Million Hooters
Million Pixels - Million Hooters
Game Cheats » Sony Playstation One (PSX) » Games Starting with the Letter X » X-COM: UFO Defense - Strategy Guide (Page 02)

X-COM: UFO Defense - Strategy Guide (Page 02)

Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for X-COM: UFO Defense - Strategy Guide (Page 02).

        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.

        Do not build additional bases until you have enough money in the
        bank to pay for its initial construction AS WELL AS the first
        month's maintainence.  Negative balance for two months means the
        end of your XCOM tenure!

    3.2 How should I name my bases?

        I personally name bases based on the continent they are on, plus
        the COM suffix (stands for Command), except for the US base,
        which is CentCom. Europe is EuroCom, South America is SoAmCom
        (or SouthCom, if you want to be authentic), Asia is AsiaCom,
        Africa is AfriCom, and so on.  Sounds military.  :-)

        Naming bases is important because it means less confusion on the
        Intercept screen on choosing which base to launch the fighters
        and transports.  Launching from the wrong one means the craft
        will not get there in time, run out of fuel before getting there
        (never get there since it will come back first), etc.

    3.3 What types of bases should I build?

        The OSG recommends that you build every base to be as full
        fledged as possible, as to be ready in the unlikely event that
        all other bases fell to the aliens.  While I can sympathize with
        the approach, it is very difficult to implement.

        The main problem is in research.  Each base research independent
        of each other. Decentralized research slows discoveries and
        makes duplicate research possible (efforts are NOT cumulative).

        The only way to make things work like recommended is limit
        yourself to about three or four bases, covering North America,
        Europe, East Asia (Japan, China, Eastern Russia), and Africa
        (South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt).  Your bases will evolve in
        stages as follows:

        3.3.1 Radar base

              The radar base just have radars, and later, hyperwave
              decoders.  Remember to put in a storage space (for HWPs
              and their ammos) and a living quarter (for expansion and a
              few guards).  Stock it with several HWPs (plasma hover-
              tanks are ideal) for defense, add one defense station when
              you can afford it.

              Each radar has a 5 percent chance of detecting an UFO
              within its detection radius (just like the UFOpedia says),
              so you don't need both small and large radars, just large
              will do (unless you run out of money!).  Ten radars means
              50% chance of detection, etc.

              Later you can replace all the radars with ONE hyperwave
              decoder.  One of those detects 100% UFOs in range.
              Dismantle the radars to save on maintainence (see 5.4)

        3.3.2 Intercept Base

              Radar base with a hangar housing a fighter (Interceptor or
              Firestorm).  Watch the storage space since fighter needs
              its own weapons and ammo.  Add one if needed.

              Consider adding defense now (or assign more guards and
              HWPs) since aliens may get mad seeing their UFOs getting
              destroyed in your area.

        3.3.3 Strike Base

              Intercept Base with a second hangar housing a transport
              (Skyranger, Lightning, or Avenger).  Remember to add
              storage (weapons and ammo, plus loot) and alien
              containment (prisoners) when needed.

              Consider adding more defense, esp. when the aliens will
              get really mad as you attack more of their UFOs and/or
              bases in the area.

        3.3.4 Research Base / Manufacture Base

              Base should specialize in either research or manufacture,
              not both (doing so is putting too many eggs in one
              basket).  Add living quarters and either workshop or
              laboratory as needed.  Manufacture base needs more storage
              space or an empty hangar (if building crafts) so make you
              have enough or use TRANSFER a lot.

              You shouldn't have to build a lot of defenses here, esp.
              if you build the 3.3.5 variant.

        3.3.5 Special Research Base or Manufacture Base

              As OSG mentioned, UFOs will start looking for your base if
              their brethrens keeps getting attacked and destroyed in
              the area.  This suggest that if you build a base at North
              or South pole, only stock it with soldiers and needed
              equipment (no crafts or radars, or maybe a hyperwave
              decoder), and wait until UFOs enter a different zone
              before attacking them, you can keep a base pretty safe.
              Many people have employed this tactic and it seems to work
              quite well.  This is also great for psi labs.

