Proper way to use and defend against PSI?

[Gungadin]

Hello. Can anyone please direct me to any guides on how to properly use PSI in this game? I always HATED the Psi aspect of X-Com. To me, it is not entertaining to have my heavy weapons dude get possessed and start lobbing rockets at his friends without the psionic alien even being on-screen. How do you play the game properly with these damn psiers around?

[Zombie]

There are no real guides pre se, but there are certain guidelines which you can use to your advantage.

 

First of all, if you go on a mission with psi aliens, make sure your troopers are prepared. By "prepared" I mean psionically trained for at least one month. If you know what the psionic stats of your soldiers are, you are ahead of the game. Bring along only the best of the best. The higher those psionic stats are, the better the chances your troopers will survive.

 

Bring along a "Psionic Sponge" soldier (as NKF calls it). A sponge is a soldier with low psionic abilities. The aliens know which soldier is the weakest and will continue to target him/her until they are successful in a Mind Control attempt. Don't give this soldier any weapons, otherwise the aliens will be tempted to use it against your men. Customary items for a sponge are Medi-Kits, Motion Scanners, Smoke Grenades, Mind Probes, Stun Rods, spare ammo or even a weapon with Incendiary ammo. The only drawback is that you need at least one sponge per psi-alien for this to be effective.

 

Never equip a psionically weak soldier with a powerful weapon. It's only asking for trouble. If you must, make sure to drop the weapon to the ground so it cannot be used by the aliens.

 

Bring along some tanks. They are immune from psionic attacks and will continue to fight even if the rest of your squad is under alien control.

 

Kill the aliens as fast as you possibly can. Don't dilly-dally around searching for aliens hiding in buildings. Send a good portion of your squad to gain entrance to the bridge of the ship (or the control center of an alien base). The faster you kill the higher ranking aliens, the greater the chances that the rest of them might panic. If you have Blaster Bombs, nuke the bridge as soon as possible to put a dent in alien morale.

 

These tips are used with good success by many players of the game. Follow this advice and you will soon be on your way to winning psi missions fairly fast and with fewer casualties.

 

- Zombie

[Stun Grenade]

Well how do you know there will PSI attacking aliens say in the next mission?

[Zager]

Isn't it obvious? If it's a ship or base crewed by sectoids (provided the ship is greater than a scout class) or ethereals, then there'll be psionically active aliens.

[Zombie]

Well how do you know there will PSI attacking aliens say in the next mission?

Yep, as Zager correctly pointed out, Sectoid Leaders can only happen on the Medium/Large/Very Large vessels (Harvester, Abductor, Terror Ship, Supply Ship and Battleship) and also alien bases, terror missions and X-COM base defense missions. All Ethereals have psi powers so you will most likely see some psi attacks on any UFO/mission type.

 

One way to determine if there are any psi-aliens on board a craft is to watch the UFO size class on your radar screen. Anything that's medium-sized or above will likely have a leader. Hands-down, the very best way is to have a Hyperwave Decoder installed at your intercept base. Not only does it give the basic data that your normal radar systems provide (Size, Altitude, Heading and Speed), but it also includes the craft type, Race, Mission and Zone info. The "Race" refers to the type of alien on that craft. If it says "Sectoid" or "Ethereal", beware.

 

----------

 

I have some more interesting results to report with my psi-tests. The big question that bugged me for a long time was if the aliens will ever target a HWP with psionics. I had formulated a plan of attack years ago, but only with my new-found hacking skills was I able to implement it. First I edited a soldier to have the same stats as a tank. The alien focused all its efforts on my soldier and not my tank with this scenario. Next I edited the tank so that it had 0 PsiStr and 0 PsiSkl, and gave my soldier massive psi-powers. To make things even easier for the Sectoid Commander, I brought my tank right up to him and edited the HWP's current/max TU to 2. Every last time the Sectoid preferred to psionically attack my soldier. This proves that the psi-aliens cannot attack a HWP with psionics due to its 2x2 size, or the aliens are programmed to ignore them. Nice thing to know.

 

- Zombie

[Stun Grenade]

Of course! Silly me! I wasn't thinking!!!!

[Bomb Bloke]

A unit with 100 psi strength as well as skill will never fail a mind control attempt - even against a unit with the same strength/skill.

 

When it comes to attacking with psi, just give every man and his dog an 'amp. Any troops you don't need out in the field can stay in your craft and launch psi attacks whenever oppertunity presents itself. Don't rely on the attacks working, but use them whenever you can.

 

Panic attacks are more likely to succede, but there's no real point to them. Sure, the alien might drop it's gun and wander off (assuming it doesn't go berserk and shoot you anyway), but it will do that NEXT TURN. THIS turn it's sitting there ready to use reaction fire againt you.

