Help! I == N00b!

[Brick-To-Face]

I've been playing UFO:Enemy Unknown for about 2 weeks now and I think there's something really wrong, because I suck. I'm generally not bad in tactics (battlescape) since I save and reload a lot. I have an easy time starting out, I get 14 soldiers, 25 Sci, alien containment, living space, storage and large radar right away, (I try to follow every little piece of advice I find around here). I attack every ship I detect, and my research goes like: Motion Sensor, Medkit (may be interrupted), Plasma (Heavy or rifle) + clip, alien alloys + power source (for power suits), and any Aliens I capture I interrogate. I try to get 50-75 Sci ASAP, and I don't use HWPs because I'm not really good with those (even as scouts they die). I Capture quite a lot of aliens, but I try to finish a plasma weapon before I interrogate any. For battlescape I generally stick with this strategy (it's a skyranger and "=" is a ramp):

/AAAABAA===

\AAAAABA===

A == {rifle + clip + grenade}

B= {pistol + clip + motion scanner (in left hand) + electroflare (at night) + smoke (for terror) + stun rod (backpack) + medkit}

One of my questions is, can you change the order (initial positioning) of your troops on the ship and how do you rename them? Anyway, back to me sucking. The ufo missions go by fine until there is a terror site. Here I have 2 options, go == everyone dies, stay == funds cut. I have tried going many times, I save and load a lot and only go during daylight (no unfair advantage for aliens) but I always get OWN3D. I have tried taking considerably longer times on missions, and making sure that all my troops get MAX movement so their TUs grow. BTW this is all on begginner. Anyways, I was hoping someone could tell me if I'm forgetting something awfully important here. I always use smoke bombs when starting terror missions. But those stupid disks just don't die! And when they do they blow up, and that often costs me some one. I have never even gotten as far as seeing a chryssalid! Please help!

[Zombie]

One of my questions is, can you change the order (initial positioning) of your troops on the ship and how do you rename them?

For the position of troops on your ship see the How Do I Put Soldiers First, that`s the point topic. In a nutshell, it can't be done without some major hassles. As for renaming soldiers, in the Geoscape go to "Soldiers". Scroll to the soldier you want and click on it. See the bar at the top containing the soldiers name? Click on it. You can now edit his/her name.

 

Anyways, I was hoping someone could tell me if I'm forgetting something awfully important here. I always use smoke bombs when starting terror missions. But those stupid disks just don't die! And when they do they blow up, and that often costs me some one. I have never even gotten as far as seeing a chryssalid! Please help!

Don't fool yourself, Terror missions are tough to complete (even on beginner). They are one of the most difficult missions to master because you are dealing with aliens all over the place (instead of concentrated inside a UFO). Trying to find them all is usually done by listening for death screams from the civilians.

 

Seriously, the best advise for a newbie is to take it slow and bring along soldiers with some missions under their belts. Rookies on a Terror Site is like handing the aliens some points on a platter, cause some are bound to die. Cyberdiscs? Long-range attacks are best because of the auto-detonate feature upon death. Keep your distance, and use stronger weapons (like Laser Rifles or Heavy Plasmas). That way the explosion will not kill your guys. :wink1:

[Brick-To-Face]

Thanks Zombie, I think it'll help a bit, is the positioning of stuff (aliens sihps, buildings) random if you reload right before the battlescape begins?

[Zombie]

Thanks Zombie, I think it'll help a bit, is the positioning of stuff (aliens sihps, buildings) random if you reload right before the battlescape begins?

If you save in the Geoscape (the screen with the globe) and then enter a mission, the aliens (as well as the positions of things) are random. If you save in the Battlescape (during a mission) everything is saved the way you see it. This is a big help because if you are having trouble you can change your strategy and try something else until it works.

[Brick-To-Face]

Aah, good, sorry, I never run out of questions. I have never shot down a "Very Small", one of those 1x1 scouts, but I was thinking if anyone else had, I know that 1 stingray kills them, and they can outrun an interceptor if you're trying to use the cannon, but since I've never constructed a UFO, (possibly a fast one) I was thinking if anyone has ever done it. Looks quite cool.

