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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

How Do You Equip Your Squad?


Hayashi

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I'm still using the Skyranger, so my default set up is a hovertank/plasma (might change to hovertank/launcher as soon as they roll off the production line) and 10 troopers. I equip the troopers as follows:

 

1 with Blaster Launcher with 2 -3 reloads; laser pistol as back up weapon (he carries the launcher in one hand & the pistol in the other).

1 with Auto Cannon & HE or Incendiary (if it's a night mission) loaded. Spare clips of HE and/or incendiary. Laser pistol & motion scanner. (In the UFO when HE might not be a good idea, he doubles as the scout using the motion scanner).

Troopers with poor marksmanship get laser rifles (about 3 -4)

Troopers with decent marksmanship get plasma rifles (about 3 or so)

Officers & marksmen get heavy plasma.

 

Electroflares, alien grenades and medikits are standard issue for all. Of course, if its a daylight mission I leave the flares in the transport.

5 prox grenades and 5 smoke grenades are shared equally amongst the squad.

A few other motion scanners are distributed at random.

 

I don't bring spare clips as I rarely need 'em. If I do, I scavenge off a dead alien. In fact, I've only run out of ammo once, and that was trying to kill a sectopod when I didn't have many laser weapons around.

 

What about you?

Edited by Hayashi
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I'm very sloppy at equiping. Usually I just go in with a bunch of dudes using the latest weapon and leftovers, so I wind up with stuff as:

 

2 rifles.

6 laser rifles.

1 Heavy Plasma (No clips) <_<

1 Blaster Launcher (Lots of bombs.)

 

When I actually do take the time, it is more like this.

 

8 guys, 2 four person squads.

2 Heavy Lasers (1 each squad. Perfect sniper/sectopod buster. The guy with teh highest acc carries these.)

1 Blaster Bomb (Lots of bombs. used by the squad that stays outside the ufo.)

1 Stun Bomb. (used by the squad inside the ufo. four bombs.

3 Heavy Plasmas (2 in inside ufo squad, 1 in outside squad.)

1 Laser rifle. (1 in outside squad, for clearing obstructions and knocking out light targets.)

2 laser pistols (for the guys with the Blaster bomb, stun bomb.)

I then carry 2 flares for each in case of night. Two clips on the plasmas. and Psy-amps when it comes available. I'm sure there are improvements (such as grenades.) But I just don't bother with that. On mars I take a few HWPs and fill up the rest with guys using Heavy plasmas.

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I've always been of the philosphy that you should jolly well use whatever you want -- as long as it works. ;)

 

Although I have no strict setup, I'll list two general setups that tend to creep up on me from campaign to campaign. All setups will be for the later part of the game when I have access to everything.

 

General Skyranger/Avenger Setup

 

Weapons

  • 6 laser rifles
  • 1 plasma rifle + 3 clips + the only flying suit
  • 1 autocannon and 2 - 3 magazines of HE shells + power suit
  • Blaster Launcher + 5 clips for surgical base strikes or;
  • Rocket Launcher + 5 to 7 large rockets
  • Handful of alien grenades and high explosives. Maybe 8 or more AG's, 2 - 4 HE's. Probably more.
  • 1 - 2 Proximity mines
  • 1 Laser pistol (for grenadier)
  • 1 throw-away laser HWP or plasma hovertank scout unit.

General accessories

  • 2 smoke grenades, one for LZ deployment, and one for emergencies.
  • 4 Medikits. Yes a grand total of 4 no matter how many troops I use.
  • 4 Flares.
  • 1 small launcher and about 4 rounds for the purpose of blowing large terror units to bits or maybe capturing an alien I need.
  • 1 - 2 backup stun rods.
  • 1 Motion sensor
  • 2 mind probes for any reserve troops twiddling their thumbs in the Skyranger

I don't necessarily stick to this layout, but it's close enough. Additional firepower is acquired in the battle when necessary by way of picking up heavy plasmas.

 

'Specialist' Lightning

 

4 to 6 alien grenades and 1 - 2 High Explosive packs and a laser pistol per 'grenadier' on board. Veterans get to wear power suits or flying suits. Any hapless rookies coming along for the ride wear personal armour. Only for a small number of soldiers, such as 2 - 6.

 

Accessories include 1 very heavily used mind probe and about 4 flares for general use. For the purpose of surgical base strikes, there's a blaster and 5 loads for disabling the base. Plus up to 1 to 2 medikits total. And a stun rod for backup. Small launchers may be used for anti-large-terror unit use.

 

This setup is for absolute carnage in and around the landing zone. With the exception of the laser pistols, not one bit of this setup is about finesse. It's all about mindless brutality with thrown area effect weapons.

 

This setup unfortunately doesn't bring back much loot from missions on account of most of it either being destroyed or picked up, armed and thrown in the battle. Also, it doesn't work too well against superhuman sectopods - until a heavy plasma is located.

 

You'll probably notice I didn't include a psi-amp in any of the setups. Don't worry, I didn't miss it. It was intentional.

 

There you go. Two examples of what I may use.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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You'll probably notice I didn't include a psi-amp in any of the setups. Don't worry, I didn't miss it. It was intentional.

 

NKF

 

Really kills the fun doesn't it? I completed Enemy unknown with such a hatred of MC I never even tried training anyone....TFTD I gave it a try....it made a reallly tough game wayyyyy too easy.

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I equip soldiers based on how I've trained them. The run down goes something like this:

 

In a 14 person Skyranger:

 

6 Privates

2 Heavy Weaps

2 Medics

2 Psis

2 Snipers

 

In a 26 Person Avenger

 

12 Privates

2 Heavy Weaps

4 Psis

4 Snipers

2 Medics

2 Godly, Cross-bred, any-situation officers.

 

In a 4 Person lightning (Yes, 4. And I've taken over Etheral bases with only them)

4 Godly, Cross-bred, any-situation officers.

 

On a private I put:

1 Heavy Plasma

1 Clip

1 Alien Nade

Power suit

 

Privates are trained for firing accuracy more than anything else, and my requirements aren't all that high...

