I believe that since the recent balancing of the Pandoran units with their evolution, most of the units are easy to disable or kill. But the big ones i.e. Chirons and Scyllas have been given better defensive capabilities. The virus sniper rife isn’t much use because it requires 3 MPs, but a burst or two from a Redeemer (virus rife) burst of (3 x 5 virus per burst) or from a shotgun from a soldier with the Biochemist is very effective at panicking them. Virus degenerates at 1 point per turn. The new Pandorans seem very effective at using them.
But like anything this powerful, how you get to deliver it is the challenge. The viral weapons can be overlooked as being effective. But as you have suggested, it’s all down to playing styles.
I would suggest that they are not an early game weapon to have access to, but I may have misunderstood you.
Yes, I was talking about early-mid game, when you only have access to the virus AR and not the Sniper. I meant OC’ing smaller enemies. For Chirons and Scyllas its okay.
My experience nursing a lvl 1 priest to 4/5 was terrible, he couldn’t get to the enemies in time, couldn’t be close enough to hit with virus, and when the stars collided and he was close enough, he did not have enough WP to MC anything as pandorans already evolved to have a lot of it. So by the time I got to use virus on an enemy and MC it, the squad had already finished or almost finished the whole enemy force, and I could just as well kill it instead of MC’ing. After lvl 4/5 he got a bit better in stats (still using the virus AR), but by then the enemies had so much WP (28 for HA arthrons usually) that it was still a big challenge and killing was just easier. Enemies that have less WP are usually just weak enough that it’s not worth it. Do I kill it with 1 shot or do I use a lot of AP and WP to MC it when it’s not even strong enough to really help?
It’s a different thing against larger and stronger targets, I completely agree. You can shoot them for panic and reliably hit, even with the AR. That’s when these weapons become reliable.
Indeed, and that’s really cool because it’s a nice demonstration for the player, who can then consider trying them if he didn’t before.
Actually this was exactly the conclusion I got from my experience, so we were talking more or less about the same thing but misunderstood each other.
I only wish priests could start with more accurate equipment, have an alternative one to the viral rifle, or be more effective with MC (as they were previously). As it currently is, lvl 1-4 priests have very little value in the battlefield as you only get them when pandorans have already advanced. The first ones you get may still face weaker pandorans and be useful, but later on new priest-only recruits are just terrible until they reach lvl 4/5.
edit: I’m referring to base-recruited soldiers for food, which come with very low stats. Anu priests are a bit better, specially if you can give them the screamer head and/or use a bunch of them as @Chronobomb said.
This time round I went with 4 heavy/snipers, 3 assault/priests (2 will point renew, 1 frenzy), and either a 5th heavy/sniper or a tech/assassin (yeah I got stuck with that one but the LOA crossbow is better than that stupid PDW).
When fighting Pandorans I go with a stunning sniper rifle (sniper heavies) or the regular stun gun and capture most if not all of the Pandorans on the field - this has really helped my trading position as one can usually get 1,200 food from a battle.
Never saw any use for Berserkers - getting up close and personal is a quick way to get the team killed.