In this update, I'll go through the equipment currently available to our troops, except for the ammo, as I couldn't be arsed with that. Currently, we only stock ordinary ammo, nothing interesting yet, such as armor piercing, explosive or flechette rounds.
I'll discuss the different groups of weapons by themselves, and explain why I choose some weapons in preference to others.
First up is the weapons and equipment we start out with.
The reticulan laser pistol and rifle, and our basic firstaid kit. The laser weapons are good against certain enemies, such as the flatster, and a particular kind of enemy we wont be seeing for a long time. But the ammo is hard to come by and we can't produce it ourselves. The weapons we can produce ourselves quickly replace these for that reason, and it seems to me that human-produced weapons are generally more effective anyway, so I'm not complaining.
Many weapons have two modes of fire. Single-shot or burst. The burst can be anything from 2 to 5 shots. When using burst mode, the maximum range of the weapon is reduced by 5% for each point in the recoil stat. Which means, for these laser weapons, if switched to burst mode their maximum range drops 10%. Accuracy suffers in a like manner, but I don't have the exact numbers.
Next up is our only pistol.
This might see use by our dual-wielding rangers. It can also function as a backup gun, but I rarely bother.
SMGs next.
Higher accuracy is generally what you should go for, so in this case, the MP5 is the better choice. They're only really a valid choice for dual-wielding rangers though, so most of the time I just pass up on these weapons.
Shotguns next.
Two generations of the same gun. The SPAS 15 has a two-burst fire mode, making it extra deadly. Also, it reloading faster is a lifesaver. We will not be using the SPAS 12.
Assault rifles.
We'll be using the plastic XM8 exclusively, again because of higher accuracy. Sometimes, you land a critical hit which will knock the opponent on his ass. This seems to be tied in with accuracy, so higher = better always. Later, we'll get the option to affix different sorts of weapon upgrades to our gear, which can improve some of its stats. The XM8 will remain in use for a long time.
Machineguns. :twisted:
Our gunmen will be wielding M60E3s for a while. And they will be loving it.
Once their skills get high enough, they will be outperforming assault rifles, even at extreme ranges. God, I love these things. You just have to lug around a lot of ammo, but I consider that tradeoff worth it.
Sniper rifles.
This is where I deviate from my normal maxim of higher accuracy = weapon of choice. Here, I take the SR-25 due to several things. It can fire in 2-round bursts, it holds the most ammo of the three, and the ranges I will usually be fighting at means the accuracy means less than the "round per sec" data. Later on I might occasionally switch to the M82A1 just for the pure awesomeness of the firing sound.
Now for the grenades currently held by our team.
I admit I'm not good at using the grenades to their full potential. I find that enemies scatter quickly, and will often have moved anyways, so I prefer direct fire weapons. I might take along some incendiary grenades though, to try and funnel enemies in a specific direction. I haven't had good results with this though. The jury's still out.
Here are some captured reticulan equipment I have yet to research, and as such are unavailable for use.
The missile launcher can be devastating, not for its damage output per se, but because explosions knock people down. Take advantage of the seconds this buys you to fill them with holes. But beware that reloading a missile launcher takes time in which the enemy might decide to fill
you with holes..
The reticulan blaster causes stun damage. Highly useful in capture missions, and against a certain type of armoured enemy we will encounter later. It has short range though, and is dependent on psi-power.
Finally, we have our trusty knife.
This was also available right from the start, actually. I just never use them.
Our troops also have some protective gear available.
The cyborgs start out pretty well protected. The rest of your meatbags you'd better concentrate on making shells for quickly, as they scrape easily and will happily bleed all over the place. Later armour advances will drastically increase the likelyhood of survival when being fired upon. But that's for later, not now.
As it stands, most troops get the XM8 assault rifles. Some I've given the SPAS 15 shotgun, if their close range skill is much better than their rifle skill and they're fast. Once people start completing sniper and gunmant training, they will be getting their SR-25s and M60E3s ASAP.
For now, I will concentrate on grabbing territory that will lead me closer to the cultist threat. That will increase the odds of us getting to fight other humans, probably better armed than us, and it will inevitably lead to research topics that will bring us bigger boom-sticks.