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X-COM: UFO Defense - Strategy Guide (Page 01)

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                           XCOM: UFO Defense

                     The UN-official Strategy Guide

                                  and

                 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

      works great as a Supplement to the Official Strategy Guide!

                            Updated May-01/95

                 Maintained by Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang


0.1 Introduction

    Thanks for the tremendous response all over the net!  The guide was
    uploaded to practically to wherever XCOM and UFO are sold (and
    probably beyond), and many people have provided helpful feedback
    that were incorporated into this revision.

    XCOM:USG is now available in many more places!  It's available on
    almost every on-line service (though AOL will remain an "official"
    distribution site) and can be found in many places on Internet.

    The Feb-01 revision marks a major change in what is now known as the
    "XCOM Unofficial Strategy Guide".  That was a total rewrite compared
    to this, which is just a revision.

0.2 Did you know about the OFFICIAL XCOM Strategy Guide?

    Now that the official strategy guide is out in stores (XCOM : the
    Official Strategy Guide, by David Ellis, Prima Publishing, ISBN
    1-55958-764-4, US$19.95, hereby known as OSG), this UNofficial
    strategy guide (USG) is now patterned after the official one, with
    similar table of contents. You can use this guide along with the
    official strategy guide (OSG), or you can use this by itself.

    While OSG has all the neat charts and tables and stuff only
    available from the source, I've found its tactics and strategy
    section sorely lacking.  In fact, all the the strategy and tactics
    are condensed into ONE chapter, with the rest of the book as simply
    a reprint of the manual and UFOpedia and the underlying mechanics.

    That's where USG come in.  USG will help you make informed choices.
    Instead of showing you a table of numbers, I'll actually show you
    what is recommended by fellow XCOM players.  After you read each
    chapter in the OSG, read that chapter's supplement here.  You will
    understand more about how the game runs and the tactics to beat it.

    You do NOT have to have the OSG to use this supplement, but you will
    get more out of both if you do.


0.3 Credits where credits are due

    Thanks to MicroProse and Mythos Games for bringing us such a nice
    game. It surely deserved CGW's "Game of the Year" award!

    Thanks to all the people who have contributed to previous editions
    of the XCOM:USG, whom include but are not limited to: William Kang,
    CMDR; Tim Chawn, CMDR; Doug Osborne, SG; Stuart Lamble, SG; Seth
    Cohn, SG; Bill Soo, SG; Jeff Shaffer, Economist; Rob Eiben, SG; Jim
    Muchow, SG; Menachem Pasteich, architect; Paul Close, publicist and
    simulation expert; and fellow XCOM players all over the world
    discussing the game on USENET, America On-line and elsewhere.

    Some strategies and tactics here first appeared in Computer Gaming
    World and Computer Game Review magazines' strategy articles on XCOM.
    Thanks to Jeff James (CGW) and Kevin Perry (CGR), we honor you as
    XCOM Strategists.

0.4 Note ot UFO: Enemy Unknown users

    UFO: Enemy Unknown users should be able to use this supplement with
    minimum changes. Most tips will apply to both versions, esp. the
    tactical tips.  The charts on the other hand may have different
    numbers, so compare it carefully please.  See 0.5 if you have the
    Amiga version of UFO: Enemy Unknown.

0.5 Notes on the USG

    New/Improved sections since last update are marked by @.

    PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark so I can
    fix them! If you find an question about the game that is not covered
    in the USG, I'll include it in the next update.

    The USG should be available at the Game Domain WWW

      WWW :

@   Any quick updates can be found on my own homepage

    Paul Close (pdc sgi.com) has graciously converted this into HTML
    format so you can use a WWW browser!  Check it out at

      WWW :

    Tommy Iversen (Norway) has graciously accepted the task of
    converting the USG for Amiga. (Yes, there is an Amiga version)

    His e-mail address is -->

    If you are on America On-Line, look in the PC Games Forum (keyword:
    PCGAMES). Go into the file library, and search under XCOM.

