I don't think I've ever had a sectiod terror mission go so poorly.
[
Terror Mission Log #2
Some backwater town in Asia gets hit by a sectoid terror ship so we deploy to take it out. Things start wonderfully as the tank gets gunned down going down the ramp. A smoke grenade is tossed out the ship and we wait. Even with the smoke cover our troops are getting shot at as they proceed down the ramp. A couple of tense minutes in and it sounds like all the civvies have been gunned down except the ones cowering in the buildings, so we proceed to level gas stations and stores. Cyber Disc guns down Evelyn as she tries to run for cover, and two sectoids gun down a poor redshirt from behind, never saw it coming. Sinew gets mowed down trying to get to cover in a gas station but a grenadier gets revenge.
Captain Kaboom's had enough and heads out the ship, primes an alien grenade and takes out 3 with one. Kamikaze Sushi's being harassed mentally by aliens and Wanton heads out. Wanton makes it farther than anyone else and gets to a gas station with Sushi, but he doesn't hold up long. Wanton gets shot in the back, looks like laser burns. Kamikaze Sushi goes MIA for awhile. Kaboom's stuck in a warehouse going out to toss a few nades when she has a chance and gets shot at by Sushi. Sushi fights the mind control but gets shot up by the commander before he can get back to the ship. He falls unconscious and bleeds to death.
Kaboom, the only living soldier on the field now makes a mad rush outside and gets shot at by a sectoid, but guns it down with reaction fire. Their commander leaves her alone mind wise but takes a few potshots, must be nearsighted or somethin. Lil sucker could take a hit as he took two gas pumps exploding by him, but some exchanged fire and he goes down.
In other words lost everyone but a Captain, helluva mission that.
Did you hire more scientists? Or are you playing your first game on some obscene difficulty?
"Beginner" in X-COM parlance is "The AI makes you its bitch." "Veteran" means something like "Go cry in the corner, sucker" and "Superhuman" is... "Bend over, please."
Because if you just got laser rifles and the aliens are invading your base something has gone wrong.
I did hire more scientists. I have fifty now, though I've been assigning them to different tasks, so there is that.
The base invasion is on February 13th, so I don't know. Is that early?
And yeah, I'm stupid enough to play my first game on veteran.
The second time I played the game (The first time I played all of my troops got raped getting down the skyranger), on beginner, after shooting down 3 small UFOs and a terror mission, I got invaded starting the second month.
I'm on my fourth playthrough, I'm at the middle of February and everything is going well, for now.
If I decide to expand, should I place my second base at the middle region of America? Or Where? My current base is at Sicily.
Did you hire more scientists? Or are you playing your first game on some obscene difficulty?
"Beginner" in X-COM parlance is "The AI makes you its bitch." "Veteran" means something like "Go cry in the corner, sucker" and "Superhuman" is... "Bend over, please."
Because if you just got laser rifles and the aliens are invading your base something has gone wrong.
I did hire more scientists. I have fifty now, though I've been assigning them to different tasks, so there is that.
The base invasion is on February 13th, so I don't know. Is that early?
And yeah, I'm stupid enough to play my first game on veteran.
The second time I played the game (The first time I played all of my troops got raped getting down the skyranger), on beginner, after shooting down 3 small UFOs and a terror mission, I got invaded starting the second month.
I'm on my fourth playthrough, I'm at the middle of February and everything is going well, for now.
If I decide to expand, should I place my second base at the middle region of America? Or Where? My current base is at Sicily.
I'd suggest somewhere around New Orleans, cover Mexico and northern South America that way. Screw Canada.
Then #3 would be Taiwan or Japan.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Another good tactic is to put a base in Antartica and have it pump stuff to sell, so just keep something like 10 or so soldiers for a base defense while your 100 scientist and Engineers pump stuff to sell.
Can't multiplayer a single player game, but the tales of soldiers/missions/base defense and raids we all love to share denotes a quasi-multiplayer experience, so Game On stays.
