Is there a limit to soldier stats?

[Malidictus]

I've been noticing a lot of +Will, +HP and +Dodge rewards in covert ops, and it's made me wonder - is there some kind of upper limit to Soldier stats past which they stop benefiting from those missions? Or can I just keep sending them on those missions and end up with, say, a 150 HP Grenadier or a 100+ Dodge Ranger? I mean that would be silly, but then I can take all skills from both trees for every soldier if given enough time and points, so... I don't know.

I'm kind of not sure which soldiers to pick in order to boost, I guess.

[strask]

I have 100+ dodge (I think 130+ now?) on my templar, from doing all those covert ops that add to it.

I don't know if there is a maximum on HP or dodge, but there is a maximum on combat intelligence (Savant level is the highest) so when a covert op gives combat intelligence boost as a bonus, you are not allowed to select soldiers that are already Savant. So if there is a maximum on any of the other stats, I suspect it would work the same way, once a soldier is maxed out it would be unselectable for those missions.

[Harmania]

I'm not sure, an upper limit was never mentioned.

At the same time however, an upper limit to Chosen strength was never described as far as I know, either.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by strask:

I have 100+ dodge (I think 130+ now?) on my templar, from doing all those covert ops that add to it.

That... Sounds absolutely insane. What does that mean - every hit is a graze? :) Thanks, I'll have to keep an eye on my soldiers' stats and see who needs it the most, I guess...

Not sure I'm a fan of Firaxis' approach to game balance. Leaving in blatantly overpowered options because "they cost too much" is just begging for exploits.

[SpockEndil]

The only one that I've seen a cap on in the configuration files is Psi Offense. It's possible that the others have caps buried in scripts somewhere.

Personally I have no complaint about it. If I keep sending a soldier through stat boosts until he/she cannot be defeated, then that was my choice. If that's not something that I would enjoy in my game, then I probably shouldn't do it.

[Omniconda]

i had 229 hack on a specialist so i dont you you have to worry about a cap but after a certain point anything extra is a waste

[Drakilian]

I mean, you can totally make an invincible super soldier (a lot already come pretty close - endgame bladestorm Templar for example).

But if you do that by sending them on covert ops you'll be well into endgame (which is already extremely easy) by the time they have the stats you're looking for, so what was the point? You have a super OP soldier when everyone is already a one-man army, and you never got to use him During the parts of the game where he would have been most useful.

[TradeGy]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

Not sure I'm a fan of Firaxis' approach to game balance. Leaving in blatantly overpowered options because "they cost too much" is just begging for exploits.

I don't really see the problem here as it is only late-game that the OP stuff is really availiable but we're already able to steamroll late-game.
I'm currently trying to stack up the Covert bonuses for my final squad and I'm closing in on the 2nd year ingame so sure I can, and will, be totally OP when I finally do the final mission but it will take quite a long time to get it but I don't see what's wrong with having that choice.

[Enorats]

Yeah, so far as I know there isn't a limit. I have a grenadier with 100 aim, a templar with enough mobility to run most of the way across the map, and a specialist well over 200 hacking. Granted, two +20 bonuses from hacks helped with that last one.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by TradeGy:

I don't really see the problem here as it is only late-game that the OP stuff is really availiable but we're already able to steamroll late-game.

It's a matter of personality, really. If all I wanted was statistically the best soldiers then that would be fine, but I'm trying to build them as individual characters and they kind of need flaws for that - something they aren't good at. I don't necessarily need the old SPARKs back who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, but between this and the ability to pick all skills from both trees, it tends to make all the soldiers feel very samey.

[strask]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

That... Sounds absolutely insane. What does that mean - every hit is a graze? :)

That's exactly correct, I've not seen a non-graze hit on that character since the dodge passed like, 70-ish. Probably the time between 70-ish and 100 was just good RNG, but I think anything past 100 is superfluous.

Originally posted by Malidictus:

It's a matter of personality, really. If all I wanted was statistically the best soldiers then that would be fine, but I'm trying to build them as individual characters and they kind of need flaws for that - something they aren't good at. I don't necessarily need the old SPARKs back who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, but between this and the ability to pick all skills from both trees, it tends to make all the soldiers feel very samey.

I find the bonding mechanic helps a bit with that; a Grenadier who is partnered with a Sniper plays very differently for me than one who is partnered with a Ranger, for example. And you can always dress them up in different goofy costumes / hairstyles / etc. But I kind of agree with your point, maybe each soldier should have some randomly generated stat caps or something.