Let's Play X-Com: Terror from the Deep

[silencer_pl]

 

You might be right, I thought for sure it stuck in the wall at the time (like the other one) but I just got done watching it in slow-mo, and it's hard to tell but it was going to the wall and it may have bounced down to the floor.

 

 

It could only stuck in a wall if the wall was full tile but even that is hard to accomplish. It's easier to throw a grenade on a object on a tile where you first need to take down the object. Otherwise if it hits a wall it lands on a tile where you can grab it.

[Space Voyager]

Well, at least I was the last man standing. And I didn't go out while berserk - which was surprising, considering the crabmen had two turns for a clean shot.

[silencer_pl]

Nah, it was like "Dance SV, dance for our amusement"

[Space Voyager]

:D

[Nookrium]

Time to christen Triton #2

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cto4KZfQm88&list=PL3Hfqo2_KOlfab7oDz4abWcCLAgMAA8Y0&index=22

[NKF]

Sir Jack Le Berry, had too much sherry. Tried to needle and thread, but now his friend is dead.

 

The first thing that came to my mind after watching the mission is that you needed to take the high ground and get some of your snipers up on that big ridge rather than walk around it. Since it was mostly secured, it would have been an excellent spot to set up some elevated snipers.

 

Also, don't hang onto unconscious bodies at the end of the turn. Try to drop them. The penalty on your time units for holding onto one is horrendous compared to dropping and picking it up again at the start of the next turn.

 

The shok launcher's still not going to be a long-lived weapon at this stage, but buddy it up with one of those guys carrying the gas cannons if you do decide to bring it into action. Knock em out, then make them explode.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

Your "Make me more smoke" action failed because there was too much smoke on the map already. This game had some limitations on particles. This also include limitations to how much burning tiles you can have.

[Nookrium]

Your "Make me more smoke" action failed because there was too much smoke on the map already. This game had some limitations on particles. This also include limitations to how much burning tiles you can have.

Ahhhh, I was wondering why that didn't work

 

The first thing that came to my mind after watching the mission is that you needed to take the high ground and get some of your snipers up on that big ridge rather than walk around it. Since it was mostly secured, it would have been an excellent spot to set up some elevated snipers.

 

Yeah, one of these days I'll learn to use the high ground...

[Nookrium]

Finishing up the small site and discovering a surprise in the arctic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdogkJxvWoo

[silencer_pl]

You need to really work out in casualty control department. 50% of crew lost on a small USO is pretty bad (despite OK rating) at this stage, and that includes Ion Armour dude. I know that they aren't invincible, but still.

[Zombie]

Thanks for the vid Neptune.

 

Please remember that the spotter shouldn't shoot the alien. Have all your other guys who are out of sight fire first, then move the spotter back. You don't want to precipitate alien reaction fire unless absolutely necessary. And again, you aren't obligated to move every soldier or deplete their TU every turn (well, I suppose some do this to keep the video moving along instead of camped out doing nothing which is probably boring). Shooting at aliens is fine. Scouting ahead after killing an alien is just asking for trouble as you will not have enough firepower to deal with the new threat. I can guarantee this against Lobstermen.

 

Why are aliens bad shots? They aren't... normally. But if you shoot them and lower their health, it also lowers their FA and TA. -50% health = -50% in FA and TA. See why it's imperative to have everyone else shoot first, then move the scout? In case the scout does precipitate alien Rx fire while getting to cover or running away, the alien will be shooting under duress which might cause it to miss.

 

Finally, a hole in an alien sub = hitting the jackpot (for me at least). The sides of the sub provide cover from the hole and the aliens will not be expecting you to be there. I would have brought more men around by the hole and try to whittle them down from there. Keep an ear open for aliens opening doors during their turn. In this case, I heard the aliens opening a door for a few turns in a row, then absolutely nothing. Normally this doesn't account for much, but the inside of the craft didn't have any intact inner doors due to the crash so that means all the noises were from the exterior hull door. This would mean an alien is camped out inside or outside the craft. Which one is it though? I would have peeked in the hole to determine if there were alien(s) inside and deal with that first. Keep a few men scattered in a semi-circle around the exterior door about 15-20 tiles away with full TU and kneeling just in case. If the mission didn't end after killing the aliens inside the craft, you'll know there is one outside camped by the door. That's a job for the pulsers. Dump a few around the door then go in with a scout to get LOS and shoot with your team.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Like Zombie said, try not to make your scouts do the shooting if at all possible, but have them spot the enemy and get those further back open fire. If you can't hit it, have the scout pull back to safety and try again on the next turn. To use the Enemy Unknown 2012 term - squad sight. Where that was a role specific level up super power, it's always active in this game.

