Advice for starting out

[JellyfishGreen]

Nice strategy summary. Although I like base defence missions myself, and deliberately don't build defence modules.

[Zombie]

There's a lot of great tips and hints in this topic. Wow. Kudos to everyone who posted.

 

Recently I was watching a YouTube video of a guy playing Enemy Unknown and saw him do something I never really considered before: he sold off one of his Interceptors right from the start. This is rather intriguing, because at the beginning of the game there isn't much alien activity so it would stand to reason that you don't really need 2 of them around if one is sitting idle most of the month chewing up that $600,000 rental fee. (Well, technically the first month is free, so you could keep both ships around till the waning hours of January 31st and then sell one).

 

I ran a few trials with this just now, and managed to get by till March with no need for the second Interceptor (and that was aggressively going after UFOs, not waiting to see what it would do). In fact, I could have probably got by for another month or two had it not been for some damage to the first one at an inopportune time. If I was playing at my normal aggressiveness, perhaps I could even get by for another month or two depending on activity. Hmmm, saving that $600,000 every month really gives you more money to play around with, that's for sure.

 

What do you guys think of this strategy? Is it viable in your opinion?

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Sooner or later I end up selling the thing anyway, to free up space for the construction of an Avenger. I can't remember ever being severally inconvenienced by this.

 

Note that I always play "aggressively". If I detect a UFO I get an interception sent out ASAP. If it goes out of radar range, I send the craft over to where I reckon it was heading and have it recon there for a while (where a while is "until the tank is empty", in the case of the non-Elerium using craft).

 

So long as the target isn't a Battleship I'll do my best to bring it down. I tend to give those things a wider berth, or just send a SkyRanger after them in the hopes it'll land. Plasma Beam research basically makes even the old Interceptors awesome so anything else just isn't a threat.

[NKF]

It's a viable strategy, but since they're free for the first month, there's no loss in keeping it. While it's fun to see some impressive 4 interceptor base setups, you could certainly make do with much less. There's only so much UFO activity in one spot that a single interceptor's just fine.

 

I prefer to keep the second interceptor and ship it to my first intercept outpost, since I don't often need two interceptors at each base. I also don't like to see breaks in my interceptor numbering. I end up with a second interceptor at the main base anyway when I build my token Lightning/Avenger.

 

Other ways to start include selling one interceptor and buying a second Skyranger. You can even get by with no interceptors and just a Skyranger (or 2, or 3).

 

Since you didn't (technically) pay anything for the starting interceptors, getting rid of one costs nothing. You could swap out the weapons with stingrays first, since the cannons are a bit more valuable to sell than stingray launchers. Demolishing the hanger on the other hand has its own can of worms to deal with.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Hehe, yup, I always swap out the weapon configuration of the Interceptor back to dual Stingrays before it gets sold to save some costs. In the past I'd swap any pre-installed Stingray Launchers with another weapon in the stockpile, then swap it back to the SL and quickly sell it before it goes into rearming. The other day I only had dual Stingrays (fully loaded) on My Interceptor and only SL's in my stores, so for a short while I considered buying an Avalanche Launcher so I could swap the Stingrays out and back. I guess I was under the mistaken impression all these years that you couldn't do a direct swap to the same weapon, but what do you know, it works. Neat! Now if only there was a way to strip a ship completely before selling it (besides a little creative editing in CRAFT.DAT or using Hatfarm's editor)... You would think that the programmers would have put a NONE button there like they did for armor, but NOOOO.

 

And the paying for dirt problem for dismantled Hangars is indeed a massive drain on funds ($80,000 per tile * 4 tiles = $320,000). For this reason I just left it in place instead of bringing in the wrecking ball. Besides, I figured I'd need the Hangar space again in the near future for when UFO activity picked up, so leaving it there and paying the relatively small $25,000 maintenance fee per month is a lot cheaper than trying to rebuild in the old Hangars footprint. Also, when you need another ship again, rebuilding a Hangar takes 25 days which is a long time to wait.

