Lancer NPC - Engineer
Core Detail Overview
Stats
The Engineer is a mobile drone factory in mech form, with high Engineering, HP, Heat Cap, and Sensors; above-average E-Defense, average Systems, Evasion, and Save Target; and low Hull, Agility, Armor, and Speed. This all leaves it feeling fairly tough, especially against Burn damage or tech attacks, though it’s vulnerable to effects based on Hull or Agility saves. Just being a bulky body suits it fine for the most part, since it has the potential to be one of the best damage-dealers if it can survive long enough to get set up sufficiently.
Base Systems
Flak Cannon isn’t a remarkable weapon, sporting low damage and only average bonus to-hit. That said, it does have long Range, Smart is usually a good tag for subtly boosting accuracy, and the extra 2 Accuracy against flying targets can turn it into good source of a critical hits in the right situations. The Engineer itself has no abilities that care about critical hits, but if it has a template like Pirate and the combat is taking place in a setting where most PCs will be flying (like zero-G or underwater), this weapon can suddenly turn into a menace. For the most part, though, it’s going to be a decorative addition unless a PC happens to be low enough for an extra tap to cause Structure damage. Granted, the Engineer usually has some action flexibility for its second quick action, so it’s not the worst idea to take the occasional shot, though I personally prefer to use a quick tech instead most of the time. The Engineer’s Invade and Flak Cannon have the same bonus to-hit and both target E-Defense, and its Sensors match this weapon’s Range, so similar to the Aegis, it can mix between quick techs or Skirmish as seems to fit the situation.
Deployable Turret is what the Engineer is all about; the vast majority of the Engineer’s turns will usually involve a quick action to use this. Though the turrets have shorter Range than the Flak Cannon, they do slightly more damage with the same bonus to-hit, so deploying a turret to attack is usually a better quick action than a Flak Cannon Skirmish. While the damage output of one turret is low, two turrets combined are good damage, and three or more is high. Armor will reduce the damage significantly since it’s spread across multiple small hits, but two turrets deal the same damage against 2 Armor as the Assault’s Heavy Assault Rifle or the Sentinel’s Combat Shotgun at all Tiers, and three turrets match those weapons against 4 Armor in Tier 3 (and is just 1 point behind in Tier 2), so just placing more is a partial solution (though an ally who’s good against Armor or who can cause Shredded reliably are usually better solutions). Actually using the turrets is strange mechanically; at any point during the Engineer’s turn, each placed turret can attack. As-written, this is independent of the Engineer’s actions (so the Engineer being Stunned wouldn’t stop the turrets from attacking because it’s not even a free action to command them, it’s just something they do as independent characters), and the turrets don’t have to all attack at the same time, so it’s possible to do something like fire one, Ram a PC, fire another, and then deploy a third which fires immediately, but that kind of thing is very annoying to track with a fairly limited set of situations where it’d make a practical difference (usually having to do with PC reactions involving movement, like Mimic Mesh from Gorgon 1 or Reactive Weave from Metalmark 1, or if the Engineer has forced movement options, like the Gravity Rifle from the Spacer template), so it’s generally fine to start out having them all attack at once and gradually learn to spot those exceptions with experience. Unless Engineer’s Mark is active, each turret will target the nearest hostile character in Range and line of sight (not stated in the description but implied as a necessary condition for a valid target), which means the PCs can often control who’s being shot at (it’s ambiguous what they do if multiple targets are equally close, but my interpretation is to pick one randomly), including the option to place their own drones as expendable distractions. Note that, since the turrets are drones and therefore separate characters from the Engineer who deployed them, they don’t inherit any buffs, debuffs, passive abilities, etc. on the Engineer except for ones that specifically work on them. This is mostly a good thing, because it means that the Engineer being afflicted by debuffs like Jammed or Impaired doesn’t impede the turrets, but it also means that several offensive template abilities don’t work with the turrets (such as the Deadly trait on the Pirate template), nor do buffs like the Priest’s Investiture unless placed on a turret directly. They can be targeted by most forced movement abilities that PCs have (though amusingly, the vaunted H0r_OS System Upgrade I\Puppet System from Goblin 1 is actually useless on them since they have no Speed), and being drones with zero in every mech stat for saves/checks, they’re likely to get moved that way. They also can’t consume Lock On and can be baited into attacking targets in cover (or otherwise protected against ranged attacks). Lastly, there is a limit to the maximum number of turrets that can be deployed at once; it’s quite generous, so I don’t really worry about running into it (unless I’m using Power Deployer and getting lucky with the Recharge rolls), but it’s worth being more selective than usual about where any additional turrets are deployed if there are already at least four out. Altogether, this is one of the most complex abilities of any NPC (without even getting to how the Engineer’s other abilities can interact with it), which isn’t helped by it working very differently from even other drone systems. On a related note, it can be a big gamble to give the Engineer more Structure with templates unless it’s an Ultra, since Deployable Turret is its only System-tagged system and thus has about a 25% chance to be destroyed whenever it takes Structure damage. That all said, this is the key ability of the Engineer and the whole reason why it ranks among the top-priority targets in pretty much any encounter where it’s present.
