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Feb 3, 2013 10:19 pm GMT
Do you guys get the 3 foundry upgrades early?
Do you tech them up as soon as possible? (Ie build laser and plasma pistols).
Early on, if I can spare I get the first two foundry upgrades, but they're not necessary. Also, I leave regular pistols so I can damage sectoids and thin men for easier stunning. Once I don't need them I do like to get at least laser pistols.
Towards the end of the game I definitely like plasma pistols on my snipers with full foundry upgrades. Since you usually have squadsight, they come in handy if you get caught, or just want to overwatch without exploiting a bug. Also the plasma pistol is good to have for your shotgun assault, as they may be out of range (even with a scope) to get a hit.
They're not really necessary for assaults and supports, unless you want to do less damage in preparation for a stun.
Feb 4, 2013 3:25 am GMT
The pistol upgrades are typically very low on the priority list for me, as far as Foundry upgrades go. The only class that really gets a use out of them are my shotgun assaults, really. Yea, Snipers can use them, and I build Gunslinger onto my squadsight snipers, but unless it's a particularly cramped map he shouldn't be out front, in a position to fire it anyway.
I'll build a couple to pass around, generally to shotgun Assaults and officers, but I feel like I'm so broke constantly that it's not cost effective to get the upgrades immediately.
Feb 4, 2013 3:31 am GMT
I usually build one laser pistol for my sniper, but I don't bother with the foundry upgrades until much later in the game. The first plasma pistol I get also goes to the sniper.
Feb 4, 2013 3:27 pm GMT
Yeah, the foundry upgrades are pretty much reserved for those moments when they're the only thing the foundry can be working on, at the moment, since a low-priority project is still preferable to leaving them sitting on their hands.
As for the pistols, themselves, they're usually the last things I research at each tech level (again, unless they're the only things I can research). I never had much use for them with my assaults. (The damage is so much lower than the shotgun, I'm usually better served by spending both actions getting closer to the target, if Run & Gun is on cooldown and I can't get close enough for the shotty to be effective.)
For me, the only class that uses pistols out of anything short of sheer desperation (or if I'm trying to weaken an enemy without killing them, so I can stun them) is my snipers. When you need to go indoors, a pistol allows them to move & shoot. More importantly, a decent pistol (laser or better) allows a sniper to defend himself when a Floater decides to drop in behind your sniper, since he's likely too far away for anyone else to help. Being able to move behind cover and shoot without a close-range accuracy penalty of the sniper rifle is a lifesaver. It's a fairly rare scenario, but it's happened at least once or twice in every game I've ever played, so it's reasonable enough to plan for.
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When all else fails, read the instructions.
Feb 4, 2013 4:35 pm GMT
Pistol upgrades makes your Snipers deadly at all ranges since it becomes more powerful than the equivalent rifle in the hands of a Gunslinger. It's one of the reasons why a Snapshot Sniper is such a poor choice.
Feb 5, 2013 12:15 am GMT
Weapon Fragments are far too important for you in early game, the weapon fragment cost for improved pistols could be and should be used to level up your Plasma weapons ASAP instead. Only Ammo Conservation, Improved Arc Thrower and Alien Grenades are worth getting before you finish maxing out all the Plasma weapon (and Alloy Cannon) tech.
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I'm going to ****ing rip your throat out if you wake me up again. And if you touch the poster, I'll slap you across the face with your own esophogus
Feb 6, 2013 3:53 am GMT
I tend to make two laser pistols or so, and maybe a plasma pistol later on if I couldn't capture enough from Sectoids. Pistols go on Snipers first and Assaults second. (While their utility on Shotgun Assaults is clear, I also find them handy with Rapid Fire rifle-carriers, since pistols have infinite ammo.) Upgrade-wise, sometimes I get the accuracy upgrade, but that's about it; damage upgrade is too expensive, and I find the critical upgrade to be counter-productive, as it makes pistols worse at weakening enemies for a capture.
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I don't like this duchy. Now, it's an adventurer.
Feb 6, 2013 3:16 pm GMT
ChronoReverse posted...Pistol upgrades makes your Snipers deadly at all ranges since it becomes more powerful than the equivalent rifle in the hands of a Gunslinger. It's one of the reasons why a Snapshot Sniper is such a poor choice.
I did some number crunching, the gunslinger pistols are comparable, but the stats are slightly different.
Pistol: Goes from 1-2 dmg to 3-4, giving it a higher average damage than the assault rifle.
Laser pistol: Goes from 1-3 to 3-5, giving it one less max dmg compared to Laser rifle/Light Plasma rifle (3-6 dmg).
Plasma pistol: Goes from 2-4 to 4-6 dmg, which is two less max dmg compared to the Plasma rifle (4-8 dmg).
With the damage upgrade from the foundry, you get an additional +1, which makes pistols superior, laser pistols gets a +1 min dmg and equal max dmg as LR/LPR. Plasma pistol gets +1 min dmg but still has -1 max dmg, which is annoying since instead of a max 10 crit dmg, the game rounds it down to max 9 crit dmg compared to a PR's max 12 crit dmg. At least this is what I get during my games.
Feb 10, 2013 10:26 pm GMT
I did read that the pistol II upgrade was bugged and didn't actually apply.
A Plasma Pistol saved one of my soldiers this game. I got surprised by a Cyberdisc spawn. I used all my guys to gun it down, but down to my sniper, I couldn't get a shot since it was in a UFO. I moved and was able to shoot it with my pistol and save one of my guys form getting taken out by the Cyberdisc.
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