Advice for starting out

[Solfius]

i hear all you experianced players talking about completing the game on superhuman with loads of restrictions, and i'm a bit embarrased as i have'nt completed the game on begginner . there must be something that i'm doing wrong or some tactic that i've missed. could you tell me? what bits of wisdom would you give to someone who hasn't played ufo since they're were about 8? or is just starting?

[Neo]

Dont feel bad solfius i havent completed any of the games yet (every time i get real far on a game i start losing it) but i think thats the part that keeps me getting into the games the point that i havent completed it, and something that puzzles me sometimes is that people say build another base as soon as u can but i never have the time, its hard enough to maintain 1 base neva mind 2 so any tips would be appreciated (dont give me the stuff out the strategy guides either because i have loads of them)

[NKF]

There's so many ways to start out well. The best is, of course, is to do well tactically. It goes hand in hand with being able to do well economically. I'll just cover the geoscape aspect in this post, since tactical combat is rather extensive, and I've already typed too much as it is.

 

Starting off is simple enough, just find a good spot and plonk your base down. My favourite spot is usually in Europe, near Moscow, since it covers a lot of countries. Or just to the north east of Novisibirsk, since I like to take a break from the farms and fight in forests. But this is really up to you. Choose terrain you're comfortable fighting in.

 

I like to immediately start building some extra living quarters, general stores and an alien containment. A fourth optional building is usually either a large/small radar, a lab or an engineering bay. I know exactly what I want to research and how to go about getting it, so I stick with my original lab and go for a radar instead, but if you're just starting out, go with the extra lab.

 

Where you place these buildings is up to you. I like to fit them between the two hangars, but lately, I've been fitting them in any old place just to make base defense a lot more interesting.

 

I then arm my stores with what I need. 18 more scientists, a handful of grenades and other explosives, heavy rockets, heavy/auto cannon shells, plenty of pistol bullets, 2 - 4 stun rods, 8 flares and if there's enough money, a rocket tank with more than 12 rockets. Again, the choice is up to you, this is just how I go about it.

 

Most people like to then arm an interceptor with stingray and avalanche missiles. That's actually a good idea. Sell off the extra cannons to make some space. I like to swap all cannons with laser cannons as quickly as I can. The cannon may be more effective than a laser cannon, you don't need to regularly keep an eye on your laser's ammunition. Besides, lasers and rockets are suffifient for most small aircraft until plasma cannons come along.

 

When attacking UFO's, try to wait for them to get a considerable distance away from your base before shooting them down. I had a sectoid retaliation immediately after my first UFO once, which I'd shot down almost above my base, and it really wasn't nice at all.

 

When you come back from a tactical mission and you've found something new, go to your research list and start any new items that appear on it. Just start them, no need to allocated any scientists just yet. Once they've been started, you can safely sell all of that particular item and still be able to research it.

 

Aim to get personal armour as quickly as you can, otherwise, try to get the laser rifle or medikit. Once you're sufficiently protected, aim to get the craft plasma cannon. It'll make life so much easier.

 

After every few missions, sell all your surplus equipment like heavy plasmas and corpses. You need the money to get your first base up and running, and you can't use plasma weapons yet, so empty your stores. The extra funds can be put into investing some more building modules and or base personnel.

 

Later on, once you're using plasma weapons, never keep more guns than soldiers. For example, if you have 8 soldiers, keep only 8 heavy plasmas and 8 clips. The other heavy plasmas should be sold off and converted into cash. Heavy plasmas are plentiful , so you really need not worry about ammuntition shortage. Plasma rifles and pistols are a lot rarer, so you might want to pile up their ammunition, just keep the number of guns down to a minimum.

 

Alien alloys will start piling up, so you might want to consider converting them into something useful, like personal armour. Having extra suits is a good thing if you have a high soldier casualty rate.

 

Speaking of which, you might also want to have a few more or about twice the number of soldiers you normally send out into the field. If any are killed or injured, you'll still be able to fill in the empty gaps in the Skyranger very quickly. In later stages of the game, I like to hire a lot of soldiers and place them in my massive engineering facility (or psi-academy if I have psi-labs). Well, to protect it, and to quickly replace any lost soldiers in the primary base. A transferred soldier can arrive a lot faster than a newly hired soldier.

 

There's a lot more you can do, but I can't think of anything else at the moment. My fingers are getting tired anyway...