Engineer’s Mark lets the Engineer override the automatic targeting of the turrets to give them a particular target. The writing for this ability is vague on a lot (not helped by the usual strange independence of the turrets themselves); whether the turrets all attack the same character or the Engineer designates a target for each is ambiguous, as is whether the Engineer can change the target before it expires (in general or with another use of this if it gets an immediate Recharge), as is what happens if a given turret can’t attack the designated target (particularly in the case of one target applying to all turrets), and how one fills in those details can make a big difference in how this works. My approach is that each of the turrets gets assigned a target when this action is used, which cannot be changed unless the action is used again, and any turret that is unable to fire on its designated target reverts to its default behavior (attacking the nearest hostile character that is a valid target). Under this interpretation, Engineer’s Mark is a very powerful ability deserving of Recharge 6+. Having multiple turrets focus on a single target racks up damage very quickly if they hit (assuming the target has low/no Armor, but that should be a safe assumption if the Engineer is picking who to shoot at), and this even lasts for a whole additional turn, all for just a quick action. Even if the Engineer is getting multiple turns per round and thus has an unlikely-but-reasonable chance to hit the Recharge, because the power of this ability depends greatly on the number of turrets on the map, I like to treat it as a one-time pop for a damage spike (and a high-threat following turn, if not addressed). For general control of target-selection, I prefer to rely on managing turret positioning and line of sight, along with allies to lock down or move around the PCs; aside from just being more fun to play like that as a baseline instead of plopping turrets down mindlessly, that keeps Engineer’s Mark as a potential response to a high-damage PC threatening the Engineer while someone tanky distracts the turrets. That said, being too conservative with this and letting it go unused is also a waste, so while I wouldn’t advise using it as freely as the Breacher’s Breach Ram or the Witch’s Predatory Logic, it’s worth experimenting to find your comfort level with it.
Optional Systems
Power Deployer can seem odd at first, since by giving Recharge 4+ to Deployable Turret, it still results in deploying one turret per round on average, unlike the Barricade’s Extrudite or the Seeder’s Speed Deployer doubling how much stuff they can set out. The reason why it’s still good is that two turrets firing for two turns is one more total attack than one turret firing on one round and then two firing on the next, and it can get even better if an immediate Recharge means that second turn actually has three or four turrets instead of just two. Of course, the other side to this is that you might never get that Recharge after using it once, particularly since Lancer combats are usually just a handful of rounds, which is why it’s important to remember that the Engineer does still retain the option to deploy just one turret without facing any Recharge rolls. I generally wouldn’t use this early in a fight, unless perhaps something about the sitrep makes it feel worth the gamble to have more immediate impact. Instead, I prefer to treat this similarly to Engineer’s Mark, playing the Engineer normally until I feel a need for a damage spike, which is when I’ll drop down two turrets (and likely also use Engineer’s Mark on top) for a sudden escalation. Where this ability can be very explosive is if the Engineer can Overcharge; getting to put down three turrets in one turn (by using Deployable Turret twice, with Power Deployer on the second use) can be a major swing and is a big part of why Veteran and Ultra are very strong templates for the Engineer. Beyond that, the other big reason to be somewhat restrained with this is that hitting the Recharge too quickly runs the risk of bumping into the six turret limit; not the worst problem to have in a vacuum, but if the Engineer can’t place more turrets, that can relieve some of the pressure its existence otherwise exerts on the players.
Skyshield Protocol is a very situational upgrade for the turrets to gain Accuracy against flying targets. When that situation comes up, this is very good, because it helps address the issue that the turrets are generally difficult to buff with effects that apply to a single character (AOE buffs like the Aegis’s Defense Net or the Scout’s Cloaking Field are usually much friendlier with them, which is part of why those two are good allies for the Engineer). The additional Accuracy comes out to roughly 35% improved overall chance to hit in the best case (going from 1 Difficulty overall to 1 Accuracy), which is a fantastic boost for a passive effect applied to all turrets. The issue with it is that is only works against PCs that are actively flying or hovering, so as with the Flak Cannon, unless the fight is happening someplace where that can be assumed to generally be the case, this bonus is very inconsistent, stacked on top of the targeting limitations that turrets have in the first place meaning that there simply being a flying PC doesn’t mean the turrets will necessarily get to attack it. In short, this is strong when it triggers, but the trigger is such that it will tend to either be almost guaranteed or almost useless, with little likelihood of ending up in the middle ground.
