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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Beating X-com 2 On Superhuman With No Reload


Hexeon

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You must follow a very specific strategy, every move you make is important. I've lost so many aquanauts but in the end I did it, I beat the game on superhuman level with no reload (only reload to continue the game on the next day).

Here are some tips on how to do this without exploiting bugs like the transfer bug or any cheats:

1) Research Gauss technology ASAP. Must get those Gauss rifles out to your aquanaunts and those gauss rifles work wonders against Aquatoids, Gill Man and Deep Ones, mostly everything you will encounter in the beginning of the game. They can even kill Calcinites, those aliens in diver suits on Terror missions. Before you get the Gauss rifle, use jet harpoons, those are pretty good against Aquatoids, but require 2-3 hits to kill Gill Man and Deep Ones, sometimes even more.

2) Get sub Gauss cannon as soon as you can, and manufacture as many as you can. In a regular Superhuman game this will allow you to have pretty much limitless resources, but in a no-reload Superhuman game, this is just enough to keep you hiring new aquanauts so you don't die off. When you manufacture it, make it a large number, like making 300 of them, and as your money run low, sell the ones you have. That way you never stop manufacturing. If you wait until they say "not enough money," you are losing one hour there.

3) I keep 20 Aquanauts and 2 HWPs in my main base, that's exactly twice the amount a Triton can hold. Later on when I can afford it, I keep more HWPs around since they don't cost a monthly fee like the Aquanauts. I also keep around enough Gauss rifles and grenades around in case of an alien base attack. That's usually enough, but you can keep more around your base if you want. My main base is around Europe, I find that's the best location. I don't expand until later on when I have enough resources and have PWT defense, then I built 7 other bases and make sure they are on the vertices of an imaginary cube (even distribution across the globe for full coverage of the planet). In my secondary bases I keep 10 Aquanauts and around 4 HWPs around for defense. Not enough Zrbite, so make some Gauss HWPs, until you have like 4 PWT + 1 shield or 3 PWT + 2 shield, then you can sack the worthless Aquanauts. Don't bother with aqua plastic armor. They are not very useful.

4) Get the Sonic Blasta Rifle or the Sonic Cannon around the time when lobsterman start to appear. One thing very important is to retreat when you can't win a battle. If half of your squad die, that's okay, save the Triton. I've lost my Triton twice and it wasn't very fun. Get the sonic oscillator for your subs ASAP, once those BARRACUDAs are equipped with those, they can down anything but Large or Huge.

5) Protect your MC guys. Use the other guys as scouts but don't give them anything better than Gauss rifle, cause if they only have gauss rifle and regular grenade, they can't hurt your MC guys who are in ion armor or magnetic ion armor. It takes a long time to select good MC guys from all over your other bases so protect them well. Keep sacking and hiring in the other bases for new talents. It's hard as heck to even get the MC tech in a no reload superhuman game. I lost over 20 aquanauts just trying to capture a live alien that would give me MC, I kept going to the alien colonies and die. But it's a really fun mission to acquire the tech.

6) Occasionally you will lose your entire squad and your Triton, it's happened to me twice in my game before I beat it, but don't give up! As long as you have money from making all those sub gauss cannons, you can hire new guys and new Triton. But try to save your Triton. Many times I managed to retreat with 1 guy in my Triton. That's a lot of money saved.

7) There are two kinds of terror missions, the ones on land and the ones on a ship. I usually don't finish the ship one, because those are two part missions, and the chance of winning those are slim. I usually go to the ship, take one turn and see if there are any easy kills, then just lift off. You will get bad score, but not as bad as if you don't go at all. You might get like -600, but if you don't go at all, you will lose maybe -1,000 to -1,500 points. Same with the Alien control site missions. You just really need to know when to quit in a no reload game.

8) You have to really know what you are doing in a tactical combat if you play the iron man game, but here's the thing to watch for, if your weapon is outclassed by the type of alien you are fighting, retreat. For example lobster man, once I had ion armor and sonic cannon, I could duke it out with them alright. I never made magnetic armor because it's too costly on the Zrbite. When your guys die so fast, you can't give them the best stuff. A lot of times there are very tough choices in tactical combat, there's always risk, so you have to think what it's worth to you if you are successful and know when to quit. On average in a successful small sub recovery mission, I will lose maybe 1 to 2 guys before I have any armor tech, once I had ion armor, sometimes I could do it without losing any guys, but sometimes they get wounded. But if you are fighting tough aliens then you might lose a lot.

Well, have fun! It's hard to do but not impossible. Just be very cautious because you can lose all you have very quickly. If you die, don't give up, start a new game. It's fun when you are finally able to finish the game with these restrictions. There are a lot of other strategies and tricks but this post is already long enough.
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I always play like ironman (no reloading). It really is more thrilling and scary (thrilling + scary = FUN!)

[quote]One thing very important is to retreat when you can't win a battle. If half of your squad die, that's okay, save the Triton. I've lost my Triton twice and it wasn't very fun.[/quote]
I have a big problem with this, I never understand to quit even if I know there's a 80+% chance I'm gonna lose.
"Damn aliens! I won't surrender!"
"Oops, lost another triton :Blush: "
But the best thing about this game is that you don't have to reload, you can win the game even if you lose a lot of missions.