 

 

- NKF

[Psy Guy]

Lets see... At the beginning of the game you should build an additional living quarters, general store, alien containment (why don't they give it to you with the base?) and a large radar. Go ahead and sell all of your pistols (plus the clips for them), cannons and avalanche missles and the launcher (i never use them).Buy enough rifles to equip a squad of 14 and buy a tank rocket launcher. Hire 6 soldiers, 10 scientist and 6 engineers. Begin research on laser weapons. Days should go by and nothing much should happen (maybe one ufo). Make sure you assign the scientist to research lasers. When there done research laser pistols... more time passes. *ding* there done. Now research laser rifles and get started on making 14 pistols. By the time the pistols are done rifles should be ready to make. If you have completed an alien crash site (or landing) research alloys but if you haven't research medi-kits. Cancel all production and begin making laser rifles. During this time a terror site will occure (95% chance). Go to it and give them hell with your all might laser pistols (and maybe a few laser rifles )

Now finish making the 10-14 laser rifles and then cont to make them for cash (build then sell). If you researched alloys then you research armor (if you didn't research alloys then do so (if you have the option to). The general goal is to have a squad 10 men with lasers, armor, and medi-kits by the end of month 2. This should set you up for success intill the morons show up. Oops i mean mutons :devil: . Well this should help you out with the start up which will help you do good later. Build another base in month 3. (make it an intercept base at first. Access Lift, Hanger, General Stores, and Large Radar)

-PSY GUY-

[Cazbol]

My starting tactic is much like what has been described above.

 

Location for first base is crucial. In my current game I opted for a place just south of Novo Sibirsk, which has the advantage of land mass all around. As a result you can shoot down all UFOs without risking losing them into the ocean. A good score in the first few months should be your main focus so down a UFO and clear the site. The site south of Moscow may be even better, due to the proximity to all the European countries.

 

I suggest you build a large radar in your first base and then immediately build a new base in the USA with 1 long range radar, 1 store room and 1 hangar where you house an Interceptor.

 

Having done that I go for the gradual build-up. Living quarters and alien containment in the first base, where you also increase the number of scientists as quickly as your finances allow. Aim for 50 scientist and don't spread their effort on many simultaneous projekts. Start building facilities for troops at base 2 and a new hangar for a Skyrangar. Build up an assault team there and make sure you have reserve soldiers at both bases. Add a short range radar and alien containment to base 2.

 

Research priorities:

1) Once you find stun bombs and small launcher at the crash sites, research those and try to capture alien leaders to interrogate.

2) Heavy plasma and heavy plasma clips as soon as you find them. You may want to skip the plasma rifle and plasma pistol.

3) Laser weapons -> Laser pistols -> Laser rifles. Althouth this is nr. 3 on my list, you'll probably research it first, since it's available for research from the start.

 

Finally the golden rule: Don't rush the tactical missions unless you're facing ethereals.

 

Cazbol

[Solfius]

thanks, some stuff i hadn't thought about in that lot, i tend to build two bases when i start, one is my main base and one is a radar outpost (enventually i expand it with a hanger and a garrison of 15) all research and manufacturing is done in my primary base, i like to have as many men as possible, so far i've been lucky, my first 3 UFO's were all landed and made easy targets for ufo tech ~(got them all intact! )

[Warlord]

Here's my foolproof plan for starting off.

 

Sell all pistols, HC-AP ammo, the Autocannon and all ammo, the rocket launcher and ammo, and all craft cannons and ammo.

 

Sack all soldiers with bravery below 40 (30 might work if they have really awesome stats other than bravery).

 

Buy a second Avalanche launcher and enough missiles to keep both interceptors armed. I like to keep 15 missiles in reserve.

 

Also buy HE and IN ammo for the heavy cannons, extra grenades, prox grenades, and smoke grenades. Flares and HE packs are also a good idea.

 

Recruit enough soldiers to get your squad up to 10 regulars. Then recruit 15 scientists and 5 engineers. That should max out your living quarters.

 

If you have the cash left, buy a rocket launcher tank and about 16 rockets.

 

I like to build two additional hangars on either side of the top one. I also build one living quarters at each side of the base, and a general stores and an alien containment between the two bottom hangars. Once the living quarters are built, I sell the one next to the lift, and once the hangars are built, I sell the two bottom ones. This has the net effect of making my base extremely defensible, as all aliens have to come through the lift module to get anywhere.

 

Your primary goal in the first month is to complete laser rifle research, and acquire alien alloys. Researching the alloys and personal armor is desirable, but not always possible.

