Floaters rock!

[Grimnoch]

I love floaters. They're so dumb! I'll be all like, oh man, another terror mission? These sectoids are wearing me out! Then I see a reaper and I'm like yes! Floaters! Its like getting the coin room in mario.

 

They'll be floating around, hunting for civilians, and then pass right by one of my soldiers. BLAM! One floater down.

 

Then I'll see another one get all excited and try to shoot some red haired girl on the second floor with a stun launcher, but of course he'll miss and just blow himself up. Another free medic for research.

 

Then some floater comes along acting all tough, so he comes floating along, then throws a grenade right you, but instead it just bounces off a gas tank and he blows himself up too.

 

I'm going to start a new dance called the floater.

[Danial]

I think there's been a similar thread to this before. Oh yeah, here it is...

 

I'm not sure why everyone picks on the Floaters though. They actually have better Firing and Throwing Accuracy than the Snakeman, Muton, and Sectoid!!

[ricardo440]

I think when you fly you are worse at shooting. X-Com soldiers you don't notice because they are brick by then, but I think floaters it makes a big difference.

 

It also means you can spot them furthur away as they float in the middle of the air, instead of taking cover in the corn field.

Great if you have a squad of 6 guys doing it, but useless if you are on your own.

So you see them sooner, and everyone of your men can shoot at them, rather than seeing them later and the poor sod at the front being the only one with a shot.

[Zombie]

Usage of a flying spotter does have its drawbacks - especially if you only have one guy wearing a flying suit. If this is the case, I usually bring some soldiers near the scout to help in case he gets in over his head. These soldiers provide the necessary support a lone scout needs to survive. And at least for me, a spotter hardly does any of the killings - his support crew does. From throwing grenades to mowing down obstacles with lasers, they play a very important role. And if the support crew can't neutralize the target, the best thing you can do is to get that airborne spy on the ground and kneeling ASAP before the turn ends. He can always hover the following turn and spot the troublesome alien.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Technically speaking, flying won't reduce a unit's base firing accuracy, but it does mean the bullet will be fired at an angle, which, with distance, does increase the odds of a shot missing due to bullet drift in a downward direction (or upward). Blasted integer rounding.

 

With area effect weapons, on the other hand, height helps a lot. Especially with rockets, as you want them to hit something solid as close to the target as possible.

 

Random flight tidbit: You can use the kneel button in mid-air to take better aim. You get the same +15% firing bonus. You suffer all the penalties when taking aim in the air as you would when kneeling on the ground. That is to say, you must spend the TUs to 'kneel'. You also need to spend the TUs to 'get up' before you move or if you want to increase your elevation. Decreasing your elevation costs nothing extra and behaves like you're moving down a grav-lift. You automatically enter the kneeling position when you land.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Random flight tidbit: You can use the kneel button in mid-air to take better aim. You get the same +15% firing bonus. You suffer all the penalties when taking aim in the air as you would when kneeling on the ground. That is to say, you must spend the TUs to 'kneel'. You also need to spend the TUs to 'get up' before you move or if you want to increase your elevation. Decreasing your elevation costs nothing extra and behaves like you're moving down a grav-lift. You automatically enter the kneeling position when you land.

Nice catch there, NKF. Kneeling in air is not only possible, but it also decreases the size of your soldier to the aliens. It takes 4 TU to kneel down (whether on land or in the air). Decreasing elevation while kneeling still costs the regular 8 TU. But like you said, if you want to start flying again you have to stand up first and then increase elevation.

 

It's a nice trick to use on some occasions, but since I don't shoot much with my scouts, there really is no point in having them kneel down.

 

- Zombie

[Fishfins]

I only ever use Flying to enter 'Suspected Centers of Alien acTivity' (or SCAT, for short). While kneeling helps, there's less cover in the air.

 

Fortunately, Floaters are even worse at this. Spot one floating around, and it's Black Hawk Down all over again. Just spot one, and BLAM! A single rifle bullet from across the map into the air will send the leatherface dropping like a sack.

 

--

 

They're annoying snipers though. Once a mere recovery of a Small Scout ended up being an accurate reinactment of Full Metal Jacket. Lost two rookies to a single Floater sniper, spotted his barn, fired dozens of shots at the barn, lost another rookie that tried to get close and ended up sending a soldier through a hole I made in the side and shot him in the back.

[NKF]

Ah, floaters and their barn fetish.

 

Nothing a high explosive pack cannot handle. Either through the window (easiest), up the stairs, or if you just shove it through the ceiling with the throw-items-through-the-ceiling trick. The entire top half of barn will cease to exist. It will be an ex-barn.

 

I have this thing for high explosive packs and farms, so don't you worry about my sanity.

