47 replies to this topic

[Nirgg Soldier]

Could someone show me a screenshot of this synomium device? I am having trouble finding it, and with 2 nauts left it's getting tough.

[Apoc868]

on the floor one up from the bottom there is a room the has a one block hole in the middle of the room with small gate all around it throw a gernade in it(you may have to destory part of the gate first) and return to the green lit up floor space then dust off the end it.

hoped that helped.

[Scott]

Or Kill them all? It also can finish the mission and you can get higher score.
I only sweeped Colony few times. It's really a CRAZY job!

What APOC868 replied is correct

[Mark0]

i sweeped yesterday a colony,
41 alien killed
38 corps recovered
10 live alien captured( i really didnt need them but for the hek of it)


in total an amount of 51 alien in a colony, sell all corpses and u get 1 million $$


took me 2 hrs to finnish it!

any one else sweeped colonies??

[Nocturnal Persona]

Yeah, I've swept 3 colonies so far. They say there's 12 of them in total, which is a real pain in the donkey. By the way, I've nevre managed to kill all the aliens but I also don't just go for the synonium device, either. I just kill as many as I can, spend a few turns searching and then I go for the Synonium Device. BTW, for those not knowing, the best aliens to capture in a colony are the lobstermen inside the synonium device room. There's definately one commander and at least one squad leader. Really good if you're through with the normal research projects and are just trying to find aliens to interrofgate!

[j'ordos]

I swept them all
Those Lobster bases were a serious pain though :whatwhat:
Seriously, I allways go for it and kill every slimy alien there is

[hippyjon]

not me, in and out of those places as quick as possible, i use about six disruptors on the central area (busting open the outer wall first) and in those turrets where the psy guys hang out then into the lift. if im short on points i might take out the rest, using my displacer most to avoid getting zombiefied (most of the rest will have paniced by now, so its not hard). i certainly cant be bothered to hunt out everylast alien in the second part, its too big. the game i had before last i didnt bother with colonys for ages and had about 15 all over the place, so i got a bit sick of doing em after a while...

[Mustang]

I swpt a base with one person... But not on purpose all my people were bieng mced so I had all of drop their grenades and sent one guy with High mc strength and with a sonic pulser sonic blasta rife and one clip. He made his way to the acsess lift taking ammo from alien bodies and killed all the aliens in the process

[AliensMustDie]

To sweep or not to sweep? It's always just a matter of dollars and cents to me. If you need the cash, as you do often early in the game, then you have to sweep as it is the only way to get all the booty in the colony. It is easily worth several million to do the sweep. But it is a total pain and takes endless turns to make sure you've covered everthing. If I have my money making engineers cranking out saleable products late in the game, I usually just do a smash and grab. But early on, its turn after turn after turn......

[miceless]

Do you find more weapons lying around then? Or is it just that you can recover more weapons from aliens you kill if you sweep?

[j'ordos]

If you kill every last one of the aliens you get to recover the entire base and anything in it, if you just go in and blow the command centre up, you don't. IIRC in that case you have to evacuate your men, so you get what your soldiers are carrying.

[miceless]

Ah, normal method then. I thought there might be store rooms with extra weapons in, a-la Apoc style.

I have yet to attack one so I have no strategy...

[tgfx]

The way I go in is like this.
I have 2 snipers and the rest are support teams and one grenade (particle disturbance granades) dude with light weapons and no experience. I go level by level.
On level one I use the particle disturbance grenades and place then at almost all key exits and entrances so if one of the them goes off then you kow you have an alien near by. But always leave a back door so that will be the only way in. Level by level...
If an alien is detected then my sniper and a supporting team member with go and kill it.
This strategy may take a while but it will ensure that nothing is left unturned.

and thats the way the cookie crumbles...


That is going to hurt....

[Darkvater]

Haha, I had the easiest Colony kill ever

In the past, I used to clear every corner, and door, kill all the scumbags, but it takes just too much time. I still cleared the first lvl (outside). I walked right up to a Tasoth with a disruptor launcher (1 square), so he doesn't shoot you but walks away. I locked him up in a room, so he couldn't do a thing ::

Then I sent 3 disruptor bombs up in the middle, and killed them all. Then took my time to gather all the stuff and put it in the sub (MC reader is worth 300.000K).

At lvl2, inside the base, I quickly found the synonimum device, and sent 3 disruptor-mega-nukes down
That took care of all the naughty lobsterman there inside . Then I exited.

In the first lvl I killed 28 aliens, the second:
Human/Ion_Armor: 10
Lobster_Man: 17, Dead: 5
Tentaculat: 6
5. Oh well

[j'ordos]

Here's a pic of the Synonium Device for all of you who are lost in those alien bases

Attached Thumbnails

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[Cpl. Facehugger]

Yup. And the rings move alot. I always make a beeline straight for it during colony assaults and artifact sites. There are just too many damned hiding spaces in alien bases.