 

As for the first terror site, I usually land, my soldiers shoot anything they can see from the back of the skyranger, and then I abort. You lose some points, but you can make them up in the second month. There's no point in getting your soldiers slaughtered at the beginning of the game.

 

The trick to making money early on is sales of laser pistols. Yes, rifles sell for a bit more, but the pistols produce a lot faster. Farther along in the game, the aliens will build a base close to yours. It's almost guaranteed. At that point, you can start raiding supply ships on the ground. You can make millions off of these every time.

 

In the second month, you should concentrate on getting your scientist staff up to 50. I also build a large radar in the second month. That usually sucks up most of your cash. If you can afford it, recruit more engineers. You should also have your entire squad in personal armor before the end of the month. You are likely to see another terror site this month.

 

After this, you can start expanding your garrison. Laser pistol production should be in full swing by now. By the end of the third month, you should have a total of 100 personnel at your base. 15 soldiers, 35 engineers, and 50 scientists. I like to focus on finishing out the Laser Weapons tree by the end of this month. The Laser Tank is a nice addition to your arsenal and is ideal for terror missions. Alternatively, you can concentrate on plasma weapons, but getting the plasma cannon this early is a bit premature, as Elerium 115 will still be in short supply.

 

In the fourth, fifth, and sixth month, you should concentrate on getting flying armor, and building enough of an elerium supply to build ten sets of armor. 160 units of elerium is enough, if I remember correctly. This is another reason that I don't worry about plasma cannons early on. You should also begin research on new craft as well. I also usually build a second base during these months. Always build new bases close enough to be supported by other bases. My favorite locations are, near Moscow for base 1, deep in Siberia for base 2, north-central Africa for base 3, Australia for base 4, Central US for base 5, Central Brazil for base 6, and usually a radar base in Hawaii for 7, and a manufacturing and research base in the antarctic for base 8.

 

I usually keep to one main combat base, although I have been known to station a Quick Reaction Force in the US base for terror missions. All the other bases are interception bases, and I maintain 6 interceptor craft at each one. Once my 8 bases are built, no UFO can escape me. I keep 4 Firestorms and 2 Interceptors at each base. For the US base I keep 4 Firestorms, 1 Lightning, and 1 Interceptor. At the main combat base, I keep 1 Avenger, 1 Lightning, and 1 Skyranger. On each of these is a specialized combat squad. The Avenger is the heavy duty veteran crew. It consists of 14 men, 3 hovertank plasmas, and one Hovertank Fusion. The Lightning is a QRF with 12 men with precision weapons and stun equipment. They are used for terror missions. The Skyranger is for rookie training. They get to go on all the small shootdowns. I keep a 10 man squad and 1 hovertank plasma there. Once a soldier has a few missions under his belt, I transfer him to a garrison squad. That way on a base defense, I have combat veterans available for defense.

 

Sometime between months 3 and 6, I try to get a sectoid commander so that I can research psi labs. Usually, you won't see ethereals that early, so they're not an option. I like to have Psi Labs before I start heavy recruitment. Once I'm in full swing, I keep no less than a 10 soldier garrison at all bases, plus I have the 14 man combat team, the 2 12 man QRF's, and the 10 man training squad.I keep a minimum of 5 psi labs at my combat base, and do all recruitment and training there. After my manufacturing base is built, I sell all workshops and labs. I keep the two living quarters, the stores, and the alien containment. I don't bother with base defenses at the combat base due to the sheer numbers of soldiers there.

 

This should get you well on your way to winning the game. Keep in mind that these strategies hinge on you being able to conduct tactical missions with minimal losses. If you can't do that, you should practice the tactical missions until you're good at them.

[Cazbol]

The trick to making money early on is sales of laser pistols.  Yes, rifles sell for a bit more, but the pistols produce a lot faster.

The motion scanner gives the highest profit per engineers' working hour early in the game, higher than laser pistols and laser rifles. Once you develop the laser cannon it becomes the most profitable product.

(The exception is plasma cannons produced in 1 unit batches but I won't get into that again.)

 

Cazbol

[NKF]

Don't you mean the fusion cannon? Producing plasma cannons can get very costly on elerium.

 

Still, it's a good thing elerium is only spent for producing but not for maintaining them. Pretty good investment if I do say so myself. Even one plasma cannon can turn the war more to your favour.

 

If you have more than one workshop, another good alternate production item is the personal armour. It doesn't fully utilise your engineers' work times, but it is a rather creative way of getting rid of that huge pile of alien alloys. Besides, the extra suits can come in handy if you have a considerably high soldier turn over rate.

