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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Father Beast on 04-26-2001 09:36 AM
There's 2 kinds of aliens there. some big as a tank ugly ones, and these tall purple fellows. I killed a couple of each (man, takes a lot of hits with rifles to kill one of those big suckers), when on the same turn 2 of those big aliens jumped out and squashed my tanks! I figured I was in over my head and got everyone out of there. my score went down, but I didn't lose any soldiers.
was I really in over my head, do you think?
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That sounds like Floater/Reaver. Ethereal/Sectopod also fits that desciption, bit I don't think that's what it was. Ethereals look like nothing but purple/orange robes, while Floaters are purple mutated/cyborg things that look like an enemy from Doom. Reavers can only hurt you if they are right next to you, while Sectopods have long ranged weapons. If it was early in the game, it was probably Floaters. I know you don't want to hear this, but they are the least dangerous terror ships in the game. The five combos are, in approximate order of appearance, Floater/Reaver, Sectoid/Cyberdisk, Snakeman/Chryssalid, Muton/Silacoid, and Ethereal/Sectopod.
Floaters are fairly unskilled aliens, and relatively easy to kill. Reavers are not a problem if you scout the area well. They can't fit in houses, so they are usually in open areas where you can kill them at long range. Beware of warehouses, though, they can fit in those big doors and hide in there. (I have no clue how they open them with no arms, but they do.) Most squads can handle the floaters, you just got unlucky that time.
Question for those with more experiance and/or the strategy guide: Do grenades do damage to every section of a large enemy, or do they only damage it once? It seems that grenades are surprisingly effective against Reavers.
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Ari Rahikkala
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Unreported loss of streaming in atomic read operation
Oct 1999
time: 07:13
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Hmm... as I have no real strategy to share, I'll just share a few nitpicks  :
quote:
The five combos are, in approximate order of appearance,
Floater/Reaver, Sectoid/Cyberdisk, Snakeman/Chryssalid, Muton/Silacoid, and Ethereal/Sectopod
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Don't forget that Mutons have also celatids with them (IIRC celatids were the flying ones and silacoids the quick blobs whose method of attacking I haven't even yet found out).
By the way, is there a way any way of studying an intact cyberdisk, other than alien medics? I remember that I have seen a cyberdisk being intact without its self-destruction being triggered, but I can't be sure if I remember correctly. Another thing about cyberdisks, is my observation that they seem to enjoy spending their time at gas stations in terror missions correct?
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Father Beast
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My head stuck permanently in my civ
Feb 2000
time: 22:13
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That must have been reavers that one time. floaters are the ones that look like flying saucers, right? I ran into them on another terror mission.
I keep getting plastered on these terror missions. I went in on another one recently, and lost both tanks almost as soon as they unloaded. ended up losing almost everyone, and getting out with 1 living squaddie. Had a captain and 2 seargants in that troop, too. had to leave a bunch of laser rifles behind. set me back considerably.
Dang.
I also read through that FAQ and USG. sort of lets me in on what may be coming up. the idea of attacking huge ufo battleships is intimidating, to say the least!
I am learning, though. my second base sent out a team of rookies with rifles and took a downed small craft and only lost 2 troopers. I had invaded the UFO, and went both ways around the middle. I had my soldiers arranged around the door, looking at it, with some movement points left over. I was going to go through next turn. an alien acme through on their turn, and was shot down. this time I was smart and didn't move that squad. the last alien came through and met the same fate. cool!
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:13
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No, cyberdisks are the ones that look like little UFO's. They hang out with sectoids. Floaters are soldiers that look like cyberdemons from DOOM. They have an antigravity implant instead of legs.
If you don't mind a bit of a spoiler, this is the entire section of the UFOpedia that deals with alien life forms: http://www.tacticalplanet.com/xcom/ufo/ufop6.htm
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Urban Ranger
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Apolyton Duke of Off-Topic
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quote:
Originally posted by Father Beast on 04-27-2001 02:46 PM
I keep getting plastered on these terror missions. I went in on another one recently, and lost both tanks almost as soon as they unloaded. ended up losing almost everyone, and getting out with 1 living squaddie. Had a captain and 2 seargants in that troop, too. had to leave a bunch of laser rifles behind. set me back considerably.
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Go slow. Even slower than your normal missions.
Spread out a little and use section tactics.
When you move down the plane, don't go charging down. IIRC, you can see outside from the windows in the aircraft. Try that. Move the tank out one step, then look around. If it's dark outside, consider move a fast squaddie out and throw a few electo-flares.
You can take this to the extreme by moving the squad out near the exit, but not actually leaving the plane. Have your two best shooters kneel at the exit with lots of time units left, any aliens want to shoot at you will have to move into your field of vision.
Move your squad out slowly, you might even want to spend a turn or two getting down on the ground. Have everybody kneel so you get a better chance of shooting at aliens. Never run out of time units when your turn is over.
Also remember that, if an alien is shot it will shoot back, but if you lob a grenade, it won't shoot.