Did you hire more scientists? Or are you playing your first game on some obscene difficulty?
"Beginner" in X-COM parlance is "The AI makes you its bitch." "Veteran" means something like "Go cry in the corner, sucker" and "Superhuman" is... "Bend over, please."
Because if you just got laser rifles and the aliens are invading your base something has gone wrong.
I did hire more scientists. I have fifty now, though I've been assigning them to different tasks, so there is that.
The base invasion is on February 13th, so I don't know. Is that early?
And yeah, I'm stupid enough to play my first game on veteran.
The second time I played the game (The first time I played all of my troops got raped getting down the skyranger), on beginner, after shooting down 3 small UFOs and a terror mission, I got invaded starting the second month.
I'm on my fourth playthrough, I'm at the middle of February and everything is going well, for now.
If I decide to expand, should I place my second base at the middle region of America? Or Where? My current base is at Sicily.
I'd suggest somewhere around New Orleans, cover Mexico and northern South America that way. Screw Canada.
Then #3 would be Taiwan or Japan.
Why? Canada is a funder and you have like 8 places to put bases. Later you can put one in South America directly and cover more cities. I like putting my second base near Ohio; it seems like a good choice to protect most of the continent. :P
Your third base in Asia should probably not be as far west as Japan, because your base radars work like the center of a circle. You lose like half that circle in ocean if you put the base out there.
Bases for me are:
1) Switzerland, main base*
2) central USA, research*
3) northern China, production*
4) south-central Africa, radar
5) South America, radar
6) Australia, radar
7) India, radar
8) Antarctica, psi-labs
* holds troops and transports
All bases have some sort of interceptor capability though.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited February 2010
Something I've always wondered about: do you get penalized if you don't go to UFOs after shooting them down? Whenever I get later into the game, I don't want to have to worry about mopping up every little crash (already have the good research done/in progress and don't need any stuff to sell). At the same time, I'm paranoid about the aliens from the ship still having some influence on where they crash. So can I ignore UFO wrecks or not?
I convinced myself that I could use grenades to blow open a UFO wall, but clearly that is not the case. Uhh. Hmm. I need to get in this here UFO.
Download X-Util. You can use it to let high explosives blow holes in walls. I'm not playing with that on, though.
Most importantly, X-Util makes it so hard stays hard. Instead of everything going back to beginner once the game starts.
Anyway, I haven't played much, but my first base was put in Sicily. Second base went on the "S" in "USA", and the third is as far East in Central Asian as it can go, because it's cheap. Those second and third bases don't have much but radar dishes at the moment, though.
This time as soon as I started I built a living quarters, a general storage, and ordered 30 extra scientists.
Researched lasers/laster pistols/laser rifles
I ignored the first 3 UFO landing sites so I could go out strong with a squad of laser pistol equipped badasses.
Just as I finish producing enough pistols I get a terror mission in Baghdad.
Reapers and Floaters. I decimate everything, but the last reaper..Which manages to take out 5 people before dying.
I win
I do more research, corpses etc.
Another terror mission
I go in loaded to bear with a rocket tank and a full load of troopers equipped with laser pistols.
This time its Sectoids and Floating Disks.
Sectoid Plasma pistol blows the fuck out of my tank in one shot the second it leaves the ramp. Wow tanks are sooo useful. Pffffhhhhh
Get my troops out, Blow up 4 floating disks, hunt down some sectoids, then shit hits the fan.
three of my troopers go berserk and just start shooting everything and anything. A couple more freak out and drop their weapons or something because when they come back under control they have no weapons.
I survive however, until I get to the last sectoid and floating disk. a dozen direct hits with a laser pistol and the disk is still alive, eradicates almost everyone. I give up and flee the scene.
order the building of laser rifles, order more soldiers, order another skyranger.
Just as soon as all that's done a 3rd terror mission.
So, I manage to finish February and every country is happy with me, I even finished a terror mission!