 

In some older versions of the game, the selling price of personal armour is quite high, making them quite profitable.

 

 

- NKF

[Kiryu-Kai]

At the beginning my tactics are as follows:

 

 

BASE PLACEMENT: i put mine in north Africa. mainly because if a UFO crashes you get desert terrain so there be no annoying farm houses. also so its close to europe so you can protect more countries.

 

CONSTRUCTION: I build the following...

 

Lab

Personal quarters

2x Stores

Alien containment

Large Rader

 

Buy/Sell: i sell the following...

 

everything apart from...

 

Rifle + ammo

Grenades

Avalanch missiles + launchers

stinger missiles + launchers

 

buy:

personal:

 

4 soldiers

15 sciencists

3 engineers

 

equipment:

6 rifles + 30 ammo

20 grenades

14 stun rods.

Missions: Your missions should be easy because of the desert and large land span so hardly any will crash in water.

 

when you do missions and win keep all the following...

 

Heavy plasma + clip

E-115

alien alloys

Navigation

alien grenade

 

the rest of the alien equipment just sell. keep heavy plasma and when you get around 10 in your stores start researching it (i research it in 1st month dont even bother is laser because i can do first terrorsite with rifles).

 

Research in this order:

 

1) Laser--- laser pistol---laser rifle---alien alloys---personal armor---heavy plasma---heavy plasma clip.

 

 

UFOS: At the beginning your ship can take down small-medium dont even attempt large ships until plasma cannons or fusion.

 

once buildings are compelete buy 75 more sciencists and 20 more enginners and 1 extra personal quarters.(this be somewhere at the end of the first month after the terrorsite when u get alot of sellable equipment).

 

!and try and get an sectoid (squad)Leader from a small ufo this way you can get psi lab in first month!

[Cazbol]

Don't you mean the fusion cannon? Producing plasma cannons can get very costly on elerium.

Quite right. My mistake. It's the fusion ball launcher that is the most profitable product, but only if you produce one at a time. The second item in a batch and all thereafter require 1 unit of alien alloys.

 

Cazbol

[The Veteran]

Where is someone with the useful advice?

 

Do not give up! Never reload! Never restart! And never stop! Until Mars is ours!!!

[Psy Guy]

"Do not give up! Never reload! Never restart! And never stop! Until Mars is ours!!! "

or untill you find a way to MC the Brain.

 

-PSY GUY-

[The Veteran]

Except MC is terror from the deep though isn't it Psy guy... Your name suggests that you know that... Tut tut... Psi the brain! Psi the brain! Now that would be fun... XCom would be run by friendly sectoids!!!

[Psy Guy]

MC as in Mind Contol. Im not going to say psi attack the brain. I don't "Molecular Control" things. Also sectoids are a sad bunch. Ethereals and Humans are the true psionic masters. (yes yes sectoid commanders are powerful but... *sigh* they have problems :closedeyes: )

-PSY GUY-

 

If only humans could use psi without the amps. (scientist are working on that as we speak)

 

..... Human Ethereal hybrids!!!!!

[Warlord]

The trick to making money early on is sales of laser pistols.  Yes, rifles sell for a bit more, but the pistols produce a lot faster.

The motion scanner gives the highest profit per engineers' working hour early in the game, higher than laser pistols and laser rifles. Once you develop the laser cannon it becomes the most profitable product.

(The exception is plasma cannons produced in 1 unit batches but I won't get into that again.)

 

Cazbol

Yes, but this requires that you spend valuable research hours on this project. My research time is too valuable to waste on motion scanners early on. They're a nice luxury to have down the road, but not necessary by any means. I produce Laser Pistols because I have to research them to get to Laser Rifles anyway, therefore I'm not wasting research time on an unnecessary item.

[AcidBoot]

I like to put my first base just East of Budapest. I am glad so many people like putting thier first base in that general area. It protects so many countries who bring in so much cash combined. My bro always goes USA, as they are the single biggest contributor... the dummy.

 

I always get 14 guys for my squad. If I'm playing full on I'll sack anyone with a shooting accuracy <50, and hire replacements.

 

There's plenty of good advice for how to handle the Geoscape already, so I figured I'd give a few tips on the tactical side.

 

Take cover!

