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How do YOU assault alien bases/ships?


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I do very well with my troops in most situations, but I am constantly losing guys left and right in alien bases and ships. I'm curious as to what other people's strategies are for taking out the alien scum while keeping your boys and girls alive.

Pic related, I'm in the game now, still contemplating if I should open that door or get back to the choppa and run away like a pansy.

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C4 to open up multiple entry points. A metric ton of grenades (was able to throw over that wall not sure if today's patch changes that). Even if it did toss some smoke to break LOS and then use lot of stun grenades. Close door. Pass a few turns and they fall over. The non stunnables are the real pain. You either blow up lots of gear or have to slowly wear them down. In bases I use rockets a lot both for the damage in some locations but mostly stun gas, as it'll suppress them even if the gas doesn't get them.

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dY7gX6z.jpg

I do very well with my troops in most situations, but I am constantly losing guys left and right in alien bases and ships. I'm curious as to what other people's strategies are for taking out the alien scum while keeping your boys and girls alive.

Pic related, I'm in the game now, still contemplating if I should open that door or get back to the choppa and run away like a pansy.

That's a big ship. I'd probably blast the door and have my HW guys fire LMGs and rockets into guys up front. If you want to take them with the least amount of damage you'd have to move your guys in close then blow/open the door and rush the ship with small arms and stun grenades. You could also fire stun rockets from the back field. Also, use smoke to isolate the front aliens from those guy behind the wall in the back. You definitely need to use smoke so they can't all fire at you at once. Local fire superiority is the key. I'd probably have everyone armed with two stun grenades and full TUs before I entered. You probably want to enter with everyone that isn't a HWs carrier. Possibly even take the LMG and sniper in too. A lot of your decisions really depend on whether you want the ship and aliens undamaged or not. If you don't care you could just blast the door and fire everything you've got into the aliens from covered positions in the back. You'd probably still eventually have to send guys in to kill the ones in the corners.

Edited by StellarRat
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C4 to open up multiple entry points. A metric ton of grenades (was able to throw over that wall not sure if today's patch changes that). Even if it did toss some smoke to break LOS and then use lot of stun grenades. Close door. Pass a few turns and they fall over. The non stunnables are the real pain. You either blow up lots of gear or have to slowly wear them down. In bases I use rockets a lot both for the damage in some locations but mostly stun gas, as it'll suppress them even if the gas doesn't get them.

OMG it looks like throwing grenades over the wall will work!! Although they are the advanced version of the Androns and I'm not sure if even 4 grenades a piece will do the job. Hmm... perhaps 4 grenades and a block of c4 for each will be enough? >:D I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

That's a big ship. I'd probably blast the door and have my HW guys fire LMGs and rockets into guys up front. If you want to take them with the least amount of damage you'd have to move your guys in close then blow/open the door and rush the ship with small arms and stun grenades. You could also fire stun rockets from the back field. Also, use smoke to isolate the front aliens from those guy behind the wall in the back. You definitely need to use smoke so they can't all fire at you at once. Local fire superiority is the key. I'd probably have everyone armed with two stun grenades and full TUs before I entered. You probably want to enter with everyone that isn't a HWs carrier. Possibly even take the LMG and sniper in too. A lot of your decisions really depend on whether you want the ship and aliens undamaged or not. If you don't care you could just blast the door and fire everything you've got into the aliens from covered positions in the back. You'd probably still eventually have to send guys in to kill the ones in the corners.

Reaction fire is my biggest killer, and smoke grenades in the past haven't helped much in that respect. However, apparently there were some changes to smoke so I might have some luck with that. However, Androns are now also immune to suppression so flashbangs and stun grenades are completely useless in this situation. I'm also worried because I'd be funneled through a single chokepoint in the middle of all three of them. They also have cover, whereas I only have the wall. They also have insane amounts of hitpoints, so I'd be lucky to take out one if I zerged them. I don't really care if they all get turned into bits of shrapnel and goo, I just want to try and keep as many as my guys alive if possible.

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Smoke, lots of smoke; then open door and 1) blast from a safe distance or 2) snipe from sides of doors, closing them at the end of the turn. Have a couple with points for reaction fire in case they come out at you. 3) move up another couple of guys to the side of the door & then as 2) but throw grenades at them until junked.