 

One a heavy weap I put:

1 Blaster launcher

6 Bombs

Regular armor

 

I use these guys for artilery purposes mostly, so they don't really need anything besides psi str and strenght to carry all the bombs. They stay in the back usually

 

On psis I put:

1 psi amp

1 mind probe

Regular armor

 

They're psis. I breed them for psi str, psi skill, and time units. Kind of obvious.

 

On a sniper I put:

1 Laser Rifle

1 Alien Nade

Flying armor

 

I use these guys to land on rooftops and reaction-fire anything they see. I breed them for firing accuracy and reactions.

 

On Medics I put:

1 Medi-kit

1 Laser Pistol

2 Alien Nades

Flying armor

 

Medics are mostly rookies. They just run around and patch up the wounded, and maybe throw a grenade here and there...

 

On the godly officers I put:

1 Heavy Plasma

1 Clip

1 Alien nade

1 Psi Amp

1 Medi-kit

1 Stun Rod

Flying Armor

 

The cream of the crop. These soldiers have most of their stuff maxed. They're as fast or faster than tanks, as accurate as blaster bombs, and as mentally powerful as a etheral commander.

 

 

 

So...that's about it. Note that this is after I've researched all technologys and captured my commander (Thus the lack of small launchers. The stun rods are there just so I have something to H2H with, or if I feel like capturing more medics/navigators/engineers)

Edited by Dover
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I usually have several thousand E-115 by August so I have everyone on all of my basses (10 standing on every base with 50-100 on my Assault base) equiped as follows

 

 

 

Laser rifle-Heavy laser

 

1 med kit per 4 (14 per skyranger 26 per Avenger)

 

Flying armour

 

5+ Alien Grenades

 

14 psiamps for the skyrangers 26 for the Avengers

 

All my strike teams have the best stats.

 

Standard guy looks something like this....

 

 

Name: 90/160/150/100/160

 

TU's 90

Health 110

Energy 140

Streangth 70-100

morale 100

accuracy 160

reactions 150

Psi skill 100

Psi streangth 160

 

 

Playing UFO2000 was a really rude awakening.... the guys you play with on that are PATHETIC!!! LOL

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All my strike teams have the best stats.

 

Standard guy looks something like this....

 

 

Name:  90/160/150/100/160

 

TU's  90

Health  110

Energy 140

Streangth 70-100

morale 100

accuracy  160

reactions  150

Psi skill  100

Psi streangth  160

 

 

Playing UFO2000 was a really rude awakening.... the guys you play with on that are PATHETIC!!!    LOL

 

Are you sure you have that right? 160 Psi strenght? I was under the inpression that you can't get higher than 100 unless you use an editor, in which case, who cares? All my soldiers can have 255 on all stats.

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I'll quote from the relevent section on the X-Com wiki regarding stat caps:

 

Primary Stat         Min Cap     Max Cap
Psi Skill              100         105+*
Firing Accuracy        120         125
Reactions              100         105
Throwing Accuracy      120         125
Melee Accuracy         120         125

Secondary Stat       Min Cap     Max Cap
Time Units              80          81
Stamina                100         101
Health                  60          61
Strength                70          71

 

The min-cap is the cap when you legally stop earning experience in the game, but if you perform enough primary actions during combat and get a good roll just before hitting the cap when you are at a level 1 point before the cap, you can reach values up to the max cap.

 

Psi strength isn't listed, but that's only because it's fixed. Possible values are between 0 - 100.

 

Melee accuracy is a hidden stat that improves with melee combat, but serves no practical purpose except that it improves your secondary stats just like all the other primaries. Stun rods - yes. They do make you better.

 

Psi skill is the only exception, as you can continue to earn 1-3 points each month from the psi lab after you've hit the cap, but not through combat. Of course, once it hits 255, it'll repeat from 0, so you get to start over again. As you'll already be able to mind control anything you want, increasing skill beyond 100 only helps strengthen your psi defense if your trooper has less than 100 psi strength.

 

If you can reach 255 in all your stats naturally through the game, and they go back to 0, then your version doesn't have the stats capped. Even with the caps, your soldiers end up very lean and mean in the end.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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Main assault team:

 

10 soldiers: 2 teams of 3 men on the ground, flying suits, heavy plasma, 2 alien grenades, medkit, 2 clips each. 2 Psi guys, flying suits, blaster launcher, 4 BBs, 1 alien nade, psy amp (these guys never leave the craft unless the enemy is unarmed. 2 Defenders, flying suits, Heavy plasma, 2 clips, 1 alien nade, mindprobe, motion sensor, medkit (sometimes they take the blaster launchers instead of the psy guys.

 

Psi Team:

8 soldiers: 4 guys, flying suits, heavy plasma, 2 clips, 2 alien nades, psy amps med kits, 4 guys, flying suits, stun launcher, 4 stun bombs, 2 alien nades, psyamps, medkits

 

psi team all have 90+ psi strength and usually about 120 psi skill each, nobody gets into my force without psi strength over 70 at least

 

Edit: foolish mistake

Edited by floater medic
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Either people are bull*****ing to make themselves sound better, they're using an editor, or they can't read.

 

floater medic:

"psi team all have 90+ psi skill and usually about 120 psi strength each, nobody gets into my force without psi skill over 70 at least"

 

What the fork?!?! If I understood guru NKF propery, psi strenght doesn't go over 100.

 

On a note more relative to the topic, I've found a virtue in laser weapons over plasma weapons. I mean, the uber-power heavy plasma is nice and all, but the laser rifle has unlimited ammo, which means more $$$ and less items in the 80 item cap.

