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i can't imagine any usage of this skill. plz help.

tuhalu has a good idea here: http://www.pavonisinteractive.com/phpBB ... ion#p41767

I use it as a guilt-free way of getting Burnout. As long as the only reliable effect of it is increasing the enemy's defence, I cannot see me taking it as an option.

Zyrrashijn wrote:tuhalu has a good idea here: http://www.pavonisinteractive.com/phpBB ... ion#p41767

if it can't make stun, it will provide huge defense and flank immune. i will try this way though. thanks

"How do you use Concussion Rocket?"

You don't. See, all Technicals are actually Fire Mages is disguise. The other skills are merely cantrips from other schools that you aren't suppossed to learn.

As a desperation move generally. E.g. when you get a bad activation. Pretty marginal.

I use it to give my Technicals Assault rifle shredding

I can't see why any Technical build would include Concussion Rocket, a one-shot attack that still seems weak. When it's up against adding Shredder to every primary weapon attack or Flameout to every flame attack.

Smoke part of this ability make it unusable. I can see a point of stun/disorient rocket, but why it must give enemies more defense?

I seem to recall reading that 1.3 made it reliably destroy cover. If that's true then there's some creative ways to use a concussion rocket. If false, well it'd be funny to use it as a really long-range smoke grenade. Either way, I assume it makes as much noise as a regular rocket - if so then it's useful as a red herring to Advent. I'd have to experiment with a stealth observer to confirm Advent behaves as intended when hearing a loud bang in the wrong place.

Psieye wrote:I seem to recall reading that 1.3 made it reliably destroy cover. If that's true then there's some creative ways to use a concussion rocket. If false, well it'd be funny to use it as a really long-range smoke grenade. Either way, I assume it makes as much noise as a regular rocket - if so then it's useful as a red herring to Advent. I'd have to experiment with a stealth observer to confirm Advent behaves as intended when hearing a loud bang in the wrong place.

The sound effect is based on the gauntlet primary weapon, not the actual rocket. So it does seem that concussion rockets are just as loud as regular rockets (and bunker busters).

Advent are supposed to react to the explosion, not the source in 1.3, so unless their fix is broken it should work as you suspected.

It's my go to for dealing with a sectoid commander's "mass reanimation from off screen" tactic. It is like a crazy OP Flashbang at range. I know that it's not everyone's (anyone's?) cup of tea, but I've had a few campaigns where it has come in handy. I wouldn't say that it is my go to, but I've had some success with it, even as an occasional attack from concealment mission opener.

Does it still create a cloud of smoke in 1.3?

I find it situationally useful. It can be a decent distraction on small GOPs, to try and draw pods away from the objective. Primarily I use it for retreating (although you usually need a Command or Salvo to do this effectively), or otherwise temporarily disabling enemies who I don't intend to fight any time soon (if at all).

Plockets wrote:I find it situationally useful. It can be a decent distraction on small GOPs, to try and draw pods away from the objective. Primarily I use it for retreating (although you usually need a Command or Salvo to do this effectively), or otherwise temporarily disabling enemies who I don't intend to fight any time soon (if at all).

This makes sense. I think maybe if we look at it less like a way to kill enemies and more of a retreating/delaying action then it makes sense. Could think of it like an extra flashbang that has some very strange side effects rather than a typical bunker buster/damage dealer.

Guys this really isn't hard. You use this rocket the exact same way you would use the stasis psi ability.

Either hit enemies you have no intention of shooting that turn (like enemies you are running away from or a pod that walked in on your flank), or use it on an enemy AFTER you have taken all your shots and he's still alive (for example, if a muton is close enough to grenade and didn't die to your shots).

I don't really understand why this isn't obvious to more people, given that this is exactly how almost everyone uses flashbangs.

Also, with the new Coup de Grâce, it should be easy to hit stunned enemies in a smoke cloud (same with shotguns).

Fire at group, run in with shinobi or assault at point blank, granting them extra defense from smoke while they tend to ignore the smoke's effect on enemies due to proximity and other bonuses.

In the end, given how it all works out, the smoke might as well not be there since it becomes a zero-sum game.

