X-COM: UFO Defense - Strategy Guide (Page 03)
Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for X-COM: UFO Defense - Strategy Guide (Page 03).
The 'Net Profit' column is the bottom line. Monthly expenses
are the salaries of as many engineers as fit in the workshops
times $50K, plus the maintenance on 2 workshops and 2 living
quarters.
As you can see, Fusion Ball Launchers are the winner, narrowly
edging out Laser Cannons. A profit can be made early in the
game on motion scanners, however.
One final note: It costs roughly $7M to hire engineers and
build the facilities, so you'll need to 'borrow' some money
(preferably from alien supply ships :) to get started.
[Editor's note: don't forget the "transfer salary trick" below]
5.5 The "Transfer Salary Savings" trick
As explained on page 131 of OSG, if you sack scientists and/or
engineers before the end of the month, you don't have to pay
their salaries. However, there's ANOTHER way to do this.
Have two bases approximately equivalent to each other, like both
research (or manufacturing), about same living quarters, and
scientists (or engineers). Just before end of the month (last
day, last hour), transfer ALL of the scientists (engineers) to
the other base, and do the same on the other base (i.e. they
swap their contingent). When the end of month comes along,
NEITHER side has their scientists (engineers) (they are in
transit), no salary is paid. If you have like 100 scientists
moving each way, you save $60,000x100x2 = $12 million!
5.6 When do I dismantle unused base facilities?
The OSG was rather unclear on what to dismantle. Basically, you
should do the following:
* When you get hyperwave decoder, build only one at each base,
and dismantle all the radars there. One hyperwave decoder
detect 100% of UFOs within range, so no radars are needed.
* When you no longer need alien prisoners (i.e. you are ready to
undertake the "final mission"), zap the alien containment
(though by that time, it doesn't matter any more, unless you
are waiting for your Avenger to be built)
* When you no longer need more research or manufacturing (i.e.
you are ready for the "final mission"), lay off all the
scientists and/or engineers, and zap their living quarters and
working modules.
5.7 Aliens signed pact with XXX who stopped paying me!
Nothing you can do. One of the Infiltration UFOs got through.
(See 9.8 UFO Missions) and now the country stopped paying you.
Consensus on the net is you can NOT get them back (i.e. nullify
the pact). The OSG confirms so.
On the other hand, some UFO players have reported that certain
countries (very few though) have returned. Any XCOM players
have their countries coming back from an alien pact?
6.0 Research and Manufacturing
6.1 What should I start researching first?
OSG and I have different priorities on research...
I recommend laser weapons, medikit, laser rifle, and alien alloy
(which allows personal armor) for the starting projects.
Pistols and rifles are pitiful against plasma rifles and alien
grenades. Laser rifles, which does not use ammo, should even up
the odds a bit, and personal armor should save you from a
grazing shot (which would have killed with no armor). Medikit
will save you from the grazing shot that caused fatal wounds.
The rest is up to you, but I recommend researching heavy plasma,
small launcher and stun bombs, then heavy blaster and blaster
bombs. Then research Elerium, UFO power source, so you can
build nice armor.
6.2 Overall strategy
Keep roughly 100 scientists in your employment. You need that
much research to discover things in reasonable time, though you
can probably get by with 50-75.
Due to the way research works, concentrate on one project at a
time so you can start on later topics faster.
Research prisoners ASAP. See 9.3 for benefits you can gain from
each type of prisoners. Grab a navigator would mean that you
can reap significant saving in radars (after you get the
hyperwave decoder, of course) and better interception.
