Unofficial guide

[teklor]

The first time, well the only time I ever got the chance to play X-com was back when it was released for ps1...I only got to play it for acouple days while visiting relatives, but i fell totally in love. I remember getting my butt kicked horribly...then again i think i was like 13 so strategy wasn't my strong point. I'm currently in the process of getting the game to work with my system...I'm hoping that after reading every post on the support board will help.

 

Anyway my question is, does anyone have a link to an unoffical guide or perhaps have some of their own tips and tricks they could help me out with. I finally got TFTD to work...sort of and i seem to get slaughtered no matter what i do. I'm really hoping to get EU working properly so i can get a feel for it before trying TFTD.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[teklor]

Amazingly enough the game works nearly perfect...battle speed is a bit too fast but i have a slowing program that i'm sure will fix it. So yeah i got wiped out on my first terror mission...so do you guys have any tips or strategies for starting out?

[FullAuto]

This might help.

[NKF]

I'll plug the X-Com Wiki while I'm at it.

 

Welcome Teklor,

 

I suggest sticking around and ask questions. The game's quite broad, so there's plenty of advice to go around - but where to start? Do you want advice for the Geoscape or Battlescape? Or, base placement and management? Interception? Ground combat? Managing your economy?

 

For starting advice, hmm.

 

First place the base where ever you want, based off how many countries you want to protect initially, how much they pay, the terrain around the base for mission variety, etc.

 

Next, assess your base. You'll need to make sure that you have a containment module and perhaps a few others to start with. Don't go overboard and spend all your money on modules. Say no more than 4 additional modules for now.

 

I generally recommend additional quarters, stores and a containment module. The quarters are to house a larger soldier squad and for the addiional scientists. But you can choose what modules you want. It's only the start, so no pressure.

 

Note: If you want to put extra radars in, only install one additional large radar and no more. Additional radars of the same type have no effect. Leave the existing small radar in, as it will boost the large radar's short-range scanning strength. Replace them all once you get access to a hyperwave decoder (get a navigator for this).

 

Next hire some new staff. I generally hire extra scientists to get the research on laser weapons up and running as quickly as possible. But you might want to hire additional soldiers - you can often through them quite quickly, so it's good to have spares. It's also good to have soldiers on hand to fill in any gaps - and to look after the base when the assault squad is out. I wouldn't recommend hiring any engineers at the moment, as they have nothing to build, so hold off them until you get some extra living quarters.

 

To the interceptors. There's not too much strategy here. Arm your interceptors with the weapons of your choice. I'm content with swapping one interceptor's Stingray with an Avalanche and leaving it at that until I get the Plasma Beam cannon. Some players like to use a stringray and avalanche combo, or dual avalanches. The dual avalanche is a powerful combination, but you only get three attacks.

 

Inspect your weapons. Buy the weapons that you want and sell the ones you won't be using. Because this is the start, you should at the very least buy some Large Rockets and High Explosive packs. These weapons are required for protection against the Cyberdisc in case a group of sectoids decide to attack your base this early into the game. Trust me - this is a necessity on the Superhuman difficulty level. None of your default weapons are able to efficiently take down cyberdiscs.

 

Optional: get a HWP. It doesn't matter which one you use - they're both good, although the rocket tank is the more popular and it's easier to resupply. They're expensive, but great as throw-away scouts. If you do use them, try to avoid using their weapon as much as you can and only use them in emergencies or if you're sure of a kill. They may be reaction fire magnets, but they still have more armour and health than your average starting soldier.

 

When intercepting UFOs - don't be too eager to shoot them down on as soon as you sight them. Follow them until they're a decent way away from your base before you start to attack. The closer they are to your base, the quicker they'll be able to locate it. You will not be able to stop the inevitable base attack - but there's no sense in quickening it, eh?

 

On the ground - there's a whole other world of strategies out there.

