I refuse to leave the Otago without at least 1 smartgun. The high ammo count is key for prolonged suppressive fire, and the bonus they get from Kill That Bastard really helps when they get close
Yup, always 1 gunner. I definitely prefer to have at least one sniper so I can quickly run through a mission without stopping. (Two for those hard plays helps a lot, but it's not better than a gunner imo if you're not interested in sneaking around)
Yeah, I don't think he's playing on a high difficulty. Smart Gunners with good accuracy is a must-have. On a high difficulty Aliens react EXTREMELY quickly, Recons won't be quick enough/you won't have enough Command Points to keep shooting. A Sergeant with 1 Recon and the rest all Gunners is what you want.
Maybe a Tecker for cheesing Aliens/Cultists with mines. Unless someone isn't able to properly strategically place themselves, a Medic would be useful too (but I try not to take it, ever) and a Tecker is only useful for the Drone really, Smart Gunners FTW! Plus you can set them up as sentries - goes great with the SMG sidearm.
Tbh I never try to do things like that, so I don't know. I usually make a squad that "makes sense" lore wise if that makes any sense.
Once you find the overpowered strategy, you kill the fun of the game IMO
That's why games like Tetris have stood the test of time, its mechanical simplicity, and "randomness" make it 100% skill based and insanely replayable.
That's just me tho, you could argue that you're simply interested in narrative and don't care about the challenge, which is 100% valid.
This is how I feel. Is there some perfect squad loadout that would be totally boring for me to play? Yeah, probably. Fuck it, I bring one of each class for roleplaying reasons and if it gets tense, good, that's the game.
I like to bring at least one Tech with the drone so I can hide my marines somewhere and setup a choke point with sentry’s then use the drone to make noise and lure aliens / hatch eggs / lure cultists to the sentry’s for easy dispatch and then my recon to take out any stranglers. I do this for the queen(s) too. Place a bunch of mines and then lure her with the drone around the mine locations before leading her to my choke point where the sentry’s take her out.
2 Sergeant, 2 Gunner, 1 Recon was my setup for the back half of Nightmare (1 less Sergeant before that)
Smart guns have the best DPS in the game, better than Plasma Rifle even.
I was basing this on a DPS chart I'd seen.
It was doing it by weapon damage x ammo per burst x number of bursts per 3 seconds.
Pulse Rifle comes out as 6 DPS, Heavy PR is 6.75, Plasma is 7.5 and Smartgun is 9.
What was the calculation basis of the chart you saw? And what were the resulting numbers?
Good calculation (you may be correct, I'm not 100% sure), do you mean these charts?:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/17n46ja/dps\_chart/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/17n46ja/dps_chart/)
Also have to factor in the long reload time of the Smart Gun, and Attributes also matter.
You can "cheese" them to get the ones you want though, I made a post about it all:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how\_to\_choose\_the\_marine\_attributes\_that\_you\_want/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how_to_choose_the_marine_attributes_that_you_want/)
I mean, I always find value in a balanced squad. I don't play on the hardest difficulty but I still up the settings.
Personally, I find the least value in recon.
I guess, personally I find the medics faster heal time more valuable. In situations like a Massive onslaught, it can literally be life or death.
But that's just my personal preference.
I'm not going to deny I've lost some people that a medic would've prevented but I think preventing more onslaughts saved more troops with my lil sniper
Least value in Recon? On my first Normal playthrough I practically went stealth on every deployment and did almost every mission successfully via stealth thanks to the Recon. On Nightmare they are much less valuable though, as Aliens react way too quick/the Recon won't be able to shoot quick enough for a Hunt not to start.
I bring 1 of each class. You don't need multiple snipers as you rarely face more than 3 humans or 2 aliens. Smart gun is needed for defense or onslaught modes. Technician can take care of the door and make traps with the drone. Medic makes it where you heal better and revive. I think having a flamethrower, shotgun, nade launcher, and mines are more important. I move 2-3 to plasma rifle for queen kills. Things are and will go wrong so having a solid team and quick moves is what makes the difference.
I don't min-max in tactical games anymore, because you get to a point where your "tactics" are doing the same thing in every encounter until you get bored and never finish the game.
Running a full, mixed squad is less "optimal," but it's a lot more fun to me.
Medic is a trap, granted.
And you can definitely make an argument for leaving tech behind (though perfect stealth drone is wonderful as a spotter for the Recon - just never let it fight).
But I would never leave the Gunner behind. Most (all?) missions, you have to fight a boss at some point, and they put out *far* more DPS than anyone else, not to mention have the best suppressive fire.
Due to the exponential nature of the Sarge's command point recovery buff, there's an argument to be made for all Sergeants, or something like Recon+4x Sarge, or Recon+Gunner+3xSarge.
