Best setup so far

[deepeyes]

I've been playing this game like 4-5 times already, and this setup works for any mission.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035935682

How about you ?

[c_falk]

Incinerator is very useful for narrow choke points, so swap out a shotgun for that.

A couple more points:
1) Once you get the Plasma rifle, make sure the Marine carrying it has the Submachine Gun as secondary. It's DPM is almost as good as the Pulse Rifle, and if you use the Plasma Rifle's overload burst (great for clearing corridors), it is unusable for something like 30-45 seconds, so you want something better than a revolver while the rifle is on cooldown.
2) The RPG is almost useless. LONG delay means you will easily miss even a queen, and smaller enemies, forget it. You might use it once, maybe twice in a mission if you are certain to meet a queen and you have a bit of space to maneuver, then you might take it in a 5-man squad.

[deepeyes]

1. Cool
2. Agree

Most of the time, I herd the aliens with my tactical drone to my sentry nest while my team is hiding. I clean out the egg nest in similar way. This is why I don't have incinerator.

Shotgun is very helpful if the enemy way too close.

Oh, about properway to kill the queen with an RPG, you need to slow them down with upgraded grenade launcher.

[sooshon]

Yeah, just variety to have as many tools available for any given situation, so I would still replace a shotgun with a flamethrower, they are also useful for clearing eggs silently (no noise to attract other aliens like grenades and less command points than using 1 CP / egg with sniper rifle since it is an AoE). I've only played through the game once so ofc having most options available at any time is the obvious choice going in blind...flame throwers are also really useful in the more cut-sceney / defense situations to cut off some approach points of aliens from certain directions, they will usually avoid it and go for other options and you can herd them where you want. Once you've played through the game once I guess you kind of know what to expect each mission and what will work best / how to cheese things.

Also disagree about RPG being useless, quite good for human enemies at a distance, taking out sleeping aliens reliably if noise isn't an issue, completely usable aim in narrow hallways. Shotgun is nice ofc, but really you can get away with using upgraded grenades in close proximity situations if the 1 shotgun marine you have is at a bad position for some specific situations so i relaly don't see the point of taking more than 1 vs having more options for your arsenal. 5 marines = 1 of each skill weapon if you are bringing along a recon is an easy decision for me.

[deepeyes]

I brought 2 shotgun, because the first one 99% miss, the second one the real deal. I'm really bad at timing my shotgun, haha ...

[Haggis MechHaggis]

Originally posted by deepeyes:

1. Cool
2. Agree

Most of the time, I herd the aliens with my tactical drone to my sentry nest while my team is hiding. I clean out the egg nest similar way. This is why I don't have incinerator.

Shotgun is very helpful if the enemy way too close.

Oh, about properway to kill the queen with an RPG, you need to slow them down with upgraded grenade launcher.

or wait until she charges then RPG
dead queen

[c_falk]

I just finished my 4th complete playthrough on Nightmare mode (I swear, that's it, no more!) and on the very last mission brought an RPG. Fired it 4 times including at a queen. Missed every last one of them. I just can't hit with it.

[deepeyes]

Lol

[Kal_Jerico]

Originally posted by c_falk:

I just finished my 4th complete playthrough on Nightmare mode (I swear, that's it, no more!) and on the very last mission brought an RPG. Fired it 4 times including at a queen. Missed every last one of them. I just can't hit with it.

I used the RPG from the moment i first got it, takes a bit practice as you really need to wait for the perfect shot, but once you get used to it and every shot connects... NOTHING drops a queen faster aka it's a queen killer.

[deepeyes]

Originally posted by Kal_Jerico:

Originally posted by c_falk:

I just finished my 4th complete playthrough on Nightmare mode (I swear, that's it, no more!) and on the very last mission brought an RPG. Fired it 4 times including at a queen. Missed every last one of them. I just can't hit with it.

I used the RPG from the moment i first got it, takes a bit practice as you really need to wait for the perfect shot, but once you get used to it and every shot connects... NOTHING drops a queen faster aka it's a queen killer.

Have you tried it on nightmare mode, is the RPG still effective ?

