Am I the only one who does this ?

[Slythe1]

When I've cleared or am clearing the surrounding area, I'll usually toss a proximity grenade outside the door, and station a few soldiers nearby for reaction fire, but another thing I do is have a soldier or two stand 'around the corner' from the door. When an alien comes out and dies, but you know there's more inside, I'll move a soldier around the corner, pick up whatever type of gun or mind probe the alien had on it's body, then move back around the corner. I'll then toss another proximity grenade down and repeat. This way I won't lose all the valuable alien artefacts from the grenade explosions.

[Bomb Bloke]

Ironically, the last time I used a grenade of any sort was...

 

...

 

*thinks*

 

...

 

*enters a catonic state, trying to work it out*

[Slythe1]

Grenades are quite handy, both proximity and alien.

[NKF]

I do it all the time. Even in battleships (yes, I laugh in the face of danger! Ah ha ha! Er, not really, but it's a gamble just like anything else). I actually station soldiers at random outside the door and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Laser pistols and rifles make very pretty lightshows... Of course, that doesn't mean the rest of my troops go idle. They clean up the rest of the map.

 

All of the aliens in the ship will leave, except one. There's a good strategy to deal with that one and I found something I made a while back: https://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/temporary/lsc_lure.html

 

Proximity mines are great to soften up the first alien to leave the ship, but they can be a gamble if the last alien just so happens to be the one that guards the bridge.

 

- NKF

[JellyfishGreen]

Pick-up is a good idea if you're on a tight budget. Especially when one more heavy plasma funds one more scientist's salary that month. I don't bother, myself, as I don't camp the doors for very long either.

[FullAuto]

It depends on the size of the UFO for me. The larger ones (terror, supply & battle ships) I go in and clear out, because it takes ages to get it done by just camping the doors. The smaller UFO's are much quicker, and camping the doors is the easiest way. Aliens tend to calm down a little when they get a bullet in the earhole.

[Slythe1]

Yeah the large and medium scouts are the only ships I employ this tactic with.

[Neorapsta]

Or you could use the 'tin o' sardines' tactic on the smaller ships, by blowing open the roof and have a grenade spamming session.

[Jman4117]

I use this tactic on pretty much every ufo I come across.....

 

Small scout: No. I just go "hunting"

 

Medium scout: Of course....Going in those things is suicide O.o

 

Large sccout: 4 guys off to the side and a nade by the door. Maybe a guy to scavenge remains.

 

Abductor: I mine the doors and the lift as I go through it.

 

Harvester: I mine the eastern door leave a few campers then mine the southern door with the bulk of my squad over here. Most of the aliens on the first two levels will get blown up leaving just the upper floor to clear out.

 

Terror ship: Ok...This be the scary one. Heavy laser is nice for camping out here. (Sectopods and Cyberdisks galore) Mine the doors to take care of the standard aliens (proxy may kill a reaper....not much else as far as terror units are concerned. Kill aliens until no more come out. Then storm both ends at the same time. Granade the bridge and if you have Cyberdisks and Sectopods about; HE's through the ceiling.

 

Supply ship: Have a few guys watch the eastern door, just in case. Proceed to the western door and mine it. If the interior of the lower section is destroyed it is best to keep your men closer to the hull. (Getting shot by aliens that are still inside is a pain) Most of the two lower levels can be cleared this way. After the aliens stop moving about send in the troops. The western guys patrol the two lower sections while the eastern guys go in to kill the leaders. A HE pak at the western end of level 3 usually kills an alien or two. Ufo should be basically cleared out now.

