UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Initial Deployment

2019-02-09T08:50:32Z

Prospekt: Spelling

A key part of the success or failure of any mission is the [[Initial Deployment]] phase, particularly due to X-COM pilots tendency to land right next to enemy UFOs. Rookie [[soldiers]] are probably happy to have such a short walk, at least until they get shot in the head the first step they take down the exit ramp.

The deployment phase will significantly vary depending on your resources ([[Equipment (EU)|equipment]] and soldier [[experience]]), the tactical situation (especially the [[terrain]] and the location of the craft in relation to the [[Battlescape]] edges), and the Transporter that you are using to get to the site of the engagement. The following examples should be read as training material rather than an absolute rules to follow in most cases.

=Deploying from Transport=
Rookies are often anxious to see (and take a shot at) aliens. This can result in them piling out of the Skyranger as soon as it touches down and charging right into an ambush. A more methodical exit from the Skyranger will maximize alien causalities while increasing the life expectancy of agents.

The general rule of safer deployment is to not move units out of the transport on the first turn, when enemies have full TU available for reaction shooting. It's safer to move out on the second turn after enemies have moved and spent some of their TUs. The first turn can be used to deploy a smoke screen outside (and inside) the transport, and surveying the landscape through the craft's portholes (craft's walls do not block terrain revealing).

==Tankless deployment==
<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_geoscape_002.png|XCOM has shot down one of the first UFO's (CRASH-SITE-1 was in the ocean). Time to send a Skyranger full of rookies into action and see what these aliens are made of.

Image:Darksun tactical 000.png|The soldier standing on the equipment pile tosses out a smoke grenade. End of turn 1.

Image:Darksun_tactical_001.png|The smoke grenade is right at the foot of the ramp to mask our troops' deployment. Keep an eye on the troops' stun damage (gray bar on top of the red health bar) or they might pass out from smoke inhalation.</gallery>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_002.png|The smoke grenade goes off. Agent one jumps off the ramp and hunkers down behind the landing gear. Agent two does the same in the other direction. Agent 3, knowing the coast is more or less clear sprints out to get a good firing position with her [[Auto-Cannon|AC]]-HE.

Image:Darksun_tactical_004.png|Each turn the scout agents only advance a few wary steps. If they spot an alien someone else will shoot at it. If it doesn't die the scout will retreat. This pictures shows the agent's entire move for this turn.

Image:Darksun_tactical_006.png|Three turns into the battlescape and only a few agents are outside the Skyranger. Half the deployed troops are taking cover behind the skyranger's landing gear.</gallery>

Once they have spread out a bit, more agents will disembark. Staying spread out is vital. Alien grenades can be brutal without armor.

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_008a.png|(This game is with some custom maps from [[XcomUtil]]. It adds pyramids to the desert to give the aliens some cover). About 5 turns into the battle and the first group of agents has spread out into the field. An alien has popped out of the door at (1). The scouts (2) are moving cautiously and are carrying fast weapons ([[Pistol]]s in this case). Troopers with heavier weapons are backing up the scouts (3). Their possible lines of fire are marked with the colored lines.</gallery>

When a scout makes contact with an enemy, the scout retreats out of the line of fire and the back line troopers with HE weapons take some shots. In this case there were two troopers with a line of fire on the alien and one of them killed it.

Once contact was made with the enemy the scouts all froze for a turn, kneeling. Sure enough the first [[Sectoid]] had a buddy who came out the door on the next turn. The scouts got it with reaction fire. This battle ended then since the other Sectoids didn't survive the crash.

Don't try to deploy all your agents! Leave some reserves on the transport. The diagram actually shows a pretty aggressive deployment. The number of agents deployed should be able to handle most situations. Only bring agents off the sky ranger as replacements or to fill in gaps if the deployed forces get stretched too thin.