6.3 Research Tree
[OSG has chart on man-hours needed for each discovery]
Laser Weapons Heavy Heavy Plasma Plasma
| Plasma Plasma Clip Rifle Rifle Clip
Laser Pistol |___________| |__________|
| | |
Laser Rifle | |
| |__________OR___________|
Heavy Laser |
| |
Laser Cannon Plasma Cannon
(Laser Tank) (Hovertank/Plasma)*
| |
Laser Defense Plasma Defense
Alien Alloys Blaster Blaster
| Launcher Bomb
Elerium 115 Personal Armor UFO Power Source |___________|
|_____________|_________________| |
| Fusion Ball
| (Hovertank/Launcher)**
Power Suit UFO Navigation |
|_________________| Fusion Defense
|
Flying Suit
Alien Elerium UFO UFO
Alloys 115 Power Source Navigation
|___________|___________|______________|
|
UFO Construction
|
|
New Fighter Craft
(Firestorm) * = [Hovertank / Plasma]
|
New Fighter-Transporter
(Lightning)
__________|____________
| |
Grav Ultimate Craft
Shield (Avenger)
* Need "New Fighter Craft" before you can build the plasma hovertank.
** Need fusion ball launcher before you can build the fusion ball
hovertank.
6.4 Any hints on manufacturing?
Only manufacture thing that you REALLY need, like crafts, etc.
almost NEVER manufacture ammo since most require Elerium, which
is always in short supply. Captured ammo is much cheaper and
don't use your precious E-115 supply.
NEVER let any engineers go idle. If you don't need anything
built, build something that makes money.
7.0 Intercepting UFOs
Don't forget to check section 4 for info on XCOM crafts. Some of
these hints and related hints are also listed in Section 2.
Also see 12.2 for UFO recognition chart (and floorplan)
7.1 Tracking UFOs
Remember that UFOs have specific targets and they do NOT change
missions in mid-air ("Chicago's covered, let's go for Havana
instead"). They also head STRAIGHT for their targets on the
inbound leg. So if you see an UFO and lost tracking, try to
extrapolate its course and send interceptors to their estimated
NEXT location instead of going toward the last known location.
[Interestingly, they sometimes abort their mission (just leave),
esp. in cases where they can't find your base to attack.]
If you have hyperwave decoder, you can see UFO destination
directly as it comes into range.
7.2 Air-to-air attack methods
Once you got a craft in range of the UFO, it's time to attack.
While the OSG explained what the different attacks REALLY mean,
it STILL doesn't explain what good is each for. Here's my
version...
Cautious Attack: causes least damage per attack but remains at
the longest range and therefore has the least chance of getting
counter-attacked. Useful when you want a not too badly damaged
UFO (just enough to crash it).
Normal Attack: average damage per attack, enough for most
attacks if your weapon outranges the UFOs.
Aggressive Attack: close to point-blank and let them have it
in the face! Causes the most damage per attack, but exposes
craft to counter-fire. Good for brave/suicidal charges (toward
an alien battleship, for instance)
7.3 Weapons
OSG has a typo: Table 7-2, Fusion Ball Launcher holds TWO, not
three shots as stated. Section 4.1 is correct.
In case you haven't noticed, Plasma Beam is the BEST craft
weapon in the game. It has 100 shots, 70 damage per shot, AND
range of 52 km, which outdistances almost all UFOs except
battleships. Even though Fusion Ball Launcher causes more
damage per shot, you only get two shots for each launcher.
In any case, try to replace Stingrays and regular cannons ASAP,
since they are worthless once you see large UFOs.
7.4 Special note on Alien Battleship
Battleship is THE most dangerous UFO, period. It outranges ALL
XCOM craft weapons. Only Firestorms and Avengers can stand up
to it, NEVER use Interceptors (or you WILL lose them). ALWAYS
attack Battleships in groups to minimize damage and the
resultant repair time, and use aggressive attack, since you
don't want the UFO to fire back that often. I've found that
aggresive attack reduces damage against Battleships.
7.5 UFO Size Classes and weapons range
If you read table 7-3 in OSG or the UFOpedia, the Weapon Range
of the UFO is a rather large number (ex. Battleship = 520). That
number means nothing by itself. To get a more meaningful
number, divide that by 8 for the range in kilometers. (EX.
Battleship is 520/8=65 km). That forms the revised weapons
range table below.
Revised range table:
UFO TYPE Weapon Range (km)
Small Scout 0
Medium Scout 15
Large Scout 34
Harvester 22
Abductor 20
Terror Ship 42
Battleship 65
Supply Ship 28.5
Plasma beam, with 52 km range, can attack any UFO except
battleship with impunity. UFO Battleship, with range of 65 km,
can shoot back at even crafts armed with Fusion Ball Launchers
(which also has a 65 km range).
