User:Amitakartok

In case anyone's wondering, amitakartok translates roughly into whateveryouwant in Hungarian. It's origin: when I registered at a site several years ago, the appropriate answer for the question "What should be your nickname?" seemed to be "whatever you want" and I started to like it. I use that as a universal nick on every registering and even in Garry's Mod (though it's a pity gmod doesn't have a Chryssalid NPC downloadable, that would be awesome XD).

My philosophy regarding soldiers: keep losses at minimum. One or two rookie is OK, three sergeants isn't. In that case, reload ASAP (why the hell they didn't put loading into battlescape?!). For this reason, my armor distribution is this: rookies/seamen have to become squaddies/able seamen to earn armor. Officers get the latest equipment, e.g. Power/Flying/Ion/Magnetic Ion armor. Also, in Cydonia/T'Leth every soldier is armed with Flying/Mag. Ion armor.

Things I hate:

People thinking everyone is inferior compared to them.
People "noob"-ing others.
13375P34K.
Cheating AI. This includes X-COM aliens (as soon as you step on the ramp, you are dead) and Interceptor UFO roster (going up against six Phantasms alone is suicide, even with an S-3 Super Avenger: you chase one, the other five is on your tail).

I recently laughed very hard. I discovered that Interceptor's Psi Blaster hit sound is the psi attack sound from UFO, only with MUCH higher quality!

UFO

Previous text was a bit TOO long so I deleted it and started a new session. Playing with Interceptor the first time distrupted the X-COM feeling.

'99 Jan

Set up shop in the Alps. Immediately ordered a second lab, a living quarters and a general stores. After hiring the staff (49 scis, I couldn't afford the fiftieth one), my cash was $54145. Increased to $579015 after selling all but one plasma rifles and the end of the month is only a week away. I'm in deep shit...
Or not. Since I was able to raise some emergency funds by selling plasma rifles, I managed to survive with a Good rating.
Two soldiers lost on the first mission. Two ground assaults, both at night. These guys sure know how to pick their landing time...
Looks like I was wrong all along. Two labs with 100 scientists can REALLY speed up research efforts.

'99 Feb

Nothing serious. Again, research is taking huge strides forward. I already have armor and both plasma weapons.
Closed month with a small minus in score. China and Japan reduced funding. I knew the aliens are up to something outside Europe.
Met the Snakemen after blowing up a small scout.

'99 Mar

Laser Cannon research is complete. Laser Tank online and ready to kill.
With this speed, I'll have a Firestorm online within a month. Plasma Cannon is researching.
Fortunately, with Power Armors, I could safely capture Sectoids until stunners start to show up.
Took a glance on the graphs. Alien activity had a massive spike last month. I suspect a base is in China.
My suspicion was correct. Alien activity skyrocketed in South East Asia, while I didn't see a UFO for two weeks in Europe. Plus, my score is more than two thousand in the negative.

'99 Apr

Opened with -2100 points and more than $200,000 reduction in cash. However, half of the month is gone and no alien activity whatsoever. The Avenger is the only project remaining on the schedule.
Finally, a terror mission! Now I can gather enough points and tech to continue running!
Or not. It was a Snakeman terror mission. I had to pull out after losing two men. Since when Plasma Pistols are one-shot-kill weapons against Flying Suits???
Dilemma: I've seen a navigator. Problem is, how am I gonna capture it? I have a stun rod and he has a Heavy Plasma. Capturing him would net me a decoder and the first of the minimum three. I figured that if I kill everyone except him, he may panic and can be stunned safely.
Attempt no.1: I waited too much. His morale didn't drop enough to panic. Worse, one of my squaddies killed him with reaction fire. I'll try again.
Attempt no.2: I tried to save before attacking him, but X-COM froze. Reason: disk is full so save is incomplete and thus, corrupted. Although I can reload it, the Geoscape is full of garbled alien base and X-COM craft indicators. Plus, I have seven soldiers, 74 personnel with zero living quarters available, no crafts and... -13412 hangars available. Ouch.
Attempt no.3: Alien is stunned. However, the corrupted save failed to recognize the existing alien containment...
Attempts no.4, 5 and 6: Alien resisted stunning. Soldier was killed. On the latest, the alien summarily executed the hapless man: it fired auto, but the soldier survived. The alien then stepped forward and shot again.
Attempt no.7: Alien stunned. X-COM casualties: one tank.
Another Snakeman terror mission. Summary:
- I had a VERY close call: a Chryssalid charged towards my men. It was to hexes away when one of the soldiers reaction fired and hit it, which scared it off.
- I had to blow up half a house and one civilian to get rid of another.
- A Snakeman sneaked up behind us. Took it down, but a stray shot killed a civilian.
Closed with -57 pts.