 

When scouting, don't rush ahead too quickly and take the time to spread out and position your support fire teams so they can get a good shot at any targets the scout may spot. Also if you can get the lobstermen to come towards you, that helps a bit as it will make it harder for them to use reaction fire.

 

Speaking of scouts, you've nearly got all the tech you need to get the Sonic Displacer. TFTD's Plasma Hovertank. This thing is quite the beast. Keep focusing on sub components and be sure to nab that Sonic Oscillator when you get the chance.

 

For those colonies, rather than sending out ships to scout the supply ships going to those two colonies, stick a cheap listening outpost between them to cover both of them. Just an air lock and a small sonar (10 day build). It will be much more reliable than using your Barracuda, and means you won't be short an attack submarine if something else suddenly decides to turn up while you're waiting for the supply ships to appear.

 

- NKF

[Nookrium]

I didn't do a very good job of being organized on that mission, I seemed to keep having Sonic Cannon holders at the front line rather than in the back. I only have 2 soldiers now with any sort of accuracy, so it's rough figuring out who's gonna sit back and snipe (I need Silencer & SV 9 back! ). Hopefully their replacements will have a bit better scores to start off with.

 

For those colonies, rather than sending out ships to scout the supply ships going to those two colonies, stick a cheap listening outpost between them to cover both of them. Just an air lock and a small sonar (10 day build). It will be much more reliable than using your Barracuda, and means you won't be short an attack submarine if something else suddenly decides to turn up while you're waiting for the supply ships to appear.

Do you think it would be a good idea to farm those two rather than take them out as soon as I have armor? I was thinking the one above Europe might need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

[NKF]

Do you think it would be a good idea to farm those two rather than take them out as soon as I have armor? I was thinking the one above Europe might need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

 

It's not a bad idea to destroy one in the long run, but to start off I think you might want to farm a few supply ships to rebuild your funds and to stock up on alien supplies. The training will help out too, considering the high turnover rate of the troops.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

The training will help out too, considering the high turnover rate of the troops.

 

- NKF

 

With the amount of losses on small ones, one would think that the large ones will be deadly.

[Nookrium]

With the amount of losses on small ones, one would think that the large ones will be deadly.

 

Hey! You may be correct but I take offense to that!

[NKF]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, the colony's going to be a lot tougher. Would be nice to have a stock pile of DPLs on hand for that.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

 

 

Hey! You may be correct but I take offense to that!

 

I'm sorry, I'm only thinking about our poor aquanauts.

 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, the colony's going to be a lot tougher. Would be nice to have a stock pile of DPLs on hand for that.

 

- NKF

 

I don't think DPLs come in supply ships. Not with lobsters I think.

[Nookrium]

Time for some night time lobster hunting

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKTpF6tbbw8&index=24&list=PL3Hfqo2_KOlfab7oDz4abWcCLAgMAA8Y0

[NKF]

Not too bad this time. Still a bit hasty with the scouts, as they accounted for a good chunk of the deaths. But at least the rest of the team were providing better fields of cover fire for each other.

 

When breaching the alien sub, don't have aquanauts directly approaching/covering the doors like the two Ion Armor guys were. Have the breaching aquanauts edge in from the sides with a bunch of kneeling aquanauts scattered in a wide semi circle pointing their guns at the door. This way they can get a clear shot into the sub and the breachers won't be immediately facing the lobstermen and any of its buddies behind.

 

One thing you might want to try next time is to blow off the doors with a pulser or a Gas Cannon round. This gives less cover for the exiiting lobstermen.

 

Also, equip some thermal tazers on those breachers. Lobstermen make close encounters quite frightening as they don't fall that quickly to sonic weapons. Tazers, though primitive, do have the advantage of being effective at taking down lobstermen at close range and do not attract reaction fire as long as you stand still. Drills would be so much better, but tazers have to make do until the game decides to be kind and throw an Aquatoid terror mission your way.

 

The new clones for Owloholio and Ringlebert seem to be pretty good shots. Take care of them.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Do you think it would be a good idea to farm those two rather than take them out as soon as I have armor? I was thinking the one above Europe might need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

 

Why are you still thinking of farming the base supply ships? I'm positive you visited a supply ship for the first base a few videos back and then aborted as it was Lobstermen. Can't say what aliens the other supply ships carry, but knowing your luck it'll be Lobstermen too.

