Knockout blows

[PPharoah]

Anyone have any tips or pointers for knocking out an enemy? I try, get a critical and they die and I end up failing the mission! LOL

 

I have a bunch of grenades and am unable to have people throw them, when I equip them and use right click to attack it switches to my primary weapon! Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Martian base commander]

Well Pharaoh.

 

Early on in the game the best way to knock them out is to nominate ONE of your squad members to attack the target,dont gang up on it,then order him/her to aim SINGLE shots at the target,until it collapses to the ground.This may be risky if the target is near to your team,in which case you may have to then switch to burst-fire (if you have a weapon that does that).As the target lies on the floor,quickly get someone with a medikit to then heal the target,and it SHOULD be under your control then.

As far as throwing grenades,it may be a bug you have.Other than that,just place the grenade into their RIGHT hand,press the 'attack' button,then a yellow direction indicator SHOULD appear coming out of your mans' hand.This indicates how far the grenade can be thrown for example.Just click a target square and cover your ears!

[PPharoah]

Well Pharaoh.

 

Early on in the game the best way to knock them out is to nominate ONE of your squad members to attack the target,dont gang up on it,then order him/her to aim SINGLE shots at the target,until it collapses to the ground.This may be risky if the target is near to your team,in which case you may have to then switch to burst-fire (if you have a weapon that does that).As the target lies on the floor,quickly get someone with a medikit to then heal the target,and it SHOULD be under your control then.

As far as throwing grenades,it may be a bug you have.Other than that,just place the grenade into their RIGHT hand,press the 'attack' button,then a yellow direction indicator SHOULD appear coming out of your mans' hand.This indicates how far the grenade can be thrown for example.Just click a target square and cover your ears!

 

Thank you! I was able to throw a white Phosphorous grenade with a guy who has Heroic in throwing, but I had to get real close and he got nailed in the blast! Is there a way to tell where I can throw them and not get my team in the radius?

 

It took me several tries to not kill the cultist cleric when I was trying to knock him out but I finally managed it thanks to your instruction, thanks again M8!

[Martian base commander]

No problem.

 

As a rule of thumb I would employ common sense when throwing grenades.Keep your team well back,and wait for the detonation.Dont forget,grenades CAN veer slightly from their intended path sometimes,so again,use caution.Later on when Grenade Launchers become available hand helds become obsolete.I myself however still like using Phosphorous grenades and I always carry a few in reserve.The blast radius from a grenade isnt TOO big so you shouldnt be in any real danger,as long as you keep your team well back.

An ideal role for a grenade in my opinion is as a room clearer,or to prepare your team for a room assault (with 'flashbang' grenades).

Lastly,when knocking out opponents,better equipment is available later on,and some of these items are specifically designed for incapacitating foes.

Let me know if you still have problems with grenades.

[PPharoah]

No problem.

 

As a rule of thumb I would employ common sense when throwing grenades.Keep your team well back,and wait for the detonation.Dont forget,grenades CAN veer slightly from their intended path sometimes,so again,use caution.Later on when Grenade Launchers become available hand helds become obsolete.I myself however still like using Phosphorous grenades and I always carry a few in reserve.The blast radius from a grenade isnt TOO big so you shouldnt be in any real danger,as long as you keep your team well back.

An ideal role for a grenade in my opinion is as a room clearer,or to prepare your team for a room assault (with 'flashbang' grenades).

Lastly,when knocking out opponents,better equipment is available later on,and some of these items are specifically designed for incapacitating foes.

Let me know if you still have problems with grenades.

 

 

Can I use any other type of grenade in the launcher than a 20mm? It seems to only take those:(

[Martian base commander]

Yes,I think that 20mm are the standard for grenade launchers.

If you want to move a step up and use more interesting ammo try the LAW (light anti tank weapon),that is able to use explosive and incendiary rockets.The LAW is also one of my favourites and is quite good for taking out groups of soft targets.

[Acth]

Another hint for capturing alient/cultists, use the slowest game speed (other than pause, of course). I'll concentrate fire on the target and hover my mouse over it until he's unconsious, then I'll pause and cancel all attacks against him. The only weapons I would avoind are ones that will take them from injured to dead in one hit..ie shotgun or .50 cal sniper..Submachine guns at close range are good b/c the low damage per hit reduces the odds of a critical accidently killing you target.

 

BTW, I find grenades are crap..they never land where they should, and if they do, you can guarantee that the target has moved as the grenade floats through the air..I suppose they have merit for clearing crowded rooms though.

[GigiDuru]

BTW, I find grenades are crap..they never land where they should, and if they do, you can guarantee that the target has moved as the grenade floats through the air..I suppose they have merit for clearing crowded rooms though.

I agree. In Aftermath I used lots of grenades in the first missions, as they were far more powerful than any weapon I had at the time (and unlimited and free too that is).

 

In Aftershock I only threw one, it "floated" far slower than the opponent moved, result was zero damage. Never tried again.

