How do you make it early in the game

[NKF]

Money woes? No worries! Sell off surplus alien equipment for cash. Heavy plasmas are highly abundant. Mind probes are pretty expensive too, and you only need one or two per team, so convert the rest into cash. Also sell off the extra UFO navigation and power units too, but keep at least one UFO nav. unit and one power unit per hybrid ship you intend to build later on. Keep two power units per ultimate craft.

 

Manufacturing craft lasers by large bundles also reaps in huge amounts of cash, well, not huge, but a lot more than what you had before you started building them.

 

But that's a lot of work just to keep up a 200 strong lab in the first few months. Perhaps setting up the large research team a few months later into the game would be a better solution. Preferably when heavy plasmas are harvested by the tonne, and the world govts. are paying you more.

 

You can do marvels with just 50 scientists if you know what to research and what to put aside for later (and what not to get, i.e. alien soldiers). Besides, the salary you have to pay won't break your bank account.

 

If it hasn't been mentioned yet, here's a tip for research: Start all projects as they appear on the research roster, particularly the ones that require that you have at least one sample in your stores before you can research it. You don't need to allocate anyone onto the projects just yet.

 

This way you can safely clear your stores of all that particular item, accidentally or intentionally, and still be able to research it afterwards.

 

- NKF

[mirage]

my philosphy on terror missions is simple.

 

be more terrorizing than the aliens!! even if it means a few civilians get in the way!!!

 

I don't bother with motion scanners.. maybe if I was on superhuman and was being super conservative.. but I like a suprise every now and then.

[WolfenMage]

In one of my first saves, my first landed ufo attack was against a Sectoid Battleship.

With conventional weapons and 2 laser rifles (still producing the rest).

With 14 rookies, I beat all the ailens. A Blaster Bomb took out all but 3, they won, got promoted to captains, and I got Cydonia or Bust in month 1, and PSI, and progress on the firestorm was good by the end of the month (with 230 or so researchers, mind you) , I managed to beat the game in 3 (game) months, a personal record so far. High explosive guns helped.

[franconbean]

i never go to terror missions till i have armor so i can have a chance but two terror missions came up and i went and i lost a man and i had no armor so i left next mission i didnt go to and i lost and i was on begginer what the hell do i do! i was just manufactoring armor too

 

As regards to terror mishes, you COULD just ignore them, or you COULD just hope your worst men make a decent dent in enemy forces, but a good thing to do is turn up and abort straight away if you are very inconfident with terror mishes. The monthly points penalty for not turning up to a terror mish is somewhere in the region of -1000, but turn up and abort, and you only get points deducted for the ammount of civilians onmap, which rarely ammounts to more than 500 points.

 

If you want to actually do missions though, NEVER at night and use any heavy weapon platform to scout just ahead of your men so they dont get owned by reaction fire.

People say things like "Save civillians at all costs". this is not a priority, the priorities are to complete the mission with as few x-com casualties as possible and come out with a positive score, for which over-zealous protection of civilians is not strictly necessary.

[Reprobate]

What i do is by May is to have several bases with two Interceptors up and running.One Interceptor at each base is equiped with stingrays and missles the other is equipped with avalanches..and then i just swarm any terror ship that shows up.Terror sites become almost non-existent.It is expensive,and you need the war machine to keep paying for itself by increased missions and forsaking buying up engineers,scientists,and even soldiers to man the new bases,but it is alot easier to deal with a downed Terrorship than a landed one.

 

Terror sites are rough.I accept a 50% casualty rate when responding to them,mainly because the game seems to like to surround your LZ with aliens in several different directions and it is like a duck shoot as you try to disembark even using smoke.

 

On a scale of difficulty,early game,I would have to put Insectoid terror sites as the hardest followed by Snakemen then Floaters.

 

Insectoids are just a bad mission,even later on,between their mind control and cyberdiscs.Chrsylaids make a Snakemen site pretty dangerous.Floaters and Reapers are a joke.

 

Use the fireteam concept, and a HWP,do not disembark everyone at once.A fireteam should have two rifles and one Heavy weapon.Take your time.It sounds bad as the aliens are killing off Civvies but even if every civilian on the board dies and you take your time you will still end up with a positive score as long as your team is not decimated.

 

Use your riflemen to spot for your Heavy weapons and HWP,don't be afraid to fire at enemies that do not register LOS to those units.Grenades are your friend.Proximity grenades are better used against Cyberdiscs and Chrysalaids.Once contact is made with an enemy fall back out of their LOS,without using the contacting unit to fire.Use the reserve TU for snapshot button..This may leave you with enough TU's to fall back,or duck behind,cover(just remember to unclick the saved TU's button) and allow a unit farther back to take shots at the target.

[Reprobate]

Sorry for double posting but i just remembered another useful tactic for terror missions,or for any mission with structures,and i also have a question i forgot to ask.