My squad of 10 guys, 2 scouts with bravery 20 and 8 of the strongest guys in the world, March comes around with close to NO UFO activity, only a terror mission at Australia. Report comes and EVERYONE is pissed off. So I start building a base at US of A. Only to receive a report that there is a BASE at the southpole.
My Skyranger flies there, everyone with laser weaponry, heavy weapons, body armor.. Only to have them all minded controlled and fucked each other.
Can I leave the place alone until I can get protected against mind control? should I just send 5-6 guys and go room by room killing anything that moves? CAN I NUKE IT FROM ORBIT?
So, I manage to finish February and every country is happy with me, I even finished a terror mission!
My squad of 10 guys, 2 scouts with bravery 20 and 8 of the strongest guys in the world, March comes around with close to NO UFO activity, only a terror mission at Australia. Report comes and EVERYONE is pissed off. So I start building a base at US of A. Only to receive a report that there is a BASE at the southpole.
My Skyranger flies there, everyone with laser weaponry, heavy weapons, body armor.. Only to have them all minded controlled and fucked each other.
Can I leave the place alone until I can get protected against mind control? should I just send 5-6 guys and go room by room killing anything that moves? CAN I NUKE IT FROM ORBIT?
You're never really protected from mind control, though you can only include soldiers who are strong against it. If you really can't do a mission, landing and immediately leaving is better for your score than completely ignoring it.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
edited February 2010
Don't forget to check the UFO and Alien Activity graphs - they give you a picture of what's going on outside your radar range. Countries with high Alien Activity through the month are most likely to be Terror Mission'd - or worse, Alien Infiltration'd.
Ianator on
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg) Backlog Challenge List
So, what would happen if I retreat after storming an Alien Base?
Nothing much good. You'd still get points for any aliens you killed and any equipment you grabbed, but if you're retreating I imagine that would be outweighed by your own casualties / equipment losses. Terror missions are the only ones you specifically lose points for not attending (a LOT of points), although you also lose points for every day an alien base exists.
Mr Ray on
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ShivahnUnaware of her barrel shifter privilegeWestern coastal temptressRegistered User, Moderatormod
So, what would happen if I retreat after storming an Alien Base?
Nothing much good. You'd still get points for any aliens you killed and any equipment you grabbed, but if you're retreating I imagine that would be outweighed by your own casualties / equipment losses. Terror missions are the only ones you specifically lose points for not attending (a LOT of points), although you also lose points for every day an alien base exists.
I am making up for that by kicking so much ass in every other way.
I just had a terror mission where four aliens were visible from the start. They were all dead pretty quickly. I only lost two guys close to the end.
And I'm also being consistent in my "no mid battle saves" mentality. It's kind of nerve wracking on turn fifteen when I'm rounding a corner with someone important, though.
So, what would happen if I retreat after storming an Alien Base?
Nothing much good. You'd still get points for any aliens you killed and any equipment you grabbed, but if you're retreating I imagine that would be outweighed by your own casualties / equipment losses. Terror missions are the only ones you specifically lose points for not attending (a LOT of points), although you also lose points for every day an alien base exists.
I am making up for that by kicking so much ass in every other way.
I just had a terror mission where four aliens were visible from the start. They were all dead pretty quickly. I only lost two guys close to the end.
And I'm also being consistent in my "no mid battle saves" mentality. It's kind of nerve wracking on turn fifteen when I'm rounding a corner with someone important, though.
I need to do this one day. I savescummed sooo much, probably because the first X-com I played was TFTD which pretty much requires it to survive some of the tougher terror missions.
Just destroy the control room and then book it out of there. Abuse Blaster bombs.
I just finished researching heavy plasma and plasma clips.. I don't have Blaster Bombs, looks like it will be an old style, inside sweeping, while I pray to not get mind controlled.
If someone gets mind controlled, can I stun them with a stun rod? Or what could I do?
Just destroy the control room and then book it out of there. Watch for Blaster bombs.
Good idea. If I had known that it wasn't a kill everyone type mission... well, I probably would've gotten rid of that base months ago. I'll kill it tomorrow, I guess.
