Jump to content
XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Other Weapons


Recommended Posts

Because most of those are specialized for use in space. But lets break it down:

 

Plasma pulse cannons: They probably already use them on their ships

 

Shields: May not work in atmosphere, hence why you didn't have shields right off the bat in Apoc.

 

Elerium torpedo: Not enough range to compare to stingray/Avalanche combo. Also a specialized fighter weapon, since the aliens didn't bring fighters (Earth being primitive and all that), they have no need of weapons that can only be carried on fighters.

 

Parallax Torpedo: See above

 

Phase cannon: What good is a shield piercing gun when your enemy doesn't have shields?

 

Psi-Cannon: They needed it to project their psionic abilities onto enemy craft. In a battle situation, the aliens have visual contact with the target, hence it is much easier to attack the target psionically. They don't have to go through an armored space fighter that's dodging and weaving around to do it.

 

Passive cloaking torpedo: In an atmosphere, it would fall like a rock.

 

Enveloping fusion torpedo: Useless, due to the fact that the enemy doesn't have shields.

 

Tacyon Pulsers: Would some sort of glorified EMP beam work against good old fashioned internal combustion? Probably not.

 

Tracer beams: These are a human designed weapon (shade fighter nonwisthanding.) And they're basically blue continuous lasers.

 

Repair computers: Who says they don't already use them? Downed UFOs dissappear after a few days...

 

Cloaking devices: Works in space, might not work in atmosphere. It could be visible from the air disruptions around it, or...it simply may not function in atmosphere.

 

Doomsday weapon: Doesn't exist yet, and they don't want to destroy Earth.

 

Drones: Perhaps the alien drones don't have the engine power (or specialized flight surfaces) for use in an atmosphere on a planet with gravity.

 

Vector control thrusters: Who's to say they don't use them? I mean, those small alien craft can be pretty hard to hit sometimes. ;) Seriously though, I suspect that only small craft such as fighters can use them. You never see a tug or freighter with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm.

 

Tachyon pulsars: why don't they use those against HWPs? And the Tachyons would still work on all the other fancy equipment aircraft have.

 

AATS: Won't work on earth craft, but the aliens never use the human targeting technology. So, it could be on the alien craft availible to research.

 

ECM: Well, they don't seem to know of our method of detection. Same situation as with AATS.

 

Sensor Probes: Well, that's kind of obvious isn't it?

 

Enveloping fusion torpedo: How's this related to shields?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm.

 

Tachyon pulsars: why don't they use those against HWPs? And the Tachyons would still work on all the other fancy equipment aircraft have.

 

AATS: Won't work on earth craft, but the aliens never use the human targeting technology. So, it could be on the alien craft availible to research.

 

ECM: Well, they don't seem to know of our method of detection. Same situation as with AATS.

 

Sensor Probes: Well, that's kind of obvious isn't it?

 

Enveloping fusion torpedo: How's this related to shields?

 

Tachyon pulsers: They are usually mounted on fighters and tugs, correct? It is pretty likely that they cannot be shrunk down to the size necessary for use on the battlescape. As for human electronics: You're assuming that tachyon pulsers are like EMP weapons. They aren't. They specifically disable a craft's conversion/gravity induction/graviton pulse engines. And since a human craft wouldn't have those engines... (Note: I know this from the fact that the Interceptor strategy guide says they specifically disable the engines. Since human engines work differently from the ones in interceptor, it isn't too plausible that the Tachyon pulser could disable human engines.)

 

AATS: It would work on earth craft (IIRC, it's really sensitive, and since Earth craft give off plenty heat, just not as plasma.) BUT, it wouldn't work too well in an atmosphere for the simple reason that there are lots of things that give off heat on a planet, and it would have to filter out all those (air currents, people, etc.)

 

ECM: Who's to say they don't already use it? I mean, missiles miss quite frequently in Xcom, even the fusion ball launcher with the 100+% accuracy. I suspect that Alien ECM is screwing with the targeting systems on the interceptor/firestorm/avenger.

 

Sensor probes: They were always used at vast, interstellar distances. Why use a probe on Earth when it's close enough you can send a manned ship that can actually perform missions (like the ubiquitous abduction, et cetera.) It'd be like sending a probe to the middle of South America to find something, when it'd just be easier and cheaper to go yourself.

 

Enveloping fusion torpedos: They Enveloped a shield bubble and did equal damage to both sides of the shield. Without shields, they lose much of their appeal. They aren't as damaging as a fusion ball (such as what you see on the alien battleship), and they just don't have the damage/range necessary to take out anything more than a fighter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe that's because we would have to write up xnet entries, program them into the game, model them, and then program some more, just for fun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

EDIT: Wait a second though. The Tachyons worked on weapons and shields.

 

Incorrect. :P They disabled engines. Since the weapons and shields are powered from the engines, they disabled the weapons and shields by default. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EDIT: Wait a second though. The Tachyons worked on weapons and shields.

 

Incorrect. :P They disabled engines. Since the weapons and shields are powered from the engines, they disabled the weapons and shields by default. :rolleyes:

 

Once I was in combat with the aliens and they disabled my engines, but I still took one out using my beams. They hit me a few more times and the thing at the top of the screen said "weapons disabled". Then the elerium torpedo hit me. :cussing: (thats smily is directed at the aliens, just for clarification.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EDIT: Wait a second though. The Tachyons worked on weapons and shields.

 

Incorrect. :P They disabled engines. Since the weapons and shields are powered from the engines, they disabled the weapons and shields by default. :rolleyes:

 

Once I was in combat with the aliens and they disabled my engines, but I still took one out using my beams. They hit me a few more times and the thing at the top of the screen said "weapons disabled". Then the elerium torpedo hit me. :cussing: (thats smily is directed at the aliens, just for clarification.)

 

 

I could try to rationalize that basing the fact that your capacitors were already charged, but that would be too much effort. It's a slight programming error. Someone put a 0 instead of a 1 somewhere. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EDIT: Wait a second though. The Tachyons worked on weapons and shields.

 

Incorrect. :P They disabled engines. Since the weapons and shields are powered from the engines, they disabled the weapons and shields by default. :rolleyes:

 

Once I was in combat with the aliens and they disabled my engines, but I still took one out using my beams. They hit me a few more times and the thing at the top of the screen said "weapons disabled". Then the elerium torpedo hit me. :cussing: (thats smily is directed at the aliens, just for clarification.)

 

 

I could try to rationalize that basing the fact that your capacitors were already charged, but that would be too much effort. It's a slight programming error. Someone put a 0 instead of a 1 somewhere. :P

 

As Larry Wall once said:

"Let's call it an accidental feature."

Edited by T-1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...