/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.2471606]

>shoot down large scout in Denmark
>send out the ol' Skyranger
>BREAKING NEWS: Aliens terrorize Karachi!
>welp, this is a bigger deal
>touch down in Karachi
>it's during daylight hours, so far so good
>now what aliens have we drawn?
>step outside
>see cluster of Reapers off in the distance
>oh thank god it's just Floaters aka the target practice of the alien world
>step off the Skyranger and see one Floater just off to the left by a warehouse
>rookie unloads his rifle clip and misses
>he goes down as soon as my turn changes
>time for the pros to do this
>my sergeant takes out the bugger
>more Floaters
>dispatch my sexy new Laser Pistols
>Floaters and Reapers start falling like Aunt Sallys
>soon about six of them are dead
>but we're not done yet

[Anonymous No.2471608]

>spread out around the town
>Heavy Cannon Guy bags two kills
>get surprised by a Floater when I shoot through a fence
>fill him with hot laser at point blank range
>head into the house so I can go upstairs and get a good look around
>notice Reaper next to the gas station
>oh boy this is gonna be sweet
>lob high explosive
>POOF!!!
>fuck, no alien death sound he got away
>my other guy in the house shoots out a wall and runs into the Reaper
>make him eat laser beam
>shoot one more Floater
>get worried I'll be spending hours searching for the last guy
>plasma shot rings out
>he's on top of the gas station roof
>load, aim, and fire
And the good citizens of Pakistan were saved at the cost of one rookie meat shield. If only all terror missions could be this much of a cakewalk.

[Anonymous No.2471881]

You think it's all fun and games until you have to take on Ethereals. Then you'll know that feel of having your entire squad mind-controlled and panicking as they all get shot and grenaded to death.

[Anonymous No.2472241]

So I'm gonna repost the guides here for n00bs.

Alien species:

Sectoid: A stereotypical gray alien with big black eyes. Often the first race you encounter in the game. Sectoids on small UFOs are pretty much target practice, but on more advanced missions, they can be a menace as their leaders and commanders possess mind control abilities.
Floater: Purple thing that can...well...float. Other than that, they have no particular physical abilities and are the worst shots in the game. Usually the race found performing abduction/harvest missions and one of the first races you encounter in the game.
Muton: Green humanoid with a purple face. This guy is pretty dumb, but man can he take damage all day long. They've been known to even survive High Explosive blasts. Mutons have no leaders, commanders, or medics and their place will be taken by extra soldiers.
Snakeman: Snake+slug thing. Extremely slow moving, but fairly tough physically and have lots of stamina. Not a huge threat in of themselves, but not so for their terror companion.
Ethereal: The big boss aliens in charge of this whole operation. Physically fragile, but VERY dangerous as all of them can use mind control (and float, making them hard to hit). You must capture a live Ethereal leader or commander to find out the location of the aliens' HQ on Cydonia and finish the game by destroying it. Their terror companion is no slouch either.

[Anonymous No.2472270]

>>2472241
Terror species:

Cyberdisc: Accompanies Sectoids. A big flying saucer thing that shoots plasma beams. Lasers will dispense with them easily, but they explode when destroyed, so keep a safe distance.
Reaper: Hairy, dumb Chewbacca thing. Accompanies Floaters. They can only attack by biting you and cannot go through one tile wide spaces. Hates incendiary weapons.
Cetalid: One of the Mutons' two terror species. Slime blob that fires acid loogies. They do substantial damage, so stay clear.
Silacoid: The other Muton companion. Just a slow-moving rock thing that can't attack unless it's right next to you. Extremely resistant to incendiary weapons.
Chryssalid: Accompanies Snakemen and holy God, what a nightmare. Praying mantis thing that's fast-moving, lots of stamina, and turns whatever it bites into a zombie. Shooting zombies spawns a new Chryssalid although letting them go causes the alien to spawn anyway in a few turns. However, they hate incendiary weapons so killing a zombie with one will not cause the Chryssalid to spawn.
Sectopod: Ethereals' companion. Large, heavily armored mecha that fires lasers. Very tough armor in front, but weaker in the back. Hates lasers.

[Anonymous No.2472317]

UFOs:

Small scout: Gumdrop with legs. Holds one alien. All weapons stronger than a Stingray missile destroy them. You only get one alloy for recovering the things. Generally best to just ignore, although the pilot on Small Scouts always carries a Mind Probe which early in the game can be a valuable cash infusion as they sell for $300,000. Small scouts are however extremely fast and hard for Interceptors to catch.
Medium scout: Holds up to 8 aliens. One room inside. Often severely damaged when shot down and has nothing of value left but alloys. Has a plasma beam, but cannot hit you outside of cannon range.
Large scout: Cross shaped with four rooms. Holds up to 12 aliens. If the power supply gets destroyed, there will be no walls standing between the front door and the bridge. Can shoot back at Stingray range.
Abductor: Used for human abduction missions. Asterisk shaped and has two floors.
Harvester: Used for cattle mutilation and mostly manned by Floaters. Shaped like a medium scout but bigger and with two floors.
Supply ship: Large, two-story UFO used to ferry supplies to alien bases. Easily shot down, but why do that when they always land and you can easily plunder the goodies inside.
Terror ship: Used for terror missions and infiltration. Large, powerful, and fast UFO with dangerous weapons. Use at least two ships to fight it and attack aggressively. Also will be carrying terror species.
Battleship: The biggest, baddest UFO, they can outrun anything but Avengers, are heavily armored, and carry really dangerous armament that outranges anything you have. Four ships with Plasma cannons are recommended, but you will still take damage to at least one of them. Often better just to attack landed ones. This three floored brute occupies 40% of the Battlescape and carries aliens of all ranks from soldier to leader plus terror species. The only UFO where leader aliens and the almighty Blaster Bomb are found.

[Anonymous No.2472354]

Alien ranks:

Soldier: Dumb grunts. Normally tote a plasma rifle, but sometimes heavy plasma or stun bombs. Found on all missions.
Navigator: The guys who fly the UFOs. Found on all ships but Small Scouts. Usually carry a plasma pistol.
Engineer: Guys who man the engine room in UFOs. Carry plasma pistols on all but Battleships, in which case they have Blaster Bombs. If you shot a UFO down and the power supplies blew, the engineers are generally DOA.
Medic: Found on Harvesters, Abductors, Battleships, and alien bases (Mutons do not have Medics). They're principally there to study human or animal captives. Usually have plasma pistols.
Leader: Found on all missions except small/medium scouts or if the aliens are Mutons. Sectoid leaders can use mind control, so capture one alive to research it. Usually carries Heavy Plasma.
Commander: The big boss alien, he only appears on Battleships or in alien bases (unless Mutons) where he totes a Blaster Bomb. Sectoid commanders can use mind control and Ethereal ones know the location of Alien HQ on Cydonia, so capturing one alive is needed to beat the game.

Terror missions and retaliatory raids on your bases do not have Navigators, Engineers, Medics, or Commanders. Alien bases do not have Navigators or Engineers. Terror species will be found (aside from terror sites) on Terror Ships, Battleships, alien bases, and retaliation attacks.

[Anonymous No.2472669]

Not a bad little guide here, son. Keep up the work. Another note for new players, keep enough TUs for overwatch for the love of god.

[Anonymous No.2472673]

Alien missions:

Research: Only scout ships are used for this. Mostly harmless and governments will not worry much about it.
Harvest: Cattle mutilation! Upsets governments.
Abduction: Kidnapping people and doing icky-poo things to their rectal area. Upsets governments
Terror: Aliens will attempt to fuck shit up in cities so countries will withdraw funding from you. ALWAYS go after terror sites even if you must skip another mission.
Base construction: Supply ships followed by a Battleship. Aliens build bases in remote areas and the presence of Supply Ships in an area likely means a base is near. Taking them out is dangerous as the bases are filled with terror species, Blaster Bombs, and commanders/leaders who can use mind control if they're Sectoids/Ethereals. You can if you want leave a base go and feast on the Supply ships that visit it.
Base supply: Supply ships going to bring goodies to and from alien bases. The ships are easy to shoot down and laden with booty. You may prefer to just let them land to avoid destroying the power supply and its Elerium. Supply missions will always be manned by the alien race manning that particular base.
Retaliation: Shoot down too many UFOs and aliens will get pissed and go after your bases. The sign of an imminent attack is a Battleship making a beeline towards the base at maximum speed. You will have to defend your base against Blaster Bombs, terror species, and (maybe) mind controlling fucks.
Infiltration: The worst thing that can happen to you is aliens signing a pact with a government so they cut off funding to you. Do not ever let this happen at any cost. Infiltration missions are marked by a swarm of UFOs around a capital city, including a Terror ship and two Battleships. If the second Battleship gets in, the infiltration can no longer be stopped.

[Anonymous No.2472686]

Battleships as noted above are very dangerous to attack, so you probably should just hit them when they land someplace. Besides, shooting them down won't kill any of the crew except the engineers if the power supplies blow. OTOH, engineers on Battleships are toting Blaster Bombs so that's one less thing to worry about.