 

Plus, I can blast apart barns with impunity.

 

That said, the laser rifle is my new standard issue weapon, with the heavy plasma or heavy laser for the snipers.

Edited by Dover
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  • 4 weeks later...
For the majority of the game, I put my normal "soldiers" with Plasma rifles, and my "Marksmen/Snipers" with Heavy Lasers, a few (2) scouts with laser pistols, stun rods, high explosives, and motion trackers, a medic or two with a stun launcher, 1-2 guys with blaster launchers, and maybe 1 guy with a AC firing HE rounds.. Then I split them up into teams as they exit the craft, so both teams have about the same number of each type of soldier. Armor depends on what's available to me at that time in the game. Obviously, most soldiers get grenades of some sort.
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2 Medics

3 Snipers

3 Frontline heavies(usually my best men)

6 Normal Men

 

Everyone gets a heavy plasma,2 extra clips and a grenade

Snipers get a laser rifle due to its accuracy and auto fire

The frontline troops get power armour and are out if force non stop(they are good at thier job and they love it)One also gets a blaster launcher occosanly(youll think im crazy saying that but i like normal firefights)

Everyone has personal armour as a minimum

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I go mostly standard with 1-3 heavy troopers until I get Psionics and no more than ten agents until I have a dedicated 4 man psi team that sits in the back.

 

-> ='s upgraded to when available

 

Standard gun: Rifle -> Laser Rifle -> Heavy Plasma

 

I don't play with X-Com Util so there is no real advantage to the HL over the HP aside from the ammo concern and that's really not a big one as long as you keep busy in the early game.

 

My heavy guys carry rocket launchers with 4 large rockets apiece until Alien Grenades become available at which point they become standard guys. When Blaster Launchers are researched I usually let some Rookie use that.

 

Everybody gets standard -> alien grenades, smoke grenades, and proximity grenades. Before alien grenades become available, I give out 5 Heavy explosives to stronger troops.

 

Everybody with 30+ STR gets a Stun Rod with Minilaunchers only getting used for special capture missions. Minis become totally redundant once I get Psi troopers strong enough to MC what I want.

 

When available, half get medkits and half get motion scanners. I usually don't bother with medkits until I have armor. If I get a ton of elerium, I'll upgrade everybody to flying armor unless they're just going to sit in the back of the ship.

Edited by Pherdnut
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I have two games I'm working on now. One of them I use an Avenger for transport, and on the other I'm still lugging around a skyranger for lack of need to upgrade.

 

In the skyranger one, I don't screen my troops at all, ending up with me working with what I'm given. That gives me two rookies to operate the Blaster Launchers (Only used to blow holes in the roofs of UFOs, which is why they stay rookies), 1 psi, 1 hoverplasma tank, 1 psi/sniper hybrid, and 6 frontline soldiers (/w HPs)

 

In my Avenger game, things are much more organized:

-The first ten men out the skyranger are riflemen with laser rifles and alien nades.

-The next two are stuners, with stun rods and small launchers (5 shots each)(If availible), and alien nades.

-The next two are medics, with laser pistols, medi-kits, and THREE alien nades.

-The next two are my badasses, with Heavy Plasmas (+ reload)(Laser rifles if not availible), Laser pistol, medi-kit, stun rod, psi amp, and alien nade.

-The next four are my snipers, with Heavy Plasmas (+ reload)(Heavy Laser, if not availible) and alien nades.

-The next two are my heavy-weaps, with a Blaster Launcher (6 shots)(Rocket Launcher, if not availible), laser pistol, and alien nade.

- The last four are my psi squad. All they get is a psi amp. Sadly, since they're the last four and alien bases only have 22 human spawn zones, these guys get alien spawn zones randomly throughout the map, with no guns...(PsiOps are extra riflemen before I get psi)

Edited by Dover
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Ok, this is the tried and tested dipstick methodology. I rarely post in this type of thing, but I will let you all into the secrets of my 'success'.

 

My entire plan hinges on one thing: Simplicity (read laziness ;) )

 

I do not use any kind of specialised squad, nor do I screen anyone, nor do I even look at people's stats before assigning weapons.

 

I generally start a game by throwing all normal pistols and rifles into the melting pot, and assign heavy/auto cannons to the people left. I also use the rocket launcher. When I bring in reinforcements to fill up the skyranger, I use autocannons and rockets to arm them. (in my early days, I used HWPs, but they tend to die easily)

 

Then I equip everyone with laser pistols once they get researched (usually too late for the first couple missions), then rifles. Next I might consider giving them HPs, if I have the research time. I will definitely assign them basic armour though.

 

Grenade wise, I will give everyone a couple standard grenades, I never use high explosives, and rarely use smoke grenades, though I am beginning to experiment with them now. I will upgrade standard grenades to alien grenades when researched, but my memory is a little hazy, as I have not played a game that far for a while now.

 

My only 'specialisation' comes when I assign a couple people small launchers, but my preferred mid game team consists of half stun launchers, half laser pistol/rifles. That makes a lovely combination for just about anything :D I have also used stunners/HP teams.

 

As for 'end game' - I have never reached that stage, but my furthest along teams would consist primarily of HPs, couple blasters, alien grenades all round, maybe a stun launcher, and probably ion armour all round.

 

I admit, I have never finished the game with that strategy, nor even used flying armour, as I have usually got more important things to research/produce, but I have had fun with it :naughty:

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It's been a while since I played the game to be honest, but around halfway through the first year Im pretty much set up and the average squad would look something like this....