 

Battleship: Another toughie like the Terror ship. Best bet here is to mine the outer doors only as long as needed to get a reasonable force near the main lift. Send in a tank first scout around the 2nd level and look up into the 3rd level lift room. Send in troops next. Put them in the 4 little nooks near the lift. Throw a proxy and the middle of the 3rd floor lift. Send in 4 more troops and move the ones that were already in into the surrounding rooms. I would recommend two guys to each quarter of the 2nd level, maybe 3 or more in the northwest. In the southern section use a HE pak through the ceiling to kill the higher ranking aliens. After the 2nd level is cleared send some guys up the northwest lift to prepair to storm what's left of the 3rd level. If the mine in the 3rd floor is still there; send a guy up through the center to pick it up. (DON'T walk over to it) Send 4 guys up the lift and into the corners of the room. End turn. Send a guy out of the northwest section into the hall. Look both ways. If there is an alien to the south; open fire. If not head north and send some guys out of the west side of the lift room into the hallway. Move them into the southern up against a wall. End turn. Move the northern guy over to the next hallwayand look south. If he sees something shoot it. Send guys out the east of the lift when the hall is cleared. Mop up.

[Bomb Bloke]

What's all this strategy malarky?! I just send a tank around the map, mop up any aliens it spots, and as soon as I spot a ufo (of any size) my troops beeline it. Heck, even on Superhuman, this tactic will seldom lose me any men.

 

Although my men move fast, I keep tabs on where the aliens CAN go. If my men enter a battleship, nothing will get past them - there's no POINT prox mining the entrance, because nothing's going near there again ('cept my own men). I might leave a tank out side the door, ion case it sees another alien in a field or something.

 

The only real use I have for grenades is when a troop can't hope to otherwise kill all the aliens he sees in one turn, and that is a very rare situation indeed - specially since each troop has backup (even if that backup is a sniper).

[NKF]

You don't like bombs*? Eh... I'm not convinced. Just thinking about this paradox is enough to rip the very shreds of reality in the tiny confines of my head. No thank you sir, my head hurts.

 

Speaking of... no no. I'm a bit too tired to write yet another comparative essay on the beneficial qualities of grenades and ranged fire. Ha! I vanish.

 

Waiting is really just a more defensive style of play. But often offense is the best defense. It's striking a good balance between the two, now there's a trick I've never been able to master.

 

- NKF

 

* Pretend bombs. Just pretend bombs.

[Bomb Bloke]

If I were to use explosives, I would be immortal, therefore there would be no fun in playing the game.

[NickAragua]

Well, pitching a tent by the door is nice, but when you've got Ethereals or high-ranking sectoids with psi taking over and panicking your men, then you really don't have time to sit around waiting for them to come out. Also, staying stationary or bunching up invites blaster bomb and alien grenade attacks (or, at the very least, stun bombs). Nothing is more frustra

 

Grenades are great, especially if you use the 'hot potato' tactic, then you can get awesome range on them. Of course, alien grenades are better. Heh. I've never really used proxy mines - I play far too aggressively to give the aliens a shot at leaving their starting areas.

 

For large scouts, I tend to use a four-man team to clear them out (the intact ones, anyway), sometimes backed up by a fifth. Two for each of the doors accessible from the initial chamber. That way, one team can take a peek through one of the doors to the navigation chamber. If they get shot at, the other team won't as they come in through the other door.

[Bomb Bloke]

I hate entering the nav rooms of large scouts... You've got a fifty/fifty chance the first soldier in will die instantly.

[NickAragua]

True, that's why I do it with toothless rookies that aren't wearing expensive flying suits. Plus, if you go in from that small 3x3 room, I've found that there's a bit less chance of reaction fire as your soldier steps in.

 

Plus, by the time I've got flying suits, those UFOs aren't usually coming down with their power plants and nav consoles intact... heh.

[NKF]

The trick to entering the bridge of the large scout is to go up the left passage (map-wise, the south passage). All aliens, except one, will eventually leave the bridge on their own free will except the one guard. It's that last one that causes the most damage, because it can see both doors from where it stands. And since it doesn't move, it gets to use its full reaction score, making it very hard to avoid.

 

The thing about walking up to the left passage (stopping at one of the corners is good) is that it causes the alien to rush towards you. This, is a Good Thing™. By the start of your next turn it will have run out of TUs. This reduces its reaction score dramatically (and prevents it from shooting, of course), so this is when you should burst through into the next room and wipe it out.

