The toughest alien

[Gimli]

Are you sure about them not hitting? I get most of my squad wiped out by them. This is Superhuman difficulty, right?

 

I know about the melee weapons, but I don't use them because I never know which is the front of the Bio-Drone.

[Zombie]

Bio-Drones will be able to hurt one of your soldiers with it's melee attack, it just takes a long time due to the 0% Melee Accuracy stat. I have no idea how 0% Melee translates to a slim chance it'll hit, but this little issue is present in both Firing Accuracy and Throwing Accuracy too. It probably has something to do with the randomizer... if you put out enough shots (spray and prey), eventually one is bound to connect.

 

And difficulty level wouldn't matter either. The core Melee Accuracy for the Bio-Drone is 0%, and because the operands used by the game to modify stats are all multiplication or division, it stays 0%

 

Oh, I did some more testing on the power of the Bio-Drones melee attack and found the max is more than 250pts (average: 125). So I'll need to start adding armor to get an idea just how powerful the attack really is.

 

- Zombie

[Gimli]

Oh, I thought you were talking about ranged attacks in that paragraph for some reason.

[Bomb Bloke]

Those are quite accurate. The idea is that they tend not to use them if you get your troops in close enough. The catch is, in order to GET that close, you do need to risk reaction fire.

 

Aliens have a tendency to end turn facing the enemy unit that's closest to them at the time.

[Thunder_Gr]

Those drones tend to move a bit further and tear you apart with those ranged attacks. And when they come close, you can't really hit them, because, if you kill them, they'll explode and kill your soldiers, too.

As already mentioned, trying to close up to hit with melee, for obvious reasons you cannot have every member carrying one in addition to the ranged weapon-They are too heavy!, you risk a lethal reaction fire.

 

But, Tentaculates are by far the most dangerous alien IMO. Just the sight inspires terror. They come from everywere! They stay hidden in behind the most remote places, and they have so many movement points that can come out, hit you 3-4 times and get away, or come from very far away, turn your soldier in a cocoon with a damn hard shell to break, and force you to use all your available troops in the effort to kill them all...Oh, my..They really are a nightmare!

[NKF]

You may not be able to have new rookies carrying a drill and their regular gear, but mildly experienced troops can and should carry a drill about at all times.

 

Virboblades are the lightest requiring 10 strength units so you can get more troops carrying these than any of the other drills. It lacks some power against large terror units, but most of the enemies that count are normal sized units that occupy one tile. Plus being the fastest of the drills, your mobility is improved and you can run about all over the place and make holes in enemies a lot better than with a Heavy Thermic Lance (not that it isn't also an awesome weapon - it is).

 

By the way, speaking of Tentaculats: use your MC-Reader and study the Tentaculat armor levels. Notice how they've piled on most of their armor on their front plates, but not so much on the sides and rear. When and where possible, try to attack them away from their front as that'll soak up a lot of your attack. Especially important if you're using a Vibroblade, as the external armor shaves off a lot of its damage. (Not a problem with the Heavy Thermic Lance, since it's pure raw power compensates). I'd use do this with Gauss weaponry too since gauss tends to lacks the sort of firepower offered by sonic weapons.

 

- NKF

[Thunder_Gr]

You may not be able to have new rookies carrying a drill and their regular gear, but mildly experienced troops can and should carry a drill about at all times.

 

Virboblades are the lightest requiring 10 strength units so you can get more troops carrying these than any of the other drills. It lacks some power against large terror units, but most of the enemies that count are normal sized units that occupy one tile. Plus being the fastest of the drills, your mobility is improved and you can run about all over the place and make holes in enemies a lot better than with a Heavy Thermic Lance (not that it isn't also an awesome weapon - it is).

 

Well, I tend to load my troops with heavy Sonic + grenades + ammo. The Heavy Sonic is, well, heavy , and I do not think a strategy of chasing those superfast drones in order to stab them with the melee weapon is so sound. So, I prefer to carry heavy lances for lobstermen, and rely on a "scouting/sniping" method for getting all others(Difficult to do in cities, though, since the aliens are hiding in the buildings). I also use movement detectors. They can be life-saving!

