Weapon Discussion Thread

[Surrealistik]

Discuss weapons that you think are awesome/are shit/are great/are too good/etc here.

To start off, the Gauss Musket has got to be the M16 of this game (okay until you research Plasma I guess). Great accuracy, good snap for reaction fire, not too TU demanding, loads of damage and stopping power (enough to penetrate Power Armour consistently from anywhere other than the front), light enough to be carried by untrained hands, a good damage typing that boasts consistent performance, and a decent clip size for its damage output and accuracy. It is also pretty much impervious to explosions in the hopefully unlikely event a poor gal with one ends up being blown to smitheroons. Beyond that, it is highly affordable! If you're not afraid of farming Supply Ships, you will have more of these weapons than you will know what to do with. This workhorse is my standard issue on base defenses and has never let me down (alongside mines, mininukes and smoke), and I was particularly impressed by its most recent performance against a full scale Academy scum base invasion vs 10 Rookie gals with Dojo/VD training.

Honourable mention to the Custom Shooty Gun (though it is damned heavy and bad for inexperienced gals) and Battle Rifle as solid 'M16' all-rounders at the times you get them.

Likewise Wands of Rending are an excellent, consistent and reliable (within its effective range) choice on troopers with strong VooDoo giving no shits about armour (but plenty of shits about resistances; don't use these on tanks) to deliver consistent damage and bleed at high to perfect accuracy. In addition, they are extremely light and compact, allowing for more grenades or Wands. Currently this weapon is actually seeing more use than the Gauss Musket among my elite VooDoo strike teams.

Longbow speaks for itself as the early/mid king of indirect fire. Hardly an all-rounder, but something I take on every mission where arcs aren't forbidden.

[Solarius Scorch]

Sure.

I'll try to list my favourite early weapons. (Some of them very early, some not so, but generally before lasers.)

For pistols, I think Manstopper is my favourite (especially with EP munitions, but that's not exactly early). It's reliable and has enough kick. Just don't try to harass people wearing plastasteel armour with it.

The best SMG is definitely Blackmarch. It is very accurate and has decent damage, for an SMG. Seems to be a tech level above all else. But I've used Assault SMG with good results, too.

Shotguns? I don't use them that much. The Blunderbuss is absolutely devastating, but a bit too specialized for my taste.

If we're talking assault rifles, then Battle Rifle is a good all-rounder - it's basically vanilla rifle on steroids. But it is IMO overshadowed by the Autogun, which is very accurate, light and pretty strong, with good range. And then there's the Linux Mandrake/Origami, which is even better in most respects.

Sniper rifles are all useful. Special mention goes to the Hunting Rifle/Scoped Rifle as a good, cheap weapon for inept swabbies (they won't do much, but at least they'll be hitting and scoring experience).

Heavy weapons? Now that's more complicated, since they have many different roles to fill:
- I would say Boarding Gun is better than people say, but it is best at relatively short ranges, at full auto. And its descendant, the Custom Shooty Gun, is pure poetry.
- Spitfire and LACC are great at killing lightly-armoured targets and generally causing havoc, due to their explosive ammo.
- The HMG is quite awesome, but IMO it requires a flying gal to use it effectively. It also shines on some maps (like Ratman Rodeo) and is next to useless on others (base assault/defence).
- The LMG is more like a specialized Battle Rifle than a typical heavy weapon. It is surprisingly effective.
- RPG and Panzerfaust: used to be absolutely essential in older versions, but now you just don't meet powered armours and Cyberdiscs on a regular basis. Still, if you do...

Melee weapons: Rapier, Cutlass, Sabre and Axe are all relevant, since each is designed for a different set of stats. Daggers are more of backup weapons (some types are quite good in the right hands, but I'd rather give them Axes).

Stun melee weapons: Fisticuffs for the strong and skilful, Handles for the strong and brave, Electric Clubs for the plebs. Cattle Prods are way too unwieldy for me.

Explosives: all are useful and have their roles.

[Star_Treasure]

For pistols, I love the spiky SMG. I know the manstopper is probably more efficient, but I like having autofire and an extra melee attack.

Favorite "rifle" I've encountered so far is the gyro stabilized auto-gun, if it can count as one. All the power of a machine gun, but with a snap shot so you can still make reaction shots. The Minigun and HMG are fun, but not practical as regular weapons.

