Does sergeant gideon just suck or am I using him wrong?

[Chris Redfield]

I seem to recall him holding corridors for turn after turn in guard mode, but twice in a row now he's died to a single genestealer attack, from the front, in guard mode. Bad luck? Bad play? Both?

[Shar]

I believe its mostly a Gideon issue. For him a single bad roll means he dies, basically. Contrast that with your other Marines, they usually get multiple rolls since the genestealers have to advance through each square of your overwatch. The best way to use Gideon, I think, is to have him block gaps in a way that your other marines can still shoot along the path to Gideon himself. I find this to be a rare scenario though, and I'd pretty much always prefer to have Lorenzo instead.

[Chris Redfield]

Originally posted by Shar:

I believe its mostly a Gideon issue. For him a single bad roll means he dies, basically. Contrast that with your other Marines, they usually get multiple rolls since the genestealers have to advance through each square of your overwatch. The best way to use Gideon, I think, is to have him block gaps in a way that your other marines can still shoot along the path to Gideon himself. I find this to be a rare scenario though, and I'd pretty much always prefer to have Lorenzo instead.

Yeah i just used him again and he was holding down a corridor for ages. Seems very unreliable though. I've found the best use for Melee marines is just as speed bumps for genestealers or in corridors that are too short for overwatch

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Originally posted by Chris Redfield:

Bad luck? Bad play? Both?

It's a bit of both. The game is fundamentally designed for the genestealers to have the advantage in melee. Even if an individual fight is in favor of a marine, the genestealers are still going to win by weight of numbers. In other words, the sergeant is very likely to hold a single genestealer but sacrificing 3 stealers to kill him is usually in the genestealer's favor. In that particular fight, the sergeant has approximately a 11% chance of dying every time they roll off.

Here's an odds table for anyone that wants it. The numbers aren't mathematically perfect. They were found through brute force simulation. Still, they're close enough for all practical purposes.

   Assault Cannon Explosion % = 02.77%
   Storm Bolter Jam % = 16.65%
   
   Vs Purestrain Genestealer:
      Storm Bolter Kills % = 30.56%
      Storm Bolter SF % = 55.58%
      Assault Cannon Kills % = 70.39%
      Assault Cannon SF % = 87.50%
      Heavy Flamer Kills % = 83.34%

                Power Fist
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Standard  17.36% 16.68% 65.96%
          Guard  25.24% 27.60% 47.16%

                Power Sword
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Sergeant  44.51% 20.23% 35.26%
      Sgt + Grd  57.70% 24.76% 17.54%

              Thunder Hammer
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Sergeant  58.33% 14.84% 26.83%
      Sgt + Grd  71.67% 17.37% 10.96%

              Lightning Claws
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Standard  52.87% 19.20% 27.93%
          Guard  64.78% 18.53% 16.69%

                               Force Axe
                     Force Points Required To Win
                   0       1       2       3       4       5
       Standard  34.0%   16.6%   16.1%   14.6%   11.7%   07.0%   
          Guard  47.7%   24.4%   08.2%   08.0%   07.0%   04.7%   

   Vs Broodlord:
      Storm Bolter Kills % = 02.78%
      Storm Bolter SF Kills % = 11.11%
      Assault Cannon Kills % = 25.91%
      Assault Cannon SF Kills % = 49.98%

                Power Fist
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Standard  05.56% 06.24% 88.20%
          Guard  08.32% 10.52% 81.16%

                Power Sword
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Sergeant  20.59% 17.19% 62.22%
      Sgt + Grd  28.30% 23.88% 47.82%

              Thunder Hammer
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Sergeant  25.93% 11.58% 62.49%
      Sgt + Grd  33.64% 16.60% 49.77%

              Lightning Claws
                  Win    Draw    Lose
       Standard  18.83% 15.19% 65.98%
          Guard  23.43% 17.91% 58.65%

                                                         Force Axe
                                               Force Points Required To Win
                   0       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8       9      10      11
       Standard  11.8%   10.4%   13.2%   14.6%   14.6%   13.2%   10.4%   06.2%   03.4%   01.5%   00.5%   00.1%   
          Guard  16.9%   17.1%   09.6%   11.3%   12.0%   11.6%   09.7%   06.2%   03.4%   01.5%   00.5%   00.1%