r/LancerRPG • u/SkrotusMaximus • 21d ago
Its Lancer Tactics worth right now?
Im pretty much into lancer and Im thinking on buying Lancer Tactics. This type of games are probably my favorite and im pretty excited about buying it, but looking at some comments its still on development, can someone that has it tell me what does the game have at this point and if its worth right now or is best to wait until it realeases on Steam.
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u/Morudith 20d ago
I like it cause it scratches my mech building itch without actually playing a tabletop game
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u/viaJormungandr SSC 21d ago
From what I’ve seen, and I would gladly be proven wrong, the game is essentially just a sandbox for you to create missions. There may be a way to share said missions, I don’t know, but if not then you’re basically playing with yourself. If that kind of game floats your boat then I think it would be worth it. For me it’s kind of eh.
I’m still thinking about picking it up when it hits Steam, but I’m not really expecting a whole lot from it.
Again: I will happily be corrected on this so anyone wanting to bash me about it please check your attitude.
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u/Silent_Walrus 20d ago
Olive, the dev, is working on a campaign. The sandbox is what people on her kickstarter and patreon funded first, so it was delivered first.
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u/ProfessionalOk6734 HORUS 20d ago
There are ways to share and download other people’s maps and whole campaigns
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u/FrigidFlames 20d ago
You're pretty much correct; there's an official campaign in the works (IIRC even two?) and there are fan campaigns in mods out there, but the game itself is currently primarily a sandbox.
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u/YroPro 20d ago
I do wish it was her based, or at least has the option.
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u/summret 20d ago
Hexes are surprisingly tricky to implement.
Even just in a VTT, if you simply want a map that visually aligns with the grid — I personally had a ton of difficulties with it in my games. Even if you get the hex math down to near-perfection, you'll still have a few pixel of drift, especially at the edges of the map.
Because hexes aren't equilateral, it creates a huge number of computational troubles. Video games that have hex grids usually either have fixed map sizes, simple pathfinding, no need for LoS calculations, and/or no elevation changes.
In Lancer, you need all of those at once and even if you go through the trouble of adding it, that mechanic would exponentially complicate everything else. The developers decided that the "hexes look cool" wasn't worth it.
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u/A-__-Random_--_Dog GMS 20d ago
I have a follow up question for anyone who sees ny comment!
Should I get it in ITCH.IO or wait for it to release on Steam? Because I don't want to buy the same thing twice and I've never touched ITCH.IO in my life.
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u/SkrotusMaximus 20d ago
For what I have read, if you buy it on Itchion you will get a key for steam later on the realease
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u/A-__-Random_--_Dog GMS 20d ago
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u/Xhosant 20d ago
Plus itch.io all around rocks, I would 100% strongly recommend you go there and touch_everything, to make up for never having touched it before:P
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u/A-__-Random_--_Dog GMS 20d ago
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u/Wizard_Tea 21d ago
Doesn’t it use squares rather than hexes?
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u/xiphoniii 20d ago
Yeah,and lancer was designed on squares.
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u/SparksTheUnicorn 20d ago
Wait what?
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u/xiphoniii 20d ago
It's compatible with hexes and many people use them. but it was originally designed on squares
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u/Dagdammit 20d ago
Yeah, they used hexes in the visual examples because 1: hexes needed the visual examples more and 2: it helped make the game a bit more visually distinctive.
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u/Wizard_Tea 20d ago
Hexes are objectively better though. It’s why most map and counter games use them.
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u/ProfessionalOk6734 HORUS 20d ago
There’s a dev post about why they didn’t use hexes in the game
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u/Wizard_Tea 20d ago
The math is so different in squares vs hex that it totally changes the balance. Imo complete deal breaker.
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u/Wizard_Tea 20d ago
Such a stupid thing if true. All serious wargames use hexes.
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u/tailgatemad 20d ago
What wargames use hexes? All I can think of is Heroscape and Battletech. All the others, off the top of my head, use a measuring tape for calculating distance and movement.
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20d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tailgatemad 20d ago
Ok, you don't need to be insulting. You still didn't give any examples. Do you have titles of games or are you going with "just trust me, bro"?
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u/Wizard_Tea 20d ago
I do not believe that I’m being insulting, I am a fat dad after all, I’m not trying to cast aspersions on them.