Edit: Another question, In the UFOPaedia I read that mutons are always controlled by an ethereal, if this is true, does it hide in the top floor on battleships? Is it worth it flying in and taking the whole force out (is it even feisable). And has anyone done it before?

Edited June 5, 2005 by Brick-To-Face

[[Blehm 98]]

you use stingrays and avalanches against them

 

one stingray will not kill a very small UFO

but replace all stingrays and cannons with avalanches, and get laser weaponry

[Brick-To-Face]

Hmm, I don't care to destroy it, I actually don't want to. I'm not sure how to make it crash land instead, if possible...

[[Blehm 98]]

shoot it with a stingray

it only has one soldier so its not very tough either

[Brick-To-Face]

I'll give it a try right now...

Edit: Just tried it, 1st stingray hit it, but didn't kill, then I followed, but the UFO outranged me, I chased it for a few more minutes, then it slowed again, the 2nd stingray got a "UFO DESTROYED"... Damn those are hard to shoot down...

Edited June 5, 2005 by Brick-To-Face

[Zombie]

In order to shoot down the Small and Medium Scouts without them pulling away you need the more advanced craft (Lightning, Firestorm, Avenger). Need I mention equipped with a Cannon for the Small and a Stingray for the Medium? The larger UFO's never pull away because they know they can take a few hits and still survive. The smaller UFO's are skittish and rarely get aggressive with you because their damage potentials are soo low.

 

The UFOpaedia entry for the Muton is trying to say that Ethereals control the Mutons telepathically somehow, but not from the mission screen. There are no Ethereals on missions with Mutons. All missions (except for the final one) have one race represented with the occasional terrorists in Terror and Battleships and base defense missions. Perhaps the Ethereals control their minions from space. I dunno, but it isn't from within a mission.

[Brick-To-Face]

Ahh, that explains it. Anyway, just playde ~10 games trying to shoot down the VERY SMALL scout, but it always dies from my first stingray now, damn, better play some more.

Edit: YAY! It worked! Here's the VERY detailed documentation if anyone is interested:

Game begins. Base "a" positioned south of Gobi desert, any UFO detected will most likely be over land, all water is far away. January: three SMALL UFOs spotted, all idnored, INTERCEPTOR-2 re-equipped, now with 2 cannons. February: many UFOs spotted, most SMALL, one TERROR site (ignored), many countries very mad. March: one SMALL UFO spotted, then one VERY SMALL UFO, Interceptor-1 deployed, (I have noticed that if I deploy both, the first stingray DESTROYS a VERY SMALL UFO, this may be a coincidebce, but I won't take that chance) it flies far NORTH EAST to eastern Siberia, and engages the UFO, one stingray hits, then the interceptor is outrunned, the UFO lands in the Arctic NORTH of Kamchatka, Russia, Interceptor-2 deployed, along with Skyranger-1. Interceptor-2 arrives, Interceptor-1 sent back to base. Skyranger approaches, but UFO takes off. Interceptor-2 fires cannons, and gets outrunned. All travel SOUTH WEST towards base. Interceptor-2 catches up and fires more cannon rounds, this time the UFO crash lands. Interceptor-2 returns to base "a" and Skyranger-1 touches down. Battlescape: Skyranger-1 is in SOUTH corner, UFO is seen through window, NORTH WEST of ship, very close. First soldier gets out, fired upon after jumping off ramp, (miss) approaches UFO, fired upon again, (miss) approaches more, fired upon again, shot to death. Second soldier gets out, safely travels behind SOUTH leg of UFO and crouches. Alien noticed NORTH WEST of UFO. Trird, fourthe and fifth soldiers line up behind EAST leg of UFO and crouch. End of turn. Soldier closest to EAST leg shot to death. Soldier behind NORTH leg is fired upon (miss). Soldier furthest from EAST leg of UFO goes under UFO and up. then down and turns away from alien slightly NORTH WEST of UFO, all turn around so noone gets a reaction-kill. End of turn. Multiple shots fired, amazingly all miss, I take some screenshots and kill alien with the second soldier. 4 artifacts recovered. 1 Alien Alloys. 1 Plasma Rifle. 1 Plasma Pistol Clip. (?) 1 Sectoid Corpse. Game Abandoned.

Ok that's it, let me get my screenshots and post them.

