XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...

[Zevox]

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Vortex deals that damage to any unit in or entering its affect for the duration, and affects friendlies.

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Well, that last likely explains why the AI never seems to use it. If it has an area Anarion would describe as "massive," doing damage to its allies - or even itself, depending on the current terrain - would be a big concern, one the AI may be programmed to be extremely cautious about.

The damage gained by Holo Targeting is negligible (If your team goes from, say, 30 to 40% chance to hit, you only turn a profit on attack number four, and if it's going from 70 to 80, then shooting twice is pretty much always better. Unless, I suppose, you have a squad of all heavies with bullet swarm and thus have the ten attacks to make it worthwhile.) but the increase to hit is invaluable for special attacks. Making sure my Sniper's Disabling Shot, or my Assault's Flush Them Out succeeds is to my mind better than an extra wave of bullets.

But how often will that come into play? There's almost always something better to do with a Heavy than fire at something specifically for holo-targetting, and if you hit something with a Heavy's attack, you usually have little need for a Sniper's disabling shot, and not much more often for an Assault Flush. Bullet Storm meanwhile adds both damage potential and flexibility to a Heavy, since you can double-shoot or shoot then move with it.

Personally, I had one Heavy I took holo-targetting with, my very first. I got almost no use out of it, and haven't taken it with any of my heavies since.

I've been using Ghost, more for the defense bonus and increased move speed than anything. On your worries, if your sniper is Squad Sight (and he really should be), he won't be in range of the beasties anyway. Fuel is certainly an issue, Only flight I've played with is Hover SHIVs with Advanced Flight, and they get 24 units of fuel, which has been more than enough for the amount of flight I actually make use of.

Increased move speed? I wasn't aware Ghost armor gave that too. Definitely want that to stay on my move-and-shoot sniper, then.

I know squad sight makes the issue of flight exposing you to fire less of an issue, but it's still terrain-dependant. Inside UFOs, for instance, it's very hard to be outside of the range of an enemy you can see. Only the biggest rooms have that potential. Same deal with missions centered on a large building or two. On a fairly open map with mostly low cover, like most non-city abduction missions, yeah, that'd largely solve the issue, but plenty of missions don't have that luxury.

I'm not convinced of the usefulness of Bullet Swarm either, if only because Heavy weapons only have 3 shots before needing to reload.

Only before picking up ammo conservation, which is possibly the best thing you can get out of the Foundry. Plus you can fire and then reload with Bullet Swarm, if have at least one shot left and you don't need to move or fire a second time that round.

Aliens dont get squad sight so you run your assault with ghost armour right up to your opponent and have them shot from across the map.

I've been running my Assaults mostly with Titan armor, actually. Being on the front lines as they usually are, I want them with as much durability as possible. The exception is my main Assault, Chie, because she's psionic, so I gave her Psi Armor. And a nano-fiber vest, to help make up for the substantially lower hp boost that gives her compared to other high-end armor.

Just checked this and yes....yes it does.

Well now, that's surprising. And a ringing endorsement for Archangel Armor on Snipers.

Zevox