How do you build out your Captain?

[Trese Brothers]

What is your strategy?

[Denimdude]

I know next to nothing but mine is built as a walking tank with a sword and sidearm. Primarily because its versatile and means i don't need to worry too much about them surviving. Useful when things go to hell.

The downside is they are also very slow.

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by denimdude:

I know next to nothing but mine is built as a walking tank with a sword and sidearm. Primarily because its versatile and means i don't need to worry too much about them surviving. Useful when things go to hell.

The downside is they are also very slow.

Are you putting on -MP armor? Definitely important to keep the Captain safe :)

[Denimdude]

Yeah i am putting on the -MP armour, to be fair it does have the highest defensive stats of the armour i have avalible (is the slayer relic armour i think). Is really effective in melee combat as the counter rate is also pretty decent.

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by denimdude:

Yeah i am putting on the -MP armour, to be fair it does have the highest defensive stats of the armour i have avalible (is the slayer relic armour i think). Is really effective in melee combat as the counter rate is also pretty decent.

Also great, as it gives back extra Heat reclamation for every -MP!

[pendell]

I personally stack on a sword and shield to make my captain a melee monster. The shield increases both the auto-block and the counterattack percentages, allowing the captain to avoid most damage.

I never sacrifice MP because those few steps can make the difference between arriving in time and being a turn to late. I make up for the lack of defense by having as high an auto-block as I can manage, which means putting points into Focus. Nothing beats a damage of zero!

I haven't got much use for the pistol because the captain doesn't have the ranged weapon's ultimate saving grace: Overwatch. Absent overwatch, a ranged character is in a great deal of trouble if an enemy spawns a square or two away, then turns to hit like an atom bomb. So I use the shield as auto-block+counter is an adequate substitute for overwatch.

[Trese Brothers]

@pendell - nice build choices! Do you go swinging right into the thick of the fight with your shield, or hang back and let the ranged Templars keep up a defensive line, catching only what can get through?

[Ohnenick]

I am not that far into the game yet, but I started down the sword&shield route too. My soldiers are mostly ranged so it helps to have a tank ready to break up attacks that make it through the overwatch line. He is also great at bodyguarding mission critical personnel on the way to the objective, though that means no -MP armour so he can move around faster.

Lets see what the future holds for him death or melee glory. ;)

[KrysisMode]

sword and pistol with a fairly even spread in stat between quickness, strength, warrior/evasion and a few token points in tactics.

Main roles being a doorkicker and speartip typically backed up by paladin and if I get some extra bodies a bezerker rounds out team doorkicker, between the captains pistol and blade weave, paladin's healing and tanking and the bezerker's raw damage output, debuffs and grenades it's a bloody and dynamic entry.

Dude's got a hilarious track record though. He all but solo'd a golaith one time but can't hit skitterlings to save his life and actually almost died to one. I was tempted to rename him Achilles after that debacle.

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by KrysisMode:

Dude's got a hilarious track record though. He all but solo'd a golaith one time but can't hit skitterlings to save his life and actually almost died to one. I was tempted to rename him Achilles after that debacle.

Lol - sounds about right. Amazing when it counts against the big boss, but dropping the ball on scitterings!

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by Ohnenick:

I am not that far into the game yet, but I started down the sword&shield route too. My soldiers are mostly ranged so it helps to have a tank ready to break up attacks that make it through the overwatch line. He is also great at bodyguarding mission critical personnel on the way to the objective, though that means no -MP armour so he can move around faster.

Lets see what the future holds for him death or melee glory. ;)

Post back when you have seen what death and glory your Captain has gotten into! Would love to hear the Talent build out as the game progresses.

Thanks for your support!

[chouia]

For my first playthrough (demanding), I used sword from the beginning. I keep a small gun "just in case", when I'm too far... then I switch for a shield (max gear lvl 3) later, when I think the gun is not enough precise/powerful.
I took mainly Warrior skill, and some Grenade skill. I took Quickness (for gun, ranged defense and counter-attack), some Strength, and few Fortitude and Willpower. (finished lvl 20 : for 6, will 6, str 8, quick 12, warr 16, gren 10)
For talents, I put quickly 1 point in Grenades (2 at the end), in Warrior's wrath (+1MP), and I specialized in Bladeweave (10).
For equipment, I finished with Arcum Warblade lvl 12 (not so great for the lvl?...), Battle Tact lvl 5 (+18 dmg), Force pilot kit lvl 4 (+12 dmg) or Blitz kit lvl 4 (+2MP -10 heat), basic shield lvl 2 and basic armor lvl 2.

