For the 'ol X-Com fans... "UFO Extraterrestrials"

[Axelay]

Funny, I seem to remember actually stalking enemy Battleships until they landed so that I could take them intact and get all of their Elerium. I honestly don't recall losing many supporting countries so long as my troops were on the ground to take out the threat just as soon as it landed.

[Noyhauser]

Funny, I seem to remember actually stalking enemy Battleships until they landed so that I could take them intact and get all of their Elerium. I honestly don't recall losing many supporting countries so long as my troops were on the ground to take out the threat just as soon as it landed.

Yes but if they land and they are on an infiltration mission you automatically lose that country's support. Its essential that you take them out in the air otherwise you will lose another country.

[Mr March]

Noyhauser is correct. You can't let battleships on an infiltration mission land, even for a minute or you'll lose your funding nation. This is a rule that doesn't change, it happens in all X-COM Enemy Unknown games on all skill levels, even beginner. Having said that, it's important to note that not all battleships are on infiltration missions. Important distinction.

Excellent advice, Mr. March. Really great stuff.

I will have to try out your recommendations on smoke grenades and stun rods. I've honestly never used either and always thought they were useless. I'm a little past that point in my current game, but when I start again I'll give it a whirl.

Thanks!

Make sure to group up your soldiers when trying for a stun and ALWAYS flank. If you have one group on the right side trading fire with an alien you want to capture, make sure your soldier with the stun rod comes from the left side. Enjoy and happy alien hunting!

[F-ZeroOne]

Thanks, everyone, especially Mr. March, for the tips! Some of them I've seen before elsewhere, but Mr. Marchs is perhaps the most unique approach I've seen yet - cover everything in smoke and then cattle-prod the bad guys!

You can "acquire" the game on the web, although by many accounts its a bit of a sod to get working on modern machines. I use a free program called D-Fend, which with a little bit of set-up and tweaking to make the game speed right works very well. Note that some versions of X-Com will have the original bugs, such as the "One blaster bomb waypoint prevents reloads" bug...

Right. Someone pass me that autocannon. Time to eat hot firey death, alien scum!

[Mr March]

DOS Version 1.4 has fixed most of the bugs, though some still persist. Both the DOS versions and Windows versions can still be purchased and are relatively cheap. I think some websites have downloads of the full game, but I'm not sure where.

I'd recommend DOSbox to play any old DOS game. I've got X-COM, Master of Magic, Full Throttle and The Dig all operating flawlessly under DOSbox (version 0.61 I believe). IMO, you can't go wrong with it and it's easy to use.

Glad I could offer a little bit of advice. Good luck F-ZeroOne

Edited April 26, 2007 by Mr March

[hutch]

Well, last night I started encountering Mutons, and haven't even gotten close to a Sectoid Leader with a small launcher yet, so I think I may have to start over, because I know Ethereals are next and without any Psi training it's Mind Control City.

I'll probably play it out, get demolished by Ethereal beings and then start over using Mr. March's excellent advice and probably be much the better for it.

I hate feeling like everything is going so well and then remembering the h311 that's coming and thinking "I'm screwed".

Ah well. Everything old is new again.

[F-ZeroOne]

Several Sectoids now given 40,000 volts straight up the... er... "probing area" thanks to Mr. March!

[Noyhauser]

Well, last night I started encountering Mutons, and haven't even gotten close to a Sectoid Leader with a small launcher yet, so I think I may have to start over, because I know Ethereals are next and without any Psi training it's Mind Control City.

I'll probably play it out, get demolished by Ethereal beings and then start over using Mr. March's excellent advice and probably be much the better for it.

I hate feeling like everything is going so well and then remembering the h311 that's coming and thinking "I'm screwed".

Ah well. Everything old is new again.

I don't know if you're "screwed." Rarely was I able to get a psiwarfare capability going before the ethereals. And if you have a hyper wave decoder,you can avoid doing Etherals land missions (once you got your live one) and just blow out of the sky any offending Ethereal unit.

[Mr March]

LOL @ F-ZeroOne

I don't know if you're "screwed." Rarely was I able to get a psiwarfare capability going before the ethereals. And if you have a hyper wave decoder,you can avoid doing Etherals land missions (once you got your live one) and just blow out of the sky any offending Ethereal unit.

I have to agree with Noyhauser. I can't recall ever possessing psi-capable soldiers BEFORE Ethereals arrive on the scene. Personally, the best I've ever done is to be training my soldiers in psi when the first Ethereals show up (around month six or seven if I recall). I certainly wouldn't call the game a loss just because you have no psi-soldiers when the Ethereals come. In fact, you're really doing just as good as the average competent player at this point.

