Where Starting Base

[Don Meu]

hi, where place starting base? USA or Europe?...

[grommet]

It doesn't really matter...either works well, as does somewhere else entirely.

 

I generally start in Europe, as it does allow you to cover at least part of six contributing nations (and they pretty much always pay more combined than US & Canada), and it allows faster response times to several other nations than North America. Also, Europe is the most expensive place on the planet to place an access lift ($1,000,000), so getting it free with the first base is nice.

 

Grommet

[[stewart]]

Either Europe or USA. Me? Europe (sofia Bulgaria to be exact).

 

The argument for USA goes something like: the US is the biggest single contributer, if you make them happy then the funding increase is that much larger and conversely if you lose them its REALLY bad early on. Europe is ful of many countries you are not likely to lose or make happy all of them at once.

 

The argument for Europe is that you protect more money plus you have several more nations near Europe since Europe is surrounded by land rather than sea.

 

Try 'em both and see which meets your playing style.

[Robo Dojo 58]

I definately go with Europe. That place is a breeding den of alien activity. Plus, it has good access to Asia and Africa, so you have a ton of funding nations covered.

 

I find the value of the funding nations is pretty unimportant. The vast majority of your resources is going to come from UFOs. Since it only takes a tiny country to keep X-COM up and running, I prefer quantity of coverage over quality.

[Horoma]

My preferences are around the Bermuda Triangle (North- and South-America) or around the Mediterranian (Europe, Africa, Middle-East)

[zaimoni]

Hmm...well, it depends on what you want to do.

 

My historical preference has been Base Nigeria for starting base (not Lagos, rather completing the square at the eastern notch, with immediately starting a second base near Tokyo...which lets interceptors go *anywhere* land on Earth on Jan. 29, 1999. Radar coverage itself is problematic, but the activity graphs compensate...and interceptors have their own radar.

 

For raw radar coverage, Eastern Europe catches more land regions than anywhere else...of course, being near the border between two regions gives you more chances for inviting base attacks.

[[NKF]]

I guess it's easy to just go by the philosophy of building it wherever you want it. There are obvious pros and cons for each area, but that's to be expected.

 

Money - as mentioned, different areas, different amounts of cash. Europe has a cluster of low paying countries, but if you please them all, your cash bonus will be greater than if you were to please Canada, US and south America alone.

 

No matter where you go, you should however aim for becoming self sufficient and only rely on funds for base/aircraft rent.

 

Coverage - areas where there are a lot of countries and land should have a fair amount of UFO traffic. Not to say that the US mainland won't receive less or more traffic than the European mainland.

 

Loss of land due to Infiltration - The American mainland is one big egg basket. Lose America, Canada and the South American countries and you'll end up with a LOT of stagnant land that you're protecting. In Europe, you may lose a few countries, but your efforts in lost countries will still impact quite favourably on the neighbours.

 

On the flip side of the coin: Lost countries DO have a benefit. Each lost country represent an additional target for the aliens to infiltrate! Reinfiltrating an already infiltrated country has no effect beyond your average unimportant UFO patrol/landing.

 

Terrain preference - The US has a good mix of all the terrain types, and you get jungle Terrain by hopping the southern border. Europe = farms. Africa, Middle East and India = desert and farms. South America is mostly jungle and farms. Australia is desert and farms. Siberia/Russia/China is mostly conifer parkland with a few mountains. If you find that you fight better in one terrain, this is a great way to put the odds for your first few missions in your favour.

 

So money or strategic advantage? Sometimes it's just easier to just put one down at random and see how you can go from there.

 

- NKF

[Blood Angel]

I feel compelled to point out at this point the sheer impenetrability of Russia as a nation to alien infiltration.

[[stewart]]

It's there Xenophobia