User:Tauon

I finished TfD twice before I played ufo years later. So contrary to the majority I really prefer the second part of the series.

Things to do/wish list/questions

• identify the usos/map modules which have routing/or alien placement errors
  • battleship: large terror units become stuck in the left stairs on the ground floor, esp. nasty if its a Xarquid(full TU, covers entrance)
  • heavy cruiser: alien tends to get stuck in the right elevator, often on ground level(hard to get without something to crack the inner wall)
  • port map: tricences get stuck/placed in the wire fences
  • artefact map: hallucinoid can get stuck in a small hollow pyramid - it can move but the exits are to small for it
  • colony map: similar to above - stuck in a small compartment with a single door
  • (artefact map: infamous hallucinoid at bottom of the lift map, quite hard to motivate to leave this spot sometimes but this can leave)
  • unaccessible areas for example the top right corner of the bottom level of the pyramid with the 9 or so columns in the artefact map; top level cargo ship(2nd part) section above the engines - can not move to the far right- the overhead map says the should be a coridor of width 1; sometimes if the uso is parked close to the map border units get problems moving around them.
• tftd terrain description analog to ufo
• which tiles burn longer then 1-2 turns?
• optimal disembark order for tftd crafts(which soldier to move where, sniper with Mag armor on top of craft?)
• base development of first base after the initial additions
• base defence layout
• learn when to use pulsers, DPL - keep lugging the around only rarely using them if i'm really out of other ideas in order to get a hard to get alien;usually MC and drills are enough to finish most uso maps without losses&reloads by end of July
• try using Hydrojet cannon to get a better idea about its usefulness; so far I hardly see a use except for short term lighting; the close range idea with HE kinda works but destroys a lot of equipment.
• TftD reaction training(this is significantly harder to achieve then in Ufo because you no longer have access to the alien inventory and alien without weapons do not not seem to move, so hovering in Mag Armor over a bunch of lobsterman without sonic guns/pistols only works for the few turn where they try to strike your guys with pulsers once they run out they stay put) Maybe offer them a sacrifice to attempt clawing down(after the pulsers are gone)

Strange events

• When preparing to assault a crashed USO I found a Tasoth Sq Leader on my equipment screen. However it was gone from the equipment pile when I pressed ok. Should have shoved it in a backpack.
• When moving towards the roof entrance of the fleet supply cruiser via mag armor my aquanaut walked through the uso outer hull into the corridor leading towards the bridge
• cargo ship mission 2nd part when standing on the elevated platform where you usually get sniped from the aquanaut sometimes seems the be able the scale the metallic structure towards the next level. Have not figured out when it is possible yet but it happened several times already. There are other spots where I encountered similar behavior but this is the only one I recall for sure.

Aquanaut screening guide

Once one has established a steady income source by raiding the supply cruisers and/or running a gauss craft cannon factory the cash just keeps piling up. If one goes for 8 bases(which is by no means necessary 2-3 can usually see you through quite comfortable) these soon are also build to the max. Next is that one can start to be picky with which raw recruits to keep and which to send back/use for bravery training. Their stats are assigned random when ordered. While it is possible to wait for the perfect soldier with all stats at the max possible value he/she is fairly unlikely to show up. So we need to identify those which really matter and those which can be easily raised via training. At this point of the game(July/August) we probably have a few experienced MC troopers which pretty much control the battlefield in normal Uso assaults so it does not matter how wimpy or bad at shooting/throwing the new guys are.

Energy, health and strength are secondary skills and are increased en passant while you train the primary stats. So these are the ones which are of least concern.

Time units are also a secondary stat but since their initial value determines the energy recovery rate which is crucial in longer missions a 60 is a must here. Otherwise you won't get the maximal recovery rate of 20.

MC strength is the second but foremost stat which matters. However it wont be known until a month later. A 80+ makes a decent MC trooper and ensures pretty much an impervious defence against enemy MC attacks. 95+ are recommended if you intend to control highly resistant terror units at the other end of the map. So you can just preselect the raw recruits for the for the other preferred stats and hope for the best - with a MC lab in every base and maybe 2 extra it won't be long to find the desirable 10-20 guys with high enough strength.

MC skill is the primary stat which can be raised most easily given a high MC strength so least concern.

Firing and throwing accuracy are easily trained by either emptying a magazine into a hapless lobster after you had him throw this gun away or tossing things around. Takes a while but doable.

Bravery can be trained but rarely matters. For training cull your rejected recruits after you cleared the map except for one unarmed alien(stunned revived with stimulants, no built in lethal attack). Or use the tentaculat trick.

Reactions vary quite a lot. A initial reaction in the 50-60 range is desirable because reaction training is rather hard to set up in TftD due to the inventory lockout. Never had a 100 reaction soldier in tftd.

To sum it up for the ideal recruit one would wish for 60 time units and 60 reactions and then hope for 100 MC strength. The rest is training.