[NickAragua]

Yeah, I usually just blow the Synonium device to bits. The thing about the second part of those colonies is that there are four complete floors, each one jam-packed with aliens, including tentaculats hiding inside those little one-square rooms. I hate tentaculats. They're worse than the friggin' Chryssalids - you can't even fly away from them!

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Use a sonic displacer They can't really hurt that. Besides, if you are quick with a man, you can be in and out before tentaculats can get to you.

[SupSuper]

Use a sonic displacer They can't really hurt that. Besides, if you are quick with a man, you can be in and out before tentaculats can get to you.

the only solution is displacers (only problem with them is that colonies weren't exactly made for them, so u have to shoot your way through until you manage to reach the symonium device. if u try to kill all aliens with just sonic displacers you can easily waste all your 100 ammo because of damn tight spots. i tried to send a mission to T'Leth with just displacers and after wasting 95 ammo through the first 2 levels found that u can't use them in 3rd level since walls are invulnerable and doors only allow soldiers through, thus i had to restart :crying: . best solution is a mix of displacers and soldiers).
usually even a soldier with 60 TUs can't run away from a tentaculat it spots no matter how much he tries. those little buggers just seem to be filled with TUs. and if your men aren't looking at them u don't see the tentaculat coming towards u, thus u can easily forget which of your man got "zombified" (and where) and quickly have a zombifying spree running lose in the alien base.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

No, what I do is bring one displacer and 10 guys in my triton. I use my guys to scout until I find a room that looks like it might lead to the synomin divice, then I send in the tank. I always have my men travel in pairs and leave enough tus for a snap shot (to prevent any 100+ tued tentacles from doing the nasty with my men.)

[Worm]

tentaculat has 99 tus. And a mc resistance sth around 200 ^^
only managed to control one one time........
Melee attack needs sth around 10 tus


The way i play colonies:
Where i went there will be no survivors.


1 sonic displacer and 10 soldiers in a triton (equipment: 1 thermoshock launcher, 1 disrupter pulse launcher, 8 sonar cannons (mc disruptor optional))
or nearly the same in a leviathan, but 2 tanks, and more soldiers, up to the max, with sonar cannons.
Ill scout with displacers, und try to shoot everything with them.
If that doesnt work, my snipers will shoot the alien.
If that doesnt work, then there comes my dirsuptor uplse launcher

Its easier with a mc disruptor, il scout with tanks until i find 1 alien, then i will control it and scout with the alien, tanks will follow that i wont lose sight of my scoutalien(s)

[Mark0]

my way of playing:
shoot blind with 1 disrupter pulse launcher
i have a tank that scotus the area. when i see the base. i recognize the roof and start shooting where we go to lvl 2. there.. you find alot and its a good way to kill in a shot + lower the morale of your enemy,
second base if i want to make it fast. i send out a small squad of 2 to search for the room throw a nade and get the heck out of there afap.

i like lvl one cause i love watchign most of them panicing in the same turn

[SupSuper]

i like lvl one cause i love watchign most of them panicing in the same turn

i hate lvl one because there are lots of MCing tasoths hidden in those really small buildings spread around over the terrain with doors (which look like walls but aren't).
lvl two isn't so heavy on MCing as lvl one.

[Darkvater]

I always used to kill everything in site, but takes just too much time.

So I split my aquanauts team in 2 groups. 1 group is high MC only > 80, all the others are whatever (usually they of course include my best soldiers right from the start, cause you can't check for MC then ).

On colony missions I bring my high MC team, 8 guys + tank. 2 guys have disruptor pulse launchers, the others sonic cannon, pulsar, heavy thermic lance. Then I just secure the middle area by obliterating it with a couple of disruptors. When all the aliens have been reduced to some slimy green goo, I enter the second lvl. There I make a hit for the synomium device, cook the lobsters with some disruptor nukes and I'm outta there.

I hastily make my way up to the first level again, rush to the ship and take off as soon as possible, since the mininuke I placed in their base explodes in a few minutes. No alien will survive!!