 

When fighting through or around buildings don't use doors if you have laser weapons(preferably laser rifles,though even a pistol will eventually breach)go through walls.Have a trooper fire autoshot at a wall and a couple nearby with full TUs to take advantage of the breach.If there is an alien in the building you can usually catch them from a blindside and at worse you can use this tactic to work your way around them to catch them from another angle.I don't recommend using any sort of high explosives for this during tactic during terror missions though.

 

This can also work to breach ships during regular missions using heavy plasmas.Either through the roofs(flying suits needed) or some ships have weak spots in their structures that several heavy plasma bolts will cut through.

 

Question:

 

I noticed flashbangs mentioned,I hadn't realized their in UFO Defense or is it only the PC version?

[Zombie]

When fighting through or around buildings don't use doors if you have laser weapons(preferably laser rifles,though even a pistol will eventually breach)go through walls.Have a trooper fire autoshot at a wall and a couple nearby with full TUs to take advantage of the breach.If there is an alien in the building you can usually catch them from a blindside and at worse you can use this tactic to work your way around them to catch them from another angle.I don't recommend using any sort of high explosives for this during tactic during terror missions though.

I like to create a firing line squad on farm maps and turn all the buildings into swiss cheese with tons of Laser Rifle fire. If an alien is in a building it'll probably get hit with all the errant shots. Fun. Two story buildings may require a little more finesse (such as shoving a High Explosive through the ceiling). I never do this on a terror mission map though... there is too much risk in hitting a civilian.

 

This can also work to breach ships during regular missions using heavy plasmas.Either through the roofs(flying suits needed) or some ships have weak spots in their structures that several heavy plasma bolts will cut through.

Blaster Bombs are the only weapon capable of breaching an outer UFO hull, but if the UFO power source exploded during the crash you may be able to punch through weakened roof/floor tiles with a Heavy Plasma. Inside though, the Heavy Plasma can cut through most everything if you shoot at it enough.

 

I noticed flashbangs mentioned,I hadn't realized their in UFO Defense or is it only the PC version?

No such thing as a flashbang in EU. You have a choice between the Electro-flare for light or the grenade for the boom. Just not both. NKF likes to tout his idea of a "nuclear lantern" which is an electro that has a big boom.

 

- Zombie

[Reprobate]

Thanks.

 

Even though i have played both,though the PC version not as much,i wasn't sure if there were any differences between the two versions such as items.

 

Also an already exploded proximity grenade can visually look like a flashbang if you walk a trooper over the space it had exploded the next turn.

 

Weird bug.

[Invertin]

I'm quite annoyed with the early game, because I have a basic understanding of X-COM tactics from let's plays of it and such, but my entire team still die in Terror Missions no matter what I do.

 

It's not so much the tactics or weapons, it's the landing. Whenever I land, I step off, and immediately something shoots at me. And because aliens have super awesome aiming, at least one guy is going to die just getting out of the ship. And then I run into minidiscs.

 

...Minidicks more like.

 

I have found a love for explosive weaponry in terror missions. Enemy behind cover? What cover?

[Bomb Bloke]

Don't underestimate HWPs. Sure, they cost a lot more then soldiers, but they make it more likely for your soldiers to survive. Experienced soldiers become more accurate, and get more TUs to spend each turn.

 

HWPs can also fire off explosives at a faster rate then soldiers can.

[chiasaur11]

I'm quite annoyed with the early game, because I have a basic understanding of X-COM tactics from let's plays of it and such, but my entire team still die in Terror Missions no matter what I do.

 

It's not so much the tactics or weapons, it's the landing. Whenever I land, I step off, and immediately something shoots at me. And because aliens have super awesome aiming, at least one guy is going to die just getting out of the ship. And then I run into minidiscs.

 

...Minidicks more like.

 

I have found a love for explosive weaponry in terror missions. Enemy behind cover? What cover?

 

Get a HWP.

 

Love the HWP.

 

This is your HWP. There are many like it, but this one is yours. Your HWP is my best friend. It is your life. You must master it as you must master your life. Your HWP, without you, is useless. Without your HWP, you are useless. You must fire your rocket or cannon rounds true. It must shoot straighter than your space alien enemy who is trying to kill you. You must shoot him before he shoots you. You generally won't.

 

But the HWP can take a hit.

[NKF]

Don't underestimate the value of the humble smoke grenade for terror site deployment. There are a two points that it plays on that will work to your advantage.

 

The first is obviously to obscure your exit. The second is that you are forced to wait at least one turn before you can deploy. This is a huge advantage because the aliens start at 100% of their TUs on the very first turn. Unless they stop moving for whatever reason, this will be the only turn that they are guaranteed to use 100% of their high reaction levels. This is why you often suffer a hail of enemy fire when trying to deploy on the first turn.