    If anyone knows of other "permanent" archive sites (somewhere in
    ftp.netcom.com?), please let me know so I can include the
    information in future updates.
        If you REALLY can't find it, don't have FTP or WWW, not on AOL,
    can't read news, etc., (i.e. there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you can get
    to it) (how did you know about this in the first place?) then send
    me e-mail (see below) and I'll try to get back to you.

    Please don't just mail me and ask "it's nice and do you have an
    update and if so please send it to me".  If I have an update I can
    release I would have released it already.

    I maintain this at home on my PC and I only have a UNIX shell
    account which this won't fit with other stuff I need.  So don't
    expect too fast of an answer if you request this by e-mail.

0.6 The author

    I?  I am just a game player who didn't like the existing FAQ's and
    strategy tactics collection available out there, and decided to
    write my own. You can contact me at:

    Internet  1     : kschang sfsu.edu (preferred)
    Internet  2     : ksc1 aol.com (only if you must, see below)
    America On-Line : Ksc1
    US Mail         : Kasey Chang, 2220 Turk Blvd. Apt.6,
                      San Francisco, CA 94118, USA

    WWW Homepage    :

    If you contact me via Internet e-mail I usually reply within two
    working days.  Please use the preferred e-mail address if possible,
    not BOTH.  I only sign onto America On-Line (2nd address) twice a
    week so you won't get a prompt reply if you contact me there.


Table of Contents

1.0  X-COM General Information
     What is this game?  What about bugs?  Patches?  Expansions and
     future versions?  How do I win or lose?
2.0  The GeoScape Screen
     How do I use GeoScape?  Any tricks or tips?
3.0  X-COM Bases
     Where do I put my first bases?  How to I build bases that are easy
     to defend?  How much defense do I build?
4.0  X-COM Hardware
     What kind of weapons are available?  Which ones are the best?
5.0  Finance
     How do I make more money?  How do I spend less money?  How do I
     cheat and get more money?
6.0  Research and Manufacturing
     What do I research?  What do I build?
7.0  Intercepting UFOs
     How do I intercept UFOs?  What weapon should I send up against
     UFO type X?
8.0  Soldiers, Movement, and Combat
     Who do I send on missions?  How do I avoid casualties?
9.0  The aliens
     Who are these & *#%*!?  How do I kill them most efficiently?
10.0 Ground Assaults
     What do I do in UFO assaults and recoveries?  What is the best way
     to defend my base?  Assaulting alien bases?
11.0 Mastering Cydonia -- The Final Assault
     How do I win the "final confrontation"?
12.0 Misc Stuff
     Any other questions?
     (if information you are looking for is not listed, e-mail me and
     I'll give you an answer, and I'll include it in next update)


BEGIN XCOM Unofficial Strategy Guide

1.0 X-COM General Information

    1.1 What is XCOM: UFO Defense?

        [Excerpt from XCOM manual page 6]
        It is the year 1999.  Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have
        started appearing with distrubing regularity in the night skies.
        Reports of violent human abductions and horrific experimentation
        has truck terror into the hearts of millions. Mass public
        hysteria has only served to expose Earth's impotence against a
        vastly superior technology.
        [...]
        On December 11, 1998, representatives from the world's most
        economically powerful counties gathered secretly in Geneva.
        After much debate, they decision was made to establish a covert
        independent body to combat, investigate, and defeat the alien
        threat.  The organization would be equipped with the world's
        finest pilots, soldiers, scientists, and engineers, working
        together as one multi-national force.

        This organization was named the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit.
        [end excerpt]

        You are in overall command of XCOM.  You will launch and control
        interceptors to attack marauding UFOs, send soldiers to attack
        crashed or landed UFOs, raid alien bases on Earth (if you can
        find them), keep the sponsor nations happy and UFOs out of their
        skies, buy the ammo and weapons you need in the war, research
        and build better weapons as your troops bring in captured alien
        artifacts for analysis and eventually manufacture our own
        copies, pay for everything by contributions from sponsor
        countries and selling stuff, and eventually figure out the alien
        threat's origin and end the threat once and for all.  (Whew!
        That's a mouthful!)

