yeah its just that while they are not completely useless, you get more value fielding something else generally, just like how it is in PP.
I think that adding a “Zone of Control” to melee weapons would be a good addition. Then, anything that comes near you or tries to walk past you or away from you would take a hit. You could probably even extend the range by an extra tile. 2 tile range isn’t unreasonable, and would give the weapon a bit more versatility. Just my thoughts on it.
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Personally I think if they weren’t so squishy, and if they could target body parts, and they had a wider, more balanced variety of melee weapons, I would use melee a LOT more.
Those three things alone would make melee so much better.
I think the mechanics of the game itself undermine melee combat, which is a shame because in a game with so few classes, not being able to make a melee class work feels wasteful.
In XCOM the Templar’s ability to relocate after landing a melee hit is invaluable. We don’t have that here unless we consider the Assault’s Dash, but then you need 50+10 (I think) skill points to get it and those points would be more useful elsewhere. But even more than the lack of a free move, cover is much more difficult to find in PP and when you move close to an enemy for a melee hit you would like to position yourself in a place that provides cover against other enemies. In XCOM almost every object that provides cover does so from all the sides of the object. For example, a car provides cover when you stand adjacent to any of its sides. In PP I have lost count of the objects that provide cover only from only 2 sides (btw those stupid rounded corners on the haven buildings are a horrible choice for a tactical game with LOS and cover mechanics). If the enemy has taken cover behind one of them, if you want to land a melee attack, you have to take the same side and unless you are able to kill them or move away afterwards, you leave yourself open to 2+ attacks from that enemy.
Then we have the AP system. In XCOM, with the exception of abilities, characters get to attack once. If one wants only to shoot, they forgo their move, so the melee character’s “move close and attack” option is not at disadvantage compared to the “stay put and shoot” option of a ranged character. On the other hand, in PP, spending AP to move means less AP to attack. And from what I saw from what little I played before I stopped, the damage of the melee weapons is not much better than that of a sniper’s or a heavy’s. To be clear, I’m not saying the AP system is bad; just that it doesn’t help classes that have to move around a lot.
AP is X-COM. What you know is Fircom and I don’t think its fair to compare this with fircom because this is X-COM baby!
Yeah, adrenaline surge should only work with melee weapons. (Just like rage fire should only work with burst weapons…)
Young gamers these days.
This grandpa still remembers UFO 2. Heavy Thermic Lance would go in the second hand of every soldier who was strong enough to carry it, for a simple reason - because it was stronger than Sonic Cannon, because it took 2.5 times less TU than to fire Sonic Cannon, because it couldn’t miss. Lobsters were like super armored crabs, except you couldn’t snipe their weak point…
Yeah, and don’t even get me started on the melee possibilities in Xpiratez. Also, melee in XCOM2 is pretty damn powerful, Bladestorm is one of the best skills in the game.
I seem to remember melee in the later UFO games (the ones with RTwP combat that only I enjoyed) were pretty powerful as well.
Melee in XCOM2 has unique roles nothing else in XCOM2 has, safer hit, cleaning a pool, counter close range, more. The price is the gambling from attracting sooner more pods, and a soldier more exposed.
One reason is that the enemies in PP are more dangerous at close range. Even with very good armor, a unit cannot resist three consecutive melee attacks from crabs.
In addition, many times long-range weapons can actually cause greater damage, and you can choose to destroy the enemy’s specific body parts, so even if you have the opportunity to approach the enemy, directly attacking with long-range weapons will be a better choice.
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Esp when you play the ninja mod! To me, the ninja was melee done right. Deadly as hell but the very moment you are careless and gets caught off guard, its almost 100% death.
I have never tried that one. I found most classes added through mods were too powerful so I’ve only used “A better barracks” which diversifies without overpowering in my opinion.
I run the Supersoldiers mod along with better advent… its just amazing.
Every time I try to add a melee guy into a squad I have to babysit him and use others to prepare “battle” for him. Even if he has a higher potential damage output at the top level, you still have to get him there and all the time he spends “getting into position” is a time spent not dealing damage. You can do a fun combination with a stealthy build but it still has all other problems, just less babysitting by other characters. Probably the most benefit he has is no need of ammunition.
Yeah, if I’m going to move a guy into the space next to an enemy, I would rather move an assault to close range and shotgun a body part. At least with fellow humans it’s an almost guaranteed kill, whereas a melee strike for the same AP and much more effort gets him down 1/2 to 2/3rds.
However, berzerkers make a great “base class” or second class for other classes. The mind control resistance and limb damage resistance make assault soldiers or heavy soldiers tough, and adrenaline rush will allow you to rip off a nice series of shots with a sniper.
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I suppose… Nothing, I wonder is there are way to delete a post? I miss click validated it before to realize what I wanted add wasn’t matching. 
I treat melee as a useful secondary attack. The stun from the hammer is helpful in capturing high HP creatures (after you get their HP down into the stunable range). Also good for delivering the coup de grace if you need to conserve ammo.