    3.4 How do I design secure base easy to defend?

        The most secure base design that I can think of is this one:

        XXXXXX    This base has only ONE access point: by the lift.
        X.XXXX    Any other way (such as through the hangar) actually
        X.XXXX    takes LONGER.  And the long corridor spanning FOUR
        A.....    sections makes EXCELLENT choke points and impromptu
        HHHHHH    minefields with proximity grenades are great for
        HHHHHH    defense in this kind of situations.  If you don't
                  need three hangars, you can trade the right one for
                  three more structures down the right side.

                  Basically, put the access lift off to one side of the
                  map and try to isolate that and hangars from the rest
        XXXXXX    of the base.
        X.XXXX
        X.XXXX    There is one catch: sometimes, there's a bug in
        A....X    the game that eliminates some doors that leads you to
        HHHH.X    the rest of the base.  Without rockets and blaster
        HHHH.X    bombs to "dig", you can't kill the aliens in the other
                  section and thus cannot finish the battle at all.

    3.5 What should I add to my base at first?  Later?

        Initial modifications you need for the main base are: alien
        containment (prisoners), general stores (ammo and captured
        artifacts), and long range radar (detection).  Later, with more
        money, add living quarters, labs, workshops, and defenses, in
        approximately that order.

        Defenses comes last usually since you can defend with soldiers
        and HWPs.  Of course, don't clog up the 80-items list.

        Try to keep an hangar available so you can build more crafts.
        Remember that transferring crafts is free.

    3.6 How should I defend a base?  How much defense is enough?

        WARNING: previous versions of this guide listed that HWPs at
        an empty base (i.e. no soldiers) can defend.  I copied this
        hint from _Computer Game Review_'s strategy article.  I have
        received at least two angry statements telling me that this is
        NOT so.  Each have lost at least TWO "undefended" bases.

        Defending a base against alien raids is tough.  Fortunately,
        unless you are doing terribly well, aliens usually don't bother
        your bases for a while.  But near the end, alien battleships
        will come after your bases, then you have a problem...

        To defend against that, you need a high defense rating.  I would
        recommend over 3000, maybe 3500, plus grav shields, if you don't
        like fighting inside your own base.  Three fusion ball defenses
        plus grav shields is usually enough. During a month, only one
        out of ten battleships made it through my 3500 defense, and its
        remaining landing parties are easy to wipe out with only HWPs.

        On the other hand, if you don't have equipment to fight battle-
        ships in the air, you may want to let it land and take it out on
        the ground (i.e. at your base).  Remember you will see A LOT of
        aliens on a base raid, I hope you have a lot of USABLE
        equipment (i.e. GOOD stuff in the first 80 items)...

        Small UFOs usually scout ahead of the large UFOs that will
        actually raid your base.  If you can destroy the scout before it
        detects your base, you can prevent the base attack.

        In V1.0 of UFO (not XCOM and not later versions of UFO), you can
        gain hundreds to thousands of units of Elerium if you win a
        defend base action.

        Clean out old inventory! Old inventory will prevent you from
        getting to the GOOD weapons since you are still limited to 80
                items during base defense, and base have lots of stuff...

        The 80 items are pulled from inventory in the order on the SELL
        screen, top to bottom in order.  So if you have lots of lasers
        you'll never got to plasmas and blaster bombs.

        If you really ran out of space and do not want to conduct a fire
        sale, stuff the extras into the transports, though selling them
        is much easier and gains you money.

        Proximity grenades are vital in base defenses.  Dump a few near
        entrances and doors, and get ready for the alien death screams.

