[Questions/Discussion] Lancer Skills and Attributes

Handlers are not Lancers, but are dangerous in their own right. To use an analogy, Lancers might be able to smash the gate down, but you need a Handler to crack the safe. Handlers have expertise in more subtle skills that the Lancer lacks (specifically, Administration, Scrounge, and Tech). It is the Handler that has the connections to acquire the best contracts. It is the Lancer's job to get the work done. One cannot operate efficiently without the other. I wanted the player to determine how the Handler does their job. Is your Handler someone who likes to get their "hands dirty" or are they someone who likes to support from afar? The choice is up to you.

How Handler-specific skills will work:

• Admin - this is used to get past red tape and negotiate better contracts; also allows you to manage the hiring of additional cohorts
• Scrounge - this lets you get the drop on your enemies and find hidden loot
• Tech - this is for not only mechanical things like repairs and upgrading, but is also important for hacking into various devices during missions

In regards to hacking specifically, you lancer may be the one to get in position to jack into a door access point, but it is your handler who is the one with the skills to remotely hack it.

 

Just to clarify, a "Lancer Team" is comprised of more than just your Lancer & Handler (although they are the only primary members you need to concern yourself with). Your Handler also has a support staff that works under them to keep all the equipment in fighting form. The various skills of a support crew is approximately represented by those of your Handler.

 

Question on the Battle Armor skill, can we get like, Elemental armor or do we use that for the Lancer armor and stuff?

It looks like Admin was moved to Handler secondary and Strategy added to Primary. Could you talk about Strategy?

I'm going balls out on EI implants... Are they working in MegaMerkz? I really like your improvements to the MechWarrior Madness. The benefits of the implants aren't totally clear, but Valhalla awaits

 

So you will have the option to use Battle Armor in missions. The skill determines your gunnery in BA.

I was having difficulty coming up with a game mechanic for Strategy that put it in the same area of importance as other primary skills (especially being contemporary to the Lancer's Tactics skill). So instead, I merged it with Admin, moved Admin to the Primary skills and added Battle Armor as a secondary skill so that you had the option to bring your Handler on missions wearing Battle Armor.

Admin's primary focus is for obtaining contracts better suited to your needs. In some ways, it is the Handler's surrogate skill to Leadership and, likewise, is related to Negotiation. However, while Negotiation is more an indication of your persuasion and haggling skills, Admin is an indication of how well "connected" you are with corporate and Guild bureaucracy... which requires more than just "talking your way through things" (ex. no amount of "negotiation" will help you with your taxes or when going to the DMV). Since I can only schedule so many missions each week, there will be a bit of competition between players as to which contracts are available. For example, if I can schedule 4 missions for the month, players will roll Admin and the top three rolls will determine 3 of the 4 contract parameters. In this example, the fourth's parameters will be made according to the GM's discretion as an alternative of the other three to give more diversity in contract choices. Basically, if you want to cherry pick your contracts, a high Admin skill is essential. Players are encouraged to coordinate with others when selecting contracts to increase their chances of getting desirable results (even if you didn't make a winning bid, you might convince a friend who rolled high to create a contract that you both agree on).

To be honest, I have not tested all new features in Megamek. Unless indicated otherwise in-game, I assume all features work. If you want to be certain, I recommend testing it yourself beforehand as I simply do not have the time. Worse case scenario, if we discover something is broken, we can attempt a refund (although expect some delay), but testing beforehand is definitely preferable.