Weapon Discussion Thread

[ohartenstein23]

I like the MP Lascannon a lot for its gratuitous firepower, I even find myself still using it though I have battle lasers available.  I feel that it needs an upgrade though - nuclear-powered lasers seem to be an improvement over every standard laser weapon, save for the MP Lascannon.  Maybe give it an option to manufacture a nuclear-powered version out of the original once the correct prerequisites are researched?

[greattuna]

115 laser damage with no need for ammo manufacturing? Hmm.

As for weapons, I dunno. Nothing has been more useful for me than ol' good rifles. Battle rifles, laser rifles, plasma rifles (not gauss though. 95% aimed accuracy and lack of autofire doesn't make me want to use it). There are heavy weapons in my arsenal, like plasma scorcher, BFG, flechette multicannon, mortars, but they're few and not commonly used. Every gal also carries a handle in case I feel like capturing somebody, a elerium grenade (much easier to get than fusion ones, and only slightly less effective), a smoke grenade and white phosphorus grenade (doubles as illumination tool).

I considerably like advanced laser weapons, since they don't require me to manufacture\scavenge more ammo. Same goes to other "infinite" weapons, be it discs o' death, melee weapons or flechette multicannon (yes, I mentioned it twice, because it's awesome).

[Surrealistik]

Spears.  Spears all day for my skirmishing gals - I've done many a successful base raid by sending in amazon gals with spears (and hammers for the occasional power armor).  The accuracy is brilliant for training up some melee, the armor piercing makes it likely you'll take down anything short of power armor, and even then, a particularly strong gal might be able to do it.

Seriously?

You've done hideouts with mostly spears?

What difficulty?

I'm considering trying out ghost knives and electroclaws on Full Plate gals; the former seems like it should murder the shit out of just about anything with casual ease on my VD specced ladies.


@ Greattuna: I disagree with you on the Gauss Musket; yeah, that 95% aimed shot isn't the greatest, but damn, that snap shot accuracy definitely makes up for it, and it is overwhelmingly powerful at the time you first get it from a Supply Ship landing. Gauss Musket doesn't really get obsoleted until you unlock plasma tech.

I'd be more partial to laser weapons if the Church wasn't so ridiculously resistant to them (I hate having to constantly change loadouts).

[ohartenstein23]

Seriously?

You've done hideouts with mostly spears?

What difficulty?

I'm on Blackbeard difficulty (equivalent to vanilla's veteran?), so there aren't ridiculously huge numbers of enemies in the hideout.  And these were just raids for a few gauss weapons - small crew, pick a section of the base, kill everyone in that area, sneak away with the loot.  It's mostly about staying in the dark and skewering targets from behind - I figure that a gal taking a gauss bullet is dead anyways, so the amazon outfits are for high mobility and nice bonuses to the spear's damage.  Seriously, try it with a couple of gals in training so you're not so worried about losing them.  The tight corridors are a melee playground, and the only real trouble would be power armor (or mercs, but I haven't seen a merc base yet).

[ohartenstein23]

115 laser damage with no need for ammo manufacturing? Hmm.

Balanced by huge encumbrance, lack of auto fire, and only one shot per turn even with snap shots.  The laser weapons seem outdone in the anti-armor department once heavy plasma rolls around, and you can loot enough of that by shooting down ships on crackdown missions that manufacturing doesn't matter anymore.  It'd be nice to feel like my shoulder-mounted laser isn't a step down in utility to a much lighter weapon the size of a large rifle.

[Surrealistik]

I'm on Blackbeard difficulty (equivalent to vanilla's veteran?), so there aren't ridiculously huge numbers of enemies in the hideout.  And these were just raids for a few gauss weapons - small crew, pick a section of the base, kill everyone in that area, sneak away with the loot.  It's mostly about staying in the dark and skewering targets from behind - I figure that a gal taking a gauss bullet is dead anyways, so the amazon outfits are for high mobility and nice bonuses to the spear's damage.  Seriously, try it with a couple of gals in training so you're not so worried about losing them.  The tight corridors are a melee playground, and the only real trouble would be power armor (or mercs, but I haven't seen a merc base yet).

Plate is sufficient to not die from Gauss (especially with the shield), though odds are you will take some serious hurt.

And yeah, Hideouts on Sparrow/Davy Jones or whatever are saturated with baddies; I prefer leaving them intact for more Supply Ship farming personally.


Also I agree with the MP Lascannon being underwhelming; a nuclear powered version should go even further than 115; I'm thinking like 130 or more with the ability to ignore a certain % of armour (and perhaps with bonus damage vs terrain for breaching ships).

