Right now, shooting and disabling head doesnt deal as much damage as disabling torso which is kinda strange… head should be a lot more critical than that. Of course, to prevent head being instantly disabled, head protection should go up a lot… after all, usually helmets are covering entire head and are made from solid material, where body armor is a compromise with solid plates and flexible materials for mobility. Therefore helmet could have highest armor of all parts (let say 30 instead of 20 for FP Assault helmet)
1 Like
No Head shot is too basic, it’s boredom shooting tactic. Thanks the design had the guts to ignore the cliché that just damage gameplay.
Headshots not working against Crabbies & other Pandas I can live with - they are basically mutated zombies being run by a viral organism, so normal anatomical rules no longer apply.
Headshots against humans has always felt weird - though Zzzz does have a point that the current targeting system would make knocking out your opponent with a headshot far too OP.
I think there’s a middle ground. As well as reducing Will, taking the head down to 0 should automatically Daze a human opponent. That way, targeting the head has a ‘knockout’ potential that doesn’t insta-kill, but does at least represent the fact that when a human being gets shot in the head, it’s more than ‘just a flesh wound’.
JJ is right though, if that happens helmet armour should be significantly increased. Throughout history, the most powerful and sophisticated armour on most soldiers has been the helmet. Even during the WWs when armour was effectively useless, troops were routinely issued with helmets and there’s a reason for that. 
4 Likes
I doubt a lot any helm can protect a sniper head shot, should at least break a neck.
Daze one turn for humans should be fair, that said I had a recent Haven defense with a Triton sniper that disarmed a sniper, weapon destroyed, and disarmed an Armadillo with turret destroyed, lol. I wouldn’t be much fan of them stunning regularly soldiers.
1 Like
+1 to the OP.
Headshots to both Pandorans and Humans should be the optimal area to target - at the very least they should be heavily disabling.
It’s for the Pandorans to then evolve against that, and it’s for Humans to develop better protection as the game progresses, but certainly at the start of the game headshots should = kills.
It’s not a cliche, it’s just common sense. - If you get shot in the face, you’re most likely dead, and if you’re not, then certainly you’re no longer combat effective.
1 Like
I expect not see you complain on any op tool as you request new are added, sigh.
EDIT: And for realism, I’m bored to argue against that, again give me a similar game realist according your opinion I 'll destroy your illusion quite easily. Already did it with original XCOM.
Then the expectation that you have held there is an incorrect one. 
You on the other hand, have not let my exceptions down at all with the tone of your response.
Please continue in the belief that you would.
Very easy, magical item teleport, economy from empty air, soldiers slaves nope robots not eating, you really want more?
Sure go on for text explanation:
“I expect not see you complain on any op tool as you request new are added, sigh.”
I’m curious to read that.
1 Like
If headshot will kill, I’d nerf the SR damage, it’s already 4x the AR’s damage.
And can someone explain why pistol bullets do 2x more damage than AR’s ?
Oh, and for realism, bullets should do less damage if the target is behind effective range ?
1 Like
Bullet reaches maximum velocity at the muzzle exit and will drop down to accelerate…it depends on length of the barrel, energy in the cartridge and mass of the bullet *cmiiw.
1 Like
Maps have less than 70 meters in one dimension. What damage loss you expect on such range if you want so much realism?
And please end the headshot topic - that would break the balance of the game even more. I could agree that disabling head could give more disadvantages to the unit affected like decreased accuracy, less perception, or maybe not active some abilities, but don’t do anything more than that like additional damage or even instant kill.
1 Like
Yes, because when your brain has just exploded through your face it does tend to make you lose some will a little bit
2 Likes
Actually, I dont think it would make game easier… Because increased damage would be countered by increased head armor… And for Aliens, they could just get more head HP, so would be a bit more resistant even against sniper rifles… But when game has different hitzones and aiming system as Phoenix Point has, its kinda strange it doesnt properly model such a basic thing as critical hits to the head…
2 Likes
You want headshot - no more free aim. You can only aim at the middle of the body, and can pray that spray will hit head. Or you can go “Valkyria Chronicles” way, and make shooting at anything other then head completely ineffective.
Adding more armor to head then anywhere else would be just… silly. That said, so is the constant aim at the limbs.
It’s obviously a bit of a touchy subject but conceptually I certainly like the idea of the head shot doing something more then it does now to human opponents with normal heads anyhow.
The engagement ranges in PP are too short for the difference between the weapons maximum effective ranges and their absolute maximum effective ranges to be worth modeling. Would -5 points of damage really be a big deal.
Not to Pandorans. The head is vestigial (even if it remains the main repository of Will). Don’t make the mistake of applying anthropomorphic anatomical principles to something that is basically a hive organism running an infected host body.
I agree that making it instakill would completely ruin the balance, and make free aim much too powerful. But you have to admit that seeing a human get hit in the head and shake it off is just immersion-breakingly silly! I raised that point in BB1.
Which is why I’m suggesting that disabling a human head should at least Daze the target for a turn - something which acknowledges that being shot in the head does more than give you a slight headache.
No it wouldn’t. It’s been standard military practice since the Hoplites & the Romans (single greave to otherwise bare shield leg, dangly balls-protector, chest protection varies from bronze cuirass to laminated armour to simple circular heart-protector, helmet is always the thickest and most sophisticated piece of kit). Even in the days of full plate, the helmet - and the route across the shoulders to the head - was the most heavily-armoured body part. And when gunpowder made armour obsolete, soldiers were still given head protection of various sorts. So the human head has always been more heavily armoured than anywhere else, for obvious reasons.
Similarly in nature, most creatures have much thicker skulls than any other part of the skeleton, to protect the brain cavity. Ever since the Dinosaurs, skullcaps have been several times thicker than body plating, even on armoured creatures.
So adding more armour to the head than anywhere else is actually both natural and historically accurate. Still won’t stop us from shooting off the limbs first, though
2 Likes
Pandoran brains its in their butt, made their butt more attracting player to shot 
. I like the suggestion for human race should gives some Daze or Panic or any other reasonable effect for a turn once the head being disabled.
Players will start complain when Triton snipers just daze or panic soldiers from nowhere.
I would be tempted to say that helms could protect against it, but that it happens only to snipers or infiltrators discovered won’t help.
Currently for soldiers when head is disabled it’s -5 WP at Easy, in my opinion the problem is double, head is a much easier target and if it could be fixed with aliens, not with human. The player has no tool against head shot.