PCS for Resistance Soldiers?

[Malidictus]

Just curious what Personal Combat Sims you guys use for your Resistance Soldiers, since I really don't know what to give to mine. I started out trying to match the new classes' setup to my old classes, giving Reapers accuracy chips, Templars Will chips and Skirmishers, err... Health chips? But I'm starting to second-guess myself.

For starters, Reapers really aren't snipers despite carrying around a sniper rifle. They don't have Squad Sight, for one. While, yes, they can get it as an XCOM skill, naked Squad Sight doesn't really make for a great sniper without any other associated skills (like Longwatch). Secondly, their rifle really kind of sucks, with its exceptionally low damage. Yeah, they can get some armour penetration and some extra damage, but they aren't going to be camping on a tower across the map raining death from above.

I'm wondering, therefore, if it's not a better idea to give my Reaper mobility chips, instead. They're great scouting units in stealth and are already pretty fast. Being able to move even faster seems like a good idea.

The same goes for the Templars. On the surface, they're psychic soldiers but I'm not sure if they use Will in any of their attacks. Psi Operatives (and my own Psi Rookies class - the Gifted) use Will to determine the success rate of their actual psychic attacks - insanit and mind control predominantly, if I'm not mistaken. Templars don't seem to have any of those, however, at least not that I've seen. Yeah, Will is always good to avoid being mind-controlled and such, but I'm wondering if dodge chips might not help them more. They are, after all, always in the thick of the fight and often the first ones to get punched.

The Skirmishers are a weird bunch since they don't really have a direct counterpart to the old classes. They have SPARK-style multi-shot attacks, they have a bunch of mobility powers, they have a bunch of melee powers and they seem pretty tough - an all-around Jack of all trades, master of none. I went with health chips for them since I tend to treat them a bit like the tanks of my team, but I'm not sure if that's a great idea to begin with.

Any thoughts? What PCS do you guys use on your Resistance soldiers?

[Aleera]

Reapers, mobility chips. I mainly use them for scouting. They get 50% extra movement in shadow anyway. Their rifle is lackluster and their abilities are 100% to begin with.

Skirmishers, accuracy. Helps with their abilities and gives them a dps increase.

Templars, mobility. It extends their range. Combined that with their momentum, you can easily retreat back into heavy cover or break LoS. Parry only counters 1 hit, not being there to get targetted counters all.

[SamBC]

Psi Ops don't use will for attacks, they use the psi offence stat. They used Will in EU/EW.

[Tiasmoon]

I use mobility or agility for Templars. Perception for Reapers (mobility would be a good pick as well tho) Perception for Skirmishers. Will is nice for anyone you want to field more.

[Darkrage_nl]

Will for my Reaper early game (atleast untill I get a second one) I want a scout in the field as much as possible.

Templar mobility.

Skirmisher perception.

So mostly the same.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by SamBC:

Psi Ops don't use will for attacks, they use the psi offence stat. They used Will in EU/EW.

Uh... OK, I genuinely did not know that. Is there any way to alter their Psi Stat? Is there any point to giving them higher will at all? Or is Will just to resist psychic attacks and tank more Fatigue?

[Mr. Nice]

Psi stat is purely rank dependant, like soldiers aim stat. Would be nice if some covert op increased it, there seems to be covert ops for all other stats, but if they exist I've never seen one.
I tend to prefer aim PCS by default, can't really go wrong with it. Rangers and skirmishers can make good use of mobilty increase though. Will PCS are just black market vendor trash to me. Note that skirmishers range with grapple move/attacks depends on mobility range. Reapers have quite rediculous movement ranges by default so even more movement seems a waste, so back to aim chips, since their rifle drops aim with range like a pistol, and you really want 100% to hit to get those guranteed kills to stay in Shadow.
Infact, despite it's look/designation, it really is more like a pistol which uses ammo stats wise, it gets about +1 damage per level like pistols for example, and it's distance aim fall off seems similar (definitely not as bad as shotgun aim fall off anyway).

