Apoc Tutorial for beginners?

[Mike]

I have finally gotten around to looking at Apocalypse more and I must say it looks rather intriguing.

 

The one other time I started it up I could have sworn there was a tutorial introduction that helped explain the game for beginners. Can't find it now, and I am still searching for the manual that was packed away.

 

Or maybe I am just hallucinating the tutorial, either way any tips for a first time Apoc player who is used to UFO and TFTD?

[The Demi-Godly One]

I don't remember a tutorial... Maybe I'm remembering wrong.

[NKF]

Apocalypse is a little more complex compared to UFO and TFTD. The turn base combat is way different from the last two games, so you might want to consider moving straight to the pausable-real-time mode instead. Though, give turn based a try anyway. You never know.

 

Tips for getting started are easy enough. Here are some:

 

- When starting a new game, make sure you start in a good location. A good location will not be a slum block, rather it should be a warehouse. While the warehouses may not always have the best building space to work with, you won't lose the base so quickly if it comes under an aerial attack. Slums crumble too easily. As you cannot pick the site yourself, just restart the game until it gets the one you want.

 

- Hoverbikes. Everyone loves hoverbikes. Buy at least four to start with, then build up as money comes along. You might want to stick with their current miniguns, as they're quite good. But you will definitely want to upgrade them to bolter lasers or janitor missile launchers. You might want to compliment them with hovercars too.

 

- The first two types of UFOs you encounter are easy to deal with and won't contain any defenders (but they can drop aliens into some buildings). Whatever you do, once you spot the third type of UFO, drop everything and blow it out of the sky as quickly as you can. Do not engage any of its escorts. Once down, send in an assault team and capture it. This UFO is essential to help you start research on the more advanced craft. If you miss it while it's still early in the game, you'll be hard pressed to find another one later.

 

- The fourth type of UFO are fast attack ships. They're brown things that usually come in two or threes as escorts for the other alien UFOs. They're very powerful, so I suggest you do not engage them just yet. They usually make mincemeat out of your ships. Wait till you have a hawk air warrior or two with some heavy armament, like the lineage plasma cannons.

 

- When aliens are dropped into a building (you'll see them beam down from a UFO), don't wait for the siren. Send a clean-up team in and investigate the site. Since there are usually several UFOs, you might want to remember the buildings, or place a few vehicles there as markers. After clearing all these drop sites, wait a few hours and watch your organisation infiltration chart. If you see any increase in infiltration, go to the overhead map and select the icon of the company that's being infiltrated. Look for any buildings of theirs that are near the terror sites you'd just cleaned up, then send some soldiers to investigate.

 

- The access lift and the repair bays are access points for attackers. A few plasma defense modules near them should protect your base pretty well.

 

- Don't try to cram everything into your first base. Try to clear at least one 2x2 building area for a large bioengineering lab. You can sometimes rearrange your base modules a bit so that you can fit a second 2x2 base module into it, which can come in handy later on.

 

- First thing you should do once the game starts is to purchase each and every Stormdog and if you have any money left, the APCs. Once they arrive at your base, strip them apart then sell off the individual sections in bulk. You'll always end up with a lot more money than you started with, and the extra cash really comes in handy. Do the same with any vehicles that you do not plan to use.

 

- You can park your ships in any building in the city for free. So if you have a lot of ships, park one ship per access chute in any nearby buildings, or in strategic locations near the dimension gates (which tend to move around).

 

- You only need one bio transport module and one equipment module for collecting everything on the field. Don't be fooled by their carrying capacity of 50. They can in fact carry a heck of a lot more.

 

- If you find the brainsuckers are too much for you, hire a few androids. Though they are disadvantaged in that they cannot earn experience, they do start with very good stats and both brainsuckers and any psionic aliens you encounter will not actively target them. Treat them as you would treat the HWP/SWS in the last two games (only they're more customisable). I would suggest hiring high strength, high health and high stamina androids, and don't worry too much about their firing and reactions.

 

- Motion scanners are useful. You can easily spot which blips are brainsuckers or poppers depending on the speed at which they are travelling at you.

