Kevak, why do you want thinmen so badly? Vipers are just better. I know you want better mobility but when that mobility is just being able to jump up a story tall floor in exchange for being killed by a stray pistol round and not being able to take as much of a hit as our current sectoids well...that generally considered bad. Also, I should mention that Vipers are still agile, and probably have extreme reaction times considering they are able to dodge shots that would normally hit dead on and make it only a grazing shot...And they can climb ladders and drainage pipes without issue so I feel as if mobility issues aren't really a thing...
As for have normal humans as a unit. I feel as if it is a flawless idea, though having them think they are mutons, while frankly hilarious, would probably be a bad idea both for them interacting with humans and in combat.
Pirate. Idunno what game you were playing but 'a stray pistol round' will not kill a thinman. It'll injure one sure, but a 'stray pistol round' will also injure a viper just as much. Vipers are not superior skirmishers. You're trying to play off 'being able to leap multiple story buildings' as 'just x' but it's not 'just x.' I'm not sure if you realize the tactical implications of a unit capable of flat out bypassing walls, not even accounting for if we oh lets say. Give them snipers or shotguns and play up their 'skirmisher' role even further. Vipers lack the platform stability for sniping duty and they lack the tactical mobility to compete with thinmen in the skirmishing capacity. Their relative fragility compared to vipers notwithstanding, you do not build a skirmisher with the intent of them getting hit. You build one with the intent of 'not' getting hit. Hence the 'high mobility.' and 'Attack from
Unexpected angles.
And yes. They can leap multiple story buildings. As can Chryssalids and Berserkers for that matter.
Lets go over the specifics of what vipers are better at than Thinmen.
-Rapid reaction: So they're an overwatcher that's hardish to hit and knows to duck behind cover when someone takes a potshot. This is good in a Frontline Combatant. It's nice to have in a skirmisher too, but there is nothing stopping us from giving thinmen the same thing. Hell, since thinmen have
Smaller Profiles they'd be even harder to hit if they had that. I will note though that mechanically speaking, Grazing Shots were not a thing in EU/EW1. Had they been, I'm rather certain thinmen would have received sufficient agility to make shots occasionally graze.
-Climbing ladders and drainage pipes are all well and fine, but what about when there isn't a ladder or a drainage pipe? Such as oh I don't know. A military complex's walls. Or a rather significant number of modern day buildings? Mobility is Extremely important for skirmishers. Possibly Thee most important ability in fact. Snipers can't snipe from street level with ease after all. And it's far easier to get around a blockade by just hopping a building instead of having to search around for a drainpipe that isn't there.
-Not being able to take much of a hit. What? The hell are you talking about? Are we playing the same game? Thinmen by default would be about as durable as our current sectoids. By default thinmen have 5 health if I recall on Normal Difficulty in Vanilla (LW it's 6 and they get more health as the campaign progresses based on the alien research score). A default pistol does 2 damage and fires 3 shots in a single 2 damage attack. For comparison, a default sectoid has 3 health on Normal Difficulty in Vanilla (LW it's 4 and they gain health as the ayys research). So a default sectoid can also take three pistol rounds. For comparison. An unarmored rookie tier human has 4 health by default unless the 'not born equally' second wave setting is on. Rookies with tac armor get an additional 1 health, bringing the 'default redshirt rookie' up to 5 health. Not take a hit my ass. They don't have the 'stacks upon stacks' of health that everything in Xcom 2 does but they don't really need it. They're skirmishers. And nothing is stopping them from wearing bulletproof vests. They are shaped like humans after all.
Vipers are better than Thinmen as
Frontline Combatants. However as
Frontline Combatants they are inferior to Mutons, Cyberdiscs, and several other xenos. Vipers are explicitly
Not better than Thinmen in the skirmisher role.
What's wrong with Octodads?
Nothing is wrong with Octodads. They're ambushers that'll do best paired with either skirmishers to lead foes into their trap or with frontliners to just make the combat zone significantly more hazardous for the foe. They'd be a great unit to add in the coming weeks in my view.
Design
Skin Crawler:
-Using 2 DNA Tokens: (6)NUKE9.13, Puppyguard, Failbird105, SamSpeeds, Tyrant Leviathan, Piratejoe, Kevak
Month-End Bonus
VP spent on Small Scout: (5)NUKE9.13, Failbird105, Puppyguard, Pirate Joe Tyrant Leviathan, Kevak
Author
Topic: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race (Read 66000 times)