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Soldiers


Mark0

How many soldiers do you send per mission  

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I think you only need one strike base (a.k.a. base w/ lots of agents) over the entire game. Two might be needed in the harder difficulty levels, but on beginner & experienced, an org doesn't get too much further infiltrated by waited a couple more minutes. As long as that base has only about 15 agents in it, you should have some crack soldiers by the time you reach the alien dimension. It also helps because you'll end up with 250 vortex mines, 800 shields, 345 disruptors, and >1900 devastators. Never go hungry again. . .I can never understand why people make so much fuss about getting free shields, etc. Give me the first two alien buildings, I'll have 50 more shields. I don't believe in evacuating them, I've gotten through the first 4 (??? at any rate, Im on the Incubator now) by destroying all aliens (Never Run policy), destroying all orange reinforcement pads, then destroying all the targets. Take a biotrans (with 2 cargo bays, despite heated controversy), and this'll give you a heck lot of equipment. Why, just last week, I sold 40 extra shields, not to mention at least a hundred disruptor&devastator weapons.

My alien building motto: when facing anxiety, abort mission, cuz that means you aren't worthy of beating that mission yet. In other words, if you can't beat a mission by a wide margin, no casualties, etc., you aren't good enough to beat it. Anyway, I forgot how this is considered on-topic.
Oh yeah, how to avoid equipment shortages. Use my method, and you'll be studying them in history class. Plus, you'll have 10 expert soldiers.
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  • 2 months later...
First of, in terms of game mechanics, 200+200 does not equal 400 (speaking about vehicle shields here). The thing is, when your double small shields get 200 dmg, one of them will be destroyed and you'll have to replace it. The reason large shield takes up more space and requires more work hours is because it can recharge itself back to 400. This is one of the reasons I use a single large shield on my Retallitators (and nothing else).

I've also found that 36 android mission are fun (really). Just dual devastators all and see the whole place turn into a wreck.
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Actually, for vehicles, all the shields levels are treated as one shield. When it hits 0, they all go poof. The recharge also goes at the rate of an ordinary shield. (Which is a very good reason indeed to have as much shield protection as possible - and a bad reason at the same time)

For soldiers, the shields are displayed together, but are treated individually (and recharge individually, I might add).

- NKF

P.S: speaking of Cargo modules - you only ever need one. You'll find that when you're on your way back from a really good mission, they can sometimes have cargos of 1400/50, or somesuch. Changing that 50 to a 100 isn't really going to make much of a difference to the 1400 (or whatever you get, those devestators tend to pile up if you're very diligent), right?
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I agree with NKF about the vehicle shields. The shield values add up to make one super shield. They will all die at the same time. Each vehicle shield generator also recovers one strength per second.
So, for the Retaliator:
4 small shields = 800 energy super-shield. Recovers 4 per second.

For the Annihilator:
3 Small shields + 2 Large shields = 1400 energy total. Recovers 5 per second.
6 Small shields = 1200 energy total. Recovers 6 per second.

Trust me, that's more shielding than you will ever, [i]ever[/i] need. It's also insanely expensive. Three Annihilators equipped like this is more than enough for anything.

Personal shields break one at a time. I use two shields all the time. In my experience, once you hit 50% shields, you lose the first one. I don't know the exact shield value, but I bet it's also 200, recovering 1 per second. It's just a blind guess, though.
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  • 5 months later...
I use 1 or 5 men. Either I take myself, equipped with a Mind Bender and a Mini-Launcher, or, if it's against aliens 5 guys including myself and my hacked sniper (Only for brainsuckers, he shoots em off my head :P)
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  • 1 year later...
It's really just a matter of communication. Large squads force you to spend more time watching over everyone, while with smaller squads, you don't need to spend so much time. It's really just a test of our patience. :)

 

Because of the brainsucker threat, only androids can truly solo missions - unless you're willing to crawl throughout the mission :).

 

With full suits of X-Com disrupter armour, you can even go solo against poppers (while your armour durability holds out, you'll be immune), but your disrupter shields will never survive, leaving you vulnerable to entropy and disrupter beams.

 

When teleporters arrive, try sending out solo androids with dual power swords and as many teleporters that they can carry (be sure to allow the second sword to be easily placed into the pack when swapping it out with a teleporter). As long as you remember to take brief breaks in between combat to reenergise, you'll be unstoppable.

 

If you remember to always keep a teleporter charged and in one hand, you can even attempt to solo with with humans and hybrids. Brainsuckers will not teleport with you.

