Could somebody explain what's so bad about the Thin Men?

[guy with a dog avatar]

A minor annoyance maybe, but if you knew what you were doing they were a non issue.

[Tenacious Rodent]

They are no problem at all on normal.
However,they outclass you in every way during early classic games with movement range, aim, leaping , AOE poison, firepower and hitpoints.If you even allow them to take one shot you will lose a squaddy 80% of the time, full cover or not. And hiding on rooftops will do nothing. The only way to handle them is upgrading your gear after wich they rapidly become much less of a problem. But early on, they will eat you up.

[drake_hound]

Nah it is impossible where they really shine , able to even critical a MEC for 9 damage .. thus one shot killing it :P .

They are part of that is XCOM babe , sadly they loses there charm once you can outlive there 9 damage magical criticals . immune to there poison .

Now on impossible they are the one thing , that can break your lucky streak ;)
And just in one turn plain out murder your squad .

Try it and you will find out .

[jackdog3]

I have even had three thin men kill a fully promoted heavy with titan armour in the late game. despite some other options they all moved to attack the same troop all got criticals and that was that. Its those times when logic goes out of the window and although you know different it feels like they did it deliberately. I doubt the AI is sophisticated enough to as a prefrence move to a part of the map where you can see a damaged troop to fire on it when there is an undamaged alternative in front of them, but it sure felt like it that day.

Yes classic is bad enough. I remain too scared for I/I but it won't be long.

[Stardustfire]

err drake lowest MEC suit gives 8 Hp plus the 4 hp a soldier start with how can a 9dmg hit onehitkill?

[N o i r]

On Impossible they have a base aim of 75, +10 for their LPR - that means they will hit you in Full Cover 45% of the times, and they even have 5% of hitting a Hunkered Down Full Cover soldier.

That and they have 6HP, significantly decreaseing the chances of a one-hit-kill and sometimes surviving also a Laser Rifle shot - not to mention that their poison DoT is a huge source of Rookie Panic in the beginning.

When I see them, I tend to either insta-rocket them or, if possible, Squadsight snipe them. It's the only way to be sure.

[Demonbreather]

They can still be a major pain in the ass even if you know what you're doing if they creep in when you're vulnerable.

[drake_hound]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

err drake lowest MEC suit gives 8 Hp plus the 4 hp a soldier start with how can a 9dmg hit onehitkill?

Well basically you are right , but what was the max critical of LPR again .
Cause impossible HP soldier are 3 mec are 8 so is 11 .
But I know I was caught offguard once , with a heavy MEC in the open .
And at portent the thinman just wacked it dead ! from the roof .

With a critical >.< since then I don´t leave MEC in the open vs thinman on rooftops .
Unless it is above there critical range . or unless my MEC have more hp .

I only remember 9 Hp one shot cause was like ok , LPR can´t critical against hardened .
So taking 6 damage still 3 HP left , ok I can take the risk :P
XComed :D bye bye mec trooper :(

[MacroNova]

Thin Men are a symptom of XCOM's biggest flaw - the ridiculously front loaded difficulty. Only impossible difficulty sectoids compare to the unpreparedness your squad has when dealing with the first thin men.

Your first council mission, you have 4 soldiers, low rank. Thin men drop in on you in overwatch. You can either reposition and hope it misses, take pot shots at it, or try explosives. If you don't kill it, it has an extremely good chance of killing one of your soldiers on its turn, causing a panic chain.

Every other enemy in the game, your squad should have the ability to survive a turn against them.

[maverick]

thin men are "one hit wonders" they will hit+crit+kill one shot any of your units early game if you give them a chance to fire, makes the early game a pain in the ***

[Temper]

I loathe thinmen so much on impossible that in some cases I've declined early council missions without a second thought,mostly if the heavy is in medbay. lol

[margalus]

Just finished a run on normal and was thinking the same thing. Thin Men are nothing to worry about at all. Easy to kill.

Just started a Classic run, I don't think that any more. I hate Thin Men, my guys suck since I am just starting, I shoot them and do 2 damage, or miss. Their turn comes, they shoot me and do 6-9 damage and don't miss. I'm dead. I am going to have to learn how to play again

[Alistar2013]

THIN MEN GENOCIDE!!!! KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!!! Never hesitate to use explosives on these ***holes. The satisfaction you get from closing range on a pack of Thin Men in cover close to one another with a Flamethrower equipped MEC. "Killing it with fire!" INDEED!

[Demonbreather]

Originally posted by margalus:

Just finished a run on normal and was thinking the same thing. Thin Men are nothing to worry about at all. Easy to kill.

Just started a Classic run, I don't think that any more. I hate Thin Men, my guys suck since I am just starting, I shoot them and do 2 damage, or miss. Their turn comes, they shoot me and do 6-9 damage and don't miss. I'm dead. I am going to have to learn how to play again

Well, at least where council missions are concerned, the potential threat of thin men is negligible once you've played the game a few times and realized that the drop points are always the same.
Whether that's a good thing is debatable.
I'd like drop points to be more randomized, myself.

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by super drama guard:

A minor annoyance maybe, but if you knew what you were doing they were a non issue.

1. Farking ridiculous accuracy - when they first show up, they'll hit targets in partial cover 3/4 of the time or more and the vast majority of those hits are kills.

2. Poison - if they can't hit you, they'll poison you.

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by MacroNova:

Your first council mission, you have 4 soldiers, low rank. Thin men drop in on you in overwatch. You can either reposition and hope it misses, take pot shots at it, or try explosives. If you don't kill it, it has an extremely good chance of killing one of your soldiers on its turn, causing a panic chain.

Or the fething 'train' council mission - before the ned of the second month. I've barely got 5 guys, starting armor, and only one of them has reached Sgt rank. Now I'm going into a map that is full of TM *and* having to deal with Mutons. Oh, and only 10 turns to get to the end of the train.