 

A few other things you can use to your advantage include one motion scanner and handing explosives to the soldiers near the exit. Either in the form of high explosive packs or ranged explosive projectiles. After waiting a turn, have someone in the Skyranger use the scanner and see if there's any movement near the ramp prior to any of your soldiers disembarking. If there is, then you can try and toss an explosive down by the ramp to clear whatever it was. There is the possibility that it could be a civilian though - so it's a bit of a gamble.

 

If it's night - don't forget the flares or autocannon incendiary rounds.

 

- NKF

[CapnKill]

Get a HWP.

 

Love the HWP.

 

This is your HWP. There are many like it, but this one is yours. Your HWP is my best friend. It is your life. You must master it as you must master my life. Your HWP, without you, is useless. Without your HWP, you are useless. You must fire your rocket or cannon rounds true. It must shoot straighter than your space alien enemy who is trying to kill you. You must shoot him before he shoots you. You generally won't.

 

But the HWP can take a hit.

 

I'm not feeling the HWPs. I tried to use them, and for the crash missions they were great, but the terror mission was a disaster. I had two of them, drove one off the ramp, boom, the disc thing wiped it out in one shot... the other one made it to the next turn then boom. 900k gone in 2 turns... that's like 20 soldiers! I rather just use a huge team of soldiers, survival of the fittest style More fun too.

 

I think the key is to have laser weapons... I went into that first terror mission with regular rifles and I couldn't do any significant damage.

 

That game was on superhuman though, perhaps that affects damage?

 

I restarted on Genius, I have laser rifles and I'm anxiously awaiting that first terror mission, I expect a much better result, but we'll see.

[Bomb Bloke]

Difficulty does indeed crank up the alien's armor (meaning that the dice have to roll higher in order to even hurt them). Standard rifles don't do much against Superhuman Cyberdiscs. Explosives are your best bet in the early-game, and tanks - while expensive - can spit those out fast and with a decent level of accuracy.

 

Yeah, they tend to die as easily as soldiers do, but the idea is that you want your soldiers to stay alive, gain experience, and advance to the point of being able to fight on their own. There's also the matter of "total psi immunity", which cannot be said of rocket-toting rookies.

 

Just remember, it's just about never a good idea to send anything down the ramp of your dropship on the first turn.

 

Heavy plasmas are more useful/effective then just about any other weapon, but you'll really want some laser rifles on hand in case you run short on plasma clips.

[CapnKill]

Yep at this point, I throw down a smoke and wait a turn. I'll probably bring a tank in when I can do a laser tank and play around with it more, I'm not done experimenting yet

[chiasaur11]

Yep at this point, I throw down a smoke and wait a turn. I'll probably bring a tank in when I can do a laser tank and play around with it more, I'm not done experimenting yet

 

Laser tanks still can get one shotted as easy as the initial tanks.

 

They're fun, but their flaws are still the same.

[Sunflash]

Are all you tank haters playing with Util's improved tanks, or without?

[CapnKill]

Are all you tank haters playing with Util's improved tanks, or without?

 

Without I think, what does the util improved tank offer?

[chiasaur11]

Without I think, what does the util improved tank offer?

 

More armor.

 

Endgame tank level armor.

[Jman4117]

I believe they are 100tu instead of 70tu also

[NKF]

Even without the enhanced stats, the plain vanilla tanks can do heaps of good or turn into a big pile of burning cash. Really, the same is entirely true for troopers equiped with flying suits or the hovertanks.

 

- NKF

[Space Voyager]

I agree. Also they can help in Ironman where you want your PEOPLE to survive.

[CapnKill]

Question: The 3 buttons on the left that show Snap shot, auto shot and aimed shot.. those are just to reserve TUs right? They in no way shape or form dictate what type of shot your soldier will take in a reaction, is that correct?

 

My understanding is that reaction shots are ALWAYS Snap Shots.. am I right on that?

 

Thanks!

[zaimoni]

Question: The 3 buttons on the left that show Snap shot, auto shot and aimed shot.. those are just to reserve TUs right? They in no way shape or form dictate what type of shot your soldier will take in a reaction, is that correct?

Yes. I usually reserve TUs by calculating them before attempting the move.

 

My understanding is that reaction shots are ALWAYS Snap Shots.. am I right on that?

X-COM reaction fire is always snap shots. I haven't recently allowed a situation where I could personally verify whether alien reaction fire goes bursty at game-distance 3 or lower.

[NKF]

Reactions are only snaps for X-COM. For the aliens, they also get to use auto-shots. The cheats!

 

By the way, there's also something known as Mutual Surprise that goes hand in hand with the battle of reactions. This occurs when both sides spot each other at the exact same time. This is a Good Thing™ as it bypasses the initiative comparison until your next action. For example if you were to take one step and suddenly find yourself staring face to face with an alien, the alien will not react even if it exceeds all the necessary requirements to take an opportunity shot. The next move is then yours to make, then it's back to business as usual.

 

From what I understand, the aliens experience this too. So if you're covering a doorway with a team of soldiers to catch any aliens coming through it, the best place for you to be is off to the sides - not directly in front of it.

 

- NKF