Im not quiet understanding technicals

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Jj001
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:19 pm

Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by Jj001 »

Hi guys,
Im struggling a bit with the technical class as i am not finding them particularly useful.
1. They have high infiltration times
2. Rockets while amazing, i find grenadiers are more consistant. And you dont get more than 1 rocket unless you spec into it.
3. Flamethrowers have been a huge let down. By mid game i feel that they are obselete.
4. Suppression is great but gunners do it better.
5. Smgs seem to be a must for the class but they dont have stopping power.
6. The technical class seems to need the most awc perks to be viable. Where as the sharpshooter class can still be great without the amc but are made better with the enhanvements.

Perhaps some of you could give me some advice?
What stats do you prefer when you draft them?
Last edited by Jj001 on Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
wei270
Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 6:07 am

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by wei270 »

rocket still have better cover destruction then grenadiers unless fully upgraded, and flamer can set an larger area on fire which is more power control mechanism then a damage mechanism.

where the grenadiers is really good because they can just chill in the back and lob grenade and have extra airdrop on to them.

i feel technical is better in smaller engagements where the there are fewer pods and smaller pod size where he can go in use his flamer to control all of them and his rockets don't need to be used multiple times.

and grenadiers has more sustaining power for longer and larger fights and he can just stay at the back with no risk to trigger extra pods
Napalm292
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 6:45 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by Napalm292 »

I have the the same technical understanding problem. Other than initial ambush from concealment, I have a very hard time making the flamethrower useful. The AI always tries to keep beyond a blue move distance, which eliminates a lot of flamethrower uses. AI also tries to move out of a flank, so dashing close then using flamethrower next turn usually doesn't work.

The rockets are a great hail mary, but 1 use doesn't justify bringing them for me.
mordewolt
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 11:57 am

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by mordewolt »

Xavier at this point pretty much put a ring on every single one of his techies, you could check him out
Alketi
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Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by Alketi »

Technicals will never get any better because Xavier plays them too well. Blame him. :)

But on the serious side, an SMG is absolutely mandatory on Technicals. It gives the ability to make a Blue move and use the flamethrower. It makes the class. Also, IMO, taking Suppression makes them useful in pinning down a target.

I still hate the ridiculous inaccuracy of the rocket and find them my most expendable class, but on the missions where they're present I do occasionally enjoy the opportunity to flamethrower multiple enemies.
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Devon_v
Long War EU Crew
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Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by Devon_v »

E.X.O. suit, Javalin Rockets, Shinobi spotter and you can crack two major pods and still have the flamer shots for mop up on later turns. I bring two on major missions for four cover-demolishing, pod crushing shots. Rangers can mop up easily after that.
aimlessgun
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 2:22 am

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by aimlessgun »

mordewolt wrote:Xavier at this point pretty much put a ring on every single one of his techies, you could check him out
He also seems to be playing on some kind of personal challenge mode where he doesn't use incendiary grenades though :p Once you get Volatile Mix incendiary grenades cover 9 tiles which is very respectable, and then once you get T2 launcher/bombs (which he should have soon since he got an Andro corpse on the Nightmare on K street mission), the area is actually way larger than the flamethrower.
trihero
Posts: 1099
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 7:01 am

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by trihero »

Technicals carry the early game extremely well, especially on legend. This is according to both xwynns and joinrbs, who each have like 800+ hours testing and playing LW2. joinrbs (who's beaten L/I LW2 multiple times already) recently posted a 0% supply raid on legendary in april, where technicals wtfpwned a couple pods with rockets (hint: grenades would not do anywhere near as well this early in the game). xwynns in his videos constantly uses technicals to do flamethrower ambushes; these are advantageous for two big reasons: flamethrowers make way less noise than grenades so you are much less likely to pull unwanted pods at a bad time, and of course flamethrowers put things on fire giving you time to pick out the threatening targets and position yourself while ignoring things on fire.