 

I don't know, buying another Skyranger seems like a waste at the start of the game, no? The whole point of selling the Interceptor in the first place is because the relative lack of UFO's. Would stand to reason that there would be few ground missions to warrant the extra cost and monthly maintenance fees associated with another transport. An extra Skyranger is nice to have when activity starts to pick up because you can send out another group of soldiers to a site while the other is refueling (which seems like all the time) And if you think about it, you would need to run quite a few missions in a month just to cover the costs of another ship in the fleet. But having another on hand just to prolong the time a Terror Site stays active is helpful since you can run those missions in daylight if you time everything out properly.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

There's no immediate need to have more than one of each craft at the start. Of course, I suppose one other reason to buy a second Skyranger would be for a mobile radar thanks to how long it can stay in the air (followed by long gaps of downtime for refueling). Oh, I suppose you could also throw it in aggressively during joint interceptions... though that would be a little silly if it turns out that the UFOs don't indeed split their shots amongst all its attackers.

 

A third would be a waste since you won't be able to shoot anything down. Then again, you could have small squads in the air all the time, allowing them to swoop in on any UFO on the ground the moment they're spotted. Much faster than launching a ship on sight of a UFO. It would be highly situational.

 

I'm now imagining the micromanagement nightmare of maintaining lots and lots of Skyrangers with mini squads in the air at all times. Madness.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

If I really need a mobile radar platform to do some reconnaissance fly-bys in an alien hot-spot, the single Skyranger works fine in the beginning. I just keep it loaded with my team so that in case a UFO is spotted during the patrol, they can land right away and take care of it.

 

Mini squads in a lot of ships? Eh, what happens if you encounter a landed Battleship? I suppose a small group of veterans would be fine for each ship, but with rookies it would be a bloodbath.

 

Speaking of squads, I'd like to ask everyone's opinion on soldiers. Do you always use a majority of your squad for missions, or do you keep some back at base in case it gets attacked? When I played on Beginner, I could get away with nobody back at base, but when I switched to Superhuman, I found that my squad always seemed to be away from home when the Battleships came to visit/retaliate. So now I usually keep 10 soldiers on the Skyranger and 10 back at base along with a rocket tank for defense. The 10 back at base are frequently rotated into mission lineups to get some training. Seems to work pretty good, and if my base does get attacked when everyone is home, all the better. I tried with 8 or so soldiers and it was too hard to defend the base because of it's initial screwball layout.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Mini squads in a lot of ships? Eh, what happens if you encounter a landed Battleship? I suppose a small group of veterans would be fine for each ship, but with rookies it would be a bloodbath.

 

You rely on luck.

 

It can work though, but would certainly be much easier with a team of elite units.

 

Speaking of squads, I'd like to ask everyone's opinion on soldiers. Do you always use a majority of your squad for missions, or do you keep some back at base in case it gets attacked? When I played on Beginner, I could get away with nobody back at base, but when I switched to Superhuman, I found that my squad always seemed to be away from home when the Battleships came to visit/retaliate. So now I usually keep 10 soldiers on the Skyranger and 10 back at base along with a rocket tank for defense. The 10 back at base are frequently rotated into mission lineups to get some training. Seems to work pretty good, and if my base does get attacked when everyone is home, all the better. I tried with 8 or so soldiers and it was too hard to defend the base because of it's initial screwball layout.

 

- Zombie

 

I do the same. If I have 10 on the Skyranger, I try to maintain a 10 or more unit garrison, and rotate troops as necessary (I do keep a few trained troops on the Skyranger for a while to look after the fresh rookies). Always nice to have some defenders, and a quick resource of troops to fill any empty seats in the Skyranger until the replacements arrive.

 

I started doing this after I learned the hard way. I had a sole savegame where my Skyranger was half way across the world en route to a mission. New-ish game in the early months. A battleship was also on its way to the Skyranger's base of origin. There were no defenders so it got wiped out. I also lost the game since it was also my only base. Then no matter how many times I reloaded and told the Skyranger to head back, the Battleship always got there first.

 

Discovering the free HWP arming "feature" was a real boon for my minimal radar/intercept outposts though!

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

I like to have ten soldiers per base, eight of which are assigned to a craft. That leaves two for defense.

 

That sounds a little underwhelming, but I like my rocket tanks, I do. The problem is they have a tendency to get blown up, so I always have to buy new ones. Since that takes time I usually order a few ahead, so there's always a few sitting around the base...

 

Yeah, a few rockets thrown randomly into the main entry points tends to make 'em think twice. It's seldom that the aliens manage to attack while the main crew is away, though.