7.6 Methods of Attack
The safest way to hit large or very large UFOs is to have
multiple Firestorms and/or Avengers to converge on them. UFOs
are dumb and does not concentrate on one target, so the more
targets you present, the less damage each will receive. Of
course, if you send up Interceptors against Battleships, don't
expect many to come back, since Battleships can destroy an
Interceptor with ONE shot.
Plasma beams will make your Interceptors useful again, so get
them ASAP. Replace them with Firestorms ASAP though to save on
monthly "rent".
7.7 Go Home Early
When you send multiple crafts after one UFO and the UFO gets
shot down, the shooter will go home, but other crafts will
continue onto the crash site and THEN return. Instead, click on
them and turn them back early (Return to base). They will
return earlier, thus be refueled and rearmed faster for the next
mission.
7.8 Keep Landed UFOs covered
Even if UFO has landed, keep an interceptor on top of it until
your landing craft arrives for the action. That way, if the UFO
takes off, you still have a chance to shoot it down.
7.9 Weapon vs UFO analysis
Before attacking, click on the VIEW UFO button to take a look at
your target before deciding whether to attack or not. Attacking
with wrong weapons means either the loss of the interceptor or
the UFO totally destroyed so that nothing can be recovered.
For this reason, if you WANT to go after the smaller UFOs, keep
a fighter around with "wimpy" weapons.
7.9.1 Very Small / Small UFOs
Interceptors with Stingray missiles and cannons can only
handle very small or small sized UFOs. Attacking larger
UFOs means heavy damage or even destruction. Laser
cannons are not much better, sharing the short range flaw.
7.9.2 Medium UFOs
Interceptors with Avalanche missiles or plasma beams can
handle medium UFOs easily. On the other hand, one
Avalanche will blow a very small UFO into pieces.
7.9.3 Large UFOs
Interceptors with Plasma beam and/or Avalanche missiles
can handle large UFOs, but not VERY large UFOs. Plasma
beam may blow small UFO into pieces.
7.9.4 Very Large UFOs
Multiple Interceptors with plasma beam and/or Avalanche
are needed to attack very large UFOs, and you'll probably
lose a few, since one shot from battleship will at least
cripple an interceptor. Just don't do it.
The only way to "safely" attack alien battleships is to
use Firestorms and Avengers (the more the better!) with
twin plasma beams. Even then you will probably be heavily
damaged (as in 20% to 60% damage), which is not a good
trade. Many have suggested that you should let them land
and attack them on the ground.
8.0 Soldiers, Movement, and Combat
8.1 Soldiers
8.1.1 Soldier Statistics
We recommend that instead of using the default names, you
adopt a naming system for your soldiers that will help you
to know at a glance who to take on a mission.
System One reflects a trained specialty, such as scout
(SC), heavy weapons (HW), demolitions (DM), psi combat
(PS), sharpshooter (SS), etc. For example, "Steve Rogers
HW/PS" has lots of strength and nice time units for
carrying the heavy weapons (and shooting them). His
PsiStr and PsiSkl is also pretty high so he also carries a
PsiAmp for psi combat.
Here's some suggested specialties
Scout (SC) -- carry motion sensor
Medic (MD) -- carry Medi-Kit
Intelligence (IT) -- carry mind probe
Heavy Weapons (HW) -- carry "heavy" stuff
PsiCorp (PSI) -- carry psi amp for psi attacks *
* PsiCorp is named after the organization in Babylon 5
You can also cross-train, of course. There's no limit in
the number of spots each person can hold... And real-life
SEAL teams are all cross-trained any way.
System Two just places the numbers in the name. For
example, "Steve 64/44/36/71/46/62/16", for which the
numbers are Time Units, Health, Reactions, Firing
Accuracy, Strenth, Psi Strength, and Psi Skill. You'll
probably need to update after this every mission.
(contributed by Seth Cohn)
To change the name, go to the soldiers screen (the one
base display) that displays their stats. Click on their
name, and a cursor comes up, allowing you to change them.
