From my first two EXALT missions, it seems that EXALT agents cannot be stunned, and that EXALT weapons do not give weapon fragments and are not especially useful. So, is there any reason for me not to carpet bomb their squads with grenades and rockets? ;-)

  • They occasionally carry alien grenades that do yield fragments. – kotekzot Nov 17 '13 at 13:03

Yes there is.

Each EXALT operative that is killed by explosives will not give its weapons, just like the aliens. The "basic" EXALT weapons don't worth much, only 1 credit each, but since there are a lot of exalt, and heavy exalt will give two weapons (LMG and a Rocket launcher) you can rack up 1-2 dozens credits for each starting mission.

Later on, EXALT start to bring laser weapons, Assault rifles, LMG and sniper rifles. If you don't have laser weapons yet, those are as good as your weapons, also they sell for more credits (2-3) each, so the payout is bigger. But most importantly, at this stage they start to bring alien grenades (the EXALT Elite Operative and EXALT Elite Heavy) which transform to weapon fragments on death (if not used) so one exalt mission with many EXALT operatives can bring as much wf as an alien mission. I remember getting around 25 wf from 1 mission.

Conclusion: Just like the aliens, if EXALT are killed with explosives you lose resources, wf and credits.

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    OTOH better to carpet-bomb them and lose a little profit than get overwhelmed, lose operatives, get them wounded etc. So, explosives to dominate the field, and then harvest whatever remains by hand. – SF. Nov 18 '13 at 9:36
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    @SF., I find the exalt to be easy target practice, and I'm lacking on wf, so for me it's better to hammer them with my MECs. This is a choice that each can make, but you should be aware of the consequences. – SIMEL Nov 18 '13 at 9:56
  • Another thing, since EXALT weapons are as good as Laser weapons, and they don't cost any money, you can hold a stockpile of them to arm all the troops that don't go on missions so that when your base is attacked you'll have more troops with laser weapons and not "normal bullet" guns. – SIMEL Nov 19 '13 at 18:46

Not really.

Given the numbers that EXALT fields, explosives tend towards mandatory for your covert operations.

Give 'm hell, Commander.

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Be smart about it. You know how much life a given soldier has, and you know how much damage the explosive does. In any given round, use your explosives first, then finish them off with firepower. The penalty for explosives only comes into play if they die from it.

Three Exalt in a blast area behind cover with full health becomes three exalt that can be killed in one shot with no cover that you can recover items from.

Also, you will sometimes get a council mission asking for multiples of an exalt weapon at a reward much higher than 1 credit per item, so don't sell them immediately unless you absolutely need the money. (Besides, Exalt can sabotage your credits, but not items stored, giving a reason to keep salable items as items until you need the money to build something.

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