Shepherd Field is a bit strange because its apparent purpose is counterproductive. Having a way to give Resistance to the turrets isn’t bad in theory; the Engineer’s threat comes from its turrets, so making the turrets more durable sounds like a good thing. The problem is that, in practice, this mostly serves to further encourage the players to focus on the Engineer. If the Engineer has other drones (such as the Scout Drone from the Mercenary template) or is partnered with NPCs who’ll create drones (like the Barricade’s Titan-Snare Drone), this can start to have more usefulness. Where it can really be useful, in my opinion, is when it’s used with objects, either from other NPCs (like the Barricade’s Mobile Printer or the Strider’s Siege Kit swap bonus) or from terrain on the map. There’s a smattering of PC abilities that are good at destroying objects (like Juggernaut 3, Siege Specialist 1, the BB Breach/Blast Charges from Raleigh 1, or the Sherman frame’s core power), and even without those, any PC can do damage to objects in cases where they decide that makes more sense than going after the NPCs directly. Granted, this isn’t something that comes up all the time, but it’s not uncommon in my experience for the PCs to destroy a piece of a wall or other terrain rather than moving around it, usually for sitreps that require doing something specifically with their standard movement (like Escort or Extraction) though occasionally also just to open a path to their targets. Having the Engineer hiding on the other side (potentially using Hide, too, to foil Seeking weapons), building up turrets while extending the lifespan of its cover, is a way of presenting the players with three choices that are generally weighed in the Engineer’s favor. They can spend more time destroying the object (which both buys time for the turret count to snowball and draws damage away from the other NPCs), or they can spend the extra actions to go around the object (which buys time again and may reduce the PCs’ offensive output if they’re spending actions on Boost), or someone with enhanced mobility (like flight or teleportation) can try to skip past the object to attack the Engineer (which may seem like the most efficient choice, but there’s generally only one or maybe two PCs who can do this in a given group, which means they’re isolating themselves to get focused on by the turrets that the Engineer has been deploying). This is an ability that’s easy to underrate because it’s having its biggest impact when it seems like the players are playing around it, but if playing around it means that the players either delayed dealing with the Engineer or isolated someone to do so, that’s an exchange that tends to actually be in the Engineer’s favor. To put it in other words, Shepherd Field can potentially grant the extra time to get up the same turret count that Power Deployer would but without adding Recharge to Deployable Turret. It’s subtle, but if used well, it can actually make a big difference.
Mobile Turrets is my favorite Engineer optional. As I said earlier, I like manipulating turret positioning and line of sight to make them target who I want, and this is the only ability the Engineer has to do that aside from using Grapple or Ram to move them one by one. Note that, as-written, the movement is something that the turrets do on their own that just happens to be at the start of the Engineer’s turn, so the Engineering being Stunned, Jammed, lost in a fold of space due to Metafold Carver from Minotaur 2, or otherwise disabled does not stop them from moving. That said, they are Size 1/2 characters who are subject to engagement and reactions when they use this movement, becoming Engaged with anyone always removes any further movement from that turret, the movement can only go in a single direction, and since it isn’t standard movement by my reading, I interpret that it can also be disabled by Slowed (and Immobilized, but that one has no ambiguity). Those limits established, though, that still leaves a decent bit of mobility (as much as the Engineer’s own standard movement, for the most part), and if a turret taking an overwatch hit happens free up another NPC from that threat and/or encourage the players to try destroying the turret, that’s a nice side bonus. Most obviously, this can help the turrets choose better targets, get around cover protecting their targets, get out of engagement with a melee PC (though likely at the cost of an overwatch), or get into cover themselves. Less obviously, this can be used to go into engagement with a ranged PC to impose Difficulty on their attacks, to body block a choke point, or to get out of an impending AOE, to name just a few uses. As I’ll get into shortly, I think this is essential to getting the most value out of Arsenal, but even just by itself, the amount of depth and versatility that this adds to the Engineer is hard to overstate. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it almost mandatory (like I would for the Barricade’s Extrudite), but it is very difficult to not always use this optional after getting a taste of it. Just being able to throw down turrets without needing to worry if that location will still be the best spot two or three turns later because they can simply move on their own is a huge mental pressure relief.