 

- Bring a few stun grapples along. As it is quite early, it'll be quite easy for you to capture anthropods and brainsucker pods (which you can pick up the moment they touch the ground next to your feet). They also recharge, so they can be used as last ditch weapons should you completely run out of ammo. They're also quite good at stopping poppers, but you'd have to have two of them, and know which way the popper is coming at you.

 

- When fighting, try not to waste too much ammunition. Try to get the aliens to come to so you can riddle them with bullets at close range. Duking it out in the open at long range generally wastes your ammunition -- except if you're using laser sniper rifles, plasma guns or rocket launchers.

 

- If you walk, your soldier can continue to return fire at any enemies that are in front of them.

 

- Lying prone can save you from brainsucker attacks. It's weird, but it can. It won't help if the brainsucker is already on your head. For that, have someone else shoot it off or drop an AP grenade and hope for the best.

 

- Don't use the Marsec heavy launcher in the city unless you're raiding a building. They cause too much collateral damage, which tends to make organisations a little edgy.

 

Phew.

 

There's so much more you can do to get off on a good start.

 

- NKF

[Cadmus]

Poppers have a habit of staying near their masters until you spot them, so if you play Turn-Based a well aimed grenade will save bullets, if an organization turns hostile due to aliens raid their buildings, if you have D-Cannons raze the place to the ground, air assaults tend to provoke too many defenders for my liking so just keep raiding until they have a large negative balance, that should teach them to be bread-baskets. In TB the M400 is Godlike, just sprint up to someone and fill them so full of lead we could sharpen their head and call them a pencil!

 

Great TB tactic for Multiworms!

Blast them a little, then get the rest of your men to do what they need to, throw a grenade trhat explodes at the end of the turn at the worm, then blast it until it dies and splits, then end the turn, no more losing three men to opportunity fire!

[Ki-tat Chung]

if you *really* want to blast the buildings in cityscape, you can blow up their vehichle tubes to they can't come out. very useful but you may need to use manual control. also, the apoc manual contains a tutorial. i have the PDF file, but i can't remember where i got it from. try megagames.

[NKF]

Blasting the access chutes has no effect for some buildings. I completely destroyed one building, but multiple ships suddenly started rising out of the ground.

 

However, attacking buildings in the cityscape has no real effect except reducing your score, unless, of course, if you want them to demand reimbursement for the troubles you've caused them or if you just want to get on the good side of one of their enemies (and the bad side of their allies). Otherwise, if the company hates you, they'll still send attackers to your base if they know where it is, and if it's one of the gangs, they'll do that and will probably send hovercars to attack your base. They can all do this even when they have negative funds.

 

By the way, there's one point in the game where the aliens start sending ships and start attacking the city (or dropping an overspawn)rather than dropping aliens. If they are not attacking your building, don't engage them. Let them ravage the city. While this works against your score, it works wonders for your public relations. I had a few companies that would no longer deal with me as long as I attacked their alien friends get attacked by their so-called friends. In later attacks on the aliens, they slowly went back to neutral and eventually were allies again. As I could no longer reimburse them for their troubles (bribe) them, this was the only way to get them back. (it's funny though, as they were still saying that they'd no longer do business with me as long as I attacked their friends -- even though they started liking me even more after attacking the aliens. Had this happen very briefly with the cult of sirius too after an overspawn went grazy-go-nuts on one of their temples.)

 

- NKF

[Ki-tat Chung]

yes, but the CoS could just say the the overspawn was trying to say the decor was bad! in that case, it was trying to help them!

[Groovechamp]

As for Ufo/Tftd players, you'll all enjoy the turn-based mode since you can move all troops simutaneously (or so)

 

I myself play rather in RealTime... Mo' action ^_^

 

 

 

Raiding the Cult of Sirius org:

 

Just a notice of warning (or so)

Be careful when walking through the halls and through the doors. The CoS dudes tend to be in a large group, especially with one dude holding a Marsec HeavyLauncher.

Although you (should) have Megapol armor, getting hit by one of these missles can "one-hit-one-kill" one of your agents and cause everyone around him to get seriously injured - and if your unlucky - even the grenades explode from killed agent - stun gas and ap/inc/explosive gear...

 

So it's never a good idea to rush into that room where you see like 4 of the CoS followers.

 

If there is one thing you want to do - You do want to HURT the Org as much as possible.