I would never use a -MP armor, except for a very special mission, or if I want to try a very tanky templar for fun.
(I never did it. I think I never put a single point in Evasion for example. Maybe I would build a defensive templar if he could interfere and receive attacks when other templars close to him are attacked, or if he had a good attack he can only do all around him, so you need to jump inside the battle.)
My main defense is to remove MP with scouts (or Neptune), or to kill quickly... or healing when needed. I have no faith in dice, deflection, etc... ;)

For my second playthrough (ironman), it was very close, even if I corrected some "mistakes". I took some Tactics Skills and more Strength for critical, less Quickness, and I took some Fortitude just to be reassured. (finished lvl 20 : for 10, will 5, str 10, quick 7, warr 15, tact 7, gren 7)
A big difference in talents was I took only Bladeweave 1 (enough to touch), so I could took Pressing Need 8 (8x +3MP) and Grenade 4.
For equipment, I finished with Null Blade lvl 7 (good for the level), Prowess Wiring (+12dmg... I didn't unlock +18 dmg for no reason...), Special Pilot Kit lvl 4 (+4dmg, +8% critical, I prefer critical), War Shiel lvl 3 (for +12% counter-attack), and Commander Leviathan Armor lvl 7. Again, I really started with all-offensive equipment, then I continued with defensive equipment.


Definitely, my captain did a big part of the job with 304 on 1476 kills (38 engagaments, 432 turns), so 20%.
With my two main templar Sol 01 (35 engagements 279 kills) and Scout 01 (34 engagements, 181 kills), they did 51% of all kills. Suprisingly, my scout is below... but I'm sure he did all the job, killing the big ones and injuring all others! :D

-------------------------

Looking at my Captain, I have a small question.
I made a mistake for a mission, deploying the bad soldier... with ironman, I couldn't restart the mission, so my soldier had always less experience than my captain. At the end of the game, I have:
* Captain lvl 20 (1120/1160) : 6400 xp
* Sol 01 lvl 21 (39/1224) : 6272 xp
* Scout 01 lvl21 (85/1224): 6318 xp

Is it normal that templars with less experience than captain are higher level than captain?

[mg979]

In my first game my captain was melee only (strength and warrior), with high auto-block. He was ok but I felt he was outclassed by ranged templars, especially scout and neptune. Auto-block is cool but is capped, and in my current nightmare playthrough I don't want to risk his neck, his or anybody else's, so I'm using a ranged build. So far I'm very satisfied with it, it's:

- 12 fortitude, then quickness
- 6 tactics, then gunnery
- equipped with needling sidearm, Drakos sword (14% autoblock for a 3 points sword is cool), slayer-core armor (best armor for me, -2 MP is also good for heat reduction)
- items: range finder (+4 ranged acc., +6% crit), specialist pilot kit (+4 dmg, +8% crit) or aegis wiring (8% block)

Talents: Commander's Confidence 4 (or more), Warrior's Wrath 1 or 2, Pressing Need 1, Arc Fire 2 (or more), Frag grenade 1 or 2

MP: 4 +1 from WW, +1 from PN, +2 fom Rallying Charge and he moves quickly if he needs to (prolonged deployment is almost a constant on him)

Definitely less auto-block (I'll put points in paladin's Warding Fire), but he still counterattacks rather often, and with good fortitude and 66 armor he's still frontliner together with my paladin.

As for killing record, he's 2nd with 249, Neptune first with 292, then the soldier (235) and the scout (168). In my first game (the melee build) he was also second (behind the soldier, I didn't employ the neptun as much).

I'd have a question about bio-poison: damage is only applied at the end of enemy turn, or also on hit like plasma/fire? I wanted to switch to scoped sidearm, but if bio-poison damage is also delievered on hit, I could stick with tthe needling sidearm.

[chouia]

Bio-poison is also delivered directly.

Source: http://steamcommunity.com/app/370020/discussions/0/458604254460043437/#c458604254460351459

I'm asking if death by bio-poison are linked to the templar. If not, your captain (and my scout) kills more than displayed.

[mg979]

Originally posted by chouia:

Bio-poison is also delivered directly.

Source: http://steamcommunity.com/app/370020/discussions/0/458604254460043437/#c458604254460351459

I'm asking if death by bio-poison are linked to the templar. If not, your captain (and my scout) kills more than displayed.

Ok thanks, then bio-poison is much better than I thought. My scout is unlikely to have big kill records because I use her to cripple or damage heavily strong xenos, but then I finish them with overwatch or somebody else.

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by chouia:

Bio-poison is also delivered directly.

Source: http://steamcommunity.com/app/370020/discussions/0/458604254460043437/#c458604254460351459

I'm asking if death by bio-poison are linked to the templar. If not, your captain (and my scout) kills more than displayed.

Bio-Poison kills in subsequent turns are not linked directly to the Templar. It's a limitation on the engine we were unable to overcome in this round.