Arsenal is a very fun and flavorful idea. Unfortunately, I think it’s bad by itself. Inferno turrets may seem good for giving the Engineer a way of dealing Burn damage, but they have such short reach that the PCs may never enter their range unless funneled through choke points with the turrets holding angles behind cover, and because the PCs can influence who they target, they can be baited into being a friendly fire problem for other NPCs (as-written, it’s ambiguous if the template must center on the target or just include the target; I go with the latter interpretation, since PC abilities that grant an extra weapon attack or Skirmish typically allow for placing the template as desired as long as the required target is in it, and Cone 3 can still be awkward to place safely despite that). Hellstorm turrets have long range, but giving up 2 damage for it makes the Engineer’s weakness to Armor even worse (without the advantages of Burn damage to make up for it), and on top of also being a potential friendly fire risk, the AOE can be difficult to take advantage of since Blast 1 is fairly small (same AOE targeting caveat as with Inferno turrets, though generally with less chance of friendly fire). Hunter turrets are a strict upgrade over the baseline and can help mitigate the issue of the turrets getting baited into taking bad shots, but if the target has any amount of Armor, this gets negated entirely. Primed turrets can do a lot of damage when they blow up (it’s ambiguous whether multiple overlapping explosions could damage the same target, but I interpret in favor of that being the case), but without further assistance, a PC almost never has to be in danger of it since turrets can’t overwatch to threaten someone into staying adjacent. However, if the Engineer also has Mobile Turrets, Arsenal becomes much better. Inferno turrets suddenly have twice as much reach if they’re able to move freely and can be positioned to use their AOE significantly more effectively. Hellstorm turrets gain some kiting potential, and more importantly, can back up for safety while the Engineer advances to set up other turrets around whatever area it’s fortifying. Primed turrets can bait overwatch (otherwise getting to move if the PC declines the reaction) or move into adjacency, either of which makes it more likely to blow up in a useful spot. Only Hunter turrets don’t become better in any clear way if they can move, but they’re already a simple categorical upgrade over baseline turrets that still get all of the other benefits of Mobile Turrets, so that isn’t really a case against using the two optionals together in my mind. There is still a question of whether all of this variety is actually effective enough to justify picking Arsenal over Shepherd Field or Power Deployer (assuming Mobile Turrets is in use already). Mobile inferno turrets are still substantially shorter in reach than immobile baseline turrets, and whether dealing roughly-halved damage as Burn is better than full damage as Kinetic depends on the PC builds (though I’d say the damage lost is generally too much to be worth it [inferno turrets only get more damage through per shot against 3+ Armor, which is an uncommon amount], it can be an upgrade against parties focused on heavy Armor and/or ignoring Engineering as a mech skill). Hellstorm turrets are only advantageous if they’re hitting multiple unarmored targets (usually a rare event) or able to use their extra Range (which would require either all of the PCs in sight staying further than ten spaces with at least one in range who’s a good target or using Engineer’s Mark, neither of which will be a common event), which means they’re usually just giving up 2 damage per hit for no practical gains. Hunter and primed turrets are unambiguously upgrades to baseline turrets, but the benefits are things that only come up in a negative situation (a missed attack and a destroyed turret/Engineer, respectively) that can be negated easily (any amount of Armor and not being adjacent to a turret, respectively), so they’ll often have no actual impact on a fight. Add in that Arsenal is a lot of extra mental load to keep track of (even with a good system for identifying which turret is which type), and it ends up feeling to me like it’s rarely worth the hassle. I wish it were better, because the idea of being able to customize each turret with some sort of trade-off sounds cool, but the mechanics for it are unfortunately rather crap in actual use outside of specific situations.
Templates Overview
Grunt Engineers can be a headache to track which turrets are associated with which Engineer, and considering they also further encourage just hitting the main unit instead of the turrets, they tend to die too easily to be worth it. If the other NPCs can buy them space for a couple of turns, though, they can make an area incredibly difficult for the PCs to approach because they’ll be collectively setting up turrets even faster than an Ultra Engineer with Power Deployer using just their base kit and bringing up multiple turns per round where some number of those turrets can attack. They’re among the strongest Grunts, but I think it’s an unfair sort of strength and generally prefer two regular Engineers over a pack of Grunts. For a minion-type Engineer, RPV is a healthier template; the turrets get to ignore that their creator is permanently Impaired, while the Engineer itself has more raw toughness from Bonus HP and enough base E-Defense that Vulnerable To Tech is slightly mitigated. It’s weaker than a regular Engineer (mostly due to the added Difficulty to saves and checks) but still carries much of its normal threat.
