Ugh! Stupid Lightning!

[Alitorious]

This is kinda funny... I decided to try a lightning out in a game (this was before I had Avenger researched) and so I thought "why not?" So I build one, put my troops on it, and then all of a sudden one of those alien invasion things (where 2+ battleships go pact signing) and I though: "haha! Time to try it out"

 

So, after a couple reloads to get the lightning to Europe on time to land at the first BS, (just after it lands, so that it could come back and refuel and go raid the second one) I attack the first landed Battleship, and come out the victor with only 1 or 2 people killed. (both from 2 blaster bombs each, man I wish you could defend against those w/ powersuits)

 

So, I come back to my base in North America, sell excess stuffs, replace the losses on the lightning, and wait for it to finish fueling up.

 

So, it fuels back up to 100% quickly enough to go tackle the second BS. I save, naturally. The second Battleship was luckily still on the ground. I send the Lightning off to attack, and it looks like it's going to work (as in the battleship doesn't take off.)

 

So, it comes and comes and comes.... and then when it looks like it's right on top of the landing site the message pops up saying "lightning-1 has run out of fuel - returning to base."

 

So, I try reloading, and zoom in to maximum zoom on the landed battleship. I watch as I see the yellow diamond come up on the screen, then what must have been 1 kilometer from the battleship (like two pixels) that same fuel message pops up.

 

So, naturally I'm screaming. I try reloading again, putting everybody onto the Skyranger (which I haven't scrapped yet, thankfully) and watch as the red ufo cross takes off before it's even halfway across the Atlantic.

 

So, naturally at the end of the month another country goes astray from the X-COM cause. Sheesh!

 

All because my base was positioned just barely too far away from this one city to make the one kilometer distance!

 

Oh well... I just scrap the Lightning and make meself an Avenger, and vow never to use lightnings again. (Thought the concept of being able to deploy through 4 directions is rather neat... helps against landing ramp camping aliens.)

[NKF]

You're abandoning the lightning just because of one little setback? Okay... It is a sort of jack-of-all-trades ship at best.

 

Is your base in America and are you trying to get the Lightning to Europe (or vice-versa)? Are you sending the lightning around the circumference of the globe? If that is the case, then there's your problem right there. It takes you a lot longer to traverse around the edge of the globe, but it's a lot faster to do things in straight lines.

 

With short waypoints, fly straight to the north pole then from there, again, with short waypoints, fly into Europe. The short waypoints are so that the ship travels straight to its destination. Longer gaps between waypoints usually cause the ship to follow the curve of the earth, and you do not want that.

 

If done right, you should arrive in Europe with a lot more fuel than you would were you to just set the waypoint half way across the globe and let the ship's autopilot do the rest.

 

Of course, your ship will end up with 0 fuel by the time it's half way home, since the autopilot follows the curve of the earth straight back to base. It's a good thing the game doesn't cause your ships to crash at 0 fuel.

 

I like to do this with the interceptors early on in the game when my US base hasn't yet got its own interceptor. Quite a good setup, but I can't get anything past Mexico.

 

The lightning has more armour and can take a heck of a lot more punishment than the Firestorm, I know that, but it wasn't exactly built for long range interceptions. I would say a base armed with one Skyranger, one lightning and one avenger makes a very nice combination.

 

The Skyranger since it's the most reliable troop carrier you've got, the lightning for easy-peasy interceptions, and the Avenger for everything else. But best of all, they're all troop carriers, so nearby mass infiltration attempts can easily be dealt with both in the air and on the ground at very short notice.

 

- NKF

[Ki-tat Chung]

wow. you've really thought it out.

[The Demi-Godly One]

I've never used a Lightning or a Firestorm.

[Jman4117]

I think the Lightning is the best allround ship in the game. Being able to deploy the squad quickly is a major asset. You can get the full squad in battle on turn 1. Try that with the Skyranger or Avenger.