    1.2 How does XCOM play?

        The game is divided into two main segments: GeoScape and
        BattleScape.  GeoScape is a 3-D view of the globe, rotate-able
        and zoom-able.  This is where you control your various bases
        around the world (with radars), your fighters and transports
        (carrying your soldiers), your inventory at each base, the UFOs
        and alien bases currently in sight, and so on.  Once ground
        contact is made (transport landed next to UFO, you attack alien
        base, aliens attack your base, etc.), the game switches to
        Battlescape.

        Battlescape is an isometric tile-based 3-D combat with viewpoint
        similar to SimCity 2000 and Transport Tycoon.  The combat is
        turn-based with opportunity fire on the opponent's round
        (provided you have enough TimeUnits [TUs] and reaction), with
        plenty of weapons and terrain to choose from.  Everything is
        mouse-driven so game is very easy to learn yet hard to master.

    1.3 What is UFO: Enemy Unknown?

        UFO: Enemy Unknown is the European version of XCOM.  The game
        was designed by Mythos Games, and was distributed by MicroProse
        UK.  It was imported into the US later as XCOM.  XCOM is
        equivalent to UFO V1.2.

        In fact, XCOM installs into \MPS\UFO directory.  :-)

        1.3.1 Why the name change?

              OSG has no explanation, but I believe that SubLOGIC (the
              original Flight Simulator people) had a game called UFO,
              and MicroProse couldn't register the same name, so they
              picked XCOM.

              XCOM will now be the official name of the series.  XCOM2
              will be sold as XCOM2 in Europe.

        1.3.2 What is this UFO V1.3 Patch?

              Recently there's a UFO V1.3 patch floating in Internet
              somewhere. (ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/games/dresden?).
              _Computer Gaming World_ listed it in their patches page,
              so it appears to be official.  This is ONLY for UFO, NOT
              for XCOM.

              The "real" patch is XCOM V1.4.

        1.3.3 So what is the difference besides the title?

              Quite small, mainly price changes for items (esp.
              "armour").

    1.4 What type of PC do I need? Is a Demo available?

        Requirements listed on XCOM is: 386/486 (Pentium?), 4 MB RAM,
        VGA, Mouse, MS/PC-DOS 5.0 (or higher?).

        (There is an Amiga and CD32 version of UFO, see 1.6)

        One person reported that he was able to run XCOM with 2 MB RAM,
        though it is SLOW.  Your mileage may vary.

        It comes on 3 3.5" HD disks, and needs about 12MB of hard drive
        space to install (double that if using disk compression software
        such as Stacker or DoubleSpace).  There's a CD version which is
        the same except only the saved games reside on the hard drive
        and all of the data files stays on the CD.

        You CAN install the CD version onto the hard drive if you have
        enough space.  Contact MicroProse for detailed instructions.

        The game uses 32-bit protected mode, so it would not run under
        Windows.  No compatibility claims was made to any other versions
        of DOS such as DR DOS, Novell DOS 7, or even OS/2.

        Note that Windows may be necesary if the DOS4GW extender refuse
        to run on your computer.  See 1.5.7.

        There is a playable demo available on most on-line services such
        as America On-Line in the MicroProse forum /SIG/ roundtable/
        whatever.  There WAS a demo at ftp.std.com, but another user
        reported that it disappeared sometime during November '94.  In
        the meanwhile, you can try ftp.cdrom.com under /pub/Games/Demos.
        (if anyone found it, please let me know so the info can be
        included in the next update)

    1.5 What about any bugs?  Any patches?

        The OSG has no list of bugs, so here is a list of bugs that are
        known to exist in XCOM/UFO.  MicroProse is aware of most of
        these problems.