[ohartenstein23]

I still tended to use the amazon/spear kit on supply ship raids too - didn't want to risk resources for better armor to a chance baby nuke.  That's actually why I started raiding the base instead - I didn't have to wait until the supply ship, no worrying about day vs. night, and no baby nukes to fret over.  You can still farm them too, more often than supply ships, and they have the bonus of being able to drag VIPs out alive whenever you need them.

I researched plate later on, and by the time I had plate armor, I was used to the insane mobility offered to my melee gals by not wearing heavy armor.  Hit and run tactics are very effective when breaking line of sight is as easy as it is in a hideout.

[Surrealistik]

I still tended to use the amazon/spear kit on supply ship raids too - didn't want to risk resources for better armor to a chance baby nuke.  That's actually why I started raiding the base instead - I didn't have to wait until the supply ship, no worrying about day vs. night, and no baby nukes to fret over.  You can still farm them too, more often than supply ships, and they have the bonus of being able to drag VIPs out alive whenever you need them.

I researched plate later on, and by the time I had plate armor, I was used to the insane mobility offered to my melee gals by not wearing heavy armor.  Hit and run tactics are very effective when breaking line of sight is as easy as it is in a hideout.

Honestly I don't find that plate hinders mobility all that much. True on Hideouts being a good source of farming; the problem is that it gets tedious dragging out VIPs and tech manually, plus the Psi is super annoying and dangerous until you field a VD proof team. The fact that it is also pretty grenade/arc unfriendly is another major consideration. Also Baby Nukes are excellent loot; the key is to mind your facings, make copious use of smoke, don't roll dice with reactions, and don't overextend.

[ohartenstein23]

Eh, I just like being able to sprint everywhere with the amazon armor - hide n' stab was my favorite game for the hideout/supply ship raids.  I did plenty of supply ship raids, but worrying about not having a perfect smoke screen and eating a baby nuke to the face was a bit too stressful.  I probably could have just brought more smoke, or just used more expendable crews.

[khade]

I have to object to the Gauss Musket being called a M16, it is clearly a M1 Garand instead.  Moderately heavy, with extremely good damage, no rapid fire, a good workhorse weapon.  Not built as a sniper, but able to pull it off

[Surrealistik]

@ khade: Haha, fair, I was thinking M16 along the lines of a steadfast, reliable standard issue.

@ ohartenstein23: Smoke and bomb was my modus operandi (for supply ships), in large part because I have only 8 gals to work with lacking the Boneradventure (which will become 12 once I transfer over my Prospector and sell off my Pachy).

Oh yeah, and the humble Frag and Smoke Grenades; MVP. I cannot overstate how valuable these are to me. Also Hellerium Grenades and High Explosives.

[Star_Treasure]

Well, I just encountered star gods and their minions for the fist time.

Nobody died, but I NEED MORE FIREPOWER!

I also managed to punch out a star god novice for old times sake (the first Ethereal I ever saw in classic X-com was also a live capture) I guess the Gals weren't sure if the invisible floaty guy was real or not, so they punched it to find out.

[Surrealistik]

The best antidote to the SGs seems to be the best antidote to almost everything in the game: overwhelming (and in particular indirect) explosive firepower. There is a reason that it's generally the preferred solution to guerilla warfare and entrenched ground forces IRL where cost and casualties are no object.

When in doubt, blow it out.

[Surrealistik]

Curses, hoisted by my own petard (or when berserk mininukes go wrong):

https://i.imgur.com/zIgLiPH.png

[KateMicucci]

I haven't used any gauss except heavy gauss on some of the tougher missions.

My favorites:

Ol' carbine. Fast and accurate aimed shots, and a swing attack. Pretty good by early game gun standards.

NERF Laspistol. Powerful sidearm for gals early game. Strong and cuts through a bit of armor.

Custom shooty gun. Good autoshots and powerful bullets when you first pick it up.

Heavy Slugthrower. The advantage of this gun is the shotgun like aim bonus at close range despite not being a shotgun. With the recent damage buff its almost as strong as gauss. A max strength gal can carry one of these, a reload, a couple grenades and a heavy tac suit.

Smartrifle (not smartgun) Strong bullets, 5 shot auto, huge magazine, and most important, a swing attack. My B team are carry these because they're good enough to stomp any recurring missions or smaller UFOs.

Bossar. Basically a bigger badder version of the smartrifle. At the moment half my A team has these, and they did decently against the star gods in two terror missions so far.

Recoiless rifle- if it wasn't $3000 a shot, and I got to see heavy enemies more often, I'd probably have more than one gal carry this. A 125 damage single shot rifle has a strong niche.