 

So, stick with mind control. When it does work, you have a few options as to what to do with your new found friend:

• Scout: Disarm the unit by throwing all his weapons away. (Access his inventory by opening the inventory of one of your soldiers, and use the scroll buttons to view what the alien carries). Now walk him around the map to find other aliens safely.
   
   
  
• Renegade: Shoot other aliens. Be careful, because if you use too many TU, you might not be able to render the alien harmless before you lose control of it next turn.
   
   
  
• Mr. Stupid: Access the aliens inventory as detailed above, and equip the grenade. Prime it for 1 turn (not 0, or the unit will still be under your control), then just drop it. Clear out any nearby friendly units.
  

Note that an alien under mind control counts as yours. If it dies in this state, YOUR units will lose morale, and the aliens WON'T. Likewise, aliens will lose morale if you kill your soldiers when they are mind controlled.

 

If you mind control a civilian, it will incorrectly turn into an alien afterwards. This means that you must kill/stun him/her to end the mission. While you will no longer get points for saving them, alien civilians can't detract from your score, so if one is standing a bit too close to a danger zone you might consider turning him to the dark side.

 

Finally, if you are fighting psionic aliens, just as Zombie says, don't mess around. You can only carry so many grenades, but feel free to throw them at any target you don't think your guns will take down. If it's a terror site, don't worry about accidently blowing up civilians, explosives are your friend! Your goal is to kill a lot of aliens in a short time. Don't worry if you can't get all of them, because the remaining forces will have low morale, and won't much feel like using psionic attacks on you.

 

If you wish to use a psi sponge, you might wish to blockade him in your drop ship to prevent him getting killed.

[Gimli]

Scout: Disarm the unit by throwing all his weapons away. (Access his inventory by opening the inventory of one of your soldiers, and use the scroll buttons to view what the alien carries).

 

Why didn't I think of that before? I always thought, since you can't access his inventory directly, that there's no way to see what he's carrying. I'm wondering though, do they display as humans in the inventory or is there a picture of an alien?

[NKF]

You weren't meant to access their inventories, so the aliens don't have any special inventory screens. However, they do default to 0, or in other words, they all look like Mr. Blond Haired Jumpsuit Guy. In fact, all units other than X-Com soldiers default to this.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

... Except Rocket/Cannon Tanks, who default to Mr. Blond Haired Personal Armor Guy.

 

A few quick notes. First, if you're going to make an alien drop his weapon, you might consider unloading it first (because partly used clips aren't recovered at the end of combat if they are loaded into a weapon).

 

Second, because you were never meant to access alien inventory screens, they are coded more for practical purposes then cosmetic ones. The AI puts all spare equipment in slot 0, regardless of size, or whether the slot is already taken.

 

If you pick up an item from slot 0, and there is another item there, you may not put it back. If you don't have enough TU to put it elsewhere, then you'll have to close the game down (or reboot, if you're in pure DOS mode).

 

Finally, they blocked you out of the alien/tanks inventory screens to save the effort of drawing the extra portaits. They were planning on using them, though, I'm sure - Check out the custom layout used by rocket tanks!

[uriaheep]

Hello. Can anyone please direct me to any guides on how to properly use PSI in this game? I always HATED the Psi aspect of X-Com. To me, it is not entertaining to have my heavy weapons dude get possessed and start lobbing rockets at his friends without the psionic alien even being on-screen. How do you play the game properly with these damn psiers around?

 

 

Psy attacks are a pain, particularly at the start of the game when you can't get your soldiers stats. I'm guessing that's where everyone has a problem - later you can deal with it as everyone has explained. I found the main problem is a cheat as I posted elsewhere. The aliens don't have to see any of your troops to attack.

 

I have found early in the game to keep a check on troops who are easily attacked and keep a few as 'soaks' as sugested but make sure a couple of experienced troops carry Blaster Launchers and plent of ammo - keep them well away from the ship (best still in the landing craft) and send your 'soaks' quickly towards the ship to allow it all to be seen. Then fire a blaster bomb through the roof of the control bridge, then send other through the hole to clear out the ship. (A word of warning - if you blast away close to the elevators in the ship you may find you can't get to the upper floors to route out any last aliens who have paniced.)

 

It works for me.

[Zombie]

... if you're going to make an alien drop his weapon, you might consider unloading it first (because partly used clips aren't recovered at the end of combat if they are loaded into a weapon).

Am I misunderstanding you again? From the experiments I ran on this, clips which are partially used will not be recovered - even if you unload them from a weapon. However, virgin clips will always be recovered. The point is, unloading clips is a waste of valuable time units.

