Weight of this Burden"
[ LICENSES ]
  SSC Sicklewing 3, IPS-N Tortuga 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Integrated Weapon, Reinforced Frame
[ TALENTS ]
  Legionnaire 3, Centimane 3, Script Kiddie 2, Drone Commander 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:4
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:20 ARMOR:0
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:9 REPAIR:4
  TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+2
  SPD:6 EVA:12 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED: Data Dart
  INTEGRATED WEAPON: Nexus (Light)
  MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Hunter-Killer) / Nexus (Light)
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Script Kiddle Suite x4, Type-3 Rune Suite, Insight Para-Mind x5, Judas Exploit x4, HyperDense Armor, Armament Redundancy, Personalizations```

I like this a lot more.

[vagrant pumice]

Hello! How does Cargo walker interact with difficult terrain or 0G?

[unkempt moth]

For 0g it would get to fly like anything else, so it would have omnidirectional movement but it can’t be Slowed so that part doesn’t matter. For difficult terrain…. realistically it’s probably most fair that it still has to account for it, so it turns its 2 movement into 1 space

but also again as not a character I think it would be fair for it to ignore the terrain too

I don’t really have a strong feeling either way but Imd actually go with it ignoring the terrain for now, that’s more in line with its purpose as a system

[vagrant pumice]

Thanks for the answer!
I'm gonna go with ignoring difficult terrain, I feel like setting it up and getting 1 might feel kinda bad.

[nocturne forge]

This is a small thing but I LOVE the Snap-Crush Mining Jaws. I need to make a Dunk mech so badly… what other frames would the jaws be good on other than base Rosemary?

[lavish epoch]

question that I've been bothered with for a bit, why does the Tametomo, a mech that seems like it wants to get in close with its system ranges to be able to take advantage of all of its kit (considering Immolation bolt has a range of 5) have a base speed of 3?

[gentle tusk]

Low speed is a fairly common HA flaw

Also I thought it had the ability to glue two people together?

[lavish epoch]

thas also range 5 (and heat 3 self but it doesn't care about heat much)

sure HA has a lot of low speed mechs, but a lot of them can still reliably get to where they need to be with it, i.e. Toku has 4, Enkidu has 3 but actually 6, Iskander has 3 but more so wants to be leaving a trail (and also has range 15), and the Barb just doesn't count, it can reach the entire map

Even the Genghis, despite being a speed 3, can reach where it needs to by the power of just having enough aoe's and the ability to run stuff over (in worldkiller's case)

[gentle tusk]

That's true tbh

Also I will admit, I'm still slightly irked by the fact the integrated weapon doesn't have proper charge profiles

[lavish epoch]

fair

[gentle tusk]

Also Tametomo does seem to have a lot of range 5 options

[lavish epoch]

I'm fine with that because its just a linear upwards damage and effects as opposed to having seriously different effects per one that isn't just evenly spaced changes

[gentle tusk]

It's more because it gets buggy with stuff like foundry

That and other charge based weapons already use the profile system in C/C for the sake of damage rolls

[lavish epoch]

aaah yea fair

[gentle tusk]

But uh

Looping back to the other part, I'm kinda not sure?

[lavish epoch]

yea, I'm willing to dump into agility to make it work who

[gentle tusk]

Tbf like

Putting some in agility probably is a good idea just because y'know

Self burn

[lavish epoch]

I mean it can't structure itself with burn thankfully

[gentle tusk]

I know but also that enemy over there is licking his lips seeing you only have 1 armor and are at your last hit point

Or the uh

Sudden onset of 7 overkill

Into exposed

[lavish epoch]

or the cost of rolling poorly on difficulty or accuracy dice and having overkill part 2 take you down

if only its max range was a little bit longer than the standard assault range of 10 with its 2 reliable

[gentle tusk]

You see

My stupid build just involves using exbats

[lavish epoch]

exbats?

oh wait the toku external batteries

I mean fair it just doesn't help the system range sadly

[violet dagger]

Took a look at this today, it's all great. I like that it's focused; in my next campaign, I plan to offer my players the choice of one 3rd-party system, and I really like the offerings here. I DEFINITELY really like the Earn Your Wings system, its a lot of fun and fits in with starting in the Long Rim.

[balmy fractal]

[ BLACK HOUND OF BLACK FORTUNE ]
-- SSC SICKLEWING @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
  SSC SICKLEWING 2, SSC Swallowtail 1, IPS-N Tortuga 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Integrated Weapon, Reinforced Frame
[ TALENTS ]
  Centimane 3, Demolitionist 3, Script Kiddie 2, Drone Commander 1
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:4
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:20 ARMOR:0
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:9 REPAIR:4
  TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+2
  SPD:6 EVA:12 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
  INTEGRATED WEAPON: Nexus (Light)
  MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Hunter-Killer) / Nexus (Light)
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Script Kiddie Suite II x4, HyperDense Armor, Lotus Projector, Personalizations, Type-3 Rune Suite, Pattern-B Concussion Charges x5, Pattern-B HEX Charges x5```

HyperDense up, don't care about damage, screw with people.