Generally, I don't muck about with Androns. Unless I desperately need the research or the cash, I grenade them.

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Normally? Flashbangs lead the way for supression, then lots of line of sight dancing (they can't shoot what they can't see). Now that androns can't be supressed I'm probably going to start using smoke to try to isolate them and bring a rocket launcher full time.

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I've found shields underwhelming. They do absorb an extra shot, but they weigh so much you have to choose between a shield or armor, and armor is generally more useful. And between the weight and hand they take you also give up nearly all offensive capability.

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I find combat shields to be extremely useful. I only didn't mention it earlier as I didn't see it being used in that mission.

The combat shields have saved me many soldiers in entering UFOs, in scouting into awkward areas and in shielding other soldiers across areas of the map with little cover. The pistol has also proven to be effective as a suppression weapon. I'd not use the pistol without the shield.

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I don't recall a single instance of one of my troops causing suppression with the pistol. I recall one scout ship assault where I had my elite sniper go in under the cover of smoke and unload almost a full clip into the last sebillian, but it never got suppressed, it just died after the second round of shots.

edit: I just realized that sebillians have 50% resistance to suppression now, so that may have been the cause. Still, that kindof limits pistol suppression to just caesans... and thats about it? Most aliens I've encountered so far are either immune or resistant to suppression in the new patch. I don't think harridans are resistant, but then I've never fought them inside a ship, they've always been out in the open where pistols are next to useless compared to rifles.

Edited by maackey
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The combat shield is good in this version, just not as good as last version.

I'm still only in the beginning of the game, but what's making them 'good' instead of 'very good' is the fixed AI. I've lost 5 shield soldiers in a few mission replays to sebillians and caesans running up to my soldiers and unloading a burst point blank. One of those bursts often finds a way past the shield. When they just break= it saved that soldiers life.

Do I mind this? No, I would figure the aliens would be semi-suicidal since they're clones. Can't wait until they can use grenades too. Nothing says x-com (more like TFTD) like having your landing craft grenaded the first alien turn ; )

As for that picture: get machine gunners/rockets up to the level, array your soldiers just out of the C4 blast radius, blow the door. Then all you need to do is light up the aliens. Kill the ones w/ snipers and plasma cannons first, as they're most likely to inflict lethal dmg.

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Are combat shields much use?

Also changes to the smoke means that they properly block LOS now, rather than just somewhat reducing accuracy.

I always have guys with the shields on the field. As scouts they are fine. As soon I try to enter an UFO they tend to dies, as 50% of the reaction fire passes the shield and hits the soldier. And it is a pretty hard chioce to equip somebody with a 10kg shield, as he cant be armed very well after that. And the pistols arnt worth the trouble, neither are the laser-pistols.

So I love the idea of the shield, but it is mostly useless, as it does roll the same dices as every other hit does -- and you need only 1-time-fail to lose the soldier.

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edit: I just realized that sebillians have 50% resistance to suppression now, so that may have been the cause. Still, that kindof limits pistol suppression to just caesans... and thats about it? Most aliens I've encountered so far are either immune or resistant to suppression in the new patch.

yes, that would completely invalidate my point, if the new build has changed it round :)

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Well, in v6 I used to just throw one flash banger in the ship and that would usually stun everyone. That doesn't seem to work as well in v7 though.

Fortunately, sSmoke grenades are far more useful, so now I usually:

1) Open door

2) Drop smoke grenade

3) Throw in a couple flash bangs (depending on how many aliens are inside)

4) Chuck in grenades and shoot until everything is dead.

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As for that picture: get machine gunners/rockets up to the level, array your soldiers just out of the C4 blast radius, blow the door. Then all you need to do is light up the aliens. Kill the ones w/ snipers and plasma cannons first, as they're most likely to inflict lethal dmg.

By the time I got into the ship, I had already run out of rockets, which is why the one rocketeer was scouting from the outside (which is why I could see all three Androns poised to blast anything coming through the door) I actually quicksaved and tried this scenario a few times to see what would happen.

Blowing holes in the wall for multiple entrances wasn't very useful because they just reaction fired if I shot at them once and killed my dudes. The accuracy buff at close ranges is devastating with plasma weaponry and little to no armor.