[Anonymous No.2472701]

Terrain types:

Farmland: Lots of farm fields, pastures, fences, and barns/sheds. The outbuildings often provide cover for aliens, so blow them wide open with explosives. Also blow up wheat fields as your soldiers use up lots of energy walking through them.
Forest: A difficult terrain with hills, trees, and underbrush that tends to catch fire when blown up. Generally you should not shoot UFOs down here.
Jungle: Forest, but with even worse vegetation.
Mountain: Full of crevices and hillocks. A difficult place to fight in, so don't shoot UFOs down here.
Ice: Totally flat, open plain interspersed with small lakes and narrow pathways.
Desert: Quite possibly the easiest terrain to fight on as there is no cover of any kind except hills.
City: Only seen when doing terror sites (if you shoot a UFO down over a city, you just get farmland). Homes, city parks, streets, warehouses, and 7-11s. The best part of all are gas stations, as they tend to go boom when shot/blown up. :^)

[Anonymous No.2472709]

>>2472241
>>2472270
>>2472317
>>2472354
>>2472673
>>2472701
That's nice and all, but why not just linking the kids to UFOpaedia?

http://www.ufopaedia.org/

[Anonymous No.2472973]

High Explosives are the handiest tool ever for demolishing structures made from earthbound materials (alien-produced structures need Heavy Plasma or Blaster Bombs) I always bring at least 6-8 with me. Demolish annoying fences and farm fields. Take out aliens hiding behind shit. Heave them into a crowded Medium Scout (at the price of destroying the power supply and Elerium). Best of all, on Terror Sites, drop them in a gas station. Never leave home without 'em.

Research Alien Grenades as well, as they're less powerful than HE but more powerful than regular grenades which are a mere firecracker and almost useless.

[Anonymous No.2472985]

>>2472973
Aliens don't carry grenades on smaller UFOs IIRC, but the things are annoying as fuck because they always set the timer to zero. Fucking AI.

[Anonymous No.2472989]

>step off Skyranger
PYOH PYOH PYOH

>my troops are kill
Hate when this happens.

[Anonymous No.2473078]

>>2472989
Always, always put the red shirts in the front rows, nobody will miss them. Aliens right in front of your Skyranger are an unfortunate byproduct of the randomized maps.

[Anonymous No.2473094]

>>2472989
>mod up OpenXCOM
>Skyranger lands
>pass the first turn as always
>floater ambles up and perfectly fires a napalm grenade into the Skyranger
>everyone is now on fire

[Anonymous No.2473739]

>>2473078
I usually have rookies storm UFO entrances because they need experience and are more expendable.

[Anonymous No.2473776]

>>2472989
Buy a tank to send up front, and use smoke grenades to protect your path. Really, real life swat tactics work in X-Com.

[Anonymous No.2473897]

XCOM 2 stream is literally happening right now.

[Anonymous No.2473993]

>>2473776
Maybe also electro-flares for night missions. Normally you don't want to do those, but sometimes they're unavoidable particularly if it's a terror site. Or if a Terror Ship or Battleship has landed somewhere since attacking them in flight can be quite risky.

[Anonymous No.2474021]

>>2472673
A word about alien missions.

Scouts will always precede the main ship conducting the mission (excluding base resupply). If you shoot them down, you will delay the mission and the aliens will have to send more scouts. Assaulting a landed UFO does not delay the mission.

Aliens have a set time frame in which missions must be completed, specifically the end of the month. Therefore, if you keep shooting their scouts down and the end of the month is reached, the mission will be called off. This piece of info is vital in preventing Terror missions, Infiltration, and Retaliation (although with the last one, sometimes the aliens just send a Battleship with no preceding scouts).

[Anonymous No.2474031]

>>2472673
Also, Terror missions are only counted as a victory for the aliens if you ignore them or your squad gets totally wiped out. If you abort a Terror site, it's counted as a loss for both you and them - the aliens only get points for each civilian killed.

[Anonymous No.2474061]

Laser weapons are the first thing you should research because you're gonna need them for terror sites, as the game generally starts as follows:

>1-2 Research missions
>third alien mission is generally a Terror attack

So if you start researching laser weapons on January 1, you should have pistols by the end of the month and the first terror site. Get rid of rifles ASAP as they require ammo and are mere pea shooters ineffective against the more physically hardy aliens (plus lasers allow you to blast through buildings and fences with ease).

[Anonymous No.2474180]

Where to start your first base? North America gives the most funds, however Europe allows coverage of the largest number of X-Com member nations. Start from one of those two locations and then expand outward until you have total global coverage.

[Anonymous No.2474218]

[Anonymous No.2474369]

>>2474180
Yurope -> USA -> Asia

[Anonymous No.2474403]

>>2474180
Generally speaking, South America and southern Africa are the two worst places as they cover one member country each.

[Anonymous No.2474408]

>>2472673
>Aliens build bases in remote areas
Meaning places like Siberia, the Amazon, Antarctica, etc.

[Anonymous No.2474603]

>>2474218
There were only four aliens here. I'd previously shot one outside that I guess was a soldier. The guys inside are (I think) another soldier, the engineer, and the navigator. For some reason they wouldn't come out of the UFO at all.

On higher difficulty levels, there can be eight aliens in a Medium Scout, but on Beginner usually 4-5.

[Anonymous No.2474760]

>>2474061
Also, for creating money out of thin air. Lasers don't require materials, and sell for four times their build cost. In case you really are in a pinch for money (you usually aren't, you get flooded with surplus plasma weapons and useless alien crap to sell) it can be a valid tactic to build a base just for churning out laser cannons over and over. It's kinda overkill, and frankly your main concern should be getting elerium over anything, to make lategame doable.

[Anonymous No.2474769]

>>2474760
>In case you really are in a pinch for money (you usually aren't, you get flooded with surplus plasma weapons and useless alien crap to sell)

Generally, your squad should use lasers as their primary weapons and you can just pick up plasma guns from dead aliens as you need them (then sell the things for $$$ when the mission is over).

[Anonymous No.2474983]

I hate when this happens.

>UFO is way the fuck on the other side of the map
>the entrance also facing away from you
>forcing your squad to make a grueling hike over there while running the risk of alien snipers gunning for you
Luckily I only encountered one guy during the trek and one of my soldiers beaned him in a reaction fire shot.

If this were late game and I had weapons strong enough to penetrate a UFO hull, it would be so much easier. At least the center of the map was all open fields and meadows and the outbuildings were on the edge. The worst is when the UFO is hidden behind a couple of buildings which often provide cover for aliens and require you to waste time navigating around/through or demolishing them with your HEs.

[Anonymous No.2474986]

>>2474983
And it turned out to be like shooting fish in a barrel. Mission over, no casualties even though one guy came within inches of dying in reaction fire when he peeped inside.

[Anonymous No.2475060]

>>2474986
If the power supply in a Large Scout blew, you have a clear firing line from the entrance to the bridge. It may just blow out the engine room as pictured or flatten all walls in the UFO except the closet on the left (which interestingly never gets destroyed). When the UFO is intact, it's best to use the closet to approach the bridge as stepping through the right door often draws reaction fire. The engineer may be hiding in the engine room so use caution when entering in case of reaction fire. Sometimes he's also hiding behind the power supply.

Medium Scouts can have damage ranging from the interior gutted by an exploding power supply to the outer walls being caved in, in which case there's nothing of value left except some alien alloys. Larger UFOs generally don't take much damage from shootdowns except the area around the power supplies. Floors on upper levels may be knocked out and certain areas become inaccessible without a Flying Suit.

Later in the game, you can demolish UFO interior walls and hulls with Blaster Bombs and Heavy Plasma. No need to use the entrance since you just make your own. However, Blaster Bombs often destroy valuable components of the UFO that are worth $$$ following the mission.

[Anonymous No.2475063]

>>2474769
Lasers are truly nice, having infinite ammo and being a straight upgrade from bullet based weaponry, but on lower difficulties you can skip straight to plasma. It's a big risk (especially if you get a terror mission as your first one), but it can be done.

[Anonymous No.2475069]

>>2475063
I prefer lasers because of their handiness as a demolition tool. Need a door? Just make one and no ammo wasted in the process. Also when you have an inexperienced squad, they tend to miss a lot so again no waste of ammo if the dummy misses. Plus you might draw Sectoids for that first terror mission and if so, remember that Cyberdiscs hate lasers.

Plasma is good for beefy aliens like Mutons though plus they can take out UFO walls (Heavy Plasma is tough enough to punch through an outer UFO hull).

[Anonymous No.2475071]

>>2475069
IDK. Reapers are supposed to be quite tough yet laser pistols take them out in a couple of shots, although they become unconscious more often than killed.

[Anonymous No.2475072]

>>2475071
Reapers supposedly hate incendiary weapons although I've never really tried it. I usually take a few incendiary rockets on missions, but typically don't get any chance to fire them.

[Anonymous No.2475075]

>>2475072
Incendiary rockets are handy for Medium Scouts because explosive weapons will often destroy the power supply. Instead, shoot an incendiary rocket inside and watch the aliens slowly burn to death while not damaging the inside of the UFO.

[Anonymous No.2475084]

>>2475075
Also useful for nighttime illumination.

[Anonymous No.2475093]

>>2475071
Reapers are wimps. A melee only unit with too low TUs for their role and so big that most of the time they get stuck eveywhere. They may eat a couple bullet shots, but an explosive is enough to make mincemeat of them.
>>2475069
Problem is that you are literally drowned with plasma stuff from dead aliens, so as soon as you finish researching them lasers get phased out quickly. And really, I never had anyone shooting 35 shots in a mission, so ammo is little of an issue.

[Anonymous No.2475105]

Protip: Grenades can be thrown through diagonal UFO walls

The more you know...