Take advantage of those buildings! Never use your last few TUs to run around a corner!! It is asking to be shot by reaction fire and, worse, be stranded in full view of bug-eye guns for thier turn. Run up to the corner, and end turn. Next turn, pop your head around, giving fire as necessary. If they're not all dead, leave enough TUs to retreat back around the corner. Also, gather up at least 4 soldiers before breaching a UFO. There's practically always aliens on board, and it's best to move in as much fire power as is practical, and eliminate the threat. Especially in the begining when you can trust your guys to hit, let alone kill in a single turn.

 

Supporting fire!

Make your guys work as a team. Spread out a bit, and use less busy guys to flank aliens in cover. Concentrate your fire! It is better to have one dead badguy and two perfectly health ones then three slightly miffed ones.

 

Grenades!

Think that a bug-eye is waiting just around the bend? Lob a grenade! Why expose yourself to fire? This is much less useful when on a terror mission . A couple of bug-eyes holding a conference? Fire in the Hole!! The rocket launcher is also good for this. It is faster firing, and has better range and damage and blast radius, but is more expensive and heavy, takes up more room in your inventory, and is quite the disaster when it goes wrong. Proximity grenades are also good. You can end up wasting a lot of them, but I find in gratifying to throw a few about just in case. The only other downside to grenades is that the soldier is not credited with the kill, thus can't improve. Oh, and it tends to destroy valuable equipment like UFO interiors and dropped artefacts.

 

Light up the night!

On night missions, make extensive use of flares. Throw one anywhere you think there may be an alien. ie: Everywhere! Don't walk your guys near the flares! You'll be lit up like a Xmas tree! Throw new flares as your first act of the turn. Then you'll have enough TUs to blast the revealed bug-eyes.

 

Move slow!

Unless you are getting alot of psi attacks, take it slow. You are more likely to avoid reaction fire if your TUs are high. Likewise if you have TUs left over you may even get in a bit of reaction fire of your own. Don't rely on this though... all the reaction fire in the world won't help if they wait until after the bug-eye throws a grenade. It can be useful to alternate moves. Two men dash forward, while two save all thier TUs for reaction fire, then in the next turn, the runners cover while the others run.

[NKF]

I really must comment re: grenades.

 

You do get credited for kills with grenades and you will improve if you use them.

 

The kill count might not be accurately incremented, but your physical stats, throwing accuracy and oddly enough firing accuracy will improve[1].

 

- NKF

 

[1] After playing a campaign entirely with grenades and no guns, how else can I explain the increase in firing accuracy?

[AcidBoot]

Whoops! Wrong game! I got confused... You don't get credited with a kill in Jagged Alliance 2! Not that it matters, cos you improve stats regardless of the success of your action.

 

Sorry 'bout that!

[Orac]

I'm by no means an xcom expert, but I'll type a reply anyway.

 

The best advice I can give is don't worry about what tactics to use. Also don't feel bad about starting over if you realize you could do better a second time around. There are so many different strategies that it's almost better not to give specific ones, but better off for a player to just play the game. The more you play the more you see things that you could've done better. It's a learning a process. Also don't worry so much about losing soldiers. Sooner or later despite any attempts some of them are going to die (it's just in the cards).

 

I think the best tip is just to approach the game and have fun with it. There is no one way to go about it. There are endless possibilities of how to go about things. Also, every player has there own set of favorite tactics and strategies. The most important thing is to have fun (i.e. some players have more fun using psionic attacks, while other's have more fun using psionic as little as possible etc). If you're enjoying the game, you're going to beat it sooner or later. And after you beat it once, you're probably going to find you want to implement limits on yourself the next time around to have fun beating it again (i.e. decide you're going to beat it with only standard issue weapons or something).

 

Anyway, just have fun at playing it. It's not a race to see who's best at the game. It's more about the fun to be had along the way. Sometimes I start over just because it's so challenging when you first start off. I often have more fun near the beginning of the game than toward the end where it starts to get much easier. I also learn all sorts of things since I have to really push myself in those beginning stages. Each time I start over I end up much better off sooner in the game because I see ways to go about things more efficiently. Like I was spending some time playing TFTD for a few weeks then came back to playing xcom1. I found that my playing had improved dramatically in xcom1 due to TFTD being so sadistic to the player.

 

I think xcom never gets old because you can play it a million different ways.

 

General advice:

-know the limits of your soldiers: Know when to use up all their TUs, and when to reserve enough so they can react (opportunity fire). Also know when you should save for the next turn to engage the enemy so they have enough TUs to fire many times or shoot and scoot (attack then take cover).

