Engaging the Enemy (Apocalypse)

when entering the battlescape, it is always best to use real time, except when going for a capture. the tactics you employ may vary widly depending on who you face, but are vastly diffrent from those employed in the first two games. this is divided into early, middle, and late game vs. both aliens and other humans

The diffrence

the main diffrence is in the avaliblity of armor in the early game. Megapol and even Marsec armor is nearly immune to early-game weaponry, a far cry from the instant death plasma of the first game. only hyperworms can easily penetrate armor until the boomeriod is deployed.

early game: aliens

At first, your only worries are multiworms and brainsuckers, though spitters are dangerous in large numbers. multiworms themselves are not dangerous, but it's hard to kill them at range and hyperworms are death in melee. use autocannon and machine guns, preferably two weapons per trooper. upgrade to plasma guns as soon as you can. grenades are only slightly effective, as they are often unable to kill in a single hit or noticeably weaken enemies. stun gas, however, is pretty useful for captures and beating multiworms. Rocket launchers have a tendency to hit your troops at times, so it's best to not rely on them.

early game: humans

This varies widely, as the diffrent groups are armed diffrently, but what you really have to worry about are cultists, gang members, marsec troops, and megapol, as these are the most dangerous.

Cultists wear megapol armor, and have autocannons, grenades, plasma guns, rocket launchers, and bascially everything megapol sells.

Gang members are equipped with a wide array of guns, though plasma guns are somewhat rare. diablo members are equipped with incindary grenades on occasion.

Marsec troops have marsec gear.

megapol troops have megapol's inventory of leathal weaponry.

In all cases your main advantage is that you can employ grenades frequently. explosive autocannon fire is also of great value, as your enemies tend to clump. target rocket launchers first, then shoot whoever is shooting at you. inflict maximum collateral damage, as a bankrupt foe can't counterattack.

mid game: aliens

when you pass 1000 points, things take a change for the lethal. the antropods are now the prime target, behind only charging brainsuckers in threat. claiming disruptor guns slightly evens the odds, but your armor advantage is wiped away. skeletiods appear, and the nightmare of storming UFOs is not much changed from the other two games. when boomeriods appear, things get even worse. gladly, the non-armed aliens are now easy meat for disruptor guns. eventually the devestator cannon is deployed, proving lethal to armored andrioids in two shoots at times. begin phasing out human weaponry as fast as possible. keep your troops far apart when you can.

mid game: humans

this is much easier, as you are now equipped with the most lethal weaponry. in almost any battle, X-com troops will shred any resistance. you must still beware rocket launchers and plasma guns.

Late game: humans

By this point, humans will usually be complete pushovers. Protected by X-Com disruptor armor and personal shields, even taking direct hits from rocket launchers will do little to slow your agents down, and with evistator cannons and dimension missile launchers, you'll make short work of whatever human enemies try to take you out.

Storming UFOs

This can be tough, even early on. Early in the game, you'll start facing your first manned alien craft: transports and fast attack ships. Most of these follow the same basic design, a central gravity lift with the ship's control center on the upper floor. Generally, if the aliens haven't left the craft yet, you'll run into a few of them as soon as you enter the ship's hallway. Be careful not to get bunched up entering or a well-placed boomeroid can cause some serious harm to your troops.

Eventually, you'll want to secure the bottom of the lift, then move upward to the control center. One useful technique, if you can pull off the throw, is to lob a smoke or gas grenade up onto the upper floor from below. Smoke will help you move your agents into position without coming under fire, while gas grenades will ensure that there are no aliens (especially brainsuckers) lying in wait right at the top of the lift.

Once you enter the control room, be prepared for a fight. Unless you were met by a large number of alien attackers in the entryway, the bulk of the ship's crew is likely to be up on this level, and most of the time they're entrenched behind barricades or up on elevated catwalks, giving them a tactical advantage. Making use of gas grenades here to flush aliens out of their cover can greatly improve your odds of coming away without casualties.

It's important not to get complacent. Even late in the game, when you're wearing the best armor and toting devistators and shields, alien incursions in buildings can seem like cake, but UFO crews will almost always be as well-armed as you are and will have the tactical advantage in many cases.

tactics for human buildings

Corperate Headquarters

the corperate headquaters is almost the closest thing you'll get to an open-field battle in any of the maps in megaprimus. be glad, because it's also the alien's prefered target. it has three different layouts. first and most common is a single soild building with a large lobby, with a grav-lift and a horde of aliens in it. enter the lobby with all your troops at once and gun down the aliens inside. other aliens will swarm down the gravlift and out the nearby doors, so most aliens will be involved. after that, hunt the rest down with squads of troops. they prefer hiding upstairs. second, there's a pathway with small towers lining it. most aliens will emerge onto the pathway and can be cut down by mass fire. again, hunt down the survivors in the towers afterwards. third, there is a sprawling building with numerous entry points. sadly, there is no where the aliens will reliably swarm towards when you open fire in the area.

Slum

The slum is either an obstructed field, a brutal room to room hunt for aliens in some large buildings, another obstructed field with small buildings, or a building wrapped around a clear area, which you need to get cleared of enemies while dealing with enemies on the balconies. The building missions tend to have some mostly empty levels and some levels filled with enemies. the field missions... you remember the farm and forest terran from X-com1? kinda like that, with more trees.

Apartments

These are all small rooms with open squares and long hallways. ideal for being ambushed and seperated. in other words, these suck.