[Anonymous No.2475167]

>start new game
>recover Medium Scout
>use heave grenade through diagonal wall trick
>spot large UFO moving at low speed
>have a pretty good about what this thing is up to, but my Interceptors and their puny armament can't take that brute, so I let it go
>another Medium Scout landed
>pretty much identical mission to last time
>while selling off the booty from afterwards, spot that same large UFO moving at low speed again
>5 seconds later
>ALIENS TERRORIZE CAIRO
>oookay, let's suit up
>shit, it's at night but whaddya gonna do
>first guy outside gets beaned by reaction fire
>fug, a Cyberdisc
>a confused firefight ensues as my soldiers rush outside and all try to get a bead on it
>the first Cyberdisc blows
>there's two more off in the distance
>one soldier gets mind controlled and drops her pistol
>apparently the Sectoid commander got dropped in the next few turns because she recovered and could get her weapon back
>blow them up with my Laser Pistols
>take out another Cyberdisc on the south side of the Skyranger
>Sectoid shooting at me from the inky blackness
>guys, could use a little help (most of my squad was facing the other direction from the firefight with the Cyberdiscs and one Sectoid)
>can't see the bastard
>oh well, I'll throw a High Explosive over that way
>fuck, Cannot Throw Here Cannot Throw Here Cannot Throw Here Cannot Throw Here
>finally drop the thing
>get out of the way
>blows up but no alien death sound
>one of my sergeants was already wounded
>have him throw his HE
>set the timer to zero so the alien can't get away
>he dies but the sergeant was too close and also perishes
>oh well, he was wounded and probably wouldn't have survived anyway

[Anonymous No.2475168]

>suddenly all goes quiet, but I still hear distant plasma shots
>realize that none of my squad has so far gotten more than 10 squares from the Skyranger
>the area around it is a charred wasteland from all the HE and Cyberdisc explosions
>suck in my breath and prepare to find the remaining aliens
>snake around a large house
>see Sectoid with a Small Launcher
>well he's not the guy firing the plasma rounds, but be careful anyway because although the SL isn't lethal, I can't afford to have anyone knocked unconscious
>encounter the culprit on a street corner on the other side of the house
>can't get a hit, but luckily the house and fence are great cover
>the guy doing the shooting is a Sergeant, but he's the worst shot I've ever seen
>another wounded soldier dies of his injuries
>my Rocket Launcher guy was killed early in the mission, so send another soldier to get his weapon and some incendiary rounds
>take out Small Launcher guy and one more alien with a plasma pistol
>the last guy is still loitering on the other side of the street next to a warehouse
>fire incendiary rocket
>he's bathed in flames
>slips behind the warehouse
>move just a square or two ahead and see him
>reckon that the alien is probably injured from the fires, so one shot should drop him
>and it does
Four guys died in this confused, chaotic fight and several million in property damage done to Cairo. But most of the civilians in town were saved. The end. :^)

[Anonymous No.2475176]

If I'd equipped both Interceptors with twin Avalanches (and I would have had enough time since January 1 for that), I might have been able to try and shoot down the Terror ship. It's not often that they do a terror mission in the same region as your base, usually on the other side of the globe or something.

[Anonymous No.2475210]

>>2475167
> not waiting till dawn to start the terror mission
> not throwing smoke in front of the Skyranger
> letting a wounded sergeant go snackbar when you could've medkit'd them back up

0/10 would withdraw funding

[Anonymous No.2475229]

>>2475210
>not waiting till dawn to start the terror mission
I'm not sure how long Terror missions last (UFO crash sites are up to 96 hours), but in retrospect I could have easily waited until dawn because it was a stone's throw from my base in Algeria.
> letting a wounded sergeant go snackbar when you could've medkit'd them back up
Didn't get around to researching Medikits yet. Too busy with laser weapons.

[Anonymous No.2475506]

>>2473776
>Buy a tank
no

[Anonymous No.2475539]

>>2475506
Tanks are really useful for scouting and spotting. And if they blow up, you won't miss them unless it's your first months.

[Anonymous No.2476278]

bump

[Anonymous No.2476320]

Lemme explain how you can cheat a bit. The game selects alien missions at the start of each month, which will always include one Terror mission, the rest being random. In the early game, these will generally just be easier missions like Research or Harvest (Retaliation for example tend to not happen until June/July). So here's what you can do:

>just before a month finishes, save the game
>when the next month starts, save a second game file
>open it in a hex editor
>one of the various X-Com hacking guides online will explain what all the data means
>what you're specifically looking for are the randomly scheduled missions (the data includes region, mission type, and alien race)
>if you don't like the missions that were drawn, you can reload the first save game and keep repeating process until you get missions you like
>that way you can avoid mundane stuff like yet another Floater research mission

Also it's a rule that in the first month of the game that the first mission the game picks is always a research mission in the same region you built your initial base. The first terror mission is chosen randomly and appears in any region but the Arctic/Antarctic.

[Anonymous No.2476326]

>>2476320
>The first terror mission is chosen randomly and appears in any region but the Arctic/Antarctic

Since the polar regions have no populated areas, aliens seldom bother doing anything there, although bases are sometimes built in them. Also UFOs typically enter/exit the Earth's atmosphere there, so you may want to build a radar base each in the polar regions to monitor for incoming ships.

[Anonymous No.2476332]

>>2475229
If you send an aircraft to a terror site, it won't disappear. So, if the terror mission starts in the evening, dispatch an interceptor - just before it arrives, send the second one. Before that one's done, send the Skyranger, and it should arrive as the sun comes up.

[Anonymous No.2476527]

>>2476320
Almost but not quite. The game actually draws missions randomly, but with a priority setting, so there's a certain probability of a mission occurring in X region. You can't really modify for a specific mission, although you can adjust the probability setting in the save files and the alien race on the mission.

Once a mission has started, its info will be added to the MISSIONS.DAT file while lists the time between UFOs and the alien race, along with the region the mission is taking place in. The polar regions and Pacific Ocean will only host Research and Base Construction as there's no populated areas for Harvest/Abduction/Terror missions.

The region for the monthly terror mission is chosen at random and governed only by the "probability of an alien mission in X region" variable. Base resupply missions occur randomly every few days when an alien base is active.

t. it's mostly random although you can modify the alien race on missions per MISSIONS.DAT

[Anonymous No.2476532]

>>2476527
Also, if aliens have carried out all of the following missions in a given region (Research, Abduction, Harvest, and Base Construction), its priority will go to zero and only terror missions will occur there from henceforth.

[Anonymous No.2476695]

>>2476332
Another pointer - the sequence of Terror missions always goes:

>medium scout
>large scout
>terror ship #1
>terror ship #2

The first terror ship is purely a scouting vehicle and it does not land. If you don't shoot it down, the second terror ship will arrive and begin a terror mission. Terror ships never conduct landings except for dropping off aliens on a terror site.

And with the handy info in >>2476527, once a Terror mission begins, you can just edit MISSIONS.DAT so the aliens are piss-easy Floaters. :^)

[Anonymous No.2476703]

Also, if you shoot a UFO down, the next ship in the sequence of a mission will be delayed anywhere from 1-9 days (attacking landed UFOs does not have this effect).

[Anonymous No.2476719]

>>2476695
Yeah see the other day, I happened to have the rare occurrence of a terror mission taking place in the same region as my base (North Africa). The terror ship was slowing down prior to arriving in Cairo and I could have maybe shot it down if my Interceptors had both been carrying twin Avalanches.

[Anonymous No.2476725]

>>2476719
Is a shot-down Terror Ship easier than a Terror Site? Guess it depends on a few factors like the terrain type. I can't imagine fighting in a desert where there's no real terrain obstructions would be worse than fighting in a city. Plus if you shoot them down, there's the chance of the power supplies exploding and killing some of the aliens.

[Anonymous No.2476748]

Once you realize that you can heave grenades through diagonal walls, things become oh so much easier.

[Anonymous No.2476815]

Shiver me timbers, it works.

>bytes in upper left corner are the field for "Research mission - North America"
>selected byte is the alien species
>it was 0 (meaning Sectoids), so we just change it to 4 (Floaters)

[Anonymous No.2476956]

>>2476320
> save scumming and memory introspection
> cheating a bit
Pick one

Surely there's a mod to ensure you don't keep getting the same missions.

Playing the same mission over and over can be a bit boring but cheating always makes me realise how artificial the sense of achievement I'm getting from winning is, even if I'm winning legitimately. Nothing makes me lose interest in a game faster than cheating.

>>2475229
>>2476332
I usually just have the Skyranger/Avenger patrol above the city until dawn, then begin the mission. Pretty sure Terror Sites last 24 hours, so unless you arrive just as the sun sets you can always wait until dawn.

[Anonymous No.2476964]

>>2476527
>>2476532
>>2476695
>>2476703
>>2476719
>>2476725
>>2476748
>>2476815
The hell happened to these posts? Why'd they get deleted?

[Anonynomus No.2477001]

>>2476956
>>2476332
Terror sites and UFOs will also only disappear on the hour; that is, at XX:00.

If you send your skyranger toward it a terror site right away, make it patrol from say 4:05 to 4:55, then send it moving toward the target from 4:55 to 5:05, patrol again from 5:05 to 5:55 etc. you can make the journey there take long enough for the sun to come up but also guarantee that the site won't disappear.