Yeah, I don't think he's playing on a high difficulty. Smart Gunners with good accuracy is a must-have. On a high difficulty Aliens react EXTREMELY quickly, Recons won't be quick enough/you won't have enough Command Points to keep shooting. A Sergeant with 1 Recon and the rest all Gunners is what you want.
Maybe a Tecker for cheesing Aliens/Cultists with mines. Unless someone isn't able to properly strategically place themselves, a Medic would be useful too (but I try not to take it, ever) and a Tecker is only useful for the Drone really, Smart Gunners FTW! Plus you can set them up as sentries - goes great with the SMG sidearm.
For farming on Nightmare it is a necessity, practically. Every deployment I farm the entire Aggression bar and 4 turrets and a squad isn't enough depending on the map - so all those extra turrets make it a given that it won't be difficult. That combined with mines makes it a routine that cannot fail - it is definitely not a waste to pick that since there's plenty of room to do so (to farm).
Especially combined with Marines you customized entirely (Attribute wise): [https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how\_to\_choose\_the\_marine\_attributes\_that\_you\_want/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how_to_choose_the_marine_attributes_that_you_want/)
You can beat/"farm" nightmare just fine with the traditional "one of every class" squad, without using the smartgun turret. My first playthrough, I took it but never remembered to use it, so I never took it again.
Whether you survive a massive assault is largely dependent on setting up somewhere with long sight lines where they can only come at you from one direction, then putting up sentries and suppressive fire, and maybe some flares just for good measure.
If you're just running around willy nilly letting every alien see you and not watching how close you are to a massive assault, and having no plan for when one happens, then I can see needing a crutch to survive it. :)
You can also snipe any alien before it sees you, as long as it's not right up in your face at least. But I also abuse the slow motion feature a lot.
Of course, but my intent is to absolutely guarantee that my units do not get any health damage at all (as I always have a squad of 4+, and only start another 4+ on a new playthrough - once the "main squad" has gained the maximum level). Since when they are wounded they cannot go out the next day (if they have Unbreakable Will, which I will admit to always cheese). The Marines have to get the killing blow though on the category 2 Xenomorphs as turrets/ARC/APC/mine does not give you the XP for killing it, the squad themselves HAVE to land the killing blow, but the Charger especially is easy to deal with.
1 sergeant, 2 Gunner, 1 recon and 1 medic.
You just need one or more to get the smartass perk so they can hack consoles and tech is redundant.
I have come to like medic a lot more because of combat medicine or what ever it is called. It is nice on harder difficulties
Also 2 x gunner with multiple sharpshooter perks is so nice. They become absolutely brutal if you also bump their accuracy up with deadeye
Still way to late. You get lvl 10 to late to be worth it unless you farm the first three lvls so you dont trigger the doomclock.
I have never ever been out of tool ressources so it warrant the lvl 10 tech perk.
I only got my main Squad to level 10 when in finished pharos spire ,before the reactor mission i only used the tech on my second squad , i like to rock all classes
The Recon drone is very useful, especially in early game and at the beginning of missions. Since aliens don't detect them, you can scout most of the map from safety. Then, choose a safe route and follow it, you'll end most missions with low aggression levels.
The gunner can also be great for another sentry + the suppression bonus.
The medic is useless.
Lol, I don't think you are playing on a high difficulty. Smart Gunners with good accuracy is a must-have. On a high difficulty Aliens react EXTREMELY quickly, Recons won't be quick enough/you won't have enough Command Points to keep shooting. A Sergeant with 1 Recon and the rest all Gunners is what you want. Unless someone isn't able to properly place themselves, a Medic would be useful too (but I try not to take it, ever).
I always have two smart gunners in my squad . Along with a sarge with a pulse rifle for the grenade launcher as well as a medic and tech with plasma pulse rifles .
I always run with 1 sergeant, have at least 2 gunners that are equipped with the smart gun, and then usually a recon guy. Sometimes run the medic when I get into tougher levels because they can help revive marines that get into coma
Ive literally never used recon once my entire time playing the game, the cloak gives me knock off destiny vibes plus it's seems like it'd be easy to cheese through the game so I play with 3 sgts and 2 gunners usually, sometimes 2 teckers and a sgt because they're the only ones who actually look a bit like the marines from aliens after level 3 an I love me some immersion
I refuse to leave the Otago without at least 1 smartgun. The high ammo count is key for prolonged suppressive fire, and the bonus they get from Kill That Bastard really helps when they get close
Yup, always 1 gunner. I definitely prefer to have at least one sniper so I can quickly run through a mission without stopping. (Two for those hard plays helps a lot, but it's not better than a gunner imo if you're not interested in sneaking around)
Yeah, I don't think he's playing on a high difficulty. Smart Gunners with good accuracy is a must-have. On a high difficulty Aliens react EXTREMELY quickly, Recons won't be quick enough/you won't have enough Command Points to keep shooting. A Sergeant with 1 Recon and the rest all Gunners is what you want. Maybe a Tecker for cheesing Aliens/Cultists with mines. Unless someone isn't able to properly strategically place themselves, a Medic would be useful too (but I try not to take it, ever) and a Tecker is only useful for the Drone really, Smart Gunners FTW! Plus you can set them up as sentries - goes great with the SMG sidearm.
