Thanks for ideas!
So, without further ado...
- Holdout laser - definitely, but with a nifty price tag - else, who'd want the poor holdout pistol?
- Stone - hell, why not. I was thinking myself A BIG ROCK, maybe both. Exactly with the mechanics you've described, anyway
- Super shotgun: 2 things. Firstly, the shotguns are up for a massive accuracy boost, +30% or more (the price will be reduced accurate range), so they'll be much more useful, at least when the enemy is close. Secondly, the weapon you describe is planned, only with a twist... 4 barrels, heavy weight, you can fire all of them at once
- Bow. Sorry to say that but it seems you've missed the BIG LETTERS saying soldier's strength is added to the damage
Bows are actually almost on par with plasma guns... if you have a str 80 soldier wearing a synthsuit, that 5 damage becomes 125
The neon bow, though... yeah that joke was part of the reason that the bow is in the game in the first place
HE arrows are possible, but reloading bow looks really stupid... we'll see about that one.
- They're STAR GODS, man. You're supposed to avoid them. If you want to fight'em, prepare for hell. With best armor, best weapons and numerous, high psi-str crew you stand a chance. I've actually managed to defeat Ethereal Escort on Superhuman with a mid-game crew... losing 11 out of 18 people, but still. The only problem is when they launch a retal against your base... But there you (should) wield massive advantage of having many tanks. Plus, terror and retal allow to possibly nab a Sectopod which is pretty much death incarnate in your hands. Having said all that, an alternate Star God crew, mixed with vanilla(-ish) aliens is a good idea. But no sectopods to loot in that crew
@Ran: nah, I've circumvented that problem - it can be a single-shot "firearm", no priming required (as with how currently Molotovs and Stick Grenades work). This is also how the thrown knives will be implemented... along with katanas... guess what faction I am working on now