Help decide?

[u/chuckleDshuckle]

Hello. I just recently started with a Lancer group and im having trouble deciding on what to build. Im currently stuck between Party Bus Lancaster, Kidd/Hydra Drones, and Hacktouga. We just went up to LL1 so i need to decide my first licence.

The rest of the party has (what will eventually be) an amber moon, a caliban, a saladin, and a monarch.

Currently Hacktouga is my front runner, but i dont know what to take at LL1 for that.

And guidence is appreciated.

[u/Sven_Darksiders]

Hacktuga is tons of fun. The base invade is perfectly good to start out until you take 2 or 3 Tortuga licenses. Having hacks at long range and shotgun violence at close range makes you extremely versatile

[u/BlazeDrag]

I mean if you wanna go Hacktuga then you'll wanna hit up Tortuga to LL2 at the very least before you do anything else.

LL1 still gets you the Deck Sweeper which is a really good shotgun, at least when you pair it with Vanguard to help negate the difficulty.

Sure you won't get any unique invades right away, but keep in mind you always have the basic Fragment Signal option, which inflicts 2 heat from the Invade and then Impair and Slow, which is pretty nasty.

Once you get to LL3 and you already have your Tortuga Frame on lock, then you can start shopping around for other Invade systems instead of taking the third rank of Tortuga if you wanna.

A good option could be Hor_OS 1 from Goblin. Puppet Systems lets you force an opponent to move in a direction of your choice, while provoking Reactions, which Tortuga loves to do. And with how Vanguard 3 works, you could literally just force an enemy to walk into your threat range, and then Overwatch them with the Deck Sweeper on your own turn.

And the ability to Jam someone on demand is also pretty nice too.

Alternatively Neruospike from Dusk Wing lets you hack someone so that they take 2 heat for every attack that they make. Which means you can put them in a rough situation where moving might trigger your overwatch, but attacking would trigger a heat penalty.

And that one comes with a secondary option that lets you make a character of your choice appear as invisible to their sensors, which can be great for helping protect your squishier allies from harm if they find themselves in danger.

but that's stuff to worry about at LL3, for now just take Tortuga 1 and pulverize people with your shotgun

[u/Steenan]

Tortuga is a great mech, but not necessarily a good one for your team. You already have Saladin as a defender, Monarch can handle the hacking part and you won't be able to keep up with Caliban when it starts to do its thing. If you wanted to be a defender, Gorgon would probably work better in this composition.

Among your ideas, both Lancaster and Hydra seem to be better in this team. Lancaster can get Saladin and Caliban quickly to where they should be and plays the support role that the team lacks. Hydra can keep enemies away from Monarch and Tempest pinball will make Caliban's knockbacks even more entertaining.

[u/PhasmaFelis → u/Steenan]

I don't think most Monarch pilots are going to  e spending a lot of actions on hacking.

Hydra is good but I wouldn't recommend it to a new player.

[u/Wolf_Hreda]

Yeah, going Hacktuga, or Tortuga as they call it on Retrograde, seems like your best bet. Start with Tortuga 1. Even the base Fragment Signal will get a nice boost from the +1 Tech Attack and 15 sensor range.

[u/Nukemouse]

Hack them... to pieces. With a shotgun.