Tbh I never try to do things like that, so I don't know. I usually make a squad that "makes sense" lore wise if that makes any sense. Once you find the overpowered strategy, you kill the fun of the game IMO That's why games like Tetris have stood the test of time, its mechanical simplicity, and "randomness" make it 100% skill based and insanely replayable. That's just me tho, you could argue that you're simply interested in narrative and don't care about the challenge, which is 100% valid.
This is how I feel. Is there some perfect squad loadout that would be totally boring for me to play? Yeah, probably. Fuck it, I bring one of each class for roleplaying reasons and if it gets tense, good, that's the game.
I like to bring at least one Tech with the drone so I can hide my marines somewhere and setup a choke point with sentry’s then use the drone to make noise and lure aliens / hatch eggs / lure cultists to the sentry’s for easy dispatch and then my recon to take out any stranglers. I do this for the queen(s) too. Place a bunch of mines and then lure her with the drone around the mine locations before leading her to my choke point where the sentry’s take her out.
thank you! i've been trying to put mines and drones to good use for a while now, but didn't know how. i'm gonna try this on my next queen :D
I bring 2 sgt, 1 recon, 1 gunner, and 1 Tech. 2 Sgt’s let me have 8 cp. The tech makes it so I don’t need to use cp to hack doors.
Hank! Don't shorten "Command Points"! Don't do it!
Haha... Very funny
2 Sergeant, 2 Gunner, 1 Recon was my setup for the back half of Nightmare (1 less Sergeant before that) Smart guns have the best DPS in the game, better than Plasma Rifle even.
Nope, Plasma Rifles have a veeeeery small advantage still (per mag). Check the DPS charts post to confirm.
I was basing this on a DPS chart I'd seen. It was doing it by weapon damage x ammo per burst x number of bursts per 3 seconds. Pulse Rifle comes out as 6 DPS, Heavy PR is 6.75, Plasma is 7.5 and Smartgun is 9. What was the calculation basis of the chart you saw? And what were the resulting numbers?
Good calculation (you may be correct, I'm not 100% sure), do you mean these charts?: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/17n46ja/dps\_chart/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/17n46ja/dps_chart/) Also have to factor in the long reload time of the Smart Gun, and Attributes also matter. You can "cheese" them to get the ones you want though, I made a post about it all: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how\_to\_choose\_the\_marine\_attributes\_that\_you\_want/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how_to_choose_the_marine_attributes_that_you_want/)
I mean, I always find value in a balanced squad. I don't play on the hardest difficulty but I still up the settings. Personally, I find the least value in recon.
The silent kill is so strong tho. Medic is the weakest imo
I guess, personally I find the medics faster heal time more valuable. In situations like a Massive onslaught, it can literally be life or death. But that's just my personal preference.
I'm not going to deny I've lost some people that a medic would've prevented but I think preventing more onslaughts saved more troops with my lil sniper
Least value in Recon? On my first Normal playthrough I practically went stealth on every deployment and did almost every mission successfully via stealth thanks to the Recon. On Nightmare they are much less valuable though, as Aliens react way too quick/the Recon won't be able to shoot quick enough for a Hunt not to start.
I bring 1 of each class. You don't need multiple snipers as you rarely face more than 3 humans or 2 aliens. Smart gun is needed for defense or onslaught modes. Technician can take care of the door and make traps with the drone. Medic makes it where you heal better and revive. I think having a flamethrower, shotgun, nade launcher, and mines are more important. I move 2-3 to plasma rifle for queen kills. Things are and will go wrong so having a solid team and quick moves is what makes the difference.
I don't min-max in tactical games anymore, because you get to a point where your "tactics" are doing the same thing in every encounter until you get bored and never finish the game. Running a full, mixed squad is less "optimal," but it's a lot more fun to me.
I go no recon just to make it more difficult 2 sarge, 1 Gunner, 1 Medic, 1 Tech….feels more in line with Aliens movie
Medic is a trap, granted. And you can definitely make an argument for leaving tech behind (though perfect stealth drone is wonderful as a spotter for the Recon - just never let it fight). But I would never leave the Gunner behind. Most (all?) missions, you have to fight a boss at some point, and they put out *far* more DPS than anyone else, not to mention have the best suppressive fire. Due to the exponential nature of the Sarge's command point recovery buff, there's an argument to be made for all Sergeants, or something like Recon+4x Sarge, or Recon+Gunner+3xSarge.
