Popper (Apocalypse)
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Another extremely dangerous unit. If allowed to run to your units, it pulls a suicide attack on your troops and blows up, often taking a good chunk of their health with him. This would probably be the third most dangerous unit, after the Megaspawn and the Psimorph. These things show up kind of early on, and tend to run straight at your troops, REALLY FAST!! Take them out fast. Poppers leave a cloud of smoke where they run, so once that Popper is gone there could be another charging up undetected behind it. The good news is that healthy agents have a good chance of surviving a direct hit from a popper.
In RT mode poppers are dangerous, but focused fire on them while approaching will usually do the trick. In TB poppers are even more dangerous because they can cover the distance from outside your vision to you in one turn, so your only defence is reaction fire, which is unreliable at best. Contrary to the researchers' recommendation, Autocannons with HE ammo are highly effective at popper defense, since poppers have low HP even a near-miss reaction shot with a HE round will often kill them. If you're setting up a defensive formation then throwing a proximity mine in front of your squad can provide effective defence against poppers.
To Capture: In RT not too hard. Arm your guys with stun grapples. The moment the Popper gets within range, he'll be stunned. It takes about one shot from any weapon to kill it, and about 1, MAYBE 2 if you are unlucky, shots to stun. Just pray your guys don't miss... In TB capture is very hard, and you pretty much have to get lucky and see them first, or have a one charge you but not quite reach you. You then need a unit in range with a stun grapple. Stunning them with gas is very dangerous because you have to end turn for it to take effect, and if the popper makes it out of the cloud it has a whole turn to punish you for your mistake.
Official Entry (Captured Alive): "The Popper runs at high speed towards its victim and explodes when within a range of about fifteen feet. If the Popper is attacked with armor piercing, incendiary or explosive ammunition then the explosive effect is likely to be triggered. We recommend that other forms of weaponry be used against this creature in most combat situations."
Official Entry (Autopsy): "The Popper is little more than a walking bomb. Its simple brain structure means that Psionic attacks have a very low chance of success. Its body contains no obvious explosive device, although there are several chemicals mixed into the creatures stomach creating a highly unstable explosive compound."