Greetings, tactic suggestion, difficulty question

[Stygian]

Hello, I'm new to the board, and have recently picked up X-Com--one of my top ten favorite games of all time again. It is odd how a game that has been around for more than 10 years still can be so good.

 

Tactic suggestion: Made this mistake this morning while at a terror site (I waited until daylight before landing): My scout MOVED after contact with an alien (face to face). My move was to go to a crouch, but that was enough to set off the reaction fire of the floater, who nailed him at long range. The ironic thing about this was that the scout was one of only 4 that had (personal) armour. The more ironic thing was my scout was under and behind the landing gear of the Skyranger. The most ironic thing about this was that the scout's position under and behind the Skyranger meant that he was unable to throw the primed grenade he had in his hand (hence the reason I tried to crouch), so when he was dropped by the floater, the grenade rolled out of his hand then blew up what was left at the end of the turn. No corpse, no equipment. Not even a juicy smudge left of my scout. Lesson learned. When scouting and contact is made, freeze, and let your fire support shoot from behind!

 

Now a difficulty question: Can I tell in-game the setting of difficulty? I am in March, and have seen a lot of floaters, primarily, which makes me believe that I have it set to 'beginner', but I swear I'd set it to veteran at the beginning of the game.

[NKF]

Enemy reaction fire tends to get triggered if the alien can see you and your current reaction level has dropped. So yes, you are correct. Get your scout to freeze on the spot and have the rear guard open fire on the enemy.

 

The easiest way I can remember to check difficulty level is by way of the mind probe. You should have a few rolling around at the moment. Compare what you get against Zombie's excellent alien base stat table:

 

https://www.strategycore.co.uk/xcom/pg/ufoalienstats

 

edit: Forgot to add that if you manage to get stats higher than the base stats, then that's a very good indicator that you're playing on a harder difficulty level. Armour is a good indicator, as it's one of the few stats that vary depending on difficulty.

 

Oh, and welcome to the boards.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

Note that if you have a Dos version of the game, chances are you're playing on "beginner" mode - There's a bug that enforces it.

[Crus8r]

The game can be really random about when alien races appear, so that's not a good indicator of difficulty level (in the game I'm currently playing, difficulty is superhuman, its mid-April, and I've only encountered sectoids and floaters, mostly floaters...tho the terror sites have all been sectoid Cyberdisks are MUCH tuffer than Reapers!!)

 

If you're playing the DOS version, and you aren't playing with a modded executable, then you're playing beginner...thats a bug that has always been in the DOS version. The usual fix for this is to patch the executable with XcomUtil...which will also explicitly tell you what difficulty your game is set to. XcomUtil, however, makes some other changes to the game, which you might not want...you could install another copy of the game, patch it with XcomUtil, copy over your save game, and run XcomUtil against it to find out the difficulty (this would work for both the DOS and Windows [CE] versions).

 

If you're playing the windows (CE) version, and you don't want to bother with XcomUtil at all, you could estimate based on the MINIMUM number of aliens you've seen at a landed medium or large scout: 3 for beginner/experienced, 4 for veteran/genius, 6 for superhuman...similarly, you could use the minimum number of terrorists at a terror site: 2 for beginner/experienced, 4 for veteran/genius, 6 for superhuman.

 

Crus8r

[Zombie]

If you're playing the windows (CE) version, and you don't want to bother with XcomUtil at all, you could estimate based on the MINIMUM number of aliens you've seen at a landed medium or large scout: 3 for beginner/experienced, 4 for veteran/genius, 6 for superhuman...similarly, you could use the minimum number of terrorists at a terror site: 2 for beginner/experienced, 4 for veteran/genius, 6 for superhuman.

That's all fine and dandy assuming you really want to go through the hassle of keeping track of how many aliens show up for each craft type. Either that, or you start a bunch of missions (completing them all nonetheless) and do some counting with that particular UFO. Assuming you do this with the Medium Scout, the probability of hitting the minimum is 17%. That's not too good of odds. With the Large Scout the probability of hitting the minimum drops to 4%. Distinguishing between Beginner/Experienced and Veteran/Genius for a Medium Scout also stands at a 17% chance as there are 2 unique combinations out of 12. Between Vet/Gen and Superhuman there is a 50% chance since there are 6 unique combinations. Between Beg/Exp and Superhuman there is a 83% chance since there are 10 unique combinations.

 

Probabilities aside, there also is another major problem with this method - you can't nail down an exact skill level unless you are playing on Superhuman. Personally, I'd much rather do one of three things:

1. Get the Mind Probe researched and compare the stats you get from a probe against my tables.
   
2. Use an editor (or get stuff researched) so that your soldiers can use their Psionic powers to get some alien stats.
   
3. Take a look in unitref.dat for alien stats and compare that with my tables.
   

I'm not trying to push my tables here (well, maybe a little), but this is the best (and easiest) method of figuring out what skill level you are currently on. The only other way is to immediately put a capitol letter designating the skill level you choose when you start a new game in your saved game slot. Then you will automatically remember what level you picked.

 

- Zombie

[uriaheep]

Note that if you have a Dos version of the game, chances are you're playing on "beginner" mode - There's a bug that enforces it.

Is that right?

 

You learn something every day.

[Crus8r]

I totally agree that the counting aliens method is inexact and could require several trials...but it doesn't require ANY research, editors, or modifications to the game...thats the ONLY reason I suggested it.

