I need some TFTD advice

[crispy]

I've beaten UFO a few times, and while it's still challenging, I do okay.

 

However, TFTD seems a lot harder.

 

Can anyone give me some advice on how to keep my guys alive longer?

 

For example, is it better to split up (to cover more ground and protect my guys from berserk rookies shooting up the team) or is it better to stick together (more guns pointed in the same direction?)

 

What's the best way to take out those little flying UFO-looking things?

 

I'm early in the game and have only basic weapons. Which one should I do? (I have only gauss rifles and stun-lances at this point).

 

Currently, I'm on a cruise ship at sea, doing a terror mission on the shipping lanes. My guys are in their craft, waiting to disembark. I've reloaded a couple of times, so I know what's coming. When I open the door, I'm going to immediately have:

 

1 flying ufo-dealie dead-ahead (let's call it 12:00)

A second ufo-dealie at 3:00 and a third behind my at 6:00.

There's a yellow horsie-guy at about 1:00 on the second level, in firing position (but he usually waits for me to shoot him).

There's a second yellow horsie guy at 1:00 on the first level beyond a door, hiding behind some boxes, and a third just down the hall who's gonna pop out the moment I go through the door.

 

Suggestions?

[BladeFireLight]

I think the biodrone is suseptable to explosives.

 

The Tasoth all have MC skill so it may be best to only send out your best troops and let the rest cower weaponless in the ship...

 

I bet Veteran can give you some advice. this sounds like a mission he wrote about in some detail a few months back.

 

-Blade FireLight

[NKF]

Oy, you're up against biodrones (just pretend they're cyberdisc-lite's) and tasoth (TFTD's ethereal equivalents), what a combination.

 

Anyway, splitting up or moving everyone together is really your call. I prefer to spread everyone out but make sure everyone has a good clear field of fire between each other so that they can assist any of their buddies that need some extra firepower. Basically the good old scout + rear snipers group movement pattern.

 

The biodrones are dreadful little buggers. They explode like cyberdiscs, and their snapshot accuracies are incredibly high, making their reaction shots nigh fatal (on superhuman, they are. Their snapshots are 100+% accurate!). Your best protection would be to get better armour, so you can at least survive a few shots. Killing one is best done with a sonic weapon, either the rifle or cannon. You can safely destroy one without detonating it with a hand-to-hand weapon -- but this is only recommended if you are really close to one. The M.C.-Reader is also a valuable tool to use on the biodrones to check their TUs to see whether its safe to approach them. With the reader, also try to look for a chink in its armour. I know the tentaculats have very heavy front armour, but have little armour on the rear and sides. There might be one for the biodrone too.

 

One other thing about the biodrone worth noting is how they behave like the celatids (or was that the silacoid? One of the two terror units that associate with the Mutons) in UFO. They burn the ground as they move. As long as you've seen an area you will be able to see a biodrone's movement, even if you aren't looking at it anymore. Its a good indication of where a biodrone will have ended its turn. A pile of sonic pulsers should do the trick.

 

As for your shipping mission: Stay calm and try to take as many of the tasoth or the biodrones surrounding the LZ without leaving the safety of your Triton. If the tasoth start using psionic attacks on you, then perhaps you better dust off -- they'll probably be too tough to handle if you haven't yet evaluated your M.C. strength's yet. Otherwise, open the door, shoot at any aliens you see and end the turn. You could try taking a few steps out of the ship from time to time to get a better look around if you think it's safe. Then repeat as necessary until the LZ is safe enough for your troops to disembark without being shot at from all directions.

 

Just make sure no violent explosions occur near the Triton. Explosions on land appear to be more powerful than underwater ones. Land explosions can blow a big chunk out of the Triton, whereas the Triton's invincible underwater. On land, having a big chunk blasted out of the Triton can be a little inconvenient at times when you're using it as a safe-haven.

 

- NKF

[tasothmiester]

I would just like to point out to you NKF Crispy only has Gauss weapons so my advice would be to quit the mission BUT that is kind of the wussy way out so try doing what NKF said but use any explosives you have to soften up the Tasoths and when you do leave the LZ set up Squads of at least three making sure they are mixed eg. don't keep all the best shooter together you can then only hope and pray :angel: IF by some miracle you do manage it please mail me Oh and remember if you complete it research sonic weapons and sonic pulsers

[NKF]

Well, the Tasoth don't get the 1/2 weapon damage bonus that the lobstermen get, even though they have near identical armour stats, so the gauss weapons are quite adequate for taking out Tasoth. Not the best perhaps, but still good enough.

 

It's the biodrones that might put up a bit of a fight.

 

- NKF

[tasothmiester]

But still, gauss weapons have poor accuracy compared to sonic weapons I remember in my rookie days I stupidly gave one of my Men a heavy guass rifle thinking it would give a bit of firepower to the mission wrong there. It is about as good as a sonic rifle (which is lighter) with extremely poor accuracy compared to the sonic cannon. Even with the best shooters the heavy gauss is pretty naff

 

I would love to see someone win a alien artifact mission with all there men equipped with heavy guass rifles. when you use it with Lobstermen its like throwing a peanut at them :dontgetit:

[NKF]

To be more precise, even the sonic pistols are better than the heavy gauss. Compared with the sonic pistol, the heavy gauss's only advantages are that it is slightly better with aimed shot accuracy (albeit much slower) and its cheaper to produce. The sonic pistol trumps every other category.