There are ways to defend against psionics aliens and ways to quickly attack them BEFORE you obtain psi-capable soldiers. Using the medikit to restore morale with pain killers is one method. Using psi-vulnerable - but unarmed soldiers - is a highly effective way to bait psi-aliens into wasting time mind controlling useless units. Get a Rocket Launcher Tank or better yet, a Blaster Launcher Hovertank and obliterate everything. When fighting masses of psi-aliens like Ethereals, it's no time for capture or salvage. Let not an alien nor building nor UFO remain standing. ANNIHILATE THE MAP!

Blaster Launcher is your friend: with this weapon you can blow a hole in the roof of an alien vessel with one shot, then fire a second Blaster Bomb through the hole and into the bridge where all the cowardly psi-aliens think they are unassailable. There's nothing quite like killing four Ethereals on the bridge of a terror ship in only the second turn of combat

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Yep, that's the sure fire way of ending a battle quickly. lol

But i like the long drawn out battles where you have to go from bottom to top more so.

Nothing like watching them leaders get scared and blast their own guys! haha

I'm downloading it today, i want to play again. New video card yay!

I have NEVER played a game as much fun as the old UFO.

Edited April 27, 2007 by ruskiiVFaussie

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Guys i have the collectors edition, but i know that doesn't work on XP.

Is there a download i can use to down the whole game with the fix?

Or should i try to use this guys fix - http://www.xcomufo.com/x1dl.html.

I think i tried that but it still came up with sound errors. : /

Anyone can please recommend where i should download please? :-)

[ruskiiVFaussie]

http://www.abandonia.com/games/38/UFO-Enem...nemyUnknown.htm

gonna try this one.

Edited April 27, 2007 by ruskiiVFaussie

[hutch]

Thanks for the very productive advice, guys. I'm playing through it. Didn't get a chance to play much tonight, but tomorrow I'm going home from work early and that means some serious sectoid destructivity.

I did some stupid stuff with organizing my bases wrt research and manufacture, but I'll get that straightened out soon.

[Mr March]

http://www.abandonia.com/games/38/UFO-Enem...nemyUnknown.htm

gonna try this one.

Omg, this website has Wasteland, the original post-apocalyptic RPG for the PC. Damn, talk about ancient! This game was so much fun, but could be quite hard ("Peels off a final shot", the most hated phrase in RPG history). Damn, seeing this next to Fallout is like night and day, just no comparison at all. Can't beleive I played this game. I think I'm feeling my age just a little bit right now

[Lynx7725]

Man I am so out of touch.. On the second mission, I explored a crash site and got caught in a crossfire right from the get go. Plasma fire blew away one of my designated scout right after he jumped out of the transport, and as we close on the alien, another popped up to crossfire my flanking squad. Lost at least 3 troopers there, but since I was playing during my lunch break, I couldn't continue... just as well.

Note to self: Don't go fighting aliens at night.

BTW, anyone knows how to make the Gold Edition play in Windowed mode? I dislike the full-screen mode.

[Noyhauser]

Man I am so out of touch.. On the second mission, I explored a crash site and got caught in a crossfire right from the get go. Plasma fire blew away one of my designated scout right after he jumped out of the transport, and as we close on the alien, another popped up to crossfire my flanking squad. Lost at least 3 troopers there, but since I was playing during my lunch break, I couldn't continue... just as well.

Note to self: Don't go fighting aliens at night.

Two items I find help immensely at night, one is flares, obviously. Cheap and small, you can spam them across the map. The second item is proximity grenades. Prox grenades are fantastic, not only for doing damage against aliens, but also as a sort of mine that you can leave in place to cover a flank. You can move on and if it goes off, you can return to shoot whatever remains.

Edited April 27, 2007 by Noyhauser

[Lynx7725]

Two items I find help immensely at night, one is flares, obviously. Cheap and small, you can spam them across the map. The second item is proximity grenades. Prox grenades are fantastic, not only for doing damage against aliens, but also as a sort of mine that you can leave in place and move on to cover a flank.

Well, won't have helped in this case. My scout just hopped out of the transport and the alien sniper just spammed plasma at him. The scout didn't even had time to do anything...

This was my second mission, so I wasn't too technologically advanced. Frankly speaking, since this was a shootdown site, I could have afforded to wait another few hours and gone in at daybreak.

[Akilae]

If it's a crash site mission and it's at night, I find it extremely helpful to not do anything the first 1 or 2 rounds. Don't do anything, and just listen.

Also, have a rookie stand on the ramp (don't deplane, if you can just throw from inside the transport)), inch foward one square at a time and throw grenades, HE packs, prox mines, and flares.. anything that clears out the LZ and lights up the area.