 

-I generally find good success by tring to establish a front line or perimeter. If the terrain allows such, I'll spread out my men in a long well enough spaced out line (around 6-8 spaces in between each soldier) and clear the map of enemies as I move my line of men from side of the map to the other turn by turn.

 

-It's really hard to tell whether it's better to specialize or go with a more a standard issuing approach. I mean standard issuing meaning most of your soldiers carry pretty much all the same gear (squad composed mostly of well rounded soldiers). Seems like either strategies, or a mixture of the two, can work well either way.

 

-Which weapons are best? That's largely going to depend upon who you ask and how they prefer to play. I'll just hit upon my opinions in the age old rifle vs. pistol debate. My opinion is they both have their strong and weak points. Pistols have the advantage of allowing more TUs, and there's no penalty for not keeping one of your hands free (one-handed weapon). Their disadvantage is they're less accurate so much less ideal at longer ranges. They also tend to do less damage as well. My overall opinion is pistols are ideal for soldier that carry around your gadgets (motion scanners, mind probes etc). They're also ideal for clearing out cramped quarters since they leave you more TUs free to shoot and scoot. Also in cramped quarters target are at close range. They tend to have a hard time out in the open though, unless your soldiers that use them, tend to be top notch marksmen. Me, I tend to give pistols to my officers. I generally don't have my officers engage in heavy combat but treat them more as rear echelon troops. They most often do scanning and other special tasks. This works out for me pretty well due to the ramification in regards to morale when you lose troops. The higher the rank, the more it hurts morale when they die. Also bringing an officer along a mission helps keep morale up as long as he's alive (if he dies, it's going to have a more severe negative impact on morale compared to if a squaddie or rookie died). So I usually bring them along but try to make them be somewhat useful. I use them for light combat also, but if something requires a big risk, or chances are a person is going to get killed, I generally use my grunts for that. My grunts tend to be better equiped for such events and also have much less negative impact if I lose them. For instance, like when you need to rush an entrance into a ship. I send in the rookies usually because it's good opportunity for them to get some good experience if they survive. If they don't survive it's not a huge loss. That's one of things about xcom - aside from being reload happy, you're going to take losses no matter what. The goal is to minimize loss. Some players prefer to a different approach with officers though. Like they feel an officer should be the ones that are combat toughest. I think of my officers more as specialized troops there to boost morale and perform the more specialized tasks.

 

-Also don't fret too much about losing your best troops. It's going to happen. Also oftentimes, your replacement end up being better anway. It's like advancement at the beginning is slow for your troops, but later on the game it happens faster. So it seems to even out either way.

 

-No matter how great a tactic or strategy there is always going to be times when it's less ideal to use it.

 

-Most importantly, the bottom-line is that experience is the teacher. The more you play the more strategic, tactical, and better you become at the game. The biggest bottom-line is to have fun along the way. So if you find you enjoy certain tactics over others, then those are the ones to use till you get bored with them and figure out other ones you like more.

 

Anyway, there's my thoughts and opinions on this topic.

[NKF]

"There is no hard and fast rules on good strategy. It has to be as versatile as water which changes according to the ground. There is also no formula for good manoeuvring. Always avoid the powerful and attack the weak. Be ever ready to change strategy according to the changing conditions of the opponent"

 

That quote's from my translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War. I felt it somewhat appropriate for the occasion.

 

- NKF

 

Edit: I mean I own a copy of a translated version of the book. I did not translate it.

[The Demi-Godly One]

I'm not a good teacher but I have some useful advice. Play defensevly!

By that I mean do stuff like: go in a building, guard the door and snipe from the top.

You know go up the stairs, shoot, go down the stairs, end turn. Etc.

I've gone through a game doing stuff like that and I didn't lose anyone. Almost everone was at

maximum status!

[JellyfishGreen]

I think the best tip I ever picked up from these forums was this:

 

The soldier who spots the alien, should not be the one to shoot at the alien.

 

It's hard to remember, when you've got your favorite soldier hotdogging across the fields packing live weaponry, and I forget now and again. But this key rule plays into the main advantage you have over the aliens, in that they can't shoot at soldiers out of their visual range.

 

The soldier who spots the alien should be moving cautiously and checking corners, but when that red number flashes up, he should FREEZE - even kneeling could attract reaction fire.

 

Then the long-range soldiers take their shots. This is where you find a use for that seemingly TU-wasting Aimed shot. Naturally you want your scout backed up by a few long-range soldiers that follow him if he finds nothing. Grenadiers and Psi-troopers can also take action at this time.

