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[alkyl]

When i load the game from windows, it is all askew to the right very far, I am unable to read any of the options ont he right hand side.

Is there a way to resize the game so it fits my monitor and isnt half way off of the damn thing? Im kinda new to emulating all these old dos games on new pcs and shit, but I got dos games to work with dosbox fine, just this xp version is giving me a headache. Really want to play it ! any advice would be much appriciated.

Thanks

[Eagle of Fire]

Download the DOS version and use DOSBox.

[alkyl]

which exe do i run once i mount it?

[gufu1992]

Originally Posted by alkyl

which exe do i run once i mount it?

1)Er... change you ravatar... it's bothersome.
2)Hm... I don't exactly know the name of the file (although I recall DosBox being able to run the windows edition, also). Try all of them - there is nothing to mess with, so you can just poke around (Then again, I haven't seen DOS version in ages). I guess it's either UFO.exe or UFO Defence.exe

[Eagle of Fire]

Alwayt try the .bat files first if there is any.

While in dosbox, you can restrict the search by typing dir *.bat or dir *.exe.


Humm... I never noticed the reply by Japofran. It's almost a month old...

So laser rifles aren't only better than heavy laser overall, they're far more powerful (3x60=180 versus 85) at the end of the day.

That's the very basis of the laser VS plasma argument. Those who swear by auto shots always count that the soldier can hit 3 times the same alien, which is next to impossible unless you're hitting from blank range... At which time it is just as possible to hit the alien 2 or three times with the fast shot with a plasma riffle for more damage. Point is, if you like to rely on luck then auto shot alway look more appealing to the player. Other people like me who hate to rely on luck and train all his soldiers to become snipers who throw grenades in case of emergency close combat find that plasma weapons are far more reliable than laser weapon, at the end of the day. Which, by that, I mean by the course of the whole game...

The true reason why I always prefered plasma over laser is that there is a small percentage of casualties I simply can't manage to overcome when my team primarily use laser instead of plasma. Sometimes it's because a squaddie don't have the accuracy and miss all his auto shots which would otherwise kill an alien who will kill one of my experienced men the next turn, sometimes it's simply because the auto-shots favorise a close quarter gameplay and you get unlucky... And I can't stand that when I know there is a better way to prevent all this since the AI in UFO don't take grenades in consideration 99% of the time.

As for motion scanners... I never bothered to play with them. I developped a more effective way of doing missions than to rely on wasting TU on scanners. In night missions, it mean using a lot of flares. In day mission, it mean being carefull and move all my squads as teams who cover each other all the time. On open terrain, the aliens can't do much against that... In close quarters, I use grenades.

About medkits, I know that the chance of someone surviving a plasma blast is minimal until you get some armour, but the chance is not nul. I can't stand to lose experienced squaddies so early in the game, and I always prefered to have the medikit technology available (and thus already manufactured and in stock) before the personnal armors were available so I actually can save those first few soldiers who get injured with a PA on. I find losing soldiers to wounds much more aggravating than losing them to alien fire.

I also always use all the beginning weapons except for the pistol which is not powerfull enough. A starter riffle is able to down a Grey in one shot if you're lucky, two if you're not. A pistol need way more shots than that, and that's with the weakest alien ennemy while riffles are still decent against anything better than a flying corpse. Autocannons and the like are good too, but like you said they use a lot of TU and they are very heavy. I usually only equip two or three with those in my entire landing party, which usually consist of 12 squaddies.

I understand why you'd want to research better weapons ASAP if you use only the pistol... How can you even overcome the first terror mission without terrible casualties if you don't have the firepower of at least one or two autocannon? If you run into a flying disk, you're pretty done for, and reapers are tough enough by themselves...

[_r.u.s.s.]

Originally Posted by alkyl

which exe do i run once i mount it?

ufocd.bat ____

[The Fifth Horseman]

I usually have 2 Autocannons and two Heavy Cannons on a mission.

[alkyl]

thnx for info ill change it so no one hates me lol

[Japo]

Originally Posted by Eagle of Fire

That's the very basis of the laser VS plasma argument.

I wasn't comparing laser to plasma, but laser rifle to heavy laser. Auto shot with laser rifle means shooting three times with 46% accuracy each spending 34% of TUs for all three; snap shot with heavy laser (it doesn't have auto) means shooting once with 50% accuracy and spending 33% of TUs, or three times spending 99% of TUs. It's not difficult to realize that laser rifle is far better no matter the situation. Same goes for snap and aimed, the rifle's better accuracy (since you say you don't like to rely on luck) and less TU spending, more than makes for the greater power of a single heavy laser shot.

There's no such thing as relying on luck or not, you're always doing it. What you must do is choosing the tactic that gives you better odds. Sometimes it's better for the overall odds to shoot more times and sometimes to shoot more carefully, it depends basically on the range. (But the influence of range is not documented and sometimes the right decision is uncertain.)

As for rifles and pistols, I can't see why using the inferior rifles would give me better odds against tough enemies. Rifles are as useless against them as pistols and I of course use grenades every time if I don't have a more powerful alternative. One single rifle shot has a power of 30, and the pistol has 26 which is almost the same. Plus the pistol is cheaper in terms of TU and you'll be able to shoot more times, and so you can actually deal more damage in a turn with the pistol than with the rifle, even though each shot is slightly weaker.

[Eagle of Fire]

You are not looking at the whole picture though. I've never seen someone with a pistol down a Grey in a single shot (albeit I have to admit I hardly ever used the pistols) while I've seen it plenty of times with a riffle. It been a long while, but I think that riffles have more ammo in their clips too. Another point to consider is that if it take you more shots to down an ennemy, your odds to hit increase by firing more shots, but so does your chances of having extra casualties due to alien reaction shots in your turn. Does each weapon also have a reaction time too? It been too long since I last played so I don't remember well, but I think that it was also a factor for me since I rely a lot on reaction shots in the ennemy turn to catch those pesky aliens off guard. Having a more powerfull gun always help to be lucky and down them in one shot, saving the life of many men in the process. That's also where autocannons and the big gun come into play too. That, and the fact that they have specialised ammo like the inciendiary clip, which is a killer against the Night Ones (who turn civilians into zombies) and can also serve as a light source in night missions.

The only real advantage pistols have over riffles is that thrown item accuracy is way better with a one hand weapon than a two hand weapon like a riffle. Two hand weapons like the riffle also lose accuracy when the squaddie is holding something in his off hand, while pistols don't have such problem.

But even then, I too always look to change those beginning weapons ASAP. It simply that I tend to overlook laser weapons completly and research plasma weapons right away instead. You really don't need better weapons until about month 3 in the game if you know what you're doing.

From what you are saying Japofran, you seem to rely on grenades way more than I ever did. I prefer to kill the aliens with hand weapons instead, reducing the chance of destroying alien equipment that I then don't need to manufacture myself. I hardly ever need to make my own plasma clips, for example...