==Deploying with tanks==
[[Image:Darksun_tactical_a00.png|right|320px]]
Deploying with tanks is fairly similar to deploying without them. You can often skip the smoke grenade. Since tanks can't advance in skills, they are cheap to replace in relative terms (especially non-hover tanks). Most aliens (save [[Muton]]s and [[Ethereal]]s) will prefer to attack tanks over agents. So you can use them to draw fire away from agents. There are two goals when deploying tanks in the first turns. First, locate and prioritize targets close to the transport. Second, set up a screen around the transport exit to protect agents. In most cases you won't want to use the tank to attack enemies directly in order to allow agents a chance to advance. However, don't hesitate to kill aliens with the tank if there isn't a safe way to get an agent into position. Keep the tanks TU's in mind. It's best to keep about 50 in reserve to lessen enemy reaction fire. If the landing zone is very hot, withdraw the tank back to the transport and toss smokers. Note: Chryssalids seem loathe to walk up the ramp of the landing craft, so if one is visible from the back door, you can fire away at them with no retribution.<br clear="all">

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_a01.png|The first tanks comes just onto the ramp. Then it looks left and right before going on. This will show any aliens that are right around the transport door. It also conserves TU's to prevent as much reaction fire as possible. If your tanks get blasted before you can locate the aggressors, pop smoke and see the section on tankless deployments.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a02.png|A [[Sectoid]] is spotted. The tank stops moving.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a03.png|Tank number two exits the transport and checks the other direction to make sure no sneaky aliens are waiting to shoot agents in the back. It then moves out past the end of the ramp to screen agents should aliens come in range. Tank number one also withdraws out of range of the [[Sectoid]] it spotted.</gallery>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_a04.png|The next turn tank number one re-aquires contact with the enemy. Since the alien can see any units disembarking from the Avenger and thus reaction fire on them, the movement of the HWP will make the alien spend its remaining TUs firing at him, preventing it from reacting to the agents.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a05.png|Agents are deployed out of range of the spotted enemies if possible. In this case the HWP made the alien spend its remaining TUs so the agent will be safe from harm even though he disembarked within sight of the alien. Tanks are better to lose than an experienced agent. Tank number one then clears the shooting lane.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a06.png|The Sectoid is killed by the agent who just disembarked.</gallery>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_a07.png|The area around the transport is secure. Two more agents sprint out of the transport and don't bother to save any TU's. They take cover behind the tanks and the craft landing gear. The rest of the deployment goes just like one without tanks. Use the tanks to scout and move one to three agents out of the transport a turn until you are ready to move out.</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Field Manual: Deployment]]
*[[Battlescape]]
*[[Scouting]]
*[[Sweeping the Battlescape]]

[[Category:Tactics]]
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Best Starting Weapons (EU)

2019-02-08T13:14:17Z

Prospekt: Add link to OpenXcom

''"What's the best weapon to start with?"''

This is a question that is often asked, and one that is not always that easy to answer due to the varied selection of weapons you can start with. Some are fast but clearly too weak to use against some aliens, while others are powerful but cumbersome to carry. Everyone will have their opinion of what is best and what isn't. This article will attempt to make logical comparisons of the weapons you start with, explain their roles and let you decide which weapon will suit your needs the best.

Weapons will be discussed with their closest partner such as the pistol vs rifle, heavy cannon vs. auto cannon, grenade vs. high explosive. Merits of the weapons that don't have immediate pairings will be discussed on their own, such as the Rocket Launcher and Stun rod.

For now, as this article is "under construction", please refer to the [[Talk:Best Starting Weapons (EU) |original discussion]] on this page's talk page.

=The Weapons=

== Pistol vs Rifle==

The pistol and rifle are low damage weapons. They deal 26 and 30 average Armour Piercing damage respectively. They are reasonable weapons for dealing with aliens with low armour such as Sectoids and Floaters, but are otherwise highly inadequate against heavily armoured aliens such as the Mutons and all the Terror Units. These weapons will want to be replaced or supplemented with stronger weapons to counter the stronger aliens.

Since the damage difference is negligible between the two weapons, the ''best'' of the two weapons depends entirely on which of the three shot types that you will want to be using the most.