        It took MicroProse about six months, but the patch is finally
        here!  V1.4 patch is available from MicroProse BBS and www/ftp
        site.

        1.5.1 Green Text Bug

              Symptom: Game suddenly displays 40-column Green text [DOS
              Extender Error].  Usually happens right after a battle,
              and after a bit it takes you back into the battle you just
              finished (infinitely), sometimes the computer hangs.

              Cause and Solution: This is usually caused by attempting
              to save a game while an UFO interception is in progress.
              Another possibility is you have multiple crafts in the
              air and one of the is intercepting while another is land-
              ing and attacking a downed UFO or base.

              Unfortuantely, the saved game is corrupt.  You must
              restore from an earlier saved game.  [OSG only mentions
              this as "trust me, don't save when intercept minimized"]

              Further info: someone commented on the net (I'll find the
              original message I saved somewhere) that usually there is
              this ONE UFO that you did not shoot down before XCOM
              crashed.  If you do NOT destroy it after you reload the
              game, the same thing will happen again.

              Another has reported that by not maximizing the GeoScape
              screen before going into combat cuts down the chances of
              Geen Text bug, but this is unconfirmed.

        1.5.2 16-bit Sound bug

              Symptom: Game has compatibility problems with most 16-bit
              sound cards such as SoundBlaster 16 and PAS-16 (and Gravis
              UltraSound as well).  Music and sounds are often played as
              static, or no sound at all.

              Cause and solution: remember that the setup asks for the
              DMA channel, NOT the interrupt as most setup programs do.
              If it still doesn't work, it's a program bug.  You can
              always play with the sound off, but it's not as much fun
              having no alien screams when they got hit and die...

              The V1.4 patch should fix this.

              WARNING: If you have a SoundBlaster 16 and the Waveblaster
              daughtercard, do NOT select 16-bit digital sound with
              General MIDI.  Select 8-bit sound instead.

        1.5.3 One-shot blaster bug

              Symptom: Once you fired off a blaster launcher, sometimes
              there's still a shell in there so you can't reload it, but
              you can't fire it either.

              Cause and solution: This is caused by programming only one
              waypoint for the blaster bomb.  If you program two or more
              waypoints for the bomb this won't happen.

              You can also UNLOAD the "empty" shell.  See manual.

        1.5.4 Flying Frozen bug

              Symptom: a unit near the edge of the map was hit by the
              enemy.  When it is their turn to more, their pointer shows
              them off the edge of the map (totally outside).  They can
              move up/down, but not back onto the map.  They can still
              shoot, and they recover if you win the battle.

              Cause and solution: no idea, this seems to be random.
              Don't put your units near the edge.

        1.5.5 "SMOKBIT.DAT not found"

              Symptom: the game complains that a SMOKBIT.DAT cannot be
              found in your saved game directory.

              Cause and solution: no idea, since the file is not in
              all of the saved games directories that I have (I have
              it only in 2 of 10 saved games). MicroProse has no idea
              either and currently chalked it up to computer incompati-
              bility and recommends a refund if you run into this
              problem. (saved game during combat?)

        1.5.6 Stacked Equipment bug

              Symptom: When you access the alien's inventory (see 8.5)
              you found that they have multiple items stacked in one
              location (usually one of the legs).  If you do not have
              enough TU and you tried to move one item, you cannot put
              it back, and you are TOTALLY STUCK.

              Solution: just don't do it, or you'll have to reboot.
              No other way around it.  Maybe that's why we were not
              supposed to access alien inventory?

        1.5.7 Cyrix incompatibility

              Symptom: when starting XCOM/UFO, the program freezes after
              the title splash animations finished.

              Cause and solution: you probably have a Cyrix CPU. The
              version of DOS4GW XCOM used (version ends with a 5) is
              somehow incompatible with Cyrix CPUs.  The fix is very
              simple: run DOOM or another DOS4GW program (Raptor,
              Heretic, Descent, ROTT, etc.) before XCOM.

