Winter Scar mechs R&D Part 1

[burnt depot]

I told my players I was gonna run a playtest for the upcoming releases, both were allowed, but accidentally everyone picked something from Winter Scar. We didn't run the module, but we did run Kutuzov, Gilgamesh, and Lycan (no Amber Phantom unfortunately). 3 players in total

This will be a full mission structure with 3 combats with one combat this week, and the next combats over the next few weeks.

They fought a Barricade, Bastion, Assault, Archer, and Mirage, no reinforcements, and no optionals. The sitrep was a lighter gauntlet, where they needed to just be in the extraction before end of Round 6 (they didn't need to)

In general we liked them a lot, but here's in depth for them:
Kutuzov:
-The player liked it a lot. He was happy with how hardy it was and liked its Defender/Support mechanics.
-Made great use of quick action shield systems, particularly core active, stasis bolt, and Sal's enclave. Also making great use of core passive ignore engage/reaction/obstruction
-I found it worked satisfyingly too, it used HoG 3 to decent effect, and it felt more active than its original sibling frame
-not had a chance to see expulsion field and its brace trait work yet

Gil and Lycan to follow, I ran out of characters

Gilgamesh:
-The player liked both running and building the gilgamesh a lot, found that he had something to do no matter the turn, he was hit by warp sensors and resolved to just not use ranged attacks and throw grenades around.
-The player found it to be a great generalist where its systems are gonna usually be great for any other build, or you can build anything on it (while focusing on Limiteds)
-I agree with him, the Gil's generalist nature felt like it really shined, and it might be the most generalist mech I've run when GMing Lancer (even more so than the Everest). It might just be the way he built it, mostly using in-License and Sunzi's warp grenades that made it feel this versatile.
"HA Balanced Frame" might work for its role. Or at least, if any mech could take the second "Balanced" role, this guy might be the best candidate for it

Lycan:
-The player had fun, but felt like not enough experience yet to get a proper feel. She built for melee/CQ but didn't get much of a chance yet because everything got screwed or blown up by everyone else, and her slow movement
-Saw both Interference Field and Power Flux at least once. Flux turned a successful enemy Invade into value for her by making the Archer fail the save and Slowing/Impairing. Interference made Kutuzov's shielding and covering even better by giving close by enemies difficulty (the whole fight, even more accurate attacks or Lockons had a hard time getting positive accuracy)
As a GM, that felt like it did some good Defendering at least
-No chance to activate Go Loud yet

misc:
-for the Kutuzov, if they use a Full Tech and used Bolster as one of the quicks in the full, can they still use their core passive's Full Action cost, or would that only count for the Quick cost?
-for the Shock Claws, since it only says it can't be used to attack at the same time as other Heavy/Superheavy, that means it can still use Executioner 1/3?

I'll come back with a Part 2 and 3 for the next combats once they're played

[ripe carbon]

Thanks for the writeup, I appreciate it, and I'm glad everyone had fun

To answer your questions:
1). My ruling so far on "what about a full tech that uses quick action prerequisites (Bolster, Emperor shield techs) is that you get the quick action effect, if you want the full action benefit it has to be a single full action something (a full action non-RSU stabilize, a full action shield system, etc)
2). Yes, the shock claws can be used with executioner. You just can't use the claws and then overcharge with a heavy weapon in the same turn

Re: the Kutuzov's brace trait, it's something I don't really expect to come up a lot in the course of an average combat, brace is already somewhat situational to begin with, so I view it as more of an occasional thing rather than "you should always be looking to maximize this." Not a ribbon trait exactly, but definitely a less cornerstone component of the frame, which is fine since it has Expulsion Zone and Parallel Projectors

so I guess I'm saying is if it doesn't see a lot of use, that's kind of as expected

I also appreciate the lycan defender mode feedback, it's something I've been hoping to get more of