X's on map; picking up big aliens

[Guest rkaye]

When the fighters intercept and knock down alien ships, there's an "x" on the map. I can't visit the downed craft with the helicopter, right? What's the point of (attempting to) shooting down anything other than bases and seeders? (fighters, observers, labortatories,...)

 

There's no way for my heros to pick up (and carry to the green square) one of the big honkin' aliens (gobber, etc), right -- only the little dudes?

 

While I have you as my captive audience, a few more questions:

 

We're not supposed to find stuff in bases, i.e. tech, items, right? (only the aliens inside and the weapons they carry)

 

Where is the "summary of dreamland files" research and "alien interrogation"? I have a feeling that that research should have become available right after A51. I'm concerned b/c it's like feb1 in the game and i have the whole of north america and most of s america, including the a51 base, but i'm not allowed to research those topics yet.

 

Do the fighter planes ever NOT suck butt? I'm lucky if 20% of the time I win the engagement.

[Ravenwing]

Warning, answers may contain some spoilers:

 

When the fighters intercept and knock down alien ships, there's an "x" on the map. I can't visit the downed craft with the helicopter, right?

 

You won't be able to scavenge the crash site if ufo crashes over water, otherwise you should be given a mission (not all the times as some ufos can be totally destroyed in flight I think

 

What's the point of (attempting to) shooting down anything other than bases and seeders? (fighters, observers, labortatories,...)

 

Apart from taking some extra alien tech downing those crafts, especially observers makes your sky clear and gives aliens less info on your bases ie. less attacks.

 

There's no way for my heros to pick up (and carry to the green square) one of the big honkin' aliens (gobber, etc), right -- only the little dudes?

 

Right, but the big ones will be transported home after succesful mission anyway.

 

We're not supposed to find stuff in bases, i.e. tech, items, right? (only the aliens inside and the weapons they carry)

 

After capturing each base there is a chance that your soldiers will find a cache of equipment (quite random).

 

Where is the "summary of dreamland files" research and "alien interrogation"? I have a feeling that that research should have become available right after A51. I'm concerned b/c it's like feb1 in the game and i have the whole of north america and most of s america, including the a51 base, but i'm not allowed to research those topics yet.

 

There is a second base in russia that you have to raid to research those.

 

Do the fighter planes ever NOT suck butt? I'm lucky if 20% of the time I win the engagement.

 

In time you will find and develop tech to upgrade your planes (another reason to shot down and retrieve those pesky ufos). Also human pilots tend to have far worse performance at night so choose your interceptions wisely.

[ShadowBlade]

Well, you can't really choose when the interception will take place, since you'd have to calculate how long does a fighter wing takes to intercept the UFO, if the UFO is coming at you or if it's escaping, etc. It's quite random, so you can't "choose your interceptions wisely".

[Guest rkaye]

There seems to be a % chance of winning/losing any air combat engagement. I saved the game right before the fighters intercepted the alien ship, and if I lost I reloaded the game (only takes a few seconds to reload). Basic fighters without any upgrades seem to win against any alien craft without losing any aircraft about 20% of the time. Don't know if it gets better as upgrades are researched.