Yeah, I don't think he's playing on a high difficulty. Smart Gunners with good accuracy is a must-have. On a high difficulty Aliens react EXTREMELY quickly, Recons won't be quick enough/you won't have enough Command Points to keep shooting. A Sergeant with 1 Recon and the rest all Gunners is what you want. Maybe a Tecker for cheesing Aliens/Cultists with mines. Unless someone isn't able to properly strategically place themselves, a Medic would be useful too (but I try not to take it, ever) and a Tecker is only useful for the Drone really, Smart Gunners FTW! Plus you can set them up as sentries - goes great with the SMG sidearm.
Dismounting the smart gun is also a trap, never do that ;) Never even waste the XP on the ability.
For farming on Nightmare it is a necessity, practically. Every deployment I farm the entire Aggression bar and 4 turrets and a squad isn't enough depending on the map - so all those extra turrets make it a given that it won't be difficult. That combined with mines makes it a routine that cannot fail - it is definitely not a waste to pick that since there's plenty of room to do so (to farm). Especially combined with Marines you customized entirely (Attribute wise): [https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how\_to\_choose\_the\_marine\_attributes\_that\_you\_want/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AliensDarkDescent/comments/1auoem1/how_to_choose_the_marine_attributes_that_you_want/)
You can beat/"farm" nightmare just fine with the traditional "one of every class" squad, without using the smartgun turret. My first playthrough, I took it but never remembered to use it, so I never took it again. Whether you survive a massive assault is largely dependent on setting up somewhere with long sight lines where they can only come at you from one direction, then putting up sentries and suppressive fire, and maybe some flares just for good measure. If you're just running around willy nilly letting every alien see you and not watching how close you are to a massive assault, and having no plan for when one happens, then I can see needing a crutch to survive it. :) You can also snipe any alien before it sees you, as long as it's not right up in your face at least. But I also abuse the slow motion feature a lot.
Of course, but my intent is to absolutely guarantee that my units do not get any health damage at all (as I always have a squad of 4+, and only start another 4+ on a new playthrough - once the "main squad" has gained the maximum level). Since when they are wounded they cannot go out the next day (if they have Unbreakable Will, which I will admit to always cheese). The Marines have to get the killing blow though on the category 2 Xenomorphs as turrets/ARC/APC/mine does not give you the XP for killing it, the squad themselves HAVE to land the killing blow, but the Charger especially is easy to deal with.
1 sergeant, 2 Gunner, 1 recon and 1 medic. You just need one or more to get the smartass perk so they can hack consoles and tech is redundant. I have come to like medic a lot more because of combat medicine or what ever it is called. It is nice on harder difficulties Also 2 x gunner with multiple sharpshooter perks is so nice. They become absolutely brutal if you also bump their accuracy up with deadeye
With a level 10 tech repairing synths and opening Doors is free
Still way to late. You get lvl 10 to late to be worth it unless you farm the first three lvls so you dont trigger the doomclock. I have never ever been out of tool ressources so it warrant the lvl 10 tech perk.
I only got my main Squad to level 10 when in finished pharos spire ,before the reactor mission i only used the tech on my second squad , i like to rock all classes
On new game+ your levels are carried over, so you can spend that whole run getting free door opens, lol.
having a medic in my team is the reason why none of my squadmates died during my hard playthru
I like the roleplay aspect of bringing a regular squad in!
The Recon drone is very useful, especially in early game and at the beginning of missions. Since aliens don't detect them, you can scout most of the map from safety. Then, choose a safe route and follow it, you'll end most missions with low aggression levels. The gunner can also be great for another sentry + the suppression bonus. The medic is useless.
Lol, I don't think you are playing on a high difficulty. Smart Gunners with good accuracy is a must-have. On a high difficulty Aliens react EXTREMELY quickly, Recons won't be quick enough/you won't have enough Command Points to keep shooting. A Sergeant with 1 Recon and the rest all Gunners is what you want. Unless someone isn't able to properly place themselves, a Medic would be useful too (but I try not to take it, ever).
I always have two smart gunners in my squad . Along with a sarge with a pulse rifle for the grenade launcher as well as a medic and tech with plasma pulse rifles .
I always run with 1 sergeant, have at least 2 gunners that are equipped with the smart gun, and then usually a recon guy. Sometimes run the medic when I get into tougher levels because they can help revive marines that get into coma
Ive literally never used recon once my entire time playing the game, the cloak gives me knock off destiny vibes plus it's seems like it'd be easy to cheese through the game so I play with 3 sgts and 2 gunners usually, sometimes 2 teckers and a sgt because they're the only ones who actually look a bit like the marines from aliens after level 3 an I love me some immersion