Why is gauss bad?

[doctor medic]

I heard people talk about it all the time but i would like to know why they are bad?

[Meridian]

I heard people talk about it all the time but i would like to know why they are bad?

It's not bad, it's a very nice mid game weapon set... and a great upgrade compared to jet harpoons.

People say it's bad probably because:
1. you can get sonic weapons already after your first mission and about half a month to a month of research, i.e. you can have end-game weapons already in February 2040... which is rather bad design (in my personal opinion)
2. compared to "overpowered" starting gas cannons, they are not such a big upgrade either

So, if gas cannons were not so good, and sonic weapons had at least a few pre-requisites... gauss would be very useful.

[doctor medic]

Do sonic weapons have a faster research time than plasma?

[Meridian]

Do sonic weapons have a faster research time than plasma?

I don't keep such numbers in my head ;-) Just check the rulesets...

[yrizoud]

People often make the comparison with UFO lasers, which have infinite ammo. It's quite an advantage : When facing a very numerous alien team, while you're under-prepared, a single heavy laser is very precious, you can pass it from soldier to soldier, and shoot as many times as you need.

[Orz]

Also because most aliens have an inbuilt resistance to Gauss. Deep One, Calcinite, Tentaculat & Triscene take 90%; Tasoth, Xarquid & Biodrone 70%; and, of course, Lobsterman takes just 30% In fact, only Zombies take 100% Gauss damage.

Fortunately, all these things can be easily edited for re-balance.

Do sonic weapons have a faster research time than plasma?

With only a few exceptions, everything in TFTD is an exact copy/paste from UFO. This includes research times.