Just Started

[Strong Bob]

I've recently snagged a copy of Terror from the Deep, and after playing it... My ego concerning with X-COM has degraded dramatically. Turns out I'm not quite as good as I thought.

 

Anyways, in my first game I became ultimately self-screwed by the end of August of the first year. I didn't lose overall, but I was unable to afford a new craft with new men by the end of the month, and with all the USO's and bases around, I could tell my score was plummeting to the point where I would be gone by the next turn.

 

The purpose of this post: I was wondering if anyone here could give me pointers on what's a good way to start out? Also, what weapon works best against those damn Lobstermen? And, if possible, can anyone give me a listing of the tech tree I must follow? Because I've heard there's a somewhat strict combination you must use or else some techs become impossible and the game ultimately could become unwinnable.

[Bomb Bloke]

Lobby men. Why does everyone keep on complaining about them?

 

Lesse, stun bombs work well. I haven't tried the stun prods, but they might work well too. Ya never know.

 

Drills work GREAT. Sound great, too.

 

Guass will not work, unless you've got a lot of bullets (and TUs to spend).

 

A grenade or two might cause a kill.

 

The general rule is this; shoot them and they won't die. Use just about ANYTHING else on the beggars, and they're trashed.

 

They often carry stunguns. Try getting them to shoot your men at point blank range with them. If you have sufficient armor, your trooped will stay on his feet, and the Lobby man will go down.

 

Base assualts involve many Lobby men. If you don't think you can kill them all, and if you only have guass guns or worse at your disposal that may well be the case, then simply don't. Trash the base command core, and leave.

[Jman4117]

Gas cannon is the best starting gun. Take 4

Get guass rifles asap.

Get sonic pistols.

Get aqua armor.

Get medkits.

Get pulsers.

 

That should be around 4 months worth of research

 

For starting squad, the dart pistol and jet harpoon are patetic weapons. If they can carry gas cannons or torpedos, make sure they are carrying one. Gauss rifle is a nice all round weapon, and it has an auto shot. Replace the dart guns quickly.

 

I usually carry 4 gas cannons, 6 harpoons, and a tank.

 

As for tactics, use the tank for a scout. It is fast and has strong armor.

Remember that you can open doors without moving through them. Really puts an end to those reaction shots when entering rooms.

Lobstermen are easy to stun with shock launchers, stab with lances, or snipe with sonic cannons.

 

And remember to save often and have a few slots you do it in. Game crashes and research bugs can be real killers. :/

[Strong Bob]

I guess that was my main problem with the Lobstermen... Most all my men were outfitted with Gauss weapons when I encountered them. So far I've only seen them on one mission. It goes without saying that Magna Grenades are next to useless against them.

 

I never bothered to research medkits because I found them to be a tad useless, and a bit of a waste, in UFO Defense. Are they any more useful in TFTD?

 

There's still the issue with the tech tree. At the moment I'm afraid to start research on anything until I know what won't cause problems.

[Bomb Bloke]

Ooh! Ooh! Yeah! Important thingy! You can now open doors!

 

If you don't already know how, stand next to the door, then right click on it. Your troop will stand still, but the door will open.

[Strong Bob]

I already knew about the doors. It's just everything else that's my problem.

[Jman4117]

I generally wait until I get armor before even thinking about medikits in either game. It's just....RIBAH!..ARGH!!!!

 

The gas cannon or sonic pistol might take one down in 3-4 shots. 2 pulsers should also work, so maybe 5 standard nades?

 

My first time through the game I had gauss pistols when I saw my first Lobbie crew. 14 vs 8ish. I got my butt severly kicked. 3 guys escaped after killing around 4 of the aliens. :/

 

Edit: Had 3 clips on each man too, and ran out.

[Strong Bob]

Strange thing about the Lobstermen... I wasn't able to defeat them until they dwindled my forces to one guy. I stole one of their Sonic Cannons, and that one last soldier was able to kill the rest on his own. (I recall taking down about 4 Lobsters and 2 of those brain saucer thingies)

[Bomb Bloke]

The first Lobby man I saw took well over twenty rounds. Lucky for me, he didn't return fire. It was a base assult. I grabbed the corpse, and continued the mission, hoping I wouldn't find another of the behemoths. The base was crawling with the things, so I left the map.