 

Tanks and flying suits are ideal as scouts. Move them at the START of the turn, because there won't be anyone to back them up at the end of the turn.

 

This tactic works whenever aliens are in the open - it's still no guarantee of success when breaching UFO's, though.

[EclipseDog]

A lot of people have mentioned the old 'rookie' = 'cannon fodder' trick on how to spot those enemies without losing your best guys since it's 'no big deal if lose one of those'... well, there's one better way.

 

Your HWP's can get banged up to as low as 1 health left but the moment combat ends they instantly become full health yet again.

 

My strategy therefore has been to intentionally leave my HWP (the cannon instead of the rocket since it's cheaper and I never fire a shot) in free movement mode and just kamakazi it right into the face of the enemy in order to intentionally draw their reaction fire in a gambit to 'spoof' em out without ever once firing a shot no matter how easy a target is since that would waste TUs and not give any exp for the kills.

 

To supplement this I make sure that all my soldiers have at least 55% firing accuracy and simply wait for the lil dears to show themselves with their light shows, then I kneel my guy/girl less than five steps away and hit em with a snap shot. The accuracy on those is reasonable and at such a short distance they almost never miss especially with someone whose got high acc by default anyway. And since the TU's don't cost much, often if you do miss or they are wearing armor (grr cyberdisks & reavers) you've still got enough to take a second whack at em.

 

Naturally this strategy only works for the beginning days and lower levels of difficulty when their weaponry isn't coming at you full force, but while it works it makes it almost impossible to have a soldier die, another benefit to this is that unlike with the rookie fodder method, when you put in a replacement there is no retraining period... your new HWP is exactly the same as it was before being slaughterred.

 

Of course each replacement takes an extra 420k but the only time I've ever gotten it destroyed was when that danged cyberdisk went postal after my guys knocked it silly and before I figured out the exact range of its blast radius.

 

Speaking of cyberdisks... in the terror engagements sometimes there is an easy way of getting rid of those... and that is by tossing just a plain ordinary beginner's grenade at the gas pump next to a cyberdisk with the device primed at 0. It's way fun to see that thing go up and all its lil alien buddies screaming as they become filet of creep (or is it crepe? )

 

As for how to have your troops move through the battle zone... personally I use an exploding star pattern the most. The center (plane) has one guy head out in each direction (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) plus one guy follows about five paces behind the east group while the tenth follows the west group. Meanwhile my tank just smashes straight into whichever side of the map seems the most likely to contain baddies (see above).

 

My way occurs very few soldier casualties (think I've lost a total of 3 in the last 5 games (games mind you not battles... it's extremely rare for me to die in battle while the strategy is still up-to-date) up to the point when their weaponry becomes so advanced that it makes me switch strategies) while only rarely actually losing your tanks since they are so much better than soldiers and the enemies in the early days (2-3 tanks lost... I can clearly remember two but vaguely remember a third a while back so I'll say 3 I guess).

 

I'm also extremely different from everyone else. I don't grab a ton of different soldiers so if one dies I'll have plenty to spare, instead I only buy the 10 I need to fill the initial sky1 and only pull up number 11 if someone gets wounded (thus getting a captain from the bargain anyway). And I generally stay at that number until I decide to buy sky2 or build a transporter. As long as you don't make the colossal mistake of downing the enemies right over your base you shouldn't have to worry about base invasions for quite a while so why waste the money on needless dupes goofing off I say.

 

By 'putting all my eggs in one basket' I acquire soldiers who almost always hit what they are aiming at, react almost every time, and who can survive practically any hit thanks to a stamina and health that has risen up like mad through training. Therefore I almost never lose a man since they are so well trained, thus I don't get hurt by not having anything better than a rookie in the worst case. And even in those few eventualities where one of my guys do die, the entire rest of the 9 man squad is so pumped up that they can haul the green guy around without any real loss!

 

As for base placement. I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this but I'm one of those 'nuts' that go the USA 1st route. I stick my base right about where North Dakota-ish area is which adds Canada's minor fundage in.

 

Why do I go the seemingly less profitable way? Simple... While the European multi-conglomerate edges the US out by itself, it's only about 300 more... and Canada makes up 200 of that. As for the last 100k? I pay that for the knowledge that no matter what happens it is virtually impossible to down em in the ocean in comparison to Europe. Whereas Europe is tightly pressed by water in three different directions, if you build just right in the US you very rarely have to break off attacks on account of water.

