Anti-Psi, Anti-Ethereal Tactics

[Zeno]

Greetings everyone!

 

I have lurked here for awhile, and I think your coverage of XCOM tactics, weaponry, and finances is very good (though finding the advice can be difficult). However, there seem to be very few tactics for dealing with specific aliens. I assume this is because most aliens are a combination of like stats, with varying degrees of power in each stat.

 

Granted, most alien problems can be solved with heavy firepower. Though I would like to see more anti-alien tactics, it's not really necessary (with the notable exception of NKF's stun vs. sectopods/cyberdiscs). That said, there is one class of aliens that generate anguish and frustration even among the best players: Psi-users.

 

Ethereals, and Sectoid leaders and commanders, are generally considered the most difficult aliens--that is, when your soldiers are not yet identified for Psi Strength. Most players have learned the tactic of "acceptable losses", sacking or killing psi-weak soldiers after they've been mind controlled once. Others save psi-weaklings for runs against non-psi aliens. Of course, it doesn't matter much since you can usually build a Psi Lab after your first or second Psi-alien mission (if you're careful, and manage to stun one).

 

A majority of this forum seems to consider any changes to the UFO game to be "cheating" (something I can't understand in a single-player game). However, I decided to confront my own frustration by modifying all aliens to have Psi Skill equal to their Psi Strength. After a difficult and unsuccessful 9-month campaign, I lost the game (sadly, I was never able to catch a live alien to research Psi labs). But I did learn a few things:

 

--Someone in these forums suggested identifying approximate Psi-strength by whether or not a soldier succumbs to psi attacks. This is great advice! Soldiers that are attacked by Psi are flashed during the aliens' turn. Memorize the successful ones (the failures are easy to spot). After the battle, add an indicator to their name text field to designate weakness or strength. Whenever I survived a mission, I usually had 3-4 soldiers standing. Knowing their approximate Psi strength was a key to using more intelligent tactics later.

 

--Someone in these forums suggested using a Psi-weak soldier as a "sponge". This is the best anti-Psi advice in the forums! The aliens tend to psi-attack the weakest psi-strength soldiers. Bring one surviving soldier you know has weak Psi strength to combat. Give that soldier no weapons. When you find an alien, allow the alien to see (and hopefully not kill) your "Psi sponge". From that point onward, your sponge should attract a majority of Psi attacks...assuming that soldier actually has the weakest Psi strength.

 

--On "Superhuman" difficulty, contrary to prior forum posts, the aliens do NOT initially know where all your soldiers are and can NOT target them with Psi attacks on the alien's first turn of combat. However, once a soldier is spotted by an alien, or once a soldier kills an alien (even an out-of-sight alien, with high explosives) all aliens know that soldier's location for the remainder of the combat. A mind-controlled soldier also acts as eyes, giving the locations of any soldiers in their line of sight. Note that when you land in a hot landing zone, an alien usually manages to see most of the soldiers in your transport craft. Also note that the first maneuver aliens and mind controlled soldiers perform is almost always a 360 degree spin, so avoiding their line of sight is not the easiest trick.

 

--Off topic, if you are facing only non-Psi aliens, even on "Superhuman" difficulty they will forget your soldier's location after a number of turns--if the soldier changes locations and remains out of sight until the aliens forget. If any 1 alien spots a soldier, all aliens know the soldier's location. I do not know the length of time this knowledge lasts. I am using the Windows CE version, so this may be different in other versions.

 

--Contrary to prior forum posts, mind controlled soldiers CAN pick up equipment. One time, in approximately 36 battles and near quadruple that in successful mind controls, a soldier picked up her heavy cannon with HE ammo and blew the hell out of four of her squadmates before committing suicide. The chance of this seems remarkably low, however (as it only happened once). I *believe* a mind controlled soldier must start their turn in a location with something on the ground and nothing in their inventory in order to pick something up. I have, as yet, never seen an alien or mind controlled soldier seek out items on the ground and pick them up.

 

--Due to the unlikely chance that a mind controlled soldier will pick up equipment, I suggest (as others have) to drop any and all weapons you are carrying at the end of every turn. Save enough time units for this: 2 turns for each item in the hands, 6 for each on the legs, 4 for each on the shoulders. Save an additional 4 time units to crouch. If you have the time units, and you're paranoid, drop the equipment, move one space, then crouch (to prevent the rare chance of picking up an item when mind controlled).

 

--A mind controlled soldier CAN change equipment. If you have weapons (including grenades) in your backpack, on your belt, shoulders, or legs a mind controlled soldier can (and often, but not always, will) use them. I have had mind controlled soldiers ignore weapons in inventory about 50% of the time, so if you're willing to take a serious gamble, you can carry weapons until ready to use (easier and faster than dropping and picking up every turn). I sometimes employ this dangerous tactic when inside UFOs, rather than out in the open field. In contrast, a mind controlled soldier with a weapon in their hands will ALWAYS use it if they spot a (former) teammate.

