Shock trooper least useful unit?

[Full_Regalia]

I’m finding hard to see any use to the shocktrooper unit in this game. All the other infantry classes have strategic functions except the shocktrooper!
If you take the scout for example, it’s much more versatile with the extra range it can cover. You would argue that the shocktrooper is better at killing but that’s not true. If you encounter an enemy infantry with your scout you are almost guaranteed to take him down using headshots and if he’s under cover then both classes can’t kill it. So no advantage here.
Another argument is on defensive mode against incoming enemies but again the scout has more firing range which makes up for the difference of the shocktrooper firing rate.
All the rest of the classes are specialized and have a specific function.
So can someone explain to me to benefit of deploying shocktroopers?

[Grandy]

I guess its preference then

I find them as the most useful units, in term of usefulness for me

Shocktrooper > Scout > Lancer > Grenadier > Sniper > Engineer

with flamethrower positioned right you can wipe 3 units or so, and since they dont destroy sandbags you can use kill the courching unit and grab the sandbags. With proper boost they can even destroy tanks and even boss tank

I actually stopped using scouts in post-game, Enemies are tanky and painful, so Unless they have grenade I dont see how they can kill crouching units. Other than that they re yeah... for base rush

I find Lancers more useful than Grenadier tbh, especially how Lancer can shoot together with fellow lancers or tanks to destroy tank from far. They can also board APC and wipe the tanks in the map easily.

I only find grenadier useful in killing bosses tbh or clearing enemies around the map. Other than that I only let them guard the base.

Sniper.. Later on enemies crouch a lot and I find any other sniper rifle beside the 3 shot one arent able to kill tanky units even with headshot (even if they combo with another sniper without triggering potential)

Engineer, I never use them at all really, unless im forced to use them to remove land mines

[Cneq]

I thought this was bait at first....

All I use is shocktroppers mostly, you can line up enemies and just spray through them, flame multiple enemies behind cover, order buff them and just rush through tanks/enemies to get that easy final cap/ace.

Shocktroppers honestly seem broken at times with how easy they are to just cheese through missions and kill everything lol

[Wraithverge]

in VC1 I used mainly scouts,
So far in VC4 I tend to make use of the ST's more often.
Later on you can easily make 1-2 ST's walk as far as Scouts do (using "Command" with a Scout) Therefore you have the scouts maneuverability and the ST's combat performance.

[ukie]

Originally posted by Lyle Ugleman:

Originally posted by Enorats:

No. The unit I find the most useless this time around is lancers.

Yea, I'm only about halfway through the game right now but so far it feels like I've gotten less use out of Lancers compared to Shocktroopers.

Yeah I split my grendiers and equip half of them with anti-personal gear and the other half with anti-armor gear and tend to use the anti-armor grenadiers over lancers.

[Green Epaulette]

I find shocktroopers to be extremely useful as leaders, or as escorts for a scout leader. They're tanky enough to survive running head-on at bunkers and machine gun emplacements, and can one-shot any infantry unit with the flamethrower. Thus, they're great for giving support to a scout rush.

[Metadragon]

For a significant portion of this game the ONLY useful troops are Shocktroopers and occasionally Snipers/Grenadiers/Lancers.

Unlike the first three game's I find Scouts the least useful. Grenadiers now take their long distance bombing shtick to a whole new level and Leadership points that replenish every turn and RESET AP values make their high AP negligably useful. So with AP not being an issue, and grenadiers doing their job better than them in almost all instances. Scouts are just squishy, low damage wastes of time. It would be marginally better if we got a great Scout like Alicia, and Minerva gets halfway there, but we dont.

Shocktroopers on the other hand are damage sponges, have the third highest AP, have high damage weaponry and a flamethrower and grenades. They cover nearly all bases well enough that except for extreme cheesing on certain maps they can cover nearly all bases except extreme distance murdering. With those accessories you get for not sucking you can even kill tanks with them far before they max out at 20 or 30 unlike previous games.

[Lanzagranadas]

Lol, I find Shocktroopers one of the most useful classes. They're the most reliable for killing and have the best defense against bullets. They're great at defending spots and taking out enemies during the enemy phase and with good positioning they can sometimes get double kills.

What you have to make sure is giving Troopers weapons with the best possible Range, so they can safely outrange enemy troopers and intercept from a very decent distance, thus weapons like ZM MP are crap since range is more useful than brutal firepower, as with the regular Robinson SMG series it takes 3-5 of the 20 shots you have to kill any regular enemy.

