Training Roulette (EU2012)

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Training Roulette is a Second Wave option made available on the Enemy Within DLC. When it is chosen for a game the description reads: Each soldier's training tree will be mostly randomly generated. Does not apply to MEC Troopers.

After a soldier is assigned to a class and receives the starting ability the choice of abilities afterwards will be from its own class perks, mixed with abilities from other classes. This applies only to abilities that are not dependent of class weapons, such as Rockets. Training Roulette also does not affect the Psionic ability choices.

With Training Roulette activated some abilities will still be locked to certain classes and only be available at determined ranks. All the other abilities can appear as options at any rank, with a few special rules.

Class Skill Tables

Assault Squaddie Corporal Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Major Colonel

Heavy Squaddie Corporal Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Major Colonel

Sniper Squaddie Corporal Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Major Colonel

Support Squaddie Corporal Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Major Colonel

Random Ability Pool

Offensive Aggression Bring 'Em On Flush Bullet Swarm Holo-Targeting HEAT Ammo Gunslinger Executioner

Defensive Tactical Sense Lightning Reflexes Extra Conditioning Resilience Will To Survive Low Profile

Overwatch/Suppression Close Combat Specialist Sentinel/ Rapid Reaction Suppression Covering Fire Opportunist

Other Grenadier Damn Good Ground Battle Scanner Deep Pockets Field Medic Revive Savior

Random Ability Notes

Offensive

• Aggression
  • Assaults and Snipers might make the best use of it due to their already high Critical Chance ability.
• Bring 'Em On
  • While a good option for any class, your Supports will appreciate this ability to compensate the limited damage output of their rifles.
• Flush
  • If there's a lot of soldiers with Sentinel/Rapid Reaction, choose this ability then use it to dislodge the alien while the rest of your squad fires on it from Overwatch.
  • More useful for Supports/Assaults since their weapons deal the least damage at long range.
• Bullet Swarm
  • Won't appear as an option for a Sniper.
  • This ability is one of the best for all other classes since it allows to Fire and Move away from trouble.
  • Can be combined with Rapid Fire, giving an Assault 3 shots if the 1st shot is a regular one.
  • Can also be combined with Rapid Fire and Close and Personal giving the Assault 4 shots: 1st one with Close and Personal, 2nd a regular shot, 3rd and 4th with Rapid Fire.
• Holo-Targeting
  • Useful for any class, even Assaults and a great combination with Suppression.
  • The Aim bonus is also applied to a 2nd shot made with Bullet Swarm or Double Tap by the same unit.
• HEAT Ammo
  • Useful ability to always have on any class, specially Assaults, Heavies and Snipers, since it increases their already high damage output.
• Gunslinger
  • Won't appear as an option for a Heavy.
  • While still very useful for Snipers, after you get the Ammo Conservation project your Assaults and Supports won't really need this ability since it will be very unlikely that they'll run out of ammunition and have to resort to pistols.
  • Perhaps useful if you want to create a trooper just to go on the Covert Ops
• Executioner
  • Useful for any class. Other abilities may be more interesting than it or not, depending on the soldier's class.

Defensive

• Tactical Sense
  • Useful for any class since avoiding enemy hits is usually better than taking damage from them.
• Lightning Reflexes
  • You'll always need someone with this to break the aliens Overwatch. Least useful in Snipers with the Squadsight ability.
• Extra Conditioning/ Resilience/ Will To Survive
  • These 3 abilities are complementary of one another since they all reduce incoming damage.
  • Getting 2 or even all 3 abilities on any soldier will turn him/her into a walking tank, capable of rivaling even with MEC Troopers. But getting all 3 on the same unit may also make it less useful on an offensive role.
• Low Profile
  • Another of the best abilities for any class, specially when combined with the Mimetic Skin Gene Mod.

Overwatch/Suppression

• Close Combat Specialist
  • Least useful for any kind Snipers, unless they are using pistols, because of the short range penalty of the Sniper Rifle.
• Sentinel/ Rapid Reaction
  • Both are exclusive; you can get either one but not both on the same soldier.
  • Both are great options for Snipers, specially those with Squadsight. The 2nd shot can compensate for the lack of critical hits change applied on the Enemy Within DLC for shots on enemy units not visible to the Sniper.
  • A squad with several soldiers with those abilities can become one deadly Overwatch machine.
• Suppression
  • Your Assault has 1% chance to hit the alien with his/her Shotgun due to distance? Use this ability to give him/her a long range option by suppressing it instead.
  • Even useful with Snipers, but there might be other more interesting choices for them instead of this ability.
• Covering Fire
  • Enemy Within altered the mechanic of this ability (the unit now fires before the enemy fires, not after) and the increase in the penalty for Overwatch shots (30% of the soldier's Aim rather than a fixed -20 penalty) can make it more interesting since the soldier will have a better Aim firing at an enemy unit in low cover rather than firing at a moving enemy.
  • Good combo with Suppression.
• Opportunist
  • With Sentinel/Rapid Reaction it can be a great combo. Or with any of the other Overwatch/Suppression abilities.

