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Wtf?


Tsereve

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Fact: It takes anywhere from 2-5 hits from a Fusion Defense to down an attacking Battleship in Easy Mode.

 

Fact: Fusion Defenses have an 80% hit chance.

 

Fact: My base had 6 Fusion Defenses, plus a Grav Shield.

 

Fact: Assuming worst-case scenario (needing 5 hits), I had a 1.05e-6% chance of not shooting a Battleship down ((0.8^4*0.2^8)*100).

 

Question: Why oh why did the Battleship get through, making me face Mutons with Laser Tanks??? WTF

 

:Cry:

 

Anyone else got stories of things that, by all rights, shouldn't have happened? :)

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Fact: It takes anywhere from 2-5 hits from a Fusion Defense to down an attacking Battleship in Easy Mode.

 

Fact: Fusion Defenses have an 80% hit chance.

 

Fact: My base had 6 Fusion Defenses, plus a Grav Shield.

 

Fact: Assuming worst-case scenario (needing 5 hits), I had a 1.05e-6% chance of not shooting a Battleship down ((0.8^4*0.2^8)*100).

 

Question: Why oh why did the Battleship get through, making me face Mutons with Laser Tanks??? WTF

 

:Cry:

 

Anyone else got stories of things that, by all rights, shouldn't have happened? :)

 

 

"Never tell me the odds!" - Han Solo

 

"A million to one chance is still a chance." - The gamblers motto.

 

"Someone has to win" - The lotto players prayer.

 

"If the odds are a million to one, the event is a certainty to happen." - Terry Prachet.

 

ROFL

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  • 2 weeks later...

Are Base Defense modules really worth the cost and upkeep? From numbers alone, 4-5 FDs and a Gravshield should make toast out of everything, but ... that costs money! *hugs the big pile of cash assembled in the XCom Treasury*

 

and ten rookies in power suits with plasma rifles/pistols (or HPs) paired with any kind of tank (to go around the corner and check for both reaction fire and aliens :c) can easily defend any base against anything but ethereals (unless you've 10 psilabs in your various bases and have recruited/sacked rookies every month to get two bases worth of psi-90+ rookies) and their sectopods (why! why! i hate those things more than chryssalids. those at least have the decency to die after getting pelted with plasrifle shots and grenades. >_<)

 

*sigh*

 

I'm ranting again. Getting blown up by Poppers in apoc does not work well with my mood :(

 

ps: if one mis-plannes the base layout, their soldiers will get eaten, burnt, scorched, bi- and trisected, incinerated, disintegrated, slaughtered, immolated, vaporized, impaled, sliced, diced, roasted, electrocuted, probed in places unmentionable, squashed, trampled, devoured.... and all of that in a horribly humiliating and frustrating way.

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Cornathaum, have you seen what a true superhuman level sectopod can survive against? They're not impossible, but not a very pretty sight either if you've not got the right equipment on hand. I once got a brand new listening/intercept outpost constructed and the 8 new guards had no armour and were only armed with standard pistols and a few laser pistols (transferred). A friendly visit by the local etherals did not help, I can assure you. In a morbid way, it was funny to watch them struggle to the very end, fleeing to the upper levels to escape the sectopods.

 

---

 

Money is not a hard commodity to come by in X-Com with the occasional garage sale. Oh how I wish this were true in real life...

 

But yes, I'm rather against placing active defence modules down (the one and only passive defence module is a-ok by me). They don't reduce attacker numbers and the group attacking your base will be stubbornly persistent at accomplishing their task of inserting units into the base. If your base defence modules are truly impenetrably, you'll have to put up with a continuous stream of battleships. It gets really tedious in the end.

 

Oh, and Tsereve, don't trust everything you read in the ufopaedia. The abnormally high accuracy percentage is probably just for show, or ship firing accuracy could also be subject to +/- 50%, like a number of things in this game.

 

- NKF

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Cornathaum, have you seen what a true superhuman level sectopod can survive against? They're not impossible, but not a very pretty sight either if you've not got the right equipment on hand. I once got a brand new listening/intercept outpost constructed and the 8 new guards had no armour and were only armed with standard pistols and a few laser pistols (transferred). A friendly visit by the local etherals did not help, I can assure you. In a morbid way, it was funny to watch them struggle to the very end, fleeing to the upper levels to escape the sectopods.

