X-Com Casualties on supply ship recovery

[Rosstoid]

Just curious what most players have to sacrifice to raid supply ship UFOs. For me, the cost is too much to bear.

[bevan]

i have to sacrifice some rookies for floater, sectoid, snakemen and ethereal missions. GO THE KAMIKAZE TROOPS

[The Demi-Godly One]

I put zero, because by the time I start attacking downed supply ships I have psi, or at least the flying suit.

[Jman4117]

I put one as an average. With psi 0. Without it 2.

[Strong Bob]

I was pretty reckless. 3 for me.

[Fox]

I don't mess around on supply ships. While some say it is an easy mission, there are way too many nooks and crannies in the supply ship to make an easy assault. The best (and easiest) way to take out the supply ship is as follows:

 

1. Get 3-4 soldiers with flying suit on the roof of the UFO (after the outside is clear, and reaction teams are set up near the entrances to the craft), fairly close to the command area (far left, 3rd level).

2. Launch first blaster bomb, into the west wall of the left side.

3. Launch second blaster bomb, through the hole you just made. This will most likely kill the commander or leader on board, and a few others.

4. By now, the command area should be thoroughly annihilated, and the floor tiles on the inside should be destroyed, allowing access for your third blaster bomb to make its way to the food storage on the second floor. You will probably get one alien with that blast, as well as clearing obstacles a bit.

5. Move your squad of troopers into the holes, and proceed to clear the area, while at the same time moving some troops into the bottom floor to clear things out. You could also send a hovertank through the holes if they are big enough.

 

That's how I go about taking my supply ships. I rarely lose soldiers with this tactic.

[Rosstoid]

Hey! That's a great idea! Back in the days when I used frequent load tactics, I used to use a single blaster bomb to crack open a hole in the command side of the top floor so a super soldier can fly in and engage the crew. But if I use two, I could get rid of any mind-zapping sectoids so maybe 4-6 complete rookies can enter and try to clear the UFO without worrying about mind zapping! I don't have enough elerium to equip more than 4 out of 20 men with flying suits, and it may seem silly to equip rookies with flying suits. So if a soldier in a flying suit is blown up so well there isin't even a corpse left, can the flying suit still be used in future missions? Hopefully the capture of a lightly damaged supply ship should fund the manufacture of the 4 flight suits and so my dusty old avenger can fly more often.

[Squaddie01]

When elerium is tight, I skip on the flying suits and just use Power Suits. Actually for rookies, I only give them Personal Armor. The big reason is for its low cost, and if I have a rookie mind controlled, I have a better chance to stun him with a stun launcher if he's wearing personal armor then Power Armor or a Flying Suit.

 

In my opinion, PSI tactics and massive use of blaster bombs do make most missions very easy. They both succeed though in minimizing casualties. If I avoid the use of either of these tactics, then on a supply ship, I bring quite a few grenades. The aliens seem to have a set place they like to wait for you. When I don't know what's beyond a corner, I simply roll a grenade down and listen for the screaming alien. If I don't hear it or if I suspect he didn't die then I'll roll anonther one down next round.

 

Sometimes though you just have to go through a doorway and then hope your trooper is lucky and that the alien's back is turned to you and not facing the door.

 

One other tactic similar to Fox's blaster bombs, is to blaster bomb the top above the command room. And from there have a trooper in a Flying Suit fly up and then lob down grenades though the hole in the roof. I frequently do the grenade lob on Large Scouts when there tops are blown off and I know there's no elerium to grab.

[The Demi-Godly One]

Hmm, lots of us seem to have similar tactics, I do exactly what Squaddie01 does, except I make the same armour for everbody and make the guy with the highest reactions go through a door.

[NKF]

If you have heavy-plasmas, why even go through the door and get shot at an alien that's only function is to shoot at anything that comes through said door?

 

Blast a hole through the rear of the room and take out the alien as you see fit. The alien will be looking in the other direction, so even though it has a much better chance at using reaction fire on account of its 100% TUs, it won't notice you immediately.

 

I generally toss in a high explosive and step aside by one tile so that the tough walls will protect my soldier against the explosion.

 

- NKF

[Fox]

So if a soldier in a flying suit is blown up so well there isin't even a corpse left, can the flying suit still be used in future missions?

Once a soldier dies wearing a suit, in any way, the suit is gone. It doesn't matter if the suit is still viewable on the terrain or not, it's gone for good. They fixed this in Apoc, with the armor being an object type of thing. Too bad they never incorporated it into UFO.

 

I guess the explanation is if the damage was enough to kill the soldier, the suit is wasted.

[The Veteran]

I think supply ships are really easy missions to do. The ground floor is basically a big coridor and a long room. Sen dtwo people in each door and work your way around to meet up in the middle back. Then just clear it systematically. Sure there are nooks and crannies but the aliens are always in the same place so you know where to look for them. I've only ever lost a man on a supply ship mission once since I completed the game for the foirst time.