AllOutWar's X-Com Apocalypse Guide

X-Com Apocalypse is a classic. More than that - for 1997, this game has as much depth as some of the finest sims, while incorporating so much - from managing an organization, hiring/firing, human/hybrid/android unit types, skills and improvement, political relations, expansion well beyond your needs, gang warfare, research, manufacturing, base defense and setup...it goes on and on. And this is before you even get into combat and experience the thrill of real-time.

So many games like this are turn-based, which - although satisfying to some - are just a time sink for those busier with life (work, school, bands, wedding plans, etc). The game is actually short - it can be completed in just 2-3 months game time, which can be just 40 hours or so of actual effort. The real-time option lets you speed through a battle, and really experience squad-based tactical command. Move your guys in teams - groups of 6, or simply two partners checking a room at a time. Run at full speed, or crawl slowly and cautiously. So much variety, and the ability to learn from your mistakes (at the cost of lives, unfortunately). Real-time is a more realistic model, and helps Apoc survive the test of time much better (in my opinion). Of course, it's a departure from the other two games (which I find slow and unplayable).

The game has drawbacks, of course - it's out of date by now, and the graphics (and sound effects) leave something to be desired. There are minor bugs and glitches - from Widgets filling up inventory, to bases suddenly getting an extra lab superimposed on other structures, to brainsuckers not being able to attack units that are prone. There are all kinds of questions left unanswered - why are the aliens invading, if they can't survive in our dimension? Why do they slowly build up forces, tech and ships over time to match you, instead of coming all at once? Why do Disruptor Shields survive when you shoot down their craft, but they destruct if your craft is hit too much? Why don't Marsec - or other organizations - give you things, or discounts, or help?

Surviving this game is really just a question of getting through the UFO incursions successfully - shooting enough down to get what you need, and attacking the aliens right when they drop. Depending on difficulty, aliens may spread to neighboring buildings immediately - and while they can die off in a day or so, that's experience and combat you miss out on.

Here is my list of ticks, trips, facts and findings to help you enjoy this game and circumvent the issues many face. Big nod to Roger Wong for doing most of the legwork over a decade ago. His notes made this game the awesome experience that it is!

Vehicles

Right away you start with a nice selection of vehicles. The Valkryie will serve a dual-purpose as your flagship and your troop transport. Hoverbikes and Hovercars will be your main air attack fleets. Like every guide states - sell off ground vehicles. The Wolfhound APC is the most useful, since it has better troop/cargo capacity than the Valkryie - but it a) can't reach alien UFO crash sites, and b) can't get past destroyed road. I can't count how often a bug chunk of road is destroyed right where a UFO deposited aliens - the APC just goes in circles trying to find a route. It's also slow!

The Hawk I would dismiss earlier as an expensive, slow waste - but when UFO type 7 and 8 come around, you need one or more in your arsenal. Nothing outpaces your custom aircraft, like the Retaliator - but keeping a few Hawks at home is always a good move.

Bases

I like to buy a second base right away, usually the first week. There isn't much else to spend money on, and having a second base lets me launch aircraft from a second spot, as well as start planning a manufacturing/research center. The main base becomes a garrison mainly, with training/medical facilities and smaller labs.

I buy the base with the most space, at the least cost. Hades block on Medium difficulty is a great example. Give some weight to the warehouse vs. slum argument, and the general defensibility of the base from assault. But honestly I am rarely if ever attacked, so it's almost a non-issue.

An odd limit I noticed was a max of 4 labs per base. Crazy! Other structures are fine - but 4 labs is the max. Weird!

Raids

Some people espouse raiding organizations, for stat boosts, goodies, or simply to punish an organization like the Cult of Sirius. This never seemed effective to me - stun raids exploit a weakness in the design, and otherwise battling the CoS means you'll get a rocket in the face more often than you anticipate. It also boosts your score, boosting alien technologies faster.

Agents

Androids are really the top unit in early game stages. Complete with good accuracy and a ton of health, these guys are strong, effective, and replaceable. They also don't get brainsucked or mind-controlled, making them useful into mid-game. These will start as your shock troops, and later become your brainsucker/psimorph/micronoid specialists, before finally settling in as base defense troops.

Humans have incredible abilities to improve. Even a shoddy prospect at the beginning can train to supremacy in just 3-4 weeks. These guys should be about 60% of your troops - let them train, use them for missions, but be aware they are semi-squishy.

