What's a good 2.3 squad loadout?

[Trifler]

There was an interesting thread about 2.2.1 squad loadouts, so I thought I'd make a thread for 2.3 since it's very different.

My initial loadout:
-2 Assault Rifles
-2 Flame Throwers
-2 or 3 (depending on skills) Snipers
-1 MG
-1 Grenade Launcher

The MG isn't all that great but I take it for variety. The Flame Throwers are very useful for close combat, and they don't seem to cause insane friendly-fire they way they used to. Sniper rifles are of course must-haves.

I usually research and produce one Electromagnetic Cannon ASAP. I don't use more than one because the ammo takes way too long to produce. Still, even one is useful. The Assault Rifles are replaced with Laser Rifles when available.

[Destructavator]

Personally I don't like the flamethrowers much, I've found on too many maps they just don't reach spotted targets because of their very short range.  They look cool when they fire, yes, but I've found them to be very limiting on many maps.

Then again, such weapons do make pistols and such useful as secondary weapons when the primary weapon won't reach a target.

[joe davis]

I am not progressing too far until 2.3 is released since I don't want to have to start all over when it is released.  And I have only played on single player so that may make a difference, not sure. 

But based on my current experience, and the lack of weight being a factor I load out my squad with both long distance and short distance weaponry based on their skills and as long as there is room I provide them with medikits. 

On top of this I provide grenades to the units based on their most likely positions, ie snipers and machine guns get smoke grenades,  assault gets smoke grenades, frag grenades, and flashbangs. 

There is usually one or two units that are pretty mediocre in everything except close combat and these I give smgs with flashbangs, smoke, and frag, plus the medikits. 

The units with heavy skills which get the machine guns also get flamethrowers. 

Assault can also use riot shotguns.

If the unit has HE skills then the grenade launcher is sweet. 

I place the long distance weapon in the units hand and the close range in the backpack or holster so that when I first start out I have long range on almost all of my units.

I try to have 2 snipers, 2 assault, 2 machine gunners, and 2 close range.  I use the Assault units to gain ground, machine gunners like mobile turrets primarily set on reaction fire, and snipers to pick off long distance targets.  The close range units probe the buildings and act like scouts at times.  I of course bring extra ammo. 

This load out provides full versatility and plays to the units strengths.  If any of the men get hit then there is normally another unit close by that can heal him.  And if need be, most any unit can fill in for another, so if I have any on the wrong side of the map making its way to the hot spot I can usually use a unit currently at the hot spot to provide the function I need.

In this loadout flamethrowers are decent as they are only utilized in close range when they are needed, and the units carrying them also carry a long range weapon.  Machine guns are decent because they throw a lot of metal around, and when you have a lot of metal flying, something is bound to be hit, just make sure your men in front of the machine gunners are not in the way.  Problem with this is that flamethrowers are not always available since they are either acting as a turret somewhere or they have to catch up with the rest of the team.

I realize that once the weight restrictions become implemented that I wont be able to load my men up with so much firepower, but since it isn't at this time, I see no reason not to take advantage of the versatility that is provided by doing so.

[nanomage]

as for me, i think that phalanx soldiers miss too much in medium to long range combat. what saves is that aliens perform no better, at least until they have no needlers and PB's. So in the beginning i equip soldiers with shotr-ranged weapon, as they are not going to dealany damage from distance anyway. They get shotguns, flamethrowers, grenade launchers and SMG's with maybe one sniper and one rocket launcher. Snipers are too useless in melee and still not accurate enough for long-ranged combat, so i rarely use them. Later i tend to replace sniper rifles and rocket launchers with heavy lasers and everything other with a combination of laser pistol and kerrblade. Pistol is accurate and fast, and most of the time allow to fight effectively at long ranges, where aliens tend to miss desperately, and kerrblade slash is enough to kill almost any alien outrigth. later on, i replace kerrblades with plasma blades and all laser weaponry with PB rifles.
Hevy needler + PB pistol is good too, the first for close combat, and the second for medium to long distances.

[Captain Skill]

Coilguns + Grenade Launchers/Flashbangs + Plasma Blades. All you need.

[Viento]

Sadly, Captain Skill is right. All the interesting weapons... mostly useless after a certain stage in the game.

Andy

[Sarin]

Related to this, I have a little question...does anyone actually uses bolter rifle early ingame? I've tried it out a bit, and it seems a bit too weird to be of any use...too inaccurate and weak to be used as sniper rifle, 3-round burst have too wide spread (doesn't seem to hit with more than one shot at any significant range) to be used on medium range instead of assault rifle, and for CQB there are better weaps, like flamer. So, what's its purpose?

[LtCustard]

I rarely use the bolter rifle - for the reasons you mention, it seems somewhat useless compared to other weapons. I only occasionally stick one in for variety.

[Sarin]

Somehow, I didn't find coilguns that great to be used as only primary weapon.

Main reason is the lack of ammo. A soldier can't carry more than 8 rounds including those already in weapon, and he's seriously lacking other equip when done so. While accurate, it's far from the lasers' precision-I have seen a decent sniper (accy 30, sniper skill 40) miss from a range no more than a screen's width. This makes it quite unsuitable for extreme range engagements-like the farm terror map. You just can't carry enough rounds. Also, I've already seen it cause a non-lethal hit, something unacceptable for a weapon that sacrifices everything for a one shot-one kill performance.

For CQB, and especially UFO insertions, Needler seem to perform admirably. A burst, with cost of just 13 TUs, seem to achieve 100% lethality on close range. Its fast operation makes it my favorite for scouts. Grenade launchers are evergreen, their AoE and indirect fire justify at least one in squad. As secondary weapons, I use laser/plasma pistols, depending on primary...snipers get plasma pistols, needlers/grenade launchers get laser. I also make sure that they get at least one plasma grenade and plasma blade.

[Captain Skill]

Kneeling vastly improves coilgun accuracy, and should always be used for long range shots. It's accurate enough while standing however, to be viable at close-mid range. Lack of ammo simply doesn't matter due to its lethality as it's a one hit kill unless you're missing far too many shots. All told, beyond Plasma Blades for CQC and Plasma packing Grenade Launchers and/or flashbangs for indirect firepower, I find myself wanting no other weapons, even on the hardest difficulty settings.

[Viento]

@Captain Skill

But wouldn't it be cool if you had a choice of suitable weapons to choose from? I fond it boring to use 3 weapons in a game which features like 20 weapons.

So what I wish for is: more weapons that are good enough to stand against medium alien armour.

Unfortunately, lasers and all the standard weapons available from the game start become more or less useless.

Re-engineering the existing standard weapons with alien technology and/or alien material ammunition has already been suggested.

Andy

[zapkitty]

@Captain Skill

But wouldn't it be cool if you had a choice of suitable weapons to choose from? I fond it boring to use 3 weapons in a game which features like 20 weapons.

So what I wish for is: more weapons that are good enough to stand against medium alien armour.

Unfortunately, lasers and all the standard weapons available from the game start become more or less useless.

Re-engineering the existing standard weapons with alien technology and/or alien material ammunition has already been suggested.

Andy

As we've ventured into "Feature Request" territory I've put up an idea in that thread...
http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=4509.0