Differences to X-COM (UFO2000)
Differences between X-COM's UFO/TFTD games and UFO2000
This section is meant to help the X-COM player in UFO2000 by pointing out the main differences in terms of your opponent, playability and new features.
The first thing that must be stressed is: UFO2000 is not X-COM. It has most of its features (and some great new ones to improve playability and add new stuff) but in terms of playability it is a completely new game due to the fact that your opponent is human, not the original's game AI. The bad news for X-COM players is: simply replicating UFO/TFTD tactics most likely won't work on UFO2000, for a number of reasons described on this section. But the good news is: although you will have to relearn a lot of things you will be able to play and use tactics like you never did on X-COM. Here you have a human opponent that not only reacts to your moves but can learn from them.
Humans players can be nasty opponents.
The first thing you must look out for is that UFO2000 is based upon X-COM (with some slightly differences) but your human opponent is smarter and sneakier than aliens controlled by an AI. Your opponent can:
- Create a diversion to get your attention into one side of the map while he is moving unnoticed by the other.
- Avoid your reaction units by taking a different route or by using smoke to block their vision.
- Use the roof of a building to move and to fall right on top of your soldiers.
- Move a lot faster than the aliens did.
- Act unexpectedly, usually by using tactics that no one would ever think of using on UFO (more on that on the other sections), using booby traps and all sorts of nasty things.
Other differences.
There are also a number of things that are different from X-COM and that you should pay attention:
- Damage/armor works differently. Every time the armor gets hit on one location (front, sides, back, under) it loses points, when it reaches 0 on that location the soldier starts losing health. On X-COM the armor rating was compared to the damage made by the weapon (which is calculated randomly, based on the weapons' power). If the armor rating is bigger than the damage the armor would take the hit without any reduction of protection. In practical terms this means that weapons like human pistols can kill a power suit on UFO2000 where in X-COM it would be impossible.
- Reaction fire seems to be lessened than in X-COM. In some situations where your soldier would fire on X-COM it won't on UFO2000. Also, your opponent can easily avoid some types of reaction fire.
- Usually when you wanted to shoot at a distant target on X-COM you would get the message: "Unit has no line of fire". On UFO2000 you can shoot at will at any target, even if there are 3 or 4 walls blocking the way (of course, killing it is a completely different matter...)
- Some of the original weapons work differently, if you're playing with the Modified (balanced) set, or have been removed from the game. The best examples are the heavy plasma (which has no auto fire here) and the blaster launcher (which can't be used on UFO2000). This has been done to avoid having weapons with too much destructive power. Although it is a blast (pun intended) to use a blaster bomb to eliminate 10 aliens on the original game here it might be a little too discouraging for a player to lose half his squad with one explosion.
- You don't have to worry about losing your troops like you did on X-COM. On the original game your troops, especially your veterans, were an asset to be preserved at all costs because of the experience they gained. On UFO2000 your troops are, to be blunt, expendable. It doesn't matter if you lose all but 1 of your soldiers as long as your opponent is defeated at the end.
- Thrown grenades and explosives with a 0 timer now explode upon contact rather than at the end of the turn.
- The range of your units' line of sight is slightly reduced from X-COM. On the original game the maximum range was 21 squares, on UFO2000 it is 17 squares.
- The terrain doesn't block explosions (for the time being).