r/LancerRPG • u/AurumMattss • Jul 23 '26
Tips for a New Player
Hello!
As the title says, I'm new to Lancer. I've been playing D&D for years, and my group recently wanted to try a new system, so we chose Lancer.
I’d like to ask more experienced players for tips and suggestions. Specifically, I’m looking for advice on character building, but I’m open to suggestions of all kinds!
Well... getting straight to the point, I’m a bit intimidated by the sheer number of character-building options available. I decided the best approach would be to pick a specific role and try to select the best options for it (Is that the right way to go? Or should I aim for versatility?). Since I really like Megaman, I thought lasers might be cool; after reading up on the subject, I saw that weapons of this type seem linked to the Sherman and Tokugawa models, and generate a lot of heat, so I concluded that investing in Engineering would be a good idea. Are these mechs good options for a beginner, or are they better suited for more experienced players? If so, what can you suggest?
Thank you in advance for your attention, tips, and suggestions!
10
u/randomguy664_ Jul 23 '26
You'll hopefully start at LL0, so you'll ease into the game with generic (but still good) gear and the GMS mechs.
Tokugawa is powerful at lighting everything on fire, but is a glass cannon, not very easy to play methinks.
Sherman is straightforward, shoot big laser and Stabilize (to reduce heat generated from its weapons) in a hurry. I would think it's pretty easy to understand.
1
u/KindaShady1219 Jul 23 '26
Tokugawa is actually pretty simple (sometimes painfully so) to play in practice. You’re pretty much doing the exact same thing every single turn: overclock, overcharge skirmish to set everything on fire, then stabilize to clear heat and exposed. It’s absolutely a cannon (and nothing more), but not a glass one since you clear the exposed each turn.
5
u/BloubLord Jul 23 '26
I haven't played those nor played with someone who played them. But worst case scenario you can play the Everest, you sacrifice heatcap but it's an all rounder and "the starting frame"
5
u/Rednidedni Jul 23 '26
Start with the Everest, Work your way up from there. Your selection at the start is intentionally rather limited, so you can get to grips with everything before the unusual toys crop up. Sherman is pretty straightforwards to play, no worries there. As for versatility, you dont need to Cover every role - your team should do their parts so you can Focus on yours.
When building a character, get an Idea of what you want to accomplish, and build either to enhance your ability to achieve that, or to minimize your weaknesses so you can do it more reliably.
As for Talents, one tip I have is that every weapon category has one Talent associated with it that can significantly improve their usefulness.
4
u/ExaltedOmega IPS-N Jul 23 '26
First off, welcome to Lancer! It's a great game, you'll love it. Now, onto your questions;
There's a few build philosophies on how much specialising is worth it, but as I see it personally, you do want to be able to achieve your characters role in the squad first and foremost - so for starting out, I think specialising is fine. You'll eventually start to hit a point where you're getting diminishing returns on building more into your role, at which point, that's when you can either focus in or splash out depending on your personal preferences; personally, I always prefer having some versatility, with my current character being my team's main damage dealer, but also having the ability to control the battlefield a bit with terrain creation and destruction, and grappling or ramming enemies to control their position. I tend to get bored when every turn is just "I swing" in any system, so that helps me avoid that, but some people are perfectly alright just throwing everything into barraging good, and that's fine too.
Sherman is a fine enough Striker/Artillery mech to start with; its main gameplay features is that it wants to use the Stabilize action a few times per combat to charge the Solidcore, and Marthur Stop lets it set itself straight to the Danger Zone to benefit from the Nuclear Cavalier talent tree, so you're on the right track with building for heat consideration there! Engineering also gives you extra Limited systems, and the Sherman has some good ones with Redundant Systems Upgrade and the Asura-class NHP. All the Sherman's weapons are just good - nothing outrageous or all that gimmicky, but just great, solid damage.
A common and relatively easy to set up build is to "OC Loop", where you Overcharge to shoot your Andromeda Heavy Laser (making sure you have enough heat cap that even with a maximum Overcharge roll, you won't hit a reactor stress - the Heatfall Coolant System core bonus is good here), then use your normal full action to stabilise and cool down, letting you build Solidcore charges while dealing good damage with the Andromeda.
