Go Back   Forums > Abandonia.com > Games Discussion
Memberlist Forum Rules Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Search Forums:
Click here to use Advanced Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 18-07-2004, 11:03 AM   #11
gregor
Home Sweet Abandonia
 
gregor's Avatar

 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Agalli, Albania
Posts: 1,021
Default

keeping men alive is simple. you have 10 save slots. here is how i use them by saving games:
1 - on surface

2 - touch down near the ship

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - saving each combat turn under different saveslot. if an alien kills my soldier i load the save game and because i know where the shot came from i look up for the alien or try to outflank him. example: lets say i am in turn 4 and everytime i move i get killed no matter what, i can always load previous turn (turn 3) and either move my men differently or dont' move them at all and rather make them duck and wait for the ailien to come out of cover.

9, 10 - these slots i use to save in the middle (not beggining of turn) - example i sucessfully killed an alien i immediatelly save gameunder one of these slots. that way when i move forward and if an alien suddely shoots one of my men i can always load previous position in the turn. if i can't resolve situation i can load begining of the turn from slots above and if that desent help i still have slots from previous turns and i can load one of them. important notice here is that aliens are like your men. they are set in their starting positions across the map and then move arround just like your squad. so if you knwo where the shot came from you can load previous turn and spam the area where alien might be with grenades.

if everyhting else fails you still have the save you made on surface (save slot 1) and you load that one and continue form there on. by avoiding getting you men killed you will train them into officers tha will do the job mostly on their own later in game (high accuracy and reaction time). you will need that as you can't save games in your last mission (in x-com it's consisted of 3 submissions and you can save in the last submission).

this tactics will help you make through the game no matter how crazy your other startegy is. just remember to have enough scientists (100 or more), start with one base and try not to loose any of your men (they bring negative points which will reduce the ending points resulting in funding decrease), and be sure to chek graphs for laien activities. if they show highactivity it means it's a big chance they have a colony near that country and it must be destroyed. to find a colony send ships on patrol arround the country area.

Since i see you had problems with large ship tell me what game you are playing? X-COM or UFO? there are places in those ships where almost always aliens are. like command centers (who have commanders - if you already captured live ones kill them to make others panic) or they also like engines a lot. the larger missions (lie big ships, terrorsites etc) usualyl have from 12-15 aliens. so my guess is in your case you had only one more kill to make. still it's was a bad mission since you lost all men.

If you have problem on the entrance to the ship post men at the entrance turning them towards the door. and just pass a turn or two before opening the door. that way the aliens waiting to snap you in ship (or house, room) will either move arround a bit or maybe they will even try to exit and your men will shoot them with reaction shot.

once you use the save tactics you should do fine. the biggest problem are colonies but with slow movement (reserve time units for snapshot) and using men to cover eachother you should also do fine.
gregor is offline                         Send a private message to gregor
Reply With Quote
Old 19-07-2004, 02:21 AM   #12
Titan
Gnome
 
Titan's Avatar

 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Posts: 1,602
Send a message via ICQ to Titan Send a message via MSN to Titan Send a message via Skype™ to Titan
Default

ALL ships in UFO can be shot down with Plasma-cannon from an Interceptor w/o exposing the fighter to enemy fire... besides from the battle-shit..

2 different tactics regarding them...

either you "swarm" them with 3-4 interceptores, armed with plasma or even better, fusion-balls
OR
you only take on the ships when they have landed or attack them with Firestorm/Avenger-crafts armed with fussionballs/plasma..

nr 1 WILL ressult in many/all crafts are lost.
nr 2 often ressults in 1 or more craft beeing grounded for a looooong time repairing (we'r talking up to 20 days here)

Funnies thing ever done: Shooting down a Battle-shi with CANNON..
Was bored.. armed 6 Avengers with cannons, and sent em up..
After empteing over 2.000 shells into the poor Ufo, it crashed..

Also.. if you'r beeing plauged by base-assult attempts.. here is a hint..
Arm the base to it's teeth with your best men, and JUST the equipment they need.. sell your Gravsheild and save 4 fussion-defences..
Next attack minght get throu.. kill them in the base..
Now.. for this to work, you should have a mind-shield in the base up and running..
After the attack, the aliens seems to "forgett" the location of the base..
They start over searching for it (small scout, large scout, battle-ships; all tagged Alien retalliation)
Take them down nice and calm.. this will keep the base clean, and free up space for better buildings then defence.. just keep minimal defence (5 fussion and 1 gravshield will repell 19 of 20 attacks).
__________________
Meh....
Titan is offline                         Send a private message to Titan
Reply With Quote
Old 27-07-2004, 11:32 AM   #13
Hellblade
Newbie

 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ,
Posts: 15
Send a message via ICQ to Hellblade
Default I'M BACK!!!!

