Lancer NPC Overview - Bombard
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| Art by Retrograde Minis |
Target
Bombard - Artillery
A generally immobile long range damage dealer that specializes in hitting multiple targets.
Range
Long
Threat
Moderate to High
Complexity
Low
Overview
Bombards are one of the most self explanatory NPCs in the game, the whole design being what most people would think of when you hear the term 'artillery'. Long range, slow, and susceptible to being engaged at close range. And that's the Bombard in a nutshell. Its primary gimmick is that it primarily wants to fire at multiple targets due to a mix of an inherent Difficulty on attacks with its primary weapon, as well as having the Cluster Munitions trait which quickly scales the Bombard's damage if it hits clusters of characters. However, it is incredibly slow with only 2 base Speed and lacking Agility saves as well, meaning it can easily be hit with a myriad of conditions to even further prevent it from moving. Its best defense is to just not be available to hit, which is easy with its considerable range. Finally, it has a comfortable Sensor range putting it at the upper end of Sensors, allowing it to potentially paint targets if it doesn't have a good targeting situation itself. But there's more to be had, so let's go into the real strengths of this beast!
Most of the Bombards traits are focused around its Bombard Cannon, its singularly most defining trait. Cluster Munitions and Earthshaker Shells both work off of this by default, so using its gun is the most important thing it can usually do in a turn. While fairly average with damage to start with, the fact that the Bombard Cannon is a very long distance Blast+Arcing means that it largely ignores cover, and pretty much always means it can lay hands on anyone on the battlefield all the time. This is somewhat counteracted by a base Difficulty applied to every attack, but along with the Cluster Munitions that just really gives it even more incentive to aim for high volume of targets, including drones! Keep in mind, friendly fire exists and the Bombard may wish to tactically target groups of enemies mixed in with its own allies so that it does even more damage. The term 'acceptable casualties' comes to mind. Aside from that, the Earthshaker Rounds the Bombard possesses are a Recharge 6 ability, meaning it'll likely only go off once, and is primarily used to slow down an advance and throw up cover in their way. With careful positioning and a careful shot, this can also allow the Bombard to create cover for allies. However, i've found this ability tricky to use properly and often can just have the cover be entirely ignored. Still, it's an important tool and the only default way the Bombard has to mitigate its main threat, people trying to get close to it.
Defensively, the Bombard does struggle a bit here. While it does have a bonus to System and Engineering saves and has a decent E-Defense that allows it to shrug off effects like Burn or many Tech effects, it has many weaknesses it needs to keep in mind. Siege Armor prevents it from folding immediately to physical attacks, but with no Armor and pretty terrible Health it will fold like wet cardboard against any CQC or Melee character that has the mobility to quickly reach it. Along with terrible Hull that means that Grapples are also a major problem for it given that both its primary and optional weapon are Ordnance and thus cannot be fired while Engaged. Agility saves also put it in the dirt, but honestly I think that's less of a weakness because it's so slow it's not going anywhere even if it does need to run. If the Bombard wants to stay alive, it needs to find a good chunk of Hard Cover to hide behind and make sure there's plenty of enemies between it and its targets. The Bombard just does not have the tools to deal with its weaknesses itself.
As a result of this, the Bombards game plan is extremely simple. Find a nice spot, and shoot stuff. Their optionals do add a lot of flexibility in how they might do this, but the core of this mech really is that simple. You may have noted I marked them as a Moderate to High threat, and the reason for that is because this mech will test your party's positioning on the battlemap. Without clustered targets, or sneaky tricks on behalf of it and allies, the Bombard doesn't do very well hitting one target at a time. Its weaknesses are very obvious and clearly exploitable, and so it heavily relies on backup to allow it to perform its role. Still, this mech has potential both offensively and defensively as its range allows it to remain on the outskirts of any engagement, forcing enemies to come to it and thus potentially giving up an objective.
Optionals
High-Impact Shells - Knockback is always fun, but its important to note that this isn't the Knockback trait applied to its Bombard Cannon. Any enemies hit with this trait get knocked back away from the Bombard's position. Meaning you can fire it potentially behind someone and they will still fly away from the Bombard. This has obvious utility: Keep enemies away from the poor glass cannon in the back! This does mean that it's more difficult to use this as a means of precise battlefield position of allies for various effects, as the Bombard lacks mobility to position itself around the map to push people specific places. Still, you can use it to break grapples on allies or just kick people out of cover.