[quote]I usually don't finish the ship one, because those are two part missions, and the chance of winning those are slim.[/quote]
That's not true! Gillman shiproute missions are very easy in my opinion. You should definitely try to finish them every time.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Gillmen can actually mind control you. Very high ranking gillmen, not the usual grunts. Sort of like the sectoids in UFO, where only the high ranking ones have psi, but the rest are literally fodder.

I was actually rather surprised when I first found out.

- NKF
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Aquatoid leaders can MC. I am sure Gillman leaders don't have any MC skill, so maybe Gillman commanders do. Commanders don't show up very often so I am not sure about that. Anyway Gillman's the easiest to do. Tasoth soldiers have some cool terrorists going with them and their leaders MC a lot so they are the toughest to beat.
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Gillmen do MC your troops. I have had that in very large ufos and IIRC, in large too.
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  • 3 months later...
On the bright side, it doubles the effect of ANY defensive module you have installed. Just imagine how much damage an array of torpedo defense modules can inflict on a dreadnaught! Cheap and you get many chances to inflict some damage.

Same thing goes for the sonar arrays. Only one of each type (small, large and the transmission resolver) will function. Having more than one will just be a waste of money, unless you're using it for defensive purposes.

One strategy that I find to be very useful in any difficulty is to use the Triton as a temporary defensive bunker. It has a door that can be opened without spending any TUs, thus not toggling any reaction shots. (unless, of course, their reaction score is much higher than yours even when you use your full reaction score)

Employ a lot of patience and spend as much time in the Triton as you can before deploying. Just peek out and take potshots at any aliens in sight until you are sure that the LZ is clear. The door will close before the aliens get to shoot, so you're quite safe as long as you stay inside the ship.

The main problem with this strategy occurs on land where snipers are up high. This is on account of the weird line of sight calculations, allowing enemies to shoot into the ship through odd angles (this doesn't happen that often, but it can happen anywhere). And, on land, explosives can cause serious damage to your ship. So bad that you sometimes end up returning on a flying carpet. ;) Seriously though, as long as you don't leave any targets for the aliens to throw a grenade at by the end of the turn, you'll be fine.

- NKF Edited by NKF
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[quote name='NKF' date='Jun 7 2004, 06:58 AM']And, on land, explosives can cause serious damage to your ship. So bad that you sometimes end up returning on a flying carpet. ;) Seriously though, as long as you don't leave any targets for the aliens to throw a grenade at by the end of the turn, you'll be fine.

- NKF[/quote]
That's very annoying, one time I shot my triton with gas cannon by accident (outside) and 5 soldier inside were killed! :cussing: Aliens use grenades sometimes too and when they throw it on the wing of triton, you MUST empty your triton or everyone inside are killed.

One time all my soldiers were killed because alien shot a barrel far away. I don't know what kind of bugs the game has but these are annoying as heck.
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  • 11 months later...
You guys are really brave if you try to beat the game on Superhuman without regular saves. I still find myself unable to get by without a save before I go to a mission and then on the start of each turn in tactical combat :( Maybe I should try scaling back a few difficulty levels and then try that.....
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You guys are really brave if you try to beat the game on Superhuman without regular saves.  I still find myself unable to get by without a save before I go to a mission and then on the start of each turn in tactical combat :(  Maybe I should try scaling back a few difficulty levels and then try that.....

You can gain a lot of experience and practice for this by starting an intermediate type of game, the one in which you save in geoscape, but once on the battlefield you don't save at all. If the battle goes wrong, you start it all over, until you learn how to do it right. I hope you'll like the method.

Make sure in the beginning you buy a Coelacanth/Gas Cannon, it can survive sometimes shots from sonic weaponry. It is really useful to explore with it, while your soldiers can shoot safely from a distance.

Have fun :)

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It is fun, it's much better to play through after maybe losing an aquanaut or two, than to be stuck in a time loop ;)

 

I just never have the money for a tank though, so I make use of cover and shoot from safer positions than the poor guys who go out an do the spotting.

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It is fun, it's much better to play through after maybe losing an aquanaut or two, than to be stuck in a time loop ;)

I just never have the money for a tank though, so I make use of cover and shoot from safer positions than the poor guys who go out an do the spotting.

Well, it's not like you're going to repeat the loop for hundreds of times, just until you get the skills and the wisdom to protect your guys from harm. And since you don't get the same positions each time or even the same landscape type, it is like you have battle after battle.

And yes, it can be done without a Coelacanth, but having one in battle makes your life much easier. Did you know that even if it is hit, it is repaired automatically after the battle? Otherwise you have to wait for many days for wounded soldiers (or even order more).

About the money part, you can spare some of your initial money on a Coelacanth, can't you?