 

The gauss rifles on the other hand are still quite formidable. They have what the heavy gauss lacks. Speed, better accuracy and a decent clip size. The gauss pistols are even better, but they seriously lack stopping power and to them, accuracy is something that happens to other people.

 

- NKF

[Sgt. Strike]

Three words I live by: modify, modify, and modify even more.

[The Demi-Godly One]

What do you do after that?

[NKF]

Anyone can use modified weapons.

 

The real trick is working with what you've got.

 

- NKF

[Sgt. Strike]

I use what I have, but with slight modifications. Actually, I tend to modify only earth weapons, and only to match alien ones. I actually slightly downgrade all the alien ones, so as to have an even chance at getting out some of my people alive.

[Jman4117]

With UFO I've had a rifle with 255 HE and 100 rds. It really evened things up a bit.

[The Demi-Godly One]

Yeah, evened.

[Jman4117]

Also gave 1% auto shot.

[The Demi-Godly One]

What do you have against terrain in the area?

[Jman4117]

Just making sure those pesky sectiods couldn't find cover then come out and blast my 160 stat soldier in a flying suit.

[Sgt. Strike]

Actually, I only slightly modify my weapons, not superhuman them. And when I get gauss, I use the rifles, without clips, as my main weapons.

[tasothmiester]

You would of thought that by this time the aliens would have come up with a weapon that has no need of clips and a generator inside of it. Something like the Phaser.

(Warning Flashback in process)

I remember when I was 6 or 7 my brother bought UFO (I was spectacularly pathetic at it ) I just didn't grasp the concept of it. However by the age of 9 I played TFTD with a slightly better concept. (snigger) But I researched all the guass technology thinking I would have the best weapons the problem was I kept ignoring all the Terror missions and downed subs etc

so I lost I tried it again with gauss weapons on all missions Result - I got an ass whoopin

But now at the age of 13 I have managed superhuman without ever ever using gauss weapons It makes the game so much easier but I think I'll have a bash using guass weapons sometime when I am extremely bored. also I've never used the utility. I'm quite proud with myself.

The thing is the gauss weapons are a derivative of the plasma weapons in x-com shouldn't they be as good as sonic weapons?

[NKF]

The thing was that, in TFTD, X-Com needed weapons that could work on both land and underwater. I don't think plasma weapons or laser weapons would work very well underwater. Particularly the laser weapons, they were more like lightning guns rather than beam weapons, and I don't think electricity (their power sources) and large amounts of water would mix very well. As for the plasma weapons, I don't think the alien alloys could survive prolonged immersion in salt water. (you could never recover them from the ocean, see, and no old UFO wreckages appear anywhere in TFTD).

 

Gauss weapons are really tubes with magnetised coils that can propel a small object at very great speeds. A small metal pellet fired out of the coils could easily penetrate thick armour. Such a thing exists, but I think the amount of energy needed to power it would be massive.

 

In TFTD, they may have derived an easily portable power source to power the X-Com gauss guns from alien plasma gun technology. But if I remember correctly, the Ufopaedia did mention something about uranium somewhere.

 

- NKF

 

edit: You know, I just had a thought. Sonic weapons are really just weapons that fire highly concentrated cones of noise that just shatters everything they hit, right? Sounds like they'd be completely useless in space. No sound, see?

[The Demi-Godly One]

I guess sonic weapons are useless if you're deaf to.

[NKF]

Not really. They might not hear the sound, but the vibration caused by the intense sound waves would still rip the person apart.

 

Take for example, glass shattering in the presence of a very high pitched sound. The moment it reaches too high a frequency, the glass just shatters. I guess the localised sonic waves from sonic weapons do something like that, but they just shatter everything they come into contact with. Nasty.

 

But the sound still needs something to travel through -- i.e. water or air. In a vacuum the sonic waves won't be able to travel.

 

- NKF

[Sgt. Strike]

Sonic weaponry can't be used in space due to the lack of a medium to transfer things through. However, microwaves, and other things work better in space than anywhere else.

However, since this is TFTD, and the question of whether a deaf person would be affected by sonic weapons or not, is a definite yes, but in a different way. But it's still basically the same as a hearing person.

Who has heard of the story of Beethoven sawing off the legs of his piano so that it would lay flat and he would pound on the keys to write his music?

[Jman4117]

And water is the best carrier so it would be devastating.

[The Demi-Godly One]

Oops, that was stupid I forgot about the vibrations, I wish I din't post that.

[Sgt. Strike]

Oops, that was stupid I forgot about the vibrations, I wish I din't post that.

Not stupid, my friend, just didn't know, or comprehend it. I won't go all Medivel on you, just try to help you up. Anyway, out of ignorance comes learning, out of learning come wisdom, out of wisdom comes intelligence. Or something like that. I'm trying to be a Sage here. It's not working, on with the show, this is it...