Make redscreen rounds work

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Phaseless
Posts: 225
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:06 am

Make redscreen rounds work

Post by Phaseless »

I like the idea of redscreen rounds but see myself against a number of disadvantages when thinking about how to practically make them work.

1) Since you want a safe hit for a safe hack, you should give them to a soldier with good aim. That means you'd have to dedicate one of your damage Dealers just for this. High Price. Could be alleviated by bringing two rangers for example, but that requires enough time to Infiltrate. I already have the Feeling I'd have to adapt my entire strategy just to make this equip work.
2) If you give them to a Support unit, you probably have less safe shots and also, you have to sacrifice this probably important unit's crowd Control Action. Like, tech Shooting the mech instead of burning stuff. Also sub-optimal.

Do you guys use redscreen rounds, can you make them work somehow? To me, it seems like the tactical cost of using them reliably, and reliably being a Keyword here, is just too high. Because if you fail, you just spent an important Action to make a unit miss a shot, who could have otherwise provided defensive or offensive Advantages.

EDIT: One idea I just came up with is give them to a soldier who has AWC flush or the like or any other shot with increased hit Chance. Still, nothing will Change the fact of Course that you have to dedicate an important unit's Action to this - if it works though, the payoff is big. Imagine a longbow wreaking havoc and then drawing all the fire - niiice. And you can do that several times each Mission. Makes me kinda wet TBH
Last edited by Phaseless on Fri Sep 22, 2017 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
artifixer
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 2:48 pm

Re: Make bluescreen rounds work

Post by artifixer »

Phaseless wrote:1) Since you want a safe hit for a safe hack, you should give them to a soldier with good aim. That
Maybe you mean Redscreen Rounds? Because Bluescreen Rounds just increase damage to robotic enemies.
Phaseless
Posts: 225
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:06 am

Re: Make bluescreen rounds work

Post by Phaseless »

artifixer wrote:
Phaseless wrote:1) Since you want a safe hit for a safe hack, you should give them to a soldier with good aim. That
Maybe you mean Redscreen Rounds? Because Bluescreen Rounds just increase damage to robotic enemies.
Oops, mixed them up.
artifixer
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 2:48 pm

Re: Make bluescreen rounds work

Post by artifixer »

Phaseless wrote:Oops, mixed them up.
I found them completely useless because of reasons you've mentioned. For better hacking I have Bluescreen Bombs on every grenadier and a Skulljack on every specialist. It's usually enough.
gimrah
Long War 2 Crew
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:25 pm

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by gimrah »

I would have thought a pistol user would be the best answer. Multiple low damage shots that don't smash up the robot you're trying to steal too badly. Also you can get several redscreen effects in one turn from one soldier (just note that fan fire only applies it once).

If you do that you're not using the pistol for damage so you don't have to build the pistoleer around it too much, e.g. by taking CM. Although with a pistol and the ammo there's no room for a vest so I'd want formidable ideally. It could just be a laser pistol for the extra aim and a perception PCS maybe. You have several shots so accuracy is not too big of a worry. You want it on someone who doesn't use their primary that much, i.e. so they're not losing out by not taking a damage ammo. Technical would be a good candidate.
Phaseless
Posts: 225
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:06 am

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by Phaseless »

gimrah wrote:I would have thought a pistol user would be the best answer. Multiple low damage shots that don't smash up the robot you're trying to steal too badly. Also you can get several redscreen effects in one turn from one soldier (just note that fan fire only applies it once).

If you do that you're not using the pistol for damage so you don't have to build the pistoleer around it too much, e.g. by taking CM. Although with a pistol and the ammo there's no room for a vest so I'd want formidable ideally. It could just be a laser pistol for the extra aim and a perception PCS maybe. You have several shots so accuracy is not too big of a worry. You want it on someone who doesn't use their primary that much, i.e. so they're not losing out by not taking a damage ammo. Technical would be a good candidate.
Or a Grenadier without the bluescreen bomb perk :D
gimrah
Long War 2 Crew
Posts: 422
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:25 pm

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by gimrah »

Phaseless wrote:
gimrah wrote:I would have thought a pistol user would be the best answer. Multiple low damage shots that don't smash up the robot you're trying to steal too badly. Also you can get several redscreen effects in one turn from one soldier (just note that fan fire only applies it once).