 

(btw. I tend to always take a blaster tank as opposed to one carried by a soldier unless Im taking 4 Blaster launchers for a colony attack/ cydonia)

 

1 Blaster tank

1 Plasma tank

4 flying suits with heavy plasma and 2 clips for best accuracy soldiers

2 flying suits with plasma rifle and 1 clip, 2 grenades for next best soldiers

1 guy with 6 alien grenades, 1 stun prod, 2 explosive packs and medi kits with power armour

1 guy with 6 electro flares and 2 alien grenades with medi kit and power armour (for night missions only)

 

This setup varies in terror missions as everyone has flying suits and plasma rifles, no tanks, so I can get everyone to level 4 height and spread them around. The rifles give more shots per turn and I can try to win before the aliens take a single civilian.

 

I never use mind control in EU myself.

 

In xcom apocalypse my strategies are immense, especially for recovering ufo's. On the larger ships, as soon as I land I run all my men save 2 (and I take a LOT of men on these missions) straight to the main entrance of the ship and line them up in the trench about 15-20 squares opposite of the door. They are in 3 layers, 6 on each and directly above each other. If ANYthing opens the door, it dies as 20 plasma shots rain in on the 2 square area. Sometimes the aliens throw a hopping proximity grenade out but I just pause the action and move everyone upwards and outwards in an explosion sort of motion and they go unharmed, returning again when the grenade goes off.

I have great strats for raids as well, usually with just 2 operatives and some serious stat building :)

 

once you have the gear xcom 3 is too easy to master and if you do things right nothing will suprise you, except maybe a base attack (but they will NEVER make it that far :yarr: )

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I must point out that the plasma rifle is no faster than the heavy plasma. For all plasma weapons, snap shots always cost 30% and aimed shots cost 60% (of your max TUs). This is true for all three plasma weapons and the plasma tank turret.

 

Actually, the heavy plasma is faster than the plasma rifle. The heavy plasma's auto shot costs 35% while the plasma rifle is 36%. I know, I know. But one percent is one percent. ;)

 

Nothing wrong with using the plasma rifles though. The rifle's sweet snapshot accuracy is identical to a heavy plasma's snap + kneeling bonus.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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I forget which thread its in, but I'll repost my typical loadouts for assaults & what I use for training.

 

Assault Lineup (usually w/Avenger)

 

3 Plasma HWPs (or sometimes two of these w/1 Laser HWP)

 

1 Artillery Man - Blaster Launcher w/5 bombs (keep a free hip slot open for a laser pistol backup)

1 Primary Stun Man - Small Launcher + 5 bombs (1 loaded, ammo in the leg/shoulder slots - laser pistol backup in hip slot)

4 Heavy/Snipe Men - 2 Heavy Lasers & 2 Heavy Plasmas

6 Riflemen - Usually armed with a mixture of Laser Rilfes or Plasma Rifles (4 LR to 2 PR normally)

2 Primary Medics - 1 Laser Pistol each

 

Grenades/Other Weapons:

 

1-2 Stunrods (these go to two different men than the Primary Stunman)

1-2 Smokes

14 Proximity Grenades (1 for each soldier)

14 Alien Grenades (1 for each soldier)

2 High Explosives

 

Equipment

 

8-10 Psi Amp (if I intend to use it a lot. Sometimes they all get the amp, in which case I scale back on the grenades)

6 Medkits (2 each go to the primary medics w/last 2 spread to whoever seems lighter equipped)

4 Flares (night missions only, if not, substituted in 2 Plasma Pistols + 2 clips)

 

My 6 Riflemen usually wind up with surplus gear i.e. if one is a Laser Rifleman, he might get a suplimentary plasma weapon like the pistol.

 

Training Linup:

 

I scale back on grenades and Plasma weapons in order to make room for 4-6 Laser Pistoleers & the 4-6 Standard (alien) Rifleers. I've found it easier to train four at a time and monitor them as opposed to 6.

Edited by Snakeman
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  • 2 weeks later...
1 proxie and 1 grenade each. 3 High Explosives, 1 auto-cannon/heavy cannon with 2-3 AP and 1-2 HE clips, 1 rocket launcher with 2 - 3 spare large rockets, majority with rifles with spare clip, and a sidearm laser pistol for all those who can carry it. I refuse to bring anything above the research of laser pistol. Superhuman mode calls for this team. :yarr:
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Well, I setup my squad so that they keep each other alive. Of the first 2 men exiting the aircraft, 1 has a heavy plasma and the other has a blaster launcher to take care of any nasty landing surprises. The rest of the field troopers carry either laser rifles or plasma rifles for accuracy and fire supremacy. Each field trooper carries an alien grenade, proxy, and medpack. When equipment limit becomes a problem, I may sometime equip every other field trooper with medpacks rather than each or drop the proxies.

 

Proximity grenades are used to cover blind spots or pathways that aliens can flank from. Alien grenades are used to clear out high density tree areas that may contain multiple enemies, take down walls, or clear a path. 2-4 soldiers carry blaster launchers to provide pinpoint accuracy artillery support fire. I split my men up according to how the map is, and leave artillery units at the ship. Each group will have a scout and the rest are fire support or reserve.

 

I exit the aircraft with 4 soldiers at first, so that they don't get mass slaughtered by a nade or blaster bomb. Then those spread out and the next group exits. If I secure an area i'm comfortable with, then i'll unload everyone at once.

 

When the scout spots an enemy, the firesupport, who is out of the view of the alien, will try to shoot the enemy if possible or throw a nade. If the firesupport doesn't down the target, firesupport from other squads nearby will attempt to. If the bastard is still standing, then the group's reserve will take a crack at it. If all fails or it isn't safe to try to take the enemy down, artillery support is called in.