Mwahah! I have extracted a picture of the small UFO from one of my screen shots. It is attached.

Edited June 5, 2005 by Brick-To-Face

[[NKF]]

Where to begin?

 

Movement

 

When you mentioned you try to get everyone to perform max movement to increase their TUs, I take it you make sure they always use up all their TUs for walking as much as possible?

 

If that is the case, then you may want to stop that right away.

 

Moving does not increase TUs. TUs are improved through a lot of actions, which almost always involves some form of offense against the aliens. Hitting with bullets/grenades/rockets, stunning, mind controlling/panicking with a psi-amp, getting a reaction shot or even going berserk/panicking raises TUs - but not running or getting exhausted.

 

Next, the reason why you're getting shot at with a lot of reaction shots is because you're using up all your TUs. In a nutshell, the more you use your TUs, the lower your reaction score becomes. You may have a great 70 reaction points, but that's reduced to 0 when you use up all your TUs. It doesn't show this in the soldier stats. It's basically reduced by a percentage of your remaining TUs.

 

Every time an alien with a higher reaction score sees you, it gets off a reaction shot, but if your reactions are higher, you can do whatever you want as long as the reactions hold out.

 

This is why you should take it easy and to get your soldiers to sprint only when it's absolutely necessary, or if you're sure there's no aliens looking.

 

So the trick is to send out scouts with high TUs and high reactions and have them move slowly when approaching unknown territory. Remember: do not open fire with the scouts, doing so will attract reaction fire as your shot will no doubt reduce your reaction score considerably. Have soldier hang back and open fire from long range - this is an incredibly effective strategy because if the aliens cannot see you, they cannot shoot back.

 

Or if you must have the scout attack, have the scout take a few steps back before firing (i.e. until you no longer see the alien as a target). This works wonders in full daylight, but at night you'd have to give yourself an extra few tiles.

 

Cyberdiscs

 

Far be it for me to recommend how you should research your equipment - but I'd recomend getting the laser rifle specifically for handling cyberdiscs. Otherwise you'd need something heftier, like high explosives and large rockets.

 

Do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT use the rocket tank against cyberdiscs that aren't severly crippled. The just don't do enough damage to justify spending 2 - 3 rockets per cyberdisc at full strength. A cannon tank on the other hand is more effective, but not as effective as a large rocket.

 

- NKF

[Tsereve]

Once you have to fight higher-level terror units, the Laser Rifle will prove invaluable. Excellent damage against Cyberdisks and Sectopods, as well as getting rid of the cover around that one pesky sniper.

[[Blehm 98]]

like i said though, if you don't want to repair your interceptors routinely, then replace cannons and stingrays with avalanches and sell the garbage

[Brick-To-Face]

Thanks guys, especially Zombie and NFK. I read somewhere that cyberdisks had no "weakness", but I will try my hand with the laser rifle. Also, if going bezerk increases your stats, then, (assuming all that is is shooting) should shooting affect your stats? (Laser weapons would be great for this) Thanks everyone. I'm off to playing for a few hours, and I'll get back to you. NFK, you either type really fast or have no life (that's a compliment). BTW, after finding some funny comics some one linked to (sluggy.com or something) about X-Com, I feel like firing up the 'ole Macromedia Flash 5, and making something. I'll get back to you on that too later....

Edit: Do rookies never learn? Literally though, I played a game and made all my rookies shoot a lot, at the ground and stuff. I got two Sergants, they appear to be the only ones to learn anything.

Edited June 6, 2005 by Brick-To-Face

[[stewart]]

Toss a high explosive under a cyberdisk and you get cyberdisk-be-gone; it has not yet failed for me.

[Kratos]

I simply get all the laser stuff research first, and equip my crafts with laser cannons. Laser cannons have unlimited ammo and are researched right after Heavy Laser (which Heavy Lasers suck <_ you will also be able to get laser tanks as well. i am saying this because rarely use conventional weapons at all and refrain from using them by researching weapons. like the rifle alot more accurate than pistol is a good tool against mutons beginning. it your friend when cross ethereal terror units which are called sectopods. they immune plasma fire but weak fire. unlimited ammo helps too. won have spend money on dumb clips.> Edited June 6, 2005 by Kratos

[[NKF]]

Rookies learn fast - very fast. Well, they learn a lot faster than veterans. Try it, compare a brand new rookie against one that's had a few mission's worth of experience. The difference is astounding!