 

One good one is: If a soldier sees an alien - have another soldier kill it. See, the aliens can only react to your soldiers when they are within their visual range (21 tiles). Note, this is still true if they are looking the other way - if they get hit and are not killed, they'll usually look towards the shooter. Now, if the shooter is well beyond the 21 tile range, the alien cannot react.

 

For deployment, consider dropping a smoke grenade at the base of the ramp. Note that the smoke grenade is a two edged sword. It blocks vision for both sides, and if the aliens are close enough, they can see a certain distance into the cloud - you get into a battle of reactions - the winner, often the alien, will get to move. A smoke cloud from a smoke grenade, by the way, works the best within the first 3 or so turns. Every turn after that, the aliens are able to see 1 tile further into the cloud - even if the cloud looks like it's getting larger.

 

There's a lot more, so feel free to ask away.

 

- NKF

[sluissi]

I know I didn't start this thread, but I figure I might as well use it to ask a question too.

 

What are some tips on dealing with chryssalids? Specifically alien bases with them.

 

I'm trying to deal with some right now, so far I've been lucky and my only losses have been from snakeman fire and one unfortunate blaster bomb which knocked out my whole squad at once.(yes, I realize I had them bunched up too much, but it seems to be a fine balance to having sufficient cover and keeping them seperated, especially indoors.) I try not to reload, but blasters just seem to be a bit on the unfair side. At least until you have them too...

 

I may end up restarting anyway though, I've been having a significant number of glitches ranging from the geoscape screwing up the model of the earth to a radar contact with a ufo "size: Pursue without engaging."

not to mention the score glitch I noted in another thread.

[FullAuto]

Chryssalids?

 

I find the best remedy is an autocannon, with lots of incendiary ammo. Splash damage means accuracy is less of a factor, and any impregnated victims you burn will not give birth to a new chryssalid.

[NKF]

Defending against chryssalid blitzes is best done by way of large groups of soldiers with plenty of TUs left over for reactions. I don't mean a tight pack of soldiers, but spread out but within sight of each other.

 

Fast firing and high powered weapons like the laser rifle and the heavy plasma all work very well. At the start though, your rifles aren't going to be any good. You'll need a heavy-cannon, tank/cannon or a rocket launcher armed with large rockets. High explosives soften it up very well if you have someone strong enough to throw them. Proximity mines may not deal much (and don't give you experience), but they're also a great way to soften up approaching chryssalids. Oh yes - mines. In a base, use mines as early-warning sensors.

 

The attacks of opportunity, for some reason, mess up the chryssalid's charge. It will keep aborting or resuming the attack after each reaction shot. This means it'll be wasting its high TUs (and thus reducing its reaction level) and allow other soldiers to get in a few reaction shots of their own. The more soldiers, the merrier the dance.

 

For large open maps like terror sites or wilderness maps, I like to move up against the edge of the map. This way you have one less direction to keep watch on. This isn't necessary, but it helps.

 

When moving through the map, have a small firing squad ( 3 - 4 soldiers) creep along in a leap-frog manner (i.e. one soldier moves ahead, kneels. On the next turn, this soldier sits still to provide reaction fire or emergency supression fire while the another soldier moves ahead and kneels.). I like to combine this with the long firing firing squad at the end of the map. Roads going through a terror make a great firing corridor where you can engage chryssalids.

 

In the end though, you just have to persevere, and pump as much firepower into a chryssalid as possible.

 

- NKF

[sluissi]

Oh yes - mines. In a base, use mines as early-warning sensors.

 

are mines worth the trouble of having to go through the "deactivation drill" everytime you leave one unpopped, or are unsure if you've left one unpopped?

 

I used to use them all the time when I played the dos version, but I switched to CE since the dos version wouldn't work after I upgraded to winxp and while i never experienced this bug, I heard about it and it frightens me enough to not want to use them, as helpful as they would be.

 

I wish someone could come up with a patch or something to fix that annoying bug... but oh well...

