What is the most important stat in UFO?

[Hobbes]

I voted for Reactions (the Psis don't really count for me since they take the fun out of the game) they are the hardest to increase with experience since if the soldier misses the shot at the alien who just turned the corridor he will most likely die. But if a soldier gets a rating of 70 or more he'll be one hell of a soldier.

[BreakMage]

Firing accuracy.

 

If you can't hit it, it won't die. Grenades and Blaster Launchers are exempt from this. Personally, I think FA is the best, then Reactions, then Psi Strength, then TUs. One of my Squaddies somehow has 72 FA but 53 TUs. I figured I could just use him as a sniper the whole time, and hope he gains some rank to get more TUs. I don't know how some people can get 80 and others float around 60... Why is it rank based? I mean, it should just be the natural progression of the soldier, so if you have one guy enough, he should become a one man (woman?) army, no matter what. Why does everyone stop at Squaddies?

[NKF]

I'd say the most important would be psi strength. Because it cannot be trained, whereas everything else can. And what's the point of having good stats if they're just going to be used against you?

 

If you're poor in your other stats, it's not the end of the world. Can't shoot? Use grenades to raise firing accuracy. Can't run very far? Snipe -- firing costs are based on percentages rather than how many TUs you have so you can fire just as fast as an 80 TU trooper. Aren't strong enough? Carry lighter weapons and get a few kills to raise your strength a bit (contrary to popular belief, being encumbered in a mission doesn't raise strength). Not brave? Well, bring more officers, or learn to play better. Etc.

 

But that just me.

 

Breakmage: Rank does not determine your TUs. It's combat experience. The more kills you make, the faster your TUs, energy and strength stats shoot up. You can get some pretty decent stat boosts if you can get one soldier to kill every alien in a mission. Just make sure that same soldier gets a steady number of kills every mission (minimum of one), and you'll eventually have an 80 tu soldier at your disposal.

 

- NKF

[Rattler]

I went with TUs, if you can't get behind cover fast enough won't matter if you can't shoot straight or not cause your dead.

 

I have a guy with 87 TUs, but I think that's either a bug or a cheat...........but I only cheat with weapons. I make the pistol and a few other usless items more useful. I never play around with my soilders. but i mighta and just forgot to change it back

[The Demi-Godly One]

Psi strenghth, you can't improve it! (Well actually you can using a little glitch I know of)

 

You can also get stats higher than the maximum if you gain them while being wounded.

[Hobbes]

I agree with Psi Strength being the most important stat when you're dealing with Ethereals. On the other races the situation changes, although Sectoid Leaders and Commanders can be a pain.

My second choice would be also time units. They are easier to train than reaction and like Rattler said it's better to get into cover than to stay in the open. However I rather tend to use a lot of reaction fire inside UFOs and on Terror Sites and high Reaction soldiers are simply priceless to me.

[bevan]

NKF said pretty much what i was going to say, so no need to repeat it pointlessly

[Munkeylord]

i chose strength, because i can pack my troops with equipment and throw grenades halfway across the map with it. you don't need accuracy if you have 3 mags per person and i usually have 2 and use up 1. but i like to be able to throw grenades really far.

[Jman4117]

I consider strength to be the most important stat, at least in the early part of the game, because it allows you to bring heavy weapons into combat. An auto cannon with HE ammo is much better than a rifle. And hiding is not as big of an issue when you have blasted every sectoid in a 40 square radius

[AcidBoot]

I'm going to have to go Firing Accuracy. Dead bug-eyes tell no tales. Also, there's nothing to replace the satisfaction of punching a hole through a roof top alien from clean across the map.

 

Beyond that I'd TUs. Particularly when breaching a UFO, high TUs are a godsend. A high TU unit can be redeployed to any part of the battlefield quickly, and is more likely to get away with stepping into a room, letting off a bit of burst fire, and (and this is an important part) getting back out again.

[Jman4117]

I consider strength to be the most important stat, at least in the early part of the game, because it allows you to bring heavy weapons into combat. An auto cannon with HE ammo is much better than a rifle. And hiding is not as big of an issue when you have blasted every sectoid in a 40 square radius

 

Wow, I found my first post here.....Just doesn't seem like over a year. O.o

[Stewart]

I voted reactions followed closely by Psionic Strength.

 

P Strength for the aforesaid reason - it don't change.

 

But . . .

 

I place reactions higher since similarly to P Strength it is the most difficult stat to train (for those with low ability). By the time your game is at the point were P Strength matters, you've pretty much won already; and besides you can take Mars without it anyhow.

