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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Robo Dojo 58

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    Everything BUT X-COM. Yep. That's right. Everything else. Not a chance in the world that I like X-COM.

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  1. I've never been a fan of the autocannon. I don't like how it can destroy valuable equipment with a Hi-EX autoshot, which is something the heavy cannon and rocket launcher don't do. I do keep one around as an auto-flare gun, though. I never really liked grenades either, as I find it more fitting to use the heavy cannon and rocket launcher for the same purpose. The terrain advantage of grenades doesn't matter with me either, because I flatten the place.
  2. Why bother with lancers? I'm not sure they do much, if ANY damage to a mothership at all. Lineage plasma, on the other hand, is able to pierce the supersized UFO armor with damage to spare. Without alien tech, your only hope at piercing UFO armor are tons of expensive missiles, limited ammo plasma cannons, and the lowly Griffon tank. That rumble cannon packs a punch if you can get the tank to position in time, and the tank plasma will do considerable damage as well. You will need to place your tanks around the city as they can't chase UFOs, but they're dirt cheap at 10K a pop. A fully equipped explorer is worth closer to 80K(weapons and shields), and you'd need several times the value of those to get the same punch as a tank armada. That's about the only use I found for road vehicles, as anything fast moving is simply pointless to fight with one. Though I just might give those ground AA missile arrays a shot sometime...
  3. And the rocket's red glare... The bombs bursting in air... gave proof through the night... that the crys'lids weren't there. Large rockets, Large rockets, and demo charges. These are your earliest and most trustworthy weapon against chrysallids for several reasons: 1) AoE. Hard to miss. 2) Kills everything around. Nice bonus. 2a) Kills civilians. In truth, they're better off dead than a zombie. 3) Very reliable at dealing a fatal blow. Against higher difficulty chrysallids you might need a second rocket, or some conventional arms. 4) Flattens the landscape. This is the biggest bonus. Chrysallids just loooove to hide behind doors, walls, shrubs, you name it. A chrysallid not spotted is going to be your biggest source of woe. Flatten the land and they have no places to hide. Reaction fire is generally a Bad Idea™ against chrysallids. Chrysallids are born with high reaction scores and huge TU reserves. When the average wandering agent tries to make a shot, the chrysallid will already have crossed a baseball field and hit 2 men. If you want to spot one in time you need a LOT of open space for it to run across, for even the most idly waiting of reaction soldiers. In order to do that on a terror mission you will likely need to "make" some flat land with a good chunk of high explosives. If you're lucky, in the process of levelling you might knock down a chryssy or two! I think the blaster bombs are too cheap for personal use. But when you get them you won't be fearing chrysallids much anymore.
  4. One thing I'd like to point out is that a VAST majority of UFOs do touch down and land. Only a select few don't. They're the retaliation scouts and retaliation battleship assaults, for the most part. Shoot down the larger infiltration ships/convoys, you obviously wouldn't want to lose countries now. A UFO that touches down willingly comes with a full store of Elerium. That being said, as long as you aim for landed UFO assaults you will NEVER have an issue with Elerium in X-COM, because you'll have a constant supply of UFOs to get it from. If you're constantly rolling it in, how much Elerium would you really NEED to keep on hand?
  5. Why use a heavy laser when you can use a heavy rocket? If you're going to go for a heavy weapon, don't hold back.
  6. Aww, cheating's no fun. Tossing smoke grenades on the first turn has plenty of benefits. The big one is that aliens start the first turn with full TU's. Waiting a turn will usually leave them worn out for reaction fire. The smoke helps make sure they don't see you inside first thing as well.