 

Research requires you to nab lots of aliens. Patch the game. The tree has been known to break otherwise, though I haven't seen it happen myslef.

 

If you see a diving suit walking around, it's an alien, and a rare one. Catch it alive if you can.

 

Medkits? Once you have *any* amour, I find them very useful in both UFO and TFTD. Any difficulty level.

 

You need an alien called 'The Deep One'. You'll soon recognise it. It's needed for the "alien alloy" type stuff... I think.

 

Alien grenades might work better against Lobby men. But I couldn't say for sure. The Blaster Bomb (or at least it's TFTD couson) will, more often then not, kill them.

 

Use heavy fire on the Lobby men until something - anything - else becomes available. If you can, stun them. Keep in mind they have a built in melee attack, so disarming them isn't always efficient, but it beats trying to kill the things with guns.

[NKF]

https://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/temporary/trtbag.html

 

My TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide. Full of spoilers, and only covers the buggiest parts of the research tree (coincidentally, the most important one armour-subs-T'Leth, all you need to win the game). If anyone wants to take a shot at cramming this document into something that can be put in your back pocket, by all means, do so!

 

Take extra special care with the Ion Armour and the MC Reader in particular.

 

---

 

As for strategy: Eh, play well.

 

My heart really isn't in it at the moment, so I'll fire off a few at random.

 

Grenades. Unlike UFO, grenades have had their durability supersized! They're strong enough to withstand their own blasts. Sonic pulsers in particular are indestructable until they detonate. Now you can stack multiple explosives on a single target, like a lobsterman!

 

Also, if you think you can see an alien, toss a grenade rather than go and see it yourself. Getting in their line of fire can only mean drawing reaction fire. Aliens in TFTD like to store up their TUs for reactions.

 

When using melee weapons, combine it with the M.C Reader. Someone in the back of the Triton can use it to check if an alien is worth approaching. If it's used up all its TUs, you have a better chance of sucess perforating the alien with a drill than to fire away with a sonic cannon over a short distance. Be sure that you can at least get two attacks (with a vibroblade, one with a HTL) and have enough TUs to walk away or at least hide somewhere.

 

Note, while an alien looking the other way is a prime target for a drill attack, remember to check its TUs anyway. If it's got a full TU bar, then without a doubt, it will get a reaction shot if your melee attack fails.

 

For standard any mission that lets you use your Triton: the Triton is a great place to hold out against any attackers before deploying. Look at it this way, there's no reason to go out of the ship and get shot at from every side, when you can open the doors every turn and shoot at everything that passes by within your range of view. A soldier can even use a particle disturbance sensor to check if anything is moving on the other side of the Triton. If there is one, someone can prime a pulser, hand it to the one nearest the door, step out a few tiles, toss the grenade over the ship and get back inside again. (don't do this on land missions. Finally, when you think the coast is clear (or most of the aliens have been wiped out), leave the ship and mop up the rest of the aliens on the map.

 

I know it's not a very macho method of starting a mission, but it keeps you alive. I would recommend not doing this on land missions as the Triton, for some reason, is very weak against explosives on land.

 

Anti-lobsterman weapons include:

Thermal Tazer (good luck in using it though - it's too slow)

Thermal Shok Launcher + explosive weapon (any explosive will kill them instantly if they're unconscious)

Any drill (that's right - any, great for ships, buildings, etc)

Sonic cannon (three hits average)

 

I normally say that using explosives on them are a waste of time, as they take half damage. I'll take that back as it's not entirely a bad idea after all. Explosives strike their under armour, which is their weakest spot. Though halved, this can cause some serious damage. Even the Gas Cannon HE shells can be as powerful as a beam from a sonic pistol. And the coup-de-grace: Multiple sonic pulsers. Boom, boom, boom! It's bound to feel something after that.

 

- NKF

 

P. S: Hey, have you tried waking up a soldier who has been blasted with one shok bomb with a single medikit? Most of the time you cannot. You need multiple medikits. Medikits are handy, even if you don't want to save a soldier from dying from blood loss, you'll at least want to revive your super soldier who was knocked out cold with a single shok bomb.

[Bomb Bloke]

...

 

We need an 'Ask NKF' section on this forum. Seriously.

[Jman4117]

An links to that research tree.

[Strong Bob]

Thanks a big one, NKF.