[Solarius Scorch]

For pistols, I love the spiky SMG. I know the manstopper is probably more efficient, but I like having autofire and an extra melee attack.

Right, it's just new and I didn't have the chance to try it yet.

Favorite "rifle" I've encountered so far is the gyro stabilized auto-gun, if it can count as one. All the power of a machine gun, but with a snap shot so you can still make reaction shots.

Totally! Although Linux is significantly more powerful.

The Minigun and HMG are fun, but not practical as regular weapons.

As regular weapons, no. But they're support weapons. BTW the Minigun damages armour, can't remember if the HMG does it as well.

[Surrealistik]

I like the Gyrostabilized Autogun, but the Battle Rifle was very stiff competition, particularly with its significantly greater power and aimed shot. Ultimately they were both rendered obsolete by the Custom Shooty (and Gauss Muskets not long after once the Supply Ship farming really got underway).

[Solarius Scorch]

I like the Gyrostabilized Autogun, but the Battle Rifle was very stiff competition, particularly with its significantly greater power and aimed shot. Ultimately they were both rendered obsolete by the Custom Shooty (and Gauss Muskets not long after once the Supply Ship farming really got underway).

If you mean Gauss weapons, then yeah, they're the best when dealing with units not highly resistant to AP. I especially like the pistol - not only it's crazy strong, but also very accurate.

[Star_Treasure]

I'm not up to the point where I can farm supply ships, but I am having fun intercepting spartan transports (Not sure what the official classification is, the ones with the tall wings and long narrow body) Spartans always have nice guns, too bad they don't know how to use them 

Nothing is more satisfying than equipping your entire squad with heavy weapons for a Pogrom, only for it to turn out to be ratmen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HORkT4a2MhQ

[Surrealistik]

If you mean Gauss weapons, then yeah, they're the best when dealing with units not highly resistant to AP. I especially like the pistol - not only it's crazy strong, but also very accurate.

Which would be the vast, vast preponderance of them, and even in cases where you do encounter resistant enemies, they deal so much raw damage that Gauss weapons often ultimately put them down anyways (especially the Gauss Sniper on a skilled Gal; dayum daniel).

And yeah, Gauss Pistols are definitely a weapon of choice on my Plate Armour shield gals (excepting those gals strong with the force who tend to run Wands of Rending).

[Star_Treasure]

I still can't decide which is the best anti-tank weapon. Other than just letting the Mortar-gall handle it. This mod has so many choices.

[Surrealistik]

I still can't decide which is the best anti-tank weapon. Other than just letting the Mortar-gall handle it. This mod has so many choices.

Gauss Sniper on a skilled gal works well. High Explosives rarely let me down and offer excellent distance on strong gals; a much more practical and portable Panzerfaust. Satchels are okay, but goddamn, they weigh so fucking much (such that even a STR 90 gal struggles to put good distance on them) and are so damn huge as to be nigh impractical.

[Solarius Scorch]

I still can't decide which is the best anti-tank weapon. Other than just letting the Mortar-gall handle it. This mod has so many choices.

Shit, I forgot the mortars. Mortars are BADASS.
Not necessarily optimal, but badass.

[nrafield]

Hammers are my favorite tool for dispatching enemies which are immune to literally everything I can throw at them. Cheap, efficient, albeit unwieldy, and avaliable from the start!  They are also the best tool for nabbing a live Mechtoid so you can unlock the mushroom beer recipe (arguably also the only one that will actually scratch their armor early on)

[ohartenstein23]

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.

[Arthanor]

Spears are great, I agree!

I'm surprised nobody mentioned fuso knives. For how comparatively low tech they are, they can reach damage on par with many pistols and are great weapons for breaching or clearing buildings. They only really fall from favor when "shotgun pistols" come up (death blossom with Chem, especially).

[ohartenstein23]

Aw man, the death blossom.  It never goes out of style for me.  Great breaching weapon when you first get it and wonderful to pair with a melee weapon, then it sees a resurgence as the sidearm for gals in power armor.  I love the API ammo for lighting up targets at night, chem rounds are never a bad thing, and HVAP is a great improvement to the gun's quality of life later in the game.