Gripes About Tftd

[Pherdnut]

The one thing I really don't like about TFTD is that first few months can be really repetitive. With only four primary races in the game, I find myself getting sick of Gilman terror missions real fast. Especially since it seems a lot less likely that the aliens will be particularly active around your starting base like they tend to be in EU.

 

The tech tree is a little bit more balanced, making you go through more trouble to get the really ultimate stuff. I just wish it made more sense. What the heck does a Deep One Terrorist have to do with MC and its corpse with aquaplastics? Don't all the critters have implants? If you had to grab an engineer to get the plastics, that would have made sense. What does an amorphous slimy creature in a diving suit have to do with melee drills? Do they all carry the manuals for vibroblades or something? Why do I have to grab a Tasoth, when every Aquatoid above the rank of Squad Leader and even Gilman commanders seems to have MC ability.

 

Heavy Gauss is dumb. Gauss Cannons, like their laser counterparts are useful only for resale (they could have used a range increase to make them good against medium ships).

 

Limited weaponry on land is really annoying. Once I've got my ships equipped, I don't want to have to go back and change the loadout over and over again. Consequently, torpedoes and hydrojets never get used. An interesting game dynamic with no real fun potential. If there were handy land-specific weapons, I'd like it more.

 

What the heck is that thing on the back of the Flying Mag Ion Armor? It looks like a big orange tongue or something. Ew.

 

If you're going to model a true to scale cruise liner, at least alter the alien AI for these missions so we don't have to spend hours searching that one last !@#$ alien that's camping in a bathroom somewhere.

 

The tech bugs, of course, are the absolute worst. I don't remember running into these on the original version. I think shifting some of the tech around in the patches may have broken something in the code.

[dan2]

Indeed, at the begining one sees gillmen and aquatoids, which is a bit monotonous, but if you're lucky, you can see calcinites and deep one terrorists even in the first month.When I played UFO1, the game kept giving me only farm missions, that's what I would call monotonous, though.

DeepOne connection to MC? I guess Gillman squad leaders control DeepOnes using a device called MC reader. Humans were able to use the device to read minds, but who knows what that device can do in the hand of a Gillman Squad Leader.

The skin of DeepOnes is probably made of flexible Aqua Plastics, which probably still contains the enzymes responsible for its flexibility and finally earth scientist were able to isolate and replicate those enzymes which are used in transforming Aqua Plastics in the desired objects: weapons, armors and so on. No Deep One corpse, no enzymes, no possibility to mold the recovered Aqua Plastics in storage in the desired objects.

Connection between Calcinites and VibroBlades? I guess studying the weapon the calcinites use really gives a hint to scientists how vibroblades work and where is safe to put ones fingers on that thing to make it work.

Why Tasoths for MC disruptors and no gillmen or aquatoids or other creatures? Brainwaves compatibility with humans, stronger MC skills, pure luck.......who knows for sure? but any can be a cause.

Gauss Weaponry? Yeah, pretty ineffective, but I love the sounds they make

Limited weaponry on land? By the time the first terror site happens, one can have sonic pistols. Even Gas Cannons are good enough, though. I know, though, it's a shame to have weapons and not to use them everywhere

I agree with you, many things could be better in TFTD, but I still think it's a fun game to play

Edited April 14, 2006 by dan2