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Blade Rangers The Good:  The Bad: Everything else.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:34
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Blade Rangers are really, really good at killing Sectoids in the super early parts of the game. You know, if Sectoids were an actual problem and not just time wasters reviving ineffectual zombies.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:36
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toasterwarrior posted:God, I hate Archons so much with their massive HP pools and defenses. They should be pod leaders in mid-late, not pod members. Holo targeting is pretty handy for them, but yeah they take a bit of attention to deal with alright.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:37
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Wizard Styles posted:Blade Rangers I used an aid protocol on a ranger using a dodge pcs in a spider or wraith suit and they pretty much never took damage and were great at forcing enemies to reposition to spots that were worse for them. That being said their melee defense suffers from overwatch penalties right? Even with an accuracy PCS it wasn't that reliable at hitting things.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:41
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Tae posted:Blade Rangers are really, really good at killing Sectoids in the super early parts of the game. It's too bad for them that this just means they get killed by free panic shots. 
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Feb 13, 2016 17:42
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Oh hello, ranger who just got Serial from the AWS. This should be fun.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:44
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Feb 13, 2016 17:47
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Tae posted:Both sides of the classes usually fill a niche that can't be done by others. Except Blade Rangers. Nothing Blade Rangers do isn't done better in their specific contribution by some other class. They're not bad in terms of being useless, but the worst of the class roles. Blade rangers are the only ones that can reliably eliminate multiple codex clones in one turn, and move over three full moves. The slash attack is the only freely repeatable attack that gives you the full hit rate before you do anything.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:48
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Mr.Pibbleton posted:I used an aid protocol on a ranger using a dodge pcs in a spider or wraith suit and they pretty much never took damage and were great at forcing enemies to reposition to spots that were worse for them. That being said their melee defense suffers from overwatch penalties right? Even with an accuracy PCS it wasn't that reliable at hitting things. Really, the main problem is that a scoped shotgun fills the same niche as the machete. Except the shotgun is/can easily be made more accurate, does more damage, and isn't as prone to activating pods when your Ranger just moved out of cover into an easily flankable position. And shotgun Rangers aren't something I've seen anyone mention as OP, they're just good at doing their job. Edit: Okay, they pick up Reaper eventually, but then any Sharpshooter build can do the same thing. Also, picking Reaper means not picking Rapid Fire, which is not something I'd ever want to do.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:48
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Fangz posted:Blade rangers are the only ones that can reliably eliminate multiple codex clones in one turn, and move over three full moves. If you used your run and gun, with 100% hit, and 100% crit, you don't actually get clones to start with. Then implacable to move wherever you please. Unless you meant class, in which case serial says hi. The moving stuff is sort of pointless if you find yourself trapped far from your squad, or overextended without adequate fire support, or revealing too much. Nah, not seeing it really. It's all good if you enjoy that sort of thing though, I 'spose.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:51
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And seriously, what the gently caress is even a blade ranger? Is it some weird hypothetical class that trades in his shotgun? Because you get both a shotgun (or a rifle) AND a sword, and it's not necessary that the sword replaces the shotgun. This whole argument is dumb.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:52
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Moogle posted:If you used your run and gun, with 100% hit, and 100% crit, you don't actually get clones to start with. Then implacable to move wherever you please. Yes, that makes sense if you only get 1 codex pods. Which you don't. So. This entire freaking argument is just people not using all the tools at their disposal being critical of people who do. Everything sucks if you don't put in the time to see how they are useful. Fangz fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 17:54
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Jabor posted:It's not really a "bug" as such, just a really bad edge case in how line-of-sight works. Sounds about right 
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Feb 13, 2016 17:54
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Rangers are great when you go full on Foxhound during a Retaliation mission and start sneaking out civvies while the enemy are focusing on the rest of your team. Faceless can throw a wrench in that, but your squad can biff a scanner and see who's clean.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:56
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Fangz posted:Yes, that makes sense if you only get 1 codex pods. Which you don't. So. You're quite right, the other five soldiers (including your sniper) are all asleep. You are right that this is silly to bicker over (and you're even going as far as to question the initial definition) so I'll qualify it for you: I firmly believe Blademaster, Bladestorm and Reaper are terrible perk choices given their competition, and it would be nice if they were rebalanced to not make melee options bad, because the opportunity cost of investing in melee is far too high for far too flaky an outcome. We are talking about X-Com perks in the X-Com thread, which is probably still an okay thing to do.
