To be an online tabletop GM is to be preemptively apologizing for not making complicated maps while also being extremely glad you're running a system that doesn't need complicated maps
so if anyone knows good mapless combat tech plz let me know
I would recommend looking at Lancer Battlegroup or Hollows, both have what I would describe as 'opposition-centric' ranging where the map is the same for any encounter, with the enemy sitting at the middle and the PCs moving around them, and a lot of things are about manipulating player positions (when most players have very specific places they want to be effective) or conditions in specific ranges/sectors of the map
Like the big part of tactics is the Observe step.
Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.
I've run tactics games without maps via theater of mind and
as always, I get the full spectrum of spacial ability amongst my friend group.
Like the full apple-rotation chart.
The thing about maps is that like, the big empty 30x30 whiteroom where you put all your fucked up 3.5e builds is a Kind of Map.
It's Open. Anything with range excels here, because you can either hit the enemy before they can hit you, trade back, or have target access on everything if you're in the middle.
Same with a 10x5 slugfest. AoE sucks here, single target and melee prevails.
So the thing i'm getting at is like, tags.
Just tag your location, have it be an everpresent effect that's just bearing down on the fight.
But then movement becomes a problem. 'cause like, its important in a mech thing.
Depending on what kind of mechs you're workin' with, movement could just be like, a evasion boost or whatever.
lot of options there.
I'm imagining combat conditions similar to Flying Circus, where you're moving so fast that assigning a specific point on the map just wouldn't be helpful information at all
...but then the question becomes "how much else should I use from Flying Circus" and that raises even more challenges to work through
As someone who was hugely inspired by Flying Circus, if you're going to grab anything, I highly recommend the whole mission-cycle being explicitly laid out on a mechanical level. It provides a very directed grounding for everything around the combat itself, and gives a lot of ways to contextualize that combat and provide stakes beyond the actual details of who is being shot by whom
