Favorite country

[mirage]

Is there a country that you just love, and breaks your heart when it cuts funding??

 

Example:

 

Austraila is cut off and isolated. just for fun I like to put avengers with plasma AND fusion ball launchers on it. If any UFO's come near it I blow it up with EXTREME prejuduce!!! :devil:

[Ego Terrorist]

The UK, sod the rest of the world my first base is usually here, afterall I've gotta protect my home turf Plus I can protect Europe Western Asia, Middle East and North Africa, plus I have good coverage of the Atlantic, My second base is always in the US.

[DragonHawk]

Heh, I like to protect the home turf too. Unfortunately, my Canadian home turf isn't huge funding... but I shoot down the US-designated UFOs as a side hobby. That keeps 'em happy, but last game, BOTH countries went over to the aliens... the b******s!

[Psy Guy]

Well im a guy that protects the money and US is the money. I don't like the US in real life (eventhough i live in the US) but in x-com the US comes as first priority.Other than US I do like protecting Russia (Home of the terror site). After that its the UK and Australia.

-PSY GUY-

[Crazy Photon]

I usually protect the European countries and the North American ones as they're the regions that give the most money...

 

But I don't care THAT much when aliens infiltrate one of them as the funding they provide is nothing compared with the other means of funding: Manufactoring and capturing supply ships (I usually let the aliens build 2 bases for that)

[NKF]

Well, if cash is an issue, then I like to build a base in between large clusters of countries, like Europe. I'm not a native from Europe, so there's no strong patriotism or whatever involved in my choice of placement, but it is rather a good tactical location to start in, resource-wise and it also has a larger land mass that you can cover.

 

It's like this. Any activity scores you get in the US will only be really appreciated by the US, Canada and South America. That's at most 3 cash bonuses a month, if you do well. Also, if they're subverted, your activity points there aren't going to be of much use, seeing as the US won't pay you any more money.

 

In places like Europe, where there are five or more countries almost touching each other, your activity points will be appreciated by all your neighbours, and that's a lot of neighbours! The cash bonuses tend to really build up if you can keep up a very good monthly score. Sometimes I can even get India to pay a heck of a lot more than the US does, even with a secondary strike base in the US.

 

Not saying that the US shouldn't be protected at all. No. I just feel placing the starting base in the US is like putting too many eggs in one basket. Lose the US, and you lose a lot of funding, AND all your activity points in that area will be underappreciated. In Europe, if you lose a country or two, your activity will still be appreciated by several others.

 

Aha, but with the pros come the cons. If you do bad and the aliens have an area activity score that outdoes X-Com's, then this is felt by all your neighbours too, resulting in multiple fund reductions.

 

But if money is not an issue (and this normally is the case, as you make more money selling surplus equipment than anything the UN pays... you just need a few active funding countries to keep X-Com in operation), then I find putting your first base down in any old place will do -- except Hawaii.

 

- NKF

[mirage]

My first base is usually on the island in the black sea.. don't think it's a real island tho.. in x-com it is. I can keep a lot of countries happy, then I put a base in texas.. later if austrailia is around, like I said, I turn it into a no fly zone.

 

I just had a thought.. if you fire a fusion ball at one of those very small UFO's.. does it really make an impact?? I could see the poor schmuck in the ufo trying to out run it, and just get absorbed my a huge ball.. wouldn't it just fuel the chain reaction going on there, and just spit out some tin foil and fly on forever??

[JellyfishGreen]

Naw, the fusion ball isn't a fireball, it's more like an advanced nuke. Doesn't go boom until it hits a target.

 

Like DragonHawk, my first base was in Canada, Cambrian Shield Base, and similarly both USA and Canada went over to the aliens

 

My second was Vatican Base, underneath the dome of St. Peter, protecting Europe and Africa. (For months, the aliens were convinced I had a base in the Sahara.) Official papal sanction! Hooya!

 

My remaining bases were intercept bases - Tunguska in Siberia and Pine Gap in Australia - and a radar base in Tibet.