The Engineer is pretty much the best user of the Spacer template, since positioning is extremely important to the turrets and their offensive potential is somewhat independent of the Engineer’s action use. Concussion Gun and Gravity Rifle can be used to move around turrets with the spare quick actions that the Engineer tends to have, and all of the Spacer optionals give some potential to control PC positioning, which all comes together to give the Engineer so much more potential to control who its turrets are attacking that it can actually justify having some turns where it doesn’t deploy an additional turret if it can instead use both of its quick actions to have three or four existing turrets focus on one PC. Conversely, Pirate is fairly weak since none of its passives pass on to the turrets; the extra damage on critical hits from Deadly and potentially Splinter Rounds can make the Flak Cannon threatening to flying PCs, but stacking a dice-dependent improvement on a situational weapon isn’t worth much in most cases, and I don’t think the full action abilities are usually worth giving up deploying another turret, though if the Engineer also has Power Deployer, they can be useful as potential filler on turns where Deployable Turret is unavailable. Similarly, Mercenary’s Accuracy boosts are mostly wasted (though the AP from Efficient Killer can give the Flak Cannon some use against high-Armor PCs), but I think it’s not as bad a fit as Pirate, because Favors Owed is a potential AOE Prone to help out the turrets, Scout Drone can counter the players using an Invisible character for turret bait, and Last Word can give the Engineer a chance to escape from an aggressive push. Exotic is a solid pick; Realspace Extrusion is a strong choice to give the Engineer blanket Resistance while the turrets ignore its downside, Blinkspace Carver can help with its mobility, Chronotorus can let a turret reroll a miss to help their mediocre accuracy, and Regenerator is good on a high-HP NPC. Living Weaponry and Paracausal Weapon are mostly useless, though, and Living Chassis feels like overkill with Hardened Target already reinforcing a unit that’s typically decent against tech attacks (and also potentially making Regenerator worse by letting Heat deactivate it).
Vehicle doesn’t give much to the Engineer unless there’s a lot of difficult terrain for Treads Or Hover, since it’s only Size 1 and on the slow side, though it also doesn’t lose much from No Manipulators and Limited Melee, so I’d say it’s alright as a thematic pick without much mechanical impact. Ship is a strong template, though, because Massive Size greatly increases where the Engineer can deploy turrets, the debuff immunities from Flier make it much harder to deny the Engineer a chance to deploy a turret (as well as hovering movement making it much easier to set up turrets on top of Size 2+ objects), and Armored Hull is just as nice as RPV’s Bonus HP. Just don’t expect to get much use out of Transport on a Ship Engineer, unless it’s carrying a personal defender like the Bastion.
Being the NPC who has the best ability to create more characters, Commander is great on the Engineer (minding the risks of Structure damage). Voice of Authority is always handy to reroll a missed turret attack if not used otherwise, but Military Discipline to grant Accuracy to adjacent turrets is the real winner in my mind; keep in mind the Engineer can move between turret attacks on its turn to help spread this around. The other Commander traits can’t compare with that if the Engineer just wants to boost its own performance, though it’s worth thinking about whether they could help the other NPCs. Veteran is also great because Deployable Turret is a fantastic quick action to use with Limitless, and the Engineer has either the highest or second-highest Heat Cap among NPCs (depending on Tier) to help enable Overcharge use. The other defensive or utility options are also good on it (the turrets being able to still attack on a Self Repair turn even makes that less painful than usual, though using it does require giving up deploying a turret if the Engineer doesn’t also have Limitless), but I think it’s kind of a waste to not use Limitless on the Engineer when it’s one of the NPCs best able to leverage Overcharge. Elite granting more turns is even better because that means both more turrets on the field and more times that every turret gets to attack, increasing the Engineer’s threat by far more than the usual approximate-doubling, and as might be expected from that, the Engineer is also a very strong Ultra. Not only does it get all the benefits of Elite plus more health, passive self-cleansing, and the option to pick up Limitless (which it should use), but the various defensive abilities and/or debuff immunities make it very difficult to stop the turret snowball if the PCs have any significant inefficiencies with their turns, and Hellfire Projector can give the Engineer a way of dealing with high Armor or Superior Maintenance can restore a destroyed Deployable Turret system immediately at the cost of a quick action. The only options I’d recommend against are the full action systems (for the same reasons as Pirate) and Devastator, Extra Deadly, Sight, or Superior Targeting (because those only work with the Engineer’s own attacks). Aside from that, an Ultra Engineer can be an absolute terror.
General Use
Overall, the Engineer is the summoner NPC of Lancer. It starts out weak, but given time to build drones, it can ramp up into a major threat that continues to escalate more and more. Assuming it’s being used in a way that the PCs can’t safely ignore it (which I’ll get into in the sitrep discussion below), it’s deserving of ranking among the most dangerous NPCs once it gets set up, particularly if the PCs don’t coordinate their response to it effectively, since nearly every additional turn it gets tends to mean they’re facing more incoming attacks than the last.
Similar to the Barricade, at a conceptual level, playing the Engineer is simple; as long as it’s setting up another turret in a decent or better position whenever it can, it’s doing something right; using it effectively in actual play is much more difficult, though, to the point where I’d consider it one of the most complicated NPCs. To use it at its peak performance, not only does it require understanding the ranges and lines of sight for every turret (plus the next one that it can place), but it also means being able to predict where every PC and any of their allies (including drones, allied NPCs, etc.) will be by the Engineer’s next turn, including how the Engineer and any of its allies that will act in the mean time will impact that. Barring edge cases like an Elite or Ultra Engineer taking multiple consecutive turns to finish out a round, this is a very difficult skill to develop, since it requires both a strong understanding of Lancer’s mechanics from multiple perspectives and a sense of how the particular players in a given game will behave. The difficulty of this is a big part of why I rate Mobile Turrets highly, since the extra adjustment that gives at the start of the Engineer’s turn can make a huge difference in how well the turn goes.