    3.7 Base modules

    Name         DaysBuild  Cost Maint Usage
    Access Lift         1   300k   4k  (Entrance to underground base)
    Alien Containment  18   500k  15k  (Holds 10[!?] live aliens)
    Fusion Defense     36  1800k  14k  (Def value 1200, Accuracy 80%)
    General Stores     10   150k   5k  (Holds 50 units of equipment)
    Grav Shield        38  2300k  15k  (Gives defenses an extra shot)
    Hanger             25   200k  25k  (Maintains 1 craft)
    Hyperwave Decoder  26  2000k  30k  (Evaluate UFO missions)
    Laboratory         26   750k  30k  (Allows 50 research)
    Large Radar        25   800k  15k  (450nm range, 5% detect/10mins)
    Laser Defense      24   900k  10k  (Def value  600, Accuracy 60%)
    Living Quarters    16   400k  10k  (Sleeps 50)
    Mind Shield        33  1300k   5k  (Minimizes aliens finding base)
    Missile Defense    16   200k   5k  (Def value  500, Accuracy 50%)
    Small Radar        12   500k  10k  (300nm range, 5% detect/10mins)
    Plasma Defense     36  1200k  12k  (Def value  900, Accuracy 70%)
    Psi Lab            24   750k  16k  (For troop psi training)
    Workshop           32   800k  35k  (Allows 50 manufacture)

        Fusion Defense, Grav Shield, Hyperwave Decoder, Laser Defense,
        Mind Shield, Plasma Defense, and Psi Lab require respective
        advances to be researched before they can be built, see 6.X for
        more information.

        NOTE 1: In a workshop, the object being manufactured takes up
                some space. So you will not be able to cram all 50
                engineers in there.

        NOTE 2: You can dismantle a facility, even when it is under
                construction. Simply click on the facility, and the
                program will ask you do you wish to dismantle it, select
                OK or Cancel.

        NOTE 3: To dismantle a base, you must remove all facilities
                (transferring all people and equipment elsewhere if
                needed) then finally remove the access lift itself.

        NOTE 4: What the manual does NOT tell you is Hyperwave Decoder
                detects 100% of the UFOs within its range, and it has a
                range LONGER than Large Radar.  Once you have this, you
                don't need any radars.

    3.8 Base startup costs, compiled by IrwinNY aol.com

        base location       lift cost   Covers
        ----------------------------------------
        Africa, South         550,000   South Africa
        Africa, North         650,000   Nigeria, Egypt
        Atlantic, North       500,000   (Really Greenland)
        America, North        800,000   USA, Canada
        America, South        600,000   Brazil
        Antartica             900,000
        Arctic                950,000
        Asia, Central         500,000   Western China
        Asia, South East      750,000   Japan, Eastern China
        Australasia           750,000   Australia
        Europe              1,000,000   Eastern Commonwealth, UK, France,
                                        Germany, Italy, Spain
        Pacific               600,000   (really Hawaiian islands)
        Siberia               800,000   Western Commonwealth, India


4.0 X-COM Hardware

    Here's the comprehensive list of all the toys you get to play with.
    Of course, most of them requires research.

    4.1 XCOM Crafts and their weapons

        XCOM crafts comes in two flavors: traditional, and UFO-based.
        traditional, besides using conventional jet engines, also
        requires MONTHLY RENT, so replace them with UFO-based crafts as
        soon as possible.

        XCOM weapons also comes in two flavors: built vs bought.

        4.1.1 XCOM Crafts

                    Speed  Accel  Fuel  Weapons  Hull  Cargo HWPs Note
        Skyranger    760      2   2000     0     150    14    3
        Interceptor 2100      3   1000     2     100     0    0
        ----Research required----
        Firestorm   4200      9   20(E) 4  2     500     0    0   (1)
        Lightning   3100      8   30(E) 6  1     800    12    0   (2)
        Avenger     5400     10   60(E)12  2    1200    26    4   (3)

        (E) Uses elerium-115 for fuel      (1) new fighter
        (2) new fighter/transport          (3) ultimate craft

        Speed   : maximum speed of craft, determines if it can keep up
                  with UFO during interception.
        Accel   : maximum acceleration of craft, determines whether UFO
                  will stay in range
        Fuel    : amount of fuel carried, endurance terms
        Weapons : number of weapon pod mounts available
        Hull    : amount of damage the craft can take
        Cargo   : number of "spaces" craft can carry.  Each soldier is
                  one space and each HWP is four spaces (see HWPs also)
        HWPs    : maximum number of HWP this craft can carry.