 

By the way, speaking of Tentaculats: use your MC-Reader and study the Tentaculat armor levels. Notice how they've piled on most of their armor on their front plates, but not so much on the sides and rear. When and where possible, try to attack them away from their front as that'll soak up a lot of your attack. Especially important if you're using a Vibroblade, as the external armor shaves off a lot of its damage. (Not a problem with the Heavy Thermic Lance, since it's pure raw power compensates). I'd use do this with Gauss weaponry too since gauss tends to lacks the sort of firepower offered by sonic weapons.

 

- NKF

 

Approaching a tentaculant with a vibroblade...If I have the opportunity to do this(the damn creatures have many times more TUs than my soldiers and are not encoumbered by gear) it usually means I have a coccon standing next to them already...

After aquiring the ability to mind control the aliens, nearly all problems are solved, since I can mind cotrol them by spotting them, and use them against the other aliens...The problem is what to do until then.

I have used a variaety of tactics to avoid being decimated by tentaculants, and many of them were successful. However, they still are, IMO, the most fearsome creature in this game...One moment of relaxing, and there is a single tentaculant you missed and can turn 2 or 3 of your soldiers into coccoons in a single turn. After that You have to kill 2 Coccoons and 3/4 tentaculants. Now, if these soldiers happened to be dear to you...*sigh*..well, remember not to relax next time, right? In many cases, this is enough to make you load the surviving troops on the sub and get the hell out of there...

[NKF]

The tentaculats are just UFO's chryssalids - that fly! One thing I like a LOT about them is the fact that they are water-based only. Since you get a lot of land based missions, you're free from them. Then again, they always show up on the most critical missions - i.e. colony assaults and the even more critical artefact site, which you cannot avoid or else your area activity points will plummet severely!

 

The thing about Tentaculats is that they are melee enemies, so they cannot use reaction fire as you approach them. There's any number of ways to get the jump on them. Reaction fire screens are good to keep them at bay - as each reaction shot will throw them off their charge a little. Good use of walls and the motion scanner are also a good way to see if the tentaculat is close enough for you to jump out and attack up close. Don't ever try to chase them into an area you haven't secured - you want to fight them on your own terms, not the other way around. In any case, yeah they are still tricky beasts to fight when all is said and done.

 

You cannot hope to run up to a bio drone when it's out in the open - especially since you can't really tell which way its facing. It's mainly those occasions where you wait around a corner for it to come close (you can clearly see it by the tracks it makes) or if you walk through a door and it's right in front or you or if it's off to the side. In the open, you're better off shouldering a sonic weapon and firing at it from beyond its 20-tile visual range.

 

I tend to recommend the vibroblade vs. lobstermen rather than the heavy thermic lance (though I would recommend the HTL for aliens with tough skins like Xarquids and Triscene). Even on superhuman, if a single attack doesn't kill it, it will bring a lobsterman to near-death status and may even stun it. A second attack will definitely kill it. The cost for a single attack from a vibroblade is half that of one attack from the HTL. It's just that if you can get away with disabling the lobsterman with just one attack at half the cost of a HTL attack, you'll have more TUs to spare to get away or do other things. That's just food for thought though - otherwise preference prevails.

 

 

- NKF

[Thunder_Gr]

The tentaculats are just UFO's chryssalids - that fly! One thing I like a LOT about them is the fact that they are water-based only. Since you get a lot of land based missions, you're free from them. Then again, they always show up on the most critical missions - i.e. colony assaults and the even more critical artefact site, which you cannot avoid or else your area activity points will plummet severely!

 

Exactly my thoughts . At least you get to prepare yourself, phycologically, for the missions that will pit you against a tentaculant...Althought I have to admit I am always going on these missions a bit...unwillingly...But, WTH, there is a job to be done, and we must do it!

 

I think there is a supply Sub assault that can have tentaculants, also. I do not remember which race they support on these missions.

 

The thing about Tentaculats is that they are melee enemies, so they cannot use reaction fire as you approach them. There's any number of ways to get the jump on them. Reaction fire screens are good to keep them at bay - as each reaction shot will throw them off their charge a little. Good use of walls and the motion scanner are also a good way to see if the tentaculat is close enough for you to jump out and attack up close. Don't ever try to chase them into an area you haven't secured - you want to fight them on your own terms, not the other way around. In any case, yeah they are still tricky beasts to fight when all is said and done.

