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.

That's because the aliens start to search for your base in areas with high X-COM activity, e.g. lots of interceptions/recoveries/assaults, even if it's not from that base.

From observation, the aliens are more attracted to shoot-downs and less so the presence of your ships in the area, or assaults/recovery missions on UFOs. One tip I sometimes recommend (for early on in your campaign) is to use any of your unused base slots to build one or more decoy bases around your important bases. That way, there's a chance that the decoy base will get spotted rather than the actual base. Once your base is better defended, you can remove them to be used as they were meant to be used. You don't have to build anything in them - they just have to be there. It's not much good in this instance as the battleship is on its way. -NKF 23:32, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

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).

I have tried out the Rocket Launcher. Man, it was awesome! A single large rocket annihilated the entire base control center! Although the guy carrying it lost 10 TPs for the weapon being too heavy for him, I had to load, end turn then snapfire (it is considerably easier to aim if you fire it into a roof...). I have a feeling I'll use it for a loooong time (I haven't seen any blasters yet).

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?

Use 'Transfer' under the Base menu, if you have any other bases with spare Stores capacity. If space is short, plan carefully what you want to Transfer. Once you are out of space, sell the remaining items. You might as well leave soldiers in place to defend the base, unless you have a huge number of them (there is a point at which you have too many units but if you have under 50 it should be fine). Even soldiers with no weapons can be used as screens, cannon fodder, scouts, or to run and pick up dropped objects. Just like the Russians in WWII - the second rank run forward to pick up the weapons of the slain. :) Spike 09:54, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

Ditto on the above. Transfer out anything and everything you can save. Saving ships however might be a little difficult due to lack of space, so you might as well sell them (or decide which ship is more important - Skyranger or Interceptor?). My point was that if the base cannot be saved, you should transfer everything that's not bolted down to another base or sell it if it cannot be taken with you. Then let the battleship land and wipe out the base without defending it. You only lose activity points for the troops lost in a failed base defense mission, so it's best to keep the score as minimal as possible in addition to losing the base by not letting them kill any soldiers.

However, now that it has come to light that these guys are floaters - well that's another story entirely! As long as you've pistols and grenades (absolute minimum), they'll be no match for you as long as you get some decent weapons into the top 80 items. -NKF 23:32, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

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.

The game may ignore the Heavy Plasmas in your 80 item tactical limit, if you can't actually use them. Regardless, move them out of there to a different base. Just use Transfer - they don't have to be shipped out of the base on a Transport. Everything of value, apart from your most effective 80 items for base defence, should be Transferred out prior to the attack. Whatever you can't transfer, sell it (unless you think you are going to win). Review all the items that would be available in combat - everything from Heavy Cannon ammo to Electroflares - and get rid of everything that isn't essential to the base defence. Spike 09:54, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

If we're talking about an over-supply of Heavy Plasmas that cannot be used - you really ought to sell the lot of them (Get the research started first - that way you won't need a sample). The game unfortunately will include them in the base equipment screen even if they have not yet been researched. Besides, there will be many more on the way as the aliens will start making it standard issue weaponry before long. -NKF 23:32, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

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?

OK send your transport with one weak soldier to the Terror site, this will reduce the loss of score. As AQ said, see if you can snipe from the transport but don't leave the transport, play it safe. This way you only lose a few hundred points instead of 1500. Meanwhile, the troops that didn't go on the transport will fight off the Floaters in the base defence. You should be able to take Floaters and Reapers apart. Now is probably not the best time to learn how to handle Rocket Launchers - they can be very dangerous to your own troops in the confined quarters of a base - but they are ideal weapons for base defence in the early game. Still, as you don't have time to buy/build/transfer anything, you just have to work with whatever you've got. I once had to defence a base with 10 stun rods, a bunch of grenades, and whatever I could steal off the aliens. Good luck! Spike 09:54, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

The score penalty from missing a terror site IS pretty severe, but it's not the end of the world. You'll probably take a funding hit at the end of the month from any nations in the region of the attack, as well as maybe some others, but overall it should work. Consider what happens if you hit this terror site, lose the base, and then suffer another terror site(or worse, two) while you have no dropship. From an in-game standpoint as well, the X-COM high command would pull the troops back too. The terror attack makes them look really bad, but if they lose their troops and resources they aren't gonna stop anyone at all. A good battleship assault or two can nearly make up a good chunk of the point loss. If you've already had a decently successful month, the point loss may not even push you below 0 at the end of the month, in which case you shouldn't suffer at all. Given that the restrictions of 1-Mission X-COM ban even showing up at terror sites and I've managed to complete it on 4 of 5 difficulties is proof enough to me that missing a terror site, while not a desirable event, is preferable to losing your base. (Also, if you're not adverse to bending the rules a bit, you can keep the Terror Site beacon around for a long time by using the details listed here. Arrow Quivershaft 20:43, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

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)

The Floater Fork

Ok so the Floaters have got you in something similar to a Knight's Fork in chess: either way you lose something. But it's not that bad. First of all, you CAN and WILL win the Base Defence. At the same time, you can at least minimise your losses on the Terror site. After saving your position (in case you lose the Base Defence first time around - try, try again), do this:

1. pick the weapons and equipment you need to fight the Base Defence

2. Put the best remaining weapons into your Transport. Think about how many soldiers you can spare from the Base Defence. 1? 2? 4? Also, the equipment you put here will usable again much more quickly than anything you Transfer to your other base.