        Note    : for the Elerium fueled crafts, you need to divide by 5
                  for the actual units used. Avenger takes actually 12
                  units of E-115 for refuel, instead of 60 as written

        4.1.2 Craft General Advice

              Replace Skyrangers and Interceptors ASAP to save on
              monthly lease.  OTH, Interceptors have longer range than
              Firestorms, and with twin plasma cannon, can attack
              anything except battleships.

              Lightning is almost useless and usually do not get built
              by most players.  Just forget it and research for Avenger.
              Lightning has four ONE-space doors which means it cannot
              carry any HWPs.

              Do NOT use Avengers exclusively since you put too many
              eggs (soldiers and equipment) in one basket.


        4.1.3 Craft Weapons

                        Damage   Range   Accuracy  Reload  Shots
        Cannon             10      10       10%       2s     200
        Stingray           70      30       70%      15s       6
        Avalanche         100      60      100%      20s       3
        ----Research required----
        Laser Cannon       70      21       70%       4s      99
        Plasma Beam       140      52      140%       6s      99
        Fusion Launcher   230      65      230%      25s       2

        Damage   : damage done to target if hit
        Range    : max range of weapon
        Accuracy : hit probability when fired
        Reload   : second needed to fire next shot
        Shots    : number of shots available

        NOTE 1: Match the weapon to the target.  You want to force the
                alien to land so you can board it and recover artifacts
                and prisoners, not blow it into smithereens (though it
                might make you feel good)

        NOTE 2: The long range weapons, like Avalanche, Plasma Beam, and
                Fusion Ball Launcher, gives you advantage since UFO
                usually do not fire back until you are quite close.  See
                7.5 for UFO weapon ranges.

        NOTE 3: It is possible to miss with weapons that have accuracy
                > 100%, esp. when target moves out of range.

        4.1.4 Craft Weapons General Advice

              You don't want Stingray missiles and cannons. They can
              handle only very small or small UFOs.  Only keep them
              around on ONE fighter in case you want to go after small
              stuff.

              Use Avalanche missiles in the early game to take on medium
              or large UFOs.  With two to three interceptors you can
              take down terror ships or supply ships easily.

              Switch to plasma cannons later in the game and forget
              fusion ball launchers (not enough damage overall, only 2
              shots each)

              Forget laser cannons except for selling (see section 5)


    4.2 XCOM Ground Weapons

        Ground weapons accuracy is further modified by free hands,
        kneeling /standing, and soldier's shooting accuracy.  Time Units
        used is always expressed as a percent of a soldier's total TU.

        Also see 8.6.X on battle notes for each type of weapon.

                     (Accuracy / TU% needed)
                      Aimed    Snap    Auto  Dam Type  Ammo (Capacity)
Pistol                78/30   60/18           26  AP   Pistol Clip (15)
Rifle                110/80   60/25   35/35   30  AP   Rifle Clip  (20)
Heavy Cannon          90/80   60/33           56  AP   HC-AP (6)
                                              52  HE   HC-HE (6)
                                              60  I    HC-I  (6)
Auto Cannon           82/80   56/33   32/40   42  AP   AC-AP (14)
                                              44  HE   AC-HE (14)
                                              48  I    AC-I  (14)
Rocket Launcher      115/75   55/45           75  HE   Small Rocket
                                             100  HE   Large Rocket
                                              90  I    Incendiary Rocket
Grenade                                       50  HE
Smoke Grenade                                 60  Smoke
Proximity Grenade                             70  HE
High Explosive                               110  HE
--Research required---
Laser Pistol          68/55   40/20   28/25   46  Las
Laser Rifle          100/50   65/25   46/34   60  Las
Heavy Laser           84/75   50/33           85  Las
Plasma Pistol         85/60   65/30   50/30   52  Plas PP clip (25)
Plasma Rifle         100/60   86/30   55/63   80  Plas PR clip (30)
Heavy Plasma         110/60   75/30   50/35  115  Plas HP clip (35)
Blaster Launcher     120/80                  200  HE   Blaster Bomb
Small Launcher       110/75   65/40           90  Stun Stun Bomb
Alien Grenade                                 90  HE