[Silverblade-T-E]

Blasts can go THROUGH UFO hulls especially if they hit on a DIAGONAL wall.

I use incendiary weapons to burn out the crew of smaller UFos this way, muahah.

 

On big ufos, smashing a Heavy Rocket cna penetrate deep enough to do damage on the upper deck of a Terror Ship, and thus kill/damage the ones there.

[teklor]

I guess the major tips i want are for on ground battles. I've tried acouple battles just playing around until i get a feel for it...i guess one big thing is i don't understands all the buttons....some of em are pretty self explanitory...but i'm learning.....The one thing that really ticked me off was when i found a UFO which was on the ground. I surveyed the area and didn't find any aliens outside. I had a team of 14 people with various types of weaponry so i got them all into a spread out formation in front of the craft door and just started ending the round until the little green buggers showed themselves. I lost all of my men but 1....i mean 14 people placed outside the front door with full TU...i figured i'd blast them like nothing but i guess i was wrong...IS there a site that i can go to that will explain combat a little more in depth...like the buttons etc....perhaps an xcom manual or somthing. I absolutly love this game to death because it is so huge and has a broad range of tactics that can be used in different situations....I just want the basics though.

 

So far i understand that:

 

1:Heavy weaponry is a must

2:spread out teams...no bunching

3:the computer controlled aliens are better strategists then me atm

 

Well thanks for the info so far though guys, i'm absorbing this stuff like a sponge

[NKF]

For the group outside the UFO - Can you elaborate more on what you're doing - and what happened?

 

Generally, with a lot of soldiers scattered around the entrance to the UFO, you should be able to get a great crossfire of reaction fire if you didn't spend all your TUS. But I take it you're using a mix of weapons? Nothing wrong with that - in fact I generally recommend a good mix. It's just that the slower heavy weapons are not very good reaction fire weapons.

 

Pistols, Rifles, laser rifles and laser pistols make for great reaction fire weapons when you're guarding the entrance to a UFO. Pistols and laser pistols are by far the best - with the laser rifles taking a close third. All plasma weapons follow suit at 30% per snapshot (snaps are used for player controlled unit reaction shots).

 

 

 

---

 

You should be able to find a PDF version of the manual floating around on the net somewhere.

 

As for the interface commands, I'll explain what each does. We'll start with the top row of buttons. We'll look at them in pairs (top and bottom) starting from the left and move to the right.

 

The first set with the arrows and the figure allow you to change the soldier's elevation. This works when you're on a grav-lift (inside UFOs and alien bases) or when you've got the flying suit. Basically moves the soldier up or down. If somehow your soldier is standing in mid air, the down button will drop you down by one elevation level as if you were flying.

 

The next pair of arrows control the current selection layer of the map. Same as the last set, but this is for controlling the map display and the selection level of your cursor.

 

The next set. The grid in the top button brings up the overhead map. Clicking on the map centres on that location when you return to the battlescape. The bottom button toggles your kneeling or standing.

 

The next set is the inventory (the man silhouette) and the centre-on-unit button.

 

The next set are used together. The top button tabs to the next unit. The next button tabs to the next unit as well, but you will no longer be able to tab through to the last unit with the first button. You can otherwise select the soldiers normally through the map. I generally never use the lower button, but it's there if you need it. The lower button resets the soldier tab list on the next turn.

 

The next pair is the map display toggle and the options screen. The map display toggle toggles between showing all 4 layers of the map or the standard mode where you only see the map layers up to the highest elevation you've selected.

 

The last pair are easy enough. End turn and dust off. Dust off means you abort the mission and take back whatever is in the Syyranger. Sometimes this button is used to move on to the next part of the mission if it's a two-parter. UFO only has one two-parter.

