Ok I thought I understood but clearly I don’t - when is the willpower subtracted from the affected character? If it’s truly at the start of the turn couldn’t you theoretically perma-panic somoene if you stacked virus high enough? (i.e. drain all their will at the start of turn). I might have looked at my info wrong but it didn’t look like the will was subtracted at start of turn (I had a virus 6 soldier, and his willpower was 5 when it came to his turn; I don’t think I killed anything or got any bonus will from items/scouts).
The Virus damage mechanic is a bit weird atm (and probably broken). Either way, as is, it’s not very useful.
I’ve had instances where it does permanently panic a soldier (for several turns) and others where I’ve had virus on an enemy and they were fine. It’s too slow though, and too hard to generate enough to be useful.
I too had an enemy soldier, with 5 WP and put 6 virus on them. Their turn came up, still had actions a plenty. Not sure what the deal is, but it would be better if it was just a one time, instant WP reduction
virus description in the phoenixpedia is wrong as it triggers at the end of a units turn…meaning that you can’t apply it like a CC ability to control the enemies next turn. as its “effect” (aka the panic of hitting 0 WP by enemy action, if you placed enough viral) triggers on the second enemy turn
overall though, like acid its too slow to act for the high speed of combat in this game, you will rarely spend actions on an enemy and keep them alive for 2 turns. enemies tend to be either killed or permanently disabled.
Acid grenades are okay vs big armoured enemies. They do enough armour damage to strip most of it the turn after you’ve thrown it (and can do it from relative safety) That’s about it though, from my field tests. It still doesn’t seem to do damage to health though
The only time I felt the need for Acid grenades was when capturing a Scylla. I had to blow through some armor before the Neuralyzer or w/e it’s called would start to stun. Other than that, the Virus, Poison and Acid damage types seem largely useless considering how fast-paced combat is in this game. They could totally work in FiraXCOM or even the originals, but not in PP. The only weapons I end up using at the end are the ones with armor pen.