Wow, I'm back from my vacation, and see a lot of unread posts
I'll do my best to answer all your queries.

1. Someone asked if equipping two weapons (one on each hand) reduces firing accuracy. The answer is YES, from memory it's a -50% penalty so unless you have 90+ Firing Accuracy, don't give them two weapons. Note that this does not affect pistols of any kind.

2. Someone asked how to take on large UFOs once they're downed at the beginning of the game. The answer is you DON'T. If you have shit soldiers and shit weapons then here is the SOLUTION - bring your Skyranger over. Lift off on the first turn.
The reason being is that you get 0 score for the mission but the game does not consider this as IGNORING a downed UFO site.
Ignoring downed UFOs actually incur a huge penalty on your score.

3. Someone mentioned using fusion balls launchers. My advice is, don't bother. Plasma is far better at shooting down UFOs considering the costs of Fusion Ball ammos.

4. R Havell said, "One important tihng to remember during battles is that your troops are VERY expendable." Good call Havell!!! I couldn't have said better.

5. Another suggestion for Harcore players. I always have an Elite force of soldiers on an Avenger for emergencies. Their basic requirements are 90+ Firing Acc, 50+ Bravery and 80+ Psionic Defense. Besides grenades Medikits etc., each of them are armed with (Heavy Plasma+Heavy Cannon w/HE ammo) or (Heavy Laser+Autocannon w/Inc ammo). These two combinations are the most powerful and effective at taking out anything in the way.

6. Tanks are good for one thing, wasting valuable space on your crafts. They costs too much in terms of space and money. A soldier is always more cost efficient. E.g. a soldier with Rocket Launcher and Power Armour costs 1/5 of a Tank w/Rocket. A soldier with Flying Suit and Blaster Launcher costs 1/5 of a Hovertank w/Fusion.
Having said this, tanks are useful in base defenses and the final Cydonia mission.
Hellblade is offline                         Send a private message to Hellblade
Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2004, 11:57 AM   #14
Petter1979
Game freak

 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: ,
Posts: 117
Default some tactics i use.

In the start i try to research laser rifles, because they are cheap to research/manufacture, and have more accuracy then normal ammo rifles.

Then lots of grenades, and proximity grenades, i found them to be lot of fun. Grenades and proximity grenades are the best to use in the start of game since the soldiers cant hit for shit.

I usual dont use all the time points a soldier have, i try to hide behind building ect, so if a alien steps out infront of my soldier, my soldier have a chance to shoot and kill the alien before it can retalitate. And also use proximity grenades if i know a direction that the aliens come from. Even if the proximity grenades dont kill the alien its morale/health/accuracy is reduced, and i know exactly where the alien is. They might even panick/beserk next round.

If i have landed at a ufo with 2 entrances(ie supply ship/terror ship/ect) , i usual mine 1 of the entrances up with a proximity grenade, and hide one of my soldier around the corner, if the grenade goes off i can usual kill it with my soldier next run, or place a new proximity grenade. Some of this tactics also work inside ufo's, Large scout and up, just dont cut your own pathway with a proximity grenade

Aliens take control over a soldier inside our transport ship:
Well this had happend a few times for me, when i have soldiers i dont currently use, i found out that get the soldiers down on their knees help a good way, it rarely one of them get attacked by a mind attack.
Petter1979 is offline                         Send a private message to Petter1979
Reply With Quote
Old 26-09-2004, 07:09 PM   #15
Eagle of Fire
Friendly Fire
 
Eagle of Fire's Avatar

 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Valleyfield, Canada
Posts: 4,892
Thumbs down

OK, here are the most common advices that I can give you. I'll try not to give any spoiler, and if I do without realizing it I give permission to the admins to censor me.