[Anonymous No.2477050]

>>2476956
>Surely there's a mod to ensure you don't keep getting the same missions

The game picks alien missions randomly at the start of each month based on the difficulty level and how far you are into a game (there is always one Terror attack each month). So the first month (January 1999) will always have two missions, which are a Research mission in the same region as your base and a Terror attack in a randomly chosen region. These initial missions will always involve Sectoids or Floaters. The total amount of missions per month is determined by the difficulty level. For example, Beginner always gives just two missions each month.

The missions chosen for the current month are saved in your MISSIONS.DAT file, which contains the time remaining before the next UFO in a mission appears and the alien race performing this particular mission. Each region of the globe has a separate field for each possible mission. The first six bytes cover Research missions in North America and so forth, the next six Abduction missions in North America, and so forth. If a mission is not scheduled for the current month, the first two bytes of that field are filled in with the number 255. Thus you can edit MISSIONS.DAT to get whatever you like. Just edit the field for the region and mission with valid data for time and alien race.

I haven't tried editing the file to completely change a mission, just changing the alien race. It did work btw I started a new game, saved, and edited MISSIONS.DAT so I could switch between Sectoids or Floaters on the first Research and Terror missions as I please (didn't try the more advanced alien races 'cos my guys aren't ready for them yet).

[Anonymous No.2477073]

>>2477050
Also, there's a set interval of time between the UFOs that participate in a given mission. For example, the first Research and Terror missions begin on average 2.5 hours into the game. The actual time it takes can be 50% less or 150% greater (all such missions after January take an average of 150 hours following the start of the month). Thus, that initial January terror mission begins almost as soon as a new game starts when a Medium Scout appears in a random region (most likely not the same one as your base so you won't catch it). After it comes a Large Scout and two Terror Ships, but the elapsed time between those is around one week each.

The Arctic, Antarctic, and Pacific have no populated areas, so the only alien missions that occur in them are Research and Base Construction.

[Anonymous No.2477105]

So I'll show you an example. This is the MISSIONS.DAT from a newly started game with a base in North America. The underlined part is the field for Research missions in NA. The zeros indicate the first UFO in this mission sequence (a Small Scout) followed by the elapsed time until it appears (in this case 5 minutes). After the 05 is a 00 which indicates that this mission will be piloted by Sectoids.

[Anonymous No.2477117]

If we scroll down, we can see that the first terror mission is scheduled for Australia and that the initial scout UFO will also arrive in 5 minutes. We see a 4 in there, indicating that this will be Floaters.

[Anonymous No.2477163]

Medium Scouts don't always absorb damage well...

One guy got killed by reaction fire from the rubble of the UFO. Most of the aliens were dispatched with pretty fast, but the one remaining bastard chose to hide in a wheat field on the bottom right corner of the map. Once I spotted him though, he went down in seconds.

[Anonymous No.2477289]

Ok, I tried it. Started a new game and edited MISSIONS.DAT. The first terror mission was scheduled for North Africa, but I moved it to North America.

Well this created a chaotic mess as both the Sectoid research mission and the Floater terror mission were going on at the same time. I keep getting alternating alien species each UFO I shoot down. One of them was a Floater-manned large scout which cost me five guys as the Battlescape turned out to just be flat, open farm fields with no cover. I succeeded in hiring new soldiers just in time to spot the first terror ship heading southbound through the Caribbean. A few days later, the main ship touched down in Vancouver.

And that's where I saved my game so we'll pick up tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.2477298]

When do the tougher aliens like Snakemen show up?

[Anonymous No.2477305]

>>2477298
Depends on the difficulty level. On Beginner, likely not for a few month and by the time you have laser/plasma weapons, you should be able to take on the more advanced aliens. After Research/Terror, the third alien mission you'll generally see is Abduction as this still only involves a relatively weak, easily shot-down UFO. Other missions involve big/fast/dangerous UFOs that need a minimum of two Interceptors with dual Avalanches. By the time you get Plasma Cannons, larger UFOs except Battleships can be shot down with ease.

Abduction/Harvest are particular Floater pastimes, so you'll see them performing those missions more frequently than other aliens. If Sectoids are doing it, look out because they'll have a mind controlling leader onboard.

[Anonymous No.2477312]

>>2477073
You get points taken from your score each month that an alien base is allowed to operate. If it's close to a populated area, alarmed governments may cut your funding while bases in remote locations will cause less panic. The thing you have to remember is that you cannot stop an alien mission from taking place, you merely delay it by shooting down UFOs. For example, the mission sequence for a terror mission goes:

>medium scout
>large scout
>2x terror ships

The first terror ship is merely a scouting vessel while the second actually attacks a target city. Anyway, if you shoot down the initial Medium Scout, the Large Scout will still come, but delayed by up to a week. Same for the terror ships should you shoot them down. If you make it to the end of the month and the aliens have not completed a scheduled mission, it will be called off.

[Anonymous No.2477404]

bump

[Anonymous No.2477906]

>>2477298
I've played all difficulties and sneks seem to show up around March regardless.

Difficulty affects different variables like alien/UFO stats and numbers.

[Anonymous No.2477973]

[Anonymous No.2478142]

>>2477298
Depends. There is a set timing for alien species to show up, and the type of the alien mission is also a factor. That doesn't mean that, say, seeing only floaters until Ethereal time is impossible.

[Anonymous No.2478463]

>>2478142
Any alien species can perform any mission although as I said above, there are a few variables such as Floaters manning Abduction/Harvest more often than other races.

[Anonymous No.2478467]

>>2477973
>let's see what alien rookies can do
Unless they're Floaters aka the worst shots in the galaxy.

[Anonymous No.2478478]

>>2477073
>The Arctic, Antarctic, and Pacific have no populated areas

North Atlantic and Central Asia don't either. Thus, no Harvest/Abduction/Infiltration/Terror in those regions.

[Anonymous No.2478495]

>>2478478
They are commonly used for base construction do.

[Anonymous No.2478526]

As mentioned earlier, the game schedules alien missions at the start of each month. The initial research and terror missions in January begin 2.5 hours into the game while all later months they begin around 150 hours after the start of the month.

Retaliation attacks are drawn at random during a month, but not scheduled at the beginning. Base resupply missions happen once every week and are always manned by the same alien species operating the base.

[Anonymous No.2478535]

>>2478142
>>2477906
March also seems to be when the more advanced alien missions begin and you start seeing Abduction, Base Construction, and whatnot.

[Anonymous No.2478539]

Also, if you're playing Beginner, there will be a maximum of two alien missions scheduled per month (excluding ones generated randomly during the month like retaliation and base resupply)

[Anonymous No.2478752]

>>2478478
Dude wait wut? Baghdad and Tehran are in Central Asia.

[Anonymous No.2478794]

>>2478752
Oh, forgot.

[Anonymous No.2478923]

[Anonymous No.2479197]

-

[Anonymous No.2479239]

Someone in here said that you have to capture a live Ethereal commander to find out the location of the alien base on Cydonia. This isn't true of course; all you need is a commander of any race (aside from Mutons who don't have any).

[Anonymous No.2479241]

If you're into speed runs, the earliest you can beat the game is May 1999. This is if you research only the bare minimum tech needed (plasma weapons, Blaster Bomb, armor, flying suits, psi, and UFO components to construct an Avenger).

[Anonymous No.2480381]

bump

[Anonymous No.2480426]

>>2477906
I assume March is also when harder missions begin?

[Anonymous No.2480446]

>>2480426
Base construction and Harvest definitely don't begin until March. I thought Abduction missions can happen in February although it may depend on the difficulty level. Also if you're on Beginner, there will never be more than two alien missions per month for the whole game (there's always one terror attack per month regardless).

I think the guy above is also right that you still just see Sectoids and Floaters in February and Snakemen not until March. Mutons appear in April and Ethereals in May.

[Anonymous No.2480449]

>>2480446
If aliens build a base somewhere, pray it's just Floaters. I've done base battles and it's tough. Often costs you 70% of your squad.

[Anonymous No.2480453]

>>2480449
Why? Base battles are about the same as Terror sites. There's a lot of aliens and there are also terror species.

[Anonymous No.2480457]

>>2480453
Not comparable at all. Terror sites are a wide open cityscape where you can blow up and shoot through structures at will. Alien bases generally you need a blaster bomb to cut through. They're also a snaking maze and not open at all. Plus aliens themselves are packing blaster bombs.

t. bases are more akin to fighting a crashed/landed Battleship

[Anonymous No.2480571]

>>2474983
What weapons penetrate a ufo hull?

[Anonymous No.2480591]

>>2480571
Blaster bombs. I guess heavy plasma too but it will require multiple hits and who wants to waste ammo doing that?

[Anonymous No.2480631]

>>2480449
>I've done base battles and it's tough. Often costs you 70% of your squad

You should have plasma weapons and armor by the time you do the first base.

[Anonymous No.2480635]

>>2480449
IDK. I've made it to Cydonia with most of my original soldiers I've had since the beginning of the game. Usually only lose 2-3 along the way.

[Anonymous No.2480638]

>tfw retaliation attack on my base in January
Fug, it's too early in the game for me to handle this. I'm restarting.

[Anonymous No.2480641]

>>2474218
I'm confused, you're breaching a UFO but I don't see a rookie with a High Explosive Charge getting ready to run inside.

Prime Grenade > Throw Rookie

[Anonymous No.2480646]

>>2480638
Retaliation attacks are about same as terror sites except the aliens will be packing Blaster Bombs, so look out. If you see a guy holding one, take him out ASAP.