The pistol is the king of the snap shot. It is fast and has the same accuracy as the Rifle, allowing for 5 shots from a standstill. Though not having an auto mode, the relative speed and moderate accuracy of the snapshot makes up for it. This makes the pistol the better of the two for picking off targets from mid range. The speed provides better mobility and makes it an excellent weapon for reaction fire. The size of the pistol makes it a decent backup weapon until better pistols are available. The one hand grip allows you to carry an alternate weapon such as a grenade to deal with situations where the pistol may not be the best solution.

The Rifle works reasonably well at all ranges. It is the better of the two for close range combat thanks to its auto fire mode, allowing for three uninterrupted shots. The Rifle's aimed mode is on par with the Heavy Plasma and Small Launcher. However, sniping with the rifle is difficult because it is extremely slow and deals low damage. Given time or enough soldiers training their rifles on the same target, the rifle is the better of the two weapons for accurate long range aimed shots.

In summary, if you plan to use snap shots a lot, the pistol is better. For all other firing modes, the rifle is better. Replace them with their laser or plasma counterparts as soon as possible.

== Heavy Cannon vs Auto-Cannon ==
Autocannons have one great use during night time missions. Equip a rookie with incendiary ammo and use autoshot. If his aim is bad enough (yes lower is BETTER) then he will spray light-giving fire across a large portion of the map. Unfortunately the HE ammo isn't quite good enough to use and there is no point to using AP ammo. It frequently takes more than one blast to kill a target, and another hit may accidentally destroy valuable loot. That's no good.

Heavy Cannons are decent against early game Sectoids and Floaters. Use explosive rounds all the time because they have less damage variance and can strike underside armor. Since explosives deal quadruple hits against large units they will pulverize Reapers and be good against Cyberdiscs. Compare them to grenades and you have a launcher which can be fired with decent aim 2 or 3 times a turn.

The Heavy Cannon is moderately outclassed by laser weapons. You may find the explosion effect makes them slightly easier for rookies to use, and they are useful for removing active proximity mines. They are nearly harmless against XCOM agents with alloy armor so they are safe to place on PSI weenies.

== Rocket Launcher ==
Rocket launchers are an excellent weapon that can serve you the entire game. They flatten terrain, have excellent accuracy, and deal reliable 1-hit kills on nearly anything. One of their most powerful attributes is the smoke from the explosion. Enemies check their vision after taking damage, so if the smoke suddenly blinds them, you will not get hit with reaction fire. The large explosion range means that even a near miss will frequently kill its target. Kneeling aimed shots are nearly guaranteed kills even with rookies.

The rocket launcher is not a weapon you take one of. To truly understand how it works, take 6 or more with 2-4 large rockets each. Flatten everything in your way and liquify everything that moves. Any time you see an alien, flatten ALL the terrain around him. Chances are you will not only kill the targeted alien, but will get a bonus kill as well. Keep 2-3 agents ready to fire and you can snipe down any problem that comes your way.

Rocket launchers are effective against all terror units and will crush Reapers/Cyberdiscs. They deal moderate damage against Sectopods but a few large rockets can do the job in a pinch. Launchers are VERY dangerous with psi weenies! Be careful when giving rockets to a low quality agent because one panicked or mind controlled shot can wipe out even an alloy armor squad. As a side benefit the explosions will also cause some object types to catch fire, giving you free light sources at night.

== Stun Rod ==
Stun rods nearly mandatory to get the key research topics needed to beat XCOM. If not used, all capturing must be done with a small launcher or from extreme luck with weaker weapons. While small launchers can stun at range, they need ammo and have only 1 shot per clip combined with a low dual-wielding accuracy.

== Grenade vs High Explosive ==
Grenades are generally supplanted by the heavy cannon, which is simply easier to use in the early game.

