Front line scouting late game

[FireStorm1010]

So i just seen in action my first suit of predator armor and im quite impressed , wondering threfore upon my whole strategy: so far i was going with 3 double shield front scouts (aka "see you in heaven" duty ) and 5 regular mixed equipement soldiers. It worled quite nice, with care i didnt even loose that many of those tough luck brave lads, but the predator seems to have a few features that the shields lack:

1- All round protection - most of the times i lost a shield guy was when the aliens flanked me and shot him in the back, or grenaded him.

2-Added firepower + not much strengh needed: all my shield guys packed was stun grenades and with wolf armro and double shields they needed quite a bit of strengh.

On other hand i fear some serious downsides:

1- With shields you alwys know how much of the shield health is left, therefore allowing you to rotate the guys with hvily damaged shields. I dont think you can see how badly your armor is damaged.Might be a serious problem.

2-100 protection for armor sounds impressive , but double assault shields is actually 320 + wolf armor.So will predator be enough for those uncomfortable eye to eye situations?

3- How bad is the vision limitation, i havent yet noticed it?

Woudl be grateful for observations, one unit costs 120k so i got to decide wisely:)

[Megajoel]

Shields are probably better in my opinion. Late game, I give them to sentinel armour troops. 360 degree vision and the ability to pop up to see over obstacles make them the ultimate scouts. Very useful for spotting sneaky reapers hiding behind trees and such waiting for someone to come along. Your vision cone is 60 degrees with predator I think.

In any case, the shield seems to be more durable than predator armour. I've had alien battle rifles 1 shot my predator guys. The shield bearer would have lost his shield at most and still live.

[Dranak]

Late game I use troops with sentinel armor and shotguns to scout, and they're always flying while moving for the extra vision range and seeing over obstacles. I honestly can't remember the last time one of them was shot at outside of a UFO.

[FireStorm1010]

Shields are probably better in my opinion. Late game, I give them to sentinel armour troops. 360 degree vision and the ability to pop up to see over obstacles make them the ultimate scouts. Very useful for spotting sneaky reapers hiding behind trees and such waiting for someone to come along. Your vision cone is 60 degrees with predator I think.

In any case, the shield seems to be more durable than predator armour. I've had alien battle rifles 1 shot my predator guys. The shield bearer would have lost his shield at most and still live.

Thanks, will stick with assualts shields then , only upgrade to sentinel armor once i research it.

Late game I use troops with sentinel armor and shotguns to scout, and they're always flying while moving for the extra vision range and seeing over obstacles. I honestly can't remember the last time one of them was shot at outside of a UFO.

Hmm interesting, vision instead of taanking, still in tight spaces liek industrial or ufos it seems to me a bad deal without shields protection.

[Dranak]

That's what the shotguns are for, so if you do end up close to something you don't trigger reaction fire and can actually kill it. I also play rather cautiously with my scouts, so them even getting shot at is a pretty uncommon event.

[FireStorm1010]

That's what the shotguns are for, so if you do end up close to something you don't trigger reaction fire and can actually kill it. I also play rather cautiously with my scouts, so them even getting shot at is a pretty uncommon event.

Many aliens wont die even from a shotgun in one shot, so then they will return fire. And if you are close enough to shotgun, the alien will hit you hard. Before i started my "draw return fire with shield unit" , i often lost shotgunners, specially to androns that cant be surpressed.

[FireStorm1010]

Adding: After soem playing yest im definietely sure shields are only way to go. Predator armor is nowhere near enough. First it got only 70 rating not 100 as i tought. Second my predator guy took one shot and it penetrated and hit him for 40 hp. 1 shot.Sure it was harrdian with sniper rifle, still a shield guy wouldnt have been harmed.

[Dranak]

Predator armor is for killing, not scouting. That much we definitely agree on.

[kabill]

Adding: After soem playing yest im definietely sure shields are only way to go. Predator armor is nowhere near enough. First it got only 70 rating not 100 as i tought. Second my predator guy took one shot and it penetrated and hit him for 40 hp. 1 shot.Sure it was harrdian with sniper rifle, still a shield guy wouldnt have been harmed.

Not looking to disagree with the conclusion, but it's worth noting that the alien sniper rifle is a special case as it ignores all armour anyway (armour penetration 99).

[Ogaburan]

Shields are bad mkaaay...

If you haven't notice, they attract nades like flies...

I think one of the two variables for an alien to throw a nade is shield or 2 soldiers standing close.

Since I stopped using shields i never looked back...