On the plus side, if you beat 'em, you get the Blaster Launcher added to your arsenal and you can research it early.

[Anonymous No.2480659]

>>2480641
What? I tossed the HE inside and blew the aliens to kingdom come. But then after that, I remembered that you can throw grenades through diagonal walls so I usually just do that without the risk of stepping into the UFO and having a shootout. It works on scout UFOs quite effectively although larger ones are too big for this trick to really work.

The downside to this is that the interior of the UFO will often be damaged and you don't get to recover stuff from it. For example, in the above mission, the power supply survived the HE blast but I lost the Elerium inside.

[Anonymous No.2480661]

>>2480659
>counting on a rookie to throw a grenade through a door.

Just send gimpy in there and be done with it. Tell him its a football.

[Anonymous No.2480663]

>>2480659
>What? I tossed the HE inside and blew the aliens to kingdom come
Guess he didn't see the HE laying in the UFO.

[Anonymous No.2480665]

>>2480661
The soldier that actually threw the HE was the one on the left side of the door. I just happened to have another one selected when I took the screenshot.

[Anonymous No.2480668]

>>2474218
Did you know that you can shoot out the power supply and grab the Elerium from it.

[Anonymous No.2480694]

>>2480591
I was just using my heavy plasma in a base defense and 2 shots took out a base wall which have like 255 health, so it's not that much ammo

[Anonymous No.2480702]

There was only one living guy inside this wrecked Medium Scout. I'd blown out the side of the building here in case aliens were inside (turned out to not be the case).

[Anonymous No.2480718]

Now we set ourselves to the task of finding the remaining purple pansies. Moving off to the right was an open lot and a barn. Since it was a pretty safe bet that there was a Floater hiding up in the loft, I summoned Rocket Launcher Guy. Because he was still in the Skyranger, it took a while to get out there, but I figured the the alien probably wouldn't be going anywhere. So I shot a large rocket into the loft and as expected, uncovered his hiding place. He shot some reaction fire after which my riflemen took him out (picture).

But we weren't done yet. There was still another alien somewhere and the odds seemed to favor him being holed up in another barn in the bottom right corner of the map. So we just repeat process. Fire rocket into the loft, strip the alien of his cover, and knock him out with a few blasts of hot lead. Mission over, no casualties although the UFO itself was so destroyed as to yield no goodies except a couple of alloys.

[Anonymous No.2481049]

>>2480641

[Anonymous No.2481062]

>>2481049
>prime grenades
Oh yeah, those things that explode when something walks up to them. I've never really used them although they can come in handy for booby trapping UFO doors.

[Anonymous No.2481065]

>>2481062
Prime grenades won't take out the tougher aliens in one hit though.

[Anonymous No.2481069]

>>2481049

[Anonymous No.2481264]

>>2481065
No although it might weaken them so they fall in one or two shots. Mutons have been known to survive HE blasts.

[Anonymous No.2481372]

>>2473094

[Anonynomus No.2481379]

>>2475539
You can just hire rookies to do that, they're so much cheaper and you can fit more of them on board.

[Anonymous No.2481383]

>>2481379
Yeah I've never been a big HWP guy.

[Anonymous No.2481475]

Are the old XCOMs actually good?

People wanked over Enemy Unknown/Within and I really didn't see what the fuss was about.

The combat is fun, but everything else is bland as fuck.

[Anonymous No.2482139]

I'm trying to do a gameplay of the original X-COM, where I want to do everything there is to do in the game. I'm pretty far in the game, I shoot down every UFO and win every mission. And I stopped getting terror missions, base defenses or base assaults. It is because I'm too good? The farm missions are getting pretty boring.

[Anonynomus No.2482184]

>>2481475
The original UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka UFO Defense in some regions) is excellent, and quite different from the new XCOM games. At least IMO the atmosphere is much stronger.

If you can get past the interface that a lot of people new to the series seem to find challenging, you'll find a very solid and enjoyable game underneath. One of the best games of the 90's for sure.

[Anonymous No.2482186]

>>2481475
>Are the old XCOMs actually good?
UFO Defense is fucking incredible. There is a good reason /v/ has been jerking off over the game since 2007.

>>2482139
Play OpenXCOM and install some challenge mods. Then do a superhuman run of the game without reloading. CMON SON.

[Anonymous No.2482189]

>>2482186
Also, color coded squads so you can remember your dudes.

[Anonymous No.2482249]

>>2482186
The question was leaning more to: "Will aliens stop doing terror missions/base defenses/base assaults, if I'm kicking too much ass?"

Like if there is some point system, when they don't have enough to do those harder missions.

[Anonymous No.2482293]

>>2482249
only terror missions when an alien ship lands. So if you shot it down before it lands. I think.

[Anonymous No.2482297]

>>2482293
Well, that sucks. I'd love to have terror mission, but I don't want to let them land.

[Anonymous No.2482304]

>>2482186
>There is a good reason /v/ has been jerking off over the game since 2007.
/v/, /vr/, /tg/ and the whole fucking rest of the world, even including pleb mainstream reviewers who still frequently nominate it one of the best games ever.

[Anonymous No.2482316]

>>2480571
Blaster Launcher, son.

[Anonynomus No.2482363]

>>2482249
If you're kicking too much ass, i.e. shooting down too many UFOs, the aliens will want to retaliate, but in order to do that they have to find you first. They'll send scouting UFOs to look for your bases, and once they've found you, they'll send battleships at you until one gets through your defenses. After a successful base defense mission they need to repeat the whole process again.

I think if you keep shooting down the scouting UFOs before they locate you, they won't be able to attack.

I don't know if it's possible to completely prevent alien bases from popping up, though. Maybe if you manage to shoot down every single UFO that's part of the alien base-building mission.

[Anonymous No.2482410]

>>2482249
I will answer you in a different way: the original game has a bug which resets difficulty to beginner whenever you load the game. If you think you tried other difficulties, you've been playing on beginner all the time.

[Anonymous No.2482413]

>>2482410
It's OpenXcom, boa.

[Anonymous No.2483080]

>>2481379
Rookies don't have that much armor and TUs.

[Anonymous No.2483085]

>>2482410
Gollop explained that, due the whole heavy randomization, the only way he could balance the game in a semi-coherent way was to give a tech boost to the aliens if you did to well in a month, and vice-versa. Problem is, adding that dynamic difficulty part created the difficulty reset bug.

[Anonynomus No.2483284]

>>2483080
Tanks can't go through narrow paths or doorways, and there's a good chance they'll die from plasma fire anyway, especially if you use them for scouting ahead. Then you're down by $420,000.

For the same price, you can afford 10 rookies, 4 of which you can fit on the Skyranger if you forgo the tank, and four rookies combined have much more mobility and firepower than a single tank. High armor is nice, but I'd say the only notable advantage a tank has over soldiers is that it's immune to psi attacks.

[Anonymous No.2483305]

>>2482363
Lemme explain how alien missions work:

Each mission has a particular sequence of UFOs starting with Scouts and (on all missions except Research) ending in a larger ship(s). If you shoot a UFO down, the next one in the sequence will be delayed by up to a week (attacking landed UFOs does not have this effect). Should the end of the month be reached and the alien mission has not been completed yet, it will be canceled.

This is particularly important for Infiltration missions which cause you to lose a funding country if they succeed. You must delay them at all costs until the end of the month. Infiltration finishes with two Battleships and if the second one shows up, it's over and there's nothing you can do.

[Anonymous No.2483312]

>>2482139
Later in the game, you should just ignore Research missions since governments don't really care about those and by the time you have Plasma cannons, Medium Scouts will get destroyed in one shot and Large Scouts about 50% of the time. Nor do you get much booty from them.

I'd only bother with these if the UFO has landed so you can bag the intact Elerium in the power supply (you can never have too much Elerium).

[Anonymous No.2483316]

Alien missions go as follows:

Research:

>Small Scout
>Medium Scout
>2x Large Scout

Abduction:

>Small Scout
>Medium Scout
>Large Scout
>3x Abductors

Harvest:

>2x Small Scout
>Medium Scout
>2x Large Scout
>2x Harvester
>Battleship

Infiltration:

>Small Scout
>2x Medium Scout
>2x Large Scout
>Terror Ship
>Supply Ship
>2x Battleship

Base Construction:

>Small Scout
>Medium Scout
>Large Scout
>2x Supply Ship
>Battleship

[Anonymous No.2483321]

>>2483316
Terror:

>Medium Scout
>Large Scout
>2x Terror Ship*

Retaliation:

>Small Scout
>2x Medium Scout
>3x Large Scout
>2x Battleship**

*the first Terror Ship is a scouting vessel and does not land
**sometimes the Battleship just appears and makes a beeline for your base without any prior scout vessels

[Anonymous No.2483323]

Also note that your radars will not detect every UFO in a mission.

[Anonymous No.2483324]

>>2471606

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING
THIS IS IMPORTANT
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>Operation Spotlight is an organized effort being created between multiple boards in 4chan, Reddit, YouTube, and any other news outlet we reach out to. This begins NOW, because people need to be informed and make the difference BEFORE the Senate vote!

Corporate greed has now solidified into a very real law of suffering known as the TPP. Do not be fooled - those that champion this bill as "free trade" are fully prepared to let Obama BYPASS congress and make deals that America has no say in. In fact, only 5 of the 29 chapters INVOLVE trade!

https://youtu.be/xzfxv2XQoPg

>And the best part of these bills? You're not supposed to KNOW or CARE about it.

