Thinking about trying UFO:AM again

[ShadowBlade]

I've decided to give UFO Aftermath another shot. I played it intensively when it came out, but was completely turned off by the huge difficulty shift after a few story missions. Now, I intend to try patch 1.4 and Combo Mod, so I'd like to know how these affect how the game handles the difficulty throughout the story.

 

Thanks in advance.

[GigiDuru]

Well, the ComboMod sure changes the game!

 

There is a huge variety of new weapons so one should expect to be surprised in the first ComboMod campaign. The message always says about "exciting new weapons" when taking a base, but in this case it is really true.

 

As far as difficulty is concerned, I think the beginning of the game is more difficult because Morelmen and Cudgels get these new weapons too. Even "human" transgenants, though they use normal firearms, seem to have better ones than you do.

 

By the other hand, there is no major change in the Reticulan weaponry, so you are in a better position to fight them with the ComboMod. The later missions are thus a bit easier.

 

In any case, the new weapons available led me to explore new tactics and this was fun.

 

Another good news: if you dislike pretty humans dressed in ugly sun/sky/bio armor, ComboMod has a way... But I shall not say more to avoid useless spoilers!

 

As for patch 1.4, I cannot tell because I only played this version.

[Accounting Troll]

Patch 1.4 doesn't do anything about the infamous difficulty increase when the Russian Base mission appears on the map.

 

I'm not sure about what effect Combo Mod has on the difficulty hike as I've hardly ever used it.

[ShadowBlade]

Thanks for the info, guys. Any other opinions?

[Gungadin]

You should most definitely replay UFO1. It's a good game, and in my opinion superior to UFO2.

[ShadowBlade]

Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm concerned about the difficulty shifts and need to know how does the 1.4 patch and Combo Mod (or any other mods, for that matter) deal with them. I'd try them myself to find out, but the Russian base mission isn't particularly early in the game and I currently don't have enough time to play if I'm not sure the difficulty curve has been fixed or at least made a little bit smoother.

[GigiDuru]

I'm not sure the difficulty curve has been fixed or at least made a little bit smoother.

That's what I meant. IMHO, having a weapon (I will not name it to avoid spoilers) capable of killing a bio-armor Reticulan in a single shot from significant distance really makes things somehow "smoother".

 

By the other hand, things don't get unbalanced in the opposite way. For instance, about the wonder weapon mentioned above, one should note that you will probably get only ONE in the whole campaign and it's not reloadable in the battlefield.

 

This is again the reason I like the ComboMod, there are many new opportunities but there still is no "golden weapon" so successful it would eliminate the need for good tactics (and make the game plainly boring).

[ricardo440]

I actually thoguht that 1.4 DID do something about the difficulty jump.

 

It decreased the observation on the reticulans and decresed their stealth. Which meant you could spot them a crucial few yards furthur away.

 

With the right weaponary you could then blast them dead before they got to shoot their imensly powerful rocket launchers of entire squad death.

 

Didn't fix it though when you start in range of 8 aliens and you die before you can actually disperse your squad.

Oh that mission was hard.