8.1.2 Recruiting soldiers
Sack weaklings ASAP. You want high strength, reaction,
morale, and shooting accuracy, and when you get psi, psi
strength. So recruit lots of rookies, use them for scouts
(they are cheap when compared to HWPs). If they survive,
keep them, else, oh, well, they've done the world a great
service. :-)
Why those traits? High strength means they can carry more
(and heavier) stuff. High reaction means they can get
opportunity fire (reaction shots) while enemy is moving.
High Morale means they are less susceptible to panic, and
shooting accuracy is obvious. :-) Other characteristics
are not as important.
Soldiers only get promoted if there are enough of them to
warrant a promotion. So hire a lot of rookies, send them
out to missions. The ones that survive are squaddies, and
when you have enough squaddies, you have officers. Feel
free to sack the bad squaddies later to save on salary.
8.1.3 How do I improve stats of soldiers?
Try to always take a couple of rookies along to give them
experience to boost their stats. In XCOM, you learn by
doing. You want more strength? Carry heavy stuff. More
accuracy? Take more shots. Soldiers with kills gain more
than those without kills.
8.1.4 Dividing up specialties
Assuming 10 soldiers and 1 HWP (normal for a Skyranger)
you should have the following:
1 scout
2 soldiers heavy weapon squad
3 soldiers squad A
3 soldiers squad B
1 officer
1 HWP
The two highest strength soldiers should be the heavy
weapon folks, who would be carrying autocannon and rocket
launcher in the early game, and blaster launchers later.
The scout should have the highest TU (low strength is
okay) and will be carrying pistols and grenades and maybe
stun weapons.
The two squads can go after different targets, one squad
lead by officer and supported by HWP, while the other
squad supported by scout and heavy weapons.
8.1.5 How do I get more officers?
Officers come from Squaddies, and squaddies come from
Rookies who survived a mission and gotten at least one
kill. Section 3.2.4 Promtions of manual explains how many
soldiers you need for officers to show up.
8.2 Movement
8.2.1 Deployment from Transport into Battle
The OSG fails to mention that you CAN see the outside
through the Windows in your transport. If the last
soldier turn around in the Skyranger or Avenger, you can
see A LOT beyond the cockpit. Of course, since you are on
Level 1, (Level 0 = ground) you can't see things that are
right next to you on ground.
After that, send out a HWP just on the ramp, turn to face
right. If there's no enemy, turn to face left, and you've
just cleared the surrounding area. If there is enemy, get
off the ramp and start shooting.
Prime a grenade for most soldiers and be ready to throw it
as you get off the ramp.
Move the initial soldiers a few squares away before
deploying the next two so you don't invite grenades and/or
blaster bomb.
8.2.2 Use the terrain!
You can use the terrain in other ways than just hiding
behind something. Use secondary explosions to your
advantage! If alien is standing next to volatile object
like fuel drums, gas pumps, those red things in UFOs or
bases, etc, blow THAT up (DOOM players love doing this).
Aliens DO shoot through each other, so if you have NOWHERE
to hide, hide BEHIND an alien and pray. (It was reported
that one alien shot itself when attempting to shoot down
the gravlift)
Kneel whenever possible. It increases your accuracy and
decreases the enemy's (make you a smaller target)
Always hide behind something; it could mean the difference
between a wound vs. death! Of course, that also means
that you have to have enough TUs
If you have flying suit, do not stay in mid-air unless you
have something to hide behind also.
8.2.3 Alien Movement and visual range
Do the aliens have better night vision?
Answer: They do NOT.
Why they can shoot at you but you don't see them?
Answer: depending on difficulty level, they "remember"
where you are from previous turns for several turns (on
higher levels they remember longer). They can ONLY shoot
at you IF they had seen you before and still "remembered".
Aliens capitalize on this by moving forward, spot you,
then move back out of range. Then for next X turns those
aliens in range shoot at you out of your visual range.
visible
range
A-----|-->A
| | YOU
A<-|---+
This is why soldiers may get mind-blasted even if no
aliens are in sight.
8.2.4 Listen and watch
Watch carefully in alien movement phase. Sometimes you CAN
spot them moving around. TRY to remember the surrounding
terrain, then go to overhead map and see if you can spot
where that was.