Thursday, the American House passed the TPA on a very close margin of 218-204.

>http://hotair.com/archives/2015/06/18/house-and-senate-to-vote-on-trade-bill-again-without-taa/

Now it moves to the Senate. This is the LAST line of defense before Obama can sign it.
We must not wait for the day it is voted on.
There are other bills similar that are coming - but first and foremost, TPP is priority.

The TPP includes:
>Allow major corporations to sue governments for expected loss of profit over legislation on a "maybe"
>Force ISPs to spy on people to enforce DRM/DMCA copyright law and possibly cut off internet access
>Get rid of the labeling on harmful products that say they're harmful (cigarettes)
>Removing the country of origin from packaged goods such as meat


>WE MUST TAKE A STAND. NOT LATER, BUT NOW!
>TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW
>WE MUST GET CELEBRITY PERSONALITIES TO SPEAK
>WE MUST INFORM OUR SENATORS
>SPREAD THE WORD
SPAM EVERY SOCIAL MEDIA SITE WITH "OPERATION SPOTLIGHT"

I hate being banned but this has to be done.
It affects us all.
>>>/pol/46748528
>>>/pol/46746747
>>>/pol/46723477
>>>/pol/46738692

[Anonymous No.2483326]

>>2483323
One thing I wondered, what's the detection rate of X-com's various aircraft? Can it be used as an impromptu backup radar by sweeping an area?

[Anonymous No.2483343]

>>2483326
I think it can but I don't remember for sure.

[Anonymous No.2483349]

Alien bases are usually built in one of the unpopulated areas of the globe (Pacific and polar regions) but sometimes also in populated areas. Each month that an alien base is allowed to operate is points taken off your score, although governments won't panic if it's not in a populated area. Successful Infiltration missions are followed by a base appearing in that country.

Sending an aircraft on patrol can detect a suspected alien base (when there is one present, you'll see weekly Supply Ships coming and going from it)

[Anonymous No.2483361]

>>2483321
Also Terror Ships never land except to drop off their crew on a city, so the only way to fight one on the ground is by shooting it down.

[Anonynomus No.2483363]

>>2483326
>>2483343
Aircraft do have radar; you can use them to find alien bases or even UFOs that happen to fly past them.

If you use OpenXCom, you can see each individual radar range represented by a circle around your bases and aircraft on the globe view.

[Anonymous No.2483372]

>>2483316
The first two missions you will encounter in the first month of the game are a Research mission in the same region as your base and a Terror mission in a randomly chosen region. Each month of the game will have one Terror mission.

By March, you will start seeing Snakemen and Abduction missions. Mutons show up in April and Ethereals in May-June along with more advanced missions like Base Construction and Harvest. Retaliation missions can occur even in January should the game happen to draw one on the randomizer.

[Anonymous No.2483556]

So we all know (or most of us at least) that Russia is hardcoded in X-Com to not being able to be infiltrated and defect to the alien side.

But I'd like to know, is there a similar mechanic in TFTD? I've played the game through 2 or 3 times but I've never managed to test out if there is such a country.

[Anonymous No.2483642]

>>2483349
Alien bases are tough; I've sometimes lost 75% of my squad taking them out.

[Anonymous No.2484035]

I might have shot down too many UFOs.
They've resorted to taking public transit.

[Anonymous No.2484239]

>>2484035
kek

[Anonymous No.2484860]

bump

[Anonymous No.2485453]

>>2484035
ayyy

[Anonymous No.2485459]

>>2484035
>My feet hurt
>Bloody humans shot down my ride
>When is this thing they call "bus" coming?
>Wish I was back in my base in Antarctica dissecting a cow.

[Anonymous No.2485573]

>>2482189
What mods?

[Anonymous No.2485598]

A night in Baghdad...

>throw out some Electro Flares (which I stocked up on after past negative experience with nighttime terror missions)
>one Floater appears out of the inky black
>takes out one squaddie
>he goes down
>shoot some more Floaters
>there's one firing from the middle of the park, but it's too dark to see
>blindly throw High Explosive into the park
>it takes out a large chunk of the park, but the alien wasn't hit
>however it did start a fire which provides enough illumination to see by
>approach and spot the daemon
>take him out
>another guy throws an EF around the corner of a grocery store and lights up a Reaper
>throw grenade
>the Reaper dies, but the blast also destroyed the EF
>pick up my remaining EFs and go around
>another alien further back in the park throws a grenade and takes a civilian out
>eventually get him when we advance further into the park, which is now mostly a charred crater
>spot Reaper in a warehouse
>hock HE
>it blows the wall out but doesn't hit him
>the furry fucker comes outside into the street
>shoot him dead with a rocket
>wait, there's two of them
>waste a bunch of rifle rounds and a rocket trying to hit him
>he walks up to one soldier, but luckily runs out of time units and can't bite him
>finally eliminate the Reaper
>one last alien left, forcing me to make a dangerous exploration of the map in the dark

[Anonymous No.2485606]

>>2485598
>wander around for 10 turns and still nothing
>the aliens' turn is now extremely short, indicating for sure that just one guy remains
>is he in this house?
>nope
>maybe that warehouse on the lower left of the map
>let's move through the big warehouse where the Reapers had been previously hiding
>use regular grenade to break through the wall so I don't do too much damage and possibly get my guys hit by an HE blast
>fuck, it's not strong enough
>have one of my Laser Pistol girls shoot an entrance in the warehouse
>walk around cautiously but still nothing
>another guy outside heads towards the hole made from the earlier HE round and finally spots the Floater
>he goes down
Mission over. 12 aliens and one soldier dead. Some points subtracted for two civilians I accidentally killed, but this is Baghdad so they were just dirty Mudslimes anyway.

[Anonymous No.2487424]

>>2482139

If you're annihilating all their battleships, they can't conduct any of those other mission types.

[Anonymous No.2487462]

>>2487424
Correct. Battleships are the last UFO to appear in Harvest/Infiltration/Base Construction/Retaliation missions.

[Anonymous No.2487467]

>tfw you spend 20 turns trying to find the last faggot cowering in a barn

[Anonymous No.2487537]

Since the second alien mission in a new game will be a terror attack, you may see one of the two Terror Ships on the radar. At this early phase, you don't really have enough resources to take them on. If you equip both Interceptors with twin Avalanche missiles, you can shoot down a Terror Ship, but most likely one Interceptor will be lost in the process.

Terror Ships are big and have between 10 and 23 aliens depending on the difficulty level, although shooting them down has a high change of destroying the power supplies and taking the engineers out with them. So at this early phase of the game, even if you can take one down, your squad really doesn't stand a chance unless the UFO is crewed by Floaters. A Sectoid-manned ship will be too much for you due to mind control attacks and Cyberdiscs.

[Anonymous No.2487545]

Anyway, the first floor of a Terror Ship looks like this. There can be anywhere from 2-10 Terror species onboard depending on the difficulty. Inside the engine room are the engineer aliens. If the power supplies are intact, you will likely have to take out the engineers first since the grav lift in here is the only way to get to the second floor. If the power supplies exploded, the engine room's walls will be leveled and the engineers all dead, so once you eliminate all terror species, go right on up.

[Anonymous No.2487552]

Floor 2. Beware of reaction fire when turning corners. As on all larger UFOs, the second floor has security walls that can only be penetrated by a Blaster Bomb. On the bridge will be the navigators and leader. If the aliens happen to be Sectoids, take the leader out ASAP as he does mind control attacks. The closets on the left and right have no floor and Floaters/Ethereals like to hover here and shoot down on you if you're on Floor 1.

If the power supplies exploded, sometimes the bridge is inaccessible without a Flying Suit in which case you can use a certain game exploit to hock grenades upstairs.

[Anonymous No.2487703]

Needless to say, Cyberdiscs make quite a mess.

[Anonymous No.2487704]

These are the thanks I get for saving your crummy city? Fuck you, Vancouver.

[Anonymous No.2487803]

Why is everyone so afraid of Chryssalids? They only take a couple of shots to down. Just learn to position all your soldiers exactly 40 squares away from any unexplored area where a Chryssalid might emerge at the end of your turn and you'll be fine.

[Anonymous No.2487812]

I'm on my first play through of this game and so far, while an annoyance, I haven't had too much trouble with Chryssalids. Sure they turn people into more of them, but I just keep them at a distance. Now Cyberdiscs...fuck Cyberdiscs, fuck them in their stupid disky faces.

>hit the bastards once
>get a blast of return fire
>step off Skyranger at the start of the mission and immediately find two Cyberdiscs next to it
Fuck this shit I'm outta here.jpg

[Anonymous No.2487814]

>>2487812
You say that now, but just wait for a terror mission in the dark. Or, better yet, wait till you're doing a base assault and you find out it's Snakemen. "Oh, I can handle this" you think. "This'll be easy." And then, out of the area you could have SWORE you cleared, a Chryssalid will appear. But it won't go for the men closest to it. Oh, no. It'll go up the teleporter. Worse, it'll go up the teleporter where your rear commander, your two most valuable men protecting him, and the guy with the blaster launcher that you needed to punch that hole into the command center are. And then, as you camp the teleporter, waiting for that Chryssalid to come down, a zombie will. Your men shoot at it a couple times, and it shoots back. Suddenly, everyone is dead. You then realize that the soldier who had the blaster launcher didn't die all the way. He could still reaction fire. And then you realize just how fucked you really are.