3. Transfer remaining equipment BUT only as much needed to get down to the 80 item limit (read up on how the 80 item limit works in Ufopaedia)

4. Don't sell or transfer anything else: you intend to win, remember!

5. (Save again and) Launch the transport with its minimal crew. Once the transport assault mission is inbound to the Terror site, it will not disappear.

6. Defend your Base!

7. Once the base is safe and secured, do what you can at the terror site. But be ultra-cautious. Basically just camp inside the transport. Your small team is no match for an Alien Terror Squad, so just take "targets of opportunity" - and don't take any risks.

Really it should not be too hard against Floaters and Reapers. They are the easiest Base Defence (Sectoids are harder.) You can beat these guys even with starting weapons: Rifles, Pistols, AutoCannon, Grenades. You might want to read up on Grenade Relays. Conserve fire from your guys with high Reactions - you will need these guys to keep control of the corridors during the Alien turn. Keep careful track of any armed grenades, they are a hazard to your own side, especially when your guys go down carrying one. Grenade relays are safer. Don't leave HE ammo in your AutoCannon or Heavy Cannon at the end of your turn, as you don't want to reaction-fire with HE in close quarters. Unless your guys all have armour? The alternative is to make sure anyone packing HE uses up all their TUs, or switches to a pistol at the end of their turn (just select any fire mode with the pistol, then right click to cancel). HE is your friend in a Base Defence, but also a danger. Try to conserve the HE for when you have multiple Floaters close together, or vs. Reapers. It's nice if you have lasers, as you don't have to worry about conserving ammo, which otherwise can be a problem, especially since you can't use the Alien weapons at the moment.

Hmm, thinking about it, as you didn't run the game from RunXcomW.bat, you are probably playing with the default starter base. This has lots of places for the aliens to come in, and is a lot harder to defend. Hmm. Well, you will just have to dig in, be more defensive, be more careful. It will be a hard fight. You may have to send only one soldier in the transport after all.

Spike 01:48, 8 September 2008 (PDT)

You mean the three-pronged base? No, I am using the defensive configuration. Although the occassion when I managed to oust Mutons, I was a little pissed at the continually using that f***ing Blaster, so I turned it into a Stun Launcher (since it can oly use Stun Bombs, I prefer that name) and advanced with my tank.

Update: managed to oust the Floaters and yet another batch of Mutons. The latter's srategy was this: I camped with a six-man firing squad and a hovertank two modules away from the airlock. Each turn I moved in with the tank and if I spotted a Muton, my colonel sniped it with a Heavy Laser. One shot-one kill. After some while, they stopped coming. I explored a bit with my tank, wondering where'd they go. Killed another two Mutons and a Celatid in the hangar, and that was all.

HWP use

I thought I'd just note that while its true that experienced troops don't need HWP support, I tend to take them along on an Avenger anyways. Since if you pack 26 soldiers on, the 80-item limit gets in the way fairly rapidly. Also, one excellent use of HWPs is as expendable spotters for well trained Psi-troops. This is my main use of HWPs, outside of an occasional ground-clearing Rocket Tank in the early stages. (And barring any escapades in 1-mission X-COM.) Arrow Quivershaft 18:11, 6 November 2008 (CST)

And if you don't mind making use of the arming bug, they're a good way to cheese base defense missions (not as good as Zombie's base setup where all the alien spawn points are exchausted).

Just throw two or three Fusion hovertanks into a base and don't bother building ammo for them. Make sure there are some soldiers stationed at the base so that the base will be defended, or else it'll be lost instantly. The moment the base is attacked, the Fusion HWPs will have full ammo. Waste no time and bombard the hangars and maybe the upper level of the access lift. If you end the mission with any ammo left, you'll find the remainder in storage - though they'll be consumed during the next base attack (in which case, move them out). - NKF 22:49, 6 November 2008 (CST)

That's not a bug, that's a feature. ;) Probably the best use of tanks ever. Build an extra general stores and drop 10 Fusion tanks into the base and one soldier. Anyone who's managed to get that far in the game should be incapable of losing that sort of Base Defense mission. Arrow Quivershaft 01:25, 7 November 2008 (CST)

Yes, I also use hovertanks as spotters for my weak soldiers. It also works as a decoy for getting the attention of that Sectoid standing on the roof while a soldiers sneaks behind with a Stun Launcher... However, it sometimes backfires: I have three occassions in a row where the tank was facing away from the alien, yet it reaction-fired and killed the alien, right before I could stun it. About two third of the UFOs I've encountered were scouts of several size on retaliation, so a constant supply of Navigators and Engineers isn't a problem.