 

Relying on soldier's reflexes is too unreliable, IMO. The use of the scanner is only useful after turn 1, and this is one of my main stategies. Remaining Idle turn one, then use the scanners. Then sending out the HWPs(my main counter weapon against tentaculants. I may get them out from turn one, as well. It depends on the mission) to spot the tentaculants. Without HWPs, my troops are doomed and I can very much skip such a mission.

 

You cannot hope to run up to a bio drone when it's out in the open - especially since you can't really tell which way its facing. It's mainly those occasions where you wait around a corner for it to come close (you can clearly see it by the tracks it makes) or if you walk through a door and it's right in front or you or if it's off to the side. In the open, you're better off shouldering a sonic weapon and firing at it from beyond its 20-tile visual range.

 

Agreed. It seems to be the best strategy.

 

I tend to recommend the vibroblade vs. lobstermen rather than the heavy thermic lance (though I would recommend the HTL for aliens with tough skins like Xarquids and Triscene). Even on superhuman, if a single attack doesn't kill it, it will bring a lobsterman to near-death status and may even stun it. A second attack will definitely kill it. The cost for a single attack from a vibroblade is half that of one attack from the HTL. It's just that if you can get away with disabling the lobsterman with just one attack at half the cost of a HTL attack, you'll have more TUs to spare to get away or do other things. That's just food for thought though - otherwise preference prevails.

 

 

- NKF

 

Well, this is an interesting thing. I had been experimenting(cost the lives of some soldiers, though), and it is not so much clear. I, too, have reached the conclusion that vibroblades offer these advandages you describe, but the massive damage of HTL is something that cannot be ignored. In the end, I too, decided that every troop incapable to have HTL but able to have vibro, would do so, but the rest would carry the HTLs, just in case

[Bomb Bloke]

Relying on soldier's reflexes is too unreliable, IMO. The use of the scanner is only useful after turn 1, and this is one of my main stategies. Remaining Idle turn one, then use the scanners. Then sending out the HWPs(my main counter weapon against tentaculants. I may get them out from turn one, as well. It depends on the mission) to spot the tentaculants. Without HWPs, my troops are doomed and I can very much skip such a mission.

I agree, Tentaculats are so fast they can cross a huge distance without triggering auto-fire at all. Granted you can stack the odds in your favour by reserving time units (the more you have the more likely it is a soldier will react), and granted if you manage to fire (even to miss) the alien will most likely turn around and run away, but if I reckon I can take those things down in my turn I'll quite happily burn as many TUs as it takes.

[Zombie]

At least in Enemy Unknown, if you mine the area where a Chrysslid needs to pass through to get to your men with a Proximity Grenade, that usually freaks out the alien and makes it run the other way (sometimes). I did the same with the Particle Disturbance Grenade recently for an anti-Tentaculat measure but it has limited effect. Not so much because it doesn't work (it does assuming the alien goes near it), but in the cases when it's flying it doesn't like to go on the ground much. It still has to land to turn you into a Zombie though, so if you mine as close to your men as possible it will still provide some benefit (both in damage and keeping it at arms length). Of course, rookies with normal diving suits + Particle Disturbance Grenades = a bad thing when the explosion is close. Works a lot better when you get stronger armor.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Full TUs is an absolute must for any reaction fire screen against the high TU tentaculats. Plus if you give the tentaculat a lot of space to cross just to get to your troops, then it works even better. Basically - move slow and be patient.

 

One good place where this works wonders are the entrances into the black synonium chamber in the artefact site interior map. You'll know that the tentaculats are hiding up in the cubby holes around the area (thing I like most about this map - you know where they are!), but there are lots of ground level entrances around the chamber. You'll want at least two teams huddled on opposite ends of the map (to cover each others' blind side), some guys to watch the rears and some fast runners who slowly edge into the room over several turns and try to attract the attention of the tentaculats. Also it's probably a good idea to mine the tunnels you can't cover - particularly that twisty one. All this should keep the tentaculats cornered in the area.

 

Actually that twisty corner may be useful, but I can't think of an immediate use for it. Oh well.