Hybrids are weak in health, but like humans can train to stellar levels. They also have better psi defense and some (minor) psi attack. I usually train these guys in psi only for weeks, but that leaves their accuracy and health low. Be sure to switch them between training facilities to really make these guys super warriors - otherwise they'll be about 10-15% of your force, and just a one-hit kill for devastator cannons.

Scientists

At the beginning, you need a small Biochem lab (default) and an Advanced one. The Advanced one will be used to research Toxiguns and Toxin B (possibly C) only. Build the Advanced BioChem lab as soon as you can, meaning when it becomes available and when you have the finances/space.

Focus will soon change to Physicists as your main scientific resource - will all the UFO types, alien tech, and much more to research, they will be busy for over a month. Make UFO type 3 a priority for recovery, and figure out the 3 techs that come along with it ASAP. As soon as you get any one of the three, you can build an advanced Quantum lab, probably in your second base. Make this the biggest priority, because you'll need that lab.

Once you have a fair amount of tech that you can manufactur - shields, toxigun, and a ship type - it's time to change to Engineers as the primary focus. Engineering will let you profit hugely from items like toxiguns and ships - you can become self-sufficient if you wanted. Depending on how long you want the game to go, you can create as many workshops as you want - I usually have two large and two small. Big ones create vehicles, small ones create toxin and armor. At least one should be doing high-profit sales only - BioTrans or Toxiguns, etc - to pay for the rest of your manufacturing. This helps in case you need to become self-sufficient or get hostile with Marsec, etc.

Alien Ground Combat

For missions, the priority is on survival, but there's also weight that should be given towards getting aliens for research - alive, dead, and their gear. At the beginning when all they have is brainsuckers, you can use the AutoCannon or missles on everything with no harm done. Soon, however, they have disruptor guns, which are $2500 a pop and should be saved. Boomeroids, cannons, vortex mines and more follow - all having significant cost, especially for the starving X-Com organization. More on that later.

You'll get most dead aliens without much effort - except maybe the popper (use lasers). Live ones are more of an issue - ESPECIALLY poppers. You have to use the babysit trick - stun a popper, and immediately sit on it with a spare agent. Same for psimorphs, micronoids, megaspawn and skeletoids. But honestly - the goal is to get toxin B, toxin C isn't even imperative to winning the game.

Finances

One great part about this game is, even with the financial limits and (relatively) low amount you get from the government to combat UFOs, the game always gives you ways to make tons of additional money. Be crafty, be cheap, and you'll be rewarded.

Right at the outset, sell all your spare vehicles. The ground vehicles - get rid of them. Get rid of their ammo too. That's enough to buy the vehicles you do need, with some cushion for that 2nd base.

When you buy hoverbikes, and remove their auto-cannons for lasers or missles - sell back those auto cannons and ammo! They come with 300 rounds - that makes back some of the hoverbike cost right there.

When you start interacting with aliens - stun, lasers, and machine guns as MUCH as possible, as soon as they get boomeroid/disruptors. Disruptors are $2500, boomeroids $900 or so. I've had some times where I'm clamoring for money, and then I finished researching boomeroids - and poof, unloaded 99 of them to the market. Hawk right there! Prices only come down, so if you want them back - buy them back next week!

Soon you have devastator cannons - if you're shooting down UFOs, AND making raids when they beam aliens down, that's a ton of equipment your netting. Mines, boomeroids, cannons, personal shields - these are expensive. Alien UFOs also give you disruptor beams - how many ships you going to equip with light disruptors? Bio-Trans. That's it. So sell all those suckers, as soon as they're researched, in one fell swoop. Buy one back for the bio-trans later.

When you have full-scale manufacturing, have one large workshop just making profitable items - toxiguns, bio-trans. One Bio-Trans can be sold and pay for 3 more to be built...which pays for 9 more...which pays for anything else you could want. Build toxiguns if you need to raise capital for a Bio-Trans. Once you start the dominoes, don't let them stop.

Quantum Physics research tree:

The goal here is to shoot down UFO type 3, and then let the games begin. One alien tech -> Advanced Quantum Lab -> Other two alien techs -> Dimension Probe. Don't delay!

Also don't forget the disruptor is necessary before the ship shields can be researched - I kept getting confused as to why I had tons of shields but couldn't research them.

Tips/Tricks

• Need to get an item to your other base fast, like Toxiguns, but you can't transport them for some reason? Just sell at one base and buy at the other. No net cost.