 

---

 

Money is not a hard commodity to come by in X-Com with the occasional garage sale. Oh how I wish this were true in real life...

 

But yes, I'm rather against placing active defence modules down (the one and only passive defence module is a-ok by me). They don't reduce attacker numbers and the group attacking your base will be stubbornly persistent at accomplishing their task of inserting units into the base. If your base defence modules are truly impenetrably, you'll have to put up with a continuous stream of battleships. It gets really tedious in the end.

 

Oh, and Tsereve, don't trust everything you read in the ufopaedia. The abnormally high accuracy percentage is probably just for show, or ship firing accuracy could also be subject to +/- 50%, like a number of things in this game.

 

- NKF

 

Yes. I have seen what a superhuman sectopod can survive. Hello MrBlaster-Bomb-To-The-Face. Those front plates must be made of hardened elerium >_<

 

of course, getting seven ethereals with that same shot kinda made up for not killing the doombot.... a bit.

 

 

I wanted to ask: How do aliens choose how to attack a base?

 

In my last game, they streamed on a weekly basis into my "main base" in europe and into the psi-training & workshop base in america (the first had my avenger-size combat team and the other 30 psi90+ troopers in power armor... just a hassle keeping base inventory to 30 HP, 30 HP-Mags and a blaster with ten shots) while completely ignoring my outposts in south america, africa, china, australia, the antarctic and the arctic (who were manned by ten cannonfodd.. err... rookies in personal armor with lasrifles)

 

 

I think in the end it all comes down to base layout - if you screwed up your base with hangars all over (like keeping two of the three hangars of the original base instead of building two new ones on top) base defense turns into a nightmare (no nice chokepoint in the access lift to make into a heck for aliens with proxmines (i love them! in every x-com game they're a gift to the forgetful commander (hey, something blew up that proxmine... lets turn around and wait for the charred aliens to come out!).

 

That reminds me. Snakemen base assaults + no-accuracy high-psi rookies do not mix. At all. Sacrificing those psi-resistant ones hurts deep down.

 

Ranting again. Missed capturing ship type 3 in apocalypse, and now i'm stuck with the research >_<. At least blowing up Nutrivend is great fun (those farms go down nicely with a bit of persuasion *cough*)

 

>_<

 

0846 and I didn't get any sleep for almost 24 hours. I should go to bed. But Apoc calls... tough decision :x

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One gets enough sleep when death comes knocking, true.

 

But if you're too tired to remember that right around that corner there were two ethereals and a sectopod waiting in ambush and send three of your men around said corner to die in reaction fire, sleep might be a proper countermeasure.

 

 

On a sidenote of "what should never ever happen"

 

Mind-control four mutons, cluster them 20 squares away from your skyranger.

 

Get your newest training toy (another of the psi-rookies) with the blaster launcher to nuke them

 

Cry tears of frustration as one muton is STILL STANDING after being only 3 squares away from the impact - AND with his back turned.

 

Of course, mind-control and another blaster bomb solved that problem.

 

Blaster bombs solve all problems. Nasty ambush in Battleships Lifts? Hi there dual blaster bombs! Nasty ambush in supply ship command centers? Hi there BB!

 

blowing things up is surprisingly satisfying. whether its the cluster of five ethereals at the battleship lvl 1 lift, the tasoth/tentaculat ambush in an artifact pyramid or a raid on nutrivend.... :D

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  • 2 months later...

Sorry guys - I'm a huge fan of base defence modules. Why exhaust my special forces agents with interminable base defences when a phalanx of modules and a grav shield can keep the bugs out. I know I sleep better at night knowing my bases are fully kitted out for defence.

 

Just imagine if you were really the XCOM commander. You'd build defence modules like there was no tomorrow. Because if you didn't, there really would be no tomorrow!

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You're right on that. In Apocalypse, I litter my bases with base defence modules. However, the base defence modules aren't the problem. The problem lies with the stubborness of the aliens. Each group targeting your base will send an infinite number of battleships against you until they get at least one of their ships through.