[Gin-chan]

Reapers dont really need accuracy PCs as imo they can flank enemies at will without danger of being discovered and have a naturally high aim stat already so yeah i'd be giving them more mobility too.

Skirmishers i'd prever the accuracy PCs to make use of their ability to shoot twice in a turn or for the guaranteed justice pull.

Templars i prefer more HP since they usually act as bait and stay out in the open more than my other soldiers. Damn good bait too since my 1 templar havent gotten gravely injured yet despite the many times i left her out in the open to draw attention away from my other soldiers.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice:

Infact, despite it's look/designation, it really is more like a pistol which uses ammo stats wise, it gets about +1 damage per level like pistols for example, and it's distance aim fall off seems similar (definitely not as bad as shotgun aim fall off anyway).

You know what? Something about the Resistance Classes has bothered me from the start, and I think I've just put my finger on it - they feel like they underwent a radical redesign somewhere late in development after the basic concepts were laid down. Reapers feel like they were supposed to have the Templar machine pistol, Skirmishers feel like they were supposed to have a heavy weapon of some kind and Templars feel like they were supposed to have the grappling and be pure melee, or maybe melee with a close-range SMG ala the more conventional Rangers.

That's off-topic, though.

Originally posted by Eleventh Doctor:

Skirmishers i'd prever the accuracy PCs to make use of their ability to shoot twice in a turn or for the guaranteed justice pull.

I use my own XCOM 2 Siege mod which drastically increases cover values, so shooting through cover is generally not an option unless I have good angles, a height advantage or a desperate need. As such, I've restricted my Skirmishers to either shooting AND THEN moving, or else shooting at things which don't take cover of which XCOM 2 has a lot.

Originally posted by Eleventh Doctor:

Templars i prefer more HP since they usually act as bait and stay out in the open more than my other soldiers. Damn good bait too since my 1 templar havent gotten gravely injured yet despite the many times i left her out in the open to draw attention away from my other soldiers.

I tend to find that high HP values don't really help in this game since enemy damage is itself so gosh-dang high already. Unless you're running a lot of armour (at least 2 or 3 points), that extra XP might not help too much. It's why I tend to build my "melee" soldiers for Dodge... Although that assumes they're wearing Spider/Wraith Armour, which the Templars don't have the option to wear.

Actually... What IS the point of the Faction-specific armour sets? They seem like just a visually different version of the vanilla "Medium" armour sets.

[rikashiku]

I have never used the PCS upgrades before for a campaign. I did it once to get the achievement and then reloaded because I was comfortably dominating my campaign without any upgrades.

[Mr. Nice]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

Actually... What IS the point of the Faction-specific armour sets? They seem like just a visually different version of the vanilla "Medium" armour sets.

They also don't get the +1 utility slot which the medium armour gives beyond Kevlar. But yeah, looks and stopping them getting the light/heavy variants does seem like the entire point.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice:

They also don't get the +1 utility slot which the medium armour gives beyond Kevlar. But yeah, looks and stopping them getting the light/heavy variants does seem like the entire point.

In fact, Reaper armour seems to get 0 utility slots to begin with. That and I believe the Skirmisher armour suit comes with its own grappling hook, which is necessary for a lot of their abilities. All the grappling stuff is tied to "slot=unknown" in the config files. But yes, it seems like their special armour sets are designed primarily for balance. It's just disappointing that they customise this little with tech levels. It's Gene-Modded soldiers all over again.

[Mr. Nice]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

In fact, Reaper armour seems to get 0 utility slots to begin with.

same with Templars, that's why I carefully said +1 not "2". I haven't checked, and it doesn't really matter, if the first utility slot normal soldiers get is technically a personal slot, or belongs to the Kevlar armour itself. Semantics anyway except for modding purposes.

[Malidictus]

Yeah, sorry. I WAS actually looking at this from a modding perspective. I'm looking to either give Resistance soliders access to vanilla armour sets or at least find a way to get vanilla cosmetic customisation on them, because I really don't like those armour sets' appearance.

[Mr. Nice]

The mod which allows Kevlar customisation options for all armours would be a good place to start then, not sure if that has (or needs) a WotC port.