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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Starter weapons:Good for training rookies


slickrcbd

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I just got inspired to play a game of x-com after seeing it mentioned in a crossover fanfic, although I think they were talking about the remake.

I haven't played in over a year.

 

I found a use for the human weapons even when I have power armor & flying suites, lasers, and plasma. They are good for training.

Giving rookies pistols and grenades, they don't have as much weight as the heavy canon. Also the pistol has the lowest snap shot of any weapon in the game, so it means more reaction training.

Rookies usually hit the broad side of a barn, so its not like they'll contribute much to a fight against mutons anyway even if I gave them heavy plasma. Human grenades are extremely cheap, and throwing them is usually pretty accurate even if their throwing skill is 50 or less, only landing one square off, so that is also great for training them in accuracy.

The grenades won't do much damage against mutons or etherals, but if you are fighting etherals, you probably don't know what their psi scores are as they are rookies. If they are armed with human pistols and human grenades while the vets are in flying suites, even if they get MC they won't be able to hurt your troops, while they can get hits in on the Etherals to increase their abysmal stats.

 

After a few turns, when you ID who is being panicked or mind controlled, you can drop the pistol and grab a plasma weapon from a dead alien, or you can continue to attempt to use the pistol to train reactions.

 

The pistol is one of the best weapons to train reactions when you have psi and power armor of your own. MC an alien, use the exploit to give them a laser pistol, and having your squaddies using the least damaging pistol with the lowest snap cost means you can maximize the experience your troopers get before their training partner expires. It seems designed for this purpose.

 

I could give the rookies alien grenades, and the flying suites will keep the rookies safe, but they are likely to die quickly or be MC, and it seems a shame to waste those things. They cost elerium to make, and I don't capture nearly enough of them to toss them like candy, and most rookies can't toss HE packs very well or carry many of them. I consider the grenades training weapons in the later stages, as while they don't do much damage, they are cheap and plentiful and do a good job giving the rookies the needed experience to build up their puny 21 strength so they can carry HE packs, rocket launchers, or other equipment.

 

If somebody has a counter viewpoint on using the starter weapons as training weapons when raiding an Etheral base or battleship, I'd like to hear it. I also give the AC-HE or HC-HE to rookies with 36-40 strength as it to is useful while not being too dangerous to blue-on-blue if I have armor.

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No argument on the pistols and grenades. They are good training weapons late game. Same is true for the early game when you are just starting out. Grenades are actually a great way to train up those promising troops that have great stats but horrid firing accuracy while pistols, laser pistols and laser rifles are excellent for laying siege to a UFO.

 

One tip when training reactions with the pistol is to train in a big group. If lots of soldiers qualify for a reaction shot at the same time, they will all get the experience even if the alien gets killed by the first soldier to react.

 

For your armour, go for Power Suits instead of Flying Suits. 10 less armour, but much more economical on the elerium. Or go find a base and do a bit of supply ship piracy and you'll never be short on elerium.

 

The HCHE isn't exactly the safest weapons to be arming your troops with if your trainees are in personal armour. The HCHE in particular can do some damage to a Flying Suit if it scores a direct hit. ACHE's much safer. It's amusingly fun to have power armor troops blast mutons away with them at point blank range.

 

- NKF

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