Conventional with superhuman difficulty

[Kratos]

For some reason when I all of a sudden have the Heavy Plasma, I don't use it because it takes all the fun out of superhuman difficulty. Am I the only one that does this?

[Blehm 98]

well, i am one of the few people out there who NEVER gives all of my men heavy plasmas and BBs only

 

I always keep 1 or 2 plasma rifles, 1 or 2 laser rifles, 2 heavy lasers, 4-6 heavy plasmas, and a rocket or BB launcher

 

HPs make up the majority of my firepower, but i still keep a large variety

i also sometimes bring heavy cannons with me

 

but i cannot stand using only heavy plasmas, they are just to unbalanced

[Kratos]

Well I bring 2 heavy cannons with 2 rounds of AP and the rest rifles only. I say let the bullets fly But I do bring regular grenades occasionally (but I never practically use them)

 

I don't pay attention to losses. The battle always results in my favor so I don't care about them.

[Zombie]

To make things more interesting on Superhuman, I ignore Heavy Plasmas and Blaster Launchers. Instead, I have been playing a game with only Heavy Lasers and Rocket Launchers. The lack of an auto shot and immense weight of the Heavy Laser really puts hair on your chest. If that's not enough, the Rocket Launcher needs a clear line-of-sight to the target to hit it. Needless to say, this type of restriction makes a person rethink strategy a bit.

 

Hovertanks (any type) are outlawed too. It's much more fun to play with the normal land-based tanks.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Hmm, I remember I played a rocket launcher only campaign at one time. Apart from using stun rods to capture a navigator, a leader and a commander, I think I pulled it off quite well. I stopped playing a bit after meeting the ethereals, but I can certainly say that it was quite an interesting game. I only stopped at the time because I'd been distracted by something else and never returned to it. It wasn't because of the superhuman sectopods, but they were certainly tough.

 

Not only are the rockets heavy for new recruits (What, I should've used small rockets? Heaven forbid!), they are severely limited so you have to be very careful when firing each and every rocket. I had to pull out of a few missions because I'd wasted all my ammunition. Both humbling and a good learning experience.

 

 

---

 

Back to the topic in question:

 

Yes, I hardly ever bring any heavy plasmas as well. I always pick them up in the field, but otherwise, I use a mix of pretty much everything else but the standard rifles and standard grenades. (The rifles beacuse I like long range snapshots, and the pistol fits that a lot better, and the laser pistol is just plain better at short range autofire. The grenades because....well, high explosives. That's my excuse. .)

 

The plasma rifle is special. I keep one or two rifles and hoard the ammo, so I tend to bring it along for my long range sniper - of which I only have one, and that's which ever person is wearing the flying suit. Speaking of armour, I mainly keep my troops on the ground, and recruits get personal armour, and their chaparones get power armour. Yes, I'm a bit of a scrooge. Bah humbug.

 

Blasters, I keep mainly for surgical strikes on alien bases or when I just can't be bothered.

 

The psi amp is the other item that, for myself, has fallen out of use. I research it, but I don't use it for actual combat. The game's pretty much over once you can mind control left and right anyway. But that's not to say its not a useful item. It's just that, for me, it ends up becoming a crutch. I've always found that my strategies get worse after I get a bit too reliant on mind control, which is why I've chosen to reduce its usage.

 

- NKF

[Jasonred]

Psi-Amp? Strategy? ... In what way do the two words mix? ... I'm speaking from experience, too many games where I sack everyone without 80+ psi strength, and give a Psi-Amp to everyone with 90+. brrr...

 

I like the "Xenophobic" challenge some people came up with. Earth based technology only. Researching alien artifacts is ok, but no using or manufacturing them.

 

The "pacifist" challenge also intrigues me. Stun only! wah. Hmmm... I suppose Psi-Amps in this case might turn the campaign into something... quite interesting. For a while anyhow. hmmm....

[JellyfishGreen]

I'm just at the cusp of my Superhuman game (July '99) where I've finished my first psi lab. At the end of August I'll know who the real psupermen are. I might try playing without the psi-amp but there's still a good reason for sacking the psissies. I've got a sectoid base in Siberia and I just had a go at taking it out it with an Avenger's worth of troops and tanks.

 

I'm playing for "minimal losses". Did well for about two rounds, dropping everything that moved, then the psi-attacks started. At round 8 I had about 4 functional units left. It was down to 2-on-1 at round 10.

 

I've tried NKF's conventional pistol ideas on other landing sites, but is a laser pistol enough for superhuman cyberdisks? I forget.

[NKF]

Let's put it this way: A laser pistol will kill anything but a superhuman sectopod, given enough shots.

 

But no worries, laser pistols will indeed kill a cyberdisc. The real trick is to get the laser pistol to actually hit them.

 

Psissies... heh. Good god man, what have you started?

 

- NKF

 

edit: Actually, it's theoretically possible to kill a superhuman sectopod with the laser pistol, BUT, it would take forever and would be at an incredibly small damage level, like 1 hitpoint if the shot does damage, until you can do enough damage to its armour (if any). But at the length of time you'd be facing to do any significant amount of damage, you'd probably already have been turned into bubbly gooey puddle courtesy of the sectopod's plasma turret.

[Kratos]

The only thing I do with psi, is make sure my men have enough psi strength to overcome those ethereals. But since I am playing with conventional, it really doesn't seem so bad not doing so. Yes I realize the pistol has better snap, but I prefer rifle over it because 1) you don't have to reload as often 2) its aim shot helps me fire to the top of buildings when I am on the ground 3) its auto-shot can serve a good purpose for up-close encounters 4) A couple damage more (lol, who really cares about that )

 

I hate using the rifle against cyberdiscs and sectopods. That is when I bring my HC man in, or if him/his equipment is unavailable, I use regular grenades as well for this situation since the 4 square units such as reapers, tanks, and cybersdiscs will get damaged 4 times on impact, making them more vulnerable.

[JellyfishGreen]

I remember an early Superhuman Sectoid Terror Site, regular grenades were useless on Super-Cyberdisks even on direct hits. The HE packs didn't work on less than a direct hit either. Maybe my numbers just came up funny that day.

[Jasonred]

I remember an early Superhuman Sectoid Terror Site, regular grenades were useless on Super-Cyberdisks even on direct hits. The HE packs didn't work on less than a direct hit either. Maybe my numbers just came up funny that day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I know a direct hit Heavy Rocket will kill even Super-Cyberdisks. So, maybe HE-packs should too?

 

I remember very few weapons harming a Super Sectopod though...

[NKF]

Large rockets and high explosives. Well, you won't get instant kills, but you certainly can kill them with said weapons.

 

High explosives are indeed powerful against superhuman cyberdiscs.

 

- NKF

[Fishfins]

I used to use psi a lot... it was great fun, I'd 'encourage' sectoids to surrender, then execute them with a firing squad. Nowadays, it takes the fun out of the game. Regular rifles all the way!

 

I have a soft spot for pistols. I only equip Specialists with them though, when I come up close to a snakeman I'd rather take him down with a 3-round burst than with a few blind shots from a little pistol.