 

Reactions are needed right away in a game.

 

Of course once you do have decent Psionics your troops only need be equiped with the amplifier and a decent Celphone/Digital Camera to record the action and phone their buddies about.

[NKF]

You know what, let's just ignore psi strength. We all know it's needed. I mean, it's like air we breath. It's a necessity.

 

Now that I know more about the game, I think TUs and Reactions are equal in important.

 

Why? Well, reactions determine reaction fire prescedence. If you have a higher score, the other team will not be able to react . And vice versa, if you have a lower score, the other team gets to react. Reactions, by itself just determines your maximum reaction score. TUs determine the percentage of your reaction score that you get to use.

 

High TUs means that your reaction percentage goes down a lot slower. For example, with 80 TUs, every time you move to another tile, which spends 4 TUs, you only lose 5% of your total reaction score. If you only had 64, you'd be losing 7% of your reactions after every step.

 

What I'm getting at is that your reactions are only as good as your remaining TUs! Well, it's mainly important for forward scouts who walk about a lot. For soldiers the just stand still (long range snipers), or aren't going to see much front-line action, the size of your TUs will be irrelevant.

 

- NKF

[Ki-tat Chung]

reactions are a heckofalot more importaint in UFO than in TFTD, cuz you can't open doors without having to walkthrough it, which makes it a major pain in the bum when you try to get into the command room in the large UFO

[NickAragua]

If I had to pick just one, I'd pick TUs. Initially in the game, at least, later on, it doesn't really matter, since a rookie with a powersuit and a backpack full of alien grenades will cause a lot of damage anyway.

 

Since number of shots per round stays roughly the same, TUs don't influence how much you can shoot, but they do allow you to sacrifice one or two shots to be able to move longer. Earlier on in the game, without armor, leaving a guy outside with no cover is just a needless waste, so I hide them behind a fence instead of leaving them outside.

 

PSI-strength is important in determining whether I keep a guy in my psi-squad or at the reject base that takes on mutons and whatnot.

 

Reactions comes in second. Being able to shoot at aliens on their own turn is very nice.

[Jman4117]

Present opinion:

 

Early game: Strength. Gotta have 5-6 guys packin' auto-cannons and butt-loads of explosives. :devil:

 

Late game (weenie campaign): Psi strength and skill.

 

Later game (ironman): Reactions, TU's, and Firing accuracy.

[Stewart]

[Pumpkinhead]

This is a little off-topic, and has probably been discussed before, but do aliens need line-of-sight to MC or panic?

[Jman4117]

Nope >.<

[Hobbes]

Lately I've been discovering the shortfalls of Reactions and I'm not sure if I'd place it as the most important. I mean it is, but you can't rely too much on it. I've checked the stats for the aliens at Superhuman and nearly all have values of 60 or more. It takes a lot to develop the reaction of a soldier to that level and reaction shots can be really risky. Even with a level of 70 the aliens will be able to shoot first after spotting the soldier. It's very difficult to ambush aliens that way (lots of soldiers get injured/killed).

[NKF]

You have to remember reactions are also influenced by the unit's remaining TUs.

 

If the alien only has 10% of its TUs remaining, even if it has 70 reactions, all it'll be able to use is 7 of the 70. If you had 20 reactions and 80% of your TUs, you'd get a 16. 16 beats 7. Okay, so this is an extreme example, but it's still valid.

 

A good reason to not move too fast when scouting the field and to use mind probes when spotting aliens to get an estimate of their remaining TUs. For those with low reactions, to train it by setting up ambushes where aliens are bound to spend a lot of TUs to get to.

 

- NKF

[Hobbes]

Interesting....another thing I seemed to keep noticing is how people with faster reactions get away more stealhly while moving in front of an alien. I've read somewhere that this is not true but it would at least make sense if certain action were more prone to trigger an alien response than others. Aliens always reply back if hit but sometimes it depends when you simply move in front of them.

[NKF]

Well, look at it this way. As long as your reaction score multiplied by the percentage of your remaining time units is greater than the alien's, you get to move and do whatever you like. When it goes under, and if the alien has enough TUs to fire its gun, it gets an opportunity shot.

 

Reactions shots are usually provoked after you shoot at an alien because the reaction checks will be tested after you've spent the TUs for shooting. The one that gets the higher score gets the move.

 

- NKF

[Blehm 98]

Hey, that should help. Thanks alot, NKF