 

--Here it gets interesting. Most of you know a mind controlled soldier cannot use a stun rod, medi-kit, motion scanner, or flare. This seems to be true. Although it's obvious, I'll also remind you that live ammunition can be carried safely--as long as the weapon that uses the ammo is not on you (in other words, your "sponge" psi-weakling can safely carry ammo for other soldiers). The interesting thing is grenades: In all of my battles, there were several occasions where I would pick up a grenade, prime it for "0", and then fail to save enough time units to throw it (usually due to a 1-time-unit facing change). Since I tried to keep my soldiers some distance from each other, dropping for a teammate to pick up and throw was usually not an option--and I certainly couldn't drop the thing and leave it on the ground.

 

Well, it seems mind controlled soldiers won't throw primed grenades, of any variety. They'll drop them if they're panicked, and I've had mind controlled soldiers drop them from their hands, but they never seem to be thrown. Please don't quote me on this, as it is game-observation rather than software logic deprogramming! After observing this, I have successfully, and repeatedly, carried primed grenades on my shoulders without EVER having mind controlled soldiers use them or drop them (and panicked soldiers won't drop them either). The trick, of course, is picking up the grenade, priming it, and placing it on the shoulder without being mind controlled or shot, and doing all of this outside the blast radius of your teammates. Doing this on my Skyranger was a bad, bad idea. Twice.

 

--If you haven't been spotted, smoke may keep a soldier out of line of sight. It is also a safe weapon--mind controlled soldiers WILL use a smoke grenade (unless it's already primed), but smoke isn't a death sentence. Others in the forum seem to either love or hate smoke grenades. When you have one, just one, experience where an alien misses a soldier in smoke...or even better, when an alien approaches into the soldier's line of sight and *doesn't* shoot...priceless . Against psi-using aliens, any non-lethal equipment must be used to maximum effect.

 

--As mentioned in these forums, stunning your own soldiers won't reduce morale. Killing them will. If a soldier can safely approach a mind-controlled teammate and stun them, it is a far better solution than killing them. Additionally, I have (rarely) had stunned soldiers targetted for Psi attacks. A stunned soldier can, therefore, be useful as a psi sponge. Note that you should not approach any soldier if they carry primed grenades of any variety. They drop them if they're stunned or killed. It wasn't wise any of the times I did it.

 

 

Finally, here are a few specific tactics I successfully employed:

 

--Always set one HE grenade to "0" and throw it outside the transport on turn 1. Even if you can't see any aliens. The chance of a lurker just underneath or off to one side is very high (and detrimental when they see you, initiating Psi attacks way too early). If you kill an alien with a grenade, only the soldier that killed it will be sighted for Psi attacks (of course, if they're mind controlled on turn 2, the entire transport is still endangered--but risk comes with any strategy). Others suggest using a smoke grenade on turn 1, but I find HE produces enough smoke for a turn 2 exit, and dropping a smoke grenade on turn 2 works fine.

 

--On mountain terrain, do not throw an HE grenade outside the craft without forethought. You'll blow up the exit ramp and landing gear. This is a minor annoyance for losing hiding places...but it is a major annoyance when you can't re-enter the transport. Usually, you'll abort when most soldiers are dead anyway. Just keep in mind that when the ramp is gone, any soldiers you drop in the field are on a do-or-die mission.

 

--If you have one, a motion scanner works on turn 2 to spot nearby aliens. Use it before exiting the craft. This was suggested elsewhere on the forums, but it's useful advice to repeat (even against non-psi aliens). Anything that allows a soldier to spot an alien before it spots the soldier is a tremendous advantage, no matter how annoying the device might be to actually use.

 

--As suggested elsewhere, don't exit until turn 2. This isn't because of Psi. It's because you'll be shot.

 

--If you're up against psi aliens, retreat early. Even if you think there's only one alien left, retreat if you're low on morale (translation: you're going to fail psi attacks). Also, prepare to retreat early. Whenever you kill an alien, drop your weapons, grab the body and "artifacts", and carry it to the transport. When your last surviving soldier aborts, you can use the recoveries to offset some of your losses. In this game against all Superhuman Psi-using aliens, my abort threshold was after losing 6 or more soldiers (out of 14). I was sometimes able to successfully escape with 3-4 survivors.

 

--Equip soldiers however you wish (though I recommend heavy and auto cannons with HE rounds for everyone). In addition, give each soldier a smoke grenade and a stun rod (if you're lucky, to use on an alien). On turn 1, drop all weapons and non-smoke grenades (except the HE grenade one soldier tosses outside). On turn 1, one soldier primes a smoke grenade for "0". On turn 2, that soldier throws out the smoke grenade, picks up a weapon and 1 grenade, then exits the ship. Drop weapon and grenade before turn ends, and kneel. On turn 3, pick up grenade, prime it, place on shoulder. Turn 4, pick up weapon, walk, kneel, drop weapon. Repeat with next soldier until all but one have exited the transport. (You don't want to keep a crowd on the transport craft. Inevitably, one will be spotted--endangering the whole crew).

