A couple questions about statuses

[Hayaji]

Hi, so while I'm not new to the game, there's one thing I just wasn't able to figure out - duration of statuses (like disoriented etc.). I know WHAT they do, but I have no idea how to tell how long they'll last.
For example, I throw a flashbang on a regular trooper. It hits and there's this green popu saying "Disoriented: 2". So what I would expect this to mean is he will be disoriented for 2 of his own turns. Well, this happens only sometimes. Another example is: I stun a Berserker, the popup says "Stunned: 2" and I'm glad I bought myself two turns. And then what happens - the berserker is stunned just for HIS one turn, then he is OK and proceeds to kill my guy.
Yet another example, this one a little different. I take control of a turret/MEC, but the popup only says "Hacked" or something like that, no number. Soo, how am I supposed to know how long I have till I need to kill the unit? (not that the number by the popup helps) Is there any way I can see for how long an enemy is going to be affected by something? Or do I just have to guess/remember it?

[Azael Ijima δ]

The number represent the amount of actions, not turns, at least in case of stuns.
And if i remember, temporary hacking and mind control from XCOM only last 2 turns. The targeted unit will reboot or lose it's actions when you take control of them, then you have 2 turns controlling them, on the third they snap out of it and the AI get to control them again for that turn and forward.

I don't remember disorient having various durations, i think it's usually 2 turns. For damaging dots like poison/fire/acid, duration vary but the first turn with it will always tick for damage before clearing.

[Icedfate]

the status durations do seem a bit misleading, that when you hit an enemy with say, a freeze r stun, it says "2", but then they only actually lose 1 turn.

i figured it's because it ticks down as the start of their turn, instead of the end.

one example is the freeze grenade

you put freeze 2 on the enemiy, it comes to their turn, counts down to 1, they miss their turn, then the next round, it comes to their turn again, ticks down to 0 and then they get their full turn.

or like above me is said, maybe it's "actions" and not turns. so you freeze 2 on them, it gets to their turn, they have 2 actons, but then, shouldn't tick down by 2, down to 0 on that turn? because they have 2 actions, it should tick down to 0 and thaw them out, but then that's not what happens. tey stay frozen for the rest of your next turn and then they thaw out at the start of their turn and move normally.

i dunno. maybe the game is givng bonus extra time to attack it without fear of it doing any reaction shots?

some top tier enemies, when you freeze them, they only lose half a turn.
like a sectopod or a gatekeeper. you freeze it and then when it comes to their turn, they immediately thaw out and it says "lost 1 action point", but then it doesn't really seem to bother them, because they are still able to move and attack in that same turn.
but i think a sectopod has 3 actions. it can move twice and attack or attack 3 times if it wants to. but then if you are doing "freeze 2" on it, why does it only lose 1 action point and not 2?

i realize some enemies are resistant to the freeze grenade. te freeze grenade is designed to use againt the alien rulers and againt the viper ing, it does freeze 3, but against beserker queen, it's just 2 and against archon king , it only gives you 1 action without fear and then he thaws out.



but then, you have the specialist haywire protocol and you can "shutdown" a robot and it says "shutdown 2" but then it only loses the 1 turn and then takes its next turn normlly.

but shutting down a sectopod makes it lose its entire turn, unlike the freeze grenade which only makes it lose 1 action point, the haywire shutdown makes it lose its entire turn, despite both effects saying "2" on them.

it's proably the developers intent for it to only work for 1 turn, but the way they present it is confusing. they could have had it just work for 1 turn and then wear off at the end of the turn, instead of saying 2 and then having it tick down at the start of the turn. but then i guess you wouldn't get that extra turn on your side against a frozen enemy(?)


anyway, once you understand how it works and only expect to get one turn against an immobilized enemy, you won't get surprised.

if i see a high threat mec and i shhut it down, i know i have to defeat it on my next turn or else it's gonna shoot at me again.

interestingly, the status effects act differently on alien rulers.
if you have a ruler stunned or frozen, it only ticks down when you take an action and they would get a reaction. if you end turn and let the aleins take their turn, the ruler will never thaw out. if you can maange to get a ruler frozen and there's no other enemies around and someone has lighning hands or some other rechargable free action, you can cheese an alien ruler to death.
on a side note, if you burn or poison the ruler, it does not tick down by their actions, but rather, the burn and poison only wear off during the "alien turns". as long as it's still your "turn" they will take the DoT damage at the start of every reaction, so you can burn the ruler and the ruler is guaranteed to burn for 2 whole rounds of combat, but every time you take an action and the ruler reacts, they take more damage from the burns.
also disorient is great against aruler for the same reason, but keep in mind that using freeze on them, removes the disorient for some reason

[Hayaji]

Thanks for the answers, it makes sense now :)

[Iridar]

Get the Extended Information mod, it will tell you duration of the effect when you mouseover it.