 

Outdoor combat is a bit tricker not because they can come at you from all angles but rather from other enemy fire and DPLs, which seem to be present on most missions with tenteculats. This renders reaction fire screens less effective, or you end up scattering too much to be able to cover each other.

 

The ships that take tentaculats, if I'm not mistaken, are the Dreadnaught and the Terror subs. Tentaculats are universal underwater terror units I think so aren't attached to any particular race.

 

- NKF

[Thunder_Gr]

So, should I assume you go on against Tentaculats without HWPs? In which difficulty? Using which craft?

I have to admit I am not that good player. I'll stick with HWPs...

[NKF]

Mainly play in superhuman. Doesn't matter which craft I use, but I generally stick to the Triton - it's the old reliable. I'm not that good a player either (still get my troops massacred), but you can learn to make do without the tanks once you get better equipment and your troops start getting better.

 

I do use the tanks at times, but I guess I tend to leave them off as I want the sub hatch to be clear for my troops. I like to wait and snipe from the sub until the landing zone is clear enough to deploy, and having to juggle the aquanauts and tank about like a sliding puzzle isn't fun!

 

- NKF

[Thunder_Gr]

I follow a very versatile strategy in the game, and adapt to situations as best as I can think of. My main base's troops are always being escorted by HWPs in missions that I expect PSI control units OR/AND Tentaculats, plus in any terror missons.(Thus attacking small USOs or lobstermen on any type of sub is where I can afford to send a full crew of men. Not to mention that soldiers are more effective than HWPs against the lobsters)

My other bases' troops are send only to this type of missions, until I can get them some HWP support, also.

I mainly use HWPs for scouting, and this can save many lives, since they are better armored than my soldiers at all times.

 

I haven't played a game on Superhuman yet... I guess I do not consider myself good enough to try one ...

[NKF]

Superhuman is hard - it makes UFO's superhuman mode feel easy. However, once you get the hang of it, it's very rewarding - since you'll have forced yourself to play better, and indeed be more versatile.

 

A Gas Cannon Coelacanth is actually a really good companion to have for the first part of the game. The sonic displacer is also good to have on land missions, since it's your only (combat) unit that is capable of flight out of water.

 

I agree that enemy psi attacks are a major pain, but due to the limited time frame that you get to meet the Deep One Terrorists, who hold up way too much of your research tree, you should get access to the M.C.-Lab fairly early and start screening your MC Strength levels. You won't be able to cobble together a large squad of resistant troops, but at least you'll be forewarned of any possible weak links in your team.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

TFTD is approximately 20% more difficult on Superhuman than in EU, so winning on this level is really impressive.

 

Good point about the Sonic Displacers being able to function out of water, I didn't know that. But the PWT Displacer should function out of water too since it borrows the same chassis. It's just that the weapon is unusable. Anyway, for the first time ever I finally got to use Sonic Displacers on a USO crash mission. I was only up against Aquatoids, but man, that weapon is accurate and powerful. Crikey, it has 20 more damage points than the Plasma Hovertank in EU. In addition, it's actually a little bit more powerful against the core races due to the damage modifiers. It's probably my favorite item in the game followed closely by the Heavy Thermic Lance.

 

- Zombie

[Gimli]

Most times I don't finish TFTD. The Lobster - Bio-Drone combination kills me. I can deal with the Lobsters, but Bio-Drones are so annoying, particularly because I still don't know which is their front side. Which makes melee attacks very risky. I really have to figure out which side they are facing.

[Zombie]

I tend to recommend the vibroblade vs. lobstermen rather than the heavy thermic lance (though I would recommend the HTL for aliens with tough skins like Xarquids and Triscene). Even on superhuman, if a single attack doesn't kill it, it will bring a lobsterman to near-death status and may even stun it. A second attack will definitely kill it. The cost for a single attack from a vibroblade is half that of one attack from the HTL. It's just that if you can get away with disabling the lobsterman with just one attack at half the cost of a HTL attack, you'll have more TUs to spare to get away or do other things. That's just food for thought though - otherwise preference prevails.