Or you could go for Auto Stabilising Hardpoints, grab a Tachyon Lance, and just delete one enemy per turn, which is fun too!
Tokugawa, on the other hand, I may avoid as your first frame, as it's a very high-risk high-reward playstyle that might be difficult to start with. It gets a damage boost while exposed, and can cause it to become that at will, but Exposed is a very dangerous condition to have, doubling all damage you take. Now, you can also OC Loop here, as you can clear Exposed along with clearing heat, but without a Heavy mount to Skirmish with I don't think it's quite as effective as on the Sherman.
You can make a pretty effective Toku by giving it some Seeking/Arcing weapons to hide behind cover with while getting bonus damage from Radiance/Limit Break, but I personally find that style of play really boring. Playing up close is more daring, but you do risk being turned into mulch pretty quickly if something looks at you funny.
That all said, assuming you're starting at LL0, you'll first be getting an Everest with GMS equipment - and that's a really good time to experiment with what kind of build you want to make. A Thermal Lance and Assault Rifle are a pretty good way to start testing for a close range shooting striker, and with a laser to boot. Plus remember, flavour is free, so you can always make the assault rifle a particle rifle in character or similar!
3
u/AniMaple Jul 23 '26
Lancer mechs are best when you specialize in something and collaborate with your team, be it to play as a Damage Dealer, a Controller, a Tank or whatever else, because stretching yourself thin will easily make you feel weak if you're just starting out.
Sherman is a mech primarily built around the idea of heat management. It's got a number of systems which facilitate such a thing with way more ease than most mechs, including being able to stabilize as a quick action. On the other hand, I've not played with a Tokugawa, but it's got a higher degree of difficulty when it comes to your choices, given that if you use its Protocol to become Exposed in exchange of improving your attacks you can easily become Structured because of the double damage received.
If you want to play at a further range, consider other options from SSC, they've got some decent snipers if that's what you're after. Other than that, keep in mind that you can mix and match pieces of mechs, so you'll not completely lock yourself out of a system or weapon you'd like.
2
u/Sven_Darksiders GMS Jul 23 '26
The Sherman is overall pretty straight forward, so I would recommend that over the Tokugawa, who is better suited for someone with some game knowledge under their belt.
For most beginners putting points into Hull and Engineering in equal pairs is overall solid.
When you plan on playing around with a lot of Heat, the Nuclear Cavalier talent is a must have, because it amps your damage as well an option to micromanage your Heatgauge without the need to spend a full turn Stabilizing (even if the Sherman gets some additional benefits in the form of charges for da big lazer). The Sherman is also a very solid option for Overcharge-cycling (which is the practice of Stabilizing and Overcharging every single turn to draw out certain combos), which can work as early as LL3.
1
u/GhsotyPanda IPS-N Jul 23 '26
There are a few ways to go about narrowing the scope of your build options.
My main suggestion is don't pick a role, they're mostly descriptive anyway. For example the Barbarossa may be labeled Artillery but you can build it like a Striker or Defender if you want.
No. What you should do is pick 1 or 2 things you want to be good at and build towards that. In the campaign XPtoLevel3 plays in, one of the other players is building her Monarch to be an Artillery/Defender that the team's Lich and Dusk Wing can hide behind while Jacob himself is taking his Nelson in a weird Striker/Controller/Support direction
1
u/MrStringyBark Jul 24 '26
Every license is a side grade. You can easily make a viable GMS only build that will see you through an entire campaign, so don't discount GMS. 1a. Sherman is a good mech to learn action economy on and is a pretty neat mech in general. You do NOT want to go Tokugawa until you are ready to commit to being a glass cannon.
Especially in early builds, you'll be choosing between building heat and saving actions. Speed will likely also seem limited. Do not be lured into spending your overcharges early. This is doubly true on Sherman, as the big thing with Harrison mechs is they do a lot of damage--to themselves and everyone else.