Other

• Grenadier
  • With Deep Pockets it will give the soldier 3 grenades. Add Tactical Rigging and that's 6 grenades per soldier.
  • Least useful for Squadsight Snipers, unless you're planning to use them more in a frontline role.
• Damn Good Ground
  • A good ability for any soldier that uses elevation for better Aim and/or approaching the aliens, specially those soldiers with the Muscle Fiber Density Gene Mod, Skeleton Suit or Archangel Armor.
• Battle Scanner
  • One of the best abilities for the early game due to its ability to detect Seekers and/or generally help the squad avoid trouble by allowing to scout at map sections out of your soldiers' sight without activating aliens or to detect ambushes.
  • Becomes less useful after the Bioelectric Skin Gene Mods or Ghost Armor are deployed.
• Sprinter
  • Useful for any class, specially when used for scouting or reacting to unexpected threats, and for Assaults on Run & Gun attacks.
• Deep Pockets
  • Besides Medikits and Arc Throwers, it will also give 1 more grenade to any soldier carrying them.
  • If the soldier already has Field Medic or Grenadier, this ability makes them even more useful.
• Field Medic/ Revive/ Savior
  • It is most difficult to get the Field Medic, Revive and Savior combination on a single soldier, which is one of the most useful ones, so you should consider how to address a lack of a dedicated medic during the game.
  • Unless you're planning to deploy Medikits in most of your squad, it is better to wait to try to get Field Medic first in a soldier, before choosing either Revive or Savior. It will be most likely that some of your soldiers will be automatically assigned with those last two abilities upon reaching the rank of Major.
  • Usually the most available solution for a dedicated Medic is to have Field Medic combined with Deep Pockets, allowing for 4 Medikit uses. If you're lucky the soldier might also have Revive or Savior but it is very rare to have these four abilities on the same soldier.

Class Notes

• Snipers are the class with the least customization options since 6 abilities are locked, including both choices at Corporal and Colonel ranks. The Major ability is the last random ability you'll get and it will be automatically assigned.
• Heavies are the 2nd class with less options, with 5 locked abilities, including both choices at Colonel rank.
  • The Heavy's Danger Zone and Mayhem abilities can be less attractive since it isn't guaranteed now that the Heavy will get the Suppression perk that is usually combined with both. Danger Zone is still useful with Rockets but the choice will usually be Rocketeer over Mayhem, unless you have Grenadier and Deep Pockets already on the Heavy and use Mayhem for a little more punch for your grenades.
• Assaults and Supports are the most flexible regarding random choice abilities, with only 4 locked perks.
• Assaults can get a lot of useful abilities to increase their mobility or damage power, but remember that they might need some defensive abilities if they are used in close assault situations.
• Supports usually get the short stick with Training Roulette, since they lose their specific Medic abilities and their weapons are usually limited in damage output when compared to the other classes.
  • To partially compensate for the previous, Supports now get access to several different abilities such as Battle Scanner, Flush or Holo-Targeting that can add several options to its usual 'jack of all trades' role.

General Tips

• The choice of abilities is a coin toss: you get can allow for some amazing synergies but also to be completely disparate abilities.
• Council awards of soldiers are even better since you can see what the choices will be up to the rank of the soldier and allow a more planned choice.
• The entire Ability tree is chosen when the unit is assigned a class. Savescumming at the end of a mission, and a Rookie gains a level, or a leveled soldier is given as a Abduction/Council reward (Zhang, Annette, or non-storyline), or if the OTS's New Guy ability is in effect and new soldiers are hired, will give new ability choices. Later savescum/leveling will not provide new choices.
  • You can, alternatively, hold off on choosing an ability and continuing to level to the next rank(s) as normal: when the new rank is reached, the new abilities will be inaccessible but visible, in the same manner as getting a leveled soldier as a reward.

The 3 most important abilities that can only be randomly received are:

• Field Medic
• Lightning Reflexes
• Battle Scanner

All of these 3 will allow the player very important options for the squad and they can be all received at Corporal rank, which can result in their early deployment during a campaign. And all 3 are useful in the later game, specially Lightning Reflexes and Field Medic.

In addition, there are several important combinations of abilities:

• Covering Fire + Opportunist + Sentinel/ Rapid Reaction
  • This will make any unit into an Overwatch powerhouse. Try putting such units just out of range of alien sight, so any that attempt to rush forward will blunder into this trap.
• Field Medic + Revive + Savior + Deep Pockets + Tactical Rigging
  • The Medic Support's combination. Though it is unlikely that you will get all 4 abilities on a soldier, any collection of the components may be worthwhile on any unit, particularly those who're less fond of the Support's lower damage capacity compared to other classes, and rather have the slot open for a heavier hitter.
• HEAT + Close Combat Specialist
  • If Seekers are currently hunting your soldiers (and no other alien types are currently engaging), and you have a soldier with this combo: place them in the middle of the pack. By default, the Seeker will not go for that soldier, but attempt to strangle the soldiers around it, triggering CCS. Heat will increase the damage. And if the unit in question happens to be a shotgun-Assault, that's a near-guaranteed kill.
• Bullet Swarm + Rapid Fire
  • An exclusive combo for Assaults, this allows up to three salvos of fire, raining pain down upon foes. Of course, this will eat up ammo like nobody's business.
• Holo-Targeting + Bullet Swarm/Double Tap
  • As mentioned above, the +10 aim effect works for both shots if taken at different targets. Excellent if you have some airborne enemies, like drones, to take care of.