second hand weapons?

[mor2]

just a quick question, what is the use of second hand weapon?

because up until know i found the second hand useless, mostly saving few points on taking stuff out, maybe if i use two sidearms i can save another few points on reloads    (although its hard to imagine how this work in real life, those little sucker on auto has just as much recoil for one in each hand)  or is for something not yet implemented?

but i only recently started to play the game and still play on normal, so any help from those who has much more experience will be appreciated.

[Destructavator]

I don't know how much this answers your question, but,

I've actually played missions where I have a guy with a rocket launcher or other big, heavy weapon, and if they are in a tight space, and an alien is right there, it really saves time units (and is safer) to temporarily drop the big huge weapon and pull out a knife or pistol to take out the alien.

[Fritz]

I use the second hand for grenades. If the soldier have no bigger weapon like an assault gun he can hold the gun in one hand, the grenade in the other and is ready to fire after throwing the grande.

[mor2]

i had an idea but now it doesn look like its going to wont , thanks for the info 

[ponkan]

The way I've got my loadout is if the soldier is carrying a weapon that's not good for close-range engagements (sniper rifle, grenade/rocket launcher, etc) they get a sidearm. For weapons like the GL that need both hands to fire but only one to carry they get the machine pistol so that they can simply draw, fire, holster since the MP is one-handed. Big weapons that need both hands to carry (like the RL) are paired with the SMG -- if they have to drop their primary weapon, they might as well get the best secondary, and its two-handedness doesn't matter in that case.

Obviously, I'm still playing with earth tech, otherwise I'd be trying the plasma pistol out.