First, you need to build your base. That's the first thing you do in this game, and thus you need to do it from the start even before thinking about battles. The thing is, the first base supplied to you is a big free base, and is kind of nice for the eye. However, it would be more than a pain in the ... to defend would the Aliens decide to attack it, because it has hangars from both the bottom and the top of the base and the access lift if in the middle with other adjacent rooms.

In the best of worlds, all your base layout should generally be the same: your hangars at the very top or the very bottom of the base, then the access lift completely alone somewhere on the third line (the one directly above or under your hangars) then you begin to build your base on the fourth line after the access lift. That way, if the base get attacked, you will be able to defend it with ease with only a handfull of squaddies and a lot of grenades since the Aliens always come in the base from the access lift and the hangars. The third "free" line will act as a "chokepoint" preventing Aliens to invade the base too fast. If one or two aliens managed to get out from the access lift before you get there, kill them. You can be sure all the others will be ahead.

Battle and squaddies: obviously, you need to always try to keep your men alive. Moreover, you need to give your squaddies the best chances to overcome their target. The key points on this in tactical battle is visibility, speed and protection.

Visibility: I personnaly always go out with 12 squaddies and then break them down in three squads of four. The purpose of the squads is to always have at least two squaddies at "key" point when they advance in the black area so you have a good chance of seeing the alien before he do (or most of the time, at the same time he do so he don't have time to fire at will on your men) while the other two squad members advance faster (always keep enough time for a snap shot) and then they switch turn. Once an Alien is spotted, turn your four squaddie attention to it but do not forget to "scout" around for other Aliens, be in front, on the flanks or even in the back if that particular squad did not clear out the area behind them.
In night missions, you will have a very hard time trying to spot the Aliens because it's dark, while the Aliens will have a easy time spotting you because they have a way better vision at night. In that case, you need to use flares. I always bring in my Skyranger at least one flare per squaddie, just in case I run into a night mission. When you send your Skyranger, follow it and look at the map when it lands. If the map is at night (dark), then you'll need to equip the flares to your men. Would you forget, it is very important that you make them all take one flare before exiting the Skyranger (all the weapon you don't assign to your men before a mission are stockpilled at the entrance of the Skyranger).
To use a flare efficiently you only need to throw them far enough so the fartest visible spots are light. That way you will be able to spot aliens around the light just like if it was a day mission.
Use the flares liberally. They will save a lot of your men lives. And don't forget they can be reused; pick them back up and throw them away again.

Speed: never ever overload your men! It seems to be a very common newbie mistake. Your men need all the time units they can spare! I personnaly think that any squaddie under 60 TU is in danger because they lack mobility should they fall into an unexpected trap or need to clear out from an area quickly instead of keeping TU for their snap shot reaction time (like when spotting two aliens near him at end of his movement). If you start a mission and you notice one of your squaddie with less than 100% of his TU, then he's overloaded. Remove as much equipment from his inventory as you can spare, and you'll notice that next turn he'll have more TU to spare (if he did not recover them all). I also advise you to only take riffles (and/or handgun if you feel suicidal or want a challenge) in the first few missions until one of your men have enough strenght to take the bigger weapons without losing any or not too much TU. Most of the Aliens are easy to kill with a riffle anyways.

Endurance: research armors ASAP! I won't spoil the tech route to the first armor, but I'll tell you it's very easy to produce them by the end of the second month, should you know what you are doing. Once you have some armor, research the MediKit tech ASAP. The MediKits will allow the men who did not fall in one hit but are grievely wounded to survive the day and become stronger with time. It's always utterly annoying as a Commander (you) to lose men only because he had a fatal wound of 3 and dyied from blood loss after X turns because you had no medical support on the field... Especially if the man in question is your best soldier! <_< Before having all your men outfitted with armor, the chance of having a squaddie alive after he get hit will be extremely short, but with armor this will happen most of the time. I always equip all of my soldiers with one MediKit at the start of every battle but can part with one if the soldier is not strong enough to carry one and his equipment without TU loss.


