Grenade Relay

The Grenade Relay is a tactic that allows a front line soldier to avoid having to spend a lot of time preparing a grenade.

Instead, a rearward soldier primes the grenade and then throws it forward to the scout, who then only needs to spend enough Time Units to pick up the grenade and throw it again. This results in that unit having more time units to spare to do other tasks such as seeking cover, or attacking a different enemy.

Although the grenade is live, the unique grenade timing mechanism allows this maneuver to be pulled off as the grenade will not explode except when changing turns. In real life, this strategy would be quite impossible unless done with a grenade with a long fuse and impeccable timing and dexterity on the part of the participants in the relay.

Advantages

The priming and throwing action alone costs 75% of your total TUs in addition to the inventory movement costs. This will often mean the death of a front line soldier where keeping a high Reactions level by way of high Time Units is paramount for avoiding reaction shots. With less than 25% of your remaining TUs, you don't have very main options available to you.

By being passed a previously primed grenade, you will only need to pay the 25% total TUs for the throw and the 8 TUs for picking up the grenade. With more time units available, you will have more actions available to you, such as running for cover or firing on another enemy.

Disadvantages

The whole purpose of this strategy is to improve the efficiency of the scout's TU conservation, but it comes at the cost of a large amount of overall TUs spent over a greater number of troops.

Though this may seem to be a big disadvantage, it's all about managing and minimizing risk. The one with the greatest risk is the unit on the front line as the enemy will spot them first. The ones with the least risk are those that are behind the front line. This means the ones at the back can afford to spend more TUs on supporting tasks, while those on the front line cannot.

General Warnings

Extra soldier time should be reserved for moving to a mis-throw and, if possible, leaving enough time for reaction fire. Note this tactic is much more risky when using primed Proximity Grenades - the accuracy has to be perfect as a mis-throw can only be recovered by a vertical insertion with a flying suit - and are not recommended for use with the relay technique. If you must relay a Proximity Grenade, only arm it at the last step in the relay possible, usually the second to last, and if possible to a scout in cover so if the throw misses he isn't stuck motionless in the alien snipers sights.

Pay attention when performing this manoeuvre, throwing a primed grenade to a soldier who then leaves it on the floor and throws an unprimed grenade taken from his belt at the enemy is slightly less useful in its effects.

Also be very careful about throwing a live grenade to a soldier standing on a pile of similar and unprimed grenades. Nothing more frightening than to have to hunt through a pile of identical grenades for the live grenade, only to run out of TUs.

Execution

The grenade relay is best thought of in the same manner as a baton relay race where runners pass a baton to another until the last runner crosses the finish line with it. In the grenade relay, a live grenade is passed between soldiers from one soldier to another until it reaches its destination.

Example

The scout in the upper middle portion of the map has spotted an alien next to the downed Abductor. The scout's not a crack shot with a pistol, but is strong enough to throw a grenade clear across the map. Even though the alien is looking the other way, the scout's already spent too many time units and can only prime a grenade or throw it, but not perform both actions.

The only other person in the field with a grenade happens to be the soldier that was edging along the South Eastern corner of the map. The far side of the grenade's intended destination. This soldier is not strong, so cannot throw the grenade to the scout from here. To add to the soldier's troubles, the Skyranger's in the way.

However there is a chain of soldiers within throwing distance of each other nearby. The soldier with the grenade arms the grenade and throws it to the nearest soldier. This soldier picks up the grenade and tosses it to the next nearest soldier. This repeats a few more times until it reaches the scout who is then able to pick it up and throw it to its intended destination.

In this example, if the third soldier in the chain was strong enough, the grenade could have been passed directly to the scout. It has been passed to the fourth soldier simply as an exercise to prolong the example! Also note that the grenade need not be armed by the first soldier in the chain, but it should be armed before it reaches the last unit in the chain.

Relaying other Equipment

Note that this strategy is not necessarily limited for the use of grenades. It can also be used to rapidly transfer weapons, ammunition, medikits, or other objects such as flares from one end of the map to the other.