By the way, once you have laser rifles you might want to start researching alien alloys so you can start making body armour. Good to have
Have lots of engineers crank out laser rifles to sell. Not as good as heavy laser cannons, but still make a pretty penny.
[This message has been edited by Urban Ranger (edited April 28, 2001).]
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Urban Ranger on 04-30-2001 06:01 AM
No way. You don't want to go too fast in a terror mission. The tank is optional, but you must proceed very slowly.
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I seem to have different experiences. On most missions, especially terror missions, I spread out as fast as possible. If I kill the aliens as fast as possible, they can't sneak up on me or mow down civilians. Almost all of my casualties come from reaction fire in my movement phase, and nothing can really stop that. You have to move there eventually, and if you move there fast and see them on your turn the other team members will able to kill the alien before it gets its turn.
There are two classes of aliens on terror missions: soldiers and terrorists. I believe that the terrorists hunt down civilians, while the soldiers go after your troops.
But then, I don't have much experiance with terror sites. I only have to deal with two or three per game, because after I get hyperwave decoders built I shoot down all of the terror ships and the scouts on terror missions. Then I usually let the terror ship rot on the ground unless it is a floater ship or I am feeling adventurous. I hate those things because I usually take three to six casualties, especially with those cyberdisks. No armor can stand up to them; they can kill a tank or a flying-suit clad trooper with one shot.
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:13
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One strategy for dealing with crysallids/zombies is to have everyone keep primed grenades on their belts. It the chrysallids turn them into zombies, they drop the stuff and it explodes, killing the zombie and hopefully the chryssalid as well. This also has the added bonus of quicker throwing. But if a trooper gets shot while surrounded by teammates, the result can be disastrous. But if they are using grenades on you anyway, this bomb strategy will force you to spread out.
Have you researched heavy plasma yet? If not make it a priority. I try to make sure that I have power suits and heavy plasma by the time snakemen show up.
[This message has been edited by Richard Bruns (edited May 03, 2001).]
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Urban Ranger
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Apolyton Duke of Off-Topic
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Don't worry. Father Beast, each person has a different playing style.
Plama weapons are good, but they use up your limited supply of E-115, which you could used elsewhere (flying suits, hover tanks, plama cannons for fighters, and blaster bombs). I myself prefer flying suits. They make attacking landed/crashed UFOs much easier, esp. if you also have blaster bombs.
For using grenades, you might try this tactic. Form 3 or 4 person terms, and have your squaddies in the back of the formation throw grenades. Rocket launchers are also good against terrorists in the beginning.
To reduce casualties you must master the use of opportunity fire.
If you have researched heavy lasers crank up the production since they are good cash items. You might want to consider build a research/manufacting only base in a remote place, such as the Antartica.
Dissident,
I found heavy plasma too slow and too heavy for my liking. A veteran trooper can dish out more damage using autoshots.
[This message has been edited by Urban Ranger (edited May 04, 2001).]
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:13
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Heavy laser and laser cannon are a waste of time. For about as much effort, you can get heavy plasma and plasma cannons. I research heavy plasma long before I have enough to equip a squad with, because plasma cannons are the best craft weapon. They only use elerium when you make them, they don't need reloads.
I don't manufacture alien weapons and I certainly won't waste elerium making ammo. I only use what I collect and I use the stuff sparingly. I also try to unload any unused clips before the end of the battle. But if a single shot has been fired, you lose the whole clip, so you might as well use it all up in the battle to flatten buildings and walls. Another trick is to look at the equipment of aliens you have killed. If they haven't fired a shot, unload the clip. If they have, pick up the weapon and start using it.
As a side not, I have never, not once, seen a heavy plasma slow down a soldier. They seem to weigh as much as laser rifles. One trick with heavy weapons is to toss them onto the ground at the end of your turn. The soldier will start the next turn unburdened, with full time units. Then they can pick up the thing and proceed.
I tend to have realy bad experiances with my reaction fire. On three missions yesterday, I had a trooper (veteran squaddie in each case) kneel with 40+ time units, looking at an area where I knew aliens were. In each case, the alien walked out in full view of the trooper and calmly killed him. One time, it also killed another soldier. I am quite sure that I would have suffered less casualties if I had charged ahead and tried to kill it that turn.
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:13
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The old version was designed to run in DOS; the manual warns against running it in Windows. But I never had any problem running it in windows on my old computer. I just set up a shortcut to the .exe and it ran fine.
But on my newer computer, I couldn't do that. It wouldn't tun sound at all, and without sound it was really choppy and buggy. Father Beast sent me a Windows version from a PC Gamer CD, and I use that now. It's a copy of the game altered to run under Windows. It works fine, but some of the animations go too fast. E-mail me if you want me to send it to you.
As far as I know, there is no way to see the difficulty of a saved fame.
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27-04-2001 09:18
). I research these before I do the others stuff to win the game (alien commander etc). you must have advanced weapons for your craft and your troops or you are toast.
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