I'm not sure that there are any Crysallids on Cydonia, I just found a lot of Etherials, and a couple of Etherial Commanders (very annoying).

I just ran my way through and took the brain out, to be honest.

P.S. Does anyone know if you can stun the brain or not?

well...there were chrysalids -_-

man, the chrysalids took out 4 of my men, my best one was ripped by two sectopods (but he was able to finish one of them hrhr). in the end there were three soldiers left.
all had paniced, than one was under alien control
he nearly reached the one of my men who was at the brain (one level under it) and
both (not alien controlled) stopped to panic. i send the other one to the guy who was under alien control (hoping that he will be the first target) and the guy standing on that lift was ordered to grab his heavy plasma. then i send him up, 30 tu left, enough for autofire.
*BAMM*, the last shot hit the brain (and luckily none of the reaction shots of those 3 ethereals did).

well, THAT WAS A HELL OF A LAST MISSION ^^

even though the outro is a bit...lame

Sorry about giving you crap info... still, if you though that was hard - TfTD has like the world's hardest last mission (other than Syndicate)!

Hello all.

I don't even remember how I got to Abandonia in the first place. Must have been one of those "Il click in this link for the hell of it" moments. Never been into "retro" gaming, and I myself only started gaming for real back in 1997. Starcraft got me back then, and held my attention for a long time. Eer since, I kept my PC upgraded and got some of the most graphically beautiful games to play, having a very fast pc and a very powerfull video card. So I got here entirely by accident. What's important is, once in the main page, I started browsing the games, out of curiosity.

So I go to the "most popular" list, and see XCOM Ufo Defense. Now, I KNOW I read about this game somewhere... maybe someone mentioned it in a forum or something. "ah, let's dowload it and at least have some fun at it's expense", I thought. After all, what's an oldie like that gonna have on the latest, graphically magnificent games?

7 Hour later I was still playing. Mind you, I didnt even read the manual. I just started the game and got pulled right into it. Of course, that first campaign ended when my troops where being regulary massacred in EVERY.SINGLE.MISSION due to lack of laser rifles and armor.

And yet, I wasn't discouraged. I read thru this whole thread, AND OTHER threads in other sites, and got me a couple of strategy guides. I have taken to heart much of the advice the veteran soldiers give out to us newbies, and when I play, I plan ahead my missions with the utmost care. All my soldiers have the names of people I know, (I myself am a commander now!) and I don't want to loose any of them. It's gotten to the point that, If i have a strong enough man, he will carry the body of a fallen comrade, so as not to leave any of our own behind, and being able to give them a proper burial as a hero, the way it should be.

This means not just that I became a bit obssesed by the game (a tiny, little bit, yeah) but it goes to show another, much more important point: I AM HAVING GREAT, GREAT FUN playing XCOM.

So, as it turns out, I also got to Abandonia by luck. I have always thought that gameplay is much more important than having the latest graphics tec in a game, but never had such a perfectly clear and undisputable example of that as X COM. It's addictive, it's deep, it has a TON of strategic and tactical posibilities, your soldiers grow with the game, and lets not forget, you can name them :D

Of course, I make a lot of mistakes in my missions, but try to loose as few men as posible. My latest campaign came to a painfull stop when all my interceptors where being shot down by the lasgest UFO's, and my men in the ground were no match for the bastards with the green uniforms that take a LOT of shots (those the Muttons I read about here?). Also, the USA after being the one country that steadily increased my fundings, suddenly had a change of heart and made a pact with the other side. SO I am starting a new campaign, trying to get MORE scientist for more research.

ANy other game I would be real pissed to have to start for a fourth time. Not this one. I found a real gem, I think. So to stop ranting, just wanted to say, great site, and great game. Lotsa thanks!

Drop one 'T' and you're right :) Though muttons sounds like a nice name for them as well...
They're indeed quite hard to kill. Avoid using rifles but go for something heavier. Even laser rifles do quite fine against them, at least compared to (ordinary = non-laser) rifles.
Good luck!

Wow that was one hell of a rant! Glad you like the site. I have to agree that some of the newest games can not match the playability and originality or the "old Skool" games. :ok:

Yeah, good look with that. It's quite hard to take them down, though, and also watch out for their blaster-launchers.

Beware from Etherals(Aliens in orange robes),Chrysalids(gray hybrids between crab and chickens :D ) and Mutons.
Also for some reason,only thing that aliens did with their blasters to me was,that they killed themselfes and/or some of his fellows.I lose maybe 5 soldiers to alien(I say alien,becouse etherals have ugly habbit MC soldiers with Blaster Launchers...) Blaster Launchers for my entire gameplay... :blink:

Are you referring to the Atlantic Accelerator mission? That was a piece of cake relative to most of the American Revolt missions. The Syndicate Wars missions are also a pain in the behind...

Are you referring to the Atlantic Accelerator mission? That was a piece of cake relative to most of the American Revolt missions. The Syndicate Wars missions are also a pain in the behind... [/b][/quote]
I second that...

To keep on topic, I was wondering whether mind-controlled soldiers (I mean your men that are now under control of the aliens) reload their ammo? I've never really paid attention to it.