 

Granted, having a base defence sequence happen every few game days is fine and all. You could probably live with it. Now imagine several alien teams targeting your base for an attack. Before long you'll get quite sick of it.

 

If the defence modules stopped the attempt completely; reduced the number of aliens that enter the battle; or even if the base defence sequence was instantaneous then they'd be extremely useful. As they are, they only delay the aliens long enough for you to set up your interior defences. .

 

- NKF

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You're right on that. In Apocalypse, I litter my bases with base defence modules. However, the base defence modules aren't the problem. The problem lies with the stubborness of the aliens. Each group targeting your base will send an infinite number of battleships against you until they get at least one of their ships through.

 

Granted, having a base defence sequence happen every few game days is fine and all. You could probably live with it. Now imagine several alien teams targeting your base for an attack. Before long you'll get quite sick of it.

 

If the defence modules stopped the attempt completely; reduced the number of aliens that enter the battle; or even if the base defence sequence was instantaneous then they'd be extremely useful. As they are, they only delay the aliens long enough for you to set up your interior defences. .

 

- NKF

I'm confused here, Commander - they don't give you time to set up anything. I find that, in X1 base defences, my agents are littered willy-nilly in not always very good positions at all. Maybe if you could have a pre-attack "mission" where you could place your units in your desired position, that would make sense, kind of like the rebels setting up to repel the Imperial stormtroopers in the original Star Wars film.

 

(Speaking of that, wouldn't that be a cool armor set for XCOM1?)

 

It's true that an endless rain of battleships harasses the player, and I've experienced as many as 12 battleship attacks per game day, as the aliens have found most of my bases and fantasize about obliterating them. Luckily, all bases are armed to the teeth, and the waves of alien invasion just keep crashing on the shores of plasma and fusion defences.

 

Do you actually prefer to fight off alien base attacks on the ground with your troops? Isn't it still faster to repel them with AAA rather than your squaddies?

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You can't set up troop positions in the battle. With impenetrable base defences, you do have options.

 

See, while the aliens can't get through, you have the ability to shape the base into the perfect battle-ground without any hinderance (except the base attack sequences). You have the time to get the right troops for the job into the base (say your crack Psi troopers if the attackers are ethereals); ensure that the stores are set up so that you don't miss out on equipment thanks to the 80 item limit; perhaps even ready a few Fusion hovertanks for the coming assault. Once you've got all the pieces you need, just open the gates by dismantling the grav-shield and wipe out the attackers with no remorse.

 

A normal base attack doesn't give you a chance to do this.

 

---

 

I'd very much prefer my AAA's finish the job, but the problem is that the attacks are endless. They never cease. This becomes tedious, also you do not earn any activity points from shooting the battleships out with your defences. You just get lots of punctuations in your normal game where you have to watch the base defence sequence over and over again. The only way to stop the endless attacks is to finally let them come in and wipe out the troops of each and every attack group that's currently targeting the base.

 

If it wasn't for the tedium, I'd highly approve of the aliens' stubborn efforts. ;)

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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You can't set up troop positions in the battle. With impenetrable base defences, you do have options.

 

See, while the aliens can't get through, you have the ability to shape the base into the perfect battle-ground without any hinderance (except the base attack sequences). You have the time to get the right troops for the job into the base (say your crack Psi troopers if the attackers are ethereals); ensure that the stores are set up so that you don't miss out on equipment thanks to the 80 item limit; perhaps even ready a few Fusion hovertanks for the coming assault. Once you've got all the pieces you need, just open the gates by dismantling the grav-shield and wipe out the attackers with no remorse.

 

A normal base attack doesn't give you a chance to do this.

 

---

 

I'd very much prefer my AAA's finish the job, but the problem is that the attacks are endless. They never cease. This becomes tedious, also you do not earn any activity points from shooting the battleships out with your defences. You just get lots of punctuations in your normal game where you have to watch the base defence sequence over and over again. The only way to stop the endless attacks is to finally let them come in and wipe out the troops of each and every attack group that's currently targeting the base.

 

Do you mean wipe out one ship full of each race attacking the base and that stops them for good, or at least for a long time? Hmmm. I see - slam in some tanks, a perfect setup of 80 items, super-troopers (hard to come by in X1 and X2): wow! I like the way that sounds! Lucky for the scientists in X1 that they get evacuated. I can't imagine how awful it would be trying to run scientists to safety from random placement. Sheesh.