[Lynx7725]

If it's a crash site mission and it's at night, I find it extremely helpful to not do anything the first 1 or 2 rounds. Don't do anything, and just listen.

I'm playing at work during lunch, are you crazy? :D

Also, have a rookie stand on the ramp (don't deplane, if you can just throw from inside the transport)), inch foward one square at a time and throw grenades, HE packs, prox mines, and flares.. anything that clears out the LZ and lights up the area.

I don't find the immediate drop zone (i.e., the square around the transport) an issue. In this case, the bug-eye was shooting from beside a house all the way to the other side of the map. He was just randomly spamming, and with autofire plasma, he just had to get lucky.

[Akilae]

ah... smoke then... pop lots of smoke. Cause it wasn't a lucky shot, they can actually see very well at night.

[Lynx7725]

I actually don't mind night missions -- I do find them more interesting and atmospheric. But to kill aliens, it's more fun to do it in broad daylight..

Maybe it is time to bring tanks onto the field.

[Warmaker]

Fire.

Lots of fire.

And more explosions, too.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Two items I find help immensely at night, one is flares, obviously. Cheap and small, you can spam them across the map. The second item is proximity grenades. Prox grenades are fantastic, not only for doing damage against aliens, but also as a sort of mine that you can leave in place to cover a flank. You can move on and if it goes off, you can return to shoot whatever remains.

Equip an auto cannon with incindary ammo, auto fire in every which way, and there you go.

Be careful not to go too nuts though, or your toes will get hot! I think as long as your blokes don't

stay stationary in the fire and run through there won't be any damage to them at all.

And of course smoke your way out of the Skyranger, the enemy has a hard time being accurate.

Flares are cool, especially thrown in a garden park (lots of trees) and around your carrier of choice.

Of course, i hope this is relation to the first UFO otherwise nevermind.

BTW guys i downloaded that link i gave yas, and it works great.

But every now and then the graphics go 60s with fluresent pinks and so, but that's

easily fixed by hitting the windows button and then click back into the game.

Good to be back!

Edited April 27, 2007 by ruskiiVFaussie

[Mr March]

Man I am so out of touch.. On the second mission, I explored a crash site and got caught in a crossfire right from the get go. Plasma fire blew away one of my designated scout right after he jumped out of the transport, and as we close on the alien, another popped up to crossfire my flanking squad. Lost at least 3 troopers there, but since I was playing during my lunch break, I couldn't continue... just as well.

Note to self: Don't go fighting aliens at night.

BTW, anyone knows how to make the Gold Edition play in Windowed mode? I dislike the full-screen mode.

As Akilae and ruskiiVFaussie have mentioned, smoke grenades are your friend. When night vision gives the aliens the advantage, take it away by smoking the map. Tanks and smoke grenades...use your green to save those who are

[F-ZeroOne]

I will never - not ever - get tired of shooting firing holes in walls and then setting fire to the insides of buildings.

[Mr March]

Terrain destruction is so much fun in X-COM. The number of uses is just brilliant. Have you ever sighted an alien inside a building with one soldier, then had a second nearby soldier run up to the wall and autofire both the wall and the alien inside? That much fun should be illegal

[Lynx7725]

After about 3 hours of gameplay.. I suck.

I started a new game (at home this time) and before I even gotten my laser rifles, I had big UFOs landing. I was winning fights, but every fight I lose a few soldiers. It was hard replacing them.. They don't gain enough experience before they bit the dirt too.

Then a Terror Raid hit Casablanca.

And I lost 5 out of 7. I won the fight, mind you, but lost the war there...

[Axelay]

I really wish that back in the day, the engine had been capable of handling complete building destruction. Like when you spot an alien on the roof of a building, and you are sure there are others inside it, you wanna just blow out everything on the bottom floor and collapse the whole building. I cannot count the number of times I've wanted to be able to do that. Some buildings are small enough that you can throw a HE pack in the middle of the floor and it'll blow out at least 80% of the ground floor walls.

Say, I'm reminded of something. I seem to recall figuring out that if any of your own team gets mind controlled, you can taze/stun them and pick up their bodies so that they will return to base with you at the end of the mission instead of going MIA.

I really miss weapons editing. I used to take the model for the standard assault rifle but would make it so that it could use either pistol or rifle magazines as well as stun bombs. Pistol magazines were beefed up AP rounds, and rifle magazines were HE rounds with a nasty explosion like a rifled grenade. Stun rounds were obviously for those "bring 'em back alive" opportunities. I just enjoyed this because it made so much more sense to consolidate weapons to have multiple functions. And hey, I didn't wanna use no stinkin' alien weapons.