 

For raiding large socut and larger size ships, I'll use the blaster launcher to open up a pathway in the side hull, then secure that entrance with troopers. For small scouts, if I want to salvage the elerium, I have to risk walking through the front door. However, I'll have 4-8 men stationed in sniping positions to cover the 1 that goes through. There's a chance the scout will die, but many times he doesn't; it depends on the reactions of the enemy and their facing. Sometimes I'll enter a ship and 4 aliens will be facng the opposite direction and only 1 is facing the scout. The scout steps in to open the door. Then the men outside will begin to take aimed shots at aliens within. With my meticulously picked soldiers, the aimed shots will, 90% of the time, slide by the scout's head or hug pass the body. With an aimed shot at such short range, the projectile will most likely hit. Plasma rifles will 1 shot most aliens. If I face touger aliens, I may just forget about the preserving the elerium.

 

I then carry skirmish squads, men and women that I use to handle excess missions and are used less cautiously. The soldiers will be equipped with plasma rifles, or laser rifles to reduce equipment carried, with 1 blaster launcher. They don't use proxies and have 1 medpack for every 2 soldiers. Alien grenades are carried at a minimum of 2 each. Scouts will spear head the mission, with firesupport nading walls and areas that may contain aliens. These men do not hesitate to throw alien grenades, even at mosquitoes. They're lazy and would rather bore through a buildng than find its door. They are fearless soldiers, not afraid to wade into battle and equally as well prepared. While they may be more expendable and not as skilled as the specialists, they are a powerful force.

 

I used to use containment squads which can do either skirmish battles or special operations. They carry laser rifles, 1 or 2 alien nades and 2 smoke nades each, and one medpack for every 2 soldiers. Smoke grenades are employed for round 1. The following 2 rounds, men will pour out of the craft, spread, then form groups. Using smoke grenades to cover their path, the groups progress across the map and shoot down hostiles. Since they're covered by the smoke, the scouts spot the aliens before they are spotted and the firesupports take them out. This is especially useful in open fields or city streets, when taking into account how much further the aliens can see, especially sectoids. You turn the table, spotting them before they spot you. Containment squads also tend to bring home more undamaged goods than other squads. Members of these squads do not use armor and cost considerably less to stock and replenish than the other squads. Their finesse more than makes up for the lack of firepower and armor. They come unseen and leave unseen, unlike skirmishers, who just come and leave behind craters.

 

Abduction squad - 2 men will carry laser rifles and mind probes. Half will have plasma rifles, and the other half uses heavy plasma. The catch is that every single soldier, other than the 2 mind probe people, carry small launchers with a single stun bomb loaded. Sometimes, the 2 mind probers have no weapons at all. I might give everyone an additional stun bomb, but between that, grenades, and medpacks, I might not be able to. The purpose of the abduction squad is self explanatory, especially when taking a look at their equipment. The soldiers carry no spare clips for their guns. This squad formation is normally used only when I need to capture an alien leader or commander.

 

I stopped using containment squads, because in larger battles, after enough smoke has been spread, the game will simply stop generating smoke. I would throw a smoke grenade, and there would be a pop sound and nothing. The smoke grenades are turned into little firecrackers.

 

High morale is a strict prequisite for being considered for hire. It has to be 50 at minimum, rarely I will hire someone with 40 morale if he hast incredible stats. Being so, I have had very few missions where men will panic. Once, I had 8 of 12 men killed within 3 rounds and still no one panicked. Accuracy is also a high requirement, but those without operative accuracy are most often placed in the skirmish squads. Even without "operative" accuracy, it is between 50-60 for each skirmish squad member. Health can be overlooked, but is a welcome bonus. Reaction time is monitored, but not a requirement; I rather kill the alien and bomb suspected areas than wait for them to come at me. I prefer high strength men, but those with too low are a liability, as their ability to throw grenades and carry equipment is questionable. I went through a great many recruits to form my forces. 3 in 4 recruits will not meet the prerequisites and get fired. A professional force is not cheap to assemble.

 

At the end of their names will be some letters to represent their stats, Str/Acc/Health. D is beneath requirements and is only accepted if i'm short handed, C is passing, B is moderate (but is actually high for the average hired soldier. I end up keeping 1 of every 4 soldiers.), A is high, x is very high, X is unnaturally high. For accuracy; D = 49 or lower, C = 48-53, B = 54-58, A = 59-63, x = 64-68, X = 69 and higher. I don't remember the scale for strength or health. I still have wet dreams about my few XXX soldiers. Anyone with a D for accuracy is fired right away.

 

I also like to delete last names and add my rankings on. Ranking is determined mostly by health and accuracy. Every month or so, I go through and change my roster rankings as their stats tend to change due to missions. Sniper for high to very high acc with low health, Stalker for unnaturally high acc and low health. Trainee for low to medium health and low accuracy. Soldier for low to medium health and medium accuracy. Grunt for high to very high health and medium accuracy. Spartan for very high health and medium accuracy. Hunter for medium to high health and high accuracy. Operative for high to very high health and very high accuracy. Agent for unnaturally high health and accuracy.

 

In early game, I equip everyone with rifles and grenades. Then I get either laser rifles or plasma rifles. After that, I get personal armor then begin using medpacks and alien grenades.

Edited by espritcrafter
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  • 2 months later...

For me it really depends on what point I'm at in the game.

 

Standard Setup:

Heavy plasmas for all but scouts and blaster bomb users(no extra clips)

2 blaster bomb launchers - 6 reloads each (2 guns + 14 bombs)

- So basically my people are holding bombs in their belts, as many in their backpacks as possible(3) and one in their off-hand(since it doesn't effect the accuracy of blaster bombs)

2 Laser pistols for the scouts(usually the first people off the ship)

1 alien grenade for all

1 HE pack for all

Med-kits....I normally have about 1:1 with these, but lately I've dropped back to a 1:2 ratio of med-kits/people

A stunning item of some sort, whether it be a stun rod or the stun bomb launcher.(if launcher, then 3-4 units of ammo)

 

That's pretty much the setup once I get all that stuff researched, most of my people end up being good at everything by the time I end, so I generally don't make too many different classes. Normally I have:

 

Scouts - obvious.. high reaction + decently high TU's are required. Basic equipment, pistols, grenades, personal armor, stun rods and motion sensors(if I'm actually using them...very rare)

 

Infantry - started off with lower stats then other people, the basic grunt of the group, does the majority of the fighting. Normal equipment, rifles(of whatever type I have the most of), grenades, medkits, stunning weapons, Power Armor, and etc equipment I feel like carrying.

