I think I've played this too much in my youth

[Pete]

So I revisited this last night after many years of neglect due to real life stuff, and even using Ironman mode in OpenXcom I'm in mid-March, year 1, and I have laser rifles and 4 lots of Flying Armour and 6 lots of Power Suits.

 

Don't get me wrong, I've had a few close calls, and a mission where only two soldiers survived. I even had a few missions where I only took 5 soldiers as I forgot 3 were wounded and I hadn't hired anymore. But I've managed to survive two terror missions (Floaters - easy - and Sectoids, slightly harder because of Cyberdiscs). I must say I'm using some weapons I've never used before (AC, HC) and incendiary on those reapers really does work a treat, so maybe finally straying from my "only rifles and grenades" game I've played since way back in 1994 is helping

 

I think my comeuppance will be in the USA though - I'd built a radar station there and it detected two large UFO's, one small and an extra large. I couldn't shoot any of them down, but I've landed the Skyranger at the XL and so far have only had one solder mind controlled (laser weapons and power armour meaning that poor guy isn't doing much damage so far ).

 

Can someone remind me - if I survive - is there a way for me to stop the USA going over to the aliens once this activity has begun? I vaguely recall you can if you shoot down all the UFOs, though I may have imagined that. Is it possible by sweeping the XL UFO clean or is all lost? I guess they could be building a base, but the landing sites are really spread out so I'm thinking infiltration instead.

 

Also can someone remind me if I can redirect the Skyranger to the two large UFOs on the way back and clear those out too?

 

It's been so long since I've played that I've forgotten some of the game mechanics. I even forgot to assign research for two weeks

 

One thing I don't like in the game is that the goodies you get from clearing a mission seem to arrive straight back in the stores before the Skyranger - is that right or am I imagining it?

[Zombie]

Can someone remind me - if I survive - is there a way for me to stop the USA going over to the aliens once this activity has begun? I vaguely recall you can if you shoot down all the UFOs, though I may have imagined that. Is it possible by sweeping the XL UFO clean or is all lost? I guess they could be building a base, but the landing sites are really spread out so I'm thinking infiltration instead.

 

Dunno if there is a way to stop a country from "defecting" once the wheels start turning, I seem to recall you can delay it at the recon stage. Cleaning out a UFO doesn't really do anything to the mission the aliens are performing except to give you points and loot.

 

Also can someone remind me if I can redirect the Skyranger to the two large UFOs on the way back and clear those out too?

 

Nope, can't be done - the transport needs to go back to base to refuel before it can go to another site. Can be done in Xenonauts though which is really nice.

 

One thing I don't like in the game is that the goodies you get from clearing a mission seem to arrive straight back in the stores before the Skyranger - is that right or am I imagining it?

 

Not sure offhand anymore, but it sounds correct. Pretty sure stunned aliens are placed in AC immediately after a mission so the same should be true for loot.

 

- Zombie

[Pete]

Cheers Zombie.

 

One more question - I clicked Ironman on OpenXCOM but can't remember if I actually selected Superhuman difficulty first, which might be why I'm finding it easy.

 

Are there any telltale signs that I might or might not be on Superhuman? I mean, I was losing an average of 1-2 soldiers in the early missions in the first month playing carefully, but maybe having swept through 3 terror missions in 3 months and only encountering sectoids and floaters might be a clue? I can't remember exactly when the Chrysalids come out to play

 

Never mind - the saves are nice and easy to read in OpenXCOM. I've been playing Beginner difficulty

 

 

Oh well, I shall start again. The only reason I was thinking it was Superhuman was the loss of so many soldiers on one mission, but it turns out that their Commander was at fault!

[magic9mushroom]

I think my comeuppance will be in the USA though - I'd built a radar station there and it detected two large UFO's, one small and an extra large. I couldn't shoot any of them down, but I've landed the Skyranger at the XL and so far have only had one solder mind controlled (laser weapons and power armour meaning that poor guy isn't doing much damage so far ).

 

Can someone remind me - if I survive - is there a way for me to stop the USA going over to the aliens once this activity has begun? I vaguely recall you can if you shoot down all the UFOs, though I may have imagined that. Is it possible by sweeping the XL UFO clean or is all lost? I guess they could be building a base, but the landing sites are really spread out so I'm thinking infiltration instead.

 

Small/large/large/very large = base

Small/large/large/very large/very large = infiltration

 

Also, if you zoom in on the landing sites, infiltration lands on cities while base lands out in the countryside.

 

If you pay attention to the speeds of the UFOs, you can also tell whether one of the Large UFOs is a Terror Ship (max speed 4800, vs. 3200 for Supply Ships); there's only a Terror Ship on Infiltration.

 

Infiltration cannot be stopped, only delayed (by shooting down UFOs on that mission).

Also can someone remind me if I can redirect the Skyranger to the two large UFOs on the way back and clear those out too?

No. This is why it's good to shoot them down, so that the crash site lasts a while.

One thing I don't like in the game is that the goodies you get from clearing a mission seem to arrive straight back in the stores before the Skyranger - is that right or am I imagining it?

It's right. They didn't fix that until Apocalypse, and even then it's a bit weird (you can't re-arm troops out of "captured" items, even those dropped by your troops; you need to stop off at base to be able to access them).

 

I mean, I was losing an average of 1-2 soldiers in the early missions in the first month playing carefully, but maybe having swept through 3 terror missions in 3 months and only encountering sectoids and floaters might be a clue? I can't remember exactly when the Chrysalids come out to play

 

Race distribution is not affected by difficulty.

 

Snakeman terror missions start in April, although if you're especially unlucky you can get Snakeman Infiltration, Base or Retaliation missions in February or March (these will bring Battleships and in the case of Infiltration Terror Ships, which have Chryssalids, but there won't be civilians).

[Pete]

Cheers!

 

Well I started again on Superhuman. Lost my soldiers and Skyranger in the first fortnight and there's no easy way to come back from that when you've spent all your money already, so did a restart (I don't think that was cheating?).

 

Now in March, back to where I was on my Easy game - nearly researched Avenger, got Power Armour at least for my guys and gals, just about got Heavy Plasma, stumbled across Alien Base 1 so I can now do some harvesting of my own

 

I did have to withdraw from a Terror Mission in the first month as my soldiers weren't equipped for Cyberdiscs, but the game fortunately threw me a Floater-only terror mission in Feb which was a lot easier (though all civvies died and one by my hand so scraped a Poor rating there).

 

I expanded the base so fast I'm in a financial deficit so have been balancing building useful items with medikit sales to keep in the black - can't remember what financial woes trigger losing the game so I sacked a few spare soldiers and a second Skyranger that was mostly ornamental in its hangar - hopefully that will help.

 

All good fun but remembering how much the aliens cheat is also part of the fun (night vision, knowing where you are after X turns etc).

[magic9mushroom]

I've never got the Avenger in March before, but I suppose that's because I prioritise different things. Psi and Hyper-Wave Decoders are #1 and #2 priority for me (which in turn necessitates the Mind Probe and Small Launcher), then armour, then plasma, then craft.(I managed June 1 Cydonia that way a couple of years back. I captured a Sectoid Leader at the end of February and built eight Psi-Labs in order to get enough psi-screening done in May - while I didn't use Psi-Amps, I'm nowhere near good enough to beat Cydonia without MC immunity.)