I'd suggest having one or two agents armed with dual Autocannons (incendary ammo) and Inc-Grens from the Diablo-Org.

Just burn the first room where you start (just don't burn the way you're gonna take )

 

Throw a few Inc-Grens with 6sek timers everywhere and run away ^^

 

 

Researching:

 

Try researching

Hyperworms,

Multiworms,

Chy-salid (I forgot the name ^.^ That large cocoonlike thing which is harmless), Hyperworm Eggs (purple egg-looking things that spew acid on yer agents when you get to close)

and Brainsuckers as SOON as possible.

(Ok, duh, research everything hehe - as long as you do it fast)

 

If I'm not wrong, this should make it possible for you to get "the alien cycle of life" or so and "biological warfare" -> Toxi-gun tech.

 

Toxi-gun is a handgun which fires darts of """"""pure poison"""""" for aliens (they are even shield-piercing O_O), but ineffective for humans (and armored soldiers).

 

 

 

That is all, mesa guess

 

Groove

[The Demi-Godly One]

Toxiguns are not completely ineffective against humans. Humans can still be hurt slightly by them.

[knight_of_the_ravens]

hey!!!! i'm new here....well...i've been a fan of x-com ever since the first time i played UFO Defence....i went and bought the collectors edition and was pretty much satisfied...already took care of defence and terror from the deep...now i just began apocolypse for the first time last week...got some tips and now have like 7 hover cars and like an entire swarm of like 15 or 17 hoverbikes all loaded with plasma guns (few with lineage type) but still have problem getting enough elerium... keep haveing to switch back to bolter lazers...i even allied with Solmine just to see if they'd give me more elerium...at first they give u like 200 units...allied they give u like 312 units....still not enough....i'd rather not raid the flyer factories or solmine itself for the risk of not getting my stuff or new ships....i need some advice on conserving elerium because the sheilded UFO's are hard to splash with lazers...i don't like using missiles too much cause they always hit the people tubes, then i end up waisting another $7,000 t0 $25,000 dollars on apologizing to Transteller i only use missiles over the wooded area where no buildings get hit and i end up paying for city damages...i've been doing the basics to build money (raiding the cult, and selling the extra weapons and psiclones) but now i'm having problems getting money...the cult has gone bankrupt and is running short of the psiclones...i don't wanna raid the other crime groups right now cause i'm on good terms with them (especially psyche).....and also i've been making stuff to sell...but it takes too long....i've even been selling the devestator cannons from the aliens,but 1: it takes forever to make them... 2:the bio-carrier modules don't sell for enough..and 3:the aliens have become grenade whores and keep offing all my guys with their stupid boomeroids...and whats worse...the cult keeps using missile launchers and mini launchers against me all the time....WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ALL THESE EXPLOSION WHORES??? with the aliens becoming explosive whores...i don't raid crashed UFO's all the time...i'm picky as hell too because my guys are at a high rank...i mean...i've gotten really good at using only 4 guys at a site or raid...but i don't wanna lose anymore people....anybody got some tips on how to avoid explosives or money building or anything i can use?

--Elijah--

 

 

 

 

 

PRIVATE PILE!!!! WHAT EVER YOU DO...DON'T TOUCH THAT BIG RED BUTTON THAT SAYS "GO AHEAD AND PRESS IF YOU'RE JUST THAT CURIOUS" DO YOU GET ME MAGGOT?!?!?!

[M. Hoz]

The manual can be found on the first CD (European Ed.)

The second CD has the game itself. :angel:

 

And,for the raven guy: :alien2:

If your'e so far into the game,maybe you should

replace all these Plasma guns with Disruptors!

Theyr'e far more cost effective.

 

And what do you keep these hovercars

for anyway?

 

A few retaliators are JUST what you need.

 

RESEARCH!

 

Alliances don't have any effect on the market,

they only make them a bit harder to upset.