[Anonymous No.2487816]

>>2487814
Zombies can shoot back? I've never had that happen.

[Anonymous No.2487819]

>>2487816
Yeah. If the Chryssalid didn't do enough damage to kill the soldier it infected, then it can fire at you, but only reaction shots and they have HORRIBLE accuracy.

[Anonymous No.2487826]

Snakemen are the lamest alien in the game, really. When they're not accompanied by their little gray friends, they're pretty much of a joke.

>can't float
>can't use mind control
>not strong enough to shake off explosions

[Anonymous No.2487835]

>>2487826
True, but Snakemen doing Research/Abduction/Harvest/Resupply missions (where there's no terror species) are a nice break in the mid to late game in between battling mind controlling fucks and Mutons that can absorb practically an entire rifle clip worth of shots.

Also they're resistant to Incendiary weapons so another little thing to remember when fighting them.

[Anonymous No.2487850]

>>2487703
Good thing this was a daytime mission. Nighttime missions suck balls (the aliens have fucking night vision, but you don't) but when it's a Terror attack, you gotta do it.

>tfw nighttime Snakeman terror mission

[Anonymous No.2487918]

Most of the time, the initial Research mission in January is crewed by Sectoids and the first Terror mission by floaters, but the game randomizer occasionally gives you a Sectoid terror mission. I notice also that the floppy version of X-Com seems to put Sectoids on the Research mission about 75% of the time while the CD version is about 50/50 Sectoids/Floaters.

[Anonymous No.2488164]

Why do you lose the game if you fail Cydonia? Can't you just send another Avenger out?

[Anonymous No.2488173]

>get laser rifles
>do Floater Terror mission
This is so...cake. I mean, the bastards drop in like one shot now. I didn't lose any guys nor did I need to use my explosives except for shooting a rocket.

[Anonymous No.2488182]

>>2488164
That would be kinda cheap.
>>2487826
You really want to fight Floaters all the time until it's mind rape time?

[Anonymous No.2488208]

>>2488182
>You really want to fight Floaters all the time until it's mind rape time?

Mind control happens earlier than you think; specifically as soon as you get any Sectoid mission that's not Research.

[Anonymous No.2488229]

>>2488182
I guess so, and it'd ruin the suspense of it being the final do-or-die mission, but it just doesn't make sense to me from a logical perspective.

[Anonymous No.2488251]

>begin February
>normally I'd just get another Research/Terror mission
>boring
>edit MISSIONS.DAT so an Abduction mission happens in Central Asia not too far away from my base (normally Abduction missions happen in March)
>bag a scout UFO from this mission, but make it to the end of the month without ever seeing anything else
That was gay.

[Anonymous No.2488267]

>>2488251
Reload and try again. Sometimes your radars don't always pick up every UFO.

[Anonymous No.2488492]

My worst X-Com moment ever:

>attack landed Battleship at night
>rookie steps outside triggering reaction fire
>Blaster Bomb comes whooshing in out of the darkness into the Skyranger and takes out my entire crew
>the Skyranger is lost and I never even found out what aliens we were facing here

[Anonymous No.2488503]

>my son's first gameplay
>I don't help him with strategy, just information/possibilities
>he rushes flying armor
>his whole team has flying armors before first Chryssalid mission

>mfw he'll never know the fear

[Anonymous No.2488504]

>>2488492
>Snakeman terror site
>as usual, kill all the aliens except the one coward hiding on the top floor of a house
>which I can't go upstairs because the staircase was destroyed
>spend like 20 turns throwing grenades and shooting out the walls
>the house is mostly rubble by now
>still no alien
>suddenly a Chryssalid turns a corner and bites one of my soldiers
Fuck.

[Anonymous No.2488510]

>>2488503
You don't have a son, do you, you fat disgusting neckbeard.

[Anonymous No.2488530]

>regular old mundane "shoot the Large Scout down in farmland" mission
>see two Floaters just outside
>Oh this should be cake
>shoot at one alien and miss
>the other shoots a stun bomb and knocks all but two soldiers unconscious
>the last two get shot dead by plasma rifle fire
:-/

[Anonymous No.2488538]

>attack Muton base
>so far all goes good
>one Mutie after another falls
>then a Blaster Bomb comes sailing down a hallway and wipes out all my officers
>another BB takes out my rookies
>one surviving captain proceeds to singlehandedly blast every remaining Muton/Silacoid in the base despite getting shot multiple times
Truer heroes there never were.

[Anonymous No.2489284]

How do you guys feel about the mod in openxcom that lets you stun enemies with regular weapons?

[Anonymous No.2489294]

>>2489284
I think I've captured a single floater using it.

Usually things have just died when trying to wound them first, or they just shrug off the blow.

Mind you, I haven't really been game enough to send more than a single soldier into melee at a time.

[Anonymous No.2489378]

>>2488492
>First battleship mission (landed, not shot down)
>Soldier steps out of skyranger
>Triggers blasterbomb reaction fire
>shot misses soldier, sails into Skyranger, hits back wall.
>Everyone is dead, Dave.
>Solder steps back in, dustoff.
>Very quiet ride back to base.

[Anonymous No.2489791]

bump

[Anonymous No.2489818]

>>2488503
>telling your son to play on beginner.
This is where you failed. Veteran is the minimum acceptable difficulty in X-Com.

[Anonymous No.2489820]

>>2487704
>operation successful, the patient is dead!

[Anonymous No.2489826]

>>2489818
He's ten :(

[Anonymous No.2489829]

>>2489826
Well he sure kicked beginner mode's ass, didn't he?

[Anonymous No.2489831]

>>2489826
Also, you best be using OpenXcom, so he doesn't exploit those plasma ammo bugs. And while you're at it, activate the mod that implements XCOM2012 weapon self-destruct. Force the little shit to set up a proper manufacture for once to see if he can make it 'till the end of the month.

[Anonymous No.2489936]

>attack landed Sectoid Battleship at night
>throw Electro Flares everywhere so I can see
>see a barn a few paces to the left
>end turn
>spot a Sectoid on the second floor of the barn peeping out the window
>one of my soldiers opens fire
>the Sectoid is hit and retreats
>he decides to hock a grenade out the window at my soldiers
>whoops, the injury he took reduced his throwing accuracy
>the grenade bounces off the wall of the barn instead of going out the window
>hear a hugely satisfying explosion and alien death sound

[Anonymous No.2489942]

>>2489936
Another time, same game:

>Muton Battleship touches down in Nigeria
>Turn 4, for some reason all the Mutons with Blaster Launchers come outside and line up where I can use them for target practice
>this is a promising development
>next turn, a Blaster Bomb comes from inside the UFO and hits one of the Mutons standing in the grav lift
>three Mutons and one Celatid die
>goddamn this mission is going even better than I could have hoped
>next turn
>another Blaster Bomb fires, this one hits my squad and kills 5 soldiers
>two other soldiers are gravely wounded and one of them is panicking
Lesson learned: Never get too cocky

[Anonymous No.2489954]

>regular old boring farm UFO shootdown
>killed a lot of aliens...there's only one left I think
>had a Blaster Bomb, tank with incendiary rounds, and a few riflemen hunting down the last alien
>reaction fire out of nowhere and one soldier goes down
>I can't figure out where the freak this shot came from
>next turn, another soldier gets iced
>alright, enough of this
>blast a barn with incendiary rounds
>the barn is soon ablaze
>throw grenade inside
>hear alien death sound
>alright
>wait, he wasn't the last guy we still have more work to do
>next turn three soldiers get shot
>leg it back to the Skyranger and grab my Blaster Launcher mostly because I'm about to blow a blood vessel
>spend the next few turns moving over to a barn on the other side of the map and taking cover
>fire Blaster Bomb at the suspected alien location
>it explodes about halfway to its destination due to striking a haystack
>one BB left
>adjust the trajectory a bit so it doesn't hit any haystacks or fences this time
>I'm not exactly sure where the alien is, but I guess the barn
>the bomb ricochets around the first floor of the barn and goes upstairs, exploding there because I didn't have any more way points left to assign
>alien death sound and mission over
Turns out it was one lone Sectoid. This is when I learned to deploy at least one tank for scout/blind firing in the future.

[Anonymous No.2489968]

My most memorable moment...?

>attack landed Ethereal Battleship
>this was my first encounter with Ethereals and I didn't have any Psi capabilities
>my squad was advancing on the UFO
>Ethereals busy using Psi attacks on one of my guys
>figured he was going to crack very shortly, so I had him drop all of his weapons
>ran out of TUs so he still had a grenade left
>sure enough, he gets mind controlled the next turn and wanders off to parts unknown
>after several turns, I have literally no fucking idea where he went, half expecting him to show up and throw his grenade into my squad
>suddenly he's un-MCed
>find him on the bridge of the UFO kneeling (I kid you not) before the Ethereal commander with three other aliens flanking him
>this is gonna be too easy
>prime grenade and drop it on the floor
>next turn, all the Ethereals are kill
>my soldier was knocked unconscious, but his Power Suit kept him alive
>with the loss of the commander/leaders, the remaining Ethereals panic and drop their weapons, allowing them to be dispatched with easily

[Anonymous No.2489979]

>>2489968
During one mission, I had reached that awkward point where Ethereals show up, but I didn't yet have Psi abilities. I lost one guy in a Flying Suit who got mind controlled and just wandered off somewhere never to be seen again and ended up MIA.