        1.5.8 Can't find a leader!?!?

              This is also known as the "Alien Containment Bug"

              Symptom: when at a crucial phase of the game, when one
              needs a captured alien leader, the leader was successfully
              captured but never was available for research.  Maybe the
              alien containment is full?

              Cause and solution: no idea.  Many people have reported
              this problem, but MicroProse have no idea, and neither do
              I.  This appears to be more prevalent on higher levels.
              Someone reported that UFO V1.3 patch solves this problem,
              but this is unconfirmed.

              Note: this is NOT related to "cannot research a captured
              commander from UFO".  That is NOT a bug.  You have to
              research one that was nabbed from a BASE.

        1.5.9 Unsaved proximity grenades

              Symptom: if you save a battle in progress with proximity
              grenades on the ground, and later restore the game, the
              grenades are gone.

              Solution: none...


    1.6 Any plans on sequels?  Mission disks?  Other computers?

        1.6.1  Sequel -> XCOM2: Teror From the Deep

               Here's an actual message posted by MicroProse on AOL:

               ----
               XCOM 2: Terror From the Deep

               The war continues...  XCOM: Terror From the Deep brings
               the alien terror into a totally new dimension...

               Seeking to take advantage of a weakened Earth, XCOM's
               deep space foes unexpectedly change strategy and launch a
               powerful second front against planet Earth.  In the dark
               depths of vast oceans, long sleeping forces are awakened
               by re-animation signals sent out across the galactic
               silence by their interstellar brothers and sisters.
               Slowly but surely, and army of hibernating alien sea
               creatures awakens.

               Your combat now extends to the strange new world of the
               deep where superior alien technologies threaten the very
               survival of the planet.  Your planet: Earth.

               *  Sequels the hugely successful XCOM: UFO Defense
               *  Actual undersea geoscape mapping system with rich topo-
                  graphical detail
               *  Full array of undersea military technology
               *  Rich graphics feature water coloration and wrecks
               *  Multi-level tactical maps featuring both underwater
                  seascapes and buildings
               *  Alien encyclopedia features mutation technology and
                  new watery denizens

               -- Brian/MicroProse
               -------------------

               XCOM2 is already out in the United States and should be
               available elsewhere really soon.
                                                              XCOM3 is in
embyonic stages will will be more radically
               different from XCOM/XCOM2, according to MicroProse.

        1.6.2  How about Mission Disks?

               None are planned at the moment.

        1.6.3  Other versions?

               There is an Amiga version.

               No other ports are expected in the near future.


    1.7 How do I win?  How do I lose?

        You win by finding the source of the alien threat and "deal with
        it" once and for all on a "final mission".  (See 11.0 if you
        REALLY want to know)

        You can lose by several ways:

        1) You were in debt for over $1,000,000 for two months.  Your
        sponsors had had enough of your mismanagement and terminated the
        XCOM project.  Earth was conquered by aliens not long after.

        2) You had two consecutive "badly losing" months (big negative
        score), and your sponsors had had enough and terminated XCOM
        project.  Just how bad is a "badly losing" month depends on your
        score and difficulty level (Scoring is explained in OSG
        Chapter 1 and 1.8).

        3) You lost all of your bases to the aliens.

        4) You failed to complete the "final mission" (see above 1).

    1.8 How is scoring calculated?

        Score is kept for both sides.  You get positive score for
        conducting successful research, capturing and/or killing aliens,
        grounding and/or destroying UFOs, destroying alien bases,
        grabbing alien equipment, and more. You get negative score for
        losing XCOM soldiers, crafts, HWPs, and civilians. (for exact
        numbers, see OSG)

        Aliens score points by overflying Earth, lands on Earth
        (whatever purpose), build and keep bases on Earth, conduct
        terror raids and hoping that you ignore it (so NEVER do so since
        this REALLY scores big for them!), sign pact with funding
        countries (which means those countries don't pay you any
        longer!), conduct harvest and/or abduction mission on Earth.
        (for exact numbers, see OSG)

        Your net score is (your_score - alien_score), which is the
        score you see on the monthly performance report (and the
        graph). The funding changes are affected by your total score,
        and are explained in OSG:Chapter 5.

