Your Soldier's Equipments.

[Haijo]

So, how do you outfit your soldiers? I'm new at the game, and haven't got Blaster launcher and Stun launcher yet, but here's what i think i'd do, when I finally have them.

 

Side Equipment:

Mediket.

 

Armour:

PA.(or Power Suit but I don't know the cost of that)

 

Weapon:

Most of them with Heavy Plasma, 2 out my 10 with small launcher, maybe someone with a Blaster Launcher in the back.

 

Please post your own, and discuss mine, oh, for easy reading, post your EQ in the same manner as mine.

[The Demi-Godly One]

With me it depends on how far I am in the game:

In the very beginning I only carry rifles and 4 clips per person.

In the mid-game I carry laser rifles, a laser pistol and personal armour.

And in the end-game everyone has flying suits, psi-amps, a laser pistol and laser rifles.

 

So my equipment doesn't change much, but my strategy sure does.(My strategy also affects how I use my weapons, because my "snipers" use their laser rifles much more differently than my non-snipers)

[JellyfishGreen]

I don't have the whole squad in standard equipment by any means, specialization is the key. My last full game broke down something like this at the 75% completion stage:

 

Scouts x 2: Flying armor, laser pistols or laser rifles, medikits. These guys can also fly quickly to the wounded and drop down on unconscious bodies.

 

Breachers x 3: Power armor, heavy plasma. First ones into new areas.

 

Riflemen x 3: Standard armor, laser rifles, grenades or medikits. Standard issue for new guys. They hang back and snipe the aliens spotted by the others.

 

Support x 2: Power armor, Psi-amp or BlasterLauncher. Laser pistol backup. Psionic strength high. These ones sit in or near the craft for most of the game.

[TabulaRasa]

When i start the game, i equip everyone the same way. I give them all rifles with two clips each (i dont hit the bigger ufos yet so i dont need it ) and a grenade and I always just keep 12 flares in the craft for nightime (in forgetful so i would... forget) Once i get personal armour i give them that as well.

 

Nearer to the end when i have lots of technology, i give everyone one or two alien grenades, a heavy plasma with two to three clips because they have so many shots. I dont keep around the people with low psi stats, i give people with high psi stats a psi amp. Sometimes I will also give them the odd blaster launcher or stun launcher. I also give them power suits because flying suits are so expensive. I get a few of them but i prefer the power suits as they only need one third of the elerium.

[Jman4117]

Early:

If they are over 35 strength they get an auto cannon with HE ammo.

Rest get rifles (3 clips, 2 nades).

 

Middle:

Keep auto cannons for the stronger soldiers.

Have a few grenadiers with laser pistols and about 6 nades.

One guy has stun launcher til I get Navigator and a Psi alien.

Rest get laser rifles.

 

Late:

2 Blaster launchers

6 Heavy plasmas

6 Laser rifles

psi amps were needed

[rocksk]

Since i usual go for medic then laser, my guys get to use them every early.

 

So laser rifle and power for all those with PSI lower then 79 (Scouts and assult)

Advance Heavy laser and flying for all those above 80-94

PSI and baster for those PSI 95-100.

 

Those below PSI below 70 get kick from the team or die trying.

[Rataxes]

Very early on (usually just the first mission) - Rifles + Clips for all my designated Snipers (FA 60+), Stun Rods and Grenades for the rest, the Infantrists.

 

Early on - Laser Rifles for my Snipers, Laser Pistols or the Stun Rod/Grenade combo for the Infantrists.

 

Mid game - Heavy Plasmas for the Snipers, the Infantrists inherit the Laser Rifles. Power Suits for everyone. Medi-kits for about half of my Infantrists.

 

Late game - Heavy Plasmas for everyone. Flying Suits for the Snipers. A few Psi Troopers equipped with Mind Probes and Psi Amps. A few Blaster Launchers and Stun Launchers distributed among all of my crew.

 

Snipers are the ones that usually last to improve, since I keep them close to the ship to take out any aliens that my Infantrists discover in the terrain, the interiors of ships are entirely left to the Infantrists. Those are the ones I consider expendable and that part of the squad mostly consists of freshly recruited rookies, veteran Infantrists are rare, even when they are protected by state of the art Power Suits :/

[NKF]

Huh... standard kits. Hmm, I can't say I actually have one. I mean, I use everything from pistols to blaster launchers throughout the game. The equipment list for my Skyranger is often a big mess.

 

The only thing I would probably count as standard would be armour. Everyone gets personal armour. Early on, everyone gets personal armour, regardless of rank and ability (except those I intend to fire, of course). Later on, power armour is handed out to those who've shown exceptional ability (or survive long enough). Flying suits are handed out sparingly, and only to snipers - a voluntary decision, even though I often end up with huge elerium stockpiles and can easily produce flying suits in bulk.

 

As for the rest of my usual equipment... well, as I said, it's a mess.

 

Often you'll find a rocket launcher lurking at the back, or a pair of pistols (laser + regular), or perhaps the ultimately powerful terror unit buster: a small launcher. There's often a heavy or auto cannon hanging about somewhere. Laser rifles are often found in twos or fours. Definitely one plasma rifle - for the sniper with the snap-shot fetish. Grenade-all-sorts are compulsory, and often by the dozens.