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Well, you can look at it this way. Let's say this month a bunch of sectoids decide to attack your base. They go through all the necessary procedures and spot your base. Now they go into a loop where they keep sending battleship after battleship at the base until one gets through. Then they forget about it. If the battleship doesn't get through, they keep doing it.

 

A little later, some floaters decide to attack your base. They'll go through the same process. Now you'll have two sets of aliens throwing battleships at your base.

 

A little further along, another group of sectoids decide to retaliate and find your base. I'll borrow a phrase and say that each group are on their own little campaign against that base. So you'll have two teams of sectoids and a floater regiment acting independantly of each other to destroy that base.

 

Now, if one of the retaliation teams manages to break through and you beat them back, the succeeding group will have accomplished its task and stop sending battleships. The other groups however will continue sending battleships until they succeed as well.

 

After you've stopped all three groups, no more battleships will be sent. However you are still open to detection from new retaliators, so don't think you're in the clear. This is often where a mind shield really comes in handy. (The mind shield is one of the few defence modules I fully endorse)

 

One good thing about all this is that base information is not shared between retaliation teams, so any new retaliators must seek out your base from scratch.

 

Hmm. Does this make any sense?

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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Well, you can look at it this way. Let's say this month a bunch of sectoids decide to attack your base. They go through all the necessary procedures and spot your base. Now they go into a loop where they keep sending battleship after battleship at the base until one gets through. Then they forget about it. If the battleship doesn't get through, they keep doing it.

 

A little later, some floaters decide to attack your base. They'll go through the same process. Now you'll have two sets of aliens throwing battleships at your base.

 

A little further along, another group of sectoids decide to retaliate and find your base. I'll borrow a phrase and say that each group are on their own little campaign against that base. So you'll have two teams of sectoids and a floater regiment acting independantly of each other to destroy that base.

 

Now, if one of the retaliation teams manages to break through and you beat them back, the succeeding group will have accomplished its task and stop sending battleships. The other groups however will continue sending battleships until they succeed as well.

 

After you've stopped all three groups, no more battleships will be sent. However you are still open to detection from new retaliators, so don't think you're in the clear. This is often where a mind shield really comes in handy. (The mind shield is one of the few defence modules I fully endorse)

 

One good thing about all this is that base information is not shared between retaliation teams, so any new retaliators must seek out your base from scratch.

 

Hmm. Does this make any sense?

 

- NKF

 

It does indeed - thank you - but it's scary. To think that they'll just keep coming until they get you is a terrifying thought. And they won't stop until you "let" them in. I mean, that's horror-movie material: you can hold them off, but they'll never leave you alone until you give in. It's almost defeatist and anti-XCOM, at least in my mind. I mean, in my opinion, by end-game, XCOM should not fear the aliens, but should stomp them with cold calculation and total ruthlessness. And yet, they are relentless!

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  • 4 months later...

I remember in one game, I had pretty much an impregnable base defense set up (4 fusion defense + gravshield) and the aliens sent 5 Snakeman/Ethereal battleships a day trying to get into that puppy until I got annoyed and beat Cydonia. Not one of them actually got in, but seeing the base defense screen over and over again got extremely irritating.

 

Kind of makes you sad to think about all the Elerium they're throwing away by having sent literally thousands of Battleships to get vaporized. :rolleyes:

Edited by Virulent
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(4 fusion defense + gravshield) 5 Snakeman/Ethereal battleships a day trying to get into that puppy [...] Not one of them actually got in, but seeing the base defense screen over and over again got extremely irritating.

 

No point to those defenses unless you want to deal with battleship spam. Waste of space. Dismantle all of them including the grav shield and let them invade. Learn good base defense strategies if you don't know them, such as keeping one or more HWPs there and a few troops with only needed gear in storage (only 80 items will appear, and laser rifles are at the top of the list). If you have a good layout similar to xcomutil's alternate layout, you can annihilate them at the grav lift.

 

The four biggest WTF moments I can remember are:

 

1. Finding a live floater medic on my Avenger at the start of an ethereal mission (one of my soldiers had been carrying the stunned medic on the last mission).

