Safe Bases

[tyoud]

I've found that if you build a base on one of the islands in the Mediterranean (Malta? Sicily?), that the Aliens never overfly there so your base never gets attacked. The base is located in Europe but doesnt need defending.

 

Anyone else found wierd or safe places on the globe?

[uriaheep]

Generally I have found islands safe, I usually put manufacturing bases and the like in these places- I think the Aliens will only attack bases in areas that they can effect your income. But then again I could be wrong.

[Stun Grenade]

And you don't need to spend vast amount of cash on these bases for secruity and such. How cool would it look if you had like 3 bases in a distance of 1cm

[Zombie]

Recently I built a "listening post" in the arctic for some extra radar coverage over the northern latitudes. Nothing spectacular about this base: just an Access Lift and a Hyperwave Decoder. About a month after the base became operational, the aliens destroyed it (on Superhuman). A fairly simple task since the base was unoccupied.

 

From my experience, no base is exempt from alien attack. Sure, if you don't do anything at/near a base, the aliens aren't tempted to come a knockin'. However, build a couple of Hangars and then do some major interception strikes and you will see retaliation missions. :mad:

 

- Zombie

[uriaheep]

The Superhuman button on my game says "Don't press this" so I can't say whether that is true for all levels but the current game I'm on (which I think is the setting below) I have three unmanned listening posts and none have been attacked. I also think you only tend to get attacked when the aliens can't build bases due to X-COM destroying them as soon as they are built. If you leave at least one of their bases they leave you alone. Again I could be wrong.

[Bomb Bloke]

As Zombie says, they tend to look for bases to attack in the zones where you are shooting the most craft down. If you aren't shooting craft down near a given base, it's unlikely that base will be attacked.

 

Note that they need to find your base before they can attack it. Every now and then you'll see a UFO flying passes randomly? Odds are it's trying to spot one of your bases.

 

You can, of course, find their bases in the exact same way.

[NKF]

There's no real connection between bases and raids on X-Com bases. When I was still a very bad player, my beginner (well, they all reverted to beginner) campaigns would often be abandoned by the time I was up to 6 - 8 alien bases on the map, and with a regular, if not continuous stream of attacks on my bases.

 

The southern polar cap doesn't see much traffic, so it's a good place to construct a base you don't want to be disturbed. I generally use it for my elerium & exotic ammo dump + mass production factory + psi academy base. However, that does not make it exempt from base attacks. It just has a relatively low amount of traffic.

 

I've actually had radar posts in Hawaii get attacked after my American interceptors shot down a few retaliation scouts over the ocean. The horror! No, no, I must stick with the times: Teh Horror!

 

uriaheep: You must give superhuman a try sometime. Once you get used to it, there's no turning back.

 

- NKF

[uriaheep]

uriaheep: You must give superhuman a try sometime. Once you get used to it, there's no turning back.

 

- NKF

 

 

I'm of a very nervous constitution - and I like to win.

 

Oh what the hell, they're only aliens, I may just restart and have a go.

[JellyfishGreen]

I wonder if Mind Shield is useful for Radar Outpost bases.

 

As far as base defense goes, I'd just like to mention last night's mission vs Floaters: I had 10 soldiers guarding the access lift, 5 soldiers and 4 HWP in reserve, totally forgot I had another hangar entrance open and unguarded until the reserve forces noticed Floaters snooping through the living quarters and going through our stuff. ALIENS flashback time - "They found another way in! Something we missed, something not on the plans"

 

But it was still a panicked rout, for the Floaters, even on Superhuman. I only lost one fella learning that a Reaper 10 squares away should be taken out with direct fire, not reaction fire. And the guy beside him had a flying suit, at that. Oh the stupidity.

[uriaheep]

I wonder if Mind Shield is useful for Radar Outpost bases.

 

I haven't found these work well on any bases, I've stopped wasting money on them.

 

I quite like the raids on my bases, it give me a chance to have a look around them.

 

I've just started a new game on superhuman for the first time as NKF suggested and I plan to train up just a handfull of men to guard the listening stations.

[NKF]

Oh they work. They don't stop the attacks, but there is a noticeable drop in the amount of successful retaliation attempts. They're a better investment than a large array of fusion defence modules and a grav shield. But you can indeed survive without them - you did so well before you got them anyway.

 

An even better investment may be to just build 3 - 4 fusion hovertanks and station them at the base (plus the guards - of course). That way, the moment the mission starts, the free HWP arming kicks in and you'll be more than happy to to barrage the hangars and access lift into submission before the aliens even get a chance to move. Overkill. Love it.

 

- NKF