 

I would certainly recommend that anyone who plays the game take a look at Zombie's tables...they're a great resource which is accurate and complete, unlike the other tables or guides I've seen. (I'm still very much looking forward to the TFTD version)

 

I guess the EASIEST way to determine difficulty is if Stygian is playing the unmodded DOS version

The difficulty bug was the original reason that Scott Jones wrote XcomUtil, after all...

 

Crus8r

[Stygian]

Argh. Xcomutil reports I indeed am running as a beginner. I am filled with shame. I though I was doing OK strategically at the "Veteran" level, but to discover I was doing OK as merely a beginner is annoying--Like I haven't been tested yet for real.

 

I plan on increasing the difficulty via XComUtil, once I figure out the command line. Is there any problem with doing this to a save game file that is in battlescape mode? Will my Snakeman crashsite suddenly get "interesting"?

 

As far as using the mind probe, my research tree is not progressing hugely fast, so I am a bit away from research on one.

[Hobbes]

I plan on increasing the difficulty via XComUtil, once I figure out the command line. Is there any problem with doing this to a save game file that is in battlescape mode? Will my Snakeman crashsite suddenly get "interesting"?

 

Depends on the flags that you use with the xcomutil.exe command.

 

Several flags can be used to edit saved games and increase their difficulty:

 

S2B = changes any Stun Launchers that the aliens are carrying into Blaster Launchers

SEC/FLO/SNA/MUT/ETH/CHR/SIL/CEL = add extra aliens

 

etc., etc. check this article on the UFOPaedia for more information regarding the use of XComUtil.

[BladeFireLight]

Argh. Xcomutil reports I indeed am running as a beginner. I am filled with shame. I though I was doing OK strategically at the "Veteran" level, but to discover I was doing OK as merely a beginner is annoying--Like I haven't been tested yet for real.

 

I plan on increasing the difficulty via XComUtil, once I figure out the command line. Is there any problem with doing this to a save game file that is in battlescape mode? Will my Snakeman crashsite suddenly get "interesting"?

 

As far as using the mind probe, my research tree is not progressing hugely fast, so I am a bit away from research on one.

 

it will not effect the current combat but will take effect once your back in geoscape..

 

the basic command would be

xcomtuil game_n LVL:n WRT

 

where the n's are the save slot and the desired level

 

so to set my slot 1 to Veteran

xcomtuil game_1 LVL:3 WRT

 

The install of xcomutil would also have fixed the dificulty bug that starts all games in beginer..

[Silverblade-T-E]

well the way I always play is this:

 

set one guy off out front, this is "the bait"..he's either very good, or very bad.

i always name my characters so I know who's expendable, who's good shot, strength etc, like "Bob psiweakStr54" or such.

 

The ship is loaded out with a lot of heavy cannons, these ROCK, with 1 autoccannon, and 2 rocket launchers.

 

When enemy is spotted, guys at REAR fire, thus the enemy doesn't reaction fire, and your heavy artillery guys don't reaction fire and blow up yer men!

 

Fan out from the ranger, heavy weapon guys last, scouts/rifles to the front coverign wide area to spot aliens. be prepared ot throw grenades, they are very good ways to flush out enemies or blow apart cover. you can throw from the rear, to a guy closer up, if need a grenade lobbed into a difficult spot. Alien grenades and high explosive packs RULE for clearign areas.

 

Explosives are good becuase aliens have little armour to protect them from a blast underneath. Splash effect can also do damage, and, damage reduces their accuracy and icnreases chance they will panic!

so, even if they survive, odds are, they will miss or maybe panic.

 

the heavy cannon is best trade off between damage, #shots etc. you can get 2 snap shots with it, its powerful enough to blow lots of fencing wood walls etc away, but won't hurt your guys if weairng heavy armour..which means..if they get psi controlled, they're unlikely to kill comrades

 

The autocannon is good for blowing lots of holes in hedges etc, and, using incendaries..to light night time areas up! also, sinc efor some odd reason, incendiary damage is applied each time ANY of your men fire, the auto cannons rapid fire soon racks up damage.

 

Explosive weapons are best fired from high ground, so angle of fire means they detonate on the ground, so, troops in hover armour are good, or fire from rmap of Avenger etc.

 

Rocket launcher with heavy rocket is most devastating, but a bad shot can wipe out your own men, so be VERY careful of the placement of the rocket firer. They also excel at vblwoing huts/houses apart.

In "farm" areas, I blast every building to pieces from long range to take out any aliens and expose them.

Nice trick is to blast them, then throw grenades (prefferbaly alien), so if an enemy falls from roof/upper floor of destroyed building, the grenade may take them out, hehe.

 

carry spare ammo on your transport aircvraft, or strong troops take it to throw ot allies.

 

My usual load out is

2 heavy cannons (2 HE clips, 1 incendiary each)

1 auto canon (2 he clips, 2 icnendiary each)

2 rocket lcuanchers (3 HE, 1 incendiary each)

Rest laser rifles, maybe some scouts with laser pistols and grenades in hand and a few spare laser weapons for heavy wepaon guys who run out of ammo

2 grenades per man

1 prox ggrenade per man

4 medikits (can be tossed to others)

and perhaps 2 psiamps or 1mind probe depending on how far the game is along.

 

As I've explained before, explosions and incendiaries, can go THROUGH UFO hulls and floors, generally if they hit at an angled section. Incendiaries are good as they won't destroy equipment!

I lob proximity grenades into the corners of large scout UFOs, so they blow up enemies as they move inside, and use an autocannon and heavy cannons with icnendiaries to blast the crew section.

heavy cannon hits won't destroy weapons lying ont he gorund, they do destroy ammo, corpses, but I blast ships with incendiaries.