But then, even if the turrets are all in ideal positions, they still have to hit with their attacks. The relatively high number of attacks they’ll be getting as a whole will help mitigate bad luck streaks, but it also means that high roll streaks will also tend to not last, especially if the targeted PCs have high Evasion. Setting up debuffs like Prone, Exposed, or Shredded and trying to exploit them as much as possible, using positioning control and/or Engineer’s Mark to minimize wasting shots on bad targets, and developing a sense for when the Engineer should be actively adding to the current engagement versus backing off to extend how long the turrets are in play or for when the Engineer should be taking turns in rapid succession versus letting more allies act to better set-up its next turn are all very important for making the Engineer’s turns truly dangerous rather than rolling several attacks that don’t accomplish anything. Each turret being its own independent character will help to mitigate the effectiveness of debuffs from the PCs (whether against turrets or against the Engineer), but if most of them are shooting at a high-Speed Metalmark using its core power and standing in an omnidirectional soft cover space, that’s mostly a win for the PCs. Fortunately, the Engineer’s high threat potential (especially as an Elite or Ultra) can justify having more control- or support-focused allies for it than most other damage-dealers, though its peculiarities can also make that less straightforward than for a simpler NPC like the Berserker or the Specter.
As characters, the turrets can be used to restrict movement, but being only Size 1/2 means there are very few PC frames that will lose their remaining movement on engagement (and most Size 1/2 PC frames either tend to stay at long range, like the Goblin, or have some additional mobility, like the Maneuverability Jets trait on the Dusk Wing or the Kraul Rifle from Atlas 1), so they’ll need to either block off a passage entirely (for Size 1 PCs) or take up enough space that there’s no room to end movement without overlapping (for larger PCs). PCs can also use forced movement on turrets during their turns to displace them, including via Grapple or Ram, adding yet another layer of complexity to playing the Engineer well. These situations don’t come up often in actual play, admittedly, but I think it’s still important to be aware of the various weaknesses of the turrets to try covering for them.
The main weakness that the Engineer has as a whole is its low Speed; once it starts to set up somewhere, it shouldn’t expect to move far, even with Mobile Turrets. And because of the importance of getting its set up started quickly (since it needs two or three turrets firing to start pulling its weight as a damage-dealer), that usually means it wants to start as close as possible to a likely key area of the map and get to placing turrets no later than its second turn. With one quick action typically dedicated on adding to the snowball, the other still has a number of general options: Boost to get into a better position (whether for that turn, the next, or both), quick techs if PCs get into its Sensors (usually for Invade, but painting Lock On for other NPCs can also be good), Hide to reduce incoming attacks if it can break line of sight, or Grapple to grab a turret and move it to a better position (which can be useful even with Mobile Turrets, either to extend how far one can move or to move it in a non-straight path) are the ones I use most often, with the occasional Flak Cannon Skirmish if nothing else is needed. Add in Engineer’s Mark when I feel its time has come or possibly a template quick action, and that covers most of what’s left.
For sitreps, as a low-mobility unit, the Engineer tends to do poorly on ones where the PCs will be moving a lot (like Escort or Extraction), though if there’s a payload objective to be moved by the PCs, there can be a niche use of having turrets contest the objective to force PCs into using actions on them (this is a rare situation where Arsenal’s inferno and primed turrets can come into play effectively, too). The main way to play it on that style of sitrep is to race towards a choke point the PCs are likely to pass through and start setting up turrets in anticipation. Usually, though, the Engineer wants to fortify a single key area while it waits for the PCs to come, whether that’s a lone control zone (like Gauntlet) or one of multiple (like Control or Recon). If it can set up sufficiently, it has the offensive potential to be the main damage-dealer fending off PCs even if slightly outnumbered, though the more support it has shutting down long-range PCs and positioning others for the turrets to focus on good targets, the better. When it comes to attacking a defensive deathball (like Holdout), unless the Engineer has major help with its mobility (like a Mirage or Ship Hornet to ferry it in, ideally with a turret or two deployed as well) or with flushing PCs out of cover (like the Cataphract or the Hive), it’s likely to have a hard time getting close and then also setting up enough to have a significant impact before it gets blown up.
Compositions of Note
The Engineer is a pretty self-sufficient NPC who can work well with almost any others. The main things it wants are help dealing with high-Armor and/or long-range PCs, influence on character positioning and lines of sight, and protection for the Engineer itself so that it has time to get the snowball rolling. Most Lancer NPCs can provide at least one of those.