High Explosives stay useful the entire game if you desire scorched earth tactics. They are difficult to throw but stay stronger than alien grenades and are super cheap to replace. [[OpenXcom]] lets you prime grenades before starting a mission, so load down a grenadier with 6 or more primed HE and clear out a huge chunk of map in one turn. If you can not throw HE the distance, then alien grenades are an excellent substitute.

Remember that aliens do not take reaction fire if they can not see the agent throwing the grenade, even if it lands in their face. This makes grenades excellent for throwing around hills or corners, or against aliens that are simply facing away from your group. HE deals reliable 1 hit kills against just about anything before Mutons and Sectopods.

== Proximity Grenade ==
Proximity grenades are difficult to use even when they are not glitched and you know how to use them. They depend on you being able to anticipate alien movement. Place them as an early warning system on corridors where you expect trouble, or one tile away from UFO doors to blast aliens that walk outside. Despite their good damage they are not to be trusted as a killing solution. Expect the alien to survive and have a backup plan to take it out.

== Smoke Grenade ==
Smoke is quite possibly the most powerful grenade type in the game. Aliens can not attack what they can not see! This means you can effectively remove the two leading causes of agent death in the game- 1) Aliens walking up and shooting you and 2) Aliens taking reaction shots at you. This benefit is not restricted to daytime either. Smoke is the great equalizer at night, causing XCOM and aliens to have nearly equal vision range (aliens have one more vision range). Bring smoke to EVERY mission and drop a minimum of two- one to cover the ground and one to cover agents inside the Skyranger. Spread more smoke anywhere your agents have to move and use rookies to scout out potential targets. Keep snipers inside the smoke and shoot with impunity.

Smoke will deal stun damage if your agents stay inside it too long. Generally this is not going to cause any trouble as long as you keep doing the mission at a good pace. Agents that get injured will probably pass out, but that can also save them from getting shot a second time.

If you know how to use smoke in this game, then you are god in alien killing form.

=Summaries=

=See Also=
*[[Weapon Analysis]]

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Best Starting Weapons (EU)

2019-02-08T13:12:29Z

Prospekt: Wrong reference to OpenApoc

''"What's the best weapon to start with?"''

This is a question that is often asked, and one that is not always that easy to answer due to the varied selection of weapons you can start with. Some are fast but clearly too weak to use against some aliens, while others are powerful but cumbersome to carry. Everyone will have their opinion of what is best and what isn't. This article will attempt to make logical comparisons of the weapons you start with, explain their roles and let you decide which weapon will suit your needs the best.

Weapons will be discussed with their closest partner such as the pistol vs rifle, heavy cannon vs. auto cannon, grenade vs. high explosive. Merits of the weapons that don't have immediate pairings will be discussed on their own, such as the Rocket Launcher and Stun rod.

For now, as this article is "under construction", please refer to the [[Talk:Best Starting Weapons (EU) |original discussion]] on this page's talk page.

=The Weapons=

== Pistol vs Rifle==

The pistol and rifle are low damage weapons. They deal 26 and 30 average Armour Piercing damage respectively. They are reasonable weapons for dealing with aliens with low armour such as Sectoids and Floaters, but are otherwise highly inadequate against heavily armoured aliens such as the Mutons and all the Terror Units. These weapons will want to be replaced or supplemented with stronger weapons to counter the stronger aliens.

Since the damage difference is negligible between the two weapons, the ''best'' of the two weapons depends entirely on which of the three shot types that you will want to be using the most.

The pistol is the king of the snap shot. It is fast and has the same accuracy as the Rifle, allowing for 5 shots from a standstill. Though not having an auto mode, the relative speed and moderate accuracy of the snapshot makes up for it. This makes the pistol the better of the two for picking off targets from mid range. The speed provides better mobility and makes it an excellent weapon for reaction fire. The size of the pistol makes it a decent backup weapon until better pistols are available. The one hand grip allows you to carry an alternate weapon such as a grenade to deal with situations where the pistol may not be the best solution.

