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[laiocfar]

Hahaha... lobstermen are easy... superior combat tactics can deal with them, remember to launch a grenade to any stunned lobstermen, its very normal when you are using bad weapons. About tactics... avoid close combat and carry plenty of ammo and explosives, they are usefull to both kill them or blast obstacles. To do a tactic retreat in time isnt any shame.

[Incappucciato d'Ombra]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(laiocfar @ May 15 2007, 05:28 AM) [snapback]290299[/snapback]</div>

Hahaha... lobstermen are easy... superior combat tactics can deal with them, remember to launch a grenade to any stunned lobstermen, its very normal when you are using bad weapons. About tactics... avoid close combat and carry plenty of ammo and explosives, they are usefull to both kill them or blast obstacles. To do a tactic retreat in time isnt any shame.
[/b]

The same for me, apart for a "little problem" : to stun a lobstearman without alien weapon is'nt so easy, on Ufo 1 the smoke serves well but in TFTD you need tons and tons of underwater-explosion and very much luck (because with stun-rod you need to enter close combat).

First of all the equipment :

1) i take at least 8 men with gauss rifle with 3 ammo reload for each men (IMHO, gauss cannon had a bad ratio "weight-ammo" versus "fire power") and a tank as scout against a medium USO (or 8-10 men and 2-4 men only with more ammo and explosive... no rifle, if i got mad and decide to attack a big USO that are carrying Lobstearman).

2) 1-2 stun rod but only if i have 12 men (can be usefull as "kamikaze" for stunning an injuried alien and then killing it with a little grenade)

3) some little grenade (see point 2)

4) 8-12 proximity grenade and the rest... Demolition charge

5) less than this... well... "run! Run! run for you life!" (to be honest i prefer this definition: "to execute a strategical retreat" )

Now my tactic :

First of all, i don't give all demolition charge to my men, i put 2-4 of them unassiged so they appear on ground just in front of the transport exit, ready to be picked-up, armed and launched. I let out the tank (just 4 or 6 square) and look around, now :

1) if my landing position is surrounded by lobstearman i use demolition charge
1a) launched by the best launchers, because it's necessary to be precise, demolition charge must land and explode just below the hatred "lob", this because of the relative low under-armor, so 2-3 charge and lobstearman is dead.
1b) from the inside of the transport, mens in the rear activate charge and give to men in front of exit that launch it, in this way the first 2-3 men in front of exit can launch 4-6 charge.
1c) All men and the tank return inside the transport because at the end of the turn the hatch of the transport is closed automatically and the lobstearman can do nothing (if all goes well... as all of us that have played Ufo 1 & 2 at least some time well knows )
1d) If all things goes well i proceed..... else i become considering a "strategical retreat".

2) if there is only some lobsteraman near the transport i launch 1 demolition charge "in front" of each lobstearmans in this way the front armor drop and it is relative easy to kill them with gauss rifle.

3) as for proximity grenade, they are little powerful ok, but easy to launch far away with precision, therefore are useful to weaken armor and "open the road" for massive gauss rifle shots.

4) when Lob's armor is weakened (or when demolition charge ends) i use a men or the tank as scout, when lobstearman become visible i retreat the scout and the rest of the men, a lot behind and standing on secure position, shots with gauss.

This is difficult and require time (dozens of shots for each lobstearman) but possible if the ammunitions are enough...

Finally, i suspect that this description can be clear only to veterans of Ufo series this because :
1) my english is bad (and sometimes babelfish translate italian to english worse than a troglodyte)
2) I have omitted all the basic tactics in order to try to shorten the post (to be honest... even because i start writing the post 1 hour later and i becoming a bit confused :blink: )
3) for me, italian but "creature of the night" it's time to go to bed

eventually I will try to explain better, next time... just ask

[The Fifth Horseman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(laiocfar @ May 15 2007, 05:28 AM) [snapback]290299[/snapback]</div>

superior combat tactics can deal with them, [/b]

That, and a whole heck of reloading.
But in the end, I managed to beat a mission against _eight_ of the damn things - 230 score, two live specimens captured, no casualties. k:
The last one was tough, however... the thing was outside the sub, on my flank and kept hiding until I dealt with the rest of its kin.

Lessons learned on battling the lobsters:
1. Harpoon rifles barely itch them. However, since Lobstermen are so tough, it's quite possible to stun one rather than kill it with a harpoon shot. Instant live specimen. :bleh:
2. Gas Cannons are much better. HE ammo = lots of hurting Lobsters.
3. Torpedo launchers are useful to soften them up... think Large Torpedoes.
4. Hydrojet cannons are good for providing major volume of firepower. HE ammo does a good job in compensating the inaccuracy of automatic fire, too.
5. SWS can find some use. I kept going around the corner of the USO with an Aquajet SWS, firing a snap shot against a Lobsterman guard and then backing out... the dumb thing didn't move and was just so much easy kill when my aquanauts arrived.
6. Grenades are useful - that's for sure. Except Lobstermen eat them up like crackers - takes seven to nine grenades to down one.
7. STUN RODS!!! When carried by fast soldiers (circa 70 AP), they are probably the fastest way of disposing of Lobstermen. Takes two hits to down one, so either you'll need to have more stun troopers or soften the target with torpedoes and such before the stun trooper jumps out on it... and of course a frontal attack is suicide, so get its' attention distracted and use explosives to create a smokescreen for your trooper to advance through.