 

If you must walk through the right door, be sure to stand in front of the door first and then wait a turn so that you get to use your full reaction score (Well, you'll still need to move one tile). Try and get someone with a very high reaction score to do this.

 

If you do get through without a reaction shot, your next step is to ensure that the alien is killed in one shot. Large rockets do wonders for non-Mutons. Hit or miss, it's going to really hurt.

 

You know, a smoke screen set before you enter couldn't hurt either. That way you could just fire the rocket blindly at the centre of the bridge.

 

If you have heavy plasmas, well, new doors can be made at will.

 

Of course, if you just can't be buggered with it, shoving a high explosive into the corner of the large scouts will wipe it out easily (or fire a stun bomb at the corner). This is technically considered cheating on all but the mountain maps, where it will blast a hole in the wall.

 

In a pinch, an incendiary rocket would do, but it would take a while to kill the alien at -4 hit points per turn.

 

I don't know. I frighten myself sometimes.

 

- NKF

[maxoman]

I normally secure every entrance of an ufo with one or two of my men while the rest sweeps the surrounding area. When the area is clear, I storm the ufo, securing every passage by a team of two before I send through another team to secure the end of the passage. Then the first team gets in front of the first and so on. I seldom use normal and alien grenades. When I got one and it's usefull in the situation when not, I don't care and use guns. I never use smoke-, proxy nades and rocket launchers im just doing well without them. But I absolutly love blaster launchers. :devil:

[Kermi]

Large scouts.. hmm let me think, so long since i last played..

My usual tactic, when i'm at the point when i'm entering the UFO, is to take 4 guys in. Storm though the door, take 1 step inside, and run the soldiers to the corners next to the entrance, kneeling and facing the doors leading to the bridge. *turn* Prime & throw prox-grenade at the left side door to the bridge, leave 1 man to guard it and move rest 3 to the right-hand door. Then just basicly run in the door and shoot everything that moves. The best plans in combat are simple ones. The more complex the plan, the more points where it can go (horribly) wrong

[Zombie]

Slythe1 : The only time I use your "hide around the corner" trick on a large scout is when my soldiers are very weak in overall stats - specifically reactions. Weak stats usually = new soldiers = the start of a campaign. Even then, I never employ the use of proxy mines on this type of mission with rookies. Why? The main point: Time Units!

 

Rookies lack enough time units to get around the corner, pick up the weapon/clip/grenade/body/artifacts after the blast, and still have enough to get back around the corner into hiding. Even using multiple rookies to haul the stuff to a blast-free location often leaves one poor soul hung out to dry in an exposed location.

 

My course of action? Wait until you hear spacecraft doors opening, and then peek around the corner. If no aliens were spotted, the rookie returns to its original location. If you see an alien and it sees you, take a rookie from the other side and shoot the bugger in the back with laser auto-fire. If the alien can't see you, walk up to it and blast it in the back, then go back into hiding. I keep doing this until the mission is over. Shooting the aliens in the back increases the chances of a kill and allows you to recover everything - without resorting to explosives!

 

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To get the last alien out of a large scout I do as NKF mentioned: wait, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. ALL the aliens will leave the bridge if you give them enough time to recover some morale points lost (due to the death of his friends). When an alien recovers past the 50% mark, he will come out seeking revenge! Sure, it might take 25+ rounds after the second-to-last alien is killed for this to happen, but I have the patience of a saint. So I will literally out-wait the aliens because the game gives up eventually!

 

Normally, I wait outside and camp the door as usual, except I camp right at the door. The soldier with the highest time units, firing accuracy, and reactions if possible, stands at the entrance and waits until he hears spacecraft doors opening (he has a buddy stand on either side of him for backup). If doors were opened during the aliens round, the soldier right at the door opens it without stepping inside. (Do you see why I like playing UFO on PSX? This tactic is impossible in the PC version!) If he sees an alien, he shoots at it - usually killing it. If he was unable to log the kill, one of his buddies will pick up the slack and mop up!

