Terror Mission vs Shooting down Terror ship

[CapnKill]

Which one do you guys prefer?

 

Just got my HyperWave up and saw a terror ship looking to cause some trouble... sent 2 Interceptors and downed the ship, unfortunately though I lost one Interceptor.. I think I should've armed it better

 

But anyway, my assumption is htat I'd still prefer to do it this way since if I clear it, I get the ship and all the goodies in it as well... vs a terror mission where I get no ship, and also have to deal with civilians...

 

Thoughts?

[Bomb Bloke]

You'll typically be better off shooting down the terror ship, assuming you've got the firepower to do it without losing any craft. Plasma beams are your best bet - set your Interceptors to fire from maximum range, and the only UFO that can actually fight back is the Battleship (though some more aggressive UFOs - eg Terror Ships - may try to close the distance).

 

The catch is they're often out of radar range, and even if they're not, it can be tricky to catch them before they touch down.

[chiasaur11]

About the same.

 

And nukes work pre-plasma, sometimes, with the same strategies. Just takes more Interceptors in the air.

[NKF]

I'd much rather take on the Terror Ship as well. It might have something to do with familiarity with the rural/wilderness terrains - or rather the rural/wilderness terrain maps are much more open compared to the towns. Also you have a bit more flexibility in choosing when you attend the crash site, so the fight need not be in darkness.

 

It helps a lot that a portion of the aliens are placed inside the UFO. You'll at least have rough idea of where some of their forces may be. Not so easy in terror sites where they're scattered all over the map.

 

Terror sites do have a few double-edged advantages. Cover and civilians. Both you and the aliens can take advantage of both. Civilians, left to their own devices, offer additional distractions for the aliens to waste their TUs on. Of course, it also means you have to take more care with your explosives as well. In TFTD's version of superhuman, their contribution is often nil as a good majority, if not all, are often wiped out within the first few turns!

 

- NKF

[Sunflash]

See, I kinda prefer the terror missions myself.

 

Then again that's probably because A) The civis annoy me, and B) I like to use explosives. A lot of explosives.

 

Hiding in a house doens't do any good when I level it!

[Jman4117]

I always shoot them down if I can. Only problem is that they outrun everything but the Avenger, and it's only slightly slower than that, so you need to be close enough to catch it between the time it slows down to patrol the area, and when it lands on a city. If I don't have plasma, I'll probably let it land instead of risking an interceptor.

[zaimoni]

Plasma is convenient, but two interceptors with a pure Avalanche loadout are perfectly safe (with a little manual dexterity -- must start closing right before the third volley is fired, then manually disengage after the hit).