        AP = Armor piercing  HE = High Explosive  I = Incendiary

        Note 1 : Accuracy for two-handed weapons is decreased 20% if
                 other hand is not empty (i.e. holding something like
                 grenade, psi amp, etc.)
        Note 2 : Accuracy is increased 10% if the soldier is kneeling,
                 which takes only 4 TUs
        Note 3 : Grenades and Blaster Bomb have 3-D explosions (despite
                 what many people claimed)

        General Advice:

        Get laser pistol and rifle ASAP, then research heavy plasma,
        skipping plasma pistol and plasma rifle (go back later when you
        have time), then blaster launcher.

        Forget heavy cannon and heavy laser as they are not worth the
        weight without auto (three-round-burst) mode.

        Autocannon would be your "heavy" weapon early on, along with a
        rocket launcher.  Replace them with laser/heavy plasma and
                blaster launcher.


    4.3 HWP Types
                        Cost  Shots Dam  TU ArmorF/S/R  Health
        Tank/Cannon     450K    30   60  70  90/ 75/ 60   90
        Tank/Rocket     480K     8   85  70  90/ 75/ 60   90
        --Must research--
        Tank/Laser      500K   255  110  70  90/ 75/ 60   90
        Hover/Plasma    850K   255  110 100 130/130/100   90
        Hover/Launcher  900K     8  140 100 130/130/100   90

        General advice:

        HWPs should be your scouts, extending your visual range and
        keeps your soldiers out of enemy's visual (and lethal) range

        Get the latest and greatest ASAP, buy/built them.  You need the
        extra TUs and ammo the provide early in the game.  When you have
        lots of veterans HWPs lose their importance, but is still
        important as just a scout.

        You must buy enough ammo for HWP that requires them for them to
        be available for deployment.  Tank cannon, Tank/Rocket, and
        Hover/launcher each require their own ammo in the quantity
        indicated under "Shots".  Make sure you get the right ones.


    4.4 Armor
                          Fr/Sd/Rr/Bt
        None               5/ 5/ 5/ 5
        --Must research--
        Personal Armor    50/40/30/30
        Power Suit       100/80/70/60
        Flying Suit      110/90/80/70

        General Advice:

        personal armor just need "alien alloy", so research that ASAP.
        That will improve your chance of survival by quite a bit.  After
        that, research UFO power source and you should get Power Suit,
        and finishing a hovertank should get your flying suit.

                Power suit is the most "efficient" amor.  Flying suit
requires
                a lot of elerium, so reserve them for scouts and officers.

    4.5 Equipment

        Equipment are non-combat items that you may need to use in
        BattleScape.

        4.5.1 Equipment list

                       TUs    Usage
        Electroflare   25%    Use at night for illumination, reusable
        --Must research--
        Medikit        10     heal fatal wounds, raise morale, revive
                              unconscious people (see UFOpedia)
        MotionScanner  25%    registers movement within 8 squares radius
        Mind Probe     50%    allows you to see alien's status screen
                              (ID, TUs remain, health, + other stats)

        4.5.2 Very General Advice

              Carry one electroflare and one medikit on each soldier.
              You need the light at night (just in case) and the medikit
              means no more bleeding to death.

              Medikits are not quite as useful when you don't have good
              armor, because even a weak hit becomes a kill with bad
              armor.  Before then you can distribute less medikits.

