Differences between EU and TFTD

[Catwalk]

I'm trying to make an exhaustive list of differences between the two games. Which game do you prefer? Please leave a comment explaining your choice, and help me with any differences I may have missed or gotten wrong.

 

Theme

- Ground vs underwater

- Depth adds another layer to the lighting levels in addition to day/night cycles, and influences palette tint.

- Land/sea maps flipped with craft no being able to intercept on land

- Underwater only restrictions on various weapons

- Differing terror unit land/sea pairings for the various major crew types

Aliens

- Floater vs Gillman: Floaters float, Gillmen have slightly better Reactions + Firing Accuracy.

- Sectoid vs Aquatoid: Roughly the same, small improvements to most stats for Aquatoids.

- Muton vs Lobsterman: Lobstermen have almost twice the Time Units and Reactions, 50% greater Firing Accuracy and more than twice as resistant to MC.

- Ethereal vs Tasoth: Almost 3x the health and slight improvements to Time Units, Reactions and Firing Accuracy for the Tasoth but lower armour and MC values.

- Snakeman vs Hallucinoid? (no direct match): Both pretty useless aliens, so not much difference here

- Bio Drone vs Cyberdisc: Grrr, no Wiki info on Bio Drones.

- Reaper vs Xarquid: Same for Xarquids...

- Silacoid vs Calcinite: And Calcinites, I'm going to add this stuff.

- Celatid vs Deep One: ...

- Chryssalid vs Tentaculat: Yay, info here. Tentaculats have a few more Time Units and Health points, much better Reactions and vastly superior MC resistance. And just for fun, they fly. BUT! Tentaculats don't appear on terror missions, unlike Chryssalids.

- Sectopod vs Triscene: Nope, no info here either.

Weapons

- Pistol vs Dart Gun

- Rifle vs Jet Harpoon

- Heavy Cannon vs Gas Cannon

- Auto Cannon vs Hydro Jet Cannon

- Rocket Launcher vs Torpedo Launcher

- Laser vs Gauss

- Plasma vs Sonic

- Melee weapons in TFTD

- Damage multiplier tables rebalanced

Interface

- Able to open doors in TFTD without entering

- TU bleed button in TFTD

- Ability to view stats while equipping

AI

- Aliens move around more in EU?

Missions

- Alien base missions: Two-stage, fixed inhabitants, tough!

- Synomium device missions: New, two-stage, tough!

- Ship missions: Two-stage, pain-in-butt, tough!

- Final mission: Three-stage, never got that far

- Standard missions: More varied terrain

[Slaughter]

UFOpaedia.org, XCOMUFO.com and StrategyCore should be good places to look for information on that .

 

Personally I played TFTD first, and prefer the atmosphere there. The underwater setting adds a lot in my opinion, and thus makes the tactical missions in that game an even richer experience. That said, the two phased terror missions on ships (full of Lobstermen) can be a game killer for many, so like the majority of X-COM fans I find myself returning to UFO most of the time. In general I think TFTD adds too little to the overall game (they should have done like the UFO:After... games and added customisable weapons, more advanced drones climbing walls etc.).

[Catwalk]

I agree completely with the perspective that TFTD is way disappointing if seen as a sequel. The improvements are miniscule. However, I do prefer it over EU because of the difficulty, the theme, cooler aliens and the ability to open doors without entering What other little changes like that (opening doors) were made?

[Zombie]

Ethereal = Tasoth?

 

Don't forget about the drills. They were a nice touch, but too bad they come too late to do any good.

 

The thing I like most about TFTD is the variation in landscapes. It has twice as much variation as EU and it's really amazing how much time the designers must have put into it.

 

I don't agree about liking TFTD because it's harder. The whole friggin game revolves around screwing you over at every corner be it worse damage modifiers, no auto alien weapons, gauss which take clips etc. I would have been happy with a smarter AI and a slight retooling/rebalancing of the weapons, research tree and storyline.

 

Need I mention the raft of new bugs which were introduced? Nah, we know about them already.

 

Of course, the ability to open doors without stepping through is a nice touch, but this was implemented in the PSX version of EU which made it so much nicer.

 

 

- Zombie

[D2theG84]

Ethereal = Tasoth?

I agree with the ethereal and tasoth comparison. TFTD is my favorite between the two. It was actually the first I played.

Don't forget about the drills. They were a nice touch, but too bad they come too late to do any good.

 

The thing I like most about TFTD is the variation in landscapes. It has twice as much variation as EU and it's really amazing how much time the designers must have put into it.

 

I don't agree about liking TFTD because it's harder. The whole friggin game revolves around screwing you over at every corner be it worse damage modifiers, no auto alien weapons, gauss which take clips etc. I would have been happy with a smarter AI and a slight retooling/rebalancing of the weapons, research tree and storyline.

 

Need I mention the raft of new bugs which were introduced? Nah, we know about them already.

 

Of course, the ability to open doors without stepping through is a nice touch, but this was implemented in the PSX version of EU which made it so much nicer.

 

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Drill acquisition depends entirely on how quickly you can get a Calcinite corpse. You either get it early from an Aquatoid land attack or well into the game later on during a mixed crew mission.

 

Through the various discussions and experiments on this board, XCOMUFO and the wiki I've foudn that there are actually heaps of changes between the games. Many of them aren't immediately apparent to the players who have played both games.

 

Furthest thing from my mind at the moment so I can't suggest any right off the top of my head, but this would be a good excuse to start chronicling them from now on.

 

A couple of changes that are off the top of my head:

 

- TU bleed button

- Ability to view stats while equipping

- Gauss/Coelacaneth = Laser Tank with bugged ammo requirements

- Underwater only restrictions on various weapons

- Differing terror unit land/sea pairings for the various major crew types

- Colony inhabitants are fixed in type

- Variations in 'terror' missions, including two-parters and Artefact Site(sic)s.