 

It's just as well as normally I've already established my second base in Europe (Germany-ish) before a month of days have passed anyway. (Base meaning a lift, 1 storage facility, 1 hangar (Interceptor-2 gets transferred there after the cannon gets replaced by avalanche missiles), 1 large radar. Shortly after the end of the first month I set up my third base (dupe of EuCom) in east Asia semi near to Beijing (China, Japan, eastern Russia, India) while orderring a new interceptor. Another 10 days after that I've added number four in northwesterly Australia, and before the end of that month central/south africa gets base number five. After getting reimbursed by the countries slush fund I set up number six in western Brazil.

 

Bet you're wonderring where all the mula for this rapid expansion comes from... if you guessed Engineers building stuff then selling for a profit you'd be partly right. In reality I don't use that to make a profit in the early days, but rather as a way of self-paying for the costs of all my scientists I keep on staff, et al. I also win major bucks on account of the fact that I can down so many UFOs in a short period of time without worry of water. Finally since I never lose a terror mission (at least as yet) and never lose more than 4 civilians while sustaining nil casualties myself, the countries of the world (including ones I don't even have bases for yet!) applaud me for my tremendous success and increase my take home pay.

 

While that last take home pay increase usually comes in something as insignificant as 82k or 164k more than the previous month, every single month it increases, plus since I expand so rapidly (rather than the traditional way of leaving parts of the earth unimpeded for months) the aliens never get a foothold on any of the governments thus none ever have reason to complain.

 

I only build one large radar per base and no new small ones... sure it only has a 5% chance of sucess and only sweeps the sky every 10 mins, it still allows me more than plenty when it comes to targets, and since I very quickly have one radar and interceptor in every single continent, I very soon find myself almost overworked with just the one transport and team. You have no idea how many small/very small crash-landing recovery missions can happen in one month worldwide during those early months of the siege if you set up like I do. I make millions just from selling plasma (that's another thing... I don't keep the plasma rifles, heavy plasma that a lot of people suggest... it is way too common to bother with hording it when you're fighting those small scouts on an hourly basis and bringing back anywhere from 10-30 plasma weaps/clips each time!)

 

Anyway once I've got my six main bases I finally put a second transport into the game to relieve my US-based one from having to do those Australia/Africa/etc. recoveries. This one I base in my Chinese base since it is basically set in the middle of Europe, Australia and simply share the Africa load with the US which mainly concentrates on N & S America.

 

In the China base I add 1 hangar and 1 living quarters but nothing else.

 

This allows me to hire an additional 11 soldiers, thus gaining a second captain plus two more sergents. I don't hire anyone else at that base however. But I do add a second tank-cannon w/ 30 rounds to duplicate my first squad to the letter.

 

Finally after my sixth radar/strike base is up it's time to do some serious engineering for profit, I set up my seventh base in antartica but it is basically nothing more than a complex of interlocking workshops and living areas along with a couple of storage rooms to hold the ready for sale items for a few days so I don't have to repeatedly check back in constantly. I do, however, add in one large radar just to get a picture of what kind of UFOs might be in the area, although I almost never attack them. That radar is more to keep an eye on the area and make sure the aliens don't try to do something sneaky like build a base there while I'm not looking.

 

Now it all depends upon how advanced my research is on what the item I'll be mass producing is, in the early days it's the motion devices or laser pistols depending upon my mood (and whether I've botherred to research the motion) but later I only do Laser Canons like most folks who go that route. Whatever it is I make, I set it up so that the product has over a month's worth of enineering hours required to finish it and so that I have more than enough money to build an entire month's worth of the item without selling the final product, then just after the budget meeting next month (easy to remember to sell when have a prompt like that, heh) I sell it all at once and really pump my cash on hand.

 

While doing the making and selling routine won't replace plunder as the big money winner, it does more than pay for an entire army of scientists working on their research.

 

There's only one catch to all of this... sooner or later the enemy's weapons, species, and tactics will change... and unless you change with them even the greatest of beginnings will end in tormoil and disaster. I remember the first time I tried this gameplan I was so stunned the first time I was invaded when I hadn't yet put my defenses up.

 

Therefore it would be my belief that defenses should start to go up in your bases somewhere between the fith and sixth bases coming into being. Defense, Defense, Gravitron, Defense, Defense, Mind Shield would be my suggestion but to each their own.

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See, this is why the Standard Ops Manual needs to be pinned!