I was doing a little sleuthing over at the X-COM wiki today to answer some questions and realized I could crunch some numbers to show what each melee weapon dishes out. Here it is:

 

Weapon			   Dam  %TU  Uses/Turn  AveDam/Turn  BCTH Acc  Dam.Rng   Ave.Dam
Vibro Blade		   80  10%	 10		  800	   30-60%   240-480	 360
Thermic Lance		110  15%	  6		  660	   32-64%   211-422	 317
Heavy Thermic Lance  150  20%	  5		  750	   32-64%   240-480	 360

These numbers are all for the average since I used the average (listed) damage of the weapon for the calculation. It also assumes a 100% damage modifier. The max would therefore be twice the numbers above and 4x for the Lobsterman.

 

If you go strictly by the quantity of damage produced per turn, the Vibro Blade is #1 with 800, followed by the Heavy Thermic Lance at 750 and finally the Thermic Lance at 660. BUT we have to take the accuracy into consideration as well. Soldiers start out with really bad melee accuracy (20-40%) and when you combine that with the accuracy of the weapons themselves, it increases the hit ratio a little bit more but that's a long way off from always hitting. Taking accuracy into consideration, the Vibro Blade and Heavy Thermic Lance are tied for #1 with 240-480 average damage per turn.

 

So really, if the only thing you have researched is the Vibro Blade, use that. But if you have the Heavy Thermic Lance, you are better off switching to that due to it's higher damage per use. The extra stopping power of this weapon (while not technically a big deal when going up against a Lobsterman) is great for heavily armored units or those with high health. Also, since damage is always a range between 0 and 2x the listed, the 88% extra damage by the Heavy TL over the Vibre Blade guarantees an instant kill more often.

 

- Zombie

[Thunder_Gr]

Very nice list Zombie!

[Zombie]

Thanks, it's my specialty though.

 

Here is a table of the max damage with the melee weapons against an alien with normal damage modifiers:

 

Weapon			   Dam  %TU  Uses/Turn  MaxDam/Turn  BCTH Acc  Dam.Rng   Max.Dam
Vibro Blade		  160  10%	 10		 1600	   30-60%   480-960	 720
Thermic Lance		220  15%	  6		 1320	   32-64%   422-845	 634
Heavy Thermic Lance  300  20%	  5		 1500	   32-64%   480-960	 720

 

And here is one for the Lobsterman with the doubled damage modifier:

 

Weapon			   Dam  %TU  Uses/Turn  MaxDam/Turn  BCTH Acc  Dam.Rng   Max.Dam
Vibro Blade		  320  10%	 10		 3200	   30-60%   960-1920   1440
Thermic Lance		440  15%	  6		 2640	   32-64%   845-1689   1267
Heavy Thermic Lance  600  20%	  5		 3000	   32-64%   960-1920   1440

 

A quick back-of-the-matchbook calculation on a %kill scenario against a superhuman Lobsterman Commander I come up with the following:

 

Vibro Blade: 53% kill probability with one poke.

Thermic Lance: 66% kill probability with one poke.

Heavy Thermic Lance: 75% kill probability with one poke.

 

Of course, these numbers don't take melee accuracy into account, but it gives you an idea of what is going on. It also supports the fact that the HTL is more desirable than a Vibro Blade against Lobsterman since the kill probability is increased by 22 points for a 10 point increase in TU. 2 for 1 isn't bad. Though, maybe equipping a squad with both types is better? If one guy hits with a Heavy Thermic Lance but doesn't have enough TU left for another poke, a guy carrying the Vibro Blade can sweep in and clean up the mess with one or two pokes. I guess this is like the support team idea for heavy weapons. Big guns go first, little ones do the clean up if necessary.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

As with most things, a mix of the heavy and light blades is always a good idea. I like the vibroblade mainly, similar to how I like the pistols - it's light and fast allowing for highly mobile combat. However, like the pistols, it lacks stopping power. The heavy thermic lance packs a whallop - wouldn't want anything less when fighting Hallucinoids (yes, I know a basic magna-blast would do better, but let's assume an encounter where only drills were on hand).