Filling the room with smoke provided a little bit more success, mainly because my scout outside could see through the walls and spot for my other troops. I still ended up using grenades/c4 because I just didn't have the firepower to sit there and pour lead down their throats while the smoke thinned. And I still lost a guy to reaction fire.

I ended up using another exploit with a third method, where I had everyone dump their grenades and c4 in a pile on the floor, and had my strongest elite commander ninja (Suzuki) lob them over the wall like a machine gun mortar. I ended up getting a bunch of CTDs from stacked grenades -- every time three or more would land in the same spot: CTD, most of the times two would land in same spot: CTD, sometimes CTD when they landed just *near* eachother, never CTD one total per turn. Anyway, as it turns out, advanced Androns can withstand two c4 blasts and an alenium grenade just fine. Regardless, because I never touched the wall, and they just stood there and took it, I was able to blow them all up without losing anyone.

In the long run though, I think its gonna be better to just use a lot of smoke, because those exploits will probably be patched eventually, and you can save alien artifacts from destruction by shooting from the shadows. Its a bit tricky as you can't see through the smoke either, but with practice and patience it ends up being pretty good (even if grenades are much quicker and easier).

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Yeah, little to no armor makes it impossible to do what I mentioned: that's why I make armoring up my guys a priority over weapons. Wolf makes a huge difference between bringing soldiers back home or not.

I've just gotten jackal in the newest version. It's needed now IMO. I cannot get away without armor without losing at least 1 soldier per mission without it. Plasma pistols are nasty now.

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Are combat shields much use?

Also changes to the smoke means that they properly block LOS now, rather than just somewhat reducing accuracy.

They're very useful, and I found it extremely awesome you guys even have it in the game. I'd like it if the shield could cover a 90 degree range so an alien can't shoot past the shield if the soldier happened to face a tiny bit to the left.

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Combat Shields may need a buff then. Maybe we'll try setting them so they cover all three tiles in front of the soldier (if they don't already?) and weigh a bit less. The fact they fill one hand already makes them a weapon you wouldn't issue to every soldier, so possibly the existing weight is a bit too high as it shouldn't prevent a soldier from wearing armour too.

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The most important thing you can buff (and yes, I'll keep banging on about this) is the blocking percent. If it's any less than 100%, then the gods of luck and chance inevitably see to it that the shield does not block the cruical shot which kills your solider. I persevere with shields, but I don't know as how many people will the moment a shield doesn't block the shot it's supposed to.

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I have had many missions up to mid-october and have not lost a man yet, although I did restart a few times like when I shot my own soldier in the back, or when a single burst from an alien killed a shield man, or when the first mission was from a landed UFO with the big armored guys. Shields are not totally invulnerable, so although one SHOULD send them ahead, one should also use cover if possible, and avoid getting too close (the pistols have a pretty good range). In about half the missions against crashed light scouts and scouts, one of your shield men will be wounded for about 5 days, which is quite easy to compensate by replacements. In over a third of my missions so far, no one is wounded at all.

The rocketeer saved my bacon more than once, but I have never used him inside the alien ship.

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The most important thing you can buff (and yes, I'll keep banging on about this) is the blocking percent. If it's any less than 100%, then the gods of luck and chance inevitably see to it that the shield does not block the cruical shot which kills your solider. I persevere with shields, but I don't know as how many people will the moment a shield doesn't block the shot it's supposed to.

agreeed with that. the idea of a combat shield is to put somebody preferential into the enemy fire, i.e. while you enter a door. if there is any good chance, that the reaction- and barrage will surepass the shield, it is competley useless. you cant plan not to be hit, if there is a chance to be in a situation, where at least 5 aliens will shot with 3 shots each.

I am missing the ability to upgrade the shield. We have some some pretty cool stuff from the foreigners visiting, we made armor and vehicles out of it; but we are not able to make a plate out of the same material, which may replace the old shield?

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Combat Shields may need a buff then. Maybe we'll try setting them so they cover all three tiles in front of the soldier (if they don't already?) and weigh a bit less. The fact they fill one hand already makes them a weapon you wouldn't issue to every soldier, so possibly the existing weight is a bit too high as it shouldn't prevent a soldier from wearing armour too.

Decreasing the weight some will help, usually my soldiers aren't stong enough to carry both jackal armor and shields without a bad TU handicap. If the TU goes under 50, I won't use it.

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