 

Underneath the buttons are the TU reserve buttons and the brief stat display panel. The TU reserve buttons simply reserve enough TUs for you to fire your currently selected weapon. Say you're reserving a snap shot. You can use as many TUs as you want until you're down to the exact amount you need to take a snap shot. After that, you'll no longer be able to perform other normal actions in the battlescape except a snap-shot (or move stuff around in the inventory - which defeats the purpose). You can always go back to the normal mode.

 

As for the rank and stat display, they're self explanatory. Clicking on them brings up the stat display screen where you get to see all your stats.

 

Note that TFTD introduces two new buttons to the TU reserve buttons. The TU bleed button and a button that you can use to reserve TUs for kneeling. The TU bleed button only works by right clicking and all it does is set your TUs to 0. Not much point as mind control will refill your TUs anyway, and no TUs means a 0 reaction score.

 

Oh and buttons on either side of the screen refer to your left and right hands. They are reversed in the inventory screen.

 

Speaking of the inventory screen, it's simple enough, but some players tend to get a little stuck with the unload clip button. If you're not already familiar with this button, to use it you need to make sure that the other hand is free, pick up the gun and then click on the unload button. Or if you want to unload a gun that's not in your hands, that both hands are free.

 

In the battlescape itself, I'm sure you're familiar with what the right mouse button does and what the left mouse button does. Just note that in TFTD, the right mouse button not only turns the unit, it can also be used to open doors.

 

- NKF

[teklor]

I guess a better way to rephrase my previous question is what should i expect for losses early on. I am able to handle the smaller scoutship missions. I find auto-cannons/gernades do a great job until the aliens get holed up in their ship then its just a waiting game. But my first successful terror mission sucked....i had 10 solders and 1 HWP and by the time i finally finished it i had 2 soldiers left and that was it. I know early on without armor and really accurate weapons i can expect fairly heavy losses......but how heavy.

 

Another question is when i do lose a bunch of troops, do the items they drop get picked up at the end of the mission or does it get left behind?

[sluissi]

unless you're crazy good or crazy lucky like some people around here, your losses will be pretty heavy at least until you get laser weapons and at the least personal armor. Especially terror missions since they seem to happen at night most of the time and aliens have no problem seeing you in the dark even if you can't see them.

 

as far as how heavy, that depends. I've occasionally ended up with only one or two survivors to a mission, but I sometimes make it through without any. It used to be that I didn't play a single mission without losing at LEAST 2 soldiers out of usually 8-10. but I've gotten better as far as my tactical knowledge. Now my missions are spread pretty evenly, it's rare I lose more than 3 in a fair mission, and alot of the time I don't take any.

 

remember rookies are fairly cheap, but the farther your soldiers advance in their stats, the worse the losses are if they are killed.

 

Don't be afraid of a tactical withdraw(read as running away) especially if you're taking heavy losses or it's starting to look like nobody will get out of there alive, but that decision is yours to make.

 

If you managed to kill the all the aliens and the mission ends, you get all the equipment that was dropped(alien and your own), except the ammo, that follows odd rules which other people can expain better than I. Long story short though, if the ammo is used at all, you usually don't get it.

 

as far as aliens holing up in the ship, sometimes you just have to rush in and take it by force, you can always try waiting and that will most of the time end up forcing them out, but some of the larger multi-story ships will force you to move in and take them out, especially if there are psionic aliens inside, which make waiting more dangerous than just moving in and taking them out.

 

I'm far from an expert on this game, but I've played my fair share of missions, and the only things which make me REALLY nervous anymore are chryssalids and psionic aliens, both of which can turn your own forces against you, which I guess is the scary part, knowing that at any time you could both lose soldiers and gain enemies at the same time.

[teklor]

I've been reading really heavily into the game but is there any way to get into an alien ship...i know you can punch a hole with blaster bombs but i haven't gotten any yet. I'll probably end up restarting my game a dozen times until i get good...but yeah other then blaster bombs how do you enter alien ships?

[Bomb Bloke]

Through the door.