And the no savescumming rule is pretty fun, actually. Though I will reload the same battle over again from turn zero if anyone dies walking out of the lander. Sometime I'll do a "save only on the first of the month" style game. On the hardest difficulty.
I would just give the guy whos open to mind control a stunbomb.
After he'd stun one of my guys he'll run around mind controled cause they don't reload and I'll get a free scout once it ends and thats when the poor sod primes a grenade and ends his life. Or the dude draws enemy fire so the other squad can flank.
What I saying is that X-com squaddies that are open to mind control are still useful to X-com!
If you're guy is getting Psi attacked, just have drop all weapons and grenades.
For cheesing Etheral/Sectoid bases before you get Blaster Bombs, you just gotta be careful. Load up the Skyranger with Tanks, and grenades. Do not equip any grenades until ready. Scout with tanks, looking for the control room. Use them to blow an easy access hole through the walls. During the scouting, chances are your troops will start to be psi attacked. Whichever one isn't being attacked, load him up with grenades and make a run for the control room. Throw the nades from the bottom floor up to the top, the blast radius should be enough and the control room will usually chain blow up.
I'm not gonna lie, this method isn't exactly reliable, and your grenadier may not make it back alive. But for early etheral bases, its sometimes the easiest method.
Posts
Technically speaking. I have four troops left.
[
In other words lost everyone but a Captain, helluva mission that.
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The second time I played the game (The first time I played all of my troops got raped getting down the skyranger), on beginner, after shooting down 3 small UFOs and a terror mission, I got invaded starting the second month.
I'm on my fourth playthrough, I'm at the middle of February and everything is going well, for now.
If I decide to expand, should I place my second base at the middle region of America? Or Where? My current base is at Sicily.
I'd suggest somewhere around New Orleans, cover Mexico and northern South America that way. Screw Canada.
Then #3 would be Taiwan or Japan.
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!
Why? Canada is a funder and you have like 8 places to put bases. Later you can put one in South America directly and cover more cities. I like putting my second base near Ohio; it seems like a good choice to protect most of the continent. :P
Your third base in Asia should probably not be as far west as Japan, because your base radars work like the center of a circle. You lose like half that circle in ocean if you put the base out there.
Bases for me are:
1) Switzerland, main base*
2) central USA, research*
3) northern China, production*
4) south-central Africa, radar
5) South America, radar
6) Australia, radar
7) India, radar
8) Antarctica, psi-labs
* holds troops and transports
All bases have some sort of interceptor capability though.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Thanks for the PSA, champ!
High Explosives will do it, sometimes. Otherwise Blaster Bombs WILL do it.
Download X-Util. You can use it to let high explosives blow holes in walls. I'm not playing with that on, though.
Most importantly, X-Util makes it so hard stays hard. Instead of everything going back to beginner once the game starts.
Anyway, I haven't played much, but my first base was put in Sicily. Second base went on the "S" in "USA", and the third is as far East in Central Asian as it can go, because it's cheap. Those second and third bases don't have much but radar dishes at the moment, though.
I ... found it by hugging the wall and accidentally sending one of my dudes in what turned out to be the hatch.
Okay, two guys down. Sending in the rest, fanning out to the left and right sides. Darn this xeno scum!
This time as soon as I started I built a living quarters, a general storage, and ordered 30 extra scientists.
Researched lasers/laster pistols/laser rifles
I ignored the first 3 UFO landing sites so I could go out strong with a squad of laser pistol equipped badasses.
Just as I finish producing enough pistols I get a terror mission in Baghdad.
Reapers and Floaters. I decimate everything, but the last reaper..Which manages to take out 5 people before dying.
I win
I do more research, corpses etc.
Another terror mission
I go in loaded to bear with a rocket tank and a full load of troopers equipped with laser pistols.
This time its Sectoids and Floating Disks.
