2. Augmenting Your Soldiers Into Half-Human Killing Machines
Im saving the best for near-last here, and the flipside to using your acquired Meld for gene-modifications, is to instead build hulking MECs (Mechanized Exoskeleton Cybersuits) for augmented soldiers to literally embody. What's involved in augmenting a soldier you may ask? Well, the removal of their arms and legs of course! Although the game shows you this in a look-the-other-way cutscene, the ramifications contextually are pretty terrifying. The basic augmented limbs do resemble that of a humanoid, so they can maintain a standard of living should the resistance be successful, however when you see their tiny heads awash gigantic mechanical structures, knowing the only part of them that is human inside is a small torso, it creates a strange feeling of empowerment twinned with the constant reminder of fragility in the battlefield. MECs do not take cover, instead youre free to send them out into the fray as you see fit, and with later levels come different perks allowing them to be transformed into makeshift cover for the rest of the squad, alongside a devastating Kinetic Strike Module attack. The latter is a devastating launching blow that sends enemy units flying, occasionally through walls or other pieces of debris, and is an instant hell-yeah!-moment should a particularly hard-to-hit unit escape your grasp, only to be levelled by something four-times its size.