Blades

[EchizenR]

I think blades can be useful especially when you make a turn and come face to face with an alien. Well, you could always shoot it at point-blank range, but what if there's another alien behind it? Judging from the previous posts, plasma blades seem to be a better choice over the monomolecular blade, costing less TU and dealing more damage. Also it looks cooler than always blasting the greys from long-range.

By the way, I don't seem to need to use secondary weapons. Usually, the mission ends before I even need to reload for any one of my soldiers, and I always for at least 2 reloads on each soldier. Will there be missions where there are like, 30-40 aliens? The most I've seen is only 8. An urban map against 40 aliens would really be challenging, not to mention exhilarating.

[DanielOR]

I've seen up to 12.  There was a promise of more.  You are right on the secondary weapon, though - rarely needed if ever.

[DanielOR]

What, no one go the "Highlander" reference?  No one? The great 80's sci-fi movie with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery.  Immortals run around modern SF, cutting off each other's heads, saying "There can be only one!" and getting the power of the slain.

[EchizenR]

I feel really young when you say (type) that. I was born only in 1990.

[DanielOR]

Well, there was a show "Highlander: The Series" that was quite good - in the 90's.  The original movie is really worth seeing.  Stay away from the sequels, however.  They are very bad.

[shevegen]

I think, unfortunately, melee is still not very popular.

I was thinking of some ideas why melee could still be a nice idea:
- diversity (more fun to need to use different weapons against aliens).

For example some aliens might have a good armour against bullets, but against slicing weapons they
might bleed more or something...
- There may be rescue missions where a captured guy can only use melee weapons.
From the outside, his friends shoot at aliens, but on the inside he can manage to sneak and
hit aliens

I am also thinking of some added advantages, like feats that one could pick or otherweise
train. This could make melee weapons deadly (i.e. because the feats raise the damage these
weapons can do), and might lower the required TU

Last but not least, there could be something like a monofilament whip.
Short range, but more than with knife, a bit difficult to hit the target, but if the target is hit,
it will deal enormous damage, i.e. cut away limbs.

[EchizenR]

Anyway, unless its an urban map, I find it extremely difficult to sneak up for a melee. In the open, its much safer to take out the aliens with snipers.

[Nevasith]

I dont like the idea of swordplay for UFO- its 2084 and we really have some decent weapons and range is our advantage- i doubt anyone will defeat Ortonok with melee it just makes no sense.

And i dont like forcing anything on players- if you like to play sneaker- do so. Ill stick to picking them from afar with a sniper. also, theres not much sneaking as the aliens use particle and plasma weapons and are REALLY trigger-happy

[EchizenR]

I had to use a double stun, plus a stun to get an ortnock down once. The easiest way, as always, is to just head shot, hands down.

By the way, I found that the plasma blaster really sucks. I hit an ortnock from behind at point blank with ball, and he was still standing! Had to sneak a sniper in there and deliver the coup de grace execution style.

But as I always have a stunner with me, its pretty useful when a soldier spots an alien in the next room with only 5 TU left. You just got to send a fast soldier with stunner or plasma blade and finish the alien off, or its your head on the ground.

[Surrealistik]

And i dont like forcing anything on players- if you like to play sneaker- do so. Ill stick to picking them from afar with a sniper. also, theres not much sneaking as the aliens use particle and plasma weapons and are REALLY trigger-happy

Actually there's no sneaking period; the aliens cheat and know where your troops are at all times. There is however, placement and reaction fire oversight that safeguards you from their offensive actions such that you can close distance without dying.

[Nevasith]

So its true that an AI always knows where my troopers are. I suspected that as aliens always rushed blindly from behind a corner and killed one of my man with a plasma torch or died trying from RF

[DanielOR]

well, "dying from RF" works for me - they are allowed to do that. 

[sirg]

The blades are pretty useless or hardly get to see action in my savegames. That's because the soldiers are so weak and vulnerable compared to aliens. Once I cut an alien with a kerblade and aside from losing some hitpoints, nothing happened. From what I understand kerblades are deadly. I guess mine was blunt.

[Mayhem]

The only real reason to use blades (except as a last resort) would be silence, I would think.

Until/unless the alien AI is reprogrammed so that they are as unaware of us as we are of them until LOS is achieved, this is pretty moot.

Even then, of course, the aliens are going to be well aware of one of their number getting knifed so the  silent kill would remain useless - although initially the player would not necessarily know this.

Unless they could be fitted as bayonets to rifles, of course, which might give a nice low TU attack for assault rifle troops doign house-to-house fighting.

***

Another option would, with the advent of monomolecular tech and plasma blades, be the use of melee weapons for forced entry.  If we had locked but destroyable doors to get through. 

***

Unless the aliens start deploying dune-style energy shields, of course.  "The slow blade defeats the shield...".  Or taking the Lensman series POV in which the energy output of hand-portable energy weapons is unable to keep up with the development of personal energy shields, leading to boarding actions taking place with big axes...

Both, however, are pretty blatant "melee is more exciting in fiction than duck-and-cover shooting" devices without much purpose beyond pure entertainment.

[Surrealistik]

I don't understand all this hate against melee weapons. Plasma blades at the very least are extremely useful given that they are instant death on all difficulty settings.