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[Sean Mirrsen]

Well, that must be another of the alteration in CE then. And in the online UFOpaedia, to boot. Or maybe introduced in a later patch? I know most people are playing 1.2, when the latest is 1.4 (it supposedly breaks some sounds).

The "other" UFOPaedia (the wiki) does list the damage as 85, versus the 120 I'm seeing everywhere, so I guess that's the most widespread "alteration" done to the weapon. Useful, without being overpowered.

[Shadowlord]

Isn't that due to a modification by XComUtils?

[Sowelu]

That online one you just linked to references alien alloys and Elerium in the laser rifles and heavy lasers.  Preeeetty sure they don't normally use those.  0_O

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, probably. I seem to recall seeing it even without Utils at some point, but that was probably me copying stuff over in weird ways.

Anyway, it does make sense. It's a very powerful laser, large, bulkish, and capable of punching holes in just about anything. I dislike the UFO Extender's spin on the thing, adding burst and full-auto modes. A sweeping laser is all fine and good when it's actually sweeping, but this is supposed to be a pulse-firing laser, not a continuous beam (it'd overheat like crazy at that size).

[Fikes]

A long time ago I found a mod that allowed you to modify all the weapons. I bumped up laser to 255 damage and 100% accuracy on aimed shots, but like 90% cost to fire. That way it was very powerful in the hands of a trained sniper. Also, it always pissed me off that only blasters go through UFO hulls.

I am pretty sure the numbers where the HL holds a candle to the HP are from xcomutil. Everything was completely outstripped by HP.

I was wondering last night, do you have a better chance to hit with auto shot or snap shot? Lets assume it will only take one hit to kill an alien. You have x accuracy 1 time with a snap shot, but y accuracy 3 times with an auto shot. Which is better?

[Sowelu]

I was wondering last night, do you have a better chance to hit with auto shot or snap shot? Lets assume it will only take one hit to kill an alien. You have x accuracy 1 time with a snap shot, but y accuracy 3 times with an auto shot. Which is better?

That comes up a lot, and the answer is "Always autofire, no matter what".

With the occasional exception in UFO Extender of "Aimed shot, at very long range, when using range penalties for autofire and snapshots".

Though you should remember that snapshot accuracy is very important for reaction fire, since that's all it ever uses.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I always assumed that accuracy was per-shot. Three shots at 20% don't give you a better chance to hit than one shot at 50% though. You just get three tries at lower odds. The odds of all three shots missing are ~51%.

That, or something's terribly wrong with my probability calculating skills. Which is just as probable, oddly enough.

[Sowelu]

I always assumed that accuracy was per-shot. Three shots at 20% don't give you a better chance to hit than one shot at 50% though. You just get three tries at lower odds. The odds of all three shots missing are ~51%.

Yes, but the odds are never distributed that way.  Laser pistol:  Autofire is 28%, snapshot is 40%.  Heavy plasma:  Autofire is 50%, snapshot is 75%.  Autofire is so close to snapshot most of the time that it really is a better idea.

Besides, unless you're using heavy plasma on a sectoid, having a chance of hitting twice is usually way worth it.

[Tarran]

WHEW! I just had a VERY close battle at the break of dawn. 9/10 men killed, one VERY NEARLY killed. Lost both my snipers in training. The one guy that survived earned a "(H)" (Hero) in his name.

Details in the start are a bit fuzzy as I saved and quited halfway through and came back next day, I had 10 men, no HWP (I forgot it), all men except the snipers were armed with HP. Snipers were armed with PRs. Attacking a downed Floater Terror Ship. Got out, killed dudes, lost a few men, it was all going well. Until I met a sniper and lost a guy. Killed him and a bunch of other enemies, went inside the ship, operative got killed running for the ship (but since she was off screen, I didn't see where it came from), sent another to check, lost him. Lost a man inside the ship (my last sniper that for some reason I decided for him to go first to the bridge). Down to two men. Okay, I'll just wait inside the ship past turn 20, hopefully they'll come straight through the door.

I wait, and wait, and wait... No one comes. So I stand outside, no one comes. I send one guy and he gets sniped. ONE GUY LEFT. I blindfire in the direction of the shot, killing the floater! But... there's still one left! I slowly move my guy around and past the building where the last one was when suddenly, a door opens and a plasma bold flies right past my guy while he's turned the wrong way! I turn around, but don't see him! I blindfire and I still don't kill him. My guy only has time to duck down, so I duck him and pray.