I kind of agree that because they are so strong early in the game, that they shouldn't also be allowed to dominate the late game. That being said, I drop technicals pretty quickly once snipers get serial and grenadiers get biggest booms and plasma grenades/incendiary grenades. I think the flamethrower side of the tree is pretty clunky and doesn't really "work" as well as say, a grenadier going down his left side or a ranger going down the right side.
LordYanaek
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Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by LordYanaek »

trihero wrote:xwynns in his videos constantly uses technicals to do flamethrower ambushes; these are advantageous for two big reasons: flamethrowers make way less noise than grenades so you are much less likely to pull unwanted pods at a bad time, and of course flamethrowers put things on fire giving you time to pick out the threatening targets and position yourself while ignoring things on fire.
Unfortunately unless you are xwynns the flamethrower doesn't always put everyone on fire ;)

If you want to try and use your flamer, do yourself a favor and edit the ini to add +1 range. This is legit and will be in patch 1.2 because the new improved targeting algorithm had the unexpected side effect of reducing the range by 1 so your flamers are actually 1 range shorter than intended.
Poobah
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:20 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by Poobah »

I'm finding technicals to be a good third choice for officers since as you mention they tend to needs SMGs and also are reliant on their limited use high impact skills so there are plenty of turns where you may want to have them spend their actions on a command or other officer skill rather than firing a SMG. That said I do find my technicals and their rockets invaluable for saving me from myself when I accidentally pull an extra pod or two on supply raids or base assaults so I horde their rockets for those occasions. Also if you ever get one to the Bunker Buster is godly, it literally deletes every destructible object in the area it hits, turning a bulding full of enemies hiding behind high cover into a wide open map with no building and a bunch of guys standing in the open for your team to wipe out.

Yeah the flamethrower is garbage, I almost never use it and when I do half the time the animation shows my guy flaming vertically down into the floor and nothing gets set alight. Since I don't have XWynns combination of exceptional positional skill, patience and luck enemies never conveniently patrol into my flamethrower range while I'm still concealed in an ideal position and after concealment is broken and everything's behind cover and spread out it's pretty much suicide to run a technical up to flamer range.
nightwyrm
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Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by nightwyrm »

I wonder if I could take a Tech to the Network tower and bunker buster the entire control room so my Spec could just remote hack the thing....
cmdrspyker92
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Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by cmdrspyker92 »

nightwyrm wrote:I wonder if I could take a Tech to the Network tower and bunker buster the entire control room so my Spec could just remote hack the thing....
Shinobi, Specialist, +1 technical

Other 2 guys will likely need to be rangers or something to clean up. But if the technical can nuke the tower with javalin / bunkerbuster well enough the specialist has a clear line of sight...
naschkokthe3rd
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2017 8:00 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by naschkokthe3rd »

LordYanaek wrote:If you want to try and use your flamer, do yourself a favor and edit the ini to add +1 range. This is legit and will be in patch 1.2 because the new improved targeting algorithm had the unexpected side effect of reducing the range by 1 so your flamers are actually 1 range shorter than intended.
In case anyone else wants to try this and wants more detailed instructions, navigate to XComGameData_WeaponData.ini in the LW2 folder and find "Gauntlet_Secondary_CONVENTIONAL_RANGE=7" (line 1293 in my file), and change it to "Gauntlet_Secondary_CONVENTIONAL_RANGE=8"

Rinse and repeat for the three tiers that follow -- mag, coil, and beam. Note that the coil tier is commented as deprecated, so you don't need to touch it (but I did anyway...just in case it shows up :mrgreen: )
Jj001
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:19 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by Jj001 »

Hey guys,
Since i made this post i have been playing around with technicals more and have factored in some of the things said here. Here are my conclusions. Btw, i like technicals now :)

1. Small engagements, specialist aren't really great for large engagements that are drawn out over time. But they can do it. They do well on maps with just a few pods or few encounters

2. Exo suit is a must, exo suit gives you 2 rockets. I just learned this yesterday. I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't notice this sooner.

3. Flamethrower needs a buff. The damage on flamethrowers by mid-game is marginal. However it is pretty good if you're able to Flame many units as you do a lot of damage over a large area. But overall I feel that it's not as good as Rocket spec. It would probably be better if fear panic and disorientation were naturally built into the flamethrower rather than having to put a talent pointed to it.

