Again, it goes faster with Hera than with Athena, of course, you have to manage to hit her weak points. See above, the paralysing per AP is higher for the Hera (7 to 5.33) …
They get their mutations more ‘natural’ by infecting directly with the virus (see some of the lore). They have no need to paralyse pandorans to do something like that. They also don’t need the complicated but saver way that PP goes to use mutagens. That’s at least how I understand their lore …
It’s higher but also you need to be closer as you said yourself, so its more dangerous. With Athenas you can slow down the queen enough from afar so that when she gets close, she’s not much of a threat anymore.
Me too but I was talking about while they were developing their tech (it is described as disguised tech in the game), they surely needed to capture and study pandorans. So, it would make sense for them to have capturing weapons.
Sure, the one is slower but more save and the other a bit faster but more dangerous. That’s the deal and it sounds OK for me.
Ahh, OK, didn’t get the research point. 
But we don’t know if they maybe only research on dead examples? Is it told anywhere that they also vivisect living Pandorans?
Yup, we’re on the same page about liking the Hera and Athena as they are.
I don’t know if the game or books lore mentions vivisections from Anu but it would make sense for them to study the behaviour and details of the things they’re trying to mimic, right? Of course they could just try it and study the poor subjects, but anyways, I think there’s space for another type of capturing weapon and Anu could be a good thematical fit.
How many times you reload the Hera? That is just OP IMO&E Your Snipers getting 4 shots with the Hera each. Then maybe a 5th or 6th with QA? 3 Snipers x7 paralysis x 6 Pretty sick numbers, which would make the Paralysis rifle all but useless, or at least unneeded
It has 8 bullets per magazine, so yes, reload has to take into account. But easiest way to do it for free is to put a magazine in one of the ready slots, this way you have a reload without AP cost. Or put an Assault on her side that can do free reloads for him with Ready for Action.
No, not at all, the Athena still has better piercing and accuracy so that you don’t have to move much to get shots on enemies.
Alone from the numbers the Neuralizer is still the best paralysing weapon (beside the Aspida), it deals 8 per attack for 1 AP, so 32 for 4 AP and used by a Sniper can also do it for 0 AP. But it is even more dangerous because you have to go in melee range.
IMO all of these paralysing weapons are somewhat balanced.
I did that last night, and was awed how fast a team of 4 Pistoleers took down Anu Melee & Pure Soldiers! 
Even those not trained with the Hera, came in handy. Sucker the enemy close. One step and zap-zapzapzap. Step back. 
Overpowered, or Unbalanced? Would be if it were an MMO. 
Something that makes capturing any powerful creature (applies for Scylla, but also Sirens and Chirons) much easier is to make them panic using viral rifles. Just 2 shots of that weapon should make even a Scylla loose all of its willpoints before it has a chance to harm any of your soldiers. Strange by the way how much easier it is to make a creature panic than to paralyze it, while the result is almost the same
Agree 100% on that