'99 May

Massive activity in South America. A scout then two large UFOs flew there but they were too fast to catch. Afterwards the Skyranger patrolled the area for a good few hours but found nothing. Meanwhile, it's May 8 and alien activity there is above 400 points.
After reloading, I sent an Interceptor there which found a Large Scout landed on top of a city. It also took down a Terror Ship stalking around.
Assault on the landed scout netted in some Elerium. In the engine room, the Engineers tried to stun me, but I was in a Flying Suit, so they stunned themselves.
Assault on the Terror Ship was successful. Although the engines blew, I managed to capture a Leader alive. Three less Chryssalids in the world!
- One stepped out and was cut down by Heavy Laser fire.
- One was killed by a close-range laser barrage.
- After stunning the leader, I heard a Chryssalid scream. I turned around and spotted the third at the end of the corridor.
Closely averted a Terror Mission. After two failed tries, I constantly patrolled with Interceptors in 11-hour shifts and one of them spotted the Terror Ship. Another Navigator snatched.
Discovered a Snakeman base in the US. It is Alien Base-2, which means there's another one somewhere. Base was busted up.

'99 Jun

Another Snakeman base discovered in Brazil. Now I know why did they signed a pact.
MASSIVE UFO activity in the US. I shot down everything I could which include a Supply Ship, an Abductor, two Scouts and a Terror Ship. I managed to get a living Chryssie from the latter, but lost my hovertank. Oh well, it was free anyway... Two Battleships came but I left them alone. If this was Infiltration, I'm gonna scream. Losing Brazil and the US right after starting construction of a base in North America...
Terror mission in Australia. I had to restart after one of my men suddenly died. No shots, no fatal wounds, nothing. He just collapsed during the alien turn.
Another terror mission. This one was close: one of my men actually got wounded.

'99 Jul

Just as I feared: USA has signed a pact. Bastards!
Additional base found in China. I'll leave it alone for "milking".
A third Snakeman base was found and busted in Canada.
Due to the endless fuel trick, I was able to continually station an Interceptor above China. Scouts are arriving there with retaliaton mission. However, I have no base there...

TFTD

I HATE SONIC PULSERS!!! Every time I see one, none of my men gets back alive.
Somehow I captured a Gillman with a harpoon!
All hail XcomUtil! Unlimited Gauss ammo is nice. The aliens are cheating anyway, so why shouldn't they taste their own medicine? For example, pistols with extreme damage and sniper-level accuracy right at the start?! What is it if isn't cheating!?!

'40 Jan:

Got the first terror mission. Gillman port attack at night, nothing serious. A lone Gillman tried to snipe my men with a Thermal Shocker from a roof. He was the firs kill... Lost a man because I left him exposed to reaction fire. Also snatched up several Deep One corpses. Mmmm, armor...
All men equipped with Gausses. Researched Sonic pistol, but not the clip.
First month closed with Excellent rating.

'40 Febr:

A Dreadnought was snooping around the base; attacking it with AJAXes would be suicide. Afterwards, base defense. Camped at the lift, waiting for them to come to us; lost a man to a Deep One.
Out of Gas Cannon rounds. I intend to replace them with Gausses until I get Sonics. However, I can't research it. Probably because none of the Gauss clips are researched.
Closed with Excellent.

'40 March:

Aquanaut mortality rate is high: I lost six soldiers so far. I NEED ARMOR!!!
Another terror mission, this one was easier because it wasn't night. Snatched up a commander and a leader. Looks like I don't have to fiddle with stunners in alien bases...
FINALLY, I can build Gauss Cannons! Turns out I had to research Heavy Gauss clip.