              You can pick up a thrown electroflare and throw it again.
              So you don't need to carry too many of those around.

              Mind Probe and Motion Scanner are optional items. Motion
              Scanner are useful to look behind doors or for hunting
              down that last alien.  Mind Probe is for knowing who to
              capture.  Take them if you have room, but they are not
              essential to a ground battle.

        4.5.3 How do I use...

              Check your UFOpedia.  Below are some additional tips:

              Electroflare

                 You can pick up an electroflare on the ground and throw
                 it out again, illuminating another area

                 Chuck one inside the building through a window to see
                 inside.  You may have to kneel to angle one in.

              Medikit

                 Heal fatal wounds first, worry about unconscious and
                 morale later.  If necesary, use TWO people's medikits.

                 To revive a person, keep administering stimulant until
                 s/he no longer shows up on the ground in the inventory
                 screen.  Should appear next turn at an adjacent square.

              Motion Scanner

                 Remember the top of display is always north (like the
                 overhead map) and YOUR facing is the middle arrow.

                 Use this to look around corners and behind doors.
                 Aliens hardly ever stay still between rounds.

              Mind Probe

                 Usually you would use this to ID a target for capture
                 but here's a trick that you can use if you do NOT have
                 one: try to pick up the unconscious alien on the ground
                 will also identify alien's rank and position.


    4.6 Stuff that can be bought, hire, or leased

        These are the stuff you can buy, usually not very interesting.

        Item              Category         Cost    Note
        ---------------------------------------------------------
        Soldier           Personnel        40000   monthly salary
        Scientist         Personnel        60000   monthly salary
        Engineer          Personnel        50000   monthly salary
        Skyranger         Craft           500000   monthly lease
        Interceptor       Craft           600000   monthly lease
        Stingray l'cher   Craft Weapon     16000   6 rounds
        Stingray missile  Craft Ammo        3000
        Avalanche l'cher  Craft Weapon     17000   3 rounds
        Avalanche missile Craft Ammo        9000
        Cannon            Craft Weapon     30000
        Cannon Ammo (x50) Craft Ammo        1240
        Tank/Cannon       HWP             420000   30 rounds
        HWP Cannon Ammo   HWP Ammo           200
        Tank/Rocket       HWP             480000   8 rounds
        HWP Rocket        HWP Ammo          3000
        Pistol            Weapon             800   20 rd/clip
        Pistol Clip       Ammo                70
        Rifle             Weapon            3000   25 rd/clip
        Rifle Clip        Ammo               200
        Heavy Cannon      Weapon            6400   6 rd/clip
        HC-AP             Ammo               300
        HC-HE             Ammo               500
        HC-I              Ammo               400
        Auto Cannon       Weapon           13500   14 rd/clip
        AC-AP             Ammo               500
        AC-HE             Ammo               700
        AC-I              Ammo               650
        Rocket Launcher   Weapon            4000
        Small Rocket      Ammo               600
        Large Rocket      Ammo               900
        Incendiary Rocket Ammo              1200
        Grenade           Weapon             300
        Smoke Grenade     Weapon             150
        Proximity Grenade Weapon             500
        High Explosive    Weapon            1500
        Stun Rod          Weapon            1260
        ElectroFlare      Equipment           60


    4.7 Stuff that must be researched and manufacturered

        See 5.4 for profitability study of these items.  Keep in mind
        that UFO have a different set of prices.