I managed to survive that battle (even the SWS, though I'm not quite sure how it was still running near the end... got shot up real bad), and the changes in equipment turned out the right way to go. Next terror site (Gillmen/Deep Ones) and a touched-down small USO (Gillmen again) went in a pinch.

hi,
Im a huge fan of both UFO1 and 2...I beat UFO1 a long time ago, and never knew there was a sequal.
I tried UFO2...things were going good, until I realized that I could never get my research to the advanced UFO crafts. I have alien sub construction, magnetic navigator, Iron beam accelerator, and most other alien sub stuff, and transmission resolver...tried interigating technicians, commanders (Except for tasoth) squad leaders and soldiers of many races but can never get the craft research to unlock. I also cant get to the MC weapon to control the aliens even with MC generator, MC lab and MC reader. Ive been fighting for almost a year without advanced crafts and my geoscape is filling up with VERY LARGE ufos that I get my behind whooped even with 2 sonic ocilitators...
sum1 plz tell me what exactly you need to research the advanced crafts...

[The Fifth Horseman]

Do you have Aqua Plastics and Zrbite researched?
What about Deep Ones (both live and dead)?

I get my behind whooped even with 2 sonic ocilitators...[/b]

Pulse Wave Torpedoes FTW.

I've had zyrbite and aqua plastics for a while now...actually I had them from the first month of game time LOL.
About the Deep ones, I remember I use to get attacked by them alot at the beggining of the game. So I have a dead Deep one researched. However by the time I started packing my soldiers with stun weapons, they kinda seemed to stop appearing. In return, every attack seemed to be only by Gill men, Lobstermen, tasoth, tentaqle creatures and the bio-drones, so I have plenty of them captured or stored as corpse...But I get no where with them. I also tried equipping my baracuda with P.W.T and fighting the VERY LARGE ufo with caution, but didnt work...

[Incappucciato d'Ombra]

Unfortunately the problem is this :
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(recklessfantasy @ May 16 2007, 07:11 PM) [snapback]290509[/snapback]</div>

About the Deep ones, I remember I use to get attacked by them alot at the beggining of the game.
[/b]

You need a live deep one and you need to capture it in time, before they disapperar, and store it for future research (when you need it for advanced craft).

At the moment i think you have only 2 possibility :

1) restart game (or reload a previous one before deep ones disappearance)

2) shot down million of USOs (Unknow Submerged [or submersible ?? i don't remember well :blink: ] Object) and pray... pray... pray... to be precise you must shot down the USOs that goes to resupply the alien bases, generally you will find Lobstearman, sometimes Acquatoid and Tasoth... but there is a little possibility that you will find an USO crewed with Deep One.

Good luck, you need it

I guess its better for me to just restart the game...Im pretty sure I can get around and do better because I allready have a good understanding of the game. Incappucciato you said that I have to capture a deep one fast enough, but how am I gonna stun and capture a live one without the thermal launcher? do i have to use a stun tazer?

[The Fifth Horseman]

According to a nifty research tree I found just today, you need Ion Armor and Magnetic Ion Armor researched to be able to research new craft... and a live Deep one is a must for that.

As for capturing... stun tazers are one way. Another is to simply avoid using large-caliber weaponry on the thing and take it down with harpoon rifles only: every now and then the alien will be stunned rather than killed - you'll know that if the alien drops but there is no death-cry from it. I captured both Gillmen and Deep Ones that way.
Remember also that the stun tazers work best in hands of fast troops... 60 TU is an absolute minimum, and forget about heavy weaponry.

[Incappucciato d'Ombra]

AAAAAAARGHHH !! I'm a stupid! Sorry, but about 2 year are passed since i played TFTD the last time (there is even the possibility that my brain are becoming quite aged and unstable, but i prefere don't think to this :bleh: )

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ May 17 2007, 01:21 PM) [snapback]290593[/snapback]</div>

both Gillmen and Deep Ones that way.[/b]

Supply ship are crewed with Gillman (one of the 4 primary alien race), Deep ones are monster linked to primary alien race (like biodrone, tentaculat etc. etc.) therefore, even if you found a supply ship crewed by Gillmen you never find Deep One again, except on T'leth, but to reach T'leth you need Advanced Craft ...

This means : the only possibility is restart game <_<

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ May 17 2007, 01:21 PM) [snapback]290593[/snapback]</div>

As for capturing... stun tazers are one way. Another is to simply avoid using large-caliber weaponry on the thing and take it down with harpoon rifles only: every now and then the alien will be stunned rather than killed - you'll know that if the alien drops but there is no death-cry from it. I captured both Gillmen and Deep Ones that way.
Remember also that the stun tazers work best in hands of fast troops... 60 TU is an absolute minimum, and forget about heavy weaponry.[/b]

beyond this you can use smoke at your advantage, gillman and deep one at the begginnin appear on terror mission, when alien attemp to raid Harbour or Ship, therefore just use incendiary ammo and put fire on all