Sectoid Plasma pistol blows the fuck out of my tank in one shot the second it leaves the ramp. Wow tanks are sooo useful. Pffffhhhhh
Get my troops out, Blow up 4 floating disks, hunt down some sectoids, then shit hits the fan.
three of my troopers go berserk and just start shooting everything and anything. A couple more freak out and drop their weapons or something because when they come back under control they have no weapons.
I survive however, until I get to the last sectoid and floating disk. a dozen direct hits with a laser pistol and the disk is still alive, eradicates almost everyone. I give up and flee the scene.
order the building of laser rifles, order more soldiers, order another skyranger.
Just as soon as all that's done a 3rd terror mission.
I miss basic UFO landings
So, I manage to finish February and every country is happy with me, I even finished a terror mission!
My squad of 10 guys, 2 scouts with bravery 20 and 8 of the strongest guys in the world, March comes around with close to NO UFO activity, only a terror mission at Australia. Report comes and EVERYONE is pissed off. So I start building a base at US of A. Only to receive a report that there is a BASE at the southpole.
My Skyranger flies there, everyone with laser weaponry, heavy weapons, body armor.. Only to have them all minded controlled and fucked each other.
Can I leave the place alone until I can get protected against mind control? should I just send 5-6 guys and go room by room killing anything that moves? CAN I NUKE IT FROM ORBIT?
You're never really protected from mind control, though you can only include soldiers who are strong against it. If you really can't do a mission, landing and immediately leaving is better for your score than completely ignoring it.
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Nothing much good. You'd still get points for any aliens you killed and any equipment you grabbed, but if you're retreating I imagine that would be outweighed by your own casualties / equipment losses. Terror missions are the only ones you specifically lose points for not attending (a LOT of points), although you also lose points for every day an alien base exists.
I am making up for that by kicking so much ass in every other way.
I just had a terror mission where four aliens were visible from the start. They were all dead pretty quickly. I only lost two guys close to the end.
And I'm also being consistent in my "no mid battle saves" mentality. It's kind of nerve wracking on turn fifteen when I'm rounding a corner with someone important, though.
WHATEVER IT TAKES.
I need to do this one day. I savescummed sooo much, probably because the first X-com I played was TFTD which pretty much requires it to survive some of the tougher terror missions.
I just finished researching heavy plasma and plasma clips.. I don't have Blaster Bombs, looks like it will be an old style, inside sweeping, while I pray to not get mind controlled.
If someone gets mind controlled, can I stun them with a stun rod? Or what could I do?
Just don't expect them to drop with a single poke from a stun rod...
Good idea. If I had known that it wasn't a kill everyone type mission... well, I probably would've gotten rid of that base months ago. I'll kill it tomorrow, I guess.
And the no savescumming rule is pretty fun, actually. Though I will reload the same battle over again from turn zero if anyone dies walking out of the lander. Sometime I'll do a "save only on the first of the month" style game. On the hardest difficulty.
Because, as has been said, I hate myself.
After he'd stun one of my guys he'll run around mind controled cause they don't reload and I'll get a free scout once it ends and thats when the poor sod primes a grenade and ends his life. Or the dude draws enemy fire so the other squad can flank.
What I saying is that X-com squaddies that are open to mind control are still useful to X-com!
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!
You know what's weird? My first game, on beginner, where I was just learning everything, I ran into snakemen in January.
This one on Veteran, I ran into sectoids, then floaters in like the end of January. Nothing but floaters and reapers since then. I'm in mid April now.
For cheesing Etheral/Sectoid bases before you get Blaster Bombs, you just gotta be careful. Load up the Skyranger with Tanks, and grenades. Do not equip any grenades until ready. Scout with tanks, looking for the control room. Use them to blow an easy access hole through the walls. During the scouting, chances are your troops will start to be psi attacked. Whichever one isn't being attacked, load him up with grenades and make a run for the control room. Throw the nades from the bottom floor up to the top, the blast radius should be enough and the control room will usually chain blow up.
I'm not gonna lie, this method isn't exactly reliable, and your grenadier may not make it back alive. But for early etheral bases, its sometimes the easiest method.