User talk:Amitakartok

Welcome to the wiki! Glad to see you're interested in editing, but please be careful. Your comment on the ExploitsA page properly belongs on the Talk page for that article; not in the article itself. Also, you can automatically insert a horizontal break into a page with four dashes (- x 4) and can insert your name with 3 tildes (~ x 3). Four tildes will add your name and the time you left the comment. Arrow Quivershaft 22:53, 18 January 2008 (PST)

Hi there

Hi Amitakartok!

Looks like you are really enjoying UFO! It's such a great game - so many ways to play it. Why not enjoy it? It's classic! :D

I moved your question about UFO Detection onto the Talk page. Don't worry, people will see it and respond to it there just as much. It's nice to keep the main pages clean of uncertainty - discuss issues on Talk and only make a change to the main page when there is agreement.

I would be interested to know the result of your question. I think you said you have UFO v1.0 so you may actually be on a different version than most people.

By the way, why no interceptions, and why not give your Heavy Weapons teams Rocket Launchers (or High Explosive?) while they are waiting for more advanced weapons?

cheers, Spike. Spike 11:46, 30 August 2008 (PDT)

OK I understand now about "no interceptions" - it's a new base with no Hangar, no Interceptor yet. That's smart. I usually put a guard force of 5 (plus a tank if I could afford it) in each new base, but you're right there's not really any point until you start launching missions from there. Although... I have seen UFOs snooping around bases that I don't think had any Interceptors.

On the Rocket Launcher question, I would definitely encourage you to try them. It takes a long time before you get Blaster Launchers. Actually Blaster Launchers are so powerful that they make the game too easy (as you found out when the Aliens used them against you!). But it is possible to be very effective with Rocket Launchers. In the early game they are definitely your most powerful weapon. You need to make sure that only strong soldiers have them. It's also useful to pair soldiers up so another soldier carries extra ammo, provides covering fire, and can pick up the launcher if the main soldier dies. Also good to have good accuracy - I would give the rocket launchers to my people with very good, if not the best, accuracy. The danger of a misfired round is too great. There are challenges in learning how to use them, but it's worth the learning curve.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about 'running out of ammo without firing any'? How can you run out if you don't fire? Anyway, Rocket Launcher ammo is pretty cheap. Just buy the Large Rockets, only stock those in your stores. The Small Rockets are not worth it except right at the beginning if your soldiers are very weak. The Incendiary Rockets are hardly worth having at all. Start by carrying as many rockets as you can in each 2 man heavy weapon team, but don't pile on so much weight that they lose TUs. They will soon build up Strength and TUs. In fact, your heavy weapons teams will usually get the most kills, and so their stats will go up fastest. Later on, when your troops are stronger and you have more money, you could literally give every soldier a Rocket Launcher pre-armed with a single Large Rocket. This provides massive firepower in a touch situation. Anyway, I encourage you to give the Rocket Launcher a second chance. Cheers. Spike 11:12, 31 August 2008 (PDT)

The ammo glitch will 'eat' the rocket sitting in the tube at the end of the mission if not unloaded. Arrow Quivershaft 15:45, 31 August 2008 (PDT)

Aha! Thanks for explaining. I guess I never left a rocket in the tube so I never found out! :) Or maybe XCOMUtil fixes that bug? I think it does. Spike 16:05, 31 August 2008 (PDT)

XCOMUtil does indeed fix the ammo bug, but I'm sure your first theory holds water too. ;P

Arrow Quivershaft 16:07, 31 August 2008 (PDT)

Are you sure? I use XcomUtil and I haven't seen it fixing this bug. Or I have to start XcomUtil directly, not just run XcuSetup and then X-COM? amitakartok

You need to run X-Com from the XComUtil compiler/batch file in order for it to do this, yes. (I run it that way all the time to prevent my screen resolution from getting messed up when X-COM inevitably crashes.) Arrow Quivershaft 17:50, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

I second using the rocket launchers. Brilliant weapon that are well worth the effort - you could win the game with them if you wanted too and had the patience. Just be sure to kneel every time you use them, and fire them with aimed shots unless you're guaranteed a hit, there's a wall near the target or you're firing at the ground at an angle. You can avoid the ammo eater bug by just not loading it until you want to fire it (after spending the pre-loaded shot).

