guster80

Hmm... I don't know about the Ion Beam accelerators in the ships if they explode or not, never had to shoot them or start a firefight in the engine room. They're too expensive to destroy ($250,000 each). However, I do know that the ion accelerators in the alien colonies don't blow up when you shoot them to grab the zrbite.

I'll say the Hallucinoid. One shot from a Panzerschreck... I mean Sonic Cannon and they're stunned/dead.

Hmm... given you're only in the second month.... and given your situation, a retreat is highly reccomended. Unless you're close to the Synonium room. Don't forget to pick up your men as you retreat... leave no man/woman behind. I never attack alien colonies until I get mag-ion armor, displacers, MC, and a Leviathan. If you asked me where I got the Lobbieman commander from... its from a mission where they were foolish enough to attack my base.

But the sonic cannon requires a lot of TU to fire and lacks burst fire. Against weaker aliens where difference in the weapon power of gauss vs. sonic isn't a problem.... its more of a disadvantage & overkill. Unless attacking alien colonies (lobbiemen) I only equip 2-3 men with sonic cannon. They make excellent sniper weapons and anti-tank guns.

You can actually get a commander from a lobsterman base attack. Just thermoshock the whole lot of them. Commanders can also be fond in dreadnoght missions.

Sorry... the welfare of humanity comes first. -_-

I guess its because of air pressure. Same concept if you take a beer glass and invert it in a sink full of water. There's an air bubble trapped inside.

Do you guys get this problem when using the Coelacanth Gauss? After every mission where I use this SWS, if I fired any shots with it, any remaining ammo gets dumped. If there is not enough ammo left, the tank gets pulled out of the transporter and is turned into a coelacanth G-cannon.

For my radar/sonar bases, I find it cheaper & quicker to man them with soldiers & weapons. A mind shield does the trick of hiding the base. Of course, the monthly maintanence costs/salary will be more X-Pensive, if you do the math. The sale of one sonic cannon should cover that. Besides, its not like the aliens do find my sonar bases anyway. They're always searching in the wrong area.... or miss it thanks to the mind shield. This means the soldiers end up sitting around doing nothing (perhaps play soccer in the corridors or Xbox-III in the quarters). Kinda sucks to be posted to a desolate radar station in the Antartic.

A must. Even a sonar/radar outpost should have around 5-7 soldiers. Add a tank/coelacanth for support. Design it properly, so you'll need less troops & an easier time defending it.

I always use HE ammo for the gas cannon, as some sort of grenade launcher and relatively light compared to the torpedos. Very useful against the weaker aliens. For night missions, the phosphor rounds work well to illuminate dark areas before advancing. You'll have to target an object, like a piece of coral, rock, wall, machinery, etc.. Otherwise it'll say that you have no line of fire. Other than for lighting, i never understood what else incindiary ammo was for.

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.

This might be discussed before and is probably known to you xcom veterans. Do you guys use HE (magna blast/pulsers/explosives) to demolish obstacles like coral/sand ridges in the battlescape? Even when there's no enemy in that area? A grenadier/combat engineer is definetely a must on my squad. Make that two. BTW, I notice that pulsers provide a debris cloud thats more effective as a smokescreen than the dye greande. I find it good for covering an advance or retreat through open areas. Or, you can go overkill with the DPL.

Try using DosBox. This program lets you run the old classics on XP & the uber-fast computers.

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...