 

Oh, there are some items that take an almost permanent spot on board the ship. Among them are 4 compulsory electro flares, and about the same number of medikits. Later on, one or two mind probe are compulsory - so that I can "know my enemy". One or two smoke bombs per troop transport. One or two motion scanners sometimes find their way onboard too. Until I get the small launcher, 2 - 4 stun rods. Yes, though these are very useful devices, and I should bring more, I find that small quantities work just as well as larger quantities, as long as you remember to reuse, recycle and apply only when absolutely necessary.

 

The only devices that I would voluntarily leave off the ship would be the heavy plasma and the psi-amp. Heavy plasmas are so abundant, if they were any more abundant, you could pick them off trees. If I need more firepower or ammo, I'll just scavenge some off fallen aliens in the field. It's also an excuse for me to get more items such as grenades on board my ship. My choice to leave out the psi-amp is merely a voluntary decision. It's a dashed useful device, but it does imbalance the game a bit too much once you have someone with decent psi-skill.

 

Oh, and before I forget, the coup-de-grace, a blaster launcher and about five clips for the really tough jobs, or on alien base disabling runs.

 

The quantities I mention aren't set in stone, however, as some equipment sets work better with certain squads than others.

 

Anyway, since I often have bits and pieces here and there, it's hard to come up with any standard kit. Still, the closest thing I come to having a standard kit would be the equipment I try to hand out to all new recruits (particularly for the guards at new bases). It looks something like so:

• Personal armour
  
• laser rifle
  
• Belt full of grenade-all-sorts (any number, any type).
  

This is what I try to use for the bulk of my troops - my bread and butter, so to say. It's merely medium grade equipment, but it's enough to let any soldier, good or bad, take on anything the aliens can throw at you. And it's easy to replace too.

 

- NKF

 

P. S: Okay, I suppose you could call it a standard kit. Though in actual practice, it's only my non-primary base defenders that ever get to wear anything uniform such as that.

[Rataxes]

I always skip the Personal Armour, since I find them too weak to give my crew a decent chance to survive a direct plasma hit. The Power Suit is only one step away in the research tree and only costs a measly 5 Elerium, I think that's a fair price to give all my troopers a decent chance to survive enemy fire.

 

Must be quite a chore to outfit your crew at the start of every battle with that mess of an equipment list NKF Don't find the Psi Amps that overpowering. At least on Superhuman, it's pretty damn hard to crack the psi defence of any alien. I'll bombard a Floater with 8-10 Psi attacks from Psi Troopers with 80-90 Psi Strength and 60-70 Skill, and they'll be lucky if his morale has even dropped to half.

[NKF]

Ah, but you're not the elerium scrooge that I am.

 

The personal armour is a fine set of armour - it's better to have some chance of surviving than to have none at all. Even flying suits aren't completely immune from a heavy plasma bolt. Besides, it's cheap to produce in bulk, at least when compared to the sort of money you can get after selling off the heavy plasmas you haul back from every battle (plus, has anyone ever truly run out of alien alloys?).

 

Amusing fact: your default armour is actually much stronger than the sectoids, snakemen or floaters (even on superhuman, I should add).

 

My use of the personal armour's more of a throwback to the days I played the game in ironman mode (no save-reload immortality). Because of my high soldier turn over rate, kitting everyone in power armour would have lead to elerium ruin. Since cash (and alloys) is and has always been such an easy commodity to obtain (in the game), the personal armour was the adequate choice.

 

As for my equipment -- well, yes, it can be a chore to sort sometimes, particularly after a troop rotation. I often get to a point where I needn't swap most guns about at all, and just let everyone go on with what they start with. Only a few specialists (like the dual-pistol-scout, the sniper, grenadier, etc) need any particular attention.

 

I guess I just do it for the variety and for the unpredictability.

 

- NKF

[Rataxes]

Ah, but you're not the elerium scrooge that I am.

Nope. I keep 200 Elerium in reserve, but the rest I spend freely. All that unused Elerium does is clog up my stores

 

I personally think the difference between the Power Suit and Personal Armour is staggering. When hit by Heavy Plasma with the PA on, you can, with barrels of luck leave your soldier crippled with fatal wounds that'll kill him in less than 10 turns. PS more often than not absorbs the entire hit, not even being dented. Of course PA is better than nothing, but I can't be bothered with it when PS is so close at hand and relatively cheap for the protection it provides. I mean, a single raid of a small ship provides enough materials for 10 suits, and when you take into consideration that the number of casulties probably will decrease a lot once you get your entire team outfitted with Power Suits (thus less need to get new suits) I think it's a sound choice financially as well

 

I also play Ironman (actually my current is my first real one, no reloads in either Battlescape or Geoscape) and my casuality rate isn't that high. No armour yet, and I get maybe 4-6 rookies killed per expedition, I expect casulties will decrease once I get them outfitted, so maybe 15 Elerium per battle? I can deal with those costs