By the way, if you don't mind the free ammo, fusion hovertanks are the ultimate HWP for base defence. Since you don't have to build the ammo each time the base gets attacked, use the tanks to liberally shell the hangars or access lift with impunity as the mission starts to wipe out a good chunk of the invaders before they even get a chance to file into the base. Just mind the other modules (or consider a two-chokepoint base).

Also, are you avoiding the use of alien bases as a source of supply ships? If not, keep a floater or Snakeman base nearby as the supply ships are a great way to keep your elerium stocks at a constant healthy level. You still have to win the battles to get the loot, so you'll get plenty of combat experience (and losses) to go along with it.

-NKF 01:44, 1 September 2008 (PDT)

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I take it you've got a save just before you launch the transport and pick up the Battleship. Is the transport that's picking up the battleship from the base that's being targeted? If it isn't, then one other option is to go on ahead to the terror site. At the same time, transfer out (or sell) everything that you've got at the base being targeted and just let the Battleship wipe it out. You won't lose any activity points for losing the base and you at least get to salvage troops and equipment. -NKF 12:34, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

"Salvage troops and equipment?" How if my other base has one hangar which is already occupied?

Do you even have time to get your transport back to base before the terror raid hits? I doubt it, Battleships are too fast. Or are you saying, go back to a saved game? If you have a saved game, go back to save, send the transport with one weak soldier (keep any tanks on your base!) just to touch down on the terror site and then dust off (avoiding the -1500 score). Then prepare the base for defence. If you are lucky, the terror site will still be there after the base defence mission. (Do you have a spare transport so you can go straight there without waiting for refueling? Another strategy is to ignore the Terror site now, but hit it right after you do the base defence - which will take zero elapsed time. That way you don't have to wait for the Transport to refuel. If I'm wrong, go back to your original save and send the one rookie transport mission.) Check the UFOpaedia articles if you have never done a base defence before. The main thing is to make sure you have your best, most powerful 80 items (not including armour) in the base and everything else is off the base (in the departed transport, or failing that transfer to another base). Hopefully you will win the base defence, especially if your base layout is good. Hold the chokepoints while you assemble your forces. Control the long lines of fire. Use HE weapons whenever the enemy congregates. Try to stay reasonably dispersed. "And remember: short, controlled bursts." ;) Spike 13:29, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

I did base defense against Mutons before. Now the Floaters are the bad guys. However, my first 80 items are Heavy Plasmas and I didn't researched them yet.

If X-COM visits a terror site and dusts off(or, dare I say, is wiped out), the Terror site will be removed from the map; no second visits are possible to such a site. However, it IS still a good idea, given that if X-COM zips past a terror site with the maximum number of spawned civilians(16), they take -480 to score, a far cry from -1500(or is it -1000? Confused here because other wiki articles list it as that.) If you're lucky, maybe the guy in the transport can be packing some heat and an alien will spawn visibly from the dropship and you can mitigate the damage some. Arrow Quivershaft 17:50, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

The problem is: 1. the battleship reaches the base faster than the transport arriving at the terror site, 2. the terror site disappears before the battleship arrives, so 3. I have to choose between ignoring the site or losing my most-experienced soldiers, as well as my entire R&D and production capabilities. I don't think it's a difficult decision, but can I recover from the score penalty?

UFOpaedia topics

In order to get the specifications of the UFOs, you need to capture and interrogate Alien Engineers. Seeing a craft is irrelevant of getting the information of it, you need to fatally torture persuade the Engineers to divulge information in a plea for their lives because you're they're friend. Arrow Quivershaft 17:56, 4 September 2008 (PDT)