How to fight ghosts

[hairybert]

It's my first XCom Files run. As I soon learned and as discussed elsewhere, it's very painful to play XCF as a newbie without being spoiled, so I've read a lot in the wiki.

I'm on Commendation II, my standard weapons are BlackOps Sniper rifle, BlackOps Shotgun mostly (started a bit experimenting with Light Cannon and Thrasher Heavy Shotgun lately). Now I got a "Ghosts! in the Asylum!" mission, which took me by surprise.

From looking at
https://xcf.trigramreactor.net/master/article/STR_BUG_EYE_GHOST
standard guns with kinetic damage don't make sense (which I also learned the hard way). Apparently, Psi weapons would be by far the best choice (which I don't have). So what are good weapons for fighting those ghosts (are there any)? Maybe Tasers for dealing electric damage (but with the disadvantage of their very small clip)? Also, what is the "DAMAGE" damage type? (This one is listed with 100% in the wiki.)

[Amoebka]

Tasers, electric clubs, flame gloves, lasers and sonics if you have any.

Anti-ghost PSI weapons will start appearing after you resolve the initial few ghost missions.

[Juku121]

Also, what is the "DAMAGE" damage type?

It's the 'special' damage type, used by a few specific weapons like sanity damage during certain missions, dog barks, Avatar 'tentacles', and a couple of others.

[hairybert]

thanks for your answers. Indeed the mission appears to be doable by equipping everyone with a taser pistol + a few extra clips, since the ghosts are not very dangerous, apparently. Also have a single flame glove which I gave to my best psi person (psi strength 94). The mission feels completely different from everything before. (Variety is always good!)

btw psiclones don't work well for me. electric clubs are much better.

[psavola]

FWIW, the asylum mission is one of the best opportunities to train your agents on the side, because the ghosts in there won't hurt you. The most important thing is to keep track of all the bug-eyes so they don't wake up and start wandering around. I usually pile them up in a couple of places or blast the remains with a grenade.

Melee them with stun sticks (training melee is the most crucial thing to make most agents ready for martial arts training), use pepper spray on the bug eyes to get bravery (if you have unlocked pepper spray), etc. You can also ineffectively shoot a couple of them if you need firing practise. You can also preprime a couple of grenades at mission briefing and throw them at the big ghosts at turn 1 (so not to mess you up if someone panics or gets stunned).

[Rag]

The first ghost mission is fun but I had a lot of difficulty in the next mission types

Spoiler:

How are you meant to deal with the Poltergeists? Using dogs and scouting drones didn't help as they had to be within range of their attacks to see them. In the end I had to wait until I got Laser Tanks before doing these missions to tank the hits as they searched for them

[Amoebka]

Their telekinetic stone throws or whatever it is deals kinetic damage, and not that much of it. Just wear liquidator armor or better and deduce their location by looking at where the shots come from. Klein bottle grenades have a very generous blast radius, and getting caught even on the very edge is deadly to ghosts because of their psi-damage vulnerability.

AI units are the best way, but you don't really need a laser tank. An outrunner or a large flying drone will suffice. They are not immune to throws, but they can survive them for a while.

[Rag]

Their telekinetic stone throws or whatever it is deals kinetic damage, and not that much of it. Just wear liquidator armor or better and deduce their location by looking at where the shots come from. Klein bottle grenades have a very generous blast radius, and getting caught even on the very edge is deadly to ghosts because of their psi-damage vulnerability.

AI units are the best way, but you don't really need a laser tank. An outrunner or a large flying drone will suffice. They are not immune to throws, but they can survive them for a while.

I never did make an Outrunner, it does look good but I was worried it couldn't survive being shot at a lot like tanks but if their armour is good enough for such attacks I should try them out next time I do a new game. It would definitely help to have something to soak up hits earlier on, thanks.

[hairybert]

Good idea to use that mission for training.
I didn't see this possibility as the ghosts made one of my soldiers run amok in their first turn. So I tried to get the mission done fast and efficiently.

A side note on training from the bugs thread
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=5047.msg166123#msg166123
Using a psi attack when the psi skill of the agent is still not unlocked does not contribute to training (neither first nor secondary stats)!

[Empiro]

The first Ghost mission is basically training. Deploy a full squad though. Take plenty of Tasers and you'll be fine. If you're patient, it's even a good melee training mission with stun batons.

Later missions require more planning. It's a good time to break out any laser weapons you might have collected. There's no better time to use them.

The Laser Tank makes these missions a cakewalk, but the Rocket Tank is good enough too, because nothing can hurt it.

[Solarius Scorch]

Got my first haunted house. After 2 attempts, I decided it's not worth it; it's doable with 16 people, but the losses would be too great. I can take the 50 points penalty.

Maybe I'll try in a year or so.

[psavola]

Unless you have lasers and preferably armors that can keep off those poltergeist flings (or a tank that can shrug off anything), I often want to get started with haunted farms. Far fewer enemies. And definitely keep off many of those investigation missions until you have such gear.

[sedygrizly]

I've decided to revive this because there is essential tip how to fight ghost in asylum:

MUSIC ON 

No idea about further missions, haven't got there yet. I did it with 15 guys and it was super easy with tasers only... but I am noob playing Experienced difficulty. Forum is full Superhuman Ironman (noone even bothers to mention difficulty, this is standard one ), so they will have completely different experience. I imagine that keeping great number of ghost stunned must be huge pain.

[psavola]

I imagine that keeping great number of ghost stunned must be huge pain.

The main thing is, you'll need to keep track of all the bug-eyes and don't leave sleeping ghosts around, because they start wandering about. I usually pick them up and at least put those outside or on the ground floor in a couple of piles and have agents guard the pile.

Here's a few tips about the training opportunities in the mission:
 - melee weapons (especially electric club); for maximal training, it's actually a good thing that the ghosts wake up, so you can stun them again!
 - collecting a few ghosts in a pile and pepper spraying (increases bravery) or boom boxing (increases reactions and throwing) them; at this point of the game it's up to RNG whether you have obtained them. (The more enemies you have within the range of an area effect, the more experience you get.)
 - even throwing grenades especially at the beginning of mission can be useful; I always go to the mission with two preprimed grenades per agent and throw them at the big 2x2 ghosts; you can also drop grenades on bug-eyes you've stunned if you don't want to deal with them again (takes 2-3 grenades)
 - while shooting is rather ineffective with kinetic guns, it is still good for training (because you can shoot the maximum times without killing the opponents). You can also shoot the stunned bug-eyes and perhaps even kill them by standing on top of the square and shooting at the same square (= shoot downwards).