After that, I put all psionic-weak soldiers in regular Power Suits (no Flying Suits), took away their grenades, and gave them only Rocket Launchers/Auto Cannons with incendiary ammo. Incendiary rounds don't affect soldiers in Power/Flying Suits and it turned out to be an extra bonus on nighttime missions because the aliens would just MC these guys and have them randomly shoot off their incendiary rounds, lighting up the dark Battlescape and giving my other soldiers plenty of light to see by.

[Anonymous No.2489994]

>playing on Superhuman with no tactical saves
>Snakeman terror site (oh goody)
>the mission began with a wicked firefight
>four soldiers went down, but I managed to kill twice that many aliens
>street bisecting the map
>I proceed to clear all the buildings on the east side of the street without losing any men
>the last aliens must be on the other side
>start walking across the street
>well it turns out I didn't clear all the aliens behind me
>two Chryssalids emerge and zombify two of my best men
>it's now four Chryssalids vs six soldiers
>end turn and hope my soldiers will use reaction fire on them
>nope they weren't in position
>I only managed to hit one zombie
>I swear I didn't know this was possible and it's the only time I've ever seen it happen, the zombie arms an alien grenade and used it to kill two soldiers
>the Chryssalids zombify another two men
>my two remaining soldiers made a glorious stand as they proceeded to waste all of the remaining bastards, the fine one dying a mere two squares away

[Anonymous No.2490016]

Here's my favorite moment when I attacked a Snakeman base. Three previous assaults on a Sectoid base had failed catastrophically (by which I mean 2/3rds of my squad dying from a Blaster Bomb on like Turn 2). So I said to hell with conventional warfare.

>take along four Blaster Launchers and 15 rounds
>the other soldiers have Plasma Rifles and grenades
>as soon as Turn 1 in the Snakeman base began, I proceeded to launch BBs and heave grenades anywhere and everywhere, random rooms, corners, and everywhere in between
>with each explosion came the satisfying sound of another alien biting the dust
>on Turn 2, the area around the entrance lift was mostly just smoking rubble
>I assumed I'd be safe for the moment, but I was wrong
>more Snakemen and a few Chryssalids rush at my squad through the haze, shooting and throwing their own grenades
>the next few turns look like World War II with gunshots and explosions going off like crazy
>meanwhile, the Snakeman officers up in the control room panic and start shooting off their Blaster Launchers, reducing the control room to ruins
>the mission was over by Turn 8 and I recovered little of any value from the base because of how totally destroyed it was
>10 soldiers killed and three wounded
>30 aliens killed

[Anonymous No.2490031]

>>2490016
Anyway, the Snakemen evidently weren't real happy about the loss of their base, so they decided to retaliate against mine.

>drop proximity grenades and HEs in the access lift choke point, along with a wall of waiting soldiers set for reaction shots
>the alternating explosives decimated their first zerg for about 4 turns
>then no one showed up. I waited 4 more turns and nothing. So I grenaded my last prox mine away and moved up with 6 troops
>I found just a massive line of weapons on the ground and eventually found the 15 or so remaining Snakemen in the hangers. NONE OF THEM had weapons.
>there was one Snakeman with a Blaster Launcher facing the wall
>figured this was the leader
I like to imagine he was banging his head against the wall in frustration as his soldiers were panicking around him. Also that was really the last I saw of Snakemen for the rest of the game.

[Anonymous No.2490171]

After spotting a Large Scout shooting westbound to the Atlantic, Interceptor 2 went in pursuit. The bogey slowed and reversed direction, after which it was shot down in lovely Southern France.

So far, so good. No reaction fire or evidence of aliens in the vicinity of the Skyranger.

[Anonymous No.2490179]

This stone wall is in the way, so we'll just use a grenade to punch a hole in it.

[Anonymous No.2490183]

First contact with the enemy was made when a Sectoid fired at us. He was quickly dispatched with and one of his shots made an additional opening in the stone wall for us.

[Anonymous No.2490186]

The UFO is off to the left, but first we have to blow up some of these fence rails to get there.

[Anonymous No.2490192]

The ol' "hock a grenade through the diagonal wall" trick, producing the satisfying sound of an alien being torn to pieces by shrapnel.

[Anonymous No.2490196]

An alien stepped outside and was immediately dropped by reaction fire. About three turns later, the last remaining alien suffered the same fate.

[Anonymous No.2490201]

And mission over. Cakewalk.

[Anonymous No.2490239]

>>2490201
Enjoy your fun now, buddy. Because eventually, nighttime Snakeman terror missions are coming...

[Anonymous No.2490267]

https://archive.moe/vr/thread/2471606/#2489968

The butt? What's with all these deleted posts?

[Anonymous No.2490775]

>Floaters terrorize Tokyo
>prior to beginning the mission, assign my front line soldiers each a smoke grenade to provide cover when we head out
>however, the first thing we spot is a Floater hiding in a house just across from the Skyranger ramp
>oh well, let's let him have it with the Auto Cannon
>fire and miss
>this provokes reaction fire from the Floater who uses a Stun Bomb to knock out three soldiers
>oh well, at least they're not dead, right
>head outside
>shoot a few Floaters
>spread out
>my Rocket Launcher girl is gravely wounded and falls unconscious
>write her off for dead
>at least she took out one Floater before going down
>with four of ten soldiers out of commission already, this isn't looking promising
>have another soldier grab the Rocket Launcher and shoot into the building where the Stun Bomb-using alien was, reasoning that he's probably still up there
>fuck, I missed
>other team members take out some Reapers and a Floater loitering by a house
>one soldier happens to spot a Floater hiding in another house to the left of the Skyranger and takes him out

[Anonymous No.2490780]

>>2490775
>fuck, I missed
>other team members take out some Reapers and a Floater loitering by a house
>fire another rocket and punch a hole in the upper floor of the house, but no alien
>one soldier happens to spot a Floater hiding in house to the left of the Skyranger and takes him out
>another Floater fires from the house that the other guy was loitering by
>he ducks around the corner, so I decide to just heave an HE back there
>to be double sure, another soldier throws his HE on the other side of the house
>the house is reduced to rubble on the next turn, but no alien death sound
>evidently the Floaters were pretty pissed about the twin HE blasts so one decides to retaliate by hocking a grenade
>two soldiers are kill
>my other guys move east a little bit and realize that there's actually two of them in the street behind the ruined house
>blast 'em with my Laser Pistols
>mission over
As it turned out, the only casualties were the two soldiers that got hit by the grenade. The rocket launcher girl, despite being in a coma since early in the mission, survived and I got a Good! rating. Also I have no idea whatever became of the Floater with the Stun Bombs since I never saw him again after he knocked my guys out.

[Anonymous No.2492549]

>>2489831
>taking away the game's primary source of income
>taking away all his weapons on no-elerium-since-nothing-ever-lands the game

[Anonymous No.2492589]

Fusion Ball launchers are the best weapon for shooting down Battleships, but they only have a couple of rounds and manufacturing their ammo is expensive. By this point in the game, it will be impossible to shoot down Scouts without destroying them so instead you should just chase after them until they land. Besides, you want to recover the UFO intact so you get the precious Elerium from it.

[Anonymous No.2492629]

>>2492589
Ever tried smash-and-grab?

>shoot out UFO power supply with a plasma rifle
>take the Elerium from it

[Anonymous No.2494803]

>reading openxcom wiki
>"Right-click a grenade during pre-battle inventory to prime it"
>mfw

[Anonymous No.2496182]

We've all had those days, right?

>land at terror site
>kill one Floater
>ok, all looks good let's step off the Skyranger
>next turn
>another Floater hocks a grenade into the Skyranger
>your entire crew except one guy is wiped out
>he makes the long, silent ride back home to base

[Anonymous No.2497190]

>>2487467
you don't know hide-and-seek xcom style pain until you've played TFTD

[Anonymous No.2497206]

Hopefully your whole squad is armed with laser pistols by the first terror site except for the Rocket Launcher/Auto Cannon guys. Floaters (what you get 75% of the time on the first terror site) are cake and Sectoids won't be terribly hard either, just don't get too close to Cyberdiscs since they go kablooie.

[Anonymous No.2497269]

This used to be a gas station.

[Anonymous No.2497939]

>>2482186

How does it compare to Xenonauts? I got it for five bucks during the Steam summer sale, and I've been having a huge amount of fun (iron man normal mode, probably have restarted 5 times now, not including my 'how does anything work' playthroughs. Fuck strategy guides, learn and die trying). You can kind of tell that the devs had a hard time making it, and they pretty much just tossed support to the community before washing their hands of the thing. I'm curious if they've really improved on much besides the graphics though.

[Anonymous No.2497942]

>>2497939
>You can kind of tell that the devs had a hard time making it
I haven't played Xenonauts, but nothing about the original XCom feels like this (other than the bugs, obviously). It's compelling as shit.

[Anonymous No.2498681]

>>2497942
X-com shows the fact that Gollop had to pull a three months crunch time just before release to iron out the major bugs, without further rebalancing of what's already in there and adding some more stuff. Blaster Launchers and Psionics being overly good are the main examples.

[Anonymous No.2499219]

>finish January
>take care of first terror mission
>February starts
>open MISSIONS.DAT out of curiosity as to what missions are coming up this month
>see Snakeman Base Construction scheduled for North Africa, one region over from my base (in Europe)

I'm on Beginner mang, what the fuck? This shouldn't happen until at least March.