 

However, shooting at the ground will never increase their stats. You have to hit enemy targets. Note: If you cannot shoot straight, consider tossing grenades instead. In terms of accuracy, a grenade is a heck of a lot more accurate as ... heh, well, it's not exactly a weapon that needs accuracy. But it can help you become more accurate.

 

As for going berserk - well, the shooting, if it hits an enemy target, will count towards your ordinary combat experience as if you'd fired a shot yourself. Otherwise it also add to your panic count, which also increases stats.

 

- NKF

Edited June 6, 2005 by NKF

[[Blehm 98]]

Heavy laser does not suck, just on lower difficulties you won't need the heavy damage it does so it appears to suck compared to other faster firing weapons

Heavy laser is a sniper laser, and works wonders against sectopods and all but mutons(etherials take two or more hits usually)

[Kratos]

Heavy laser does not suck, just on lower difficulties you won't need the heavy damage it does so it appears to suck compared to other faster firing weapons

Heavy laser is a sniper laser, and works wonders against sectopods and all but mutons(etherials take two or more hits usually)

 

Exactly. Compare the Heavy Laser to the Heavy Plasma, it is too weak compared to the Heavy Plasma. I don't say raise the damage, but raise the Accuracy. It is meant for sniping.

 

Even the Heavy Plasma needs adjusting, but viceversa. It is too powerful. I say, toss the Autoshot and lessen the clip amount. The heavy Plasma is meant for sniping as well.

 

These changes had been made in UFO2000 (a game based on Xcom 1) already, which is good to hear.

Edited June 6, 2005 by Kratos

[[Blehm 98]]

i think the heavy laser fits the sniper role already, its designed to be a sectopod annihilator

[jman4117]

Just need a 90+ accuracy sniper to be effective with it's somewhat sucky snap shots. But yes, a must have anti-ethereal terror weapon.

[Exo2000]

Use the X-COMUtil HWP Booster to make Tanks much much better.

 

It's fun to have Hover/Plasmas taking four or five Heavy Plasma hits before they even start to get into Health losses!

 

EDIT: Three H/Ps with HWP booster will own terror sites against nearly anything.

 

Skyranger, 2 soldiers in Flying Armour, any weapon will do, just something (if it's a Snakeman terror mission, make sure they're OFF THE GROUND, you do NOT want two extra Chrysallids running around!) and three hover/plasmas. Try and keep them off the ground as much as possible, too, as Chryssalid attacks are pretty damaging to HWPs, I believe.

Edited June 6, 2005 by Exo2000

[Kratos]

Speaking of XcomUtil, it updates the heavy laser the way I am talking about.

[Brick-To-Face]

I guess the admins don't approve of my semi-explicit cartoons. So I will just poen a freewebs account especially for these. I hope you like the second one. The website will be http://www.freewebs.com/theqcom/ but there's nothing there yet. Please wait a couple of hours as I create it... Edited June 8, 2005 by Brick-To-Face

[[NKF]]

They've been moved to a more suitable sub-forum. Check under:

 

Xenocide & xcomufo Forums -> Xcom(UFO,TFTD,Apoc) Main Forums Category -> Xcom inspired games, editors, websites, and media, as well as game-file editing -> Xcom Media -> Xcom Humour

 

Or just use:

 

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showforum=76

 

- NKF

[Brick-To-Face]

Thx everyone, I FINISHED A TERROR MISSION! Only 1 wounded, the lasers did the trick!

[Exo2000]

Also a good idea is to move slowly, so your soldiers have plenty of TUs for reaction fire. Set them to reserve aimed, snap or auto, then move along in small groups of four or five, moving about five to seven squares per turn, down a main street. Keep a formation that means everyone's back is covered. You also keep Energy and Stamina high, meaning your men won't run out of breath or be unable to do anything.

 

The aliens should come to you. Be ready to disperse if alien grenades start coming your way.

Edited June 9, 2005 by Exo2000

[[Blehm 98]]

Actually, a group of three who cover one soldiers movement as he moves up is also good, since three soldiers(armed with their own or generic weapons) can take out most aliens

[Exo2000]

Generally, on my current game, my Soldiers with Heavy Plasmas have a near 100% hit-rate on snapshot mode.

