All of the choices are based on my personal experiance and opinion. I did not include the alien craft equipment (examination, entertainment, etc etc) or autopys because they give (useless but still background) info. Don't complain about some of the choices because again the options above to "me" (KEY WORD) are useless.

Edited... Reword to least useful.

-PSY GUY-

I'm not going to vote[1], since I do not find any of the equipment on that list to be useless.

 

I am of the belief that all of the weapons and tools in UFO have their merits, although some have more than others (i.e. heavy plasmas)[2]. You just have to acknowledge their shortcomings and try not to use them beyond what they are capable of (i.e. shooting a sectopod with a standard pistol[3])

 

But please, don't just vote. If you can, justify the reason behind your vote. It makes for better discussion.

 

- NKF

 

[1] I'm not voting because I dislike polls. No. It's just hard to think in absolutes when not enough options are available. But in this case, I wouldn't have voted anyway. Just my opinion.

 

[2] TFTD is an exception, as I believe that the dart pistol is by far the weakest weapon in the entire series. Yes, entire series. Blame this on one very bad experience with a lobsterman.

 

[3] Okay, okay, so it may work once in a blue moon. But on a regular basis, no.

Ok i see what you are saying and i should reword it. Which thing do you think has the least use. Better?

 

-PSY GUY-

Well, it does clarify things.

 

But what I'm really getting at is that I'm just a weirdo who thinks everything in UFO is useful. Is all.

 

- NKF

You asked for it...Things I learned from NKF &/or personal experience.

 

Mind Probe: Useful on Capture missions, for answering the questions "Is this alien a Commander, and does he have TUs/energy left to return fire?" Bring 1. Give to Joe Rookie who has lots of TUs but not much else.

 

Motion Detector: "Where is that last alien?" or "How many behind the door?" Bring 1.

 

Smoke Grenades: Hot LZ's. Does affect visibility range like heavy brush. Your guys can fire from inside the cloud if someone else spots an alien. I bring 2.

 

Lightning: Using one of these in my game right now. Bring extra rookies instead of HWPs - I'm constantly running only 2/3 full. Good for "boot camp".

 

Plasma pistol: This I voted as most useless. I skip straight to Heavy Plasma research but still pack a few laser pistols for the grenade-throwers and scouts.

 

Heavy Laser: I haven't done much with this but I might try NKF's idea of equipping snipers with them. XCOMUTIL can give this autofire, but we'll ignore that.

 

Craft Cannon: Hey, it can bring down a UFO. Once, for a laugh, I harassed small UFO's with a dual-cannon Firestorm.

 

that's my two cents

Quartermaster JG

I admit to being a little intoxicated (an office party), so either it's that or my inate stupidity that's blurring the question of the poll. Are we expressing what on the list is most useless, what on the list best fits the description "stuff" or something else?

 

Assuming we're talking about the most useless things, I'd vote for the last item "other", referring to this poll, but I guess I'll go for the plasma pistol, although it was a close call.

 

Cazbol

Lightning definitely. All that time researching and building it, it costs a bomb, you can't take any tanks inside it, you can walk through the wall in the corners, it has an ugly interior, a short power source and legs that look like sticks, and I just think that in general it is a complete waste of time!

I voted for motion detector, because I never use it. It's a waste of TU's and takes up a very valuable slot on my 80 item list.

 

I like the Lightning for quick response on terror sites, as well as for basic training missions. It can shoot down anything medium and below with ease and drop a squad of rookies to clear it.

 

I also use the craft cannons when it comes time to snag an ethereal for research purposes. I wait until I get a very small ethereal ship, and make sure to hit it with cannons so that I don't destroy it. It's much easier to capture an ethereal when all his buddies aren't trying to mind control you or shoot you.

 

I agree with JG on the mind probe and smoke grenades.

 

I occasionally use the Heavy Laser as a sniper weapon, but the drawback is that you need a soldier with a considerably high accuracy to offset the weapon's low accuracy rating.

 

As for plasma pistols, I have used them on occasion. They're much more effective against Mutons than laser pistols are. On a Muton mission, I always give them to my heavy weapons personnel as a sidearm.