 

It occurs to me that I can't remember if wounded troops can defend bases. I suppose they can't. Hmm.

[Zombie]

Only two soldiers to defend a base is just asking for trouble, even with a couple tanks to back em up, though not if your craft isn't out on a mission. For me, 8 soldiers was on the verge of impossible on Superhuman, so I stepped it up to 10 plus a rocket tank as a dedicated defense squad. I also found that nixing an extra hangar (if I had the extra cash to cover the paying for dirt bug) helped to concentrate the aliens more and increase the chances of splash damage from the rocket tank. It's too bad the base is so large to begin with. If it lacked a few X-COM only spawn modules (such as the Lab or Workshop) my soldiers would be even closer to the action. But I really can't get rid of anything in the starter base since all the modules are necessary. Ah, well.

 

- Zombie

[Cius]

I keep the first interceptors as it takes two interceptors worth of Avalanche missiles to take down a large UFO. Transfering anything towards the end of a month means that you don't pay for it so if you start your second base and build a hanger immediately you can avoid paying for interceptor 2 for 2 months and have both bases armed with 1 interceptor anyways through transfering at the right time. I don't do that personally as it seems like an exploit. Until you get plasma beams its important to have more than one interceptor incase you get early infiltration missions. You are then free to shoot down 2-3 ships with interceptors and take out the biggest landed one with the skyranger. You can then return at your leasure to take out the shot down large ships and scouts. Even one scout can pay for an additional interceptor for a few months so I see no reason to sell the first interceptor as I almost always have a need for two interceptors within the first 3 months.

 

In the past I mainly played beginner level so I am not that experienced with base defence. Still, my non combat bases generally all have at least 8 soldiers and perhaps a tank or two for defense. Main bases that launch recovery missions normally have a full craft compliment + 6 fit soldiers at least. Never thought about the possibility of a UFO attacking while my craft is out. Interested to see how much harder it is on super human once they launch their attacks.

[Zombie]

I keep the first interceptors as it takes two interceptors worth of Avalanche missiles to take down a large UFO. Transfering anything towards the end of a month means that you don't pay for it so if you start your second base and build a hanger immediately you can avoid paying for interceptor 2 for 2 months and have both bases armed with 1 interceptor anyways through transfering at the right time. I don't do that personally as it seems like an exploit. Until you get plasma beams its important to have more than one interceptor incase you get early infiltration missions. You are then free to shoot down 2-3 ships with interceptors and take out the biggest landed one with the skyranger. You can then return at your leasure to take out the shot down large ships and scouts. Even one scout can pay for an additional interceptor for a few months so I see no reason to sell the first interceptor as I almost always have a need for two interceptors within the first 3 months.

Pfft, I couldn't care less about infiltration missions early on. Most likely any action I take will not prevent the aliens from fulfilling their mission anyway. My initial squads probably couldn't handle a fully (or even partially) crewed Battleship, much less the Supply Ship or Terror Ship too (depending on race). I'd get what I could (probably the Battleships) then leave the other ships to go their own way. Once my craft get Plasma Beams, then yes, I'd make it a point to shoot down the small fry and concentrate on the bigger stuff. Infiltration missions are very rare within the first month and overall, alien activity is next to nothing as well. I have been using a 1-Interceptor base now for a few months and see no need for a second one. Of course, this is on Beginner skill level so a second may be necessary on Superhuman.

 

In the past I mainly played beginner level so I am not that experienced with base defence. Still, my non combat bases generally all have at least 8 soldiers and perhaps a tank or two for defense. Main bases that launch recovery missions normally have a full craft compliment + 6 fit soldiers at least. Never thought about the possibility of a UFO attacking while my craft is out. Interested to see how much harder it is on super human once they launch their attacks.

The aliens are real pricks on Superhuman. They think nothing of attacking your base in the first month - sometimes even 2 weeks in. I have a hard enough time defending my main base against attacks much less a second one which is usually critically understaffed due to short supply of weapons and equipment. What I normally do on Superhuman is to amass all the necessary components at my main base until my second one is operational. Then I transfer everything over there at one time. This takes only a matter of hours. If I'd hire soldiers, buy equipment, or rent craft, that takes days. The difference means the aliens only have a 16-hour window of opportunity (max) in which to locate and then attack the second base.

 

- Zombie