Because the Engineer is a big threat if it can snowball, its presence alone tends to draw a lot of attention and thus can often open space for fellow strikers to get their own work in. The Avenger may be the best of those at putting the players in a no-win situation, since they have to pick between focusing on the Engineer (thus triggering Revenge) or taking out the Avenger while it’s weaker (thus letting the Engineer set up more turrets), plus its Slug Pistol and Erupting Shrapnel bring AP damage to threaten the armored PCs that the Engineer usually struggles with, or it can use its good Speed to close on long-range PCs and use Erupting Shrapnel to discourage them from attacking. The Berserker is capable of putting out big damage if ignored, has a chance to inflict Shredded (though it usually needs some help to land critical hits reliably, such as consuming Lock Ons that the turrets can’t use), likes to Grapple (which can help with PC positioning thanks to its good Speed) and inflict Prone (which is a handy way to grant Accuracy to turret shots), can use the Harpoon Cannon or Nail Gun for further positioning control, and as long as Stampede Defense is active, tickling it with a Flak Cannon or AOE Arsenal attack (preferably from a hellstorm turret) can be used to trigger Aggression with fairly minimal friendly fire. The Breacher should get multiple chances to trigger Break Armor while the Engineer is drawing attention and can open up new lines of sight with clever use of Breach Ram or Thermal Charge. The Cataphract shares the Engineer’s weakness against heavy armor but is unrivalled in being able to Grapple and drag around Size 1 or smaller PCs to help the turrets do their work, plus Impale or Electrified Lasso can even pull larger PCs at the potential cost of becoming grappled by them. The Assassin can use its Mark to hunt down whoever is the biggest problem for the Engineer, can selectively influence lines of sight with Cloud Projector, can bring multiple sources of Prone or potentially Stunned to help set up the turrets, can use Spinning Kick to reposition both PCs and turrets (albeit at the cost of inflicting Prone on the latter), and can bring the Devil’s Cough Shotgun for more control help with Knockback 2 and Threat 3 on top of its usual spike damage. The Specter can fill a similar role setting up turrets with its tendency to inflict Prone and potentially Stunned, though it’s potentially awkward since being adjacent to a turret also protects a PC from Hunt; for that pairing, I prefer to use the Specter’s high mobility thanks to Prowl to dive into the PC backline instead, which is still something the Engineer appreciates. The Assault works well at the same ranges as turrets and is generally a reliable ally, plus High-Impact Rounds can be an AP spike damage threat, but the turrets can make it awkward to use Micro-Missile Barrage without friendly fire, and they unfortunately don’t have the Mech tag (only the Drone tag) and thus can’t trigger Rank Discipline. The main striker I’d avoid with the Engineer is the Ace, since it shares the same issue with Armor and doesn’t bring any notable utility (like the Cataphract does) to help make up for it.
Defenders usually mesh well with the Engineer overall, since its low mobility and high damage potential go nicely with a slow but dedicated bodyguard. The Bastion is a good protector with Friendly Interdiction to reduce incoming damage from one PC and being action-flexible enough to often Grapple the Engineer and move around while staying adjacent (this can potentially be combined with having the Engineer Prepare to use Deployable Turret after the Bastion releases its grapple, since it will be able to take that reaction after the grapple ends), plus Pause Engine is the ultimate defense to buy time for setting up more turrets. The Goliath has Crush Targeting to pull heat off of the Engineer, provides the most reliable mobile hard cover as a Size 3 unit with Guardian (and does so without blocking line of sight for the turrets), and can control and/or reposition nearby PCs with Power Knuckle, Pin, or Crushing Embrace on top of the generic Grapple or Ram. The Sentinel fits as a more offensive defender, potentially bringing Punisher Ammunition or Impaler to mitigate PCs trying to move around turrets to mess with their default targeting, and the Engineer’s high threat and solid durability can help enable the Bodyguard and Eye of Midnight punishment engine. The Spite’s Imprison (especially with Carceri or Insidious Prison) is very useful for discouraging explosive output turns from the PCs, while Feedback Shield can limit how much any one PC can attack the Engineer or Crush Targeting can again forcibly pull attention. The Demolisher can leave the players unable to simultaneously stay away from its big AP bonks, manage the targeting of the turrets, and take out the Engineer before it can snowball, though it takes some care to make sure the turrets aren’t interfering with the Demolisher’s already-limited movement. The Pyro’s effective Invisible from Firebreak Shield stacks well with the Engineer’s high HP, and its Burn damage is a potential answer for heavy Armor, though it can be tricky to avoid friendly fire with a Cone 5 attack, Explosive Vent, and potentially Unshielded Reactor or Explosive Jet.