Your game, your choices, I just give some advice

Edited by dan2
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It's not the strength of your soldiers that really matters - it's what you are able to do with what you've got that counts a lot more than anything else. Hence why it's okay to run a few 'test missions' to get the ball rolling. The only way to get good is through unyeilding persistence and 100% stubborness. ;)

 

As for the coelacanth, don't worry about it if you can't buy it for the first couple of missions. Gas cannons and showers of magna-blast grenades will do just fine for some intermediate firepower. But after doing a few missions and selling off the loot, you should be able to afford a coelacanth easily. I'd recommend getting a gas cannon version if you want to fight with it on land - but a torpedo version works just as well if you only want to use it as a spotter.

 

The main trick in mastering a superhuman campaign is to get Ion Armour as quickly as you can, then everything seems to level off just nicely after that. Or, at least, that's how I feel. Or if you get the MC. Disrupter - then the game's just not fun anymore.

 

 

- NKF

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It's surprising just how useful that tank has become. It gets a lot of movement and can spot lots of enemies and draw their fire, leaving the way clear for your troops to shoot whatever they can get a line of sight to.

 

Personally, I couldn't do without Shok Launchers on standby, in case I run into a bunch of Lobstermen. Those things will shrug off most of everything else you throw at them, but stun works like a charm. After that you can plop a regular grenade on them for a coup-de-grace, if you don't need them alive anyway. The last thing you want is for some of them to wake up and run around whacking your troops upside the head in that friendly way of theirs.....

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I'm playing an intermediate iron man game at the moment. Any pointers on alien colonies? I haven't encountered any yet (I'm only in the third month) but it was the first thing I was worrying about when I started this game: "how the heck am I ever going to beat a colony without saving!" The tentaculats, MC control and every single enemy soldier equiped with a disrupter pulse launcher are some things that scare me. Not to mention the second part of the mission, where it's impossible to defend against tentaculats.

I played one mission in complete darkness yesterday. My triton was coming back from a terror mission (it was used to keep the site from disappearing for my good triton) and an enemy ship had landed nearby and it was night. I had no time to let the triton reenter the base and refuel and all to give them proper equipment so I sent them to the ship. I had only one flare on board, which I used once. For the rest I used almost all of my grenades to toss away in the darkness and kill anything that might be hidden there. I used up a lot of grenades like that but didn't kill anything with it, because in the end it turned out that all aliens were in the ship (the largest small)

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well, for teh colonies, just move slowly and get everyone into good positions

i play on veteran and have beat colonies without cheating(only cheat is something really crappy happens, like your best soldier getting killed by a tentaculat) you just have to take it slowly and it helps to have your own advanced super weapons

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Compared with the interior, the exterior of the colony is the easiest of the two missions - it's very predictable and rather a simple task to complete if you have DPL torpedoes. The central lift is surrounded by tasoth with disrupter pulse launchers just asking to be shelled by a few torpedoes of your own. The north section often has tentaculats in the observation tower. Scattered around the field, which makes things more interesting, are hallucinoids, sectoid/tasoth with DPL's and the occasional tentaculat.

 

I'd concentrate on wiping out the north tower and the death trap in the centre during the first few turns and mop up the survivors.

 

The second half can be particularly hard if you go for the kill-all-aliens-to-disable-base approach, otherwise this part of the mission can be completed by first locating the area where the synonium device is stored and getting a clear shot by firing a grenade or a DPL torpedo at it, then leg it back to the exit. You don't get any zrbite this way or any loot, but the base will be gone, and that may be more important.

 

---

 

I've never attempted a 100% strict no-save run of a two-parter mission before, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could be done. Usually, for the first part of the mission, I generally save just before ending the turn after having killed the last alien (I make periodic saves for backup purposes). This way, if I decide to reload , I at least get to start on a brand new map during the next part.

 

If you find that you just cannot do it (even with mad dash suicidal runs to the synonium device), abort and try again later - or go after the more lucrative supply ships in the meanwhile.

 

- NKF

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  • 2 months later...

I am running an Ironman game on Level 4 at the moment, have a couple of tips/comments.

 

1. MC Filtering - I built two MC labs simultaneously, then filled them up with recruits - After a month I ad a + or a ++ sign to those who have at least 70 MC, and only use them on Base raids. - I never get MC'd by Aliens. I usulally use 6 men and 2 tanks on such missions. I was lucky that my first batch of 6 MC resistant guys came out a day beofre I found my first alien colony.

 

1a - Guys who have low MC strength get sacked immediately. before the month ends I get a new batch of about 18 recruits ready for next months MC school.

 

2. Tanks - On Ironman I find using infantry all the time to boost their skills also boosts their death-expectancy, so I like tanks.

 

3. Scientist layoff - I built up a force of 96 scientists and got all the key discoveries, then laid off 46, to keep my budget solvent while building arour, bases, oh and tanks.

 

Negator.

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  • 7 months later...

I also tried it on superhuman. I added another restriction - no MC from my side. I still build MC-labs (to check on those with low MC and suck), but when you research MC disruptor, game, even on superhuman, becomes meaningless.. Thought quest of capturing tasouth is a fun one, agree.

