As the title says. Sadly there is no description in the encyclopedia.
EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse. In all video game cases of it’s use, it damages only electronic components. So if used on a robot for example, then it would cause massive damage vs if used against an organic target where there be next to no damage at all.
If used on a target that contains both organic and electronic components, then only the electronic components would be affected.
I know all this. But what does it actually do in the game? Does it 60 damage only to people with robotic augments and vehicles? Is the damage unmodified by armor?
Try throwing an EMP grenade at one of The Pure. It shuts all there functions down, including limbs etc. They’re very effective if there’s a hoard of them close to you.
I experimented with the Zeus EMP grenades back when the Blood and Titanium DLC first came out, and have just experimented with them again to double check what exactly they do.
When EMP grenades are used on the Pure cyborgs, New Jericho cyborgs, Synedrion cyborgs, your own cyborgs, Technician turrets or vehicles, the EMP field damages all exposed bionic limbs, turrets and vehicle parts up to the EMP rating of the grenade minus armor, and disables their use for one turn.
The Zeus EMP grenade has an EMP rating of 60, so against say a bionic limb like an NJ propeller leg with armour 20, the EMP grenade will do 40 damage to that body part.
EMP effected bionic limbs, turrets and vehicle parts will also be disabled for one turn, removing all attacks, abilities and stat bonuses associated with them for one turn as if they were temporarily crippled.
Disabling bionic torsos and heads on enemies can cause them to lose will points as well.
However, if you are fighting Pure that already have shields up and you throw an EMP grenade at them, the shields will still be active, but it can still disable their Juggernaut arms and torsos.
So if they retract their shields at the beginning of their next turn, they won’t be able to activate their shields again for one turn, or shoot back for one turn.
If you throw an EMP grenade at a cyborg and disable just one of it’s bionic arms, it will prevent that cyborg from using two-handed weapons in its next turn. If you throw an EMP grenade at a cyborg and manage to disable both its left and right bionic arms, it will also prevent that cyborg from using one-handed weapons and equipment as well, such as pistols, hand grenades, medkits or repair kits.
If you throw an EMP grenade at a vulnerable enemy, you can click on them afterwards and select that enemy’s Info page to see which bionic limbs and parts the EMP grenade has disabled, they will have stop signs displayed on them.
Fully organic units are not effected by EMP grenades at all.
Throwing multiple EMP grenades at a vulnerable single target within the same turn does not seem to cause the disabling effect to last longer than one turn, but throw enough EMP grenades at a vulnerable target and it can still do enough damage to permanently cripple its bionic limbs or parts, or eliminate the target.
So, overall, EMP grenades are best used to temporarily disable enemy vehicle turrets, technician turrets and the left and right bionic arms of cyborgs, so they can’t shoot at you in their next turn.
I did also discover what seems to be a bug, the Infiltrator spider drones were not effected by EMP grenades when I tested EMP grenades on them. I will F12 this soon.
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That’s a very nice explanation, thank you! Would you mind if I quote your post in the next edition of the Comprehensive Guide A comprehensive guide for playing Phoenix Point (or an attempt at one), when dealing with special weapons/damage?
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Of course you can quote it if you want. I’ve just edited my post to add some more details and improve the syntax a bit.