[sooshon]

Originally posted by deepeyes:

Originally posted by Kal_Jerico:

I used the RPG from the moment i first got it, takes a bit practice as you really need to wait for the perfect shot, but once you get used to it and every shot connects... NOTHING drops a queen faster aka it's a queen killer.

Have you tried it on nightmare mode, is the RPG still effective ?

yes, why wouldn't it be? nightmare doesn't change basic game mechanics just a few numbers like health, how quickly the aggression bar fills etc. the health of the aliens isn't a different order of magnitude or anything, rpg will still erase any non boss alien in 1 hit and give a huge blow to anything like a queen

[deepeyes]

Cool, I thought since the HP number is higher, it would takes more to kill the queen with an RPG.

I gonna try Nightmare difficulty now.

[c_falk]

Originally posted by deepeyes:

Cool, I thought since the HP number is higher, it would takes more to kill the queen with an RPG.

I gonna try Nightmare difficulty now.

I'm pretty sure that's the case. The easiest way to tell the difference IMHO is on the Dead Hills mission with the ARC, when it kills a passing xeno with the machine gun. They died almost instantly in my first game on easy mode, in Nightmare mode they take a good 3 or maybe 4 seconds or so to die. Hard to tell the difference in actual combat - everything is so chaotic.

[Twelvefield]

Old person brain, it took me a long time before the marble finally went down the correct chute...

But now I do remember a movie where the crew of a spaceship accidentally brings on board a vicious alien that proceeds to rip them to pieces one by one, taking time to hide in the air vents to plan its next assault. The crew barricades themselves by welding shut the bulkhead door, but the creature uses its superior strength to bust through and the only thing that can save the survivors is to push the thing through the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ airlock.

The movie is the not-so-classic 1958 creature feature "It! The The Terror From Beyond Space", which you will note from the date was released 20 or so years before Ridley Scott's "Alien". The two movies share a nearly identical plot and resolution, although It! suffers from truly cheap special effects and a limited budget. Nobody sings "You Are My Lucky Star" in their panties in the 1950's.

https://screenrant.com/ridley-scott-alien-movie-copied-1950s-terror-beyond-space-how/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051786/

https://www.thehaughtyculturist.com/films/alien-song-lucky-star/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG5M47yljzs&t=97s

So why do I bring this up? Because in it!, the crew has on board ready to rock-and-roll a genuine man-portable shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, and they use it on the alien pretty much how we use it in the game. It's an incredibly foolhardy piece of equipment to bring aboard a spaceship, but these guys are Americans and everyone carries open sidearms. Not that it makes any difference. Spoiler alert: the guns don't work against the alien and neither does the rocket grenade. As I recall, the beast bleeds a little but it's unfazed. It becomes even angrier, if anything. It's been a long time since I've watched this movie, but either the rocket misses the alien altogether, or else the grenade bounces harmlessly off of its armour (yet somehow doesn't space the crew). So, just like in the game, you have to be careful with your shot!


EDIT: I've found a free copy of It! The Terror From Beyond Space online, see the link below. It's colourized, which is truly horrifying. If you want to see the rocket launcher scene, jump ahead to the 1'05" mark.

https://archive.org/details/it-the-terror-from-beyond-space-colorized

[IAmSquidget]

I've beat the game a couple times on Nightmare now, and I still pretty much carry one of every secondary weapon. RPG won't miss as long as you combo it with a GL hit, since the GL always stuns a Queen in place. Getting the Queen down fast is helpful in some of the multi-sided fights (looking at you, Synth battle).

Other than that, it's not super useful, but what else am I going to put on the 5th marine? I've never usually needed a 2nd shotgun or flamer.

The last run I did I never even bought Revolvers. Didn't get SMGs until the last mission. They just aren't useful once you learn how to manage ammo and not run out on primaries. Sure, yeah, every so often you Plasma beam some stuff, but it's not super common IMO. SMG is what I buy when I have nothing left to spend supplies on.

[IAmSquidget]

Oh, about flamers. They absolutely ROCK on higher difficulty against Synths or humans. Non-aliens are absurdly tanky against grenades, but often die in use of flamers. Humans are also kinda dumb and will stand in flames if not alerted, and sometimes even if they are alerted. A much better use of command points than trying to snipe 3 dudes.