Messages

1

Tactics / Re: Aircrafts

« on: June 20, 2013, 07:30:57 am »

Actually, I have found the helicopter gunships with armor and two targeting computers (with the obvious upgraded weaponry) are relatively good at shooting down fighters, or at least better than any other load out I have found.
The armor slows the airspeed, increasing(slightly) the time between when both ships start shooting at one another, and when the UFO closes to point blank, the game lags insanely, the UFO massively outmaneuvers you, and you get your face eaten.
Two helicopters, maybe even two saracens if that's yer poison of choice, or even one heli and your transport can take down a fighter with minimal chance of losing.
A single craft equipped as stated above still weighs in favorably against the fighter.

You can not outfight UFOs point blank without advanced craft. We all know this. Sure, sometimes you get lucky, but your chances even then come down to how damaged the UFO is when you get to point blank.
As such, the benefits of "going all in" on downing or reducing to a sliver of health that UFO fighter before it closes, including reducing your own velocity, seem to outweigh the obvious drawbacks.  Don't get me wrong, your helicopters spend a lot of time in the repair shop, but that is time they are not spending in a flaming wreckage strewn across the Russian countryside.

2

Tactics / Re: Tip of the Day

« on: June 20, 2013, 07:09:37 am »

Never kill with one shot what you can SAFELY kill with 20.
Never auto missions. You get no loot, the civilians usually all die, and you kill with NO shots, so no skill practice/gains.

The point here is get your stat gains in where you can. 
There is never a point inthe game where your soldiers do not benefit from more target practice.
A long protracted firefight with lots of hits, lots of maneuvering, and your soldiers carrying enough to break a sweat will benefit you FAR more than three GL bursts on airburst.

That way, when things start to get nastier, you're facing it with 34 movement and 60+ weapon skills instead of 30 movement and 40s weapon skills.
Focus on your soldiers with the highest base stats, as it gets progressively harder to raise stats, and it is based on starting stats (someone who started with 18 sniper skill and 30 now will gain slower than someone who started with 30 sniper skill).

All this said, if carpet bombing an area with grenades is what is needed to save that insane stats soldier you have, nuke 'em 'til they glow and shoot 'em in the dark.

3

Tactics / Re: Map: Wilderness tactics?

« on: June 19, 2013, 12:53:23 pm »

1)have a full squad of 8 soldiers
2)have grenades/grenade launcher
3)most wilderness maps have rocks that provide cover and/or long range sniping positions
4)clean up anything close enough with GL bursts, MG full auto, Bolter bursts, grenades
5)clean up anything unarmored at long range with laser weapons
6)at this point the aliens should be few enough that you can use medkits to heal damage done, find those few bits of cover, and shower them with laser fire until they close enough to kill with something more deadly.

4

Tactics / Re: Large Maps, what do?

« on: June 19, 2013, 12:42:58 pm »

(or bigger ones, but not requiring one to get through several floors of different buildings)

The aforementioned goggles do half of your work for you on such missions.  The other half?
Shooting them through the walls with EM rifles (bolters) or if you really want, coilguns.

As for saving the civilians, if the aliens can see/shoot only civilians, that's wh they will kill.
If you just winged said alien (for maybe 1% of his health) with a laser pistol/rifle, and they can see you behind partial cover, they will often target you first.
The same holds true to a lesser extent if they can see an ARMED phalanx soldier (they will often ignore zero items carried fodder).

Unfortunately, sometimes saving the civvies means giving the aliens soldiers to shoot at.  Also, yes, some maps, there are civvies that are just too dumb or badly placed to live.  The trick is figuring out HOW exposed you can let your soldiers be without them getting killed.

5

Tactics / Re: Lasers, a Trap?

« on: June 19, 2013, 12:21:56 pm »

Lasers are absolutely NOT a trap, you just need to understand what to expect from them.
They are absolute gold for taking down unarmored targets at extreme range. They will also let you hit your target a LOT of times, giving great close/assault skill gains.

If you were expecting them to do the job against heavily armored targets, sucks to be you.
You will get a lot of weapon skill right up until the moment mr. Ortok rearranges your internal organs with a kerrblade.

I research electromagnetic weapons first.   It is a pretty fast research, gives you assault and sniper practice, and on a skilled soldier, it wrecks things better than any weapon which you can make ammo for without burning alien materials with the exception of grenade launcher airbursts.
That said, the ammo is NOT cheap, at about $1000 per eight shot clip.

Researching laser rifles and pistols next, or right after armor, gives you that long range capacity at a more reasonable price point, and gives you much needed target practice before whatever is too heavily armored for the lasers walks close enough for the grenade launchers and bolters to level them...

On the subject of research, NEVER sell all your plasma grenades until you research them. At some point, the aliens will stop carrying them in favor of the plasma blades.  Also, the ones you sold will get bought out.  If this happens, you will be permanently locked out of plasma GL ammo, which is double plus ungood.

6

Tactics / Re: What's your favorite weapon?

« on: June 19, 2013, 12:01:55 pm »

Played with coilgun some more, and EM Rifle still is hands down better IMHO.
Killing things through walls tends to be a yes/no proposition, and yes, you kneel just inside the harvester while 1-2 guys lens out the bands, yes you can clear out the UFO with no risk, less ammo cost, and more sniper skill practice.
As for long range shots, coilgun is not accurate enough for eight shots (2 plus 3x2 for reloads) to last a long mission and far from needed in a short one.  Now if not for the EM rifle, it would be that or plasma weaponry (with which I am unimpressed) for no alien materials used assault weaponry.  Then I would consider it.  I would also consider it if I started running into stuff that it took like 10 Bolter hits to kill.
The flavor text implies that the coilgun does not provoke reaction fire. Can anyone confirm or refute this?

Laser tag (you didn't expect that light gun to actually kill a heavily armored target, did you?) and NERF rapid fire skill practice weapons (again, machine pistols are for target practice), the more I use the EM rifle, the more I love it.  That said, it is straight up FUN to emptying a machine pistol or double tapping someone with a handgun.  Point blank MG full auto and air burst GL burst retain their 15% gratuity for enjoyable, well, gratuitousness.

7

Tactics / Re: What's your favorite weapon?

« on: May 18, 2013, 06:50:11 pm »

In 2.4

Starting:
Machine pistol
Assault rifle
Machine gun
Not for how effective they are, but for the sheer number of low damage hits they can inflict.  Start with these, then move onto laser weaponry, and your whole squad will be crack shots in no time with the weapon type of choice.  It should be noted that you WILL need something higher impact against medium armored foes, which brings me to my early game gratuitous armor penetration faves.

Grenade launcher ... Because boom, you're dead x3 hard to miss
And...
Electromagnetic Rifle
I saw the sniper skill and figured it was long range.  I was disappointed ... Then I realized it was a medium range capable wall ripping armor shredding shotgun that helps you gain skill in the two skills eventually used for particle accelerators, all from research that is much faster than plasma rifles, and you can make the ammo.
Great to finish the job once your other guys are done distracting the armored ortok with laser pointers.

The later game guns are fun and all, but the weapon selection listed above is what carries me to that later game with great skills off minimal gun research.