The rebalancing has been dramatic. How things were in 2.4 is only relevant insofar as existing player expectations will be guided by that.
Ack, I'm probably not qualified to be talking about damage output then, but yeah, disscussion I can go for at least!
It took a while, but I could usually get a sniper to 36 TUs. Also, 30 TUs for an aimed shot plus a snap shot were easily doable
Egads, 34 TUs is the best I can manage at the moment! Currently just got to researching the Dragon interceptor, and its October. And thats only cos that guy was an elite recruit. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here >.<
Yeah I noticed the aimed + snap shot combo, quite nice, but was only really possible if the sniper was already crouched and in position from the previous turn, which didn't happen too often for me, the aliens tended to move out of position if they were still alive
(sniper rifle) a snap shot did 105 damage for the same TU cost as a laser rifle's 126±15 for wave fire, but armor/resistance are tripled against the latter, and although the snap shot is more likely to miss altogether the laser rifle is more likely to suffer from reduced damage by missing at least one of the three shots.
I prefer reduced damage to no damage, but I guess that's just my personal preference. My mine gripe was that, while powerful, I couldn't rely on my snipers, they were more of an added bonus, especially since they couldn't take out an unarmoured Taman on their own (but that's changed now in 2.5 from what I understand, so my tactics would probably change accordingly)
This is a balancing exercise—my goal isn't to pick the best weapon, it's to make sure that all weapons have a reason to be picked.
The laser rifle requires a three-step research process, then either production or a long wait for the market to spin up. After all that, it should be a clear improvement in at least some circumstance.
Agreed.
*[2.4 disclaimer]* I found the laser rifle's 'niche' to be very long ranges - you can take shots that, with other weapons, you wouldn't even attempt. With an assult rifle you might look at a range of 20/30 squares and just think "Best to take cover and wait/move in closer". With a laser rifle you'd take some shots. Sure you'll miss a few. Yes, once medium armour shows up they aren't so great anymore. But if you can take out the unarmoured guys out before they are close enough to do damage, that's always valuble. (Maybe I'm just reckless with ammo though, heh)
This is what the sniper rifle is supposed to be for as well, but in 2.4 I didn't find it accurate enough, so I switched over to laser power. Then again, by my own logic I should probably have used the rocket
sniper launcher, but I wanted to check out the lasers too, since the last time I played UFO:AI was before it even had laser weapons o_0
If the 2.5 changes mean the laser weapons no longer fit that use (or any other), then... well... I'm out of useful comments really
I haven't yet developed a principled way to account for accuracy,
Could perhaps try considering the weapons at 3 distinct ranges, short medium, long? Yeah I know, then it becomes a question of 'what do people consider long range' but that my idea all the same