Lancer is pure suffering to play

[Sgt. YippyYap]

Yeah, when you say "advanced", do you mean heavily unbalanced against you?

Your attacks are so resource heavy and they go on long cooldowns
You can't shield
And the pure gimmick the ship is promoted - hacking - for is beyond useless. You need to pre-buff your hack cards if you want them to do anything useful by playing security, and it is resource heavy beyond any reason. Not only do you need to rely on rng pulls to get it, it also increases its cost every time you play it lmfao. What even
And the hacking cards you get are "disable enemy equipment for 1 turn, and if you have security, remove one pip from the disabled card".
Playing the card by itself makes literally 0 sense. You will disable the enemy equipment, you'll be out of resources for the next turn, and the enemy will use the equipment anyway. Because you wont get enough damage cards to disable the equipment in the meantime, and if you do, you'll get stuff that does 4 damage to the equipment while the equipment has 10+ HP
This is beyond useless. It's pure gimmick that just makes the game infuriating even more. It's not even a valid way to play

Even getting past the very first blockade drone had me just restart the run. If you can't get past the first blockade drone, that is literally only there to give you some free money, without taking damage and having to use morale points to boost yourself immediately, there is something wrong with the core balance.

By the time I get to like, half the first map, enemies get unbeatable. Especially Deadweight ships which are overpowered with their hack and flak and missile spam. All of which have 1 or two pips to activate and fire every round.
So even if you do get to disable or destroy equipment, you'll still get spammed. And if the missiles get launched, you literally have nothing you can do about it. torpedo is getting launched from a 16 health equipment? Too bad, you don't get any power production to utilize more than 2 attack cards per turn, you'll do barely half the damage to the equipment. OR you can hack it and disable it for 1 turn, losing all of your green power, and then the missile will get launched anyway
And then oh, if you did use those two attacks instead, they will go on a 4 round cooldown! You'll get maybe one or two more attack cards, you will not be able to destroy equipment, and then you'll be out of attack cards completely, with only useless hacks that do jack shi*

I thought Avalanche ship was dogwater, but it's actually fun to play if you're not fighting the second boss. It's a viable ship for everything BUT the second stage boss. Just because of the enemy's missile defense and of the infinite shields. And heat. Well, just because the second stage boss is unbalanced overpowered mess in general

But Lancer...
There is no reason for it existing in the game. It offers no viable gameplay or build, it's not fun and quirky
It is just pure gimmick and built to make you suffer by the time you get to your 3rd fight in a run

[VisionofFire]

Try picking better cards.

Jokes aside, it's pretty easy to lock down enemies in Sector 1 with Lancer with hacking alone, if the enemy ship is not producing security (Deadweights). Look to draft Denial (3G1B, disable target equipment for 2 turns, security 1 => return to hand) and Neutralize (3G, with security 1 disable 1 random weapon equipment for 4 turns). Denial is better because it's targeted, Neutralize lasts longer (4 turns with 1 security). A single denial + firewall can consistently shut down 2 pieces of equipment if it's played every turn, most enemies don't have more than 2 weapons sector 1. Neutralize occasionally can whiff and hit equipment that's not really a weapon but is classified as such. Mostly useful against the boss ships that have a lot of equipment.

Also don't try to stack more than 1 security, it's not worth it. Typical play pattern is to use crew abiilty to get 1 security if you didn't draw firewall, then simply play hack card followed by firewall, so you always trigger the secondary effect (if necessary).

Using hacking is G resource heavy no doubt, but keep in mind for every 12G spent, you get a +2 damage card. You put that +2 damage card into Drill shot which breaks equipment, and it's 4 damage, the equivalent of a basic laser attack. Lancer is perfectly happy to stall, then dump multiple surges into a fat Drill Shot that hits for 16. Electrostatic shot is also super busted right now, regularly hits for 10-12 3R2G. If you find a 2nd railgun, it's even dumber. Use your Radiates to generate 2G each,

All that aside though, Lancer did used to be much more intuitive to play, before they nerfed railguns with additional cooldown and the passive. So the ship could use a lot more work to be easy and intuitive to play.

Avalache also beats up the sector 2 boss just fine. Either Triangulate or Missile lock offer enough scaling for a pure missile build to win.

[CrabNicholson]

Lancer is really good. It helps a lot if you pick up a shield too. You can completely lock down any fight, even bosses.

[Pαιɳɯҽαʋҽɾ]

Lancer isn't too bad. Just got to play your cards right.

1. Dont take every card that's offered. Sometimes skipping cards for credits can give you more buying power at stations/vendors which may what you really need instead.
2. Time your hacks. Get the targeted hacks like Denial. Plan when to use your crew member for +1 Security to use together with Denial (+security = removes 1 pip as well)
3. Alpha Strike modulator is really useful if its available. (First shot is free)
4. Get an Ion Cannon for your secondary weapon. Shields are annoying. With an Ion Cannon, you can focus your hacks on disabling a 2nd weapon while you focus on destroying the first.
5. Avoid Ion Missiles or any missiles for that matter. Its a waste of resources vs last boss since he has auto PDC vs 3 missiles.

Personally, I dont go for heavy energy cards so much like Uranium Slug, Frag Shot, Kinetic, etc. I prefer cheaper cards like:
- Pyroelectric (use only when heat is 0, best opener card for Lancer imo) (9dmg with 0 heat)
- Tungsten (6 dmg to equipment)
- Cascade (6 dmg)
The Kinetic shots I start with is enough. These cards are more resource friendly. Easy to toss out a few.

