Talk:Displacer /P. W. T.

This weapon system is so expensive to operate, I can only think the ammo stats are a design error. Because of the large amount of exotic materials per round of ammo - 5 Zrbite and 8 Aqua Plastics worth $77,000 - the ammo cost per shot is about $106,000 including Technician costs and overheads. The ammo is far more expensive than the personal Disruptor Pulse Launcher or the craft PWT, even though both of those weapons are more powerful than the SWS PWT. Emptying the magazine on this SWS will not leave you much change from One Million Dollars - enough to make even Dr Evil think twice!

Even the high monetary cost may not reflect the true cost of diverting all that Zrbite - 40 Zrbite for a magazine-load is more than the average yield recovered per mission (unless every mission is a perfect USO Assault).

So unless your bank balance and Zrbite stores are overflowing, do not use this SWS. Its ammo is the least profitable / most costly use of Technician time in the entire game.

You might make an exception for a really critical underwater mission where item space is scarce. The only real advantage this platform has over the Disruptor Pulse Launcher is that it packs a launcher and 8 rounds into just one "item" of the 80-item limit. Even then, it costs you 4 Aquanaut slots, and (unlike the DPL) there is no opportunity to scavenge rounds from the enemy, or even reload at all during the mission from carried reloads.

In my opinion, the ammo stats of this weapon are a design mistake. The ammo stats given for SWS PWT should really be instead swapped with those for the craft PWT (for realism) or even (for game balance) the personal DPL. At the very least, like the Gauss Cannon, the (much cheaper) craft ammo should be used and shared with the SWS platforms. Spike 06:44, 3 October 2008 (CDT)

They are amazingly expensive to maintain for so little return. What makes the PWT Displacer worse is that they can't fire their weapons out of water, so they won't be much good on a base defence mission. Of course, keep them alive and get the ammo at the end of the mission. Their ability to fly out of water can keep them useful as scouts - but that's nothing the Sonic Displacer cannot already do. It is a bit of a disappointment and I find even its UFO counterpart sees more use in combat.

But I guess you are paying for the convenience like buying a soda from a vending machine - they tend to be much more expensive than if you were to buy the same product from a shop. If you've played long enough and have amassed a stockpile of Zrbite, then wasting Zrbite on this vehicle is an option. -NKF 13:47, 3 October 2008 (CDT)

On a similar note, the Coelacanth/Gauss is nearly as bad. Due to it not having ammo handling, it costs X-Com $10000 and 250 Technician hours(and given the 1-item-per-hour limit, a minimum of 50 hours of game time) to put the darn thing on the Triton, and that's drawn out every mission it goes on; that's a LOT of money thrown away. Arrow Quivershaft 21:58, 3 October 2008 (CDT)