 

As to the medi-kit quip... It's not that I don't want to revive my own soldiers. I just never see any opportunity where using a medi-kit would ever have any advantage. When it comes to wounds... My soldiers are often killed in one shot, and when they're not they usually only have one or two more turns to live... But at the same time, what are the chances that someone will be in range to administer the medi-kit?

 

For unconscious soldiers... For me, it's extremely rare that any of my guys get knocked out. And even then, it's usually because they were walking through too much smoke without armor. (And at that point, I probably won't even have medi-kits available yet)

 

Meh, it must be a difference in strategy. I just don't see the point in have an item that takes up space like the medi-kit, when I find myself never even using it.

[Jman4117]

Smoke stuns you in TFTD too? O.o

Is it just on land or also underwater?

[NKF]

I generally use the same strategy I use with the grenade relay. Toss the medikit over to whomever needs it. The trick is not to isolate your troops to much.

 

True, it takes up space, but don't leave without some. At least take two or three for the whole squad. You never know when it will come in handy. With or without armour, if you at least have the chance of saving a life, that's one less negative score to contend with.

 

I know in TFTD the weapon levels are crazy. At least in UFO you were okay even without armour. But you never know. You just never know.

 

I generally take a max of 4 for my largest troop carrier and that's pretty much it. Plenty more space to fill in sonic pulsers and other equipment. Same goes for flares.

 

As for dust - yep, works in TFTD as well. Only way to really prevent the intake is wear better armour. Like UFO, the more advanced the armour, the lower the smoke intake. Or, at least, underwater it's dust particle/ink intake.

 

- NKF

[Strong Bob]

Well, my last post was in reference to my UFO Defense experience. I haven't bothered even trying to research medi-kits in TFTD yet.

[Alien-Bait]

If youre under water, dont really worry about smoke, it doesnt affect your troops

Try to get to as many missions as possible, they will earn you major points with the governments

The Resort on the island map burns very nicely

BEWARE THE TENTACULARS! THEY ARE EVIL! EVILLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!11!1!!1!1

[Bomb Bloke]

I carry one medkit per trooper. Don't let troopers wander off on their own; if you do that, you won't be able to use the medkits. Also, it's harder to avenge the death of a comrade if the next soldier has to walk all the way across the map to get there. That sorta thing gives the aliens time to regain their TUs, and we can't have that now, can we?

[Strong Bob]

In all seriousness, what good are the medi-kits if soldiers are killed within one shot? I can only recall extremely rare occasions where I've had soldiers survive a direct hit from even a dinky plasma (Let alone Sonic) pistol. Because of this, I'm sometimes even hesitant to bother with armor.

[NKF]

And what of those few that do survive?

 

True enough, the medikit (like any number of things in this game, like armour, flares, molecular control, etc) is merely a convenience. Not a necessity. You can play through the entire game without a single medikit if you wanted.

 

I just like to be prepared for any eventuality, so I generally hang on to a bit of everything.

 

- NKF

[XCom42]

I don't know...My captain got hit from a sonic rifle and it took half his health! A medikit saved him from worse...After I finish raiding this colony, he'll be out for a while recovering! As for lobstermen tactics...

 

Right now I only have gauss weapon tech. So you have to hit them numerous times. On the plus side, numerous hits increase your soldiers firing accuracy, on the downside, it's damn near impossible to drop a lobsterman with gauss! So I usually have each soldier carry a magna pack explosive to rattle them up a bit, them move in close with the stun rods...It usually does the trick!

[Bomb Bloke]

When your commander has hitpoints in the single figures... and three critical wounds... and a psi factor of 100... You'll be glad you brought that medkit along.

 

My research aims go as follows. First, I get the laser rifles. Then, the personal armor. Next comes medkits, followed by heavy plasmas, and perhaps alien grenades. When I've got all that, I'm good to go.

[Strong Bob]

Alright, I've run into a snag, although I don't know how...

 

Apparently I can't seem to research Sub Construction, despite following the instructions on NKF's guide there. I made sure I possessed Sub Construction in storage before researching the Transmission resolver and I still have nothing. Anything I missed? I've got both Zrbite and the Resolver finished as well.

[Jman4117]

Aqua plastics? Deep-one?

[NKF]

What else is on your research to-do list?

 

- NKF