How To Get Small Launchers?

[BattleKnight]

Just like the topic said, how do you get stun launchers?

 

And I heard some of you saying that you can 'see' which kind of alien base you're going to attack. Is that true? And if so, how/which button do I have to press in order to see that?

[The Master Maniac]

Usually, all you have to do to use an item is to research one you aquire in the field. Simply click the research icon in your bases menu, and allocate some pencilnecks to research the item. In order to research a weapon, you must of course "borrow" one from an alien in the battlescape. You'll also need to research the weapon's ammo to use/produce it. Once research is finished, you can then manufacture as many as you like, given you have the apporpriate materials (elerium, alloys, etc).

 

In order to "see" the stats of an object on the geoscape, you must first have a hyperwave decoder installed at your base. You can produce a decoder after researching UFO equipment.

Edited September 14, 2004 by The Master Maniac

[Paladin]

Actually, the Hyper-Wave Decoder can be researched if you interrogate a live alien navigator...

and you will not be able to see the kind of base, only the races of the supply ships that come visiting it, which happen to be the same...

[The Master Maniac]

Er, yeah--you're right. My mistake. It's been so long since I've actually gotten the HWD...

 

But I took a step forward by adding that extra detail to the HWD. Guess I never tried actually clicking on a base site myself, anyway, unless deploying a death squad onsite, of course.

[SupSuper]

to get stun launchers you need to research them. and to research them you need to get them

 

let me explain. first, you need to recover a stun launcher from aliens in a a mission. usually medics, navigators and commanders are the ones that use them, so you should get some from big ufos or alien bases. after you get them, just research them and now you can use the ones you recover to easily capture the precious aliens you need for your research tree

[BattleKnight]

Thx for the reply all.

 

I wonder, how do you capture an alien if you don't have a stun launcher? Smoke grenades don't seem to work for me. And the stun rod is good for suicide runs.

[Snakeman]

I think I recall reading in the manual or heard it from somewhere that smoke grenades can work to stun bad guys, but I think they have to remain in a room or not leave a smoke filled area too quickly. Its supposed to take awhile that's all I know. I can't remember if I ever got an alien that way, but I do remember one of my men got weak from being in a smoky area too long and passed out (could be I don't see it lately cause my men all have power or flying suits - I think these negate passing out from smoke, not sure).

[The Master Maniac]

Yeah--power and flying suits have internal oxygen recirculation systems, according to...er...somewhere or another. Anyway, yeah--they're immune to smoke stun damage, and fire, too, if I'm not mistaken (don't try it on my word alone, however!). I am certain about the smoke thing, though.

[[NKF]]

Smoke works only if the unit is really hurt and is low ranked. The more experienced the alien, the harder it is to stun with smoke particles. A beginner sectoid soldier for example is easy peasy. But a superhuman sectoid commander is next to impossible (had a nasty run in with one).

 

For X-Com units, the type of the armour is very important. Being without armour gives you the most paralysis while the flying suit takes next to nothing. This is all regardless of the actual armour levels.

 

For fire, standing in a patch of fire will hurt you only if your armour is very weak. Basically you just need more under-armour than the maximum level of damage that standing in a fire can produce. However, if the fire is stuck to your soldier - then you will get hurt constantly regardless of your armour level as long as the flames stay in effect.

 

- NKF

[The Master Maniac]

So don't stand in fire.

 

Anyway, thanks for the info. So, against popular belief, flying suits aren't totally invulnerable to smoke? Hmm, I guess "virtually" invulnerable will have to do.

Edited September 17, 2004 by The Master Maniac

[Paladin]

Yep, so smoke is unreliable, at best...

 

The best way I found of stunning an alien with a stun rod, is to make sure the alien have no reaction shots left (or use a rookie), and attack him with 2-3 stun rods, and if it's not enough, shoot him with a low-level weapon such as a pistol (earth or laser) to make just enough damage for him to drop below the "greyed out" amount of stun damage...

[EtherImp]

Best way to stun aliens before getting the stun launcher is to use a stunrod..

 

My personal favorite way of equipping stun rods is finding a soldier in my crew that has very high TU's.. To start, anywhere around 65-70 (for a rookie) is a good start. I suggest arming him with a laser pistol and a stun rod, and maybe some grenades and smoke grenades for backup.

 

Either way, arm somebody else in your crew with a mind probe.. Every alien you see, mind probe them until you find what you're looking for. Once you find the one you're looking for, kill all of his buddies first. This will effectively drop his morale and may make him panic, dropping his weapon. But even if he doesn't panic, removing his friends makes it easier to get to him without getting shot. Then simply use your Stun Rod weilding soldier to sneak around them and tag them with the stunrod. I would only suggest doing this when you Mind Probe the alien and it shows their TU's as being below say, 12.

 

Also, if you're lucky, you can find alien Stun Launchers before very long.. But I would highly suggest getting a Navigator first, as HWD's take along time to research and build and you need them quickly to be more effective.

[Paladin]

Yep, the HWD is definitely a must, research Navigators ASAP (when alien containment is comlpete, that is... :

[The Master Maniac]

I'm getting fond memories of "PacifiCom," which ironically stood as an "alien containment" base. I transferred all my best guys to the base, using an Avenger, to non-lethally incapacitate every alien I could on a field mission. Stun launchers, stunjacks, smoke grenades... Well, I suppose this was strictly for my own amusement, and such an approach will likely get you grilled, but I was at a point in the game where my soldiers were just that good. Ahem, still wouldn't recommend that tactic, though.

[Paladin]

Yeah, well, with 200 TUs, the guys were superheroes... Faster than hovertanks!

[The Master Maniac]

All that training was worth something, I'd imagine...

[Paladin]

Yeah, imagine my shock when they overflow and revert to "under-rookies" :o

Or when they were capped at 80 in Tftd!!

 

Then again, I'm not usually the one to complain about realism, on the contrary