[Lord_Drezden]

I've found that hand grenades are best thrown at spots on the ground, and not at the enemy...

they work great around corners or from behind an enemy who is shooting at someone else (grenades take a long time to throw)

 

20mm grenades seem to hit the target a lot more

[bovine_cannibal]

A bit more on capturing aliens & trangenants in the early game.

 

I almost always use reticulan laser rifles, sometimes even in an aimed burst. The combination of low damage, low enemy resistance, and high accuracy/low recoil/great range makes this a very flexible and dependable weapon for taking out unarmored opponents of any species, though ammo is sometimes difficult to come by, sometimes plentiful.

 

On the tougher mutants, I often have three level 1 soldiers aim bursts at the target, especially ones I have a feel for how many hits they can take(experience, not a scout, though see enemy hitpoints ability would be useful). I have to do this on slow, but with care, a few single shots and a bit of luck, you won't even need a medikit. When I'm in a more pressing situation, I just burst fire until they drop, and immediately cancel fire. While the latter may need a medikit, morelmen take a lot longer to bleed to death than my puny humans.

 

My first priority after incapacitating the target is to take down any hostiles that have me pinned down to my position. I don't want to lose a soldier to capture a relatively insignificant mutant, after all. Note that I don't necessarily take down all hostiles, just the ones posing an immediate threat.

 

My second priority is NOT healing the mutant, but getting a soldier by its side, ASAP. It is very handy to know whether I need a medikit at all, or whether I just have to wait for the stun to wear off. If its merely a matter of stun, having a soldier next to it means I wont have to shoot a few more rounds into it. Many enemies take a lot longer to bleed to death than my puny humans. Once nearby you can see the exact temporary damage and bleeding damage, so I can provide a pretty good estimate of how long I can risk not healing the target.

 

Here's where my plan branches. If I've got the spare time, I take out anyone who poses even a minor threat to the capture. Once I start the healing, the capture will come under enemy fire. Since you'll maybe be healing 80/100 hitpoints of damage, you'll stop the bleeding, but a good breeze could knock the victim back down, and waste 5 seconds of healing.

 

If the situation is urgent, I prioritize healing and consider using other soldiers as meatshields, standing between the target/healer and enemy fire. If you are using expendable level ones, and win the mission, meatshields are a viable tactic. While cyborgs have better default energy protection, humans make the best meatshields because it will only take 50 lowtech to replace them, though the cost will go up even for level ones, later in the game. Of course, the downside is that the humans aren't happy about being used as suicide troops. Fortunately, I rarely need to mooch resources off of the human faction.

 

On a completely different note:

Capture missions can actually be easier on veteran than the lowest difficulty. That is, as long as you don't die. Doing 40% more damage can make the difference between killing a target and merely incapicitating it if you are using any weapons meaner than a laser weapon, and not firing single shots. On veteran, I don't have to worry quite as much about how many rounds I pump into my target as I would on newbie. Of course, newbie would allow more caution and hence allow you to slowly wear down a target.

 

General comments:

I would love it if cenega/altar modified the pause options to include icapicitation of enemies. I might turn it on and off in options, but it would be wonderful on these capture missions. With lower level soldiers and low powered weapons, criticals aren't as much of a threat. Obviously, the above advice and weaponry isn't as effective once the enemy starts launching rockets at you. NEVER try to capture an alien with a shotgun, if you must, hope you miss and only do weaker scatter damage.

[bovine_cannibal]

Damage Types VFS INFO Simplified

The following information is taken from unpacking gamedata.vfs.

\strategic\configs\stratgame\equipment\dmgtype.txt

I've eliminated many lines and formating that are only useful for modders.

From a fractional perspective, lasers are the most effective early game weapon for captures.

They apply 10% of their damage as permanent, 70% temporary, 20% stun.

Soft ammo applies 20% permanent, 65% temporary, 15% stun.

Blade applies 35%, 65%, 0%.

Surprisingly burn and explosive types only do 10% permanent damage.

 

Since enough permanent damage causes death, and enough temporary damage causes bleeding, this makes lasers theoretically more efficent from a capturing viewpoint.

[infael]

If you've a 3rd level sniper, shoot the arms or legs. I tend to shoot the arm first, to disarm him, then the leg to cripple him.

[laclongquan]

On capture, the ret psi blaster can stun enemies just fine. I always pack one psionic with that gun as a stunner/medic. If they are close enough for a blast, they are close enough for a quick mosey. Rely too much on laser can bring a world of hurt, as I want to reduce sickbay time: overkill rather than underkill, as laser tend to.

 

At 12 days before the walnut hit, and not even research cultist threat yet, i got 4 blasters using the ret energy cells, the sole demand on that resource.

[ERISS]

Yes, and very later you'll have the sonic weapons.

[laclongquan]

I sooooo regret an earlier mission where the escortee got a sonic weapon. I didnt know at the time to rob him of that. Transportation fee dontchaknow?

 

Most profitable is defense mission with allies. After getting the Finish mission yes/no, press yes, then rob the allies all their equipments.

 

Escort is good because the escortee generally have good weapons.

 

It's a great pity we cant rob armor/helmet.