 

The best thing for you to do now is read Roger

Wong's Guide.

https://www.gamefaqs.com

[knight_of_the_ravens]

wait a sec...i have been researching alot....my biochemists are bored as hell now because of the fact that they have no more to do for now....my quantum physisists are slow as hell,though they are the highest numbers of skill that i find to hire.....i even bought a building the second i started a new game and turned it into a complete laboritory full of only bio labs,large workshops,large bio labs,quantum physics small and large,you name it, i even loaded it with only android guards....for some reason my research is still kinda slow.....on the game's date,i've gone a month,have the alien beam technology but don't really see the reason to get the air hawk warrior to use them....whats the point if the big sucker is gonna get splashed outta the sky in the first flight...you know just HOW MUCH those things cost??? i'm a hover bike man...but the only good weapons that fit them is the plasma cannons...am i soon to find a small disruptor? the Val. Interceptors are loaded with the special engine,but still are the first to splash,and the air hawks are even slow than the damn interceptors....and also...my men are all loaded with marsec flying armour and devestator cannons,and 2 psionic people

with the mind benders....how the hell am i to gaurd against these boomeroid and rocket whores....one time,right when i began the level,i had just clicked on my first guy and a boomeroid came and blew his ass sky high before i started moving him...any tips on avoiding rocket and grenade whores? (besides flying from the grenades, i still take rockets up the ass!!!)

 

AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGG!!!!!

[The Veteran]

ping! Here I am! hmm... grenades and rockets huh?... Only one way to avoid them. Hide... It really is that simple Try to follow the liens rather than let them follow you. The way I played the original games was to scout out the whole map myself. I learnt early on in Apoc to just let the aliens come to me. Hide behind a door, a wall, an engine or anything really! The alien walks past bang! Job done

 

Other advice if it hasn't been mentioned is DO NOT raid too many buildings too early. You'll find yourself swamped by aliens in the first week of the game and you'll have a hell of a time defending yourself...

[knight_of_the_ravens]

thats exsactly what i do...the bastards still splash me with their explosives ALL THE TIME...even when i ambush them

[Ki-tat Chung]

hrm...well, boomeroids are like prox mines except they are alotmore powerful and they follow you areound, right? well later onn in the game you can use teleporters! esp. with rockets, if you manages to teleport just beyond their turning angle, they miss and hit a wall or run out of feul or something.

[knight_of_the_ravens]

chung...turn on ur messenger

[The Demi-Godly One]

Knight of the Ravens, I think I should tell you you can use a PM for a message like that. You don't need to post it on the board. Especially since a message pops up saying that you've recieved a message whenever you sign on when you have a PM.

[knight_of_the_ravens]

sorry...i'm still trying to get use to this place....my last posting area was totally different

[NKF]

There are two definite defenses against direct contact with explosives, but they're only available later on.

 

Personal disrupter shields and X-Com disrupter armour.

 

The PDS shields can take on a few direct hits with most weapons before fizzing out (except the dimension destabiliser, but that's a disabled weapon) -- but they can still recharge if they have a little shield juice left. Best of all, you don't need to wear any armour to enjoy the temporary invulnerability -- a real boon for your hybrid agents.

 

Secondly, the X-Com disrupter armour -- the toughest armour in the game. If your shields fail, the disrupter armour has very good protection against explosive weapons, although it's useless against disrupter beams and entropy enzyme. Trust me, a full suit can take on more than six dimension missiles, one at a time, and you'll only lose a very minimal amount of health. This lasts long enough until the armour durability of any armour section runs out -- then you're in big trouble. The only explosive weapon you'll want to avoid is the vortex mine. Standing on top of it can mean a world of pain, as it can deal a heck of a lot of damage even to your X-Com disrupter armour trousers.

 

Early on -- full suits of Megapol armour are fairly decent protection, but good armour is no substitute for good tactics. Or, brute force. Get the aliens before they get you. Stick to ambushing aliens in small areas where you can unleash full auto fire on them without missing too often (or a full auto plasma power sword - powerful stuff!). Wide open areas are just asking for a boomeroid or a vortex mine.

 

Also try to make use of the androids to draw away heavy explosives. Early on in the game, they can take severe beatings and still keep on running - humans and hybrids cannot. Getting your androids hurt is no matter since they cannot reap the benefits of the phsyical training gym. You also don't get so defensive about the androids. They can't improve, so you might as well let them charge ahead and do incredibly brave (or incredibly stupid) things that you normally wouldn't do with your humans or hybrids.

 

One more note: watch your back. Poppers like to sneak up on your blind spots. Poppers are much more vicious than the boomeroids. Stun grapples are very valuable weapons to use against them if they've already got you in their blast radius. Stunning them doesn't set them off . But hey, if you're wearing a full suit of disrupter armour (with no shields), you won't even feel at thing.