 

2. An engineer (can't remember the race... ethereal?) on a battleship, firing a blaster bomb three times in one round: killing his own troop, blasting a hole beneath said troop to open up the lift, and then sending the third bomb to blast another of his own troops (mind controlled). One round, three shots. I assume two reloads.

 

3. A highly prized Commander being killed ("Danielle Whatever has died from a fatal wound") in the last turn, only to be resuscitated back at base.

 

4. Completely dismantled a base, which was subsequently invaded and defended by all the troops and gear that I had previously transfered. I forget the details of this buggy invasion, but I posted the saved game somewhere.

Edited by Warface
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A regular large grey scout recovery, I get off, see a soldier, all my guys but 2 have plasma rifles. 24 shots later hes still there! 2 hit but he didn't die. 8 guys autoshot and hes still alive. He wasn't even far away, maybe 20 feet. finally I have my Hlaser sniper move up with a 98% chance of hitting him... and he missed. Well by then I was severly frustrated with this sectoid so I had my rocket guy shoot at him it hit the ground 2 squares from his feet he still didn't die. He did pass out from wounds though. luckiest alen ever. (Next turn I dropped a 'nade on him... just to make sure)
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2nd turn in on a Snakeman Terror Site. All troops deployed without a hitch, and 3 slugs dead at the LZ.

 

Hit "End Turn"... A Chryssalid sprints around a corner and is blasted by HC-HE reaction fire 10yds away. Screen flashes black and a 2nd makes the same run to get dropped by a another blast from a different soldier. Screen goes dark and a scream rings out from some pour schmuck who didn't evacuate before showing a THIRD crabbie tries to make the run, but comes 3yds short on AP and gets carved up by my available HL's (took directed fire from 3 soldiers to take him down) on my turn.

 

Next alien turn, the second Chryssalid (first one was vaporised in the second volley) gets up from his crater and starts a chain reaction that we all know and loathe.

 

Worst part was the domino effect of emotions...

fear (1st Chrys sighted)

elation (1st Chrys dead)

dread (2nd Chrys sighted)

excitement (2nd Chrys dead)

resignation (3rd Chrys)

triumph (3rd Chrys dead)

...immediately followed by morbid defeat as the last squaddie drops two pounds of HE at his feet to keep from being taken alive.

 

Yeah, I reloaded. (always save prior to first move on any deployment, due to Prox Bug)

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Heh, similar.

My first chryssie terror mission of the game, with a relatively inexperience 2nd squad.

 

No sooner do my guys deploy than they get sniped at by snakemen. One turn later, and what must've been 6 or 7 chyssies round the corner of a warehouse (which my pilot happens to have landed right next to) and come right at me. Lots of reaction fire later and I'm ok, but heck, it was like Zulu. I should've lost my squad right then. In the end there must've been twice as many chryssies (only 1 civvie....no zombies, though...?), they kept coming at me and I had to just sit there and take it since the snakemen had me pinned into cover beihind the ranger. Nasty stuff. Went by-the-book in the end, but that was a pretty horrible landing.

 

Another WTF moment would be my base raids. Floaters in both case. An unusual regularity of floaters waking up after being shot near the end of the game (it happens, but now more than usual. Meh). Most of my guys aren't busy so I have them queue up for reaction training. Now either the target rufuses to move, even though it isn't panicked. Or it does, and doesn't trigger a reaction shot. Eventually I give up and execute the lot. :P

 

The main WTF moment this game though, comes to Nozawa, my first squad scout, point-man, and room-clearer. Total badass, been in more hairy situations than he's had hot dinners. Been shot almost as often. Took a hit and survived in a t-shirt more than once, recently took three consecutive blasts from a snakeman plas-rifle upon entering the UFO (large scout.....turns out the engine-room walls were gone :s ).....Not only did he survive, but he wasn't even hurt. Not so much a WTF moment, as a "holy heck!" moment.

Edited by Munkeh
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Ah, that depends on the circumstances that caused it to panic. :)

 

- NKF

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I know that when I was playing the games early on during my dos days, lots of aliens tended to get duplicates of existing ammo clips appear on their corpses or unconscious bodies. I mean, a floater corpse with a large rocket inside of it? That's some iron diet!

