u/TheAwesomeStuff

This is my second TTRPG, first being Pathfinder 2nd Edition, managed to get into a Lancer oneshot because I thought big mech fighting game sounded awesome. The premise of the oneshot was that a Union convoy got jacked by "rebels" (HA? Horus? Random bad actors? Unclear) and a Union ambassador was kidnapped, and it's our job to be the Big Damn Heroes, take them out, and retrieve her (an Escort sitrep).

I attempted to sort of recreate Titanfall 2's Ronin (that should say Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints for Core Bonus), using an Everest frame. The rest of the team was a Gilgamesh (also had Auto-Stab), Tokugawa, Kidd, and Viceroy. Relatively diverse squad.

I have to say, for a fresh start at LL3, it went fairly smoothly, even with three other newbies; the Toku was experienced. Lancer's rules are pretty digestible, there's very few modifiers, and the system's similar enough to Pathfinder 2e's to where I could grok them quickly. The biggest speed bumps were measuring out hexes and splitting movement. I miss the elegance of having a set three actions per turn...

As for performance, the Tokugawa dominated. Basically constantly ordered the Gilgamesh and Viceroy to roll twice take higher attack, then deal a ton of damage with Autopod. The trio melted everything on the board. Ultra Berserker got dropped in as reinforcement, and it got torn apart; everyone agreed it'd be faster and easier to just kill it than try to maneuver the Escort around it! Kidd did a ton of condition clearing and ally set up, and I kinda just, pushed the Escort mostly. I got two crits against a Veteran Goliath, destroying it, but honestly, my build didn't feel... great? I never Overwatched, never got to use Lockbreaker nor Singularity Motivator because I was either Immobilized or needed to stick to the escort when those two would trigger. I was a Striker who did the 4th worst damage (and the highest damage to my own team, thanks to a Witch's Predatory Logic!), felt like I could've just been any 6 speed build and be about as effective. It felt like the Tokugawa was basically the "main character", though I did deliver the Escort all the way to extraction successfully.

Even still, the mission wasn't clean, quick, and easy. A Bombard's Cluster Munitions dealt 13 damage in one attack since we were clumped around the Toku, making most of us lose a Structure. And the aforementioned Predatory Logic nearly killed the Tokugawa; 2 Structures from one critical hit! So I got the impression even if you do sweat super hard, every build still has big, exploitable pain points, which is exciting to strategize around!

I'm intrigued by Lancer's lore, there's so many cool looking and sounding mechs and builds, and I managed to get invited to another oneshot! I'm glad I gave it a chance, and I'm excited to continue seeing the system in action!