Is reaction of panicked alien always shooting your psi?

Question

Every time I've successfully used panic psi attack on an alien, the alien shot back at my psi-soldier, and landed a successful hit every time.

I'm not sure if I'm just unlucky, or if it's the way the game mechanic works?

Your soldiers panic > they shoot your soldiers. Alien soldiers panic > they shoot your soldiers. Seems fair

spartacus · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-01 10:49:00Z

up vote 3 down vote accepted

No.

You are just unlucky.

I've seen panicked aliens hunker down and also seen them shoot each other.

I've also ran into a nasty glitch where a panicked berserker caused the alien turn to never end, so be careful with that one.

answered Nov 1 '12 at 10:49

spartacus
41k22157274

	Part of the problem is that you notice the times when panic results in shooting the psi far more vividly than the times when they hunker, cower or run. – Shadur Nov 1 '12 at 13:01
	@Shadur There's that, and it could also simply be because your soldier is the only visible thing in range to the alien. – spartacus Nov 1 '12 at 13:02
	@Shadur: I think I've used panic something like 10-12 times, being succesful 6 or 7 times, each time resulting in same thing. That's why it made me wonder. – vartec Nov 1 '12 at 13:32
	@vartec try panicking an alien that's near the back the pack instead? Maybe the chance is higher they'll shoot your guy when your guy is the only one visible to them. If there's a nearby alien in front of a panicked alien they might just shoot the panicked alien in the back. – spartacus Nov 1 '12 at 13:41
	@spartacus: right, might try that. Usually I was panicking the closest one in order to capture it. – vartec Nov 1 '12 at 14:04

TheShiftExchange · Answer 2 · 2012-11-01 10:50:29Z

up vote 2 down vote

Panic results in a random action. So far I have seen my soldiers:

Hunker down
Run to another location
Shot a RANDOM target (including both MY soldiers, and OTHER aliens). These RANDOM shots appear to have the normal aim - i.e. once a panicked solider was right next to an alien - he killed him. Other times they miss.

It becomes very apparent in impossible difficulty when your soldiers panic at the slightest noise :)

This same actions apply to aliens

edited Nov 1 '12 at 10:50

answered Oct 31 '12 at 23:58

TheShiftExchange
1,571415

	well, ok, but I'm not asking about soldiers, but aliens. I mean, when you use panic (tier 2 psionic skill) on an alien succesfully. – vartec Nov 1 '12 at 9:56
	@vartec they definitely don't always shoot the psionic that panicked them. – kotekzot Nov 1 '12 at 10:40
	"panic" is a buff. Buffs have the same effect - regardless of who has/uses them. so what a solider does is what an alien does with the same buff – TheShiftExchange Nov 1 '12 at 10:49

2 Answers