 

(Do a lap around ther craft, you'll find a panel which is clearly different to the others).

[Silverblade-T-E]

Yeah there's doors, your soldiers/HWPs can walk through and htey open, can usaully be seen by heavier lines than rest of the hullplates.

 

As said, you can often blast the enemy through the hull, this is a great way to take the enemy out! this alaso works with grenades, proximity grenades, high explosive packs.

 

Nice tip is on the large scout ship, the X shaped one, throwing prox grenades into the diagonal walls, as the enemy move around wblast will get them, very nice trick. Incendiaries won't destroy equipment, where as explosives do. ie, you fire multiple heavy rockets into side of a small scout you'll maybe blow up the engine, and will destroy the gear/bodies of dead aliens.

 

The autocannon's explosive shells do so little damage compared ot other HE, that they rarely destroy gear/bodies, making them good for gathering alien equipment.

 

HE damage, iirc, isn't mitigated much because aliens have lousy under armour.

 

Flying around using the flying suit, a soldier armed with an explosive weapon is firing DOWN on enemies, so splash damage is really good

 

Heavy rockets and high ex packs are great, because the explosive radius is so huge you can blast enemies you can't target, and clear jungles.

 

Another trick is, if you're in a jungle, light the place up with incendiaries, keep back (armour stops fire damage or stay in ship)..this takes time, but it will clear any cover as the fire spreads, and perhaps do damage. Autocannons with incendiaries are very good for this.

 

One of my fave things is to have a very accurate, strong guy, flying around or up high, using autocannon with HE and incendiary (2 ammo packs of each, at least)

[teklor]

Anyone know how i can stop my game from randomly crashing before and after battles?

[Jman4117]

Your best bet is to save your game whenever it switches between geoscape and battlescape. Crashes are very common here.

[teklor]

Alright. Next question, How long does the game run....is there a set time limit or do you have to wipe out all the alien bases...or how does that work?

 

Also, how soon should i start on my secondary base...i tried afew months in but it ended up being too expensive to maintain....

 

And lastly, whats the best way to make money early on...I've just reached the point where i have power suits...plasma defenses and i just started making my first firestorm....i'm guessing manufacturing things but what nets you the fastest cash?

[Jman4117]

Alright. Next question, How long does the game run....is there a set time limit or do you have to wipe out all the alien bases...or how does that work?

 

Also, how soon should i start on my secondary base...i tried afew months in but it ended up being too expensive to maintain....

 

And lastly, whats the best way to make money early on...I've just reached the point where i have power suits...plasma defenses and i just started making my first firestorm....i'm guessing manufacturing things but what nets you the fastest cash?

 

To my knowledge you can play as long as you like. Only restritions being that you have to have funding nations and keep a decent score and cash balance.

 

As for new bases, I usually start my second one soon after my first ground assault (paid for with sold loot).

 

For money, I sell plasma weapons and ufo parts. After getting some manufacturing up and running, I usually build either alien alloys or laser cannons. Medikits and laser tanks are also good.

[NKF]

Well, technically, you'll never lose Russia to infiltration. At least, no one has been able to get it to withdraw. So as long as you keep a good monthly score, you should be able to keep playing almost indefinitely. You get to choose when you launch the final mission, after all.

 

New bases - when you can afford them. Easy peasy! Given you've made enough money by selling plasma weapons, you should be able to get a listening/interception post started within the first few months of starting the game.

 

The laser cannon is by far the most profitable item to produce. The fusion ball launcher appears to be quite lucrative. If you want more info, you can have a look at the Manufacturing Profitability article on the Wiki. Scroll down to the profitability table. The motion scanner's not a bad device to be mass producing early on.

 

Now, if you want to make a lot of money without manufacturing it, consider 'milking' alien bases. Let the aliens build a base near one of your own. The closer, the better. Also, it helps if you get some relatively easy to fight aliens, like the snakemen or floaters, to build the base. Mutons works very well too if you've got psi. See, each base has a supply ship dock at it every so often. You can then go after the supply ship.