 

Played like till September and gave up - no calcinite :(. No terror missions at all now, all dreadhounds fly with lobsters... WTF Without this thing I am very afraid of getting to their bases and T-leth. Even huge lobster USO recovery can be hard if I do not overuse Disruptor.. I think 'll repeat it sometime. Probably will be starting new one until I get aquatoid terror mission. Is this right that you need just to skip one very small UFO for that and pray?

 

 

Generally about the game. After winning first terror site all became much simpler. I had enought money at the beginning - very many ships (base in north atlantic). Always used tank before getting to armor. After arnmor - only when when I got to Sonic SWS. Used gaus riffles and gas cannons first. I thing gas cannons are better against gillmen. (true?). When got to sonic - almost never used sonic riffles: only sonic canons. They have more accuracy thats why I love them so much. In those gimmmen large supply ships there is plenty of reloads, thought at some point had a shortage. Had two terros ships with lobsters - run away after easy kills, and one with gillmen - very fun and easy. Managed to finish it and even got the stuff I left on the first stage (Was this bug fixed in CE?). Had one artefact site, instead of cutting everyone there just did my job and retreated. The most awful things with NO-RELOAD restrictuion are damn tentaculates. No chance against them.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

I'm playing now a superhuman, ironman and no-MC game. After you get DPL's, Ion armor and displacers it becomes very easy. My score income consists mainly from downing USO's all over the globe and raiding colony supply ships. I usually ignore or abort all ship terror and artifact sites and I stil get an excellent rank. Although I'll probably go after artifact sites when I'll sort out all MC weaklings.

 

Raiding supply ships gives a nice training exercise for the troops and a good source of raw materials needed to construct, arm and fuel a large fleet of Mantas. My favourite raiding tactics is while displacer is scouting outside, it also locates the ship's bridge - right above the main entrance. Then I use one DPL round to breach the bridge's outer wall and then the second DP goes inside. Not only it kills most of the MC-capable aliens but by adding their entire high command to all the dead outside-campers you can put a good scare on all aliens hiding inside the ship - you can often find them wandering around with empty hands. You can also drive the displacer inside once the outer perimeter is secured, you just need to take out a pair of small wall sections.

I didn't had any casualties yet during raids - only few lightly wounded and few usual holes in the displacer's armor plating.

 

Not sure now what should I bring to a colony raid - mostly worried about the second part with it's plentiful hiding places for tentaculats. Should I bring lots of PD greandes to secure the route leading to a synomium device? Or better load plenty of DP's and blow every threat nearby, real or imaginary?

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Not sure now what should I bring to a colony raid

 

A single DPL to the control centre, if located right onto the synonium device will end the level with a win. You can identify the location from the floor above (which is below the floor you start on). The device is located immediately below the hole.

 

You can reliably locate the device by lining up the hole against part of the games user interface and the clicking the button to view one level lower.

 

Guide the missile around obstacles to the hole, line up your UI, then drop below and align to the device. Then launch, win and continue collecting from the easy ship like you are doing.

 

This can get you a colony win in one game turn if you're lucky with the start locations.

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This can get you a colony win in one game turn if you're lucky with the start locations.

 

Wow, that's interesting. The only problem is that for the first trip I need those commanders alive, so someone wil have to go there, stun and grab them and then go back to the exit area. So I was pondering whether PD grenades to help secure the route of many DPL rounds to make a shortcut (IIRC you can punch through the floors) and bomb every hiding place nearby.

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Then might I recommend hauling a thermal shok launcher along for the ride? There's a gaping hole right above the synonium device room, and as the commanders are all packed together in that tight room .... well, you get the idea.

 

- NKF

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Wow, that's interesting. The only problem is that for the first trip I need those commanders alive, so someone wil have to go there.

 

Thats true, but you don't need to go there on every colony mission.

 

If you find the synonium device is a long way from your start area, you can just blast it and leave. If it is near the area where you start, then thats the time to go lobbie commander hunting as you only need travel a short distance. This means you can avoid most of the base, save on DPL ammo and cut down on the risk of your crew becoming large floating brains :D

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The trick with the second half of a colony is to go slow and to clear out module by module. It gets trickier by having multiple levels and lots of lifts (which you can't shoot through like the lifts in UFO), so you end up having to watch your back all the time and watch out for what's ahead of you as well. You'll also find yourself getting aquanauts to constantly plug the lifts until you are ready to examine the lower (or upper) levels. Be absolutely sure you know the positions of all the lifts in any area that you move into. It could save a life.

 

Take your time and move slowly, or even just camping in certain areas for a while and have scouts venture short distances until you can mvoe everyone , can help you a lot. This generally forces nearby tentaculats to move to your position rather than the reverse. If this causes you to perform reaction shots, all the better. The only problem with camping in areas would be thermal shok bombs - I don't recall seeing DPL torpedoes in the second half of colony missions, but I could be mistaken.

 

Watch for any hidden areas around you that you may miss when moving pass - particularly when making your way towards the synonium device chamber around those funny flapping stairs. I've had one too many lobstermen sneak attacks from behind to underestimate all those little alcoves.