 

Special Forces - pretty obvious too I think, they started off with the best overall stats, normally 55+ reaction, 60+ accuracy, 60+ throwing, 40+ morale, and a minimum of 30-35 strength(as my current sitatuion dictates). These guys do all the the entering of UFO's and buildings, they also act as snipers that stay in the rear and shoot at targets infantry or scouts see and can't kill. Best equipment, plasmas or whatever is best available, Flying Armor, and all heavy weapons.

 

 

 

I don't tend to use any flares, even on night missions. I find that tank scouts (and rookie scouts) easily fill that job without taking up item space. I also tend not to use any proxy grenades. I really don't have a good reason why, I just never really used them ever and that hasn't changed. I also have not found smoke grenades to be useful, maybe I just never threw them corrrectly, but I always found that they seemed to just get my people killed by aliens they couldn't see. Though as I said, that could very well just be a problem in the positioning of my throws.

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Depends on what point I am in the game but you can always put them is basic groups.

 

I got scouts who I equip with a laser pistol, these guys have such low stats this is the only use I have them for. They are front line guys, short life spans :P

 

Then I got my basic trooper who is just average all around. I normaly just equip them with the best rifles I have left for them after the next group. They are middle line troops, always operate in small squads. Mainly used to backup snipers and clean out buildings. If they use weapons with limited ammunition I will stick a laser pistol on their belts.

 

The next group are the snipers, normaly anyone who starts with a accuracy over 60, although I raise this standard latter when I can afford to. They get the obsolute best rifles I can provide and the best armor. They stick to the back but sometimes will be used as troopers if I really need to. Like the troopers they will often get a laser pistol on their belts.

 

Then there are HW experts, they normaly get a rocket launcher, AutoCannon or Blaster Launcher. (depending how advanced I am) they get deployed pretty much anywhere that needs them. Often times I will give them a laser rifle incase they run out of ammunition.

 

Last group are Psi ops, they just got psi amps and stick to the back of the transport. Longest livespan of all my soilders.

 

I will also normaly supply all but the scouts with the various gernades when availible, although I dont use em to often

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  • 4 weeks later...

I always fly skyranger up until cydonia, so it's

 

13 heavy plasmas w clips

13 medikits

13 alien grenades

13 flares

 

1 blaster launcher

4 blaster bombs

 

Early on it's autocannons and a shocklauncher.

 

+A couple of psi-amps.

 

(and no tanks, i never liked them.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

2 Plasma Hovertanks

 

5 Troops w/

Flying suitm Heavy Plasma (no extra clip), Medikit, 2 Alien Grenades,

1 Proximity Grenade, 1 Flare

 

1 Troop w/

Flying Suit, Blast Launcher, 4 bombs

 

First guy to step off of ship has a smoke grenade

 

All you guys wiht all kinds of variey in your squad; I respect your interest in more tactics and fun through diversity but all you're doing is gimping yourself with laser weapons, etc. That's why eveyrone should check out my thread on improving X-Com. We can make diversity in equipment usefull!

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I'll disagree a little there.

 

The laser weapons are perhaps weaker in power, but that's not why they are used. We are capitalising on their inherent strengths - i.e. their greater firing speeds and their infinite ammunition supply. In comparison, switching to plasma weapons is just gimping yourself on the laser's faster speeds.

 

The heavy plasmas may be able to dole out tons of damage per bullet, the laser weapons can dish out tons of damage through lots of medium-level damage. Look at the laser pistol. You'll find it useless as a precision weapon, but get it up close and start pumping a lot of laser beams into an alien, and it will certainly fall.

 

I use them to keep the item count down, so that I can pack more firepower into the skyranger in the form of high explosives and large rockets/blaster bombs. If I want to cut through any alien ship walls, I pick up a heavy plasma and start cutting. So no tactical advantage is lost by using lasers.

 

Also, if you look at a lot of the starting weapons, there's a number of highly useful weapons that can be used throughout. The rocket launcher is still the cheapest long-range big-bang weapon you can use. The autocannon lasts all the way, even if not in the same sort of combat capacity as it used to. The pistols and rifles become useless in combat, but they make for the ultimate practice weapons. They're actually very good weapons - they just dish out pathetic damage againast all but sectoids, floaters and snakemen.

 

The few weapons that I do feel often get cast aside are the heavy cannon, heavy laser and the tank/cannon.

 

For the heavy cannon, the TFTD's gas cannon equivalent was totally awesome. The cannon still packs a slightly better punch than the autocannon, and is quite accurate, but it seems somewhat lacking in some way.

 

The heavy laser is powerful, particularly against large terror units. However, while I don't mind the slightly lower accuracy than the rifle, the slowness is what I feel ruins it as a weapon.

 

The tank/cannon - this is one weapon that immediately gets outclassed by the laser tank. The laser tank is very powerful, and rightfully so. But it completely replaces the cannon tank in function. Speaking of the laser tank - it doesn't get completely replaced by the plasma hovertank. It is much more 'disposable' due to its cheaper construction cost than the plasma hovertank.