I feel this is the biggest lines of the game. If you follow this to the letter you should have an easy time defeating Aliens... But it probably doesn't follow every style of play. I know some people love grenades, other use only Alien technology... I'll leave all those details and the leading of your squaddies to you.
__________________
I'm on a hot streak... Literally.
Proud member of The Abandoned since 2005.
Eagle of Fire is offline                         Send a private message to Eagle of Fire
Reply With Quote
Old 26-09-2004, 08:12 PM   #16
Eagle of Fire
Friendly Fire
 
Eagle of Fire's Avatar

 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Valleyfield, Canada
Posts: 4,892
Default

Yes, I also use Commandos by the end of the game. At the start I feel like casualties can't be brought down to zero and then if I need to select a frech recruit to fill the ranks they can't keep up with the older men. My style of play being mainly based on teamwork, this often lead to even more deaths... :angry: So I keep the squad full at 12.
Another thing is that Psy Aliens are a pain in the late game. It's always a hard blow when you realise your star soldiers are not Psy resistant and turn around on your men at the wrong moment... <_< Thus the reason I try to get a broad army at the beginning and keep only the PSI resistant men by the end. At the beginning they are still usefull, when they begin to turn on me (and survive) I sack them.

I also do the same; sell any Alien tech (but not alloys and Elerium, for obvious reasons) and keep one for future reseach of each item. My post may be misleading, but I only use the riffles by the very start of the game..! As soon as stronger weapons get out from research, I use them. k:

I did know that a lot of people would have different oppinions and strategy than me, so those few points were very general. If you notice, I never got into a very specific point unless it has an obvious tactical advantage.
__________________
I'm on a hot streak... Literally.
Proud member of The Abandoned since 2005.
Eagle of Fire is offline                         Send a private message to Eagle of Fire
Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2004, 07:47 AM   #17
Guest
Guest
Default

Home of the Underdogs carries the fixed version of the game (and the sequel). It's a fanmade patch that makes UFO work on Windows ME, 2000, and XP. I tried it on my XP-ridden laptop and it worked fine. Have a look.

Keep in mind you'll have to run XCOM1FIX.EXE to apply the patch.
                       
Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2004, 01:22 AM   #18
Eagle of Fire
Friendly Fire
 
Eagle of Fire's Avatar

 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Valleyfield, Canada
Posts: 4,892
Default

Sure thing. You could always try Laser Squad Nemesis which is in the same style, but multiplayer.

If you need help devising strategy or tactics for UFO, just ask. I'm here for that. :angel:
__________________
I'm on a hot streak... Literally.
Proud member of The Abandoned since 2005.
Eagle of Fire is offline                         Send a private message to Eagle of Fire
Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2004, 07:22 PM   #19
Havell
Home Sweet Abandonia

 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Norwich, England
Posts: 1,325
Default

Actually, the aliens see in the dark as well as your own men do, it's just that the aliens are cleverer than your men, here's what they do (shown from the side):

Key

@ - Alien
% - Your soldier
{ - Your line of sight
> - Alien's movement
_ - Ground surface
* - Plasma beam

It starts off like this:

@_{_______%

Then the alien moves into your line of sight, sees you and shoots at you:

__>{>@*****%

Then the alien moves just out of your line of sight:

@<{<_______%

Here the turn ends, with your being shot at but never seeing the alien.

(It took me ages to do this )
Havell is offline                         Send a private message to Havell
Reply With Quote
Old 26-12-2004, 08:23 AM   #20
Eagle of Fire
Friendly Fire
 
Eagle of Fire's Avatar

 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Valleyfield, Canada
Posts: 4,892
Default

Sonicfish: yes you should research heavy plasma as well because new research options will become available when you have researched everything in that branch.

For the Plasma Rifles, I beleive they are the best workaround weapon in the game. They pack quite a punch and their aiming and TU pourcentage are good too. Heavy plasma is only usefull when you need that little extra firepower... But it's way too costly on the TU usage to consider equiping it on all your soldiers.
__________________
I'm on a hot streak... Literally.
Proud member of The Abandoned since 2005.
Eagle of Fire is offline                         Send a private message to Eagle of Fire
Reply With Quote
Reply


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Help With Ufo:enemy Unknown Plato89 Troubleshooting 7 10-04-2007 10:03 AM
X-com 1/ Ufo: Enemy Unknown Giga Troubleshooting 18 24-03-2007 12:18 AM
Ufo Enemy Unknown Hopkins Troubleshooting 6 22-09-2005 09:57 PM
Can't Run Ufo: Enemy Unknown Niall Cosgrach Troubleshooting 4 19-09-2005 12:28 AM
UFO - Enemy Unknown JoM General compatibility fixes 41 14-12-2004 03:33 PM

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump
 


The current time is 07:42 AM (GMT)

 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.