 

Vibroblades and heavy thermic lances are also good weapons to be carrying in your off-hand. You'll find yourself often bumping into an alien around a corner, and it's more efficient to jab it with a power tool than to fire your weapon. Watch out with the vibroblade and tentaculats. Superhuman tentaculats have about 50 front armour, and this seems to seriously soften some of your attacks. Either use a stronger drill or attack it from the sides or back, as the armour around these sides are surprisingly weak compared to the front. If I remember correctly, their under-armour is also somewhat lacking.

 

If you've got one, make use of the particle disturbance sensor. It pays to know if there are units other than your own that are moving in the levels beneath you. If you're plugging any of the lifts, you may also want to have an aquanaut drop down, scan the area for hostiles and go back up again every few turns.

 

I don't particularly like the second part of colonies myself, but they are not impossible to defeat or complete. They just take time, and you need to be more attentive than on ordinary missions.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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They have plenty of DPL's in the second part, I remember that from previous games. I use lift-plugging in large USO assaults and artifact sites while displacer is looking for targets for the DPL team, so yes - I'm familiar with the concept.

 

Tentaculats (and Xarquids) have something like 1 point under-armour, that's why I was thinking about using PD grenades, although it'll probably take two grenades to kill the bugger.

 

One thing I can't remember exactly is: if the alien gets hit during it's turn by either PD grenade or reaction shot does it switch their behaviour between "attack" and "retreat"?

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It does seem to make melee attackers alternate between retreating and charging when interrupted. However, they don't always retreat. Sometimes they simply switch targets, perhaps to a closer target at the time of the interruption.

 

I've seen this happen with reaction shots. Instead of turning the other way, the alien went off at a 90 degree angle towards a different soldier.

 

- NKF

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  • 11 months later...
  • 11 months later...

After so many years its easy to beat ironman superhuman these days. My general strats are

 

1. Have at least 3 scouts in each dive. Scouts are the aquanauts with low stats. i use them as sacrificial lambs. I never let them throw or shoot. Since my main force doesnt die but just gets training from shots and throws, I get 7-8 super pumped guys in a few months.

 

2. Take battle missions very slow. use those scouts to take all the risks, dont be afraid to spend grenades. In early missions i have 1 runner that brings supplies from the floor of the Triton. Close ranged weapons are just awesome. Aquanauts with the highest firing accuracy are your snipers. knee them on a high point in the map and have them snipe whatever scouts notice. Torpedo launcher is your friend. Phosphorous torpedoes are are very useful.

 

3. Money. These days i dont have much time to spend on the game, so what I do is use a bug: You choose to manufacture an item, usually something big and expensive, but dont assign any technicians and press OK. You manufacturing menu now shows 1 item being manufactured with no technicians/space assigned. You go back to that item, chose to manufacture 1 and add all your techies. press OK. Notice that you didnt spend any money nor any resources on that 1 item. after its made, rinse repeat.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, what are you waiting for? Get TFTD and show the Lobstermen what for! If you like UFO you HAVE to make the attempt to beat TFTD as well. Makes you appreciate and master UFO even more.

 

- NKF

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  • 10 months later...

I think that's a pretty good guide for surviving SH.

 

one thing I would add is farming an alien colony early on,

 

on SH you should get an alien colony formed by sometime in March (or at least I have)

 

you can perform raids on this colony 1/ship/day (if you account for never doing night missions & refuelling time on Triton)

 

so... 3 Tritons, 3 raids per day, might seem expensive, but consider that if you keep all the sonic cannon ammo & disruptor ammo

 

you net about 3 million per raid. kill all the aliens on level 1, then as soon as you load level 2, get as many to the safe areas as you can & abort mission.

 

you keep all the kills & loot from level 1.

 

keep your MC resistant troops in the back with rifles for sniper support & send up mental incompetants with chem glow grenades as scout/spy for your fire teams

 

even if your MC resistant troops suck at shooting in the beginning, if you keep them alive long enough they will eventually be super soldiers even in a no load game.

 

also, your MC super troopers in the back can prime & toss grenades at your scouts (regardless if they panic or MC 90% of the time, the 1 turn they are available for you to control, toss a grenade at them & make SURE you USE IT THAT TURN LOL) who then turn around & fling them at aliens...

 

also, for the final room (the massive yellow elevator room) there is a raised platform all around the center, well,

 

it most definately is a bug exploit, but you can throw a grenade from the ring around the bottom room THROUGH the floor

and the grenade will be sitting on the floor of level 2, it will not destroy the flooring, but will clear off the aliens on it...

 

when you do this with a sonic pulse on all 4 corners in 1 turn, you will kill or severely wound several Tasoths/Tentasluts & kill every aquatoid on level 2 90% of the time.

 

after that many if not all of the non-tentasluts in the room will panic/beserker & leave you with a wonderful strike opportunity on level 1...

 

though that may rubbish the rules of your iron game, depending on how you see it... *shrugs*

 

i only use that tactic if the mission has gone way wrong & all i have left are my super soldiers, which i refuse to piss away :P

 

*edit*

 

PS of course, this takes a whole new level of endurance to do constant colony runs for $$$...

