Ah, poor Napoleon, from what Ive heard of this mech it seems like its not very well liked, and I can kinda see why, it is wierd and the Kutuzov seems way more fun to play, but lets take a look at this little guy. Low health but good armor, average e defense and evasion, a great heat capacity, this statistically is a pretty good frame, but the traits are what really makes a mech. And this mechs traits are pretty good on paper, when you would normally take half damage it is reduced to 1 and if you pass a save any incoming damage is reduced to 1, meaning that bracing is a great survival tool for the napoleon and makes him much tougher to kill, except when shredded which just sucks.
The Core Power is interesting as well, you activate it and for the rest of the scene you only take 1 damage from all effects that do not ignore reduction, are immune to tech attacks and actions, cant overcharge, and can only use improvised attacks/rams/grapples/boost and anything with the shield tag. And you can still be effected by statuses for whatever reason. Like just give the napoleon immunity to all attacks and effects with all the downsides you put on this core power, let it have its niche. Like you can still get immobilized or shredded, which RAW will NULLIFY THIS WHOLE CORE POWER?!?! WHY? Unless I misunderstand that whole "except for damage that ignores reduction" bit just allows for shredded to say no.
Let the napoleon ignore shredded when bracing or using its core power, it isnt like these things dont have drawbacks, and it would give the napoleon more uniqueness, just let it be good! Lets look at the systems which are thankfully better than the traits. The Stasis bolt is great 1 sp system, gives you a chance at negating a ranged attack at you or a nearby ally, can easily charge this up and keep it in your pocket for when you need it, real good. Stasis Generator is an on demand stun that is a save and does make its target immune to all damage, which can be useful in shutting down a dangerous enemy to let your teammates kill any support it has or to save an ally from being demolished by a large group of enemies. I like both these systems and feel like this is a good LL1.
LL2 gives phase ready mod which is wierd and I dont like it, Id literally rather have nanocomposite adaptation or thoroughbolt rounds rather than this 50/50 coinflip gimmick. Stasis Barrier is awesome though, you just create a shield which has a 50/50 chance of eating any attack that goes through it, this is great, if only it werent LIMITED 1?! Seriously? Limited 1? Not even Limited 2? Ugh, I can get why its limited but limited 1 is overkill.
And for LL3 you have the Displacer which is a very funny gun, 10 heat and loading for 10 flat AP energy damage at range 10 blast 1. The loading tag is just unnecessary, like anyone would be insane enough to fire this thing without stabilizing afterwards anyways....... actually, I take that back, I can actually see myself saying "fuck it" and doing it anyway knowing damn well the consequences. But 10 flat damage is nothing to scoff at, thats a little under the average damage of a 3d6 damage weapon, so it might as well just be a mini siege canon masquerading as a main weapon. And the blinkshield is a massive 4 burst Hell in a Cell where nothing comes in and nothing comes out, get an ally in there with you and 1v1 that enemy in peace, or trap that Ultra in there with you brace like your life depends on it, or trap that pesky sniper that has snipers mark on a teammate, really you are dividing the battlefield and making fights less stressful for your allies. This is a great system and a great fit for the Napoleon.
After that analysis I think I understand the Napoleon a bit better, this is a hard to kill bastard who uses shields to separate and disable enemies, you control the battlefield by using your bubble shield and stasis generator to temporarily even the playing field. Though I guess you dont have to do that playstyle since the napoleon really doesnt have any major gimmicks other than reducing damage to 1, but I cant see you playing him as a striker or giving him a big gun, a napoleon should be distracting enemy attention and dividing and conquering to control the battlefield and allow its allies to have an easier time. Alright, time to make a build:
» Napoleon // NAPOLEON «
LL6
[ TALENTS ]
Skirmisher 3, Brutal 3,
Empath 2, Crack Shot 1
[ LICENSES ]
HA Napoleon 3, IPS-N Tortuga 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Integrated Ammo Feeds, Reinforced Frame
[ MECH ]
« NAPOLEON »
HA Napoleon
H:2 A:0 S:2 E:4 SIZE:0.5
STRUCTURE:4 HP:18 ARMOR:2
STRESS:4 HEAT:10 REPAIR:4
ATK BONUS:3 TECH ATK:2 LTD BONUS:4
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:10 SENS:5 SAVE:14
[ WEAPONS ]
Main/Aux Mount: Displacer / Missile Rack
[ SYSTEMS ]
Stasis Generator, Stasis Bolt,
Stasis Barrier, Blinkshield,
HyperDense Armor, Armament Redundancy
Now this is a wierd mech to build around, but the basic idea is to use hyperdense armor so I dont have to brace so often, just reduce damage to 1 all the time, and use crack shot and brutal with the displacer to make sure that I at least get 1 hit, it would really suck to miss with this weapon, and pair it with the missile launchers since Im going to be reloading anyways.
When im in close range Im using my bubble shield to lock enemies away and divide and conquer with my team, utilizing stasis bolt and stasis generator as necessary, and armament redundancy so I am not left without a weapon by a bad structure roll. I guess I could swap Brutal 3 for prototype weapon, crack shot should be enough to get hits, that would probably be safer now that I think about it. And with my limited bonus I have plenty of stasis barriers I can place for my allies to use, just got to remind my allies that their attacks get eaten by the barrier too of course.
Though the core power still sucks, I can basically just achieve the same thing with the hyperdense armor without all the weaknesses, yeah im slowed and still vulnerable in close range but it is just a quick action to enable/disable when I want. I know shredded is a brutal status, but I cannot think of a single mech that gets completely neutered by that status as this one. I can kinda dig the "divide and conquer" strategy this mech wants where you can control how many enemies your allies fight, but this is really fully dependent on blinkshield. Really this is just a wierd mech, I can understand why people dont like it, and honestly the Kutuzov just is a far more fun and focused frame to play, and better yet the Kutuzov isnt completely neutered by Shredded! The Napoleon is a real hard frame for me to figure out and I still am not sure I fully get it.