If you do that you're not using the pistol for damage so you don't have to build the pistoleer around it too much, e.g. by taking CM. Although with a pistol and the ammo there's no room for a vest so I'd want formidable ideally. It could just be a laser pistol for the extra aim and a perception PCS maybe. You have several shots so accuracy is not too big of a worry. You want it on someone who doesn't use their primary that much, i.e. so they're not losing out by not taking a damage ammo. Technical would be a good candidate.
Or a Grenadier without the bluescreen bomb perk :D
xwynns and joinrbs like pistols on grenadiers apparently but I'm assuming they don't mean with redscreen. That leaves no room for grenades... Technical seems best choice to me.
Phaseless
Posts: 225
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:06 am

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by Phaseless »

gimrah wrote:
Phaseless wrote:
gimrah wrote:I would have thought a pistol user would be the best answer. Multiple low damage shots that don't smash up the robot you're trying to steal too badly. Also you can get several redscreen effects in one turn from one soldier (just note that fan fire only applies it once).

If you do that you're not using the pistol for damage so you don't have to build the pistoleer around it too much, e.g. by taking CM. Although with a pistol and the ammo there's no room for a vest so I'd want formidable ideally. It could just be a laser pistol for the extra aim and a perception PCS maybe. You have several shots so accuracy is not too big of a worry. You want it on someone who doesn't use their primary that much, i.e. so they're not losing out by not taking a damage ammo. Technical would be a good candidate.
Or a Grenadier without the bluescreen bomb perk :D
xwynns and joinrbs like pistols on grenadiers apparently but I'm assuming they don't mean with redscreen. That leaves no room for grenades... Technical seems best choice to me.
Right, forgot about that. Would be a non issue with an airdrop spec
Damn I love all those wonderful possible synergies
Noober
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:47 am

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by Noober »

For me - technical is the perfect tank with smoke/formidable so it doesn't need high aim as a prime stat (rather dodge and HP) and need both vest and abblative + formidable to do some tanky thigs.
Due to low to avg aim chance to hit is not that good and they should give up two of 3 slot (for pistol AND for BS) which reduces ability to tank.
I personally prefer ranger without shred perk for such work. It doesn't do too much for the strong mec/sectopod so it's still usefull aftert hack and for lesser ones - BB is usually enough to 100% or close, consider you stack all hacky thing on yout OW specs.
Phaseless
Posts: 225
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:06 am

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by Phaseless »

Noober wrote:For me - technical is the perfect tank with smoke/formidable so it doesn't need high aim as a prime stat (rather dodge and HP) and need both vest and abblative + formidable to do some tanky thigs.
Due to low to avg aim chance to hit is not that good and they should give up two of 3 slot (for pistol AND for BS) which reduces ability to tank.
I personally prefer ranger without shred perk for such work. It doesn't do too much for the strong mec/sectopod so it's still usefull aftert hack and for lesser ones - BB is usually enough to 100% or close, consider you stack all hacky thing on yout OW specs.
What's BB
Noober
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:47 am

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by Noober »

Bluescreen Bombs - a SGT greandier skill.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by stefan3iii »

I use redscreen extensively, in L/I. At first, I put them on 'non-shooter' classes, usually 1 or 2 of the soldiers in a mission. Technical, grenadiers, psi if I used them, shinobi. They should NOT be on the officer or specialist. This allows you to shoot twice using command, letting you easily capture things.

Late game, I usually bring one ranger with redscreen, so that I can full override M3s and Sectopods. The damage reduction is worth it, robots are just so plentiful and a successful hack can basically win the mission.
LordYanaek
Posts: 940
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:34 pm

Re: Make redscreen rounds work

Post by LordYanaek »

I can see a few cases where they can be used :
  • Pistol wielding Psi trooper. They don't do much against MECs so this gives them an option if there's no important organic to control and they can train their pistol perks fast.
  • The specialist himself if he is lucky enough to get Quick Draw and/or Lightning Hands early in the pistol tree (can shoot twice and then hack) but he needs to be up front.
  • Non primary shooter (Technical probably) with Flush or better Walk Fire (as flush would debuff you new "friend") from AWC.
However i never really used them as, like you said, it's a big investment to get them working. I found out it's much easier to just hack Drones (their high defense means they might survive longer than a MEC and their Stun attack is great for ruining ADVENT's plans) and big robots are usually not that hard to deal with. Sectopods are trivial if you have a Sharpshooter with Kubikiri, actually Superheavy MECs were the most troublesome for me (as a pod could have several of them).
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