 

PPS you can severely overload a newbie recruit in the back of your triton to the point where he cannot move & if he has nothing in his hands to drop & no weapons to use, he can MC/beserk all he likes & you'll always (except MC) have at least ONE unit in your triton for a tactical retreat... just a thought...

Edited by Tiruas
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I would actually recommend not winning the first level of a Colony - mainly if you're playing an unpatched version of the dos version of TFTD. Cant' remember if it was cleared in v2 and CE. However, you don't keep any of the loot that's on the ground of the first mission, including whatever was on the Triton floor! Lost a few of my Gas Cannons this way when I noticed I only had ammo for them in the next mission but no guns. Instead, kill all but one enemy, load what you need into the Triton and dust off.

 

If you're using XComutil, it has a workaround for this by sending the stuff to your base, so this isn't a problem (except when it gets a bit overzealous).

 

The colony supply ships, which I notice seem to come more frequently than UFO's alien base supply ships, are an even better source of loot. Nab them as often as you can. The zrbite and all the exotic material off the ship that you recover is a major boon to your operation. Has disrupter pulse launchers to contend with, but they'll make future raids that little bit easier.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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I would actually recommend not winning the first level of a Colony - mainly if you're playing an unpatched version of the dos version of TFTD. Cant' remember if it was cleared in v2 and CE. However, you don't keep any of the loot that's on the ground of the first mission, including whatever was on the Triton floor! Lost a few of my Gas Cannons this way when I noticed I only had ammo for them in the next mission but no guns. Instead, kill all but one enemy, load what you need into the Triton and dust off.

 

- NKF

 

 

as i said i am getting to keep all loot from level 1

 

i'm using 2.0 patched loader in Win XP

 

i dunno if that was fixed in the patch, but i'm not using a dosbox version...

 

the only time i load the triton & dust off is if there is an alien i have spent ALOT of time looking for & can't find...

 

if i get severely annoyed i'll start gear loading & dust off

 

all of my super sniper soldiers have like 70+ strength from loading the triton a few times, so this isn't an issue...

 

but mostly do it when i get sick of looking for that last homo alien hiding in a closet god knows where...

 

or worse running around outside & somehow avoiding my patrols :(

 

 

actually i don't use xcom util

 

i'm new to xcom 2, only had it a week

 

and besides i'd like to play the game as intended...

 

still... it is quite a system shock these new gauss versus the old lasers

 

i always researched laser first & stuck with them all game, so that solved all weapon issues for me very early

 

i knew the plasma where stronger, but hated to worry about clips... couldn't be bothered with that :P

 

only other guns i used were blaster guided bombs, & hover tank with blaster guided bombs

Edited by Zombie
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They might've fixed it with V2.0 or with the v2.0 Ce port. Either way, that's good. It's quite a pain having to buy and re-arm the Triton of its unused equipment in v1.0 though. ;) Luckily I'm only playing v1.0 to test out a few possible misconceptions I had with the research tree, which I'm starting to believe may have been influenced by XComutil.

 

edit: Strike all the above. V2.0 does indeed fix the recovery bug. In fact, it makes aborting the second-stage of some missions to quickly end it a very-viable strategy.

 

The nerfing of Gauss may have been deliberate. To make the technology less of an all-rounder as the lasers were, and force you to use a mixture of other equipment. Luckily, you've still got the drills. They are in essence hand-to-hand versions of the lasers, and they're quite brutal. Since there's lots of indoor fighting in TFTD, you'll have plenty of opportunities to use them.

 

In addition to weakening Gauss, they stuffed up with the implementation of the Gauss Coelacanth and how it handles ammo. It takes craft gauss cannon ammo but never returns any of it when you take it off the Triton or when it returns from a mission with any unspent ammo. Stick to the basics or the displacers.

 

By the way, the strength stat doesn't improve through any physical means in this game. It's strange but it only increases through hitting enemy targets, reacting, failing or succeeding an MC attack (not counting probes) and resisting panic when morale is under 50%. Just letting you know as you're better off having your aquanauts at full TUs all the time than encumbering them. There will obviously be exceptions, but it's good to keep them unencumbered as best as you can, as the likelihood of enemy reaction fire gets greater and greater with the less current TUs that you have.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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  • 7 months later...

Is there a difficulty bug in Terror from the Deep like the was with Enemy Unknown? I'm not finding a huge difference between veteran and superhuman.

 

It could just be luck though: I researched Ion Armor early and I've got two gillman bases nearby for easy supplyship looting. They give me all the money, zrbite and score I need. Attacking an enemy base is pretty much a suicide mission though. If I'm prepared to sacrifice a whole squad of M.C. screened recruits I can destroy the synonium device, it's just that the last guy gets his brains sucked out by a tentaculat while making his escape.

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  • 1 year later...

I'd like some specific advice on the topic.

 

For example, how do i fight attacks on my base on day 6? I am using better base layout from xcomutils and STILL base defenses are nearly impossible.

Thing is - ALIENS SPAWN INSIDE MY BASE!? I think i read somewhere that they use your spawning points if they dont have enough theirs. WTF? I have three sub pens and access lift, aint that enough?