Congrats!

Hi Amitakartok! Nice job blasting the Brain. Humanity is in your debt. :) Spike 15:14, 10 November 2008 (CST)

Come on, I like dramatic things and that sounds just like a news report, hehe. On the other hand, it looks like TFTD doesn't like DosBox. I can start it normally, but not with DosBox; it just freezes on startup (according to DosBox's window title, it is running INTRO). Isn't there a way to skip the intro?

Never mind, I got it. I copy-pasted the UFOINTRO folder from X-COM and it works like a charm :D

Hang on, TFTD doesn't have an intro.exe, so doesn't need the ufointro directory. Instead it uses FLOP_INT for the slide-show intro or the ANIMS folder if you've set the game up to use the animated intro/outro(s). Are you using XComutil or any other mod by any chance to run the game? -NKF 00:26, 11 November 2008 (CST)

No, I don't. It still stops at INTRO, but after three Enters it continues to the Microprose logo then the slideshow. As I've already noted, it doesn't do this with NTVDM.

No action

If you're not getting any alien action in range of your bases, check the graphs for the region (or country) with the most alien activity this month and send Skyrangers or Interceptors out there to patrol on rotation. You may get lucky. Spike 15:43, 13 November 2008 (CST)

I sent out the 'ranger. Nothing. But what about the super-Plasma Pistols? In my previous session a Muton autofired into my soldier three times at pointblank range with no damage. Now, it can kill from a 20-hex radius. What happened? The stronger I am, the more the AI cheats or what?

Keep at least one aircraft on station in the alien 'target zone' at all times. You may not get lucky but it's better than doing nothing. Probably you need to build some detection bases. And get Hyperwave Decoders. However, dry periods do happen, so it's important to keep some cash (or saleable) reserves. As for the plasma pistols, both results (good and bad) are just part of the normal random variability in the game. It's not a conspiracy. The AI does cheat, but not on damage rolls. Spike 16:02, 13 November 2008 (CST)

Plasma Pistol vs. a Flying Suit maxes out at 14 damage if shot in the back, 4 if shot on the side, and there isn't enough power to kick through the front plate. But if a soldier takes 3 max-damage shots in the back, that's 48 damage, which is a pretty good amount. (As damage is applied to health, the armor stat slowly degrades on the affected plate; see this for more details.) Sometimes the AI gets lucky. Sometimes it doesn't. (I've seen a soldier in no armor soak up 7 shots from various plasma weapons and still be on her feet. Before my turn came, another alien shot her and shot number 8 actually managed to take her down, but this illustrates the randomness inherent in the system.) Arrow Quivershaft 16:58, 13 November 2008 (CST)

Base behind enemy lines

Hey it's not the worst thing if the Americas go over to the aliens and you have a base smack in the middle, hopefully it will make it easier to intercept their supply ships and raid their bases etc. Every cloud has a silver lining! Spike 11:35, 15 November 2008 (CST)

I left this base alone so that I could milk it; however, it's a Snakeman base, plus it's night when the Supply Ship comes. Oh well, maybe if I keep achieving high scores in North America, they will return.

Nations returning to funding status

Just wanted to call your attention to Talk:Pact. Arrow Quivershaft 13:09, 15 November 2008 (CST)

Aftermath

Hey, great description of Aftermath. Maybe you should add it to the main wiki? I don't think we have much on Aftermath here. Spike 17:47, 28 March 2011 (EDT)

What wiki?

Ah, good point! :) Spike 15:32, 30 March 2011 (EDT)

No, seriously. What wiki? Is there an Aftermath wiki I don't know about?

If there is one, it's not on this wiki nor is it hosted on the Strategycore server. With zillions of files, they're a bit resource heavy, but after what we've done here, doesn't it feel like more games should have their own specialised in-depth wikis? Just a thought. -NKF 02:52, 1 April 2011 (EDT)

No reason why we couldn't start a section for Aftermath by making an entry on the Main Page, in the Sequels section, then adding articles which all have " (Aftermath)" appended to the article title. I guess the protocol is to raise the suggestion in Talk:Main Page, right? Spike 05:32, 1 April 2011 (EDT)

The main problem is that it's not an X-COM title despite its striking similarities. Still, with three games, and having quite extensive topics to cover, nothing to stop putting a proposal forward to Pete and see if the After- series could get its own wiki, or maybe even a more general purpose strategy game wiki? Worth a thought. -NKF 04:31, 7 April 2011 (EDT)