Talk:Base Defence

Base Disjoint Bug

Reference for the base disjoint bug is at:

http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html

If anyone wants to remodel or redraw it in a more suitable form or make it easier to understand, then please feel free to do so.

Other thoughts I might have is to give a rough indication of the layout of ground modules to allow players to plan ahead and perhaps even make use of the disjointed walls.

(Also note - hangar and small radar are the safest modules to place in lower right)

- NKF

Earliest Assault?

Just had my base attacked after six weeks. Fifteen Sectoids and two Cyberdiscs against fourteen un-armoured soldiers with laser rifles and pistols. Naturally, I was slaughtered - a Sectoid with a Blaster Launcher took out two of my last three men as the final insult.

Has anyone been attacked at an earlier point? --Majick 05:20, 3 December 2006 (PST)

Attacks on the 3rd or even 2nd week aren't that uncommon on Superhuman level. If the first alien mission is Alien Retaliation and your radar doesn't detect the scout...

Hobbes 10:26, 3 December 2006 (PST)

I have yet to see an initial mission of Retaliation scheduled at game start (before 12:30 Jan. 1 1999) in the save files. However, I don't know whether UFOs other than Retaliation scouts can nominate your base for Retaliation -- and your region always gets a UFO immediately.

Zaimoni 17:07, 3 December 2006 (CST)

Also: if you shoot down the first UFO in your region, and that starts a series of Retaliation missions, not taking out any of the prior ones puts the first Battleship at about 2 weeks out.

Zaimoni 19:39, 3 December 2006 (CST)

In a brand new superhuman campaign where I was running some tests on the hyperwave decoder, occasionally I would pick up UFO-1 as a retaliation scout.

Also, I have had my base get attacked immediately after the first or second missions in both X-Com UFO and TFTD on superhuman difficulty. It wasn't nice, to say the least.

But that's just what I've experienced.

- NKF

Now, that would be interesting if a Hyperwave Decoder at a base automatically scheduled Retaliation missions....

Zaimoni 9:05, 5 December 2006 (CST)

DAMNIT. I just got hit by Sectoids on January 23rd. My chaps are armed with Laser Pistols and Rocket Launchers for crying out loud, how are they supposed to handle these Cyberdisks??? ... Good luck to me, I guess. Jasonred 06:46, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

You just answered yourself. Laser Pistols and rocket launchers. They'll bust through cyberdisc armour no problem. Compared to doing it with just standard rifles, you've got a fighting chance. -NKF 12:45, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

Agreed, you'll be fine with that weapon mix. Conserve your rocket ammo, use it wisely. Even better if you have some Stun Rods. The worst risk is when Cyberdisks explode near your troops when you kill them. But if you finish them off with Stun Rods they don't explode. Good luck! (And to the topic: don't think I've had earlier than about the 2nd week, and usually just at the end of Jan.) Spike 13:38, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

About two games back I got a Base Defense on Jan 3rd. That was a very brief restart. Venganza 00:55, 4 August 2009 (EDT)

No way! You should've gone for it, that would really be fun. 8 guys, a rocket launcher, HC-HE, some grenades - go on, you can take 'em!!! Or send me the savefile, I'd love to try that one. Spike 04:58, 4 August 2009 (EDT)

Psi and visual contact

I was just checking the new changes and noted the affect paragraph refer to keeping soldiers out of sight during the alien turn to keep them from being attacked with psi.

The alien's don't need visual contact at any time. They already know where you are and will start attacking even if you are successful in keeping out of sight (try rooting the aliens to the spot by setting their energy and energy recharge to 0).

Although there appears to be short period from the time you start the battle before they start using their psi attacks. This appears to vary depending on difficulty level and the psi strength level of your troops.

- NKF 18:41, 17 May 2008 (PDT)

Probably not the best place to put the info, but here it is: there are two conditions that cause the aliens to know the position of all your troops: after 20 turns have elapsed (you can change the value in the executable at offset 0x10F4), or if only 2 (offset 0x10EF in the executable) or less aliens remains alive (this explains why a single commander can psi attack from the beginning if he is the only survivor). Seb76 15:23, 18 May 2008 (PDT)

Ah, I knew there was some sort of grace period. So 20 turns eh? Good to know. Really good to know (although very bad for my play style, since I take it slow). Does it get adjusted by difficulty or the presence of psi-weakling (of a single digit nature) in any way? -NKF 22:39, 18 May 2008 (PDT)

Yeah, this explains the sudden rush of aliens out of their UFO at around turn 20 I guess. I found nothing related to psi-weaklings. As for target selection, everything that is conscious, xcom, small unit, not already under mind control and whose unitpos[8] is less than the attacker's intelligence is susceptible to being attacked. There is then some computing involving distance from target, target psi-strength and psi-skill, attacker psi-attack strength, and a random number between 0 and 50 (the formula is too complex to my liking). The potential target which fits best may be attacked (based on some other unclarified randomness). If someone wants to perform more analysis, the subroutine starts at virtual offset 0x404650. Actually, patching the 0x83 at that address with a 0xC3 should completely disable psi-attacks from aliens (may be useful for testing) Seb76 12:29, 19 May 2008 (PDT)

There's also the break that comes after a turn where you manage to kill a fair number of aliens. Even if you don't cause them to panic, they often stop Psi Attacks after you force a successful round. From a storyline perspective, the officers are probably busy rallying the troops and so they can't use Psi on you. Of course, the best way to stop Psionic attacks is to kill or otherwise incapacitate the psions. Arrow Quivershaft 21:08, 17 May 2008 (PDT)

Does damage make a difference?

If a base defence managed to damage (but not kill) the UFO before it landed, would it mean that less aliens will spawn? Cesium 04:41, 25 November 2009 (EST)