4. Specialist make great Haven advisors. If you give them your leftover exo-suits and your second tier weapons as you tear up. You go into retaliation missions with multiple rockets and decent weapons. Also flamethrowers really good at killing faceless.

5. I find suppression to be really helpful on technicals as it gives them something to do when they're not shooting Rockets.

6. Smgs are a must. They need the mobility and they need weapon upgrades increase clip size on smg's.

7. Rocket spec technicals should carry grenades. They have a talent that maximizes grenade damage output.

8. Check the awc, you never know what great perks you may get. I have a technical with tradecraft. His weapon is an SMG with an elite suppressor and he wears a chameleon suit. I can almost bring him on to missions for free
SRSChaos
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:22 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by SRSChaos »

Jj001 wrote:Hey guys,
Since i made this post i have been playing around with technicals more and have factored in some of the things said here. Here are my conclusions. Btw, i like technicals now :)

1. Small engagements, specialist aren't really great for large engagements that are drawn out over time. But they can do it. They do well on maps with just a few pods or few encounters

2. Exo suit is a must, exo suit gives you 2 rockets. I just learned this yesterday. I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't notice this sooner.

3. Flamethrower needs a buff. The damage on flamethrowers by mid-game is marginal. However it is pretty good if you're able to Flame many units as you do a lot of damage over a large area. But overall I feel that it's not as good as Rocket spec. It would probably be better if fear panic and disorientation were naturally built into the flamethrower rather than having to put a talent pointed to it.

4. Specialist make great Haven advisors. If you give them your leftover exo-suits and your second tier weapons as you tear up. You go into retaliation missions with multiple rockets and decent weapons. Also flamethrowers really good at killing faceless.

5. I find suppression to be really helpful on technicals as it gives them something to do when they're not shooting Rockets.

6. Smgs are a must. They need the mobility and they need weapon upgrades increase clip size on smg's.

7. Rocket spec technicals should carry grenades. They have a talent that maximizes grenade damage output.

8. Check the awc, you never know what great perks you may get. I have a technical with tradecraft. His weapon is an SMG with an elite suppressor and he wears a chameleon suit. I can almost bring him on to missions for free
Figured I might as well add a few things to think about as well. I think technicals are fast becoming my favorite class.

1.) I've had great results taking a technical on the big long missions like regional HQs or low infiltration supply raids. Nothing like a firestorm to solve the problem of activating too many pods at once. However, I would agree that a good technical can make the smaller engagements a walk in the park.

2) Exo suits are definitely a must (at least until you can get better) but I generally use pressurized tanks.

3) I disagree here. Flamers are amazing. Though I have already made the range fix that's in 1.2 in my own XComGameData_WeaponData.ini file. The damage from a flamer really is a secondary effect. Flamers are for controlling the enemy. Something that is burning and/or panicked is not going to attack you for a couple turns. The same really goes for rockets though, in the mid-to-late stages of the game. Early on rockets are do great damage, but later on rockets are for destroying cover, their damage is fairly insignificant (even when fully specced for them).

4) Absolutely. They are really the least gear-dependent class, which makes them perfect for Haven duty.

5) Suppression is always useful. Though I prefer Fire in the Hole, even for my flamer specced assaults.

6-7) Agreed

8) The Holy Grail is to get a Technical with Run and Gun. It turns a great character into something entirely OP. Mine also has Low Profile and Covert, which really is just unnecessary. Though I wouldn't judge the class on this OP monster. My other technicals are great too.
trihero
Posts: 1099
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 7:01 am

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by trihero »

Well technically (see what I did there) you can achieve run + gun by using Command after his dash :D
SRSChaos
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:22 pm

Re: Im not quiet understanding technicals

Post by SRSChaos »

trihero wrote:Well technically (see what I did there) you can achieve run + gun by using Command after his dash :D
Ohh I do that too, when run and gun is on cooldown (or I'm using my guys that don't have it). Having it on the technical himself means you don't need to use 2 characters actions to get the job done. There have also been a couple times I've used command on the technical to allow him to make 3 moves and still firestorm/flame with Run and Gun.
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