 

All that said, I'm not going to discourage any discussion on rebalancing the weapons. I too have always thought that some weapons, like the heavy plasma, could do with some rebalancing - if only for fun.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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I've already rebalanced all of the weapons in my game to make things more tactically interesting for myself, but here's the loadout I usually go with. Just a few notes on weapons in my game: no pistols have autofire. Heavy Lasers and Heavy Plasma don't have aimed shots, neither does the Autocannon. Laser weapons are more accurate, but less powerful per shot, than plasma weapons, with the exception of the Heavy Plasma, which is significantly lighter than the Heavy Laser. Autofire on all weapons has been toned down pretty significantly, it was just way too accurate before. I can post the full stats for all of my weapons if anybody wants to see them, I've got it all in a text document on my desktop and I'm pretty pleased with the balance job. Maybe I'll start a new thread to share it. :) EDIT: I posted the info in this thread.

 

So, on to the loadout! One tank, either cannon/laser/plasma depending on what I've got. I use it for scouting and drawing fire. Eight infantry, consisting of two point men, four riflemen, and two support men. I split them into two fireteams.

 

The point men are my guys with the highest reactions, used for scouting, clearing rooms on UFOs, and chucking proximity grenades around. I give them laser pistols and grenades, and when they're strong enough they also pack a heavy plasma (lighter weight) or heavy laser (heavier, but more powerful) in their inventory for when you turn a corner and find yourself staring at a Chryssalid or Muton at close range. They also carry my Stun Prods early in the game. They have flying armor, which is weaker in my game. (80 front, 70 sides, 60 rear/under)

 

The riflemen are mostly my defense. They need a combination of reaction speed and accuracy. I use them for reaction fire, and give them laser rifles when facing weaker enemies and plasma rifles against tougher foes like Mutons. They have power armor, which is stronger in my game. (120 front, 100 sides, 80 rear/under)

 

The support men are my primary offense with the highest accuracy, they each carry a heavy laser and a laser pistol. They also carry high explosives for breaching ship hulls (it's powerful enough to clear a 3x3 hole in my game) and wear flying armor.

 

For outside missions and terror sites, I'll split the group down the middle into two fireteams. The support guy is used for killing big terror units while the riflemen do most of my sniping against smaller targets. When assaulting something like a Battleship, after clearing the outside I'll set the four riflemen to camp and shoot anything that comes out of the lift at the bottom. Then I send the four men with flying armor to go in through the roof with high explosives, going after the commanding officer. Heavy lasers are powerful enough to destroy normal UFO internal walls and floor tiles, so I use a lot of vertical movement to clear ships from the top down. Usually by the time I've cleared the top floor, all the aliens on the bottom two floors have already ran outside to be executed by my riflemen firing squad.

Edited by Empyrean
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what i've always believed is the following:

1) Laser weapons should be more accurate, and always more accurate that their equivalent plasma weapons

2) plasma weapons are more powerful, but less accurate due to the unstable nature of plasma

3) The laser weapons should have a slightly higher rate of fire than plasma weapons, simply because plasma of course is more unstable and harder to makes

4) The heavy plasma should have damage brought down to 100, and heavy laser should be at 90

5) Plasma rifle should have damage increased to 70, and the laser rifle should be made slightly more accurate than the plasma rifle (The plasma rifle has the most accurate snap and auto shot in the game)

 

those are basically the general modifications

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I made the same tradeoff between damage and accuracy for laser and plasma weapons. However, I changed the Heavy Laser and the Heavy Plasma into more of a squad support role, so they do good damage but have poor accuracy. They can't even attempt aimed shots. I would have made the Heavy Laser weaker and more accurate than the Heavy Plasma, but because so many aliens carry the Heavy Plasma it needs to be somewhat more general purpose to avoid really weird firefights late in the game. I kept the firing rates about the same between lasers and plasma, but tweaked the TU values of each so that different types of weapons (pistols vs rifles vs support) would tend to perform better in different roles. For example, a pistol can make aimed shots fairly quickly, and a snapshot with a support weapon takes as much time as a burst. Because of this, pistols and rifles are good for reaction fire but a support weapon isn't, and because pistols lack a burst mode you wouldn't want to use them for close quarters fighting against powerful enemies. Rifles have autofire but it's very inaccurate, so you would only want to use it at quite close range or against large targets.

 

I usually try to bring the most accurate weapon that can reliably kill the target in one or two shots. Against Sectoids a Laser Pistol is excellent but a Heavy Laser is overkill, so I use laser pistols and laser rifles. I don't take plasma because I don't need the damage, I just want accuracy. Against Snakemen, I bring laser rifles to take them down more quickly, but bring plasma rifles for the extra firepower against Chryssalids, who are hard to hit with a Heavy weapon but still take a fair amount of punishment. Against Mutons, it's plasma rifles and heavy lasers to deal with their massive armor and hit points.

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Usually out of a team of 12 most of the guys have laser rifles, a few will have plasma rifles instead. I'll have two men with heavier weapons (heavy laser, rocket launcher, heavy plasma etc). The only people with 'sidearms' are the heavy weapons dudes.

 

Everybody has one or two standard/alien grenades, the faster/important guys will have a smoke bomb and proximity grenade.

 

Two guys have medipacks and kind of stay back from the fighting when possible but within one turn movement of any fighters.

 

Two of the better troops will have a radar thing, they are the 'leaders' because I always split my team into two largish groups and advance in two different directions.

 

One random guy might have a stun rod/launcher if I think there'll be an alien worth capturing (big ships).

 

Etc.

 

Basically troops are equipped pretty similar with the 'special' items evenly distributed through about half the team.

 

Philosophy:

 

A/ don't put too many eggs in one basket

B/ travel light - squad mobility is more important than awesomeness of any individual

 

And if somebody dies it's no big deal (unless it's the MC specialist). Another trooper nearby will pick up the stuff.

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Well I usually take a head count of who is on the Skyranger.