 

I don't think DPLs come in supply ships. Not with lobsters I think.

 

DPL's do indeed drop from supply ships, at least the later stage supply ships have them. The rank that gets them is the medic. If an alien race doesn't have a certain rank, it'll substitute another rank in it's place. That substituted rank will still get the original rank's intended loadout though. In our case, the Lobstermen substitute Technicians for Medics and those Technicians will carry the DPL's.

 

----------------------------------------

 

Why do you give the worst sonic weapons to the "tanks" wearing Ion Armor, Neptune? If those are the front line troops, they need to strike first and strike hard. Backup troops can carry the smaller stuff and be more mobile, getting into the areas they are needed the most. You send Broken in to open the door to the ship (which was fine), but then shoot the full health Lobsterman with a... sonic pistol? Should have let Zombie shoot away with his sonic rifle first to hopefully draw Rx fire on him. Then Broken could have used his pistol on the alien with impunity.

 

I should mention that the aliens in TFTD can see the same distance in daylight as nighttime which makes them that much more terrifying. Your troops, however, cannot see very far at night. In order to circumvent the sight issues, the flares are used, but you have to remember not to scout ahead of them. Slow and steady, keep tossing those flares ahead of the previous one so that you will not encounter any nasty alien Rx fire. The best though, is to do what NKF mentioned and set up a semi-circular line around the door and fire away.

 

You are doing better Neptune, but are way more aggressive than myself, running ahead, not sweeping the battlescape before heading to the ship etc. I would have set up a short "line" with troops between the corner of the map and the alien sub with some flares ahead of them. Lock them in place and don't move them at all, let your sweeper team position themselves on the opposite side of the craft, then slowly start to tighten the noose by moving soldiers forward until they have uncovered all the dark areas. Once the map is explored and the outdoor alien threats neutralized, then you can focus on the ship. Fighting a 2, 3 or even 4 line "front" in a war is useless as your troops are spread too thin to be effective.

 

- Zombie

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

I'd add this as my signature but it would be quite long and redundant in the future. That's good advice. It's best to sweep the 'scape is usage of tanks and/or a long winded soldier to help with the follow up. Soldiers with Disruptor Pulse, MC control, shit even Thermal Shok. Stand over the corpse and drop a nade. Explosives are your best bet against the LobStars.

 

-NoX

[Nookrium]

The new clones for Owloholio and Ringlebert seem to be pretty good shots. Take care of them.

 

They were the few that showed up with good scores, and they're next in line for the Ion Armor

 

Why are you still thinking of farming the base supply ships? I'm positive you visited a supply ship for the first base a few videos back and then aborted as it was Lobstermen. Can't say what aliens the other supply ships carry, but knowing your luck it'll be Lobstermen too.

I wasn't planning on farming them (maybe the US one when I get more armor), but NKF's mention of it is why I was asking. I think I need to get the Euro one dealt with as soon as I can.

 

I should mention that the aliens in TFTD can see the same distance in daylight as nighttime which makes them that much more terrifying. Your troops, however, cannot see very far at night.

Yeah, that's the same as UFO, which is why I try to avoid night missions like the plague. But my need for several good missions to make up for the slaughter on the ship is why I took this one. The Zyrbite and other goodies helped the decision making also.

 

I'd add this as my signature but it would be quite long and redundant in the future. That's good advice. It's best to sweep the 'scape is usage of tanks and/or a long winded soldier to help with the follow up. Soldiers with Disruptor Pulse, MC control, shit even Thermal Shok. Stand over the corpse and drop a nade. Explosives are your best bet against the LobStars.

I made great use of the tanks in UFO, using them as scouts "sweeping the 'scape". The reason I'm not using them at the moment is the cost, $450k each, and one or 2 sonic shots and it's done. I'm assuming the Sonic Displacer is better armored, that will come in handy when I get to it.

[silencer_pl]

Mr Nook, how about we play a little game. Every time you begin firefight with your pointman without armour, a kitten will die.

 

Also that Nook shot was too damn lucky - specially for Zombie.

[Nookrium]

Mr Nook, how about we play a little game. Every time you begin firefight with your pointman without armour, a kitten will die.

I just finished recording the next 3 episodes and I'm sorry to say, we might be losing some kittens this week

 

Also that Nook shot was too damn lucky - specially for Zombie.

which one?