X-Force

I don't know if you know about this, but I found yet another X-COM remake. It has been around for a while, but I forgot to mention it. The name of the project is X-Force: Fight for Destiny. It is completely DirectX-based and has some nice graphics, but the current version is V0.912. It is composed of "gamesets" which contain everything about a gamemode. The included gameset/script editor is German, but the game itself is multilingual (a total of 13 languages are available right at the start).

Differences from X-COM

General

Option to change starting parameters: gameset, difficulty, composition of starting personnel, etc. Changes are reflected in starting funds: more personnel means less money. The default starting funds are ten million.
Online updater for downloading new versions and addons.

Geoscape

Engineers and scientists has differing "ability points". Basically, the higher this number, the faster the work is finished. For this reason, engineers and scientists also have individual names and can be sacked automatically whenever someone better is available for hire.
Radar ranges are graphically represented in the map.
No terror missions. UFOs that attack cities increase their infiltration level. They can be shot down normally. If a city's infiltration level reaches 100%, nothing happens yet.
Previous versions contain the ability to dogfight with UFOs, arcade-style. This has been removed. Now you have to wait until they duke it out offscreen with only some info visible (stats of the combatants, who fires currently, etc.).
Manufacturing items requires a resource called Alphatron. Alphatron can be gained by establishing specialised mining bases (assigning engineers increase mining efficiency) or by dismantling existing equipment. Also, certain Earth-based stuff (assault rifle, gas rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher) requires construction plans to build which can be purchased for a hefty price.
Buying/selling equipment is also changed: countries make bids for the equipment and you decide which one you accept and when.
No base defense missions. If a UFO attacks a base, the shield will be damaged. If it fails, all buildings within start to take damage. Damage can be repaired with engineers. UFOs fairly close to the base can be shot down by base defenses.
UFOs prioritize crafts. If a craft enters radar range, the UFO will ignore it's current mission and attacks the craft instead.
Bases are multi-level; some building can only be built on a certain level. Additional levels can be constructed for a fee.
All pieces of equipment can be upgraded five times, but only if you have the construction plans.
Soldiers, engineers and scientists can be trained to improve their skills. However, a soldier in training improves slower than in battle and training costs 25 credits per day.
Five types of craft are available. The craft type only defines armor, as you can choose the weapons (projectile, missile or energy), engine(with or without maneuvering nozzles which enable strafing), sensor extensions and shields to install. These crafts are: Kronos fighter (very weak, one hardpoint), Ambassador transporter (can carry 6 soldiers and 31 units of stuff), Miranda cruiser (tough, two hardpoints), Intrepid destroyer (VERY tough, three hardpoints) and XF transport (needs to be researched, 12 soldiers and 40 units of stuff). Both transports are unarmed.

Battlescape

Soldiers always look the same, clad in white full-body armor with yellow visor.
Two armors available at the beginning, but additional armors become available over time or after researched.
Aliens are suprisingly tough: the rocket launcher can barely scratch enemies that aren't of the starting type (Tombari Scientist). Also, their fusion weapons are VERY strong: the basic fusion pistol can kill an armored soldier with two hits.
Automatic shots are a horribly inaccurate single shot. Aimed shots are possible to be fired to legs, torso and head.
No HWPs, but soldiers can set up stationary sensors to watch an area or mines to cover their backs.
No transports or UFOs, soldiers and aliens are just dumped onto the battlefield. Soldiers start in groups of five. Earlier versions had the ability to "beam up" soldiers from the battlefield.
Soldiers don't have energy or morale. However, they can still be weighted down so much that their TUs decrease.
Laser weapons has limited ammo and cannot be reloaded, only recharged after battle.
I recently found a 2007 update log which says "introduction of range effect", "new damage calculations (introducing armor equipment for aliens)" and "many improvements at production and research (resource materials, upgrades as research trees, etc,)". I have yet to try that version.
Data suggests that two of the aliens are psychic and soldiers too have two skills, PSI-Attack and PSI-Defense. However, the default gameset contains no research about using them.