First time encountered I had not read the “research” on it and thougth “THIS IS NOT FAIR!! THEY COME FROM THE GROUND WITHOUT WARNING!!!”
That was my bad.
But now one of the Purple Bastards just ran through 6 Overwatch-zones with not a single shot triggered!
Do you really think that is fair?
I think they did not trigger my sniper too once… maybe a new bug…
Probably they have the bionic legs that protect them from triggering overwatch (the thin synedrion ones).
Edit: forget it, I read stupid … Pure instead Purple …
Can arthrons have bionic parts? I didn’t know that…
Nope, sorry, I read Pure not Purple, my mistake … 
I love the smell of napalm in the morning… the Dante flamer applied to the spawn point is a problem-solver.
Throw another Umbra on the barbie mate! 
Just got my first umbra on the ground, but it fell right beside a NJ sniper that was already hurt by it and I felt bad for the sniper… So I didn’t throw a flame grenade and saved the sniper. The umbra bastard went instead for my heavy, surviving overwatches of a full NJ AR burst, then a NJ sniper shot, and a laser pistol shot from my sniper with double damage. Event then it still had about half its life and was able to land 2 melee hits.
Nothing a close-up MG couldn’t solve, though
Here in my world they now seem to consistently ignore Overwatch!!!
Just happened 2 more turns in a row. On both turns ignoring 2 or more Overwatches set up to catch it.
That is terrible, when the “second” Umbra is spawned close to your troops!
Please confirm it is at bug! And please fix it!!!
It takes 50 stun, but I did it! This stops them, but they don’t get captured. Now I try to stun the original, which does work normally.
Gives a Starcraft feeling 
Burn those ZERGS … erhm, Pandorans mutated!
Awesome advice. Except in my current game, I don’t have the flame tech. And either does New Jericho. But I’m dealing with umbral enemies. 
Blowing them up before they die seems to prevent them from appearing from the ground the next turn.
I am pretty sure I just had an Umbra spawn another Umbra. Is this possible? Is the spawning mechanism a RNG for whatever type of Arthron is killed?
A “normal colored” Umbra spawns a Purple Umbra/Gas Ghost.
They are named Umbra from the get go, before you kill it the first time.
Did a Purple/Ghost spawn another one… ???
I absolutely hate them.
My entire battle tactic is determined on them.
They are a ticking time bomb that CANNOT get near you.
They need to be seriously nerfed.
Yeah, I found it really strong for a “shadow”. It should be weaker than the original, but it appeared to be stronger.
Also, I got the mutation in february without ever going into an ancient site. That’s OK, but it should come later if it’s stronger / late-game content.
Yes, I agree with this.
They need to be toned down some.
Except maybe not in a Legend game lol
So I’m playing the Year One Edition now. The last time I played was at the start of the year, a month after the original release. The game is in a much, much better state than before and I’ve been greatly enjoying my time with it!
Until this evening. Umbral pandorans make the game’s fun factor tank to the point of making me want to stop. It’s not that they can’t be countered, there are ways. It’s that you have to play so differently to do so. It’s that you will be punished in a devastating manner for so much as failing to consider them when you kill an arthron that happens to have the easily missed umbra suffix. You WILL lose soldiers in the most unfair ways possible over them, and they WILL invalidate entire playstyles.
Please, Snapshot Games, if you are reading this, nerf them into the absolute ground or better yet remove them entirely. They’re so infuriating I don’t even want to play your game anymore even though an hour ago playing your game was all I wanted. Make it an options menu option for all I care. Or only enable them in legendary mode, for the people who want the experience of being forced to adapt at every turn or die.
Sincerely,
An avid fan who ran into three umbral arthrons during a claustrophobic nest mission.
I understand the issues that you have. I recognise that I suffer from Umbra anxiety! I started a new game because of the new release and was continuously concerned about killing Arthrons with one quick shot and then thinking this seems too easy with a feeling of concern! But the evolution to when they are appearing is not very early and players can have very powerful squads of soldiers towards the end of the game. So I think that they nicely balance out the rush and killing sprees that takes place. If you’re going to kill one you might just think again!
Plan B is always to stun the Arthron instead of killing it. It’s a much more efficient way of disabling them before they turn into something nasty and then it’s “hey free food” afterwards.
I seem to remember similar cries of anguish when players first encountered Chryssalids in XCOM. But people eventually learned how to deal with them.
TBH, I think PP is seriously lacking scary enemies atmo - the Siren is easily dealable with, and the Scylla is so stupid that she is more a moving target than an actual threat. Yes, the Umbra does force you to change your play style, and that’s the point. As the enemy evolves, you have to evolve your tactics to deal with them.
That said: I am all for nerfing (or even disabling) the Umbra on Easy and/or Veteran mode. But from what I’m reading from experienced Legendary players, Legendary is still too easy.
I wouldn’t know - I find Legendary very boring, so I play on Heroic.