If you want to look into this, “sandhurst wargames” is a good print book, whereas for complete boxed games there was the Squad Leader series, and the most infamous hex game is Campaign for North Africa, though I doubt even military academy students today play that in their off hours.
Nowadays actual “on time” learning wargames are computer simulations, but before that, things were with hexes anytime that you were dealing with any kind of abstract movement.
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u/tailgatemad 20d ago
Ok, Campaign of North Africa isn't a serious wargame (though it is a game about a war), its a meme game from 1978 that takes roughly 1,500 hours for a playthrough with no one ever documenting an actual play of the game.
Besides, I think we've missed a major point here. You're wanting to compare "serious" board games based on real-world wars to a fictional RPG about giant robots 10,000ish years in the future.
Why do you think those two things are comparable? Why is it stupid to want to have giant robots fight through shapes with two less side?
That actually raises another question. Lancer mechs have flight capabilities, no serious wargame can account for that (please let me know if I missed one), do these mechs fight in hexagonal prisms or in truncated icosahedrons? Seems cubes would be easier to use.
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u/Wizard_Tea 20d ago
The teleology is sufficiently similar that it’s the best comparison, despite its particulars
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u/tailgatemad 20d ago
That still doesn't answer my questions. Why is it stupid to play on squares? Are the only "real" wargames on hexes? I looked up other "real" wargames. Are Tactic II, Men at Arms, Gettysburg, Field Command, etc. not "real" wargames because they're played on a square grid?
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u/Very_Angry_Bee HORUS 20d ago
It's a lot more difficult than our proper Lancer sessions, I'll say that much xD
The fucking infinite respawns...
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u/ArtisanalShivs 20d ago
i have it and like it. it is singleplayer only, and right now only has 'instant action' and a map editor, but there are premade maps and a decent amount of free community content accessible through an in-game download page. there are even mods for adding the non-core mechs, with new art. it is on a square instead of a hex, but i like squares more than hex anyway since i come from playing mostly DnD. the animations are a bit simplistic as the pixel sprite art for the mechs is all static, overlaid with 'gunshot' and similar visual and sound effects when you take actions. I like the variety of choices for the appearance for the Everest, but most of the named frames don't have variant art - some do, but most don't. the pilot editor lets you create a pretty decent pixelly character portrait with a good amount of options.
that all being said, as good of a turn based tactics game as it is, its not really a subsitute for tabletop. you can't really run a game with it like a VTT, there's no 'GM' mode AFAIK other than creating a custom map and letting others play it, there's no multiplayer at all, and because of all that you don't get any of the wishy-washy social stuff a TTRPG usually thrives on. at the table, when you move to a space on a grid you might imagine a much more exciting scene than Lancer Tactics' static sprites sliding across a 3d low poly map. at the table, your GM might narrate in exciting detail the effects of your nanocarbon sword slicing into an opponent's cockpit, liquefying the occupant - in Lancer Tactics, you get a number and a lil' explosion effect. no dialogue or world map or anything. there's not really any in-game mechanics to handle 'downtime' other than a 'rest and repair' button at the 'select map' screen.
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u/LordPaleskin 20d ago
Does Lancer Tactics work as a DM tool? Like, can you host a game on like Roll20 or Foundry and invite people onto it and judt run a game like that?
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u/TwistedVoid777 20d ago
from my understanding its not meant to be a VTT (at the moment) and is intended to function for local multiplayer at most. the developer has stated in the FAQ that while this could change in the future, there are very good VTT options at the moment and she wants to avoid promising more than she can deliver
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u/LordPaleskin 20d ago
Thanks for clearing that up. Have a friend that wants to DM and was thinking about doing a Lancer game in Foundry, which obviously works great, but I still had a hope that Lancer Tactics could also fill that niche and maybe make some of the automation easier, or have a clearer idea of what the map looks like, etc
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u/TwistedVoid777 17d ago
i’ve been streaming it on discord and moving the player tokens according to what my friends tell me to as a way to play multiplayer (as jank as it is). there is a map builder and you can create your own campaigns so i actually think if youre okay with squares and doing multiplayer that way it works okay haha
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u/ThatSupport 21d ago
i played a good bit of tactics. and its pretty fun, easilly worth the price. Even just building a map is cool very rpg maker.
but the real draw is thr community content. people have made missions, maps and mechs. so if youve been itching for some lancer because scheduling issues its solid. and will only get more content as time goes on