- Land/sea maps flipped with craft no being able to intercept on land

- Damage multiplier tables rebalanced

- Depth adds another layer to the lighting levels in addition to day/night cycles, and influences palette tint.

 

 

- NKF

[Catwalk]

Thanks to both of you, added those points. What bugs are you referring to Zombie, and what's with the Gauss tank? I'd like to add an entry on the wiki about this, do I just go ahead and start swinging or do I need to ask someone for permission? Is it known what AI changes there are?

[Zombie]

Thanks to both of you, added those points. What bugs are you referring to Zombie?

Anything on the Known Bugs page of the wiki. There are additional bugs which aren't documented there, so if you find one make sure to report it.

 

...and what's with the Gauss tank?

It's a mess. I'll let NKF handle the reply, he documented all the issues with it.

 

I'd like to add an entry on the wiki about this, do I just go ahead and start swinging or do I need to ask someone for permission? Is it known what AI changes there are?

By all means, go ahead and add what you want. You don't need to ask permission to contribute, but if you are unsure about something it's always a good idea to mention it first in a discussion page or at either of the X-COM forums (here or at xcomufo.com) so that people have a chance to discuss it.

 

- Zombie

[Catwalk]

Most of those bugs seem like minor inconveniences, so I think I'll leave bugs out of the list for now as my focus is on gameplay. If someone wants to list an extensive comparison of bugs for that wiki entry if I get around to it, np with that.

 

I'll get started on the wiki right away then, and use the original post above as my initial format. Going to make some more modifications now, please comment on the usefulness of it.

[NKF]

I think the Gauss Coelacanth arming bug is mentioned somewhere on the wiki, but to summarize:

 

Gauss SWS require 50 craft gauss ammo so that you can load it onto a craft. That's pretty normal.

 

You lose all of the ammo if you just as much as unload the Gauss Coelacanth off the transport. That is to say, if you put on the tank, took it off, changed your mind and put it on, and then changed your mind yet again and took it off, you'd be missing 100 gauss rounds from storge.

 

There is also the case of recovering what ammo is left over from combat. You don't.

 

What's happened is that the when programmers converted the laser tank into the gauss coelacanth, they only implemented the loading but didn't do anything for the unloading. Luckily the Gauss Coelacanth isn't as well loved as the original Laser Tank, and you get it when you have access to the awesome Displacers, so many players will probably not even notice.

 

P. S: That's another thing: Mag Ion Armor can only levitate underwater. Displacers are the only exception.

 

- NKF

[Catwalk]

Yeah, I don't recall ever using a Gauss Tank myself. What do you think about my proposed wiki entry above?

[Zombie]

Looks fine to me, add away!

 

- Zombie

[Catwalk]

The wiki reports gillmen having 80-118 health, your data table says they have 50-60 regardless of difficulty level. Which one is correct?

[Zombie]

I'm trying to not sound conceited here, but my tables are correct. I think that whoever added the stats for the Gillmen to the wiki mixed up Stamina with Health.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

- TFTD has larger maps, and far more different types of terrain, though granted half of them share art (sand, sand and more sand).

 

Unfortunately, underwater, you'll spend most of your time either in a coral reef or a bland sea floor. The game is literally rigged to make these appear far more often then any other type of terrain, regardless of which area of the ocean you've landed in.

 

(Different types of sea floor in the geoscape view (which is a garish mess, by the way) do lead to different types of terrain, they just have about a 50% chance of sticking you in a reef/empty seafloor map instead - unlike UFO, where if you land in a desert, you get a desert).

 

Then there's the beautiful but waaaay too large (and completely non-random) cruise ships. In the late game you'll be quite tempted to just let the aliens kill everyone on board rather then slog through another half hour (or longer) session looking for aliens hidden behind cabin doors. Again.

 

- TFTD has a ton of "non-shadable" colours in Battlescape mode, which can't be used to draw the actual map. Not so bad under water (as you expect everything to be tinted green/blue/turquoise), but on land things get pretty garish. It also sets most all font colours to white, for some reason.

 

- TFTD has a lot more sprites for units. Animations are increased no end, especially for tanks and the larger alien units. There were even unique sprites created for zombie soldiers, though these were never actually used in game.

 

- TFTD drop ships have no visible landing gear. Your soldiers start at ground level, not having to walk down a ramp, and can hence use the ship for cover much more effectively - you don't have to worry about fire on all sides, especially since you'll usually start off on either the left or right most sides on the map. Furthermore, they also have functional doors.

 

- TFTD has a more complex research tree. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually add much - it just makes it more complex by adding dependencies (mostly centered around aliens). For example, in UFO, if you want to get the better armors you need only research the components. TFTD forces you to research the Deep One aliens as well. Note that TFTD's research tree can also be "broken" under many circumstances, making the game unwinnable without hacking.

 

- TFTD shatters the suspension of disbelief by asking you to accept that your aquanauts don't know how to swim, and can function indefinitely with a punctured diving helm. Granted there was no swimming or drowning opportunities in UFO... I just like to complain about that.

[Alienated]

Another great difference is that alien subs on infiltration mission don't land and you have to down them (including two dreadnoughts) in TFTD. This group of UFOs lands at towns in EU.

 

Also, the substitute of the Terror Ship (Battleship) can return fire when you attack them with D.U.P. headed torpedoes in TFTD. You can safely make a Terror Ship crashland by Avalanch missiles in EU.

 

In a consequence, you always get a Battleship in wreck in TFTD because there is not a mission when a Battleship lands.