 

Say, does anyone else feel that the balanced thermic lance seems to be getting less favoured lately? (a trend I'm noticing with the standard rifle in UFO)

 

Finishing off the job with the vibroblade after attacking with the heavy thermic lance is not a bad idea. It even translates quite well over to the sonic weapons. Use the cannon to take big chunks out of enemies - then use the pistol to finish them off if they're still standing. Probably not too good on lobstermen, since they take heaps of damage no matter which sonic weapon, but useful on other enemies that don't fall right away. The cannon, strong though it may be, often leaves you stranded in the field.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Say, does anyone else feel that the balanced thermic lance seems to be getting less favoured lately? (a trend I'm noticing with the standard rifle in UFO)

The words "balanced" and "Thermic Lance" shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. If the thermic lance had, say, 100 damage and a 13% TU use, then it would be more on par with the other bladed weapons. As it stands though, it doesn't offer any significant improvement above the Vibro Blade except more stopping power and a tiny increase in accuracy. In a pinch, and before I had the HTL, sure, I'd use it in an instant. But it's a rather lackluster weapon. As for the Rifle in EU, I use it as my primary weapon up until the Laser Rifle comes along. And I don't care whether someone shows it is worse than anything else. The fact that it has auto shot capability is enough of a reason to justify its use for me.

 

As with most things, a mix of the heavy and light blades is always a good idea. I like the vibroblade mainly, similar to how I like the pistols - it's light and fast allowing for highly mobile combat. However, like the pistols, it lacks stopping power. The heavy thermic lance packs a whallop - wouldn't want anything less when fighting Hallucinoids (yes, I know a basic magna-blast would do better, but let's assume an encounter where only drills were on hand).

 

Finishing off the job with the vibroblade after attacking with the heavy thermic lance is not a bad idea. It even translates quite well over to the sonic weapons. Use the cannon to take big chunks out of enemies - then use the pistol to finish them off if they're still standing. Probably not too good on lobstermen, since they take heaps of damage no matter which sonic weapon, but useful on other enemies that don't fall right away. The cannon, strong though it may be, often leaves you stranded in the field.

I might start equipping my troops with a mix of the VB and HTL from now on to see how they work together. My primary weapon when carrying the blades will always be a handful of Sonic Pulsers though. That combo is basically unstoppable against most (if not all) aliens. On a test Aquatoid Cruiser mission with a Vibro Blade and 3 Sonic Pulsers per aquanaut I was able to mop up outside quite easily. The Blade worked wonders inside the craft as expected since there are plenty of places to ambush aliens. Still, I lost one guy to a stupid mistake. Overall though, not too bad.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

VB and HTL combos are great. The last time I played long enough to get them, they were a fine combo indeed. The Thermic Lance does have one brownie point that can be awarded to it: It shares the same weight as the Vibroblade! So if you can't bear the extra 5 points for the HTL, but need a bit more oomph to take down that Xarquid, I guess it's a reasonable enough option to swap the VBs out for the TL for a while.

 

The pulsers - what godsend those are that I'd willingly build them if I ran out! The aliens had the right idea to turn their drillers into grenadiers - pity they never figured out how to use their own drills!

 

No argument about the rifle's auto. Saves you in a pinch it does. Just kind of lost its edge for mid to long range combat to the pistol. Not that that is a bad thing, but I suppose your usage will depend on what firing mode you get to use the most.

 

- NKF

[Alienated]

The lance type weapons do approximately the same damage with the damage potential and the TU usage put together. The point in the increasing damage potential from vibro to heavy one is the reaction of the target. For example your soldier attacks a Tasoth Soldier from behind by a Vibro Blade. The Vibro Blade usually fails to kill it, so it turns to your soldier and opens fire (cough... opens sound) and it can hardly miss your soldier next to it. But if your soldier uses a Heavy Thermic Lance, there is a good chance that the Tasoth dies by the first melee attack. The odd thing is that melee attacks don't bring about reaction shots if your soldier doesn't start to walk away. So the Thermic Lance and the Heavy Thermic Lance are entirely pointless, they have zero tactical advantage versus the Vibro Blade. If the Vibro Blade can't kill a Tasoth by one strike, it can't probably stand the second one. As the Heavy Thermic Lance use costs the double TU (20%) as the Vibro Blade, you have a definitely less route for a soldier of melee attack. It is very important. For example you can have one single soldier enter the command center of an alien colony and deal death like poker cards if he holds a Vibro Blade. The commanders don't have weapons by my experience, still it might happen your soldier doesn't have enough TU for the last monster if he used HTL. In the PSX version of TFTD (that is probably can't be played on other level of difficulty but Beginner) the chance of killing a Lobster Man by the first strike of Vibro Blade is above 90% by my experience. Actually the second level of an alien colony is quite mechanical and boring if you have Vibro Blades (and is a great annoyance without melee weapons).