Watch carefully where the shots came from.
Sound can give you important clues to alien locations. If
you hear door sounds, you know alien moved in/out of a
door. Different door makes different sounds.
Aliens also have no manners. They leave doors open after
they go through. Watch farm houses carefully.
The length of the alien movement phase is proportional to
the number of hostile aliens left on the map. Just keep
in mind that stunned aliens can wake up.
8.2.5 Spread out and cover each other
Bunch up invites enemy attack you with grenades, or worse,
blasterbombs. Stay about four to eight squares apart.
Aliens DO attack from behind sometimes, so try to have two
troopers who can watch each other's back. This is
ESPECIALLY important when going up against Chryssalids,
who moves extremely fast [~120 TUs!] It will turn your
soldiers into zombies in a blink of an eye... One player
reported losing the entire squad to a single Chryssalid on
a terror mission! It pays to watch each other's back!
Here's a simple demonstration with a four person fire
team:
A A
C C
===>>
B B
D D
A and B moves forward, leapfrogging C and D. C and D
would look forward when A and B move, ready to shoot at
any spotted enemies. When A and B has stopped, C and D
would turn around and watch the backs of A and B, who
would also turn facing outwards.
8.2.6 Retreat (Tactical withdrawal)
Sometimes you can't win and it's time to cut your losses.
To retreat from a landing assault (UFO recovery or
assault, terror site), move any many units as you can back
into the transport, then hit the dust-off button. Any
units left behind are "missing in action".
If the only solider onboard the transport is unconscious
and you select dust-off, s/he's also missing in action,
and you lose the transport.
To retreat an attack on an alien base, you must pull every
one that you can back into one of those green-floor rooms
that you came down in. Soldiers on gravlifts (even if
they are in the green-floor room) as well as soldiers
elsewhere are MIA when you select dust-off.
To retreat from a base defense mission, just hit dust-off.
You will lose the whole base to the aliens, of course,
including the crafts (no home elsewhere for them)
8.3 General Combat Tactics
8.3.1 HWP usage
HWPs should be used for "beating the bush" and flush
aliens out for soldiers to shoot. That makes rocket
launcher tank and fusion ball launcher hovertank more
useful than their cousins.
Hovertank is even more useful since it can go high and
thus cover more ground. They can also hover in mid-air
and thus avoid hand-to-hand attacks.
Use their shots to take down walls of orchards, barns, and
stuff like that so you don't have to go inside and clean
up every room.
8.3.2 Grenade usage
Grenades should be used for temporary boost in firepower
and for clearing obstacles in view. Blow a hole in the
walls instead of going through the door.
Rookies can be effective grenadiers since grenades are
area weapons and grenades don't miss by very far.
High Explosive is just a very heavy grenade, and you will
have problems tossing it. Toss it a short distance or
drop it on ground, then RUN away from the area. They are
great opening up houses and barns, and may be able to
punch through inner (maybe outer?) UFO walls.
Proximity grenades are great for traps. Use them to
prevent aliens coming up behind you, and/or pin aliens
(toss one on either side of it and it can't move without
setting one off) Just remember where you threw them
(check the map) and don't walk near them yourself.
You can toss grenades to upper levels and through windows,
though you may have to kneel down to do it.
8.3.3 Blaster bombs usage
Blaster bomb and launcher is the second best weapon in the
game (the best is heavy plasma). It can shoot around
corners, has wonderful damage (200 points!) and is very
effective. Of course, it is also EXPENSIVE, and so is its
ammo. So, use them carefully (don't save them either).
Use them to take down cover is a waste, use grenades
instead (unless you got bombs to waste)
Remember that blaster bomb do NOT explode when they reach
their last waypoint. They explode when they actually HIT
something. If you just fly a BB into an empty field, it
will NOT explode.
Blaster bombs is great for UFO attacks. Use them to punch
holes in the UFO's outer hull for a new door. Target
square next to main door to enlarge door for HWPs. One
shot will clear most of the corridor. Unfortunately,
aliens love to shoot blaster bombs down gravlifts.