[Brick-To-Face]

Thanks again everyone, I won another one today, I guess the problem was that I didn't know that cyberdiscs had a laser weakness. Is there a topic somewhere that discusses each species' weakness?

[Kratos]

Thanks again everyone, I won another one today, I guess the problem was that I didn't know that cyberdiscs had a laser weakness. Is there a topic somewhere that discusses each species' weakness?

I always thought that Cyberdiscs are not resistant to everything but depended on the damage of the ammo. Hmm...

[jman4117]

Thanks again everyone, I won another one today, I guess the problem was that I didn't know that cyberdiscs had a laser weakness. Is there a topic somewhere that discusses each species' weakness?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I always thought that Cyberdiscs are not resistant to everything but depended on the damage of the ammo. Hmm...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's mainly that the lasers are so much stronger than similar buyable tech.

Edited June 10, 2005 by jman4117

[Exo2000]

Sectopods are also pretty weak to lasers, Brick. I think they take about 150% damage, compared to about 70-100% from Plasma, and maybe 10% from bullets.

 

Haven't tried lasers on the disks, they succumb to a blast or two of plasma from my H/Ps.

[[NKF]]

edit: As of today, the exact values can be found on the X-Com wiki:

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Damage

 

 

 

Even on superhuman, the laser pistol eats cyberdiscs for breakfast. They're only mildly more powerful than the standard rifles, but they can certainly dish out the damage very well thanks to the minor increase in damage.

 

If you're after the weapon effectiveness, there is a listing of how susceptible certain species are to various damage types in the official strategy guide that someone posted on one X-Com forum. Our resident field tester, Zombie, has conducted rather extensive field tests on the sectopod to see if the values are true, and from the studies so far, they are very close indeed to the values listed in the OSG.

 

Unfortunately I don't have the list - though someone may have a handy link to it.

 

What I do have would be what I've picked up from observation. Sectoids, snakemen and floaters needn't be worrid about as they don't have much armour or much resistance to anything in particular (like unarmoured X-Com soldiers, they take almost 200% from all AP, laser and plasma type weapons).

 

Chryssalids, from observation, take less damage from explosives and slightly more from armour piercing weapons - noticeable if the AP and HE weapons do similar damage (i.e. from a heavy/auto cannon) , otherwise anything from either weapon type that deals heap of damage (High Explosives and Cannon tank shells for example) will deal with them adequately. They just fall apart when faced with laser and plasma. Well, these weapons do have increased damage output so it's not surprising.

 

Mutons and Ethereals - I don't quite remember. However I have seen Mutons crumble easily to point-blank autocannon HE fire. They do seem somewhat tough against AP rounds (but this is from observation - not a known fact). Ethereals have the most armour of all the tool weilding non-terror units, but I think their resistances are mediocre at best. In any case, by the time you meet these, you should have enough firepower at your fingertips to level a small city anyway, so you needn't worry too much about them.

 

Reapers - eh, most weapons will kill them. Explosives and stun bombs kill them the fastest. Like the cyberdisc, low powered weapons like the pistols and rifles however need to contend with their armour more than their resistance, but will kill them eventually.

 

- NKF

Edited October 31, 2006 by NKF

[[Blehm 98]]

I know that Reapers and Chrysallids burn though

[Zombie]

Even on superhuman, the laser pistol eats cyberdiscs for breakfast. They're only mildly more powerful than the standard rifles, but they can certainly dish out the damage very well thanks to the minor increase in damage.

For breakfast? Well, not entirely. On beginner, a Cyberdisc has an armor rating of 17. In order to damage a unit, the power of your weapon has to be one more than the armor rating (in this case 18). The Laser Pistol should do between 0 and 92 points of damage, which means you can inflict a maximum of 74 points of damage. Apply that to a Cyberdisc's health rating of 120, and you'll need to hit it at least twice to kill it. Still, 80% of your Laser Pistol shots that connect will do damage.

 

On superhuman, the armor level of a Cyberdisc doubles to 34. Now your laser pistol can only manage to inflict damage 62% of the time. This means you'll need at least 3 shots to destroy a Cyberdisc. (Statistics dictate an average of 6 shots).