2.0 The Geoscape Screen

    The GeoScape screen is where you will control the interceptions and
    provides access to the BattleScape and the base controls.

    2.1 Air Intercepts

        Always attack an UFO over land.  If you shoot it down over water
        no one can get to it (unless you are playing the sequel, see
        section 1).  If you are over water, minimize the window, and
        select 1 minute step until you get back over land, then switch
        back to 5 seconds and start attack.

        [Whether you want to attack smaller UFOs is up to you]

        If you send multiple crafts after one UFO and the UFO gets shot
        down or destroyed, the shooter will go home, but other crafts
        will continue onto the crash site, THEN return to their base. So
        make them return to base manually.  They will return faster, and
        thus be refueled/rearmed/repaired for next sortie faster.  Click
        on its icon on GeoScape and select "return to base".

        If an UFO has landed, keep a fighter on top of it.  That way, if
        it takes off before your transport get there, you still have a
        chance of taking it down.

        Since the best weapons have a chance of blowing a smaller UFO
        totally to pieces, you may want to keep one fighter armed weaker
        than the rest for intercepting smaller UFOs.  (Assuming that you
        even WANT to go after small UFOs)

    2.2 Finding Alien Bases

        XCOM agents have a chance of finding an alien base for you, but
        chances are pretty slim.  So do not rely on that.  Watch for
        high alien activity (check the graphs) yet no interception:
        there's probably a base in the area.

        Send something slow like a Skyranger to patrol the area.  An
        empty Skyranger has excellent range and therefore is perfect in
        spotting alien bases.

        Watch UFOs, esp. where they land.  If you see a "Supply Ship",
        do NOT attack it.  Trail it and follow it to their base.  After
        it lands, patrol nearby and you'll see the base.

        Hyperwave decoders can find UFOs on supply runs.  Follow that
        will usually lead you to a base.

        Of course, you do NOT have to take out that base...  You go
        after the supply train instead.

    2.3 Base Management

        [also see 3.0 for XCOM Bases]

        Since it takes several weeks before additional modules to the
        base can be brought online, you need to build them ahead of
        time.  See the base status to see how full are your facilities
        getting.  If they are getting close, start building additional
        facilities so that they'll be ready by the time you need them.

        Examine base status at least twice every month, check living
        quarters, workshops and labs, etc, and determine your expansion
        schedule.  Dismantle extra stuff before end of month so you
        don't pay maintainence on them.

        Hire engineers and scientists at the last hour of the month so
        that they get delievered early NEXT month, so you get maximum
        research from them while not paying an extra penny in salary.

    2.4 GeoScape Tricks and Tips

        Many people don't realize that click on the UFO icon will bring
        up all known info about the UFO.  If you detected it via
        Hyperwave Decoder, you'll know A LOT about it.

        UFO Crash Site susually disappear in a few days.  If you have
        no soldiers available, you can let it sit for a day or two.

        Landed UFOs will take off in a few hours (less than a day).

        Terror Sites disappear in less than a day (which mean you have
        to get to one ASAP, even if it means skipping UFOs and landing
        at night!)

        Landed/crashed UFOs still has info, such as size.

        Check your graphs regularly to determine where to build your
        next base.  Watch for sponsor countries with high alien activity
        with high-paying sponsor(s), then check how much did they pay
        you via the Funding screen and see if they are worth defending.

        Areas with high alien activity and high XCOM activity probably
        have an alien base.