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Feb 13, 2016 17:58
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Yesterday's topic: People yelling at each other about blade rangers Today's topic: "" New topic please, I propose animated gifs of physics bugs
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Feb 13, 2016 17:59
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just had a civvy rescue mission where I started on top of a building, every civilian was in the building or just inside, the only enemies were two faceless. 100% civilians saved
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Feb 13, 2016 18:01
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Moogle posted:You're quite right, the other five soldiers (including your sniper) are all asleep. Blademaster is good because it's an early game damage buff that doesn't require any resources, that turns swords into an instakill (if you hit) on all starting enemies, something no other class has or does on higher difficulties. Given that the early game is freaking hard, this is important. Phantom's usefulness doesn't stack with multiple rangers, and with small squad sizes having one trooper sit out of combat hurts like hell. Bladestorm I don't use much of, but other people love it. Reaper can be a really strong solution to large crowds, in combination with the wide variety of AOE options. Yes, there is serial, but there is also fan fire/lightning hands/quick draw and chain shot to replace rapid fire for single target damage. Even if you have serial, reaper can be more reliable in many situations. If you view rangers as mainly concealed scouts that come out of concealment when things go terribly wrong, the situation where reaper saves you (gently caress, my screen is filled with bad guys) is more dangerous and more difficult to escape than the situation where rapid fire saves you. (one tough guy who needs two shotgun shots to kill) Whether you want to use them is up to you, but they are far from 'terrible'. Fangz fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 18:08
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My gut feeling is that swords were significantly better before release and they got a bit over nerfed in their final balance pass.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:08
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I have never seen a mission go south this fast. It was a "destroy the object before the transmission completes" mission. On the first turn, my Specialist hacked a tower that gave him control of a random enemy... an archon floating right next to the objective. Meanwhile, my Psi Ops dominated a Shieldbearer, which was awesome. Unfortunately, gaining control of an enemy that far into the map meant that we activated every pod at once. It was going fine for a while, because my actual soldiers were so far away and we completed the objective very quickly, but things quickly spiraled out of control when the Gatekeeper got involved. By the end, most of the squad was wounded and one stupid trooper with one stupid HP was left. He moved, my sniper missed her Kill Zone shot, and he killed my best Grenadier. RIP, Colonel Naja "Hightower" Gamede. You were with me from the start.  Incidentally, I don't think I've ever seen a soldier reach "bleeding out" status in this. Any time one of my soldiers have died, it's just straight to death. Did they vastly reduce the chance of that happening in XCOM 2?
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Feb 13, 2016 18:29
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Fintilgin posted:My gut feeling is that swords were significantly better before release and they got a bit over nerfed in their final balance pass. Yeah, as much as I liked my blade ranger, I felt like they needed the most assistance from other classes to create a situation in which they'd be good.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:30
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Fangz posted:Blademaster turns swords into an instakill (if you hit) on all starting enemies Also, how can you guarantee that a Reaper Ranger can even reach a single Codex clone past the initial one when those things teleport anywhere within Squad LOS? Harrow posted:Unfortunately, gaining control of an enemy that far into the map meant that we activated every pod at once. It was going fine for a while, because my actual soldiers were so far away and we completed the objective very quickly, but things quickly spiraled out of control when the Gatekeeper got involved. By the end, most of the squad was wounded and one stupid trooper with one stupid HP was left. He moved, my sniper missed her Kill Zone shot, and he killed my best Grenadier.    I only got half my A team injured when that happened (and my snek died for nothing), but yeah, that hacking reward must be the biggest trap there is. I will continue falling into it, because controlling enemies is fun, but man can it ever gently caress you over.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:37
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Fintilgin posted:My gut feeling is that swords were significantly better before release and they got a bit over nerfed in their final balance pass. Sounds all too likely really.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:37
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A reminder: The no-miss sword mod exists and is next to mandatory.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:42
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"Ironman Legend, what could possibly go wrong?" I say to myself, starting the game. 3 missions and 5 rookies shot through solid walls later, I think I answered my own question. Also 10HP Sectoids can gently caress aaaaall the way off.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:45
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victrix posted:Yesterday's topic: People yelling at each other about blade rangers
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Feb 13, 2016 18:57
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Controversial opinion: Snipers rule, gunslingers drool.
