Is alien array health random?

[Jaimsta]

Just ran into my first array mission, start of second(?) supply drop. This thing..........has 20 health. Did I just get bad luck? With how random damage is, the array being (seemingly) uncrittable and the extremely limited amount of men I could bring, was this just bad luck or is this the standard health? Does it increase later on? What if I got this mission type even earlier? The only thing I can think of is good rng with multiple Rangers w/ double barrel shotguns. Obviously blue screen rounds / Gremlin Mk2 or 3 / Plasma much later. Lasers weren't enough.

[Garthor]

Not sure why you'd need "good RNG with multiple Rangers". Both Barrels should be 10-18 damage, and they can also take a normal shot in the same turn for 3-5. So two rangers could pop it with one action each, or one ranger could take two turns to clear it unless EVERY shot rolls minimum damage.

Really, the relay is about one turn's worth of a normal-sized squad just unloading into it. Obviously you can't always do exactly that but you should try to budget your time as such.

That, or collapse the roof, which still instantly destroys it.

[trihero]

20 hp sounds right, it's not bad luck. And yes they go up to 30 hp I've seen later in the game. As you get better weapons they are a joke, and as the guy above me said, you can double barrel from a ranger at max range (you are guaranteed to hit arrays) for quite a bit of damage even at low levels.

[8wayz]

Shotguns also do a fair bit of damage. One shotgun shot and two from a Ranger should take it down in one turn.

If you have Rapid fire on any of the two, it is guaranteed actually.

The issue most of the time is taking care of the guards close to the array.

[trihero]

If you have Rapid fire on any of the two, it is guaranteed actually.

No, I've had one or both rapid fires miss, at least in vanilla. Same with chain shot. Those minus aim penalties seem to actually affect your 100% to hit the relay.

[8wayz]

When I attack the relay I am usually a tile or two away. I like to get close and personal.

It also helps that relay is in an easy to defend position with a lot of cover.

It won't matter in my case, but you might want to be careful when trying to snipe the relay from the building on the other side of the street with your shotgun.

[trihero]

I also forgot a decent strategy is to have a sniper for this kind of mission since he can squad sight the array with someone spotting for him. This is particularly nice for psi emitters in avenger defense or the invasion missions.

The arrays take are robotic and take the bonus damage from blue screen rounds (more relevant in vanilla where bluescreen was the answer to everything).

[Jaimsta]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I actually just got a second relay mission now so i'll be prepared this time. The HP just took me off guard compared to vanilla and I greatly under estimated the damage RNG (Rolled minimum basically every shot). At least the relay can't be grazed! (Hopefully)

[GavinRuneblade]

I also forgot a decent strategy is to have a sniper for this kind of mission since he can squad sight the array with someone spotting for him. This is particularly nice for psi emitters in avenger defense or the invasion missions.

The arrays take are robotic and take the bonus damage from blue screen rounds (more relevant in vanilla where bluescreen was the answer to everything).

Another reason snipers work in these missions is the timer stops when you down the array. So the sniper CAN sit in a high spot and then take as long as you need to evac. He doesn't have to keep running to be close by your team the whole mission.

Assuming that you can hold on long enough anyway.