  7. Sometimes I just go out and LEVEL the city. Down to turning even the grass tiles into craters.
  8. What do you mean, about NKF loving rocket launchers?
  9. No squad is complete without a complement of heavy weapons guys. I recommend following the philosophy that you should ALWAYS use high ex UNLESS it's a bad time. High explosives have several advantages over conventional firearms, including: - It leaves smoke which can immediately stop reaction fire. No sight, no shot. - The damage range leaves a more reliable injury, which hinders reaction fire. - X-COM has many many close shots, like missing by a few tiles. Explosions will connect for those shots. Aliens near a wall can not be missed! - Explosions blow up around corners. - Explosions remove walls and cover. Flatten the map, and your sniper worries are gone! - Direct hits use the underside armor, which is the weakest armor point for units. So even though an explosion does less damage than heavier rifles, it is defended less as well. - Large units take 4 hits from explosions. So even a reaver, with over 140health, can be taken down with one ~50 damage grenade. - It will attack multiple aliens at once. A large rocket can clear a small scout UFO in one shot. And last but most importantly: - High explosive rockets work on everything! Even the mighty superhuman sectopod can be taken down with a few lucky hits. So deck out those rocket rookies, and use kneeling AIMED shots for the best results. Any shot over 70% won't miss by more than a tile or two to the side. I also prefer the more precision based heavy cannon over the autocannon(Edit: Use HI-Ex!). On easy it will 1-shot most anything you come across, its power makes it pretty much a grenade launcher. Yes, explosions will hurt your guys too. The heavy cannon is mostly harmless for units in personal armor, and takes effort to injure someone in power armor. The heavy rocket needs only a few tiles of breathing room in personal armor, and will be safe nearly point blank in power armor. Just don't hit adjacent or behind your armored units, it's bad
  10. Is it also possible to change the number of UFOs that spawn and go through the gates?
  11. Small UFOs don't get one shot kills on hoverbikes. Their small devastator weapon deals 20 damage, minus 1 armor, to their 20 health. Falling debris, however, is extremely hazardous. If you fly high you will aim down, hit buildings, and anger corporations. If you fly low you can have buildings fall and crush your vehicles. The advanced engines are VERY IMPORTANT for your vehicles. Always always pick up the best engines for both your hoverbikes and your covercars. That little extra speed makes a huge difference when you're working with a small vehicle. You should see a difference between losing 2-4 bikes a fight, and losing 1-2 if you're having a bad day. Since hovercars come with the best hoverbike engine, I tend to pick up a mix of both vehicles.
  12. In X-COM 1 you don't have to worry about destroying loot with explosives. The alien will always drop loot intact when it dies, no matter how big the explosion. However, it is in your best interest to only NEED one explosion. If you use the HE autocannon on autoshot, the extra explosions will have a chance to destroy valuable loot. Chances are you won't find multiple aliens in a compact area. Each explosive you use will have plenty of breathing room so that you don't destroy anything worthwhile.
  13. I guess I'm a little late on the topic, but I find personal armor to be extremely valuable for wielding hi explosives. You can be much more reckless with the heavy cannon and rocket launcher, and the armor will save against many casualties that starter armor won't. Because of my love for rockets I stick with lasers for a long time. For the same reason I try to get personal armor asap.
  14. It's very handy to build a second Quantum Physics and Bio Lab at the beginning of the game. By the time they are completed, you will have a lot of topics queued up and ready for them. The labs are cheap, and will easily fit inside your first base. Similarly, get an extra workshop when funds permit. You won't need them right away, but it's preferable to get one started by the second week. Don't get tempted to replace skilled labor when higher skill levels come along! $800 adds up fast, and you get no refund for firing someone. You will get FAR better results from filling up extra labs/workshops with average workers, than going through 3-4 waves to stock one lab with the best. Put the best scientists/workers in one shop, and the worst in the other(s), so that you can prioritize your projects. I personally don't like the Valkyrie Interceptor or Air Hawk ships. You will NEED one to assault crashed UFOs with the cargo and bio modules. But spending around $80K for 2 guns, while the Air Hawk is over 100K for 3... it just isn't worth it. They will also soak up UFO fire and die surprisingly fast for a big ship. A hoverbike is a cool $5K for one gun, and the hovercars are about $10K for 2 guns. Max out the engines, and despite their low health they will evade most UFO fire. I agree that road vehicles are terrible. However, the Griffon AV tank has one of the few starting weapons that can reasonably damage a Giant UFO. While it's not listed in the UFOpaedia, the rumble cannon is terrible because of its 1/4 firing arc. The plasma cannon covers a 3/4 arc, and its damage is enough to damage the giant UFOs. They can not intercept UFOs more than a few blocks from their position, even the slow ones. To make ANY use of them you'll need 5-6 tanks armed and dispersed throughout the city. It's not as bad as it sounds, as their cost is on par with a hovercar, and you can get swarms of those.
  15. Wow, that's amazing! I'm glad to see it's actually possible. I'm afraid I wasn't able to beat it myself, and with my recent change in hardware I need to dig around to find the game again. As for the confusion with MC, you can definitely research them to get access to the mind shield. That is, if you can afford the time out of your slaving scientist's schedules. You just can't use the Psi Lab, and thus the PSI amp for the final mission. Mind Control would cheapen it too much IMO, with a hard beginning it just wouldn't be right to have an easy mission at the end.
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