[F-ZeroOne]

Terrain destruction is so much fun in X-COM. The number of uses is just brilliant. Have you ever sighted an alien inside a building with one soldier, then had a second nearby soldier run up to the wall and autofire both the wall and the alien inside? That much fun should be illegal

I had something nearly as good - barn with alien inside and UFO behind it. After shooting up the place and deadifying the alien, I was sneaking some troops round the side when the UFO commander decides to poke his head out the UFO door. Unfortunately for him, due to my earlier... er... wall... surpression... there was a direct line of sight between the commander and my autocannon guy, who it turns out has some pretty quick reactions. And was loaded with incendiary ammuntion.

This happened twice. Cue on-fire alien retreating back inside UFO only to pop out again next round and get more of the same. Despite being on fire for at least two rounds, though, what actually got him was a rocket in the face from the troops that were going round the side.

They just don't make 'em like this anymore.

(my all-time favourite shot from this series of games - counting "Laser Squad" and "Rebelstar" - was in Laser Squad. Very long corridor, my guy at one end, bad guy at other standing next to a whole heap of fuel and oxygen tanks. My shot went straight as an arrow for what seemed like forever then - I swear - passed through the bad guy and struck the tanks. It felt like the explosions went on for the rest of the day...!)

[Mr March]

After about 3 hours of gameplay.. I suck.

I started a new game (at home this time) and before I even gotten my laser rifles, I had big UFOs landing. I was winning fights, but every fight I lose a few soldiers. It was hard replacing them.. They don't gain enough experience before they bit the dirt too.

Then a Terror Raid hit Casablanca.

And I lost 5 out of 7. I won the fight, mind you, but lost the war there...

Nah, you don't suck. I lose soldiers all the time, but I just reload the mission and try again (and I occassionally cheat with a mid mission saves). After you get over the kinks and loosen up in combat again, you'll find it's much easier and you won't die as often. It just takes a bit of time and patience. The game does have a learning curve.

I wouldn't keep playing if you're loosing as many soldiers as described above. You have to reload at that point and try again. It's really important, especially in the early stages of the game, to avoid wasting money. Ninety five percent of your soldiers have to survive the first three to four months. With casualty rates 50% or higher, you'll have a harder time expanding and improving your bases, weapons and research. Plus, as you say, none of your soldiers will improve, since it becomes a revolving door of raw recruits. And you might as well not even bother doing that because you'll never be able to use green soldiers in Alien Base missions, against psionic Battleships or the Cydonia mission. I let one soldier die and allow one serious wounding per month...at most. Any more than that and it's just seriously handicapping my game. Especially serious wounds, that can leave a soldier laid up for over a month (at which point it's better to just sack him and get another soldier). Your team has to survive the majority of missions with minor wounds and minimal hospital time.

[Warmaker]

Terrain destruction is so much fun in X-COM. The number of uses is just brilliant. Have you ever sighted an alien inside a building with one soldier, then had a second nearby soldier run up to the wall and autofire both the wall and the alien inside? That much fun should be illegal

For me, that's not as much fun as getting on a rooftop, blasting a small hole on the roof, and dropping an incendiary grenade into the room below.

Wait outside.

Shoot the fleeing baddies.

----

Need smoke?

Fire provides that, too!

Can't root out some baddies at a tough position? Easy, burn them out!

[Mr March]

(my all-time favourite shot from this series of games - counting "Laser Squad" and "Rebelstar" - was in Laser Squad. Very long corridor, my guy at one end, bad guy at other standing next to a whole heap of fuel and oxygen tanks. My shot went straight as an arrow for what seemed like forever then - I swear - passed through the bad guy and struck the tanks. It felt like the explosions went on for the rest of the day...!)

Oh the joy of secondary explosions! The Alien Bases in X-COM are the best. Fire a Balsater BOmb at the right spot and there like a dozen secondary explosions that all go off in succession. Just brutal.

[Mr March]

For me, that's not as much fun as getting on a rooftop, blasting a small hole on the roof, and dropping an incendiary grenade into the room below.

Wait outside.

Shoot the fleeing baddies.

----

Need smoke?

Fire provides that, too!

Can't root out some baddies at a tough position? Easy, burn them out!

A man after my own heart Very nice strategy!

[Mr Frosty]

Oh man this thread is bringing back some memories.

I used to work at Microprose in QA and XCOM was my very first project. Mr first day was working on a sound issue with the GUS (Gravis Ultra-Sound) and it was the last patch for XCOM.

I was then moved to the TFTD team and that was just an awesome time.

[Mr March]

Wow. That must have been something. To be working with Microprose during the glory days of X-COM, Master of Orion, Master of Magic...the only thing better could be working at id Software during the Doom-Quake 2 era or Valve during the original Half-Life era.