My other team goes on missions with lobsterman. They don't MC...they just die

[Mark0]

i like lvl one cause i love watchign most of them panicing in the same turn

i hate lvl one because there are lots of MCing tasoths hidden in those really small buildings spread around over the terrain with doors (which look like walls but aren't).
lvl two isn't so heavy on MCing as lvl one.

i understand what you mean. I do have trouble at the first lvl when they use MC and dont have the equipment.But when you have the disruptor launcher. just shoot blindly. youl be sure youll pop some of them.

to cripple them fast enaugh what i do is this :

I specially hit the 2nd floor(where there is the entrance for the second level )with the disruptor launcher, destroy the wall and shoot a second blaster at the same place but let it go in and do the job

if you have MC, use the tanks as scouting
shoot the second floor, destroy the wall
then youll probably see an alien, mind him and use his disruptor to suicide with his friends

its true it gets easy with MC and disruptor, but its fun seeing them dying in pairs :wink:

[Deathskull]

What do artifact site synonoum devices look like?

[Deathskull]

I just got done a colony assult and I only found 1 alien in the whole base(not including outside).Can anyone explain this?

[SupSuper]

I just got done a colony assult and I only found 1 alien in the whole base(not including outside).Can anyone explain this?

well, if you do it right, you can get through a colony without hardly finding any aliens. you just need to be quick and remain hidden. although in a colony it isn't very easy, specially in the Symonium Device room. still, i guess its possible.

although its much more common for you to find few aliens in artifact sites (since they're well hidden and pretty spread around) until you come to the section with the symonium device (which is simply loaded with aliens. SWS are recommended for that since it's also loaded with tentaculats).

[Deathskull]

I just shot a blaster bomb torpedo into the device

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I spam the area with grenades, then send in a displacer/sonic.

[SupSuper]

i do it the hard way and try to get my commander in and out of there in one piece (also without getting zombified) <_<

[Jonaleth Irenicus]

Team:
2 Disruptor Pulse Launchers, with full ammo.
No SWSs (I hate machines).
2 Thermal Shock Launchers.
4 MC guys.
Fill the rest with Sonic Cannons.

Level 1:
Move out with 1 men, spot the big jelly fish (it's ALWAYS there somewhere), if possible, spot the center of the big +, kill the jelly fish without using Disruptor Launchers.
Next turn, find the center of + if I haven't, drill a hole through it with Disruptor, take a peek inside. MC the first alien, look around to see the alien with the Disruptor Launcher (there is ALWAYS one inside there), blow the place with peaces using that. If possible, another scout spots the second jelly fish (there is one there) and kills that.
If possible, pick up Disruptor ammo from aliens.
The rest is mop up work, it doesn't take long (since you killed all the ones in the middle).

Level 2:
I curse for broken up team.
I curse for Tentaculats waiting in those holes.
I curse for Lobsterman with Thermal Shock Launchers.
I curse for Jellyfish standing in elevator ways and preventing you from getting down/up to kill them.
After I'm done with cursing, I move out in all directions with Sonic/Thermal guys. When I get the feel of the map, I get my Disruptor guys on levels they can fire. MC guys never move.
Always have snap shot on for reaction fire, for Tasoths lurk in corridors, and Tentaculats rain from the sky.
If I come to a room with four balconies in corners (you know the ones), I either bombard the balconies with Disruptors or wait for Thermal guys to take care of the Tentaculats that think they are so smart hiding there.
This level gives you a lot less MC fun, but I use it whenever I can (basically, if I can't kill an alien, it gets MC, just so it doesn't kill me). Nice thing is, if you MC an alien, it can sometimes protect you against the Tentaculat by being turned into a zombie for you (you'll have one more Tentaculat to take care of, but you didn't lose your guy).
If I find the synonium device room, I leave it alone (I know there are three lobstermen in there, one of them is a commander, and one of them is a navigator, they never get out, they are the DUMBEST of all lobstermen found in the game).
When I come to the elevator with four spaces, I know there is a jellyfish blocking it (either up or down), so I try to discovered which level it is on, and drill a hole through the wall with multiple disruptor shots (I mean MULTIPLE).
I walk in on the level the jellyfish is in, and kill it (it's dazed with all the bombarding anyway).
I go up the elevator to kill the aquatoid medic (there is always one there).
During this time, my corridor crawlers are killing tasoth and lobstermen in the corridors. If possible, lobstermen are either MCed or Thermal Shocked.
I curse Tasoth for being so strong and yet so equally defended against all forms of attack.
When I have expored most/all of the level, I take care of the synonium device room in either two ways. I may disruptor it down, or move in there with two men, place one in front of the door (but well away from it), use one to open the door (and move aside), use the one away from the door to fire inside, and repeat as many times as necessary (they are the dumbest lobstermen in the game, they don't get out, even if you bring the place down on top of them).
If the level doesn't end with their death, I'll have to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to find the one last remaining alien. No, I haven't brought particle dist. sensors, because I know that last alien NEVER moves (it has panicked or dropped all its weapons because of all the killing).