8.3.4 Rookie Plasma Fodder
One possible if cruel tactic is to use rookies instead of
HWPs as scouts. It is a smaller target, though have less
armor and a lot less TUs. On the other hand, they cost
about 1/10th as much.
8.3.5 Leave opportunity for shots
To make opportunity shots in the enemy movement phase, you
need TU's left unused, as well as a high reactions rating
(over 50 preferred). So leave enough for a shot while
moving and still get in cover, or don't move at all.
Have soldiers kneeling close to UFO doors is a good way to
get better reactions, if they have plenty of TUs left to
shoot any aliens who comes out.
8.3.9 Saving ammo
XCOM has a peculiar way of counting ammo usage: any clip
that was fired (even just one round!) is consider "spent"
at the end of the scenario UNLESS unloaded from the
weapon. So, if you just fired one round, unload it when
the end of battlescape is near (you DID time the alien
movement phase, didn't you?)
Interestingly, the same thing applies to the aliens as
well! If you panic the aliens and they drop their
weapons, you should pick them up and unload them, toss the
ammo clip aside. That way you gain a clip independent of
the gun you got (plus clips the alien was carrying).
8.4 Capturing Aliens
8.4.1 How to I capture an alien?
You can capture aliens in four ways, so let's discuss
advantages and disadvantages.
Shoot an alien and hope it drops stunned instead of dead:
Since smoke inhalation produce stun damage, if alien had
inhaled smoke for a while, and you shot it later, it may
drop stunned. This is too much of a guess work though,
and is dangerous if alien is armed.
Use stun rod on the alien: Dangerous since stun rod is
a hand-to-hand weapon, but it's all you have early on.
Remember to stand RIGHT NEXT to the target, and DIRECTLY
FACING the target, or you cannot stun!
Use stun bomb and small launcher: safest way to capture an
alien, shoot and scoot.
Keep dumping smoke grenades on an alien. After it inhaled
enough smoke, it'll drop stunned: takes too long.
8.4.2 So what's your recommendation?
Several ways to make captures safer:
Double/triple-team on capture: at least two soldiers
should carry stun bombs and ready to fire in salvoes in
case the alien does not drop after one hit.
Combine psi combat with capture: Panic it with psi to make
it drop its weapon (repeat if necesary), then stun it. Be
careful since alien WILL pull out any other weapon that it
has on it. After it is out of weapons, and if it does not
have HTH attack, you can use stun rods on it safely.
WARNING: release mind control on the alien (wait one
full turn), THEN stun it, or otherwise it is NOT captured!
(somehow computer counts mind-controlled alien as
"friendly" and not "captured") (confirmed by Bill Soo)
If a stun attempt fails, shoot the alien with a light
weapon like a pistol. The addition damage may cause the
health to drop below stun damage, which ALSO counts as
"stunned". Just don't kill it (yet).
8.4.3 Stunning aliens without stun weapons
Found an alien that you need to capture but have no stun
weapons? You have to use smoke. Hopefully the alien had
panicked and droped its weapons (if not, and you have psi,
panic it). Keep him in an enclosed space (a room?), dump
a smoke grenade into the room, and keep something to block
the door (rookie, HWP, whatever), and wait for choking
sounds. :-D
As you can probably tell from the pictures, Power Suit and
flying suit are immune to smoke damage (has built-in
environmental helmet)
8.4.4 Other uses for stun weapons
At a terror site, Chrysalids turning civilians into
zombies? Stun the civilians if you see them near
Chrysalids! Stunned civilians will not be attacked.
Unfortunately, many have reported that the civilians get
MAD when they wake up and you have to kill them, so finish
mission fast if you do stun one.
8.4.5 Do you HAVE an alien containment facility?
Does the home base of the transport have alien containment
facility available? If not, all aliens you captured will
DIE upon end of ground battle.
8.5 Psi Combat
To gain psionic power, you must capture a Sectoid Leader or
Commander, or any Ethereal, and successfully research
(interrogate) them. Then you need to build psi labs and send
your soldiers to be assessed and trained. Then you can use your
psi powers in combat with psi amps.
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