 

So the Laser Pistol is incapable of insta-killing a Cyberdisc with one shot. It just doesn't pump out enough damage. The only laser weapon with enough strength to "eat a cyberdisc for breakfast" is the Heavy Laser, though it even has some trouble. On beginner it should insta-kill a Cyberdisc 14% of the time (one shot, one kill), and on superhuman, it drops to a putrid 4%. Still, lasers are a decent weapon against the ever-formidable Cyberdisc.

 

If you're after the weapon effectiveness, there is a listing of how susceptible certain species are to various damage types in the official strategy guide that someone posted on one X-Com forum. Our resident field tester, Zombie, has conducted rather extensive field tests on the sectopod to see if the values are true, and from the studies so far, they are very close indeed to the values listed in the OSG. 

 

Unfortunately I don't have the list - though someone may have a handy link to it.

Right, that list can be found at the bottom of this page. It's a seldom known sub-area of Danial's UFOpaedia website.

 

- Zombie

[[NKF]]

Regarding the laser pistol: I meant relatively speaking.

 

When you compare it against a common starting weapon, like the standard rifle, it does indeed eat cyberdiscs for breakfast. Not insta-kill, as you say, but it does indeed provide a low cost method of blowing the cyberdiscs out of the sky early in the game, and the difference in effectiveness between the laser pistol against the standard rifle is remarkable.

 

High explosives and large rockets, my preferred early anti superhuman cyberdisc weapons , tend to have a somewhat heftier bill.

 

- NKF

[Brick-To-Face]

I have another question, I heard that stunned aliens wake up after a while? Is this true, I've never seen it happen, but I am cautious and always pick up any stunned aliens that are close to my ship and put them in some stationary back-of-the-skyranger rookie's backpack. Also, if one of my humans is stunned, say by a friendly fire stun bomb, will (s)he wake up in a few turns? If yes, I want to try tossing the corpse onto a ufo roof, sort of top-down attach without the flying suits. And also, I heard about top down attacks, and Heavy Plasmas making holes in UFOs, but is it possible to punch an opening in a UFO roof without Heavy Plasma? Thanks.

[Exo2000]

Eventually they will wake up, but they won't pick up their weapons, they'll run around unarmed and harmless.

[Zombie]

I have another question, I heard that stunned aliens wake up after a while? Is this true, I've never seen it happen, but I am cautious and always pick up any stunned aliens that are close to my ship and put them in some stationary back-of-the-skyranger rookie's backpack. Also, if one of my humans is stunned, say by a friendly fire stun bomb, will (s)he wake up in a few turns? If yes, I want to try tossing  the corpse onto a ufo roof, sort of top-down attach without the flying suits. And also, I heard about top down attacks, and Heavy Plasmas making holes in UFOs, but is it possible to punch an opening in a UFO roof without Heavy Plasma? Thanks.

Where to begin? From the top, I guess.

 

Only 1x1 aliens can revive on their own (exclusion: Zombies which cannot be stunned). If you happen to stun a 2x2 terrorist, it remains permanently unconscious. No amount of waiting (or Medi-Kit stimulants) will do the job. However, you can "manually" revive stunned aliens with the Medi-Kit the same way as your troops: Stand over the body and add stimulant.

 

It's a good idea to separate a stunned alien from his weapons. If it happened to wake up, its will not have it's "primary" weapon, but anything else (including grenades) remain "tied" to that alien. Not a fun surprise. BTW, never, ever, ever carry a stunned Celatid. If it wakes up on it's own, its acid spit will surely get you in trouble. Just kill them.

 

Stunned soldiers will revive on their own... eventually. I use the Medi-Kit to help things along a bit. Sometimes it might take 50 turns for a soldier to wake up, so waiting just isn't an option.

 

As for weapons which will "open up" a UFO: The only things that will work is the Heavy Plasma, a Plasma Hovertank, or the Blaster Bomb. I think the Tank/Laser Cannon has the same weapon strength (110) as the Plasma Hovertank, but alien alloy ceilings are more susceptible to Plasma than Laser.

 

- Zombie

[jman4117]

I have had Reapers wake back up after being taken to low health with a pistol.