                  Engineer       Workshop          Alien   Sale
                   Hours   Cost   Space   Elerium Alloys  Price
[Equipment]
Motion scanner       220    34k      4       -      -     45600
Medikit              420    28k      4       -      -     46500
Mind probe          1200   262k      4       1      -    334000
Psi amp              500   160k      4       1      -    194700
[Armor]
Personal armor       800    22k     12       -      4    140000
Power suit          1000    42k     16       5      5    310000
Flying suit         1400    58k     16      16      5    420000
[HWP]
Tank/laser          1200   500k     25       -      -         ?
Hovertank/plasma    1200   850k     30      30      5    980000
Hovertank/launcher  1400   900k     30      25      8   1043000
HWP fusion bomb      400    15k     25       5      8     31500
[weapons]
Laser pistol         300     8k      2       -      -     20000
Laser rifle          400    20k      3       -      -     36900
Heavy laser          700    32k      4       -      -     61000
Plasma pistol        600    56k      3       -      1     84000
Plasma pistol clip    60     2k      4       1      -      4440
Plasma rifle         820    88k      4       -      1    126500
Plasma rifle clip     80     3k      4       2      -      6290
Heavy plasma        1000   122k      4       -      1    171600
Heavy plasma clip     80     6k      4       3      -      9590
Blaster launcher    1200    90k      5       -      1    144000
Blaster bomb         220     8k      3       3      -     17028
Small launcher       900    78k      3       -      1    120000
Stun bomb            200     7k      2       1      -     15200
Alien grenade        200   6.7k      2       2      -     14850
[Crafts]
FIRESTORM          14000   400k     30       -     65         -*
LIGHTNING          18000   600k     34       -     85         -*
AVENGER            34000   900k     36       -    120         -**
[Craft Weapons]
Laser cannon         300   182k      6       -      -    211000
Plasma beam          500   226k      8      15      -    267300
Fusion ball launcher 400   242k      6       -      -    281100
Fusion ball          600    28k      6       4      -     53300
[Misc]
Alien alloys         100     3k     10       -      -      6500
Elerium-115            -      -      -       -      -      5000***
UFO power source    1400   130k     22      16      5    250000
UFO navigation      1600   150k     18       -      3     80000

*   needs 1 UFO power source + 1 UFO navigation
**  needs 2 UFO power sources + 1 UFO navigation
*** Elerium can ONLY be captured as parts of UFO or base, which makes
    it extremely valuable, so NEVER sell or waste any of it


5.0 Finance

    5.1 What really eats up money at XCOM?

        The answer is: maintenence, and salary.  If you have 100
        scientists, their monthly salary is $6 million (!).  Add that to
        your bases (the BARE MINIMUM radar base costs over $1 million a
        month to maintain!), and you will go broke pretty quick.

        Sponsors' money will barely make a dent in your expenses, as
        they only pay you a few million, probably not even enough for
        base maintainence.

    5.2 How do I earn more money?

        Three (real) ways to make money in XCOM:

        Make your sponsoring countries happy -- so they will increase
        their payments.  The problem is: they don't pay much to start
        with, and their increase is just enough to sneeze at.  Their
        payments may be enough to buy some ammo and stuff, but don't
        expect much of an increase.

        Manufacture arms for sale -- 5.4 shows you what to make to
        really make money, but usually you need the weapons and other
        stuff for yourself, so that leaves us to:

        Sell captured/surplus equipment -- most of your money will be
        made this way.  Dump off all your obsolete equipment (pistols,
        rifles, etc) and surplus and you will get LOTS of money.  You
        will usually end with with plenty of surplus heavy plasma, and
        those fetch very good prices on the market.  :-) Doing this also
        means you need less storage space (and less maintainence) and
        more "real" weapons on base defense (due to the 80 item limit)
        Keep only one item of each type for research, sell the rest. You
        need the money and the space for more useful stuff.

        As a last resort, you can always cheat.  See the last section
        for how.

    5.3 How do I cut expenses?

        *  Cut Maintenence -- dismantle any unused facility (see 5.6)

        *  Build your own crafts -- Skyrangers and Interceptors have a
             monthly rental fee, your own crafts do not.  Of course,
             this means you have to research UFO construction and
             things.