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Feb 13, 2016 18:59
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Fangz posted:Blademaster is good because it's an early game damage buff that doesn't require any resources, that turns swords into an instakill (if you hit) on all starting enemies, something no other class has or does on higher difficulties. Given that the early game is freaking hard, this is important. Phantom's usefulness doesn't stack with multiple rangers, and with small squad sizes having one trooper sit out of combat hurts like hell. Fair enough chap, well argued opinions. I should try out the never-miss mod and see if it gets me over the bias, because that and the low output of Reaper are my main bugbears there. e: I don't know how they handled the mod, but if Blademaster allowed +3 damage and weapon mods to work on the blade, and Bladestorm allowed ammo effects to work on it, and Reaper added a flat +20% hit and crit I would bitch less I think. Salt n Reba McEntire fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 19:01
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Nothing is more satisfying than running a Gunslinger in the middle of a shitfest and having it fire 10 enemies at once.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:01
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Major Roberta "Smokey" DeLuca: a Grenadier with Guardian. On the first turn of a retaliation mission, I set her up on overwatch because I didn't have anything better to do. A pack of chryssalids happened to run by. She took an overwatch shot--killed one. Guardian triggered, she hit another. Guardian triggered, she finished it off. Guardian triggered, she killed the last one. God drat. I couldn't help but to applaud.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:04
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Tae posted:Nothing is more satisfying than running a Gunslinger in the middle of a shitfest and having it fire 10 enemies at once. Face Off is cool as gently caress, but I think Kill Zone beats it out, even when KZ bugs out and doesn't proc a shot on everyone in the cone. It's still a pistol shot when all's said and done, and you need some serious setup with grenades and ammo to do a full wipe. I imagine using it to mass-apply poison or burning might be better, but I'd think tossing a bomb is the better option.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:09
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toasterwarrior posted:Face Off is cool as gently caress, but I think Kill Zone beats it out, even when KZ bugs out and doesn't proc a shot on everyone in the cone. It's still a pistol shot when all's said and done, and you need some serious setup with grenades and ammo to do a full wipe. Yeah Face-Off is probably best with fire/venom ammo. Against single targets, the 'it's just a pistol shot' issue is somewhat less pronounced because even without using active abilities, a gunslinger can use both actions to shoot. And then, of course, Lightning Hands/Fan Fire produce pretty good single target damage every few turns. Fan Fire doesn't even end the round when used as first action! Bluescreen ammo can also be situationally nice since it really wrecks sectopods when you can throw that bonus damage at them like, 5 times in one turn with full gunslinger cooldown use. Edit: Just beat the game and Superior Repeater was employee of the month. My psion was hurt, so I pull her back. As she starts moving, the victory Steam achievement already pops up. Hm, I think. Let's see what happens. As she pulls back she triggers the pod with the last objective enemy I need to kill. The enemy runs at me, triggers overwatch from my medic, who I had just freed from mind control earlier in the turn, and her repeater procs, oneshotting the final important enemy on his first appearance. Welp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfTgxrxL9ug Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 19:13
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Wizard Styles posted:It doesn't. Alright, with the exception of Advent officers on impossible. Otherwise you have ADVENT trooper 4 hp ADVENT officer 5 hp on commander Sectoid 10 hp, takes double damage from melee. Sword with blademaster does 5-7. Meanwhile shotgun does 4-6, while assault rifle and unupgraded sword does 3-5, and grenades do 3-4. quote:Also, how can you guarantee that a Reaper Ranger can even reach a single Codex clone past the initial one when those things teleport anywhere within Squad LOS?
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Feb 13, 2016 19:14
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That's a good point re: Reaper and Codex clones, and I enjoy this mental image of out-animeing Codexes by running around and slashing them like a cyborg ninja being one of the best ways to use Reaper.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:17
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Do bluescreen rounds do bonus damage to both forms of andromedons?
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Feb 13, 2016 19:19
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I love how this thread alternates between "swords are garbage" and "buffing swords is OP". try having swords that aren't garbage
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Feb 13, 2016 19:24
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Internet Kraken posted:Do bluescreen rounds do bonus damage to both forms of andromedons? Only the second, sadly.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:24
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So after beating the game on Veteran I've been giving Commander Ironman a go and the RNG is absolutely killing me. I've already retreated from 2 missions where I was down to 1 alien, but this last one I had a muton down to 1 hp and I had a perfect flanking opportunity so I went for it. My specialist then proceeded to miss a point blank shot at >85% chance to hit. My sharpshooter also had a perfect shot and she missed as well. Then, miraculously, the muton missed his melee attack. So of course this meant I had to miss my next point blank shot. And of course the sharpshooter missed as well. Finally the muton kills my specialist and then gets put down by the sharpshooter, who finished the mission as a gravely wounded sole survivor. I also get into a lot of situations where I'll have a nearly-dead alien run through 5 soldiers' medium-range overwatch fire and then murder the one person you really needed, either the one soldier who still had a grenade left or the medic. Also if you use your last grenade to destroy the cover of a nearly-dead muton centurion, you'd better count on your entire team missing their 75% CTH shots to finish him off. I love this game even though it is so cruel to me.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:31
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counterfeitsaint posted:If you end a mission with an enemy mind controlled, their body does not show up on your loot list. Where does that body go? HOW DID YOU MISPLACE YOUR SECTOPOD SPECIALIST? This happened to a gatekeeper corpse I needed for... ...something.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:32
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Anybody know how wounds are calculated? I had two soldiers go down to 5/7 HP on a mission, one is now out for 22 days (gravely wounded) and the other is out 11 (wounded). Viper constriction for the former, stun lancer for the latter.
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Feb 13, 2016 19:33
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