Can i do ANYTHING to prevent them from spawning inside my base? I mean its even manageable that i dont see my psi defense, so in fact, every single aquanaut can be unluckily under 80 and thus can be controlled (heck, i even had a dude with 90 go under mind control in UFO on superhuman once on base offense). I can kinda counter that if i kill them faster than i need to stun my own guys. But if at the start i have already lost about three-four of my men because they spawned with aliens right near them (ready to reactionfire with their full tu) and all due to a bug thats kinda insane.

 

Also - does it only look like it, or are the maps in X-Com 2 harder than those of X-Com 1.

I played 1 on superhuman with almost no save/load, through whole campaign i belive i did it only 5 times total (like, when my 90 psi guy gets MC'ed in one turn and blows the whole crew up, WTF?)

Here i'm kinda getting owned, because maps are very complex

- underwater there are alot of strange buildings with doors and tubes and platforms and stuff, which means i can hardly use spotter-sniper strategy since when my guy spots, hardly anybody can snipe, aliens seem to choose good locations that are under those platforms and behind tubes

- ufos have alot of nooks and corners to hide behind..

 

Also - can someone explain to me:

 

- I heard that triton door can be opened without spending tu.. how?

 

- Why sometimes, on the base defense mission, walking behind the corner (not diagonally but just from tile to adjacent tile) costs 8 TU? There is no door there! If i do it while not hugging the wall, it costs normal 4!

*********

***...***

***84.***

...84....

.........

***...***

***...***

*********

 

If this is the corridor going from left to right, and i move from bottom 8 to top 8, i spend 8 TU, if i move from bottom 4 to top 4, i spend 4 TU. Why?

 

- Why sometimes when aliens control your character, they use him, and in other cases, he just stands there doing nothing?

 

- Why sometimes doors behind you close on alien turns and sometimes they dont? I used a startegy to peek out of the door, shoot, get back. Usually on alien turn door would be closed and i would be safe. But sometimes it wont close for their turn! Why?

 

- Why when shooting down the long corridor, aquanaut says "no line of sight" when targeting a tile in front of the alien, but agrees to shoot the alien? There is absolutely NOTHING in the way!

 

- I was storming small scout that was on some mission, and this happened:

I had two people 6 tiles away from the entrance to the uso. On alien turn, one alien comes out, and goes back, second comes out, shoots, goes back. Then an explosion happens and both aliens die. WTF? I didnt have any explosive ammunition loaded and my guys didnt shoot. Did he attempt to throw a grenade and failed? Did he shoot something that exploded? Or what happened? Alien sub was intact - recovered its engine just fine. He obviously didnt have blaster launcher equivalent - that was on day 2.

 

Thanks.

Edited by Istrebitel
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You've just discovered one of the big differences between UFO and TFTD - in TFTD aliens do spawn inside the base. Most of them will still be in the sub pen and air lock, but some will indeed appear in the corridors. The very popular X-Comutil "Enhanced" base layout is a UFO-centric enhancement. It is still a good idea to isolate the air lock and sub pens from the main base, you just have to be very careful when securing the main corridors in the base.

 

Tip: Have all aquanauts that start in the corridors look around them and towards any suspecting area that may have aliens. Looking around should be okay. If an alien is standing right next to you, try to jump into the cover of a nearby room and have someone else open fire from a distance. Also when defending, use all the blast doors to your advantage. They help keep most of the modules fairly well protected and isolated so you can concentrate on working through each module one module at a time until you can get everyone into position. You can also have pairs of aquanauts stand along all the corridors that lead in the direction of air lock or hangar and have them open each door in sequence each turn to create a long sniping corridor. Also: never-ever use sonic pulsers in tight corridors. Trust me on this one - they rip away the base walls like paper.

 

To answer your question about opening the Triton door (and the base's blast doors), face the door and right click it to open it. Basically standing next to a door and 'look'ing at the tile past the door.

 

The maps are certainly messier and larger, and might be difficult to traverse at first. But it completely changes once you get Mag. Ion Armour, you'll start finding that they are much easier compared to many UFO maps because most of the obstacles are lower on the ground in the more common maps. You can literally send a Displacer out to scout, and have everyone hover over the Triton and snipe at almost everything that's outside of the sub. You'll only need to move just to get a better angle to shoot around the alien sub, and then to surround the sub to prepare for the sub assault. If you're lucky, you can often deal with almost all the aliens from outside.

 

 

Don't worry - Sniper/spotter strategy still works, even when you're stuck walking on the sea bed. Learn the maps and you'll get used to them. Many maps are quite open with lots of space to move and snipe from afar. There are even some map features you can use. The sunken Spannish galleon map for example has a perfect spot in the wreck to set up a sniping team. The volcanic terrain (which is sadly quite common) has lots of hills where you can set up elevated teams to cover the scouts ahead. Often you'll find wide open areas where you can spread out in a wide line. Also because sonic pulsers are so common amongst the aliens, if there's too much stuff on the ground slowing down your movement: destroy it.

