In my very first Lancer game, I made a sniper unit. The original idea was a Death's Head that more or less was set up to do as much damage in one single shot as possible. Or almost, anyway, because I didn't delve into Nuclear Cavalier and its heat antics. And, ultimately, I started looking more into stealth and support along with a focus on more consistent damage requiring less setup.
I looked into things like the Anti-Hyperfauna Rifle from the Anansi that could reload for free on crits and shifting over to the Reaper Dart alternative Death's Head frame to avoid Ordnance. Rather than going for one big shot, I was looking to instead be able to shoot every round - ultimately resulting in higher damage overall. One Big Number is always fun, but there's something equally satisfying about doing slightly less damage but being able to do it every turn.
As I played around with the concept, I ended up coming up with another build that leaned more into the sort of stealthy sniper that the character had moved towards. It still had some setup it could do, but it was primarily for applying more status effects and the overall damage was decently high but still very consistent.
But in a later game, another player started running with a sniper unit of their own. And I was more than willing to provide some of the knowledge I had garnered in the development of my own sniper. And, in doing so, I looked back over the original concept with new eyes (and with access to new splatbooks) for more ideas for both them... and myself.
So, when a Christmas one-shot of all things was planned, I revisited my very first Lancer build in order to save Santa and came up with something I had to share.
NORAD's Santa Tracker
The Resources
- Field Guide - Liminal Space
- Field Guide to Suldan
- Intercorp Licenses
- Legionnaire
- Castor & Pollux
The Build
-- MOI PTOLEMY @ LL12 --
[ LICENSES ]
MOI PTOLEMY 3, HA Tokugawa 3, SSC Mourning Cloak 2,
SSC Death’s Head 2, HA Barbarossa 1, HORUS Pegasus 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Superior by Design, Overpower Caliber,
Enhanced Systems Upgrade, Neurolink Targeting
[ TALENTS ]
WEAPONSMITH 3, Nuclear Cavalier 3, Hacker 3,
LEGIONNAIRE 3, Crack Shot 2, WASTEBORN 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:0 AGI:2 SYS:6 ENGI:6
STRUCTURE:4 HP:14 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:16 REPAIR:3
TECH ATK:+7 LIMITED:+3
SPD:6 EVA:8 EDEF:18 SENSE:20 SAVE:17
[ WEAPONS ]
Integrated: Fuel Rod Gun
Integrated: Data Dart
FLEX MOUNT: Vulture DMR
MAIN MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING
HEAVY MOUNT: Orbital Strike (WEAPONSMITH MOD RANK 3) // Overpower Caliber
[ SYSTEMS ]
Weaponsmith Modification 1: Overkill, Weaponsmith Modification 2: Crit: 19+,
Weaponsmith Modification 3: +1 Accuracy, External Batteries,
Deep Well Heat Sink, LUCIFER-Class NHP x5, Siege Stabilizers,
Hunter Lock, Hunter Logic Suite
The Breakdown
This mech leans back into very big singular shots from super-long range. Technically, it could just as easily be set up on a Death's Head frame for its Core Power for another potential 3d6 damage on set-up if you want to truly lean into that maximum damage approach... plus the extra +1 on ranged attacks. However, there's just something about the Ptolemy that caught my fancy.
Not only does its Dissection Beam Core Power just say "you lose a structure" with no argument or roll to be had, its Blink Mirror Rebound Passive lets you use a missed shot next round for a whole new attack as a Protocol on the next turn. It's functionally akin to being able to reroll the attack like the Death's Head does, but is drawn from the missed target - letting you hit something even further away if you want. And on an attack that has a range of over 30 squares (which we'll mention below)? That's real nice. Plus, it has 2 higher Heat Cap, which is Important for all this.
Regardless of which frame you go with, though, the loadout for both is about the same (minus the Death's Head not having three mounts, meaning no Vulture DMR for it if you go that way). The main focus is the Ptolemy's Rank III weapon - the Orbital Strike. A Seeking and Armor-Piercing Superheavy Rifle with a 15 Range and a Line 5 atop that, doing 2d6 energy and three burn.
The rest of the setup is all about improving this already impressive weapon. On the Talents side, we have Crack Shot and Nuclear Cavalier on the Talents side to have it hit harder and Weaponsmith's Weapon Mod to increase accuracy, damage, and crit chance.
The Overpower Caliber and Neurolink Targeting Core Bonuses to further up the damage and allow it to hit from further away, while Superior by Design both keeps it from taking any penalty from being Impaired and raises its Heat Cap a little higher.
Why is the Heat Cap important? Well, we already mentioned Nuclear Cavalier needing us to be spicy but the Tokugawa's Lucifer-Class NHP lets us do additional damage equal to our current Heat to our next attack as a Protocol. If we roll the bones just right (made safer with some Danger Zone Heat resistance due to our Deep Well Heat Sink), that's 16 extra damage to our shot. And we get five of those thanks to our high Engineering score.
Add in some additional range boosters in the External Batteries and Barbarossa's Siege Stabilizers and that little bit extra damage via the Pegasus' Hunter Lock and you're looking at... 5d6+19 energy damage plus 3 burn from nearly 40 squares away. If you want to drop the 19+ crit range in the Weaponsmith mod, you can get it just over 40. And if you're even more confident in your rolls, you can drop the +1 Accuracy for 2 more damage.
The rest of the build is just dipping a bit into the Ptolemy's solid tech attack capability as a decent Plan B for when it can't post up and start blastin'. And the Hunter Logic Suite isn't too bad even when posted since its Terrify Invade keeps enemies from getting too close for comfort.
But ultimately, the concept of the build remains very simple. Just a Big Gun to fire from extreme distance with extreme prejudice. No reloads, no ordnance, just violence. Seems appropriate for dealing with someone who would kidnap Santa Claus.