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[Japo]

All this talk got me interested in playing again, and I think I'll also try Apocalypse and Interceptor, which I've never played yet.

In UFO I never favor heavy hand weapons (expect for one single blaster launcher), because by crunching numbers you easily reach the conclusion that they don't really deal more expected damage per turn at all. The best weapon is the laser rifle, and hand grenades are much better than rocket launchers. Only heavy plasma has better stats than laser rifles, but it needs ammo clips, which moreover take space in the Skyranger.

And I don't like HWPs because:

- They would make sense if they were like real tanks, I mean heavily armored, that is resistant to handguns. Their survivability is laughable.

- They're expensive to replace, and considering their low survivability it's ruinous. I don't even understand why are they so expensive, they can be destroyed by a single plasma shot just like a soldier, they must be made of cardboard, right?

- They are less stealthy than soldiers, specially at the time of exiting the Skyranger, when they're placed always up front. This makes it likely you will lose that tank during its first move, specially in terror missions it's almost guaranteed.

- Last but not least, if you like to fill the Skyranger to maximum capacity (as I do, and I don't think there's any reason not to, neither tactical nor money-wise) and so space is restricted, you can fly four kickass soldiers instead of a lousy HWP.

[Eagle of Fire]

Again, I don't understand.

Plasma/Hovertanks have 130 armor everywhere but for the underside. That's 20 more than any of your soldiers will ever get (with a flying suit. 30 if you use the power suit instead) and that's only from the front as the sides and behind are all lower armored than the tank who have a fixed rating all over. (source, look at the link at the bottom for the tank stats)

Now I know that Aliens only use Heavy Plasma (power 115) and that every shot get a random number from between 0% and 200% (0 to 230)... 230-130 = 100, -90 health for the total health of the tank = -10... So yes, an hovertank can theoretically get destroyed in a single shot. So can and will any of your soldiers. If you compare that to riffles (which is pretty much your standard human weaponry as far as normal humans are concerned) then you have power 30 (0 to 60 damage), which can't even penetrate the 130 armor. So it is effectively "pistol proof".

The real problem here is the power of the Alien plasma weapons. They can destroy their own ship walls with them... And it's supposed to be full proof.

And to finish it, I know that tanks are less stealthy than squaddies: that's the whole point. I want it to attract and "soak" up the early shots and damage so the squaddies get safe. Squaddies can improve their stats after all, not the tank(s). The fact that it is a four square unit and is easier to hit simply help taking the shots. And when it gets hit and survive I do the same than I do with any soldiers: it goes back to the skyranger. For me it is only a support unit, not a super unit.

I think our main play difference goes with how we load our skyranger. I load every single squaddie with a flare and a medkit every mission (flares stays inside the skyranger for day missions), I always bring four stun rods in every mission irreverently of if I use them or not (which eventually get replaced by stun guns + their ammo), I eventually equip some soldiers with stronger plasma weapons than the standard laser ones (which mean ammo), etc. All this take a lot of space in the skyranger (especially at the very beginning with riffles, autocannons and heavy cannons) and it is usually simply impossible to full the skyranger with fully equipped squaddies.

Thus, the tank.

We all do have one thing in common though: this discussion also made me want to play the game again.

[Japo]

Well of course the problem is the aliens' weapons... If they used wet towels I could just research armor made out of two sheets of cardboard, and I'd be invulnerable. :P

But sometimes (at least sectoids in small UFOs and non military missions) aliens do carry other weapons than heavy plasma, though I guess it may depend on the difficulty level. Not to mention the guys who carry blaster launchers... :E

Less soldiers in exchange for more equipment, not a good trade IMO. I try to avoid night missions of course, as they give you a huge handicap against the aliens even with flares, but when I have to only then I manually load the flares and I just pack less clips (that is laser for everyone if someone had plasma), or grenades.

I really need to look into XCOM3 Apocalypse, I hear it has cover (I miss that A LOT in UFO!) and I might like the real time...

[Eagle of Fire]

If you need help in Apocalypse then I'd be happy to help. I have mastered this game a while ago.

You might see this calculation as "less soldiers for more equipment", but I don't see it that way. I rather see it as "less soldiers so they can be perfectly equipped and thus be safer and perform better".

I have ages ago determined that loading flares for night mission manually eventually lead to bad things to happen (tm). Most of the time it take so long for the Skyranger to get to the battle that you cannot truly guess the time of day. Most of the time I simply forgot to load those flares manually... Not to mention the hassle of having to do it every single time. I already have to look over and edit the name of every single squaddie after each mission, to check for armor etc... That's enough MM for me already.

Beside, I don't need the extra 3 soldiers (I count the tank as one soldier). Plus, more Aliens to kill per soldier mean a bigger increase in stats and this ultimately make this way better if I don't need those 3 extra soldiers. Especially since soldiers are going to die/get injured no matter what: rookies need their chances to get better stats sooner rather than later.

[another_guest]

For what it's worth, as soon as I can afford it (i.e. as soon as I'm capable of laser rifle overproduction) I seem to have a similar approach as Eagle of Fire, using a tank to exit the aircraft first and to scout ahead.

I tend to prefer tanks that don't use elerium though unless I've built a significant supply of it.

To come back on the flying disks, I just remembered a few missions where 2-3 flying disks turned my soldiers into minced meat when even concentrated laser rifle fire didn't manage to destroy them. Usually because of missed shots to which the flying disks responded with 100% accurate fire

All this discussion makes me want to play the game again though I should also dig up one of the more recent competitors (UFO:AI?) and I still have 2 games of the X-Com series that I didn't try yet. Choices, choices!

[Paco]

Can i have a list or explanation for abbr those after Soldier name?

For example: "Rene Dujardin:c15/M" name like that exist in X-com. "c" mean the Rank so he is a Sergeant and 15 mean that he killed 15 Alien, but i dont have a clue about what is after /.

[The Fifth Horseman]

I don't recall any abbreviations like that. Where did you see them?

[Paco]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

I don't recall any abbreviations like that. Where did you see them?

In Game. This is also the first time i seen such abbreviations. Normally i play my own german Windows-version. But this time i am using the DOS-Version, so i am replaying "Xcom Total Pack" to create new better screens for AB.

[Japo]

I have never seen that either. I've played both the versions that were available here (DOS and Windows) and the Steam release. Bothif this is intentional or a bug, it has to been caused by modding.

[Eagle of Fire]

Yup.

The vast majority of UFO players rename their squaddies to their liking. That look like a lot like someone who did just that.

If it has been done automatically by the game without you doing anything (short of loading a save game you didn't play) then I would guess this is some kind of cheat which allow you to see things you should not be able to see. Like MC, which is the Molecular Control rating of a squaddie.

Or maybe it is simply a mod which automate the edition of your soldiers to display some important data... Not that I'd consider having the rank and number of Alien killed important at all, mind.