 

- NKF

 

NKF - the things you say. You ARE an XCOM god, aren't you? This whole multiple-teleporter and double-sword tactic makes me imagine that YOUR XCOM agents are like wizards who, with almost magic ability, slaughter everything in sight and there's damned little anyone can do about it. I'd hate to be running XCOM while YOU'RE in command of the aliens. Earth would be conquered in a day. Yeeeesh! Everyone - can you imagine if the aliens had an AI like NKF? No one could ever complete the game!

 

AK

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Nope, I'm just utterly crazy.

 

That's my secret.

 

- NKF

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4-agent squads

 

As the game begins, I sack agents with very low bravery - everyone with a little courage can stay, because bravery goes up as agents survive battles. I might use anywhere from 8-12 agents at the very start, depending on how many I have to sack.

 

By week 2, I use 12 agents, and as I accumulate more, I keep them in training, and swap wounded agents with them so that I always have a full team ready to go. I use squads of 4 agents each, usually having one sniper and one machine gunner plus two riflemen/women. Of course, one team usually faces the brunt of alien counterattacks; the other teams cover other possible angles of attack, and where possible, come to reinforce the team facing the largest assault.

 

Once I get enough resources flowing to use a Hawk as my troop ship, I use a passenger module and have a team of 16, and it rarely goes above this number. Usually, 3 teams wind up covering hallways or other major routes of possible alien attack. With 2-door UFOs like bombers, I'll put two squads on each door, at angles of course, to contain the alien breakouts. In ugly building missions or other heavy missions, the fourth squad holds a rear position onto which other teams can fall back as they retreat. These reserves allow me to send them in to reinforce a certain local firefight, replace injured agents, and allow me to hold the exit from a mission in the rare case where I tell everyone to abort and let's-get-the-heck-outta-here.

 

In the alien building missions, I've tried sending 20 and 24 agents, but find that the game only lets me take in no more than 22. I imagine this is to accommodate the AI needs of the aliens.

 

It does appear to be true that more agents provoke the game to include more aliens, and like I've said in other posts, this has led to some brutal slugfests for my 16 agents, facing up to 45 aliens in one mission. Whether this is a good "strategy" remains to be proven, but I like to play the game as seriously as possible - it creates the tension that makes XCOM so compelling. I imagine in real life, they wouldn't send just a handful of special forces troops when they know for a fact that there will be a number of aliens there. Rather, it seems that they'd send more troops in order to ensure victory. It does require more managament in-game, but it feels more real to me, gives me reinforcements and reserves, and leads to large, more exciting battles.

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  • 6 months later...

I usually take around 10 or more. my lame donkey strategies are funny xD

and on the methods of transport. I use two biotrans. I simply switch up the cargo modules in the one for the others alien modules. For some reason X-Com only allows one ship to carry the equipment, so Im stuck using a cargo ship, Alien capture ship, and a hover car with a transport module LOL :P

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  • 1 month later...
I usually take around 10 or more. my lame donkey strategies are funny xD

and on the methods of transport. I use two biotrans. I simply switch up the cargo modules in the one for the others alien modules. For some reason X-Com only allows one ship to carry the equipment, so Im stuck using a cargo ship, Alien capture ship, and a hover car with a transport module LOL :P

 

What about UFO recovery missions?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

For stun raids at the beginning of the game (I raid Marsec a lot at the beginning) I put in 2 passenger modules in a Valkyrie to take all my 13 or 14 agents along. Although I don't have stun grapples for everybody, the extra bodies are useful to stomp on stunned guards to keep them down.

 

When starting a new game, I'll flip thru new campaigns until I get one that allows me to buy at least 9 stun grapples so I can equip max agents with stunners.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Yes I know, it's always a tough decision... Should I BURN THEM TO THE GROUND :flame: :psychosanta: and have lots of fun - should I take the money and better not burn them?

 

Well, it's a 10:1 thing for me. :crazy: And after all... You get a little bit of money if they burn too...

 

Best raid orgs for me: Sirius, Psyke (Psiclones), SanctuaryClinic (Hospitals burn well), Nutrivend (their hydrocultures can be blasted away and all crashes down) You have to try this! :wave: :beer:

 

You are nuts! You are awesome! You rock. I am often tempted to follow your ruthless ways. :-)

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Well, just thought I'd mention in this thread that I'm using only one agent now. Imagine taking one agent through the entire game. Crazy. Probably impossible.
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Hmm. It might be possible: Solo android.

 

It would be competely immune to all mental attacks, and having mid-level stats (or just pick one with a truck load of energy and speed) you can get away with quite a lot. Also not needing full health for gym use, they can get away with spending most of the time with some health damage.

 

All the while you'd let your humans and hybrids train in the combat and psi gym uninterrupted. By the time you're well into the game, these soldiers will be maxed without having even experienced a single mission. That's when you swap from the mediocre all-rounder android to a maxed unit. They still might have some instant-lose scenarios with brainsuckers.