 

- NKF

[Grimnoch]

Just last night I had some floaters hiding out in a barn(the type with stairs to the roof). Something seemed a little fishy about the staircase, so I had my guy on the ground sit tight while another flew around back. He looked in the window, and sure enough, not one but two of them were there waiting for my ground crew. A quick alien grenade through the window and it was all over.

 

However, I still hold that terror missions do something screwy to floater AI. Its like they get an adrenaline rush and can't think straight.

[Danial]

... if you just shove it through the ceiling with the throw-items-through-the-ceiling trick.

What's this? I don't think I'm familiar with this "trick"

[Gimli]

I'm not sure, but I thinks he means the "stand on hay in the barn" trick. For some reason you can then see through the upper floor and even shoot the aliens up there. They often hide in the corner, just above the stairs, you can then easily shoot them from below.

[Zombie]

Well, you don't actually need a hay bale to throw things through a ceiling. All you need is a soldier, a HE pack, and a ceiling. Take the HE pack and throw it at the tile you want on the floor above. Boom!

 

The hay bale in the barn is only necessary if you want to know the exact location of the alien above. Because an X-COM trooper is quite tall, their head pokes through the ceiling when standing on a bale of hay. This allows your soldier to determine the exact location of aliens standing above you by direct line-of-sight. You need this to shoot at aliens directly. However, grenades are indiscriminate. If you know the approximate location of an alien, just chuck a grenade through the ceiling near it.

 

- Zombie

[Danial]

I can't remember if I've ever done this or not. It sounds familiar, but you'd think something as strange as throwing something through a floor/ceiling would stick in your head

[Bomb Bloke]

I've never even tried it. My first tactic would be to blow a hole in the floor, and shoot through that.

[NKF]

As a quick refresher, the next time you start a new battlescape mission, the first thing you should do is have a soldier pick up something you're not going to use much, and then throw it directly above the soldier, without stepping otuside the ship. That should pretty much explain everything you need to know.

 

Mind you, it does feel less awkward if you make a hole first.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

All sorts of possibilities come to mind. Need an easy sniper position? Throw an unconcious soldier up there.

[Grimnoch]

I always feel guilty blowing up barns and try not to. What if some old farmers antique can collection is in there or something?

[Danial]

What if some old farmers antique can collection is in there or something?

Someone's been watching too much Simpsons

[Fishfins]

I just got a great Floater Alien Base mission. One Floater tried to kill me with a Blaster Launcher, but he ended up hitting a nearby Reaper, blowing a cluster of Floaters in the process. Another one took a shot, hitting a wall and cutting an easy way to the Command center. I only lost one guy, who was stunned (lucky shot) and accidently blown up with an Auto Cannon.

[Danial]

All you need is a Firing Accuracy of 83% or less to miss with a Blaster Launcher, and seeing as the Ethereal is the only alien over 83%, it's understandable that the Floater hit the Reaper. What skill level were you playing on?

[Zombie]

Theoretically that should be true Danial. Since the Blaster Launcher has an accuracy of 120%, 120 * 0.83 = 99.6 or rounded, 99%. However, both NKF and myself did some tests at the xcomufo.com forums with a Blaster Launcher and soldiers having differing firing accuracies. Result? Soldiers having a modified personal Firing Accuracy of 0% had approximately the same chance of hitting a target as soldiers having a FA of 125%! Varying the space to the target might play a larger role than FA since drift comes into play on long-distance waypoints. But setting multiple waypoints instead of a single one will definitely nullify this effect.

 

I'm sure the aliens are not as intelligent as we are setting waypoints with the Blaster Launcher, so I blame this as the primary reason why aliens miss.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Stay clear of the walls, and set a few extra waypoints next to your intended target to make sure it doesn't just zip over it's shoulder. Easy.

[Grimnoch]

I have missed with a blaster bomb with the two points being only 3 squares apart. Despite this precaution I still wound up hitting the wall and blowing up a marine(a good one too).

 

Still, indoors I think it is best if all 10 markers are used in short succession to prevent 'pulling a snakeman' and killing your own man.

[Zombie]

At a recent base defense mission, I ordered one of my troopers to fire his Blaster Bomb down a long corridor (using about 3 or 4 waypoints), then had it turn the corner and continue on to the Hangar for some fireworks. Much to my disappointment, the Blaster Bomb continued going straight past the corner waypoint hitting a wall and blowing up one of my Hovertanks hiding in a dead-end. Darn it! I'm sure everyone has their own personal horror stories to tell about the woes of Blaster Launcher usage.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

I have discovered that civilians are really floaters in disguise. I wonder if this explains anything.

 

(A new unit statistic, detailing how far a unit 'floats' above the ground, has been discovered. While most units remain land-bound, civilians unexpectedly hover a couple of units in the air - just as floaters do.)