LordYanaek wrote:Drogmyre wrote:
It's not just +1 damage, it's +1 to your BASE damage, if I'm not mistaken <...>
All this assumes that +1 damage means it bumps 3-5 to 4-6, and isn't just a half point (3-6) on the top end.
There is no difference between +1 damage and +1 base damage. They work exactly the same way, just like Center Mass does : they increase min and max damage so yes, a basic assault rifle will get to 4-6 with those ammo and 5-7 against their "preferred target".
But i don't know which autopsy is required to build them so is hard to know if they will help at ballistic level and possibly allow delaying (or bypassing) laser like some LW1 ammo did. In 1.2 some of those (i'm not sure which) required Shieldbearer autopsy which usually comes when you already have Laser or Mag weapons.
Stilletto is Faceless Autopsy, so that one comes pretty quick if you want it, and gives Chameleon suits which are good.
Most of the +damage ones come pretty early on, lemme check the research tree real quick.
Okay, after further review, Needle is locked behind Shieldbearer Autopsy, and Shredder is locked behind Turret Breakdown.
So Stiletto is the only one where you can really get it early, the others would be post-laser timings just due to the way corpse gathering works.
Still, probably pretty good!
EDIT:
Have some more time to speculate, leaving for church in half an hour.
Anyway, since Stiletto comes pretty early, and Chameleon Suits are pretty good, Faceless Autopsy might be able to delay lasers by quite a bit. Stiletto will deal +1 to all targets, +2 to ayys, which when considering on higher difficulties Vipers and Sectoids are very common in the first two months means your favored enemy shows up quite a lot.
Though I would argue it's less effective for killing Aliens than it is just as a situationally better version of Center Mass on an item, which is VERY valuable, as I mentioned before, bumping Rifles up to Cannon Damage is quite good.
So, with your confirmation that it DOES buff the damage the way I thought it does, thanks for that LordYanaek, appreciate it.
Rangers are getting a HUGE buff in that case, then. Center Mass Rangers will hit like Laser Rifle tier with Stiletto Rounds, with LOWER RNG! (5-7 as opposed to 4-7.) This is huge, add on top of that the Covering Fire buffs and other things they've done with Rangers, and now I think I might start training Infantry much earlier just because of their sheer damage output.
And it doesn't stop at Ballistics, either. Rangers with Stiletto and CM will carry over once you get Lasers, making them hit like Mag. (6-9 damage is pretty good!) I'll need to test this a bit, but I think Rangers will be very strong.
Speaking of strong classes, Gunners are getting a massive buff from this: Since you get Center Mass at Lance Cpl, and Hail of Bullets at Cpl, that means a Gunner with Stiletto Rounds can have an instant-kill button for every early game ADVENT unit. 6-8 damage is no joke at ballistics tier.
Looking forward to 1.3, seems like a lot will be changing, and I'll definitely be testing this out.