Two or onegun, which is better

[jwh]

I'm a XCOM 1 veteran who recently started Apocalypse. I'm wondering when equipping my soldiers to fight in real timewhether should I use one or two guns.

 

You see, I know that for the bigger weapons which require two hands that you will suffer an accuracy bonus if you try to shoot with just one hand. Which means that i can end up wasting ammo which is relatively scarce in the early game. On the other hand if I use two weapons it doubles my rate of fire ( I think ) and should double my chances of hitting the enemy.

 

In your experience fellow apocalypse players which should I go for?

[The Veteran]

The only advantage of carrying two weapons is that you can choose which to use without switching for one in your backpack. Whichever weapon you highlight in the bar is the one that you fire when you give the order. I'd say you want one M4K for each of your guys then load their belts with stun and HE grenades. A couple of heavies are also useful for the tougher missions but they aren't necesarily vital. I tend to get away with my M4s early on...

[jwh]

Thanks Veteran, I was under the impression from some of the posts that I had seen in various Xcom Forums that a soldier with two weapons would fire both of them at the same time.

 

I've been using mostly autocannons with either incendiary or HE ammo. I believe that they have a wider radius if damage then ordinary HP ammo and thus even if I get a near miss it should still do some damage. I've been wary of the Machine guns because they are rather inaccurate and seem to waste a lot of ammo.

[jwh]

A question, How do I determine if a weapon is a one handed or a two handed. So far I've been assuming that it' s a matter of size and name. e.g the plasma gun, law pistol, toxigun and disruptor guns all look small, so I assume that they are one handed weapons.

 

On the other hand the laser sniper gun, Devatator Cannon, autocannon and M4000 Machine gun all look big so I would believe that they are two handed.

 

--------------------

[NKF]

Dual guns in turn based combat is a complete waste of time, as you can only fire one weapon at any given time. However, theres' no penalty for holding dual h2h or pistol-class weapons.

 

In real-time combat, both weapons can be fired simultaneously when you shift-click(force fire) or if you let your soldier use reaction fire. The primary gun is fired first followed shortly by the secondary. You do fire much faster than you would were you to carry only one weapon.

 

As quite a lot of combat is performed up close and personal, the loss in accuracy for two handed weapons is no big deal. But when you're out in wide open spaces and have enemies shooting at you at long range, a single two handed gun may be more practical.

 

Dual weilding pistol class weapons won't lose you any accuracy. However, the toxigun, because of its massive rate of fire, will only benefit from dual weilding when set to aimed. If it's on full auto, the secondary toxigun rarely ever fires.

 

The hand to hand weapons, the stun grapples and power swords, as they are short range weapons, benefit a lot from dual weilding, particularly the swords.

 

edit:

 

As for the handedness of weapons -- if the accuracy rating does not drop when something else is put in the other hand, then it's a one-handed weapon.

 

- NKF

[The Demi-Godly One]

Yeah, it's the size. If it is over 3 on the height part it is not a pistol.

 

P.S.Remember the edit button, double posts are really discouraged.

[Groovechamp]

<-- plays real-time only ^^

 

Dual Toxigun, for an example, is not such a bad idea - As far as I know, for a very (I mean very small) small accuracy penalty, you can fire slightly faster with good Tox-B darts.

 

Using dual Laser-rifle + AC is of course a major penalty in aiming, unless you lay down pron or crouch.

 

 

It relies also on the situation (and what type/race of your agent).

Lets say you enter a room and there are three skeletoids (with shields) and you got one android with no Toxi-Weapons.

One way to wear off the skel's shields would be to dual-AutoCannon with HE ammo (and pray the Org wont cry afterwards, but thats seldom ).

 

 

Waddaya think?

 

Groove

 

Edit:

 

One thingie you could try out, if you want to train a more sniperlike agent (human) you could try and give him 2 sniper rifles. From time to time, I've noticed a slightly better effect in accuracy-training.

Dual-Sniping can only work with full-precision setting in aiming and laying prone. During the time I was playing with Normal difficulty, the Aliens often invaded Hydrofarms and Office areas ( the ones with a wide and open area).

 

For a slightly higher rate of fire and good and precise hits, I've always had the sniper taking care of the aliens from afar... That dude even shot down two brainsuckers O_O Don't ask me if those were lucky hits...

 

 

Dual gunning relies on the situation

Hope that was helpful in a way...

 

Groovie

/me talks too much