    2.5 Target Selection

        If several targets presents itself, which one should you attack?
        Here are some of my general guidelines:

        2.5.1 UFOs in flight

              Attack the biggest UFO you can handle.  Supply ships are
              easy, terror ships are okay, battleships are death unless
              you have Firestorms and Avengers and can attack with
              multiple crafts simultaneously

              Launch from the closest base FROM UFOs INTENDED TARGET if
              it is known or can be deduced from UFOs path.  Launching
              from the closest base at the time of contact will result
              in a tail chase, resulting frequently in lost tracking and
              waste of fuel and time.

              If the landing site is on the dark side, you may want to
              patrol nearby and wait for light.  Of course, in the
              meanwhile the landed UFO may take off again.

              Keep a fighter on top of a landed UFO in case it takes off
              before your transport can get to it.

        2.5.2 Downed/Landed UFOs

              Attack the biggest UFO you can handle. Terror ships have
              annoying terrorists (esp. Chrysalids!) and Battleship
              simply have lots of enemies (and terrorists, depending on
              mission).  Supply ships are okay if you watch the grav-
              lifts closely

              Larger UFOs have more aliens and more artifacts to
              recover, so risk and reward are proportional.

              If you have a choice, attack a landed UFO instead of a
              shot-down UFO.  Landed UFO are undamaged and therefore
              have more artifacts (plus 50 units of E-115 per engine)
              but of course have also more aliens.

              Some veterans have reported that they can finish game
              faster by attacking landed UFOs only.  While score may not
              be as spectacular, they also have less risk of retaliation
              and can get more research done and have more money (from
              the extra booty)

              Don't follow an UFO around with a loaded transport (with
              soldiers and equipment).  They are wasting fuel and time
              and they may not have enough endurance to finish the race
              and not able to respond to a different emergency (such as
              a terror site suddenly popping up elsewhere)

        2.5.3 Terror sites

              Attack one ASAP, no exceptions.  Divert from other UFO or
              base attacks if necesary, and definitely attack at night.
              The penalty for ignoring a terror site is simply too large
              to ignore.

        2.5.4 Alien bases

              Depending on your soldiers, you should attack a base as
              soon as you are able to (don't take rookies though).  You
              should not allow more than one alien base on Earth since
              you can't really afford the penalty.

              You may want to consider leaving a base alone nearby so
              you can keep attacking the supply UFOs that drops by.
              Just make sure you can handle the alien retaliation.


3.0 X-COM Bases

    3.1 Where should I put my first base?  Additional bases?

        There are several things to consider while placing your first
        base.  Keep in mind that your first base will be your only base
        for a while, so make sure you place it where you get maximum
        coverage of the sponsoring countries, who also pays the most.

        The problem is how to maximize the country coverage WHILE
        maximizing the covered countries' total payment.  We know that
        the US pays the most (always), and second most is Japan, while
        Europe has a lot of sponsor countries in a cluster.  Third best
        paying is, believe it or not, South Africa.

        According to OSG's Chapter 5, the finance changes depend on
        your score.  If your score is positive, and you did a lot of
        stuff in the sponsoring country (see XCOM Activity in Graphs),
        then they will raise their payment by a random percentage.  Now,
        would you rather have 10% of $100,000, or 10% of $800,000?

        OSG recommends Northern US as a good starting place, which is
        okay, since US is the largest paying XCOM sponsor.  On the other
        hand, a base in US can only cover US, and Canada. A base in
        Central Europe can cover UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and
        a piece of Russia (though most of Russia would need a base in
        Asia, covering Japan, China, and maybe India as well).

        My vote is a toss-up between Europe and Northern-Central US.
        Both can work quite well.

        If you build your first base in Northern-Central US, build your
        second in Europe, and vice versa.  The third base should be near
        Japan to cover Japan, China, Russia, and hopefully India (maybe
        not), and fourth base should be in Africa covering Nigeria and
        South Africa (an important contributor).  If you build a fifth
        base, it should go in South America, covering Brazil.  If you
        want a sixth base, built it in New Zealand or NorthEastern
        Australia to covering most of the Pacific (covering Australia).

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