[mirage]

vatican base.. hmmm never thought of that.. I think the nazis tried that too.

[AcidBoot]

I always get a bit haughty when someone turncoats. Actually, the UK has switched on me almost every game I've played recently.

 

Ultimately though, the funding you get from any one country is insignificant, and that's all thier allegiance means to you. Realistically there's no reason you'd need more than one base. Why shoot down so many UFOs world wide? Most often your guys don't have the time to take care of all the clean up work, and you really only need one team.

 

So really, beyond the first few months, any effort you make to protect any country is for purely aesthetic reasons.

[Chrysalid_zombie]

I once played a game where I just didn't build a base in N. America. Just to see what happened. It took 3 months for them to get infiltrated and all that did was give me a constant supply of bases. Still won

[Cazbol]

My first base is usually on the island in the  black sea.. don't think it's a real island tho.. in x-com it is.

Sounds like the Crimea peninsula.

 

In my first game where I didn't have much of a clue, I started my first base in my country of birth. That happened to be Iceland. Darn. I was out business by the end of February.

 

But what do you know, in TFTD we have the Icelandic Union! I laughed my arse off when I saw that one. It seems to include Iceland, the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, which today have a combined population of about 350,000. They certainly top the list for highest funding per capita.

 

Cazbol

[NKF]

Actually, you do need a certain number of countries funding you at any given time to keep X-Com running. Lose too many, and X-Com gets shut down, even if X-Com has become self sufficient.

 

- NKF

[Cadmus]

I protect Europe, then USA/Canada, then Japan/China, the Japan/China base can't quite cover Australia, but it's only one country. Between the Japan/China and the Europe base I also get India and a lot of Russia.

[The Veteran]

My first base is UK without fail. My second base is in Europe You can never be too careful!

[Pete]

My first base always tends to be in the USA cos I don't plan for the future like all you guys building in Europe.

 

I might take some of these ideas on board for when I next feel like starting UFO up again to beat it on superhuman again in the new year again

 

Funny tho, it still doesn't bore me... it just makes my eyes go all funny on a 17 inch monitor

[Tammy]

Well, I'm glad to know that Pete at least is watching out for me.

 

I always start in the USA, partially because I live here and partially because of the amount of funding they contribute. My next two cover China/Japan and Europe, not necessarily in that order.

[The Veteran]

I always build my UK base right where my house is. Then I imagine walking outside and seeing an Avenger disappear to Mars!

[NKF]

While I like to start in Europe, my biggest complaint is all those farms. Farms as far as the eye can see. Farms, farms, farms. That's being modern for you. Can't see the trees for the cabbages. Sure you can keep lots of people happy, so long as you like to fight local skirmishes in farms.

 

Then again, this makes all the exotic locations all that much sweeter to visit.

 

At least for those who start in the US, you get access to a better mix of terrain.

 

- NKF

[The Veteran]

It's true. Where are the houses in London? And why does a terror attack in New York contain nothing more than an appartment block and a grocer's shop? And even the farms themselves are wierd. They all grow the same stuff! Where are the damn potatos?!

[Snikers]

The sectoids hear the potatoes have eyes and, looking at the growths compared to its overall size, recognize it

as the superior life form it is and that's why all the potatoes are gone by the time you show up.

[NKF]

I think they uproot the potatoes, insert an elerium detonator, and strap them onto their right leg. Then they toss them at X-Com soldiers whenver they get a chance.

 

- NKF

[Doug]

I just go for a spot to cover most of Asia and Europe first and then the US during January. I get plenty of contacts with small stuff to train the squads on. We can cover Two Thirds of the planet and keep most of the countries in line.

[Alan]

I think they uproot the potatoes, insert an elerium detonator, and strap them onto their right leg. Then they toss them at X-Com soldiers whenver they get a chance.

 

- NKF

so that what it is! all those cattle mutilations are just a cover story! the real reason the aliens are here is to harvest potatos for the alien grenades!

[JellyfishGreen]

Or the aliens have been infiltrated and are working for McDonalds.

 

All those sides of beef and missing potatoes have to show up somewhere.