Engineering 4, because I wanted more Limited Charges and a little more Heat play.

Reinforced Frame gives me the HP I want.

[barren vortex]

how good is the Star Anise Frame and License?

[atomic smelt]

I found it very enjoyable and considered it, at the time, the closest thing to a proper "healer" frame the game had

If you want to try her out immediately as an LL3 pilot I would recommend a focus on the terrain shifting more than the buffs. She works much better for direct team frame support once you get to LL4 and above

[barren vortex]

Hell yes, the terrain shifting system really caught my eye when I first saw it

[atomic smelt]

There's an argument to be made its core power is a bit too strong but I think it mainly depends on what other homebrew you have in the game. The Anis with the base game alone is fine; beyond that it might get wild

[nocturne forge]

[ LICENSES ]
  HA Sherman 2, HORUS COUATL 2, HA Barbarossa 1, IPS-N Kidd 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
  Superior by Design, Overpower Caliber
[ TALENTS ]
  Crack Shot 3, Tactician 2, Heavy Gunner 2, House Guard 2
[ STATS ]
  HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:4
  STRUCTURE:4 HP:17 ARMOR:1
  STRESS:4 HEATCAP:14 REPAIR:5
  TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+2
  SPD:3 EVA:7 EDEF:10 SENSE:8 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
  FLEX MOUNT: Blackspot Targeting Laser
  MAIN MOUNT: Nexus (Hunter-Killer)
  HEAVY MOUNT: DEMISOLAR LENS // Overpower Caliber
[ SYSTEMS ]
  Siege Stabilizers, PEBCAC, RADIANT PLUMES, Armament Redundancy, Personalizations```

I call this build "Say Cheese"

(the Demisolar Lens is a Rifle)

[limpid depot]

Allo, got a question regarding the Tametomo and it's baseline LL items.

What does a standard Tametomo look like? Or at least one that maintains a balance for both OC-charging and heat maintenance?

Currently trying to see what setup I can make with one that revolves around range (LL3 so Hull 5 Tametomo with either all 3 LLs in the Mech license of 2 LLs for the frame and 1 LL for Exposed Batteries.)

[plush furnace]

Question,
with the Voltaic Swarm from Lemongrass can it deal the 1d3 dmg and knockback 2 to enemies outside the burst 2 range when they take a hostile action against someone with an active swarm attached to them?

@unkempt moth whenever you're around again.

[unkempt moth]

yes - once the swarm is attached, that is no longer connected to the weapon’s range, it’s just an effect on them

the Burst 2 is just for actually firing the weapon

[plush furnace]

thanks so much for the clarification.

[clever delta]

Hello, I had a question about the Slow-Cycle Shield Canopy
How does it interact with damage "that cannot be reduced in any way"?

[violet dagger]

Probably overrides it

[violet dagger]

But it is kinda ambiguous, it might only affect AP and other "ignores armor" effects

[clever delta]

Alright, thanks for the answers

[unkempt moth]

I believe my intention was that it overrides it, yeah

rather, the Shield Canopy makes your armor apply to paracausal damage effects

[ripe kestrel]

From the Lemon Grass frame when using the Voltaic Swarm. If attacking with an area effect weapon. does the 1d3 & 2 knockback activate for all enemies in the area individually, or just once for the attack.

[unkempt moth]

I’m not sure I 100% understand. If someone is shielded by the voltaic swarm’s effect and then gets hit by a blast weapon, the character that fired the blast takes the damage and the knockback

but nothing happens to anyone else in its aoe

[thorny cypress]

So, Wasteborn question.

With Gamma Flood, does the burn clear normally after one turn, or does it just clear at 1/2 until it's finally gone?

Assuming, of course, that you aren't Gamma Flooding the same target every round.

[unkempt moth]

It would clear 1/2 burn on the turn they’re Gamma Flooded, and then clear normally afterwards

but yeah if you keep hitting them with Gamma Flood it will be at 1/2 every round

[thorny cypress]

Okay, that makes a big difference.

Gamma Flood on a Toku gets out of control fast.

[misty elk]

i hacked together a peppercorn

[misty elk]

i'm working my way through the piof, so here's my take on a fennel:

and its drones:

[misty elk]

rosemary and lemongrass

[lost prawn]

Whimsical little guys.

[olive nacelle]

i sloppily kitbashed this together for my rosemary, thought the creator of the rosemary would want to see 🙂‍↕️

[unkempt moth]

I can’t remember if I ever said it here but the ‘canon’ rosemary is a quadruped/centaur design and it’s very funny to me that people land on that independently

just the vibe it gives off