Mobility used to be the only issue for Troopers but that's not a problem anymore here because if you make good use of Direct Command or APC riding, they won't be left behind.

Plus, I find mobility isn't top priority in this game, as missions give enough turns to advance at moderate speed and still get the highest rank. I'm pretty sure Scouts are in fact my less used class so far, even less than Engineers, because at least Engineers can refill tanks/lancers/grenadiers/snipers ammo while they're at it. And Scout rifles aren't effective at killing, you have 5 shots and some enemies will require 3 or 4 headshots to kill, which means you need to get too close for a granted one-attack kill.

[Amritadyne]

Throw your shocktroopers and 1 lancer in the APC and that group can deal with anything you can throw at them.

[Isomeria]

There are no useless units in the game, only situational (and bad players, maybe)

[Thunderdrake3]

Try killing the winter witch with a scout. You will fail. However, seven flamethrower blasts? Messy, but they do insane personell damage, can hit multiple targets, and don't need to reload like a scouts grenade. EZ Cheeze.

They're also way better at taking bases with an APC. APC rush (strat that can beat %90 of the missions in the game) doesn't work as well with scouts.

[Thunderdrake3]

APC and Direct command can ferry them wherever you need to, then their unmachable firepower comes to bear.

[icepick314]

if you can not use shocktroopers well, then you are not strategizing efficiently...every types have their strengths and weaknesses...it's upto you to use them effectively

[✚ Mariel ✚]

I use them to charge strong enemy formations. They can torch almost anything with their flamethrowers, killing multiple enemies even when they are crouched. They take fire from heavy gatlings and tanks better with defense boost than anything else, with demo boost they can even kill tanks and heavy anti tank cannons. Usually I use them to shatter an enemy formation, taking out their tanks, shock troopers and anyone closely stood together, then I let them crouch and kill the rest with reaction fire. If I use the cactus to break enemy sandbags then they just get mowed down by reaction fire on their turns, saving me AP

Often this also buys an opening for me to rush a scout through to the objective

[Manslayer]

Every class has its use. I personally use scouts as a foundation so to speak. I like use minerva and nico as my leader units and generally seperate them into two fire teams depending on the situation at hand. Shocktroopers are great at dealing with enemies behind cover without having to take multiple turns. Scouts are great at moving about the battlefield and taking care of high value targets not in cover, then retreating back. They're also good logistics as leader units. Snipers are good at the long range engagements, or dealing with Grenadiers and I don't use grenadiers much except to counter enemy grenadiers behind cover + 2/3 shocktroopers close together. Engis are pure support so I only deploy them as needed, same with lancers, though those usually go in a fireteam of 3 if I need anti-tank in said team.

Point is no class is just stronger than another class, they all have a use. That said I think scouts and shocktroopers are the most well rounded classes shocktroopers even more wellrounded than scouts because they can deal with everything. Tanks, cover, high health units etc etc.

[✚ Mariel ✚]

Scouts are good for skirmishes, but they suffer in story battles where the enemy frequently has many tanks, weapon emplacements, snipers and grenadiers in a chokepoint, and where they can frequently get unexpected reinforcements including super units, and mechanics like the trains that work well in their favor. Even if its possible to scout rush, you don't always know if its wise since you might find you're pinned down by so many of those things and you lose your scout at the end of your turn, effectively having wasted it, and possibly having triggered a Valkyria to arrive or something

I tend to use Stormtroopers as the spine of my attacks. They can break enemy formations, shoot enemies down with interception fire and survive counter attacks effectively. With demo order they can also dispatch tanks, so I tend to think of them as nimbler tanks. Scouts are good for rushing through a formation that has been weakened to capture objectives or killl important targets like weapon emplacements, snipers, grenadiers, lancers that could get a radiator hit if you leave them there, or tanks that are somewhat out of the way but still dangerous

Snipers can pick off other snipers/grenadiers, they can pick off scouts that my scouts/troopers have turned around, or get the attention of a special unit so my other units can get sneak attacks. Grenadiers are good for picking off units that are hard to hit, usually snipers who hide behind rooftop walls, or other grenadiers.

The thing I struggle the most to find a use for is lancers. They're very slow and they don't get interception or reaction fire. A stormtrooper or scout with demo order can not only cross much farther distance to handle tanks/guns but they also have decent enough AP on successive turns to hit quite a few tanks, they dont have the ammo problems, theyre far more accurate when targetting radiators, scouts can cross an insane distance to do it, and stormtroopers while not as fast can resist the interception fire and survive the enemy turn better while delivering interception fire and counter fire of their own