Having Shield Problems....

[Tkwiget]

Ok, so I've researched shields and everything and can make and use them. THe problem I'm having is keeping them alive. I started out with like 14 of them and now I only have one. This is annoying. How do I minimize how fast they die?

[[NKF]]

Well, there are a couple of good methods of keeping them alive:

 

1. Don't get hurt.

 

I know, that's so much easier to say than it is to actually do. So rely on the next method:

 

2. Take it easy and let your shields recharge. Often.

 

After every little mini skirmish, stop, move your weak shields behind the front lines and wait until they're filled. If you cannot wait, buy an android and make it an ammo mule that carries two shields in its hands and maybe even in its pack. Load it up with other munitions as you go along. After each small fight, swap shields with the mule. This way, while your main squad goes ahead and has lots of fun, the mule can wait behind the front line and charge up the shields for you.

 

3. Swap fresh shields off dead aliens as often as necessary.

 

Same as the above. But you'll just be picking shields up off the ground. Note that the aliens are hard coded to automatically grab any shield on the ground, so make it a point to pick up as many shields as you can. Hold a third shield in your cloaking device/secondary devestator hand if necessary.

 

4. Gather more shields than what you're losing.

 

You'll always be losing shields, the real trick is to harvest and produce them a lot fasther than what you're losing. It's hard at first, but as you progress through the game it eases off a little. Just stick to the stun gas, mind bender and mainly the toxigun.

 

If you want to harvest them easily later on, wait till your overall score gets high enough to unlock the shields for human organisations. A few powerful hybrids with high base stats can be trained up to use the mind bender to convince the guards to surrender their shields to you. Stun raids are so much easier, of course, but you can capture the shields through the normal ways by attacking any of your enemies. (Note, you do lose the toxigun advantage, so stick to MC or stun gas)

 

Just keep at it.

 

- NKF

Edited December 2, 2006 by NKF

[Robo Dojo 58]

X-Com disruptor armor is very, very effective at stopping damage. If you have any troopers with disruptor armor, you can drop their shields. They'll be safe against all but the most hard hitting explosives and entropy missiles.

 

Toxiguns are the #1 method of picking up shields. They go straight through shields without damaging them, leaving all the goods intact.

 

Mind control is another method of getting shields. Just control an alien and have them toss their shield your way. Then break the link.