 

What I have a problem with is Supply Ships. This is where the last alien guards the bridge till hell or high water - which is never. If the alien is standing outside the bridge, I end up tossing explosives into his general area. After a few explosions, it will drop. But what I would like is an effective non-MC strategy for luring the last alien out of a Supply Ship, as waiting never seems to help. My guess is that the extra deaths on a supply ship mission (as compared to a large scout), really wreaks havoc on the remaining aliens' morale.

 

Mind controlling all the aliens on a mission except the last one will have no effect on overall morale, so therefore the last one is fooled into thinking he has buddies left for backup. In reality, all his friends are now your friends (and also his enemies). This alien will assume everything is a-ok and will take on a more aggressive stance - allowing for an easy kill! If you do not have Psi abilities, another way is needed!

[NKF]

The guard in the bridge for supply ships is a real pain.

 

There's one high tech solution that don't involve psi. A heavy plasma. They grow on trees. Just blast a hole in the rear of the room, toss in a high explosive, take one step to the side, and whoomp!

 

Then there's the old grenade through the ceiling trick, but you do tend to feel bad about it afterwards.

 

Planting smoke grenades at the door sometimes works. If you wait, the smoke goes through walls. Then when you enter, just fire blindly with an area effect weapon. This one backfires a lot on me, but it's the only way I can deal with the alien without a heavy plasma.

 

There may be some trick to luring it out, but I haven't discovered it yet.

 

- NKF

[kai]

When I first started playing, I never went in to the larger ships, like a true chicken I had my soliders camping outside the door and picking aliens off wityh reaction fire (and the odd proximity grenade chucked in to the corridor

[Zombie]

kai -

there is nothing wrong with playing like a chicken! It keeps your soldiers somewhat safe and you do not have to go up to the higher levels of the ship to clear out every room. In the Playstation version of X-COM, the game gets really choppy and sometimes hangs when you have soldiers on the top floor (level 2) of a Harvester, Supply Ship, Terror Ship, or the Battleship - so I usually play chicken here just for the sake of finishing the mission. By the way, I prefer to describe the "chicken strategy" as a "Defensive Strategy"!

 

NKF - about luring the last alien out of a Large Scout using your method of bringing a soldier into the small room to the left of the ship: I used your Floater-Base-Solo-Challenge-saved game and loaded up the Lightning with some of your best and brightest soldiers. Then I waited until a Large Scout landed and sent the Lightning there. I killed all of the aliens outside (using my normal strategies) and then brought a few of your troops to the outside entrance of the ship. Maybe two turns passed before the last two floaters came out to play! Never even got into the ship, mind getting to that small room - the aliens came out on their own!

 

As for the Supply Ship, I never have aliens that stay inside the bridge of this ship. This situation can always be remedied with the Heavy Plasma to the wall or blaster bombs. The last alien always stands outside the bridge, right in front of the door! He never moves either! My usual tactics are throwing grenades close to where he stands, or firing high explosive or stun bomb rounds at the hull directly across from the bridge door. These are not direct hits, but rather incidental (or spillover) damage which take longer. Blaster bombs to the ceiling below the bridge kills the alien, but it destroyes the nav modules in the process! A direct-hit against the alien with a blaster bomb sometimes incinerates the body as well as destroying some alien alloys.

 

I always try to finish a mission and recover everything possible. This is just one of the restrictions I place upon myself. Usually, this precludes the use of explosives because they destroy what I am after. Finding a way to "lure" that last holdout in the supply ship would really solve my problem!

[NKF]

Nothing wrong with defensive strategies, if it minimises your loss rate.

 

Hmm, I suppose the alien in the bridge (of the large scout and the supply ship, and the abducter) that stays stationary does not spawn all the time. Give it a few more tries though.

 

As for the supply ship, I too find one outside the door very often, and splash damage can be your best friend. Though I often find one standing guard inside the room. It's that one that I find to be incredibly difficult to deal with.

 

- NKF

[Ki-tat Chung]

one thing i must ABSOLUTLY know....do the items that are in the ufo/base corrispond to what you get? like, if you destroyed a nav console, would you lose it in the debreifing screen/capture?

[Jman4117]

Yes, if you destroy it in the battlescape you don't recover it.