[Blood Angel]

I won a terror mission against floaters by barricading a warehouse. Anything that came through the doors got reactionned to death, and I hunted down the skulkers with some flying suits. Basically, the floaters came to me and died, and then I went out and hunted cyberdisc.

[Sporb]

hehe , if you mind control civilians they go evil - mind control them all and see what happens , i think they count as aliens then so you cant get that bad a rating

[Dark Archon]

Ok, i have been playing this game, and I can deal with the terror site ok, I can take out the bases....with 5-9 Xcom Casualties, and a tank lost, but I always seem to lose my funding, and Countries will sign secret pacts with the aliens....can anyone help?

And how much punishment can a Large, or Very Large UFO take? They have taken out both of my Interceptors equipped with 1 Laser cannon, and Avalanches

Edited August 9, 2005 by Dark Archon

[[Blehm 98]]

Very large UFOs take 3000 damage and can do up to 140 damage per shot.... enough to destroy your interceptor 1.4 times, if they get a good shot

 

laser cannons don't stand a chance against Battleships, and avalanches do damage but not enough. Very Larges you have to wait for plasma beams to take out, and larges can be taken out if you hit them with 8-12 avalanches(or 2 interceptors worth)

Medium UFOs also require two interceptors to take out unless you have laser or plasma beam

 

You lose money because countries sign pacts, either because their area didn't get enough points from you and too many from the aliens or infiltration missions got through

 

[edit] My 1300th post, w00t!!!1!!1! [/edit]

Edited August 9, 2005 by blehm

[Blood Angel]

I have another question, I heard that stunned aliens wake up after a while? Is this true, I've never seen it happen, but I am cautious and always pick up any stunned aliens that are close to my ship and put them in some stationary back-of-the-skyranger rookie's backpack. Also, if one of my humans is stunned, say by a friendly fire stun bomb, will (s)he wake up in a few turns? If yes, I want to try tossing  the corpse onto a ufo roof, sort of top-down attach without the flying suits. And also, I heard about top down attacks, and Heavy Plasmas making holes in UFOs, but is it possible to punch an opening in a UFO roof without Heavy Plasma? Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This happened to me once on TFTD. I had a guy with a stunned lobsterman in his backpack, it woke up, gave him a nasty nip, the sergeant chucked the guy his thermal tazer (stun rod) and he knocked him out again. Nutter. Later it happened on UFO, a guy was making for the skyranger with a stunned sectoid. He turned around, and saw a sectoid just standing there. Killed him.

[Dark Archon]

Nasty Buggers....I had a stunned floater that was being stood on byone of my troops....it woke up and instanly killed my soldier....if you want to make sure they dont do any damage, take their weapon, and deposit it somewhere, they dont pick weapons up

[Gsmack]

Ok, i have been playing this game, and I can deal with the terror site ok, I can take out the bases....with 5-9 Xcom Casualties, and a tank lost, but I always seem to lose my funding, and Countries will sign secret pacts with the aliens....can anyone help?

And how much punishment can a Large, or Very Large UFO take? They have taken out both of my Interceptors equipped with 1 Laser cannon, and Avalanches

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

i finally figured out a way to do that in the now ...best game i have played ever ...(i think im into july or august...and im getting +funds every month from every sponser) ..

 

you have to expand early and often ...even if its just a small radar station ... or better yet a Hyper wave decoder ...

 

then add a hanger to hold an attack craft ..

 

Example (im on super mega easy too btw ...milage will likely vary heh)

I built in USA ...then I expanded to moscow ...then i expanded to southern china ...

 

while the usa interceptors could reach the asian land mass ...they had trouble with africa and russia ...

 

the russian intercetor can hit a lot of spots in the middle east and even africa ...

 

while the chinese interceptor is great for additional fly bys that i happen to pick up while one of the other ones is busy (upgrading to ufos now ...so that should help out a lot) ..

 

the countries are happy with the activity ..the skyranger can reach any location on the globe even though it does tend to take a while so I also get a lot of alien goodies ...

 

and when you get that much coverage ...you can start to see where the bases are ... (where are the ships coming from and where are they going)

 

I want to put a base in argentina and south africa .... that should round me out rather nicely

[Blood Angel]

Try to put a base in the sahara, because desert fighting - teh easiness.