 

- NKF

[knight_of_the_ravens]

well....here's what i'm doin....i just barely finshed my research on the disruptor shield....i don't have the cash to make them just yet....but it is saved the moment after the research was done....i guess i'll go see if the cult has anything of value for now and pile up a few extra bucks....as for my droids....they guard the main laboritory (my second building)...i built the laboritory building once i began the new game to have some breathing room and speed up research...i currently have a small and a large biochemistry labs, a large and small quantum physics labs, a small workshop, and am only three days away from completion of my large workshop where i will start the construction of my first demension probe....i have ten droids....nine which guard the main labs, and one who is an active agent...i use that particular one for motion scanning....i then have two hybrid mutants...a squad leader and a seargent....the seargent is in complete charge of my mind benders....the other is just his backup in case of psionic failure...the droid, and my hybrids all carry devastator cannons...

and the hybrids are also equipped with the marsec flight armour (to lower the amount of wieght they carry so they will speed up their running and stuff) i also switch them every week(in game date) between psi training and combat training...

i then have eight human operatives...seven of which carry devastator cannons and one who has learned to have extremely high accurasy with two megapol plasma pistols(one in each hand)very effective by the way...i recommend u try it......

all agents each carry two stun grenades and two AP grenades(mostly just to knock out walls)and a boomeroid(sometimes two)...all of my agents carry a medi-kit...and my pistol freak carries two extra plasma pods(rarely...because the plasma pistol has so many shots)....all my scientists and engineers are of the highest skills i could find(recently fired mr.davis for threatening ms.tovalt with a scalpol)....just recently purchased my second air hawk warrior and loaded it with its first light alien beam...still researching alien craft weopons at the moment....

also having a hell of a time trying to capture a live skeletoid (damn little bastards keep flying away from the stun gas)...any tips on that???......overall....

all non-psionic agents wear megapol armour.......in game date, i've only gone one complete month(March) now on April 4.....wonder where i get so much cash in such a short time? ask the cult why they're $-40,000 on there bank account....

hell most of the time it's not even my fault...those occultees keep blowing up their own stuff with their stupid mini launchers.....but i did only one time toss a few incendiary grenades inside the sanctuary....i really try to keep the explosions down to a small degree...don't wanna ruin my precious little psiclones....psyche needs their fix!!!.....one other thing....i have 14 hoverbikes and not enough elerium to keep them full with their plasma cannons...the bolter lazer is not very effective towards those sheilded flyers anymore...don't use missiles over the city itself (cause in all i've ended up having to pay transteller over $80,000 in damage for the missiles hitting people tubes....only use missiles when UFO spotted outside of city) any tips on how to take the bastards down better? also for the live skeletoid i need?

 

ps...the poppers are not really a problem to me any more...i can see them on the motion scanner when they are making a really long fast line move on it...the shots frome the devastator will drop it dead without the risk of an explosion....no problem

[Rattler]

Personally I never like hoverbikes. I see it as kinda cheap in a way even though it is part of the game.

 

As for tactics I can tell you this much. While on building defense or building raids missions always keep moving or find a small corner with only one entrance and sit and wait. On Superhuman the AI attack in swarms, if you see one then theres about 10 more just beyond visiual range so they travel in packs and once one group finds your men all the other groups head straight for you. Which is why you either ambush them or keep moving.

 

Oh and early on you can pick up alien gernades and throw them back at the buggers, and if your going to use the teleporter to get away from a missile might as well teleport behind the aliens that way if it turns around it'll just hit one of them.

 

 

I play on real time only, can't get use to turn based. And on Real time in the early part of the game I can throw gernades back, some times they make it all the way other times they make it half way and other times they blow up just a space away from you. But anything is better then having one go off under your feet

[Ki-tat Chung]

note: as for throwing the 'nades back at the aliens, it will only work with TB as in RT often by the time you start throwing it will have exploded. beleive me, i've tried...

like i said before, missles have a limited turning angle and if you teleport just at the right place, it will crash into a wall of soemthing. knowing where the alien shot the missle is isn't always easy, exp. in an alien building where they come in swarms...