        *  Minimize salary -- use the salary transfer trick! (see 5.5)

    5.4 What do I manufacture to make more money on the arms market?

        X-COM Profitability study -- by Jeff Shaffer [edited]

        Recently, we at the XCOM Business Institute (our motto: "If it's
        worth doing, it's worth analyzing to death") spent all last
        night to bring you the following table.  The basic assumption is
        that you are willing to support engineers long-term in order to
        make a profit.  I calculated results for a hypothetical 2
        workshop operation. You would get slightly better results with
        larger facilities, due to the economy of scale.

        [some numbers are rounded to the nearest 1000 (K) for space]

                        Work  Eng  Raw            Sale Unit|Monthly|Net
      Item              Space Hrs  Material Cost Price   P R O F I T
      -----------------------------------------------------------------
      Motion Scanner     4     220    -      34K   45K  11K 3765K 1275K
      Medikit            4     420    -      28K   46K  18K 3146K  656K
      Psi Amp            4     500  1E      160K  194K  29K 4242K 1752K
      Personal Armor    12     800     4A    22K   54K   6K  491K     -
      Power Suit        16    1000  5E+5A    42K   85K    -    -      -
      Flying Suit       16    1400 16E+5A    58K  115K    -    -      -
      Alien Alloys      10     100    -       3K    6K   3K 2343K    3K
      Elerium 115        -      -     -       -     5K    -    -      -
      Laser Pistol       2     300    -       8K   20K  12K 2916K  376K
      Laser Rifle        3     400    -      2K0   36K  16K 3049K  534K
      Heavy Laser        4     700    -      32K   61K  29K 2958K  468K
      Plasma Pistol      3     600     1A    56K   84K  21K 2586K   71K
      Plasma Pistol Clip 4      60  1E        2K    4K    -    -      -
      Plasma Rifle       4     820     1A    88K  126K  32K 2787K  297K
      Plasma Rifle Clip  4      80  2E        3K    6K    -    -      -
      Heavy Plasma       4    1000     1A   122K  171K  43K 3078K  588K
      Heavy Plasma Clip  4      80  3E        6K    9K    -    -      -
      Blaster Launcher   5    1200     1A    9K0  144K  47K 2797K  332K
      Blaster Bomb       3     220  3E        8K   17K    -    -      -
      Small Launcher     3     900     1A    78K  120K  35K 2846K  331K
      Stun Bomb          2     200  1E        7K   15K   3K 1166K     -
      Alien Grenade      2     200  2E        6K   14K    -    -      -
      Mind Probe         4    1200  1E      262K  304K  37K 2202K     -
      UFO Power Source  22    1400 16E+5A   130K  250K   7K  310K     -
      UFO Navigation    18    1600     3A   150K   80K    -    -      -
      Fusion Ball L'cher 6     400     1A   242K  281K  39K 6836K 4396K
      Fusion Ball        6     600  4E       28K   53K   5K  617K     -
      Laser Cannon       6     300    -     182K  211K  29K 6760K 4320K
      Plasma Beam        8     500 15E      226K  267K    -    -      -
      Tank/Laser Cannon 25    1200    -     500K  594K  94K 4371K 2406K
      Hovertank/Plasma  30    1200 30E+5A   850K  980K    -    -      -
      Hovertank/Launcher30    1400 25E+8A   900K 1043K    -    -      -
      HWP Fusion Bomb   25     400  5E+8A    15K   31K    -    -      -

        First six columns are just basic information from my version of
        XCOM. (Note:  I have seen posts stating that UFO has higher sale
        prices for some items, notably armor!)  The 'Unit Profit' column
        is sale price minus cost, minus the cost of any E-115/Alloy used
        in manufacture.  A '-' means a net loss, no further analysis.
        'Monthly Profit' column is based on an "XCOM Month" of 24*31 =
        744 hours. The calculation is number of engineers that fit in
        two workshops times 744 times unit profit, divided by the hours
        required to make one item.  For example, the monthly profit for
        Motion Scanners is 96*744*11600/220 = 1275993 (1275K).

« Previous PageNext Page »