 

If you pick up an item from slot 0, and there is another item there, you may not put it back. If you don't have enough TU to put it elsewhere, then you'll have to close the game down (or reboot, if you're in pure DOS mode).

If the object is 1x1 in size and the other objects in that slot are also 1x1, then you can safely place it in the secondary slot right next to it without a TU penalty. If there is something larger stacked on slot 0, then you are out of luck. The advice I give is not to screw around with the aliens inventory unless it has at least 20 TU. This is the maximum amount you need to drop everything an alien may carry to the ground.

 

Finally, they blocked you out of the alien/tanks inventory screens to save the effort of drawing the extra portaits. They were planning on using them, though, I'm sure - Check out the custom layout used by rocket tanks!

Well, I can access the 2x2 alien inventory screens (see screenshots below). It depends on which quarter you Mind Control. If you are able to MC the "primary" quarter, then you gain access - not by the normal method of scrolling through your guys first, but by clicking on the "person" icon for that unit. Getting the primary quarter is a little tough with a Cyberdisc because it has a 180 degree symmetry. How are you able to access a tanks inventory screen though?

 

Cyberdisc Inventory Screen: Sectopod Inventory Screen: Reaper Inventory Screen:

 

Heck, I am even able to give the lowly Reaper a Laser Rifle:

You have to MC the quarter in front of the soldier (upper-right), and you must put the weapon in the upper-left quarter to access it (see yellow arrow in image).

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Whoops, seems we can't easily quote quotes with the new skin. Most annoying.

 

From the experiments I ran on this, clips which are partially used will not be recovered - even if you unload them from a weapon. However, virgin clips will always be recovered. The point is, unloading clips is a waste of valuable time units.

 

Truth be told, I've never tested this myself (never needed to), but people have been telling me that as long as I can remember. So now it turns out to be false?

 

How are you able to access a tanks inventory screen though?

 

I think the credit goes to NKF there... Check this out:

 

unitref[113] - If 1, then you can't use the inventory button.

Aliens don't use this, but the button disables anyway.

This is the only way to access tank inventories.

-Tank/Cannon has a normal inventory and uses man_1m0.spk.

-Tank/Rocket Launcher has a different layout and uses man_1m0.spk.

-Tank/Laser Cannon uses man_Å“.spk, (which doesn't exist normally). Providing this file still crashes.

-Hovertank/Plasma simply crashes.

-Hovertank/Launcher simply crashes.

 

If you tweak this offset to 0, then you can access the inventory screens for tanks. But, as I noted, aliens have this set to 0 already... So I find it strange that the alien 2x2 units allow you to access the inventory screens anyway.

[Jman4117]

The clip thing works for me in CE and 1.2....

When I do a base raid, I don't get ANY alien clips unless I unload the weapons I take up the lift.

[NKF]

Bomb Bloke, the comment about man_Å“.spk... have you tried supplying a file with the ascii value rather than the actual symbol itself? Worth a shot, eh?

 

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

I wasn't very specific... I did my tests with the CE version. If you try and get into the inventory screen, it complains that the file is missing in an error message, and quits. I created the file, and it obviously found it, as this meant that the game crashed with no error message at all.

[Zombie]

The clip thing works for me in CE and 1.2....

When I do a base raid, I don't get ANY alien clips unless I unload the weapons I take up the lift.

Apologies guys. My mind still must still be on my Playstation. On that version you only recover what is unused.

 

So I did some testing on this today on my CE version to refresh my memory:

1. X-COM weapon clips aren't recovered if they are used in any way. If a virgin clip is loaded in a weapon at the time of dust-off, you recover it.
    
    
   
2. Alien clips are different. (Doesn't matter if they are researched or not). Clips (or one-shot ammo) are not recovered if they are loaded in a weapon or used. Unloading the clip from the weapon is now considered recoverable. So for instance, if you dust-off (abort) from an alien base mission with a Heavy Plasma and the loaded HP clip is virgin or used, the clip will not appear back at your base. Unloading the unused clip allows it to show up, while the used will never be added to your stores.
    
    
   
3. Here is where things get interesting though. At the mission summary screen, all the alien clips/ammo are considered recovered! Yup, that's right. Even if an alien clip was used during the mission, the game claims it is recovered in the points screen! No wonder I was confused.
   

- Zombie

[Tyro]

Hello. Can anyone please direct me to any guides on how to properly use PSI in this game? I always HATED the Psi aspect of X-Com. To me, it is not entertaining to have my heavy weapons dude get possessed and start lobbing rockets at his friends without the psionic alien even being on-screen. How do you play the game properly with these damn psiers around?