 

Each supply ship has buckets of goodies for you to take back home. It carries no terror units, has 150 units of elerium, lots of alloys and some UFO components and plenty of aliens (and their weapons) for you to take out.

 

If you're after more experience and cash, raid the base. Keep all but one alien alive (and do not damage the tables in the command centre). Gather as much as you can back at the lift. Then evacuate. You'll leave with everything on thegreen pads, and your soldiers will gain experience from combat. The base will remain. And if you attack it again, it resets the base and lets you do the whole thing all over again.

 

Once you've got a base to milk, your money troubles are pretty much over - just remember to attack the supply ship or the base regularly.

 

It's an exploit, to an extent. That is to say - it generates a large number of mission for you to play. You still have to fight for the goodies so it's a bit more honest than, say, using a game editor to max your cash.

 

- NKF

[teklor]

Whats the best way to find a base...large ship=supply ship right....i read somewhere to just follow them but they always go out of range before i can get to their final destination. I am slowly starting to get the hang of it though...i can actually do missions now without losing people. I haven't had the chance to try a base raid yet though....thats what i'm looking forward too.

[Jman4117]

Whats the best way to find a base...large ship=supply ship right....i read somewhere to just follow them but they always go out of range before i can get to their final destination. I am slowly starting to get the hang of it though...i can actually do missions now without losing people. I haven't had the chance to try a base raid yet though....thats what i'm looking forward too.

 

The ones that land at bases are large vessels that have a speed of roughly 2500 when they are heading to the base and a max speed of 3200 otherwise. So if you see one going at ~2500, follow it with an interceptor. If it goes out of range, patrol further and further out in the direction it was heading.

[sluissi]

uhh, hey guys, russia just signed a pact in my game. it was the first one to go, so I dunno if it's impossible to lose them all, but russia isn't invincible.

 

I'll see if I can figure out how to take a screenshot.

 

EDIT: there we go

russia signed a pact

 

 

Edit again: Note, i didn't try for this, it just kinda happened, 2 battleships are a bit hard to take out with only two interceptors in range of them.

[Zeno]

Interesting thread; always did like tactics discussions.

 

teklor, have you had any difficulties with psi-wielding aliens (ethereals or sectoid leaders/commanders)? There's a few specific strategy discussions on them.

 

As for another basic tactic at the start of the game--use your soldiers with rank. Regardless of a soldier's various attributes, rank brings a special ability to calm the nerves of other soldiers. Often, especially with a group of 14 rookies, the losses come from poor morale--a few soldiers die, and the rest freak out and kill each other.

 

To mitigate this, keep one high-ranked soldier well-protected (perhaps left in the transport) to maintain morale. You can then use 13 rookies to accomplish the mission without worrying as much about morale. The 13 rookies, if they survive, will become higher-rank, with better skills and better morale.

 

Note that if the one high-ranked guy dies, all 13 rookies could panic. If you have a choice, try to use soldiers with high bravery.

 

Once you get a team of soldiers with rank (all at least Squaddies) you will find them much more capable in missions. Some of your Squaddies may become even better soldiers than some of your officers--don't use rank as the only measure of a soldier's ability.

 

You need at least 30 soldiers to get someone with the rank of "XCOM Commander" (the highest rank available). Some strategists here will recommend hiring exactly 30 soldiers--no more, no less--and using these 30 in every mission until the end of the game (thereby creating a team of "supersoldiers"). You can replace anyone killed in action, and when you have psi-labs, replace anyone with low psi-strength.

 

Others, like me, like to hire as many soldiers as I can afford (up to the maximum of 250) and keep them spread out among my bases. I burn through rookies until I get 250 soldiers with rank. Squaddies are worth their monthly cost. Dead rookies cost nothing.

 

--Zeno