Bunker Buster - Lol, Lmao said the Bombard as your cover evaporates in a single shot. More seriously, though, this is a great trait for flattening an enemy's position where the group might be wanting to be relatively stationary, like a Control or Holdout. Maybe less useful defensively, as it can ruin your own cover just as there's no turning this trait off.
Flare Drone - At first glance this seems like a handy way to negate that problematic difficulty on the Bombard's attacks, but then you realize that it can't Barrage and use a Quick Action in the same turn. It can still try to set this Drone up for a more reliable attack, but the enemy needs to both allow the Drone to live or just remain where they are. Not always the most reliable plan when you can just try to shoot them instead. This is more useful to strip conditions off of stealthy mech, with a potential upside of giving the Bombard more means to blow someone out of the water if they do make the ill-fated decision to hang around. Important to note that the Bombard can target its own drone, doubling down on boosting its attack in a following round at the expense of the Drone almost certainly being Destroyed.
Repeater Cannon - Ah ha! I hear you say. Look, a means by which the Bombard can deal with enemies that get up in its face! Well, sorta. The problem is that this weapon is still Ordnance, meaning it can't target enemies that Engage it. It can still fire this while Engaged at other targets that might be approaching, but that might not solve the problem of someone already in their face. If not grappled, they can then follow up with a Boost to at least put some distance between most of the enemies on their ass. Oh and the damage kinda sucks, and its Loading so it'll probably only get this off once. A defensive tool, but doesn't always solve its problems.
Cluster-Seeker Bombs - More damage! And what is effectively a pretty good Reliable, at least against low Armor targets. This trait doesn't really need much explanation, it just lets the Bombard always do at least something even when it misses. It does extend the reach of its damage by a hex outside of its Blast when it fires, which can allow it to potentially hit targets it might not be able to reach in the same shot normally. That said the damage is fairly minimal and doesn't work with Cluster Munitions, so the utility of this ability entirely depends on the amount of Armor amongst your group.
Recommended Sitreps
The Bombard does really well on any map it just can come in, hang out, and shoot people. If it needs to move around to complete objectives, it does not like that. So keep it away from Escorts, Extractions, and potentially Recons if you randomize the True CZ. Good in Gauntlets where it can start at the point and just shoot people approaching, Holdouts where it can be a problem outside of most people's range and force them to leave their CZ to deal with it, and Control where it can sit on a point close to its deployment zone and do its job.
Recommended Allies
If you put a Bombard on a map where moving around to contest objectives is a thing, you should probably have another Striker that is more mobile and capable of doing that. Other nimble NPCs like Hornet might do the job as well, but the real idea is just don't pair the Bombard with a bunch of other, slow moving NPCs otherwise the objective will never really be contested. However, when the Bombard gets to be on the defensive and that's not a concern, you want to pair it with Defenders that can cover its primary concern of close quarters combatants.
Defensively, the Bombard pairs well with the Goliath, Barricade, Mirage, Hive, Aegis and Spite. The Hive and Spite just control movement in an excellent fashion, preventing enemies from approaching the Bombard's Position. The Goliath tends to make people focus on it rather than the Bombard, an obvious boon. The Mirage can vastly increase the Bombard's mobility and just naturally is good at defending allies, as is the Aegis.
Offensively, meanwhile, Scouts and Priests directly supplement a Bombard's ability to deal damage with their abilities while Snipers are excellent at single target damage, neatly covering the other's weakness respectively while sharing a weakness to things that get close. Goliaths, Berserkers and Lurkers are all front line mechs that can be targetted to use Cluster Munitions on allies strategy while generally having resistance to the damage a Bombard does. Just be careful not to hit your Berserkers while they're inflicted with conditions or hit a Lurker while you have High-Impact shells and knock it out of its shroud.
And while I will not state it, any NPC willing to be in the way between it and the enemies will naturally help solve the Bombards weakness, but without any special bonuses otherwise i'm not going to list them all.
Other Considerations
Having the Bombard's allies Lock On to targets for it will really help it with its accuracy problem, and the Bombard itself can lay out some Tech attacks when it needs to. If you ever do find your Bombard locked down by a grapple, don't forget about Ramming a target (if it's the same size) to knock it back, potentially free it from the Grapple to follow up with something else. Oh, and along with other Artillery pieces that can just stay out of range, be careful using large amounts of these guys as Grunts. Grunts that are never shot at are performing well above their paygrade in acombat and can quickly overrun your party with sheer damage.
Final Thoughts
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