Mobtank wrote:Guys this really isn't hard. You use this rocket the exact same way you would use the stasis psi ability.

Either hit enemies you have no intention of shooting that turn (like enemies you are running away from or a pod that walked in on your flank), or use it on an enemy AFTER you have taken all your shots and he's still alive (for example, if a muton is close enough to grenade and didn't die to your shots).

I don't really understand why this isn't obvious to more people, given that this is exactly how almost everyone uses flashbangs.

Also, with the new Coup de Grâce, it should be easy to hit stunned enemies in a smoke cloud (same with shotguns).

The smoke lasts for longer than the stun/disorient does. Your point re coup de grace is very well made, although it's a long time to wait as shinobi only gets that at MSGT.

Burnout is so much better tho.

Mobtank wrote:Guys this really isn't hard. You use this rocket the exact same way you would use the stasis psi ability.

Either hit enemies you have no intention of shooting that turn (like enemies you are running away from or a pod that walked in on your flank), or use it on an enemy AFTER you have taken all your shots and he's still alive (for example, if a muton is close enough to grenade and didn't die to your shots).

I don't really understand why this isn't obvious to more people, given that this is exactly how almost everyone uses flashbangs.

Also, with the new Coup de Grâce, it should be easy to hit stunned enemies in a smoke cloud (same with shotguns).

That'd be fine if the smoke went away next turn. Now that I'm thinking of it, I propose we change stasis to make the aliens immune to damage for 3 turns, but only CCed for one turn.

So I finally got to fire a couple Concussion rockets. They don't destroy terrain at all and biologicals are at-minimum disorientated. So they can be used as either a giant smoke grenade, a giant flashbang or both if you have shotguns to shove in dazed faces.

There was one intriguing situation that Tandem Warheads might take advantage of: nearby pods heard the noise and converged where the smoke was - not sure if the AI takes cloud cover into account. Which means 2~3 pods are all bunched up in a rocket-AoE-sized area.

Psieye wrote:So I finally got to fire a couple Concussion rockets. They don't destroy terrain at all and biologicals are at-minimum disorientated. So they can be used as either a giant smoke grenade, a giant flashbang or both if you have shotguns to shove in dazed faces.

There was one intriguing situation that Tandem Warheads might take advantage of: nearby pods heard the noise and converged where the smoke was - not sure if the AI takes cloud cover into account. Which means 2~3 pods are all bunched up in a rocket-AoE-sized area.

You're right about the environment damage. It's only 5, which is significantly less than a Frag Grenade. If you're lucky you might destroy a trash can or something. I was kind of hoping it would be more than that. Maybe 10 (ever so slightly better than a non-upgraded Frag Grenade).

I've used it in a few missions and it does work just about how I hoped. It's been fairly reliable at stunning things, giving you an extra turn to deal with them. Running into the smoke and shooting everything at point blank with flanking bonuses works well.

It's not as deadly as a regular rocket, but it does give you another tool to turn the battle in your favor.

Tuhalu wrote:

Psieye wrote: It's not as deadly as a regular rocket, but it does give you another tool to turn the battle in your favor.

I took the perk for 1.3, to try it out again. I just used it on a Smash and Grab, rocket went a little bit wide, disoriented 1 enemy instead of 3, spawned a giant smoke cloud and yellow alerted nearby pods. Next turn 1 pod activated and moved into the smoke, and the turn after that another pod moved into the smoke. FML. Worst Rocket.

Granted I didn't use it intelligently, but wow is it hard to find a use for it. If the smoke only lasted for the duration of your own and the aliens turn it would be so much more reasonable. It's not like it'd be OP, it's still worse than a sting grenade.

It's so baffling as to whether the smoke is supposed to be a buff or nerf to the skill. Do the devs keep it on because to take it off would be too strong, or because it is legitimately a crucial part of the identity of the concussion rocket?

I appreciate the aoe buff, but as of now you might as well just fill the whole map with smoke. At least then your soldiers would get the benefits too.

Since 1.3, it seems like whenever the game crashes on me, it's after there is smoke lingering from a concussion rocket at large pods. So yet another reason not to use them.