 

-HWPs are great but you don't really need them unless you want to cover ground quickly. Of course they also have great firepower, so once you upgrade from the Skyranger, then a HWP is permeantly assigned to the craft. I might take them on Terror Missions or some select UFo Missions. But primarily they are used for base defense.

 

So 14 soldiers on the Skyranger.

 

3 Soldiers Equipped with a Pistol (upgraded to Laser and Plasma of course) and a Pistol Clip. Also Carries a Stun Rod in backpack for those rare occasions when capture of an Alien becomes possible. Also equipped with a Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Medkit (when they become available) and an ElectroFlare on night missions.

 

8 Soldiers Equipped with Rifle, Rifle Clip, Grenade, Medkit. Electroflares for night Missions. Rifles are of course upgraded when Laser and PLasma become available.

 

2 Heavy Cannon Soldiers. One Regular, one explosive. (Except the game auto refills the Cannons with regular ammo, so That can kinda suck.) One Ammo Clip.

 

1 Auto Cannon Soldier. Same setup as Heavy Cannon. They don't carry alot because these weapons are pretty heavy so it helps with the TUs.

 

1 Soldier with Rocket Launcher. 3 Rockets in backpack. PLenty if you need something dead fast. Course this is replaced by other explosive Weaponry later on.

 

Higher Ranked officials get better armor. But each soldier is equipped with the best gear when it becomes financially able.

 

Some Extras include more Stun Rods, Psi-Amps, Motion Scanners etc.

 

There you are.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, when switching to Plasma though, a good thing is to maybe equip some Laser Pistols. Lasers don't run out of ammo, which is potentially beneficial. Although missions are usually short enough that you don't need extra ammo, but you never know.

Edited by OmniXX
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  • 2 weeks later...
Basic loadout- All 8 squad members get a heavy plasma, and a clip. And a medkit. In reality, that's about it. I don't use grenades (Too slow) and I don't specialize. I'll carry 2 electroflares for night missions. (Keep in mind before you ask how I'm surviving, I play on easier difficulties.)
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lets see, what do i bring along

 

Skyranger:

1 HWP.... laser or plasma

10 soldiers

4 laser rifles, 2-4 heavy plasmas, 2 plasma rifles, 2 heavy lasers, 5 medikits, stun launcher+ 4 or 5 bombs, rocket launcher or BB with 4-8 rounds

and a lot of grenades

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  • 2 weeks later...

1 - Tank (Laser or Rocket)

6 - Riflemen

1 - Grenadier

3 - Specialists

 

Rifleman - Equiped with either a laser rifle or heavy plasma. Has an assortment of grenades and other equipment.

 

Grenadier - Carries a laser pistol and lots of grenades. Has a medikit or stun rod if he has the strength to carry it.

 

Specialist - Uses one of the assorted weapons I tend to leave on the floor as a spare (heavy laser, blaster, plasma rifle, etc). Usually two autocannons and a rocket launcher by default with laser pistol side arms.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My first post,

 

Strange all the different setups... alot of preference to laser wpns... I'll have to look into why.

 

 

My teams I try to keep small, dont like too many people to move around.

 

Usually this is my setup :

 

 

1 or 2 Hvy Wpn soldiers using Blaster Launcher

 

4 Riflemen using Plasma Rifles (1-2 may have heavy plasma)

 

1 or 2 Stunners with Stun bomb launchers

 

1 or 2 Plasma Tanks

 

1-3 PSI guards who do not deploy.

 

The riflemen also carry 2 alien grenades each.

 

Everyone wears flying suit. No med kits or flares. I keep it simple.

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Welcome to the forums, Diemex! I must say that equipment varies a ton throughout the game. Many people have already discussed endgame setups, so I'll share my early game setup.

 

First, I start with 2 smoke grenades in the front. One on ground floor, another in the heart of the Skyranger. This does wonders at keeping MC attacks down, and allows your guys a hiding space in the most vulnerable parts of the mission. You can easily avoid return fire using a spotter at the edge of the smoke, while attacking with guys deep in the smoke. The spotter can then walk back into the fog to protect himself as well.

 

Second, are explosives. Explosives are awesome because you don't need super soldiers to use them, they remove cover, and they always do the listed damage. (Direct fire weapons deal anywhere from 1-double damage, IIRC.) A heavy cannon with high explosives can kill sectoids in a single strike, and a near miss will still wreak heavy damage. Rocket launchers with hi-ex are godlike. ^_^ They're a guaranteed kill on just about everything early in the game, and will kill nearby threats as well. Aim downhill or at a wall for the best results.

 

Explosives are excellent for exploding around corners, or for downing multiple threats at once. In addition, they're vital firepower for terror missions. Later in the game, armor makes your agents nigh invincible against hi-ex rockets, or at least they'll never die from a single hit. Rocket tanks are similarly powerful, and being immune to mind control makes them excellent support. It's been my experience that equipment is invincible until the target is dead, so don't worry about applying a "1 rocket per sectoid" policy. :D At least half of my squad has some explosive weapon at the ready in the early game, and the craters spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s. =b

 

Thirdly is lighting. I keep an autocannon with incendiary explosives on hand just for night missions. A rookie with this weapon can light up a field with his frantic wildfire, so no one ventures blind. Sometimes the game can't spawn any more fire though, so I keep flares on hand too.

 

Last, and least, are the direct fire weapons. I dislike rifles, and I hate normal pistols. You'll find that these agents die often to return fire and failed kills. Sometimes even 3 agents firing at an alien won't do him in. Explosives are FAR more reliable than the starting weapons. Besides, there is no consequence to dealing heavy property damage. As such, direct fire weapons should ONLY be used if your agents are in range of explosives (you could just aim the rocket to the side...), or if you will destroy valuable alien equipment, which isn't a common concern. Beware though, as elerium sits underneath a power source, and it will be destroyed by explosives.

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