 

Apart from what everyone else said, vs. psi-capable aliens with a psi-weak X-COM squad you must play very aggressively. Aliens won't have the TU to psi-attack you if they're running for cover or shooting at your men

[uriaheep]

Apart from what everyone else said, vs. psi-capable aliens with a psi-weak X-COM squad you must play very aggressively. Aliens won't have the TU to psi-attack you if they're running for cover or shooting at your men

 

And I still think that low alien moral effects their ability for psi attack so killing a few quickly helps.

[Prine]

Hello. Can anyone please direct me to any guides on how to properly use PSI in this game? I always HATED the Psi aspect of X-Com. To me, it is not entertaining to have my heavy weapons dude get possessed and start lobbing rockets at his friends without the psionic alien even being on-screen. How do you play the game properly with these damn psiers around?

I've read nightmare stories about psi-capable aliens, but surprisingly I haven't had too many bad experiences with them. Usually one of my guys will get panicked, more often than not he'll run, and some of the time he'll run into some aliens and get shot. Occasionally someone will get mind controlled, which is troublesome, but the few times it's happened I've just had the rest of my squad take cover from the affected soldier and the mind control will wear off in the next round.

 

The worst experience I had was my first recovery mission against an Ethereal craft, which was disastrous, because the things were spamming psi-attacks on my whole squad constantly, line of sight be damned. Only a few of my guys had psi-strength high enough to resist the attacks, but I didn't have a clue about psi-strength at the time because I hadn't researched psi-labs. My solution was to go away and not get involved with Ethereals again, ever.

 

Later on when you're ridiculously affluent from flogging plasma guns and corpses on craigslist or whatever, you can set up a base somewhere nice and out of the way and pack it full of psi-labs and living quarters, like so:

 

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/Armisael/psilab.jpg

 

Disgustingly excessive. I love it.

 

Then start up a psi-capable recruitment drive. Hire a hundred soldiers at the end of every month, screen their psi-strength, then discard the ones with anything below 70 or 80 (might want to sack the ones with low bravery too, I think that might factor in to psi-defense somehow, or at least panic checks). Pack the rest off to boot camp, hire another hundred and so on. Soldiers with psi-strength higher than 80 almost never seem to get mind controlled, and hardly ever panicked, so then you only have to worry about *%! blaster bombs.

 

I giggle like a maniac every time I look at that screenshot for some reason. I knew halfway through construction that it was impossible to have that many soldiers at once, but I still kept building. I still kept building.

[NKF]

Excess indeed! My psi academy only has two labs and about 40 - 50 soldiers. But they only get a months worth of training so that they can be immediately deployed to the front lines, and have their skills upgraded directly through combat.

 

Bravery is useful for medium strength psi soldiers that may be able to resist psi attacks for a time but not wholly, as it reduces the impact of a panic attack, which the aliens will prefer to perform until your morale is broken. Only then do they attempt to mind control you. If your psi defence, a combination of skill and strength, is too low, they'll mind control you right away and skip the bit about breaking your morale.

 

For ultra powerful psi troopers with a natural 100 in strength, bravery is the least of your worries. Just have them train regularly on the psi amp until they hit 100 skill, and they'll be unstoppable even with 10 bravery.

 

- NKF

[JellyfishGreen]

Man, Prine, who RUNS that base? Dr. Xavier?

"All Psi, All the Time. Heck, we don't even carry our trays in the cafeteria anymore."

[Prine]

Something like that.

 

Hey, if the war starts going badly, we can always mentally will the aliens out of existence.

[Prine]

Oh, as for the proper way to use psi... well, the best thing you can probably do is not use it, because it's basically a doomsday weapon in the hands of a human player. But if you want to, I prefer the 'cascading disaster' method.

 

1. Equip everyone in your squad with a psi-amp.

 

2. When you land at a mission, have someone scout out exactly ONE alien.

 

3. Have the scout run back to the craft like a huge wuss.

 

4. Dominate the crap out of the one alien.

 

5. Immediately have the alien drop its entire armament, then pivot on the spot to reveal the surrounding area.

 

6. If there are any other aliens near the one you now own, have your guys grab those too. If not, look around a bit for one, but make certain the alien ends up back near your craft by the time its TUs run out.

 

7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until every alien in the level is under your control. The aliens will generally gravitate towards your team regardless of what you do, so you can play it safe and keep one or two thralls around the shuttle which you can re-MC at the start of every turn.

 

8. When you're tired of keeping track of your new micro-army, send some of the aliens over to your ship, let the MC run off, and then have whichever members of your squad need a bit of experience plug them in the face. You'll be completing pretty much every mission with a 0% casualty rate. Hooray.

 

9. Get bored and stop using PSI.

 

There you go! It took me approximately ten missions worth of psi-use to succumb completely to this kind of cheapass strategy.