Psi Powers, Berserking - any strategy to use?

[Xenomorph]

Strategy: edit game file. Raise costs of MC and Berzerk. Save. Have fun

[lifehole]

Had an equally impressive mission with Andron terror team - i downed just another cruiser. Turned the dropship was slowly surrounded by Andron soldiers. Then Harridans opened fire with volleys of sniper fire and plasma cannons. As team weathered the first wave, the second wave brought more androns with an officer and a team with heavier weapons. A pair of medium drones kept at the distance, drawing fire from my 2 machinegunners. Cover from smoke grenades kept my soldiers from being singled out and everyone (including two rookies with laser carbines among all plasmas) barely alive. What i liked most is the actual sense of having to defend the drop point as i've met my first andron in range of 1 turn. After that the clean-up of a cruiser was rather anticlimactic - same 5-6 androns and 1-2 harridans. Shame there are no guard turrets (half-life 2 style) inside UFOs.

Minor gripe: shouldn't all the robots (both androns and drones) have gotten immunity to smoke grenades? I mean advanced cameras and other sensors and all... This would make them seriously deadly. Possibly at least reduced effects by half, while lizard-trolls keep full immunity?

Lizard trolls with bad weapons handling and eyesight, nonetheless. Anyways, Xenomorph. How!?

[dpelectric]

Strategy: edit game file. Raise costs of MC and Berzerk. Save. Have fun

I was just thinking the exact same thing. Looks like you can go into the psionicpowers_gc.xml file and raise the AP costs of psi attacks through the roof. If it works, woohooo!

[domein]

Some things should be done about psi attacks:

1) Introduce morale control\berserk protection, soldiers with high morale are not vulnerable to mc.

2) Introduce mc and berserk struggle round, where affected soldier spends with 0 tus, so that you have time to react.

3) Completely remove berserk targeting, shots fired in general direction of alien forces, not at specific targets

[KevinHann]

Those would make psi attacks nearly irrelevant unless all-round major changes are implemented. The whole idea behind mind control is it happens all of a sudden and you can't cop out with a free move to prepare your team to deal with it. You are basicly asking the game's most stiff challenge to be turned into a slight inconvenience. When you think of it if you manage to keep your team alive for a few missions all your soldiers will have high morale, making them near impossible to get psi-attacked with the way the system works at the moment. I don't think that's the way to go.

Ultimately whatever you or I feel about it the game is at such a stage none of these will get implemented. Perhaps you should look out for a mod in that spirit or try your hand at one after release.

[Gauddlike]

Since V22.7HF2 psi powers use an opposed roll, alien psi power versus soldier morale, to determine if the soldier is effected so high morale soldiers have better protection to all forms of psi powers.

Berserk also now has a 70% chance to target empty tiles rather than units and should randomly choose between nearby units so has a chance to target friends or enemies.