 

Oh, and the Tentaculats! As they can't fire at you, you may be stabbing them as many times with any melee weapon as you wish, somehow I prefer taking my time with Vibro Blade to killing them in a wink with HTL, vengeance is so sweet...

 

The terrorist type aliens of both TFTD and EU do melee attacks free of reaction fire just like your soldiers in the aforementioned example. The additional oddity is that the Tentaculat (and Chryssalid) has always a final & successful attack that turns your soldier into a monster. I suspect that this isn't an intentional feature but a bug. Actually it isn't the Tentaculat who terrorise X-COM players in the whole wide world but the coder who did the bug; terrorist units shouldn't be so dangerous to your soldiers, especially if your men have some resistance (Strength? Melee skill? Or both?) against melee attacks as I suspect. Of course your life too could also be harder with the lance weapons but at least Thermic Lance and Heavy Thermic Lance could be an option beside the Vibro Blade. Vibro Blade rocks solely. Don't sell Vibro Blades because you aren't going to find any later in the game and you might have to manufacture them.

 

Lance type weapons, especially the Vibro Blade, is extremely effective against weaker aliens too. Rookies who have high reactions (60) and lousy firing accuracy (40) can still be excellent lancers. If you like grenade tactics, such soldiers can raise their FA from the dirt by grenade bombing and raise max TU by blading aliens. And their opposites, the 30 reaction + 70 FA soldiers can raise max TU (to 80) and FA (100-120) by shooting at far away terrorists (Hallucionid, Tentaculat, etc.) and then you can put them in the open against the aliens and, while the aliens often miss them, they almost always hit and wound the aliens by their reaction shots (once they start to open fire) with 100-120 FA. But, in case you want my opinion, I would wager on the 60-reactions soldier to live longer...

 

On topic, I vote for Lobster Man being the toughest. Once I played an earth technology walkthrough and I regretted that I hadn't chanced & chosen alien missions as now I always do because the randomiser gave me Lobster Man missions instead of Tasoth or even weaker ones. So I had to rasp the monsters away by Heavy Gauss.

 

However, in spite the longness of this thread there was little talk about other abilities besides armor, hit points, and damage modifiers. Aliens that can "fly" above sea bed are often invulnerable to grenades and they can't be destroyed if they camp in some odd structure or your soldier has nothing but a lance and grenades to fight. Also, I believe in spite of every study of firearm shooting accuracy of UFOpaedia.org that you can hit hovering targets harder than level targets. I also noticed aliens on EU terror sites have a hard time in hitting civilians on second or higher floors through the window. This also applies when your soldier is up in a flying suit (mag-ion armor) and the target is on ground. In this aspect the Bio-drone is tough enough because it can't be hit easily. It has a little body and many hit points. And as you are wise to shoot at it from a fair distance, your chances to hit are also less. Fewer hits also means toughness, doesn't that? Smaller aliens can get better cover than large ones, and the Lobster Man and the Tasoth are large enough, you can hit them from close enough by stray shots too if you missed them otherwise. By the way, can the Bio-drone fly anyway? I know its legs don't touch the ground but... Aquatoids (Sectoids) can also be tough if you have TU for just one shot. If you shoot a Tasoth or a Lobster Man accidentally on the shoulder or on the feet, you may kill them by one shot but you miss the feet of the Bio-drone and the shoulder of an Aquatoid because they have none.

 

The aliens have mostly Thermal Shok Launchers and Disruptor Pulse Launchers later in the game, and you can (and should) assault the ones with DPL safely with Vibro Blade, and the Thermal Shok Launcher isn't deadly to aquanauts. The Lobster Man is weak to both stun and melee attacks. You just have to assault it: it may knock both your soldier and itself out or just gets bladed to death. In my aforementioned earth technology campaign (only the Leviathan was allowed to get in T'Leth) I won without casualties against Lobster Men in the final battle. I used Thermal Tazers and grenades. If the Lobster Man were so tough, I couldn't have won that way. Still, I again vote for the Lobster Man, but it wins by just a grade.