 

- NKF

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Fact:chrysalids are evil

 

Fact:Daylight saves life

 

Fact:Power Armor saves from heavy plasma

 

Fact:Civvies are chrysalid food

 

Fact:It's snakeman terror mission

 

Sum = complete screwness of the whole team due to one alien grenade

Edited by gufu
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  • 1 month later...
I have a dangerous night Snakeman terror in Pretoria. I only have the first armor, a HE ATC, and lasers (plus smoke, time, and prox grenades) How should I deal with it?

 

Post up the save game. :)

 

Personally I would touch down and abort right away. As zombie said in the other thread. Saves about 500 points.

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You've got lasers? Go for it!

 

The ACHE isn't going to be too flashy against the chryssalids, but they'll go down easily to the lasers. The ACHE can still do a fairly ugly number on the snakemen. Also it might just make some fires, but I'd bet more on electro flares or incendiary rounds for lighting. Lighting is incredibly valuable on a night mission.

 

Have you got time to load up the flares, Incendiary rounds or perhaps load up some large rockets? I'd do that too if you've got the time. Otherwise you've still got the advantage of having lasers. Personal armour ain't too shabby either.

 

You might not like it, but you have to experience (and hopefully win) a night terror mission against chryssalids at least once - under less than desireable conditions. It's one of the more defining atmospheric moments in the game. :D

 

Mind you, if you really cannot handle it, just do the visit-then-dust-off trick to minimise the score loss. You'll have to make up for it by doing a couple of missions in the area before the end of the month.

 

- NKF

 

edit: Just a thought, keep a copy of that savegame and use it for practice runs. Just redo the mission over and over and over, regardless of whether you win or lose.

Edited by NKF
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I made a rerun of the combat (which I have half-finished), and was lucky enough to get a two sttoreys house next to my ship, in which to fortify myself. Things are going well, but I lost a good agent to a chrysalid for exploring.

 

There started the odd things:

First: the chrysalids that was spawned from my supercaptain turned out to be a crackshot with the laser rifle

 

Then, invisible monsters started moving around

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I'll just add that depending on difficulty level, you may be as likely to KO a chryssalid rather than kill, if using lasers.

If they're knocked unconscious, be sure to use the autocannon to finish them off, or plant a grenade on them or something.

The last thing you want is for your skirmish line to extend beyond the "corpse", on for him to wake up and sieze the guy stood over him.

 

Generally, and in night missions especially, you may be better to let the chryssies come to you rather than hunt them. Provided you can find a decent killing field to hunker up around, that is. Somewhere that your guys have cover, but the enemy has a large open space to cross to get to them.

The downside is that this means you'll be essentially leaving the civvies to their doom, thus meaning potentially many more chryssies.

But then again, the lil buggers are so quick that you'd probably lose a fair few civvies to them anyway, and by trying to reach them first you'd just leave your men overextended, exposed, and cut off from mutual support. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

 

And remember you have smoke. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because it is dark smoke is pointless. Aliens have 20/20 night vision.

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Also it might just make some fires, but I'd bet more on electro flares or incendiary rounds for lighting. Lighting is incredibly valuable on a night mission.

 

I find that fire isn't a very good way to light the battlefield. It moves around, it goes out, it eats up my electroflares and worst of all you run out. If you fire two AC-I rounds or so, you can't make any more fire. I find that pretty limiting.

 

I have other trouble with my electroflares. Placing them sometimes exposed me to opportunity fire and they get blown up a lot. Why can't the skyranger have flood lights at least? :P

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I agree, fire isn't really a particularly reliable means of lighting, but it is handy in a pinch if you can take advantage of it. A combination of flares and incendiary rounds are always handy. Fire (from incendiary rounds or setting alight scenery) is just a brief means of lighting that you only take advantage for the moment.

 

Note, fire won't destroy the equipment. It's the explosion from the HE ammo that does this. Incendiary ammo however won't damage objects on the ground.

 

With flares, use the flare leapfrog. Instead of having the forward troops throw the flare, have the ones just behind them toss them out ahead. As you approach the new flare, throw out another then collect your old flare and repeat this for as long as necessary. This ensures that you are always approaching a lit area, so no surprises. At least, not as many.