The Rifle works reasonably well at all ranges. It is the better of the two for close range combat thanks to its auto fire mode, allowing for three uninterrupted shots. The Rifle's aimed mode is on par with the Heavy Plasma and Small Launcher. However, sniping with the rifle is difficult because it is extremely slow and deals low damage. Given time or enough soldiers training their rifles on the same target, the rifle is the better of the two weapons for accurate long range aimed shots.

In summary, if you plan to use snap shots a lot, the pistol is better. For all other firing modes, the rifle is better. Replace them with their laser or plasma counterparts as soon as possible.

== Heavy Cannon vs Auto-Cannon ==
Autocannons have one great use during night time missions. Equip a rookie with incendiary ammo and use autoshot. If his aim is bad enough (yes lower is BETTER) then he will spray light-giving fire across a large portion of the map. Unfortunately the HE ammo isn't quite good enough to use and there is no point to using AP ammo. It frequently takes more than one blast to kill a target, and another hit may accidentally destroy valuable loot. That's no good.

Heavy Cannons are decent against early game Sectoids and Floaters. Use explosive rounds all the time because they have less damage variance and can strike underside armor. Since explosives deal quadruple hits against large units they will pulverize Reapers and be good against Cyberdiscs. Compare them to grenades and you have a launcher which can be fired with decent aim 2 or 3 times a turn.

The Heavy Cannon is moderately outclassed by laser weapons. You may find the explosion effect makes them slightly easier for rookies to use, and they are useful for removing active proximity mines. They are nearly harmless against XCOM agents with alloy armor so they are safe to place on PSI weenies.

== Rocket Launcher ==
Rocket launchers are an excellent weapon that can serve you the entire game. They flatten terrain, have excellent accuracy, and deal reliable 1-hit kills on nearly anything. One of their most powerful attributes is the smoke from the explosion. Enemies check their vision after taking damage, so if the smoke suddenly blinds them, you will not get hit with reaction fire. The large explosion range means that even a near miss will frequently kill its target. Kneeling aimed shots are nearly guaranteed kills even with rookies.

The rocket launcher is not a weapon you take one of. To truly understand how it works, take 6 or more with 2-4 large rockets each. Flatten everything in your way and liquify everything that moves. Any time you see an alien, flatten ALL the terrain around him. Chances are you will not only kill the targeted alien, but will get a bonus kill as well. Keep 2-3 agents ready to fire and you can snipe down any problem that comes your way.

Rocket launchers are effective against all terror units and will crush Reapers/Cyberdiscs. They deal moderate damage against Sectopods but a few large rockets can do the job in a pinch. Launchers are VERY dangerous with psi weenies! Be careful when giving rockets to a low quality agent because one panicked or mind controlled shot can wipe out even an alloy armor squad. As a side benefit the explosions will also cause some object types to catch fire, giving you free light sources at night.

== Stun Rod ==
Stun rods nearly mandatory to get the key research topics needed to beat XCOM. If not used, all capturing must be done with a small launcher or from extreme luck with weaker weapons. While small launchers can stun at range, they need ammo and have only 1 shot per clip combined with a low dual-wielding accuracy.

== Grenade vs High Explosive ==
Grenades are generally supplanted by the heavy cannon, which is simply easier to use in the early game.

High Explosives stay useful the entire game if you desire scorched earth tactics. They are difficult to throw but stay stronger than alien grenades and are super cheap to replace. OpenXcom lets you prime grenades before starting a mission, so load down a grenadier with 6 or more primed HE and clear out a huge chunk of map in one turn. If you can not throw HE the distance, then alien grenades are an excellent substitute.

Remember that aliens do not take reaction fire if they can not see the agent throwing the grenade, even if it lands in their face. This makes grenades excellent for throwing around hills or corners, or against aliens that are simply facing away from your group. HE deals reliable 1 hit kills against just about anything before Mutons and Sectopods.

== Proximity Grenade ==
Proximity grenades are difficult to use even when they are not glitched and you know how to use them. They depend on you being able to anticipate alien movement. Place them as an early warning system on corridors where you expect trouble, or one tile away from UFO doors to blast aliens that walk outside. Despite their good damage they are not to be trusted as a killing solution. Expect the alien to survive and have a backup plan to take it out.

