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« on: August 22, 2014, 02:49:20 pm »
Regarding sidearms:
Early game, I use them a LOT. Rookie troops often are recruited with not enough strength to carry what I would call a typical loadout (IR goggles, armour, medkit, knife (which I have actually used on more than one occasion to get useful kills in when ammo runs dry or low on TU), flashbang, smoke grenade, 2 frags and 2 incendiary grenades, plus primary weapon and ammo) so will go into combat with the SMG (if decent accuracy skill, to pepper aliens from range), or Microshotgun if they lack accuracy as it is hard to miss with it from close in. Troops with high explosives skill get an automatic pistol and a grenade. I do notice that as a result, early game, I get to capture lots of stunned aliens - I can fill the 10 slots in a containment in 3 months or so. Snipers , Grenade Launchers and Rocket Launchers get the best sidearm they can carry as their weapons are not always practical - nobody else really needs one (so starting at the basic pistol, working up to the SMG). After the first month or two though and I have plasma pistols and their ammo in abundance, all sidearms get sold and swapped for the plasma pistol. By the time I get laser pistols, they replace the plasma pistols wholesale. Late game, PB pistols will replace the laser pistols for soldiers with decent accuracy, if I have enough ammo. Regardless, all sidearms are a great way of skilling up the close combat skill - these troops will be the ones who tend to die the most for me, so skilling them up to be strong enough to carry a plasma blaster (if decent accuracy) or flamethrower (if not so accurate) is always on my mind. The shotgun is a very useful defensive weapon with solid reaction fire , but lacks the range to be useful in anything other than mad suicidal rushes into rooms.
Regarding Snipers:
Despite skill increases, snipers are invaluable late game for a few reasons. Firstly, through wall kills. Secondly, late game, armour and a sniper weapon is beyond the strength of most new recruits. You simply have to skill up snipers and keep them alive from early game.
Regarding HMG:
Nothing is better than the EP HMG for mowing down groups of enemies. Nothing. Taking down 3 or maybe 4 enemies in a group for 20 TU is glorious. I have never managed multi-kills of that nature with anything else (not even anything explosive), and late game, with 12 or more enemies on the map, you will need that kind of stopping power. I see the standard HMG as a weapon for harassment saturation fire at range - use it to wound enemies, then finish them off with other soldiers who have been closing in. I have seen armoured Taman take a full burst of standard AR full auto fire and keep on coming - a full burst of standard HMG though will put them down. That, and sheer volume of fire makes it more likely that you will get one or two hits, even at range. Considering the effects of wounds on TU, this is still useful.
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