 

If there are buildings around and you don't plan to move the flare, toss the flare on the roof. This keeps it safe from any explosions on the ground.

 

I just had a quick muddle around with the autocannon, and seemed to be hitting enemies consistently better by targeting the ground next to them with HE shells rather than aiming directly at them. Might be worth considering if you've got a clear shot and there's nothing in the way. See, the shots will be angled at the ground, so this seems to improve the odds that they'll hit something. Funnily enough, it seems that being able to target the ground gets rather inconsistent depending on the damage to the tile. Sometimes you can target completely damaged tiles, other times you can't. Oh well.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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would it be possible with present game editors or with potentially produceable game editors to set it up such that each hit from a defenese module at least has a chance of reducing the attacking crew size. Otherwise the only usefull one is a single missile defense.
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http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u72/gufu1992/doomguy.png

 

 

The greatest thing about lasers is what the have unlimited ammo. Just keep shooting at random directions with guys with low reactions and level the whole city - this will keepaliens from hiding, and allows for some fun lightshow... I mean easier mission.

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I just had a quick muddle around with the autocannon, and seemed to be hitting enemies consistently better by targeting the ground next to them with HE shells rather than aiming directly at them

 

LOL, who'd have thought a tactic from FPS's would be relevant to an x-com game?

I might have to give that a try when I get my game straightened out.

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would it be possible with present game editors or with potentially produceable game editors to set it up such that each hit from a defenese module at least has a chance of reducing the attacking crew size. Otherwise the only usefull one is a single missile defense.

It certainly isn't possible with anything out there right now. The problem is that the quantity of aliens which can show up on any mission is defined in the executable. This number is then passed on to the mission generator which places the units on the map. What is needed is a program to intercept the game in between these two phases, grab the quantity of aliens and then apply some modifier to reduce the crew compliment. I think Pi Mastas Pyxcom editor could be used in such a manner with some more programming and modifications.

 

Defense modules are only really helpful if your crew assigned to the base would not be able to handle the invaders properly (rookies with t-shirts and pistols). You can therefore keep the aliens at arms length by letting your defensive systems shoot down the retaliation battleships for a time until you can beef up your squad. The redeeming feature of the missile defense module is it's unique layout for base defense missions. It's also able to be built from the start of the game and is relatively cheap. If it weren't for these features, the missile defense module would suffer the same limitations as the other systems and maybe even more as the quantity of these modules necessary to shoot down a battleship would eat up a significant portion of your bases empty slots. :wink1:

 

- Zombie

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  • 2 months later...
i was on a map where my sky raper had landed two turns away from an downed ship then when i got their an artic night time mission i found the ship completely cut off so i set up a line and threw flares into the distance 100 turns later reaction fire kills a grey 900 turns later nothing happen i go in ufo and get corpse along with blaster bomb and abort can anyone explain this?
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There are arctic tiles that are just open water, or crossable along one axis only. In theory then a UFO can be . . .

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall,

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this UFO,

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,

Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth

 

but you'd think they borrow the street layout algorythm for terror missions to address that.

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i was on a map where my sky raper had landed two turns away from an downed ship then when i got their an artic night time mission i found the ship completely cut off so i set up a line and threw flares into the distance 100 turns later reaction fire kills a grey 900 turns later nothing happen i go in ufo and get corpse along with blaster bomb and abort can anyone explain this?

You may want to see this topic at the StrategyCore forums where we had a discussion about the arctic terrain having a tileset which can block your men from getting to a UFO by land. Flying Suits are of course the obvious choice of traversing the water barriers. Editing the arctic terrain itself to include "walkways" through the water would be the preferred method since I'm sure this was an unintentional feature of the programmers. :)

 

You don't mention what type of UFO was present on your map. Was it a Battleship? Only those ships can have aliens which carry Blaster Bombs. It's possible that you didn't clear the map of all the aliens and this was the reason why the mission wouldn't end after 900 rounds. With all that shooting and killing, an alien probably panicked, dropped it's weapon and ran off to some dark corner of the map to regain its composure. ROFL

 

- Zombie

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