The floater comes into sight, and fires. Oh man, my guy is so... no, he missed! And again he misses! He ducks behind a wall, I blindfire, two of the three shots miss the wall entirely, but the last one hits! THERE HE IS! HE'S LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU! SHHOOOOOOT! He hits once in a autofire, but it doesn't die! Just enough time for one snap shot. SHOT THE SUCKER! And he does! Yes! Victory! 19 dead aliens and a UFO at the cost of 9 men. That. Was. Close. That guy SO deserves better armor than coveralls.

[Biag]

My favorite soldier just took two plasma bolts to the chest and it didn't even faze him. This is the first game I've made it to personal armor, and I love it.

[Shadowlord]

Though you should remember that snapshot accuracy is very important for reaction fire, since that's all it ever uses.

Which makes very little sense, since you can reserve TUs for auto-fire or aimed fire.

[Sowelu]

Though you should remember that snapshot accuracy is very important for reaction fire, since that's all it ever uses.

Which makes very little sense, since you can reserve TUs for auto-fire or aimed fire.

Nevertheless, it is correct.

My interpretation of those buttons is, they're for use on your own turn.  Like, "Walk forwards, but don't go so far that you can't auto-fire on an alien that you might see."  They are not very useful, and relying on those buttons can get you in trouble.  The 'reserve time for crouching' button might be useful at least, since that one doesn't matter what direction you are facing (so you can't get screwed over by aiming the wrong way).

[justinlee999]

Playing UFO defense using UFO Extender in windowed mode makes the music go weird. I can hear sounds all right, but most of the time the music just won't play, HOWEVER, if I switch out of that window, the music plays, when I go back to the game, the music stops again.

My favorite soldier just took two plasma bolts to the chest and it didn't even faze him. This is the first game I've made it to personal armor, and I love it.

Wait till you get Power/Flying suit, I've armed my whole squad with it and nothing beats surviving 3 shots to the chest point blank range.

EDIT: ONE THING that annoys me with flying suit though, is that it takes ALOT of TUs to go down the ramps of the skyranger, if you have a normal suit, you'll automatically go down, and I want my soldiers to go down so that they are provided cover by the smoke, nothing's more annoying that floating in mid air and an alien spotting you and shooting you down before you know it

Also, any advice on what stats should I determine my soldiers as fodder/normal/elite?

[Sowelu]

Playing UFO defense using UFO Extender in windowed mode makes the music go weird. I can hear sounds all right, but most of the time the music just won't play, HOWEVER, if I switch out of that window, the music plays, when I go back to the game, the music stops again.

My favorite soldier just took two plasma bolts to the chest and it didn't even faze him. This is the first game I've made it to personal armor, and I love it.

Wait till you get Power/Flying suit, I've armed my whole squad with it and nothing beats surviving 3 shots to the chest point blank range.

EDIT: ONE THING that annoys me with flying suit though, is that it takes ALOT of TUs to go down the ramps of the skyranger, if you have a normal suit, you'll automatically go down, and I want my soldiers to go down so that they are provided cover by the smoke, nothing's more annoying that floating in mid air and an alien spotting you and shooting you down before you know it

Also, any advice on what stats should I determine my soldiers as fodder/normal/elite?

I actually do have the same issue with sound...except that if I turn off the fix for the music freezes, it seems to remedy that issue.

Agreed about the goddamn flying suits + skyranger issue.  Ugh.  Oh well.  Personally, I just change my strategy to dump a smoke grenade inside the 'ranger too, but it's not always enough.  :/  You know what...I bet a minor change to the 'ranger map to eliminate the wall right next to the ramp (without visibly changing it) would be very nice.  Just enough that you can fly down without changing anything else.

As for stats, I posted my guidelines here.  You might choose to put extra importance on Reactions since it's a lot harder to train--if you are using good scout/sniper tactics, you may never take a single reaction shot in a given mission.

[justinlee999]

I'm already in month 6 and I still have no ELITZ SOLDIER yet, I don't really use the plan on fodders, however I am planning to change that.

So I guess I''ll send anyone with negative points as fodder eh? I don't equip them with any armor, just a laser rifle and other standard equipment will work.