 

The aliens subs are indeed quite hard to fight in, but again you will get accustomed to them. The Dreadnought for example is quite a maze, but also quite a fun place to fight in. Make use of the door opening trick, and if you are lucky enough to kill a calcinite and recover its corpse, you'll find that indoor combat will be greatly assisted by the drills the calcinite corpse unlocks.

 

I can't answer the extra TU cost - there are some weird map tiles with strange properties that cost more to walk on than they should. Walking through a destroyed door or wall for example costs as much as if you opened a door.

 

I can't answer for normal scenarios on how an alien will react, but it is possible the ones you've noticed are suffering from a mild state of panic where they've panicked but you haven't been alerted to this fact. As panic/berserk effects leave them with 0 TUs, they can't use mind control or panic on you. This even happens in UFO, and you will especially see this effect happening a lot on superhuman. Keep an eye out for sonic weapons lying on the ground in areas you've not previously been to, or you hear gunshots that aren't directed at your aquanauts. This is a good indicator that one alien has panicked, or gone berserk in the case of the mystery gunshots.

 

Door closing - they should close normally. If you save and reload during a mission however, there is a door bug that results in doors getting stuck open if they are left open at the time you save the game. In this instance, it's a good practice to save at the very start of a turn before opening any doors.

 

The no-line-of-sight thing is a problem with the 3d shape of the tile not exactly matching its image. There's unfortunately a lot of these in TFTD. Some were present in UFO, but TFTD makes them much more visible. I hope one of these days someone makes a fixed map pack for these.

 

The explosion in the sub may have been a Thermal Shok Launcher (TFTD's (super) Stun Bomb). That's about the only thing I can think of that would explode and not destroy the Ion Beam Accelerator.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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So, is the discussion page of ufopaedia true? I mean, it says that aliens have 9 spawn points per sub pen and 9 in access lift - but on superhuman only 28 max aquatoid aliens should show up from a dreadnought! So, WTF? I have 36 spawn points for them! Why wouldnt they use them?

 

Or is it just a random event that happens everytime? I mean, is there absolutely NO way to counter that? At all?

Maybe there is a way to edit a game to add more spawn points so that they never spawn in my part of the base?

 

I mean its just ridiculous. Its so random it doesnt make sense to play on "no save/load" since it might be almost pefrect win or a disaster just based on just pure luck?

 

Also, some base modules are not "through and through" - they have doors that block corridors. This seriously screws my tactics as i usually set an ambush in the far side of the corridor, and shoot at aliens spotted by other guys. Is it a bug or intended? Do select number of facilities have such "closed" planning?

 

---

 

About explosion, no it wasnt stun bomb because both aliens died (heard their cry). And the explosion looked like it happened right at the door (of the sub that looks like, hm, a peanuts) so i suppose wherever that accelerator is located, it was far enough and behind doors and walls so it didnt explode. OR maybe one of those exploded and one survived? I recovered one from that... hm... peanuts like looking sub, maybe it was supposed to have two? Anyway it still looked like the explosion center was the door out, but i might be wrong.

Edited by Istrebitel
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You could always build more sub-pens if you'd like to really test it out. TFTD however has always allowed aliens to spawn a little way inside the base. You can do a no save/reload scenario with it. Just be more careful. From my experience, I've never encountered any spawning inside rooms, only in the outer corridors on the floor level. Basically at the start those in the corridors should check their immediate surroundings for aliens and flee to the safety of nearby rooms before they are spotted, or gun down the aliens if they have sufficient firepower to do so.

 

As for the doors in the base, as I mentioned: use the blast doors. Have aquanauts stationed all down the path you want to set up as your sniping corridor. At the start of each turn, have aquanauts stationed at each doorway open them to create your firing path. The biggest advantage here is that aquanauts that open a door closest to the aliens can immediately step to the side to get behind some cover. Then let those in the module directly behind them open and fire on their target. If more firepower is needed, or they are in visible range of the enemy they can simply step aside and let the ones in the module immediately behind them open their blast door and start firing. Repeat this process all the way down to the last module in your firing corridor. I managed to fend off a lobsterman attack this way and it was very effective.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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For me they spawn inside too. I use xcomutils defensive base layout and aliens spawn inside rooms of the module at the corner (adjacent to the one adjacent to the access lift) (sorry forgot what is the module's purpose but i think its LQ or stores). Sometimes more than one alien spawns there. Sometimes they dont have any gear, but if they do, its like "if i dont kill it with one shot, it kills me". Surprisingly, they never yet spawned anywhere except those two modules closest to the access lift (tried out this mission like 5 times just to find out how do i do it)

 

About popping from the rooms - what do you do with calcinites? And overall with enemy turns? Dont they open the doors and shoot you. I also tried to do it like this - pop out from doors, shoot and pop back, and it worked to some extent, but then one calcinite killed THREE people in different rooms in one turn. Before, like 10 aquatoids and 3 calcinites completely ignored doors and rushed my sniper team in the far back.

 

What makes an AI try to look inside doors? Maybe there is some pattern to exploit, a way to choose "safe" doors to hide behind?

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