The turrets being separate characters from the Engineer can make using support NPCs different from usual, but most of them still bring some useful synergy. The Aegis’s Defense Net is good at warding an area against long-range and tech attacks, pressuring the PCs to come into turret range without being able to hinder them as easily in advance; meanwhile, Ring of Fire can be a good counter to high-Armor close-range PCs, Hardlight Cover System can provide further cover along with Resistance to AOE templates (including non-attacks like grenades), and while it’s a silly gimmick rather than something good, HA Blackwall System (ideally combined with Mobile Turrets) can grant a lot of repositioning potential by effectively giving turrets a delayed ten-space teleport. For more reliable repositioning, the Mirage is as amazing as usual for moving allies (including turrets) with Glitch Scanners/Blip, the protections from Warp Sensors/Warp Targeting and Illusory Subroutines get around the issue of the turrets being individual characters by either debuffing the targeted PC or affecting all NPCs, and the Engineer is usually a good target for Dataveil or Multiplicity. The Scout is also an amazing ally because the Shredded from Marker Rifle is the best way for the turrets to overcome their weakness against Armor, Rebound Scan can negate both Invisible and cover, and Spotter can be an easy way of granting Accuracy to one or more turrets (especially if the Scout has used Prepare to Boost when the turrets it’s adjacent to have attacked), plus it also has Cloaking Field or possibly Dataveil to make the Engineer or key turrets Invisible. The Priest’s Dispersal Shield is great for gaining Resistance (especially if it also has Empower Shield), and Abjure or Sanctuary can ward off some attacks, but Investiture is mostly wasted on the Engineer (unless you want to gamble on Fractal Assault). Similarly, the Support’s healing and cleansing are welcome, but it doesn’t bring much active help aside from dragging around PCs/turrets for some repositioning or Sealant Gun to spread goop; that said, while the Latch Drone’s extra Accuracy is mostly wasted on the Engineer, it can be very difficult to remove if it’s also getting Resistance from Shepherd Field, which can make that combination unexpectedly good at extending the Engineer’s life.
Control NPCs are mostly good fits with the Engineer. The Hive’s positioning control and Burn damage are incredible compliments and help it contend for being the Engineer’s best ally. The Archer and the Hornet both make messes of PC turn efficiency by spreading Impaired and potentially denying actions (with Blinding Shells, Impending Threat, or Covering Fire from the Archer or Impale Systems or Umbral Interdiction from the Hornet); I think the Hornet a slightly better fit because Jammed is more reliable action denial than “make your choice” abilities and Lock/Hold Javelins can bring Shredded, but the Archer’s damage and range advantages make it better at potentially breaking PC focus on the Engineer. The Barricade can be good because of Mobile Printer influencing lines of sight (especially with Extrudite) and Graviton Lance, Drag Down, or Seismic Repulsor to muck up PC mobility, plus its typical use of Grapple and Ram, but there can be awkwardness with cubes and turrets taking up so much room that the NPCs run out of free spaces to place more stuff. The Seeder has a similar issue with its mines (especially with Speed Deployer), arguably made even worse by the mines being entirely immovable and indestructible short of being disarmed or triggered, but Grav-Grenade Launcher or Grav Spike are better at moving around PCs (though not as good as the Hive), so the pairing is still closer to awkward than bad in my mind. In a rare event, the Witch is probably the worst controller as an ally for the Engineer. It’s still good because Blind can disable long-range PCs, while Chain, Petrify, and/or Pain Transference can hinder their movement; Heat-bombing to cause Exposed is a potential way of dealing with Armor, Spread Suffering can make all of that twice as good, and the Witch’s natural high threat can help break PC focus on the Engineer, but it feels more like a case of both being strong NPCs that don’t get in each other’s ways rather than complimenting one another.
On which note, artillery NPCs also tend to lack notable synergy with the Engineer. The Sniper is the main exception, bringing big AP damage with the Anti-Material Rifle and possibly Shredded or Prone with Selective Loader to help set up the turrets, but needing to draw PCs into the open for its shots tends to mean more reliance on Engineer’s Mark to help the turrets focus their fire, which is unreliable; on the plus side, though, the Engineer usually wants to do some movement on its turn, so it can often set off Moving Target to let the Sniper reload as a reaction. The Rainmaker also stands out with the turrets’ inability to consume Lock On helping it trigger Huntsman for AP damage, and the combination of Missile Pods to cause Knockback and Javelin Rockets to restrict safe movement can hinder PCs trying to influence turret targeting. I find the other artillery don’t do much to compliment the Engineer or help with its weaknesses, with the Bombard being an especially bad fit because the Bombard Cannon’s Blast 2 AOE and Cluster Munitions make it a threat to destroy turrets with friendly fire if the PCs get close to them; admittedly, that can potentially bring a parting surprise if used with Arsenal’s primed turrets, but that’s more of a gimmick than an actually-good combination.
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