== Smoke Grenade ==
Smoke is quite possibly the most powerful grenade type in the game. Aliens can not attack what they can not see! This means you can effectively remove the two leading causes of agent death in the game- 1) Aliens walking up and shooting you and 2) Aliens taking reaction shots at you. This benefit is not restricted to daytime either. Smoke is the great equalizer at night, causing XCOM and aliens to have nearly equal vision range (aliens have one more vision range). Bring smoke to EVERY mission and drop a minimum of two- one to cover the ground and one to cover agents inside the Skyranger. Spread more smoke anywhere your agents have to move and use rookies to scout out potential targets. Keep snipers inside the smoke and shoot with impunity.

Smoke will deal stun damage if your agents stay inside it too long. Generally this is not going to cause any trouble as long as you keep doing the mission at a good pace. Agents that get injured will probably pass out, but that can also save them from getting shot a second time.

If you know how to use smoke in this game, then you are god in alien killing form.

=Summaries=

=See Also=
*[[Weapon Analysis]]

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Initial Deployment

2019-02-08T12:32:20Z

Prospekt: Fix typos and added some clarifications in parenthesis

A key part of the success or failure of any mission is the [[Initial Deployment]] phase, particularly due to X-COM pilots tendency to land right next to enemy UFOs. Rookie [[soldiers]] are probably happy to have such a short walk, at least until they get shot in the head the first step they take down the exit ramp.

The deployment phase will significantly vary depending on your resources ([[Equipment (EU)|equipment]] and soldier [[experience]]), the tactical situation (especially the [[terrain]] and the location of the craft in relation to the [[Battlescape]] edges), and the Transporter that you are using to get to the site of the engagement. The following examples should be read as training material rather than an absolute rules to follow in most cases.

=Deploying from Transport=
Rookies are often anxious to see (and take a shot at) aliens. This can result in them piling out of the Skyranger as soon as it touches down and charging right into an ambush. A more methodical exit from the Skyranger will maximize alien causalities while increasing the life expectancy of agents.

The general rule of safer deployment is to not move units out of the transport on the first turn, when enemies have full TU available for reaction shooting. It's safer to move out on the second turn after enemies have moved and spent some of their TUs. The first turn can be used to deploy a smoke screen outside (and inside) the transport, and surveying the landscape through the craft's portholes (craft's walls do not block terrain revealing).

==Tankless deployment==
<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_geoscape_002.png|XCOM has shot down one of the first UFO's (CRASH-SITE-1 was in the ocean). Time to send a Skyranger full of rookies into action and see what these aliens are made of.

Image:Darksun tactical 000.png|The soldier standing on the equipment pile tosses out a smoke grenade. End of turn 1.

Image:Darksun_tactical_001.png|The smoke grenade is right at the foot of the ramp to mask our troops' deployment. Keep an eye on the troops' stun damage (gray bar on top of the red health bar) or they might pass out from smoke inhalation.</gallery>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_002.png|The smoke grenade goes off. Agent one jumps off the ramp and hunkers down behind the landing gear. Agent two does the same in the other direction. Agent 3, knowing the coast is more or less clear sprints out to get a good firing position with her [[Auto-Cannon|AC]]-HE.

Image:Darksun_tactical_004.png|Each turn the scout agents only advance a few wary steps. If they spot an alien someone else will shoot at it. If it doesn't die the scout will retreat. This pictures shows the agent's entire move for this turn.

Image:Darksun_tactical_006.png|Three turns into the battlescape and only a few agents are outside the Skyranger. Half the deployed troops are taking cover behind the skyranger's landing gear.</gallery>

Once they have spread out a bit, more agents will disembark. Staying spread out is vital. Alien grenades can be brutal without armor.