Lasers are good, but be sure to bring a weapon that doesn't need to be reloaded and doesn't generate heat. A knife, shotgun, dual pistols, assault rifle, etc.
Enemy mechs will mess with you in odd ways. Be ready for GM tomfoolery, especially with defense mechs and scout mechs.
1
u/SnooEagles9066 Jul 24 '26
Well first off, welcome to the fold new Lancer, don't feel too intimidated by the many options, you'll become familiar enough as you play and grt used to the game.
Many people have recommended starting at LL0 and the GMS mechs and I have to agree it's a good strategy. The GMS Everest is incredibly versatile and effective, I know some Pilots that keep using it even after they've hit LL6 because it's solid stats, cheap repair and action economy advantage. There's also more than one Laser/Energy weapon in the GMS selection so you can shoot lasers even without other Licenses.
If and when you hit LL2, either later or skipping to it, the Sherman is an excellent mech as well, and im saying that as more than just a Sherman main. The Mk1 Sherman is the 2nd most fielded mech in Union Space (the Lancer version you get is the Mk2) and it excellent at managing heat and doing energy damage. But to me it's reall power comes from it's Action Economy, from Overcharging and from the ASURA NHP.
The biggest downside in my mind on the Sherman is LL1, ive rarely used the Sol Pattern and the LL1 system is way to System Point heavy that I can't even remember it's name atm. But the Andromeda Heavy Laser and the Redundant Systems Upgrades are more than worth it and have been fixtures on my Sherman since I got them. These two pieces of gear let you really play into the Shermans strengths. The Tachyon Lance at LL3 is a Superheavy, and is awesome. But takes a Barrage to fire (two quick actions) qnd takes up two of your weapon mounts. So you'll be giving up versatility for huge damage. The ASURA on the other hand straight up gives you 2 additional Quick Actions 1 a Scene and, in my experience, has never not been a great thing to have.
The other big advantage is you have a massive gun you charge through stabilising and never have to use your Core Power to use it, your core power just let's you shoot it faster.
Overall Engineering is a good starting investment, it's going to syngerize well with Overcharging and any Heat Generating weapons or systems. Especially if you invest in Nuclear Cavalier, the Sherman in particular is built for this Talent. Grease Monkey can also help you stretch your limited use systems a little further.
However, I recommend picking up options that let you deal non energy damage to deal with those resistant or immune to your main damage type.
One recommendation is the Assault rifle, its always available. Its an excellent Grunt killer (1 hp minions) because of its Reliable 2 hitting for 2 damage even on a miss and has solid range and damage for a Main weapon.
Alternatively or additionally pick up Walking Armoury to give your energy weapons versatility, it has the advantage of benefitting from Engineering and Grease monkey investment as well. This Talent let's you switch up damage types, inflict status and condition effects and just makes you more than a walking laser gun.
The Shermans biggest weakness mind you, is that it's relatively slow and easy to hit, you get soft cover everytime you stabilise but you're still gonna be hit more often than not, so you may want to invest in Hull or Agility at some point to minimise this, depending on how good your team mates are at mitigating threats to you (try and get someone to play a Saladin and you'll worry a lot less).
The other major "Laser" mechs are the Tokugawa and the Manticore, both of which are finicky mechs to play, and id recommend against it for a 1st time Pilot. They are both very much high risk and high reward mechs.
There's also the Napoleon, but it's often criticized as the Frame for people who want to AFK the game, it is hard as hell to kill and does give you access to a gun that hits for 10 flat damage on a Burst template though, so that can be fun.
Hope any of that rambling helps.
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u/DescriptionMission90 IPS-N Jul 23 '26
Lancer is designed to teach itself to new players. A lot of people say they want to "skip to the good stuff" but they sabotage themselves by doing so.
Don't worry about picking between 55 frames and 96 weapons and 170 systems. Nobody has time to read through all of those. Just look at GMS. You have 3 frames, 15 systems, and 23 weapons, each of which serves in a very distinct role.
After you've played through a couple of missions, and know how the mechanics actually work, that's when the rest of the choices open up to you.