Spring Cleaning Tips

Spring Cleaning

While your bases' storage space is for all practical purposes infinite, the number of General Stores modules you have does have real effects. Once your Stores fill up, you will only be able to move items into the base by acquiring them on tactical missions or manufacturing them on site (or maybe moving them in stuffed in the back of a Skyranger). You will be unable to purchase new items, transfer items from another base, or move them off craft. Therefore, it is to your best interest to keep at least a little free space in Stores. In addition, selling those corpses, weapons, etc. is a good source of money.

Decluttering your stores is as simple as selling or moving unnecessary or even redundant equipment. You should make it a point to spring clean once every few months or after playing a series of missions with a high amount of recovered loot.

But that's simple common sense. What's more difficult is deciding on what to keep. If you have a clear idea of what you need and how much you need, then your job will be much easier. But if you're new to the game, or you aren't too sure but want to keep your stores as bare bones but still functional as possible, read on for a few tips to get you started.

Tips

• Exotics: These items are usually acquired by capturing downed or landed UFOs, though navigation, power units, and alloys can be manufactured.
  • UFO Components - 1 navigation, 2 power sources minimum. This is enough to construct one of any hybrid craft. There is little reason to keep too many spares once your fleet is complete, however. These should only be stored at your 'shipyard' base(s).
  • Elerium - keep all of it unless you're lucky enough to have so much of it that it's spilling out your ears or you really need the space. It's probably a better idea to just transfer it to another base.
  • Alloys - Keep enough to produce what you want, otherwise use it up by producing useful items that use alloys or just sell it. Far too easy to obtain and easy to produce (*gasp* The very thought!), so you'll never have to worry about running out. A single raid on a landed Supply Ship nets enough alloy to build an Avenger with a little left over.

• Weapons: At minimum, each base should have one weapon per soldier with one clip per weapon. Most commanders will wish to keep at least one or two reloads on hand per soldier, but don't go overboard with this.
  • Sell off excess weapons and ammunition, especially weapons you rarely or never use. For example, once you have completed the research that requires live aliens, there is little reason to keep Stun Rods or Small Launchers on hand.
    • Remember that weapons stored in a troop transport are unloaded for use in a base defence mission. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to have some spare weapons in the base itself in the event that the Skyranger is out on a mission when the aliens come calling.
  • Laser weapons do not require ammunition and are fairly effective against most enemies. If you are willing to sacrifice a little firepower, they are great space-savers compared to plasma weapons that require clips.
  • Don't stock too many HWPs as they take up 6 Stores units apiece. Also, they might start to take up soldier spawn points on base defense missions.
    • If used only for base defence, don't bother purchasing or building any ammo for the tank as HWPs receive free ammunition on base defence missions.
    • If used in the field, buy enough ammunition to last two or more missions. Tank ammo do not count as battlescape items and won't clog your stores in the event of a base defence mission.
• Miscellaneous Equipment: Psi-Amps, Medi-kits, Electro-flares, and other items also take up Stores space. Stock enough Psi-Amps for your psi-capable troopers.
  • Motion Scanners, Medi-Kits, and Flares should all be stored on craft since tactical missions are the only times you will use them. Due to the random nature of Base Defense mission spawning, your medics are likely to be too far from the main action to be useful and your bases are well-lit.
  • Mind Probes are useful for locating specific aliens and for analysing their current state. However, you will often pick up more probes than you'll ever reasonably need. Keep one or two probes and sell the excess.
• Storage facility: If you really want to hang on to a very large amount of stuff, build a storage facility somewhere and garrison it with a small squad. This base can also serve non-combat roles such as psi screening, UFO detection, etc. It should be constructed in an area with low UFO activity and protected with a Mind Shield. It should also keep a few HWPs on hand so the soldiers don't get completely shafted by the 80 item limit

• Warning
  • IMHO you should never sell anything that needs to be Manufactured and cannot be bought. You might need that stuff in a hurry if you are expanding unexpectedly, or suffer a setback, or a change in tactics is forced. Your main assault force might not need those 14 Laser Rifles but they could be great for a defence force for that new base you just built. You can't afford to stop building your new Avenger in order to produce more Heavy Plasmas and Power Suits, so get the Laser Rifles and Personal Armour out of storage. Don't leave them at your main base cluttering your 80 item limit, send them off to a research base or radar base somewhere. But DO NOT SELL THEM! At least not until you have maxed out the research tree and produced more top-end equipment than will physically fit on 250 soldiers. --Spike 18:25, 3 June 2006 (PDT)