I need tactics

[Stun Grenade]

Help people,

 

i just get slaughtered out there. Its so hard becuase its only my first or second ufo mission (not first or second in that way, ive been playing for a while) and i dont have armour, good people...

 

aliens come out from nowhere and kill me in one shot!

 

~SG

[Jman4117]

What difficulty level?

 

*Reaction fire is your friend. Camp the exits of ships.

 

*Save TU's for reaction fire.

 

*Keep near cover.

 

*Get laser rifle, medikit, personal armour, heavy plasma, then plasma cannon.

[NKF]

Ah friend, you've come to the right place!

 

Rule #1: Spend some time in this forum. Read the older threads (there are a few pages of them now). Plenty of stuff to get ideas from.

 

Check out the Field Manual thread Hobbes just bumped to the top. It's packed full of interesting stuff.

 

Next - learn to be very patient. You will fail a lot, but don't let that distress you too much. Stop and look at how you're playing and think about why you're losing. Try to change your tactics. Use different equipment, and try to learn more about your enemy (Mind probes are great for this - but it'll be a while before you get one). Spend time planning your moves. Move slowly. Spread out. Get everyone to cover each other. Etc.

 

Remember that while some tactics work for some of us, it may not work for you. Explore new ideas, refine them to your liking and develop your own.

 

Be flexible. One tactic may work quite well, but it won't work all the time. Be prepared to change your tactics with the changing conditions of the battle.

 

Ask questions. If you feel you're weak in anything, ask about it and see what ideas us nuts can come up with.

 

- NKF

 

P. S: As much as I hate to say it: Never be afraid to concede defeat and back off. That's not to say - evacuate from the battle. I mean, if the enemy forces are too strong, back off a bit - the enemy is bound to foul up. However, if you really cannot go on, cut your losses and evacuate.

 

Of course, if you use save-reload immortality, well, forget that last bit.

[cyrus]

I think that with constant saving-reloading you can forget about all of this .

 

You may do a lot of mistakes this way, and don't bother yourself by making out a good strategy, and reload in case the things will become messed up. But that's not very interesting and doesn't teach you to use your brain cells while planning.

[Jman4117]

'nade tactics:

 

*Aliens can't see the little red light on top of proximity grenades. They run right over them.

 

*Use proxys at ufo doors to soften up the enemy for your reaction fire team.

 

*You can throw grenades through ceilings. (May be considered dishonourable by some.)

 

*Use the grenade relay tactic. Troops in rear prime grenades and toss them to the front line, who then throw at the aliens. This save TU's for the guys that will be shot at. Can also be used to transport needed supplies quickly (medikits, ammo, etc).

[NKF]

I'll just toss in a few random suggestions of my own:

• The aliens can only shoot at X-Com soldiers that they can see. So when you spot an alien - have the spotter hold still or back off a bit to safety and then get someone behind to shoot at the alien. See, the aliens cannot use reaction fire if they cannot see the person shooting.
  
• Cover. Seek cover. Anything from a wall to a tree will do. Anything to hide behind. Move from cover to cover and never stay out in the open for too long unless you cannot help it.
  
• If the alien just won't die - you might want to consider using a stronger weapon. For example, if you face cyberdiscs with nothing but pistols and rifles - you're in big trouble. High explosives and large rockets deal with them just nicely, however.
  
• Never pack your soldiers together in tight groups. Grenades do nasty things to tight groups. Spread out, but make sure everyone can still cover the other.
  
• At night, use flares to improve visibility. You don't need to use many flares - you just have to use them intelligently.
  
• HWPs. Use them. They don't improve, but they can be easily replaced. Let them take the majority of the damage and let the soldiers do all the shooting.
  
• Use a smoke grenade for deploying from the Skyranger in a hot LZ. Yes, it cuts both ways and can reduce visibility for both sides - but that's the whole point. You don't get spotted as easily as you normally would without the smoke screen. If you don't have a smoke grenade, a high explosive or a large rocket can provide a light smoke screen in addition to clearing the landing zone of any hostiles (or neutrals, for that matter).
  
• Use weapons with splash area effects to defeat any hostiles that you know are there, but aren't within line-of-fire. Such as you know an enemy is behind a wall, toss a grenade over. Or if it's around a corner, a grenade, a rocket or even an incendiary round can be used to get it.
  
• HWP rockets are only slightly stronger than the small rockets. So do not expect them to do much against enemy units with heavy armour (like cyberdiscs). Most of the early aliens you'll meet (apart from the terror units) have weak armour, so there's not much to worry about and Rocket HWPs are still an excellent investment.
  
• Gain the higher ground and set up snipers on a roof or two. Those on the high ground have a better field of fire, and can shoot at what the ground troops cannot (and vice versa). Later, with flying suits, have a sniper hover in the air at all times to provide long-range cover fire for those on the front lines.
  
• In a terror site - worry about your soldiers first. Civilians later. Very important. This is a game, so you can choose to be a bit heartless.
  
• If your soldier gets killed when you walk through a door, don't send another one in immediately. We always end up getting into the trap where we just keep sending soldiers in and getting them killed one after the other.
  
• Explosive shells and rockets can be fired up at the ceiling above you. You won't get hurt, but everything on the floor above will. Use this to your advantage. (UFO floors/ceilings are strong enough that they often remain intact - so don't worry about that)
  
• There's a safe method to dealing with almost every UFO. Several of them have alien 'guards' that do not move from their spot until you 'trigger' them somehow, either by walking through a door or standing at certain locations in the UFO. For example: The large scout has one nasty one. When approaching the bridge of the large scout, head to the left passage (your soldier's relative left), rather than the more obvious one to the right - where you often get killed instantly the moment you step through that door. Wait at the corner just before the left door and the alien will start moving towards you. By the next turn it should be in the room just beyond -- exhausted and unable to fight back. The other UFOs may require bigger weaponry to deal with these 'guards'.
  

I've really got to learn how to summarise...

 

- NKF

[BreakMage]

Actually, you did a great job summarizing. It wasn't 3 pages long, only about one. We just need to sticky all of your hints... Whenever someone new comes along and misses it, just do a *points to sticky thread* and we're good, instead of repeating over

and over

and over

and ooooooooooover again

 

[Squaddie01]

A couple of quick recommendations, if you are a rookie, avoid night missions. As others have stated, don't mass your troops, but do have soldiers close enough to cover one another.

 

In the early going, I prefer to have my worst soldier(s) statistically on the point. Main reason being, they are more expendable. My best reaction troops generally are close up front while my snipers, those with the best shooting accuracy are in the rear.

 

Always make sure to leave enough time units for your reaction troops up front to get off reaction fire. Move your snipers last on your turn so that their TU's are available for shots if your point units spot aliens.

 

When engaging an alien, best practice is to take shots from soldiers other then the one spotting the alien. These should be your snipers in the rear. This avoids alien reaction fire. My spotters take shots at aliens only as a last resort, when others have exhausted their TUs.

 

Avoid spreading your troops to thin though. One thing I like to do is sweep the map section by section. I'll maintain a defensive line in one area while another area behind me is secured. I prefer to sweep the map entirely before entering a UFO. Use your best reaction troops to guard a UFO entry while others secure the entire map.

 

Hope this helps.