So I’ve been reading the manual, and a lot of the online stuff.
I’just not sure how cover works
Maybe I get how it helps with being shot etc ?
But how does it help with explosives / Fire / acid etc (If at all)
I’m reading about mortab bad aliens (lol) and needing to get into cover…
Does that mean standing behind a lamppost or a nuclear fallout bunker ??
Thats as always
Neil
Cover works basically the same way as in real life.
You don’t have to be next to it to have any effect. If you have an object between you and the enemy, you’re good.
Now, you will see little icons when going next to cover, they don’t mean the same as in XCOM games. They just indicate stances that your soldier will take when behind the cover (crouched behind a fence or closer to the wall).
I do think that cover blocks grenade explosions (as it should).
However, psychic attacks ignore cover. So being behind a 5m thick wall, you are still subject to a Siren shouting on the other side of it.
Regarding the “mortar aliens” (a mutation of the Chiron), they are nasty and you really want to avoid alerting them in the first place. If you do alert them, you want to find a nice place under a roof ideally. Otherwise, being next to a high wall might save you a bit of damage.
Cover does block explosions - but it’s only really going to be noticable if you’re the other side of something large, like a wall.
Because of the way damage from explosives is applied, you only need to have one part of your body exposed to the blast radius and it counts as a hit.
Wow thanks for ultra quick reply
Much appreciated
So I get (expect actually) psyonics to not care about cover. Makes perfect sense really
But the people seem to be complaining (LOTS) about artillery type Crabs. That fire from 1/2 way across the board.
Do I need to be BEHIND the cover, Or should the cover be several layers of roof tops to absorb the imapct etc. in other words UNDER the cover
I have a scarab that arcs in rockets. Hits the top of the building but the building then seems to fall On the bad aliens below (good thing IMO). How am I best setup to defend against that till I get close enough to shoot the buggers myself 
And going to your X-Com style - Full Cover vs 1/2 Cover things. (Appreciate the difference now.
It is better not to bother and just stand with something inbetween ‘‘me’" and “them”’
There are 3 varieties of Chiron:
You like when the scarab destroys a roof ? You won’t like the Chirons doing it. Even less if there are 2 and the second has now a big hole in the roof to shoot you through.
As many layers of roof is the best cover. Being behind a building is the next best one.
Some maps don’t have this, so either evac, or kill it before it’s allowed to shoot.
Again with the amazingly quick replies… You guys should stop that, or you’ll get a reputation for doing that sort of thing all the time lol 
Actually no, keep on doing it
Thank you very much that really does explain a little bit more.
I have been reading quite a bit about this so-called difficulty spike"! I’m not so sure that it’s a real thing or just people not being familiar enough with the system yet to manage to beat it. And it seemed to come down a lot of the time to these aliens that had artillery like features. Basically the ones you’ve described above. !
I wanted to know how cover worked before I encounter them rather than after
and for that I thank you
Another question completely unrelated is do the developers read this forum ?
I do hope they do
I have been playing military history and computer wargames since 1980 (yes I am that old !!) And some of the ones that I play are incredibly difficult with rulebooks that take up volumes not pages (advanced squad leader military history board game being the primary one)
I just have to say how well done this game seems to be
I only found it two days ago, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the work that’s gone into it. I’m fully aware that it is still a work in progress. But hey that goes with 90% of the computer games that are released these days as they have to come out to start making money.
Which after all is the whole point of them ----- make money entertain the players
So a very big kudos to all of the developers and all of the people who put their input into this play testers and the backers. Because I think in a very short order this is going to be one really enjoyable game to play.
Because it already is
Well done to everyone
thank you for your replies
Cover in PP feels a bit bad… destruction model is extremely simplified, with particles usually not having any weight, and therefore flying up unrealistically. At the same time, walls break in very big pieces which again looks unrealistic and bad. There is no feel how tough certain materials should be, and all feel the same.
Personally, i would rather see damage model that would not break the models to pieces, but instead just apply “damage” textures over them… its quite immersion breaking when single shot from sniper rifle takes down entire wall, or breaks some metal-looking equipment in few large parts…
You shoot with the sniper rifle with an infiltrator and remove a large block of concrete from the map. Lots of things are really too easy to destroy, and when they get destroyed it’s really unrealistic.
Used to love creating rubble in ASL, that always felt good.
So do I (ASL Rubble that is) - Still do
It’s not too late to do more VASL and skype just saying
Hadn’t thought of that, but alas, my ASL days are done.
Pity Still the best game ever made
Wall is meaning a lot of things, and many walls that are thin will blow up anyway and the soldier behind will still get damages even if before the cover blow up there was no part exposed to radius. This is also how it works with cannon.
With bullets it’s a bit different, glasses weirdly break but stop the bullet fully. But I don’t know for thin walls, I have the feeling it’s like in XCOM the bullet can go through and do damages behind, but I’m not sure in PP when Im’ sure in XCOM.
Funny that you say that, because yesterday I shot with Cyclops SR through 2 glass windows on Synedrion map and still hurt the Pandoran behind.
But it doesn’t always work as well, I remember having lots of times when the glass would just stop the bullet. Maybe it’s new following the latest patch.
Mmm there’s a new last patch? Because if it’s the recent last patch with nerfs, I thought have tried once more a shoot through glass to quote it pointless.
I shoot through glass pretty frequently and yes, you can hit and damage enemies behind it with most weapons.
With burst weapons obviously it can work, first bullet break the glass, I don’t remind it was that efficient, that is only one bullet lost because of glass. With shotgun it depends a lot on how glass breaking is working, I don’t remind. With Pistol and SR I don’t think it works. With grenades and cannon it works.
I can`t find the spawnery either.
Look for a square hole. But if you are as lucky as I am, it is usually at the furthermost section of the map. Not to mention hidden behind the maze and tons of respawning enemies.
Found it, it was in a corner of the map. Realized very late, that enemies respawn. Thought, that I had missed some.