Impetus is useful (return a Railgun card from cooldown after destroying an equipment)

Reason for my choices, equipment damage. You just need to deal 60 damage to the last boss (stage2) so focus your fire there. Ion Cannons to remove shielding, hacks to delay some really heavy attacks, shield to absorb some small hits and just keep hitting the Command Centre.

Lancer really needs some work. The damage output doesnt justify the heavy resource cards.

If you prefer less thinking and more 'sword and shield' type of play with good firepower, stick with Arbalest. Its a very well designed ship. Cant say the same for the other ships though. Currently working on my Escalation level on Arbalest. So fun.


Good luck! Don't give up!

[tankerjonny]

It is an easy ship to get behind in. early its easy to screw up. BUT its got a lot of potential and comes with a radiator which is one of the better systems. Missiles are an issue, but ive never found them insurmountable.

Its really sub system dependent. One Dynamo goes along way to making it easier to play those 3 cost hacks are just OP at 2 green. And the correct radiator sub system can turn Pyroelectric shot into a real menace. the real trick is using your radiator to make your cool downs better and managing your heat.

Hacking is better that shields if you pick the right cards. Double neutralize (which is fairly common) shuts down even the final boss. Two of those and the fire wall are all you really need in the hacking spot, or maybe another card to taste.

Make sure you use your crew abilities. that "weak" 50% damage buff you complained about in a previous post is literal dynamite with the railgun. Drill shot hitting for 12+? Pyroelectic hitting for over 20? That's pretty strong.

In fact I just two turned the final boss. 42 damage Pyroelectric does work.

[Honyakusha]

Just discard hack module and take a good sub system, lancer was one of the easiest if not the easiest ship to complete your run.

Just few useful tips:
-Discard hack module to ease your resource consumption, res bay or flash shield can do depending your preference. Bay for more resource and spam, shield for protection.
-Try to get a second weapon system, either railgun type or low-cost laser for precision.
-Try go build a better deck, for example, you can take low cost railgun cards and use them to get big numbers for a certain card which get +damage for per weapon on cd. You can get easily 20 damage on a single hit with that.
-You can also build a highcost deck if you can get cost-free subsystem early on.

[Scope40k]

Oye my breachway beratna.
Lancer was actually the first ship I finished the current state of campaign with (Avananche was the second one). With good build it pierces through everything with ease, and blows off the finall boss' command deck before its captain could even say "wow, they really blowed our command deck off".
Breachway in its current state is not a simple game, allthough It may look like one. It actually took me a few dozen hours to become good at it. Take your time at studying game mechanics and you will start enjoying it.
Here are few universal tips that work with any ship:
1. Start practicing zero-damage planning: do not rush, just sit back on your chair for a minute, two, maybe even ten, and think how can you survive the following turns without loozing any health at all. When you stop loozing health from regular enemies, you will have more health to spare when dealing with elites. Then try that zero-damage tactics with elites as well — of course, it is harder to avoid any damage at all, but at least try to take as few hits as possible. When you stop spending your money on repairs, you will have much more to upgrade your reactor and subsystems. This is hands down the best way to get better in Breachway.
2. Managing your reactor power is more important, than having a good card deck, or having all ship module slots filled. When you are at the middle, or at the end of your first map, check your current cards to see which resources you need the most, and upgrade your resource slots accordingly. It is also important to have at least one empty pip in both Energy and Mass to have room for maneuvering.
3. During battles, plan resources for your next turn and adjust the reactor pips accordingly. Sometimes you can easiliy transfer one or two pips from Ordnance to Enery / Mass so you can play an important card next turn. Some cards can provide additional Ordnance to keep the damage flowing. Check your both active card and recovery card decks to predict the hand of your next turn.
4. Look for subsystems that increase your basic damage, and reduce the cost for your weapon systems, as they drastically increase your damage output in general.
5. Skipping your active cards is VERY helpful. If you don't have too many slots in your active hand, just drop any cards that could lay in recovery for a few turns (like, you usually do not need too many active cards for Shields, PDC, or recourse distribution, etc) so you could gain more userful cards next turn.

Don't forget that Lancer is a very aggressive high-tech ship, it's primary goal is to eliminate any chance for enemy ships to retaliate first, then destroy it in as few turns as possible. It's really bad in prolonged fights that require good shield management and sustaining lots of damage — in other words it's the complete opposite of Avalanche. Think of it as a fast attacking light-armoured gladiator with a spear and a net — use your net (hacks) to reduce enemy movenent, then strike with your spear (railgun) as fast and as hard as you can. If you work really fast, you won't need any shields, any minor damage will be repaired by your engineer/encounters and space stations. Take a laser or another railgun as your secondary, focus on enemy guns first, then on shields and hacks. PDC will allow to prioritize damaging turrets over missile silos. Do not let your enemies take even a single shot, and you will master Lancer.
Hope that helps. Tenye wa chesh gut 🚀
(Pardon my English, I'm not a native speaker)

[VisionofFire]

Originally posted by Scope40k:

It's really bad in prolonged fights that require good shield management and sustaining lots of damage

This isn't strictly true. Lancer is actually very good at stalling fights provided you have the resource generation to back it. Here's a classic example of not letting the final boss play attack cards. Lancer only really suffers against enemy fire support, as hacking does not prevent the support missiles from going off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPSENcJq6yM