 

--The one soldier remaining on the transport should load down with ammo, so they can barely move. Nothing in the hands. When they panic, they won't be able to run off the ship (giving you time to abort). Additionally, the soldier should be the highest ranking officer you possess--regardless of bravery or estimated psi strength. They will boost morale as long as they're not killed.

 

--Soldiers in the transport can pick up un-primed grenades and toss them to needy buddies in the field.

 

--When an alien is spotted, kill it. When a building is spotted, destroy it with HE. Whoever makes a kill (or is spotted without making a kill) should be doubly careful--they will be targetted for psi attacks.

 

--HWPs are great! They can't be psi-attacked! But they're damn expensive when you're running Pyrrhic missions. I never had a tank survive a mission against all psi-wielding aliens. My soldiers, of course, weren't better--and I would gladly trade four unidentified, unarmored rookies for one psi-immune tank. But without successful missions, finances are a problem.

 

--By the time you get inside a UFO, most of your soldiers will be sighted (and often dead). If you're lucky, your psi-weak soldiers are all stunned or dead (or acting as unarmed sponges). Your morale may be low, too, so even your previously resistant soldiers may be breaking. Send in 1 soldier with a primed "0" grenade on her shoulder, and make a run. If the UFO is large, send a second (or third or fourth) after the first is in far enough. The idea is to cover the entire UFO quickly, but without any soldier being within explosive range or line-of-sight of another. The soldiers outside watch the door(s), behind cover (with no weapons in their hands)--preferably stand up, see door, then crouch to re-hide. Proximity grenades are also useful for "watching" doors, though aliens all to often survive the blast.

 

--If you stun any soldier (or alien, for that matter), drop a primed proximity grenade on them. If they wake up and are mind controlled, they'll move--letting you know they're awake (and maybe killing them). If it's a soldier and not mind controlled, they can pick up the prox grenade before moving. This advice was given elsewhere on the forums, but it's useful to repeat it.

 

--Finally, most importantly, and I repeat: Always remember to drop your weapon and grenades! Murphy's law states that if there is only one armed soldier (even if she's one-armed), she'll be the target of psi attacks. Since you won't be performing reaction shots, I recommend using the heaviest HE weapons. Even if the soldier's strength is 20-25, you can carry them! Since you don't have it in your hand, you'll start the turn with full time units. Pick up, shoot, and drop. You need HE since most soldiers only have time units for carrying (and dropping) 1 grenade with their weapon. HE blows open buildings, making field exploration faster. And HE is usually a sure kill inside the UFO, even if it often results in suicide.

 

 

 

I apologize for the length of this post. It's my first, so I wanted to get it all out in one go.

 

Thanks for reading...

 

--Zeno

[NKF]

Welcome to the fray.

 

Length isn't an issue. I sometimes get a little prosy myself, even on short answers that can be answered with one simple sentence. It's a habit I should kick.

 

My best advice for taking on psionic aliens is: Don't.

 

Well, that was rather helpful wasn't it? Well, seriously...

 

Until I know my psi abilities, I prefer to avoid psionic confrontations as much as possible. However, as you must capture a psi capable alien to get a psi lab and determine your psi abilities (properly, anyway), well, you have to face the psi aliens at least once.

 

A quick abduction of a ranked sectoid or any old ethereal is often a good idea. In fact, with the ethereals, it's just a matter of knocking out the first one you see, haul (or throw) it back to the Skyranger and dust off before the mission gets any worse. Then it's just a matter of avoiding the psi aliens for a bit until you find a few troops that can hold their own in a mind battle.

 

---

 

Now for a less cowardly approach: Use terror to your advantage. In TFTD, I had to face a horde of psionic aliens a little earlier than I'd anticipated (Tasoth), and while only two soldiers were immune to the M. C. attacks, I was actually able to tip the odds in my favour by killing enough of the aliens to induce widespread panic. They were too busy panicking to MC my troops. This won't last for too long, but it's generally enough to allow a few quick kills, which should keep the aliens in a state of terror.

 

Basically, just take a very aggressive approach and knock out as many of their numbers as you can in the shortest number of turns possible. Panic can be your friend as long as it's in the enemy ranks. Just don't forget to capture any eligible specimen to enable the psi-labs if you still haven't got it.

 

Of course, as always, it's easier said than done.

 

- NKF

 

P. S: We're slowly gathering the collective wisdom of the forum into the X-Com Field Manual (see relevant thread).

[Stewart]

All enemy psionics means is that you lose reactive fire because you put your guns down at the end of the turn. It's a pain but not THAT bad.

[Fox]

Once you get blaster launchers, there really isn't any excuse for losing a mission anymore. Equip 4-5 guys on you strike team with them, and an extra 4 Blaster Bombs on their equipment. Send out an HWP to spot aliens and hiding spots, and nuke them all to hell by turn 2. It's cheap, I know, but I use this tactic for the first month or two when combating Ethereals before I have psi (if I haven't managed to nab a sectoid). You'll kill about 60-70% of all the aliens in the mission by doing this, and plus they won't have anywhere to hide. This will tie in with NKF's "terrorize the aliens" tactic, you'll get most of them to panic by turn 3 if you killed the whole lot of them on the outside.