Questions for a newbie

[DoomMunky]

Hey there, all. I've been a Silent Storm junkie for ages, and now I'm on to THIS great game. But I have some questions:

 

1) Is there any way to get a country BACK from the aliens? So far I've lost the UK, France, and Australia, and that's a lot of funding.

 

2) Is there any way to rearrange the list of soldiers so my officers are at the top? I'm tired of the first guy on the list getting the rocket launcher, and having to trade stuff around...any pointers there?

 

I'm sure more will follow. Thanks in advance!

[Zombie]

*Waves at DoomMunky*

 

Nice to see you around again DM!

 

1) Is there any way to get a country BACK from the aliens? So far I've lost the UK, France, and Australia, and that's a lot of funding.

According to some forum members, the original DOS version of the game allowed countries to return again. This isn't true for later versions of the game, so technically this condition is a bug. I still wouldn't count on it happening often though.

 

2) Is there any way to rearrange the list of soldiers so my officers are at the top? I'm tired of the first guy on the list getting the rocket launcher, and having to trade stuff around...any pointers there?

XcomUtil allows soldier rearranging/equipping I believe. If you don't want to fool with that, you could hire some more freshmeat rookies and load them on the transport. That should move the more experienced soldiers higher up on the order.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Don't worry too much about losing the countries. The funds are certainly extremely helpful at the start when you don't have other sources of income (alien booty!), but that quickly changes and are very small in the grand scheme of things.

 

Studies have shown that you can't lose the game if too many countries withdraw, but will from consistent bad monthly performance. So just do your best and keep doing your missions well to keep the monthly score up. More importantly: don't forget to spring clean your stores every so often and unload some of the junk that you're not going to be using. The proceeds from the sales of excess heavy plasmas for example can sustain many players for the rest of the game.

 

As for your weapon ordering, in addition to adjusting the number of troops, you could also fiddle with the weapon loadouts. Just add an extra weapon that gets picked before the rocket launcher to push it back one slot. A rifle or heavy/auto cannon for example can push back the rocket launcher.

 

You could also just let them stick to whomever gets them. Just watch out for the heavy weapons, as you don't want to be encumbered.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

Note that officers aren't always your "best" soldiers. In fact they're technically more useful sitting in the back of the SkyRanger, as their presence helps keep morale up amongst the rest of your soldiers. Likewise you'll get more of a penalty should they get killed.

 

Rockets are best handled by rookies. Why? Because you don't need much accuracy to get a kill with them. In fact I'll sometimes forgo a direct shot in favour of aiming for a nearby barn: I'm more likely to hit it and the splash damage will still take down my actual target.

 

Things get even easier from an elevated firing location. A miss will still slam into the ground nearby instead of flying off into the beyond. When using non-explosives firing accuracy is a lot more important, so pass the more conventional weapons to those who can best use them.