I go for the Craft cannon, I've always found them useless, and when I usually face ethereals I already have psi, so either I control them or my soldiers are psi good

The lightning is my call, being close to the smoke grenade. The greandes give maybe a square or two of sight loss: which doesn't slow aliens down too much, given how long it takes to prime/throw them.

 

But anyway, the lightning. In UFO, I can get my paws on the avenger mere minutes after I could have built a lightning, and given that the avenger is superiour, that about says it all.

 

It takes longer to get the leviathon in TFTD, but even then I don't build hammerheads

 

On the other hand, mantas/firestorms are dead useful

I agree completely! The firestorms looked cool on the encyclopedia but I don't recall ever using them for anything...

And bearing in mind that the bug on my tftd game STILL haunts me I don't know what hammerheads, mantas or leviathans are like...

On the original box of the game (there are a few but im talking about the one with the spaceship on the front) that looks sooo cool and i wish you could use the transport ship shown in the introduction movie

I think I voiced my opinion about this before... I got the box with the alien on the front in the UFO lettering but I've seen the ship you mean.

 

I just figured that maybe that ship was the Avenger but it had all those other modules built in for the journey to Mars and the return flight back... Extra food and accomodation for the soldiers for example. Plus they're going to need a heck of a lot of elerium fuel in that baby to make the round trip! The big gun thing? Now there I'm at a loss but maybe some kind of booster or a refueling thingy...

i no wat u mean about the boxes (there are so many, but u can see them all at mobygames) i have 2, the one with the alien on the front and the budget box where it just says UFO

 

And wat do u think of that transport ship in the introduction sequence?

I have the budget one I think. It has the alien kind of in the writing doesn't it...

How many boxes are there? I thought there was only one with the ship and one with the alien... (and the budget one too)

hold on, ill find it and put the link up

Heres the link to the UFO boxes:

 

https://www.mobygames.com/game/covers/gameId,521/

 

Heres the link to the TFTD boxes:

 

https://www.mobygames.com/game/covers/gameId,543/

 

Heres the link to the Apocalypse boxes:

 

https://www.mobygames.com/game/covers/gameId,349/

 

If you want the rest just ask

I would have voted for the aircraft's laser cannon, but since that wasn't listed, i voted for the cannon.

I alsways thought the intro ship was just a varient of the skyranger: They are a bit simaler.

It was a tough choice! I never use so many things on the list!

 

Ultimately I went for the Heavy Laser. It is too slow to fire and expensive/timely to bother building. You may argue about the extra punch, but two rifle blasts will sort out anything a single Hvy will. If you really want the extra punch, that's what plasma rifles are for!

 

The craft cannon is pretty useless. I admit, when I saw the poll I thought you meant the Cannon Tank, otherwise I probably would have picked this. The tanks are OK and all, but the carry less bash than 4 guys, take less damage than 4 guys, are less tactically flexible than 4 guys, etc...

 

Oh, the lightning!! Seeing the stats for it, I have never ever built one. Why would you?

 

Smoke grenades are OK if you lob a few into a gap to really obscure vision. Especially effective at night. Really they need to be a lot more TU effective to be of use though, and ultimately are only useful to mitigate tactical errors, or reduce the number of fronts you're facing at one time. I don't use them anymore.

 

I am suprised that you don't have the det-packs. Sure, they're powerful, but they are so inflexible tactically... A grenade or two will do me every time! That said I quite enjoy proximity grenades. I throw them about like I'm sowing wheat. It's always gratifying to hear a boom followed by alien death gurgles.

 

Plasma pistols are OK as they are quick firing, making them a nice side arm. The down side is that you have to be bothered bringing them and ammo, so I don't worry about it in the end.

Have you seen a soldier with 40 strength toss a Hi-X pack about? Just wait till you get 70!

 

I think that's all I'll say.

 

- NKF

Hmmm... actually I kinda assumed that it had to be used as a set device, put it down and don't touch. May give it a go If I play at a harder setting again.

 

nb: I say if, cos I'm having trouble getting it to run on my new PC. Even with moslow on the slowest setting, it's just too fast. It also crashes a lot.

Other: the incendiary rocket.

lol... Did you realise this thread was over 2 years old when you replied?

which is funny coz now im going to reply... Smoke Grenade... im not the tactical person as of yet so I don't use em much..