The more you do of the colony runs, the more you get used to doing them, because you know where which alien is positioned and how it acts (they patrol certain points). For example, I know that there is a big chance there is a tentaculat NOT waiting in the balconies and patrolling the corridors, but I know which corridors it goes to, so I have my thermal guys go in there first.
Thermal Shock launcher is good for colony missions, even if you don't get to recover live aliens for the 1st level, because of AOE and high damage (and certain aliens are vulnerable to it)

[Arky]

Nobody picks up the ZrBite? I always go straight to the chamber, and drop in a grenade to blow up the device. then as I go back up, there's two places where you can blow up parts of the machinery and collect the Zrbite. You don't have to kill everybody, you destroy the synonium device, you get the ZrBite, and if needed, you stun a lobsterman commander, and Voilà! :happybanana:

[Blehm 98]

Blow up the cinammon device, and then kidnap the commander and navigator and get out of there!

[guster80]

on the floor one up from the bottom there is a room the has a one block hole in the middle of the room with small gate all around it throw a gernade in it(you may have to destory part of the gate first) and return to the green lit up floor space then dust off the end it.

hoped that helped.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, saves the trouble of going down to the first level and fighting all those nasties. With the disruptor pulse, its even easier as you can blast it several rooms away & send a missle down that hole. You've got to be EXTRA careful though...

[Paladin]

I've always found it difficult to leave a base unfinished... feels kinda wastfull, or unachieved...
On the other hand, Tftd's bases are WAY TOO LONG!!!

[guster80]

The second levels are a killer. There are too many rooms and corners for my men to clear out safely, even with a battle complement of 12 men and 3 displacers (leviathan). especially with those tentaculats around.

[Paladin]

"Damn Tentaculats..." :o
(wipes vibroblade's shiny finish)

[Chris StarShade]

I am in the middle of one. Captured the lobsterman commander, and in the event of a "problem" I have him loaded in a soldier's backpack (aforementioned soldier on the escape elevator).

I am of the belief that there is ONE ENEMY LEFT. And, from a "Lobsterman Squad Leader has panicked" screen I think I know exactly what it is.

There are a few other problems... there is one stunned aquanaut and one stunned tentaclut. I can only imagine the horror should they meet each other.

Well, I am going to hunt and hunt and hunt for that accursed lobsterman squad leader and see if I can KILL HIM!

Or stun him, I have a grand total of ONE stun bomb left.

In any event, my strat was pretty haphazard, but I managed a clean sweep of part 1 of the mission, so I hope for a clean sweep of part 2 as well.

[Paladin]

Hey, Good luck, you can do it!!
Displacement sensors are your best friends in a base, esp considering that Tftd bases are approximately TRIPPLE the size of XCOM1's bases... And each of the bloody things have loads of tentaculats hidden somewhere...

The stunned aquanaut should'nt wake up by itself, the tentaculat might, but as long as you have a guy that pops in and out once in a while, you should be ok, the thing is that tentaculats are unarmed and dangerous...
Oh, and a lobsterman that wakes up is pretty dangerous too, with his pincers

[Gurluas2000]

if theres too many tentaculats and i have mc, i do normally make my man get zombiefied, then il mc him and shoot him, the new born tentaculat is mine for the rest of the mission...its useful as you
rally down to the device throw a bomb and run away, easy with a tentaculat.

[Paladin]

Except running away is cowardly
But taking out the whole base is... FAR TOO LONG!!! :o

[Gurluas2000]

in my game ive nearly pwned the whole base... but i couldt find the last alien so ... finally i surrendered...took my tentaculat...sent him to the lift and aborted.

[Paladin]

*your* tentaculat?? :o

How about "Motion scanners"

[NKF]

They won't work if the unit doesn't move.
- NKF

[Paladin]

Yeah, well, of course if it's panicking all the time it'll tend to be stationnary, but still... if it moves You'll know it...

Otherwise, a full sweep might be necessary, but I always feel defeated if there are living aliens standing when I leave...
A "Mop-up" button would be QUITE handy

[Selmak]

I had a look at the readme for XCOMUTIL and apparently there is just such a way to automatically resolve the battle. I haven't tried it myself though.

[Exo2000]

Yeah, well, of course if it's panicking all the time it'll tend to be stationnary, but still... if it moves You'll know it...

Otherwise, a full sweep might be necessary, but I always feel defeated if there are living aliens standing when I leave...
A "Mop-up" button would be QUITE handy

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Some panicking units will run around. (especially infantry units)

If it goes berserk it shoots friendlies, panick it drops weapon and runs around, I think they can even faint. Not sure though.

I had a look at the readme for XCOMUTIL and apparently there is just such a way to automatically resolve the battle.  I haven't tried it myself though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The mopup isn't surefire, won't work everytime, and there's the chance you could lose. So save before autoresolving, you may regret it!