 

Yes, yes, if it isn't that obvious, I loves them androids. Yes I does! They've always been the underdog of the three races. They make incredibly good melee units.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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  • 2 weeks later...

They arent the underdogs.. thats the Mutants! :P

Two shots the mutant dies..

Think Terminator now.

HOW MANY SHOTS ON THE DROID HUH?!!

That thing NEVER Dies.. not until it gets completely annihalated ish.

 

Been a while since I last seen it, so ignore my mistakes in the story line ^^'

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Nay, nay - the hybrids are the game's munchkins. They may start off weak, but they quickly become average after a few good missions. They can also max out all their stats on the same levels as the humans in addition to having superior psi abilities. They do need to start off in the combat gym to bulk up on strength, which they lack. But after that, they're no different from humans.

 

They start slow, but they come out to be the strongest units in the game. The humans are great all rounders but don't have psi (and if you don't care about psi, the humans and hybrids are on par with each other). The androids stay average all the way.

 

Doesn't mean they don't rock.

 

- NKF

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Truth be told, it has been a while since I've used psi in turn based, so I forget what sort of upkeep you need to maintain a lock on your mind controlled targets, or whether it's a one-time-one-turn-only cost and then you need to wait a few turns before your psi energy has recovered enough for another attack. Let me get back to you on turn based psi. I'll see if my old P133 (aka the old game machine) has the strength to fire up one last time.

 

However, from what I remember, a few well placed MC attacks are enough to disrupt anthropods and skeletoids and have them hand their shields to you without a fight. That brief moment is all you need.

 

In real-time combat, the mayhem you can cause by having random enemies blow themselves up with their own munitions is worth sticking a single Hybrid in the combat gym (then later the psi gym) from day 1. They mainly involve quick split-second mind control sessions (i.e. all done during a pause), where you do some nasty things to the alien's inventory like throwing the shield into the air and setting all the grenades to .25 seconds or blast on impact and dropping them, and then breaking the psionic lock on the target to avoid the upkeep costs.

 

Psi in general is quite pathetic to start with, but once you've beefed up the hybrid's psi stats, it becomes quite a valuable additional tool you can deploy on the battlefield even though it will never reach the same level of over-kill usefulness as in the first two X-Com games.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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Ive never found Psi all that useful myself, although I sorta wanna try mindcontrolling a multispawn if it was possible.. just to see if I get the worms or not xD!

 

I believe it's impossible to mind-control a multiworm. I have tried, and the percent chance of success rating is always 0%.

 

As for soldiers, I have to agree with NKF, and there's no question: by late-game, hybrids are just plain across-the-board superhuman. My best human commandos have near 100s except for PSI. As a result, I still am leary of sending human commandos against micronoids and psimorphs. However, my finest Ultra Commando is a hybrid female with an improvement rating of 146%, less than 100 on only three regular attributes (but even these are very high 90s), 100 PSI energy, 100 PSI defence, and 99 PSI attack. No editor used. She can absolutely pound, and she can mind-control to boot, adding to her awesome destructiveness. She's also totally immune to micronoid and psimorph attacks. She can ignore these and focus on the big shooters before eradicting the PSI units.

 

Ya just can't beat that.

 

To be honest, I never hire androids. I just don't like to do it. I know they're tough and useful, but it just seems odd to me. And really, by late-game I've come to enjoy super-troopers. They're just TOO good! :-)

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I normally use 2 squads of 6, each with a sniper, 2 standard gunners, a psi solider, a rocket solider and an android bristling with explosives. One stays at the start, ready to replace any troops that fall or flank if necessary.

 

Regrettably, this method does mean a lack of experience for my troops as I just can't resist the urge to send the androids on a kamikaze, so they get most the kills.

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  • 1 year later...

I am currently using 12 men per mission, unless I'm raiding Psyke or Sirius (then I take 3)

 

I use 4 gunners with dev cannons and vortex mines, 6 with toxi guns using ammo B (not researched C yet), and 2 with stun grapples and power swords with 6 stun grenades each. All have Marsec body armour and XCom head,leg and arm armour.

 

Seems to be working pretty good up to now. Playing on Hard and am on April 12th I think.

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  • 1 month later...
I've been getting back into the game... I've been sending mostly six of my prize Agents. Sergeant Maria White is my best one. Her Accuracy is VERY high, at about 79. When I got her as one of my starting Agents, it was only like 26. She's improved a lot. And her Max Health has improved tons as well. ^^ Anyway, back to the point... I send 6 veterans in, but sometimes I let a couple Rookies tag along for the ride. There have been quite a few Hybrids in the recruiting list lately, and I've been sticking with getting some of them. Their growth rate is slower, but I'm all for bringing up their stats anyhow! ^^
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