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_008a.png|(This game is with some custom maps from [[XcomUtil]]. It adds pyramids to the desert to give the aliens some cover). About 5 turns into the battle and the first group of agents has spread out into the field. An alien has popped out of the door at (1). The scouts (2) are moving cautiously and are carrying fast weapons ([[Pistol]]s in this case). Troopers with heavier weapons are backing up the scouts (3). Their possible lines of fire are marked with the colored lines.</gallery>

When a scout makes contact with an enemy, the scout retreats out of the line of fire and the back line troopers with HE weapons take some shots. In this case there were two troopers with a line of fire on the alien and one of them killed it.

Once contact was made with the enemy the scouts all froze for a turn, kneeling. Sure enough the first [[Sectoid]] had a buddy who came out the door on the next turn. The scouts got it with reaction fire. This battle ended then since the other Sectoids didn't survive the crash.

Don't try to deploy all your agents! Leave some reserves on the transport. The diagram actually shows a pretty aggressive deployment. The number of agents deployed should be able to handle most situations. Only bring agents off the sky ranger as replacements or to fill in gaps if the deployed forces get stretched too thin.

==Deploying with tanks==
[[Image:Darksun_tactical_a00.png|right|320px]]
Deploying with tanks is fairly similar to deploying without them. You can often skip the smoke grenade. Since tanks can't advance in skills, they are cheap to replace in relative terms (especially non-hover tanks). Most aliens (save [[Muton]]s and [[Ethereal]]s) will prefer to attack tanks over agents. So you can use them to draw fire away from agents. There are two goals when deploying tanks in the first turns. First, locate and prioritize targets close to the transport. Second, set up a screen around the transport exit to protect agents. In most cases you won't want to use the tank to attack enemies directly in order to allow agents a chance to advance. However, don't hesitate to kill aliens with the tank if there isn't a safe way to get an agent into position. Keep the tanks TU's in mind. It's best to keep about 50 in reserve to lessen enemy reaction fire. If the landing zone is very hot, withdraw the tank back to the transport and toss smokers. Note: Chryssalids seem loathe to walk up the ramp of the landing craft, so if one is visible from the back door, you can fire away at them with no retribution.<br clear="all">

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_a01.png|The first tanks comes just onto the ramp. Then it looks left and right before going on. This will show any aliens that are right around the transport door. It also conserves TU's to prevent as much reaction fire as possible. If your tanks get blasted before you can locate the aggressors, pop smoke and see the section on tankless deployments.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a02.png|A [[Sectoid]] is spotted. The tank stops moving.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a03.png|Tank number two exits the transport and checks the other direction to make sure no sneaky aliens are waiting to shoot agents in the back. It then moves out past the end of the ramp to screen agents should aliens come in range. Tank number one also withdraws out of range of the [[Sectoid]] it spotted.</gallery>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_a04.png|The next turn tank number one re-aquires contact with the enemy. Since the alien can see any units disembarking from the Avenger and thus reaction fire on them, the movement of the HWP will make the alien spend its remaining TUs firing at him, preventing it from reacting to the agents.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a05.png|Agents are deployed out of range of the spotted enemies if possible. In this case the HWP made the alien spend its remaining TUs so the agent will be safe from harm even though he debarked within sight of the alien. Tanks are better to lose than an experienced agent. Tank number one then clears the shooting lane.

Image:Darksun_tactical_a06.png|The Sectoid is killed by the agent who just disembarked.</gallery>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="188px">
Image:Darksun_tactical_a07.png|The area around the transport is secure. Two more agents sprint out of the transport and don't bother to save any TU's. They take cover behind the tanks and the craft landing gear. The rest of the deployment goes just like one without tanks. Use the tanks to scout and move one to three agents out of the transport a turn until you are ready to move out.</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Field Manual: Deployment]]
*[[Battlescape]]
*[[Scouting]]
*[[Sweeping the Battlescape]]

[[Category:Tactics]]
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Template:Hail of Bullets (LW2)/Info

2017-05-17T07:35:02Z

Prospekt:

* Hail of Bullets requires 5 ammo points and has a 5 turn cooldown.