Couple of questions about the original

[SectoidSquisher]

I'm having a hard time getting enough Elerium to keep advanced fighter craft in the air and fighting the enemy - what's the best way to go about getting a steady supply? It's only available when attacking downed enemy ships isn't it?

Also, how do you guys deal with the Ethereals? How do you deal with a situation where you touch down outside a large UFO wreck and the place is swarming with them? My past experience tells me that it won't end well for Xcom, so I get everyone back on the ship and get outta there!

[Hobbes__]

The best way to get some extra Elerium is by 'milking' the Supply Ships when they are performing supply runs for the alien bases. When you detect an alien base close to one of your installations, don't attack it but instead wait for the Supply Ship, let it land and assault it with your ground forces. You don't even have to take all the aliens to take the Elerium, if you already have Heavy Plasma researched - just blow up the UFO engines on the ground level and pick up the Elerium crystals.
Usually it's manufacturing that uses up a lot of Elerium - don't ever build ammo (plasma clips, stun bombs, blaster bombs, fusion ball), you usually can do with battlefield loot. And stick to plasma beams for your craft - the fusion ball launchers are only necessary to take down alien Battleships. And NEVER sell Elerium.

With Ethereals, you need to have Psi-Lab researched and know your soldiers' Psi stats before engaging them to prevent as much as possible their mind tricks. You'll need to bring squads with a psi level of 60+, less than that you're risking them being mind controlled. If you still need to bring psi weaklings along, give them harmless weapons (stun rods) or have them drop their weapons at the end of the turn (and also don't carry any grenades on them).

[SectoidSquisher]

So until you've got decent Psi soldiers, running away from Ethereals is a sensible thing to do. Thanks for the heads up about blasting the power sources - I thought that if you destroyed them, you destroyed the Elerium as well.

I never manufacture ammo, as you said, you can get more than enough of the stuff on the battlefield.

[Hobbes__]

So until you've got decent Psi soldiers, running away from Ethereals is a sensible thing to do. Thanks for the heads up about blasting the power sources - I thought that if you destroyed them, you destroyed the Elerium as well.

I never manufacture ammo, as you said, you can get more than enough of the stuff on the battlefield.

Another technology that really helps is Hyperwave Decoder because it tells you the race onboard the UFO and their mission. If you are looking for Elerium you can let Floater/Snakemen UFOs on research or abduction missions to land and storm them for Elerium. It also helps to know when you're going to face Ethereals in advance - instead of dropping into a terror site with 20 of them it's more easy to deal with the crew of a Medium Scout.

There are more ways of dealing with Ethereals without Psi-Labs, but it depends on your experience with the game

If you want more information/tips/etc. about the game(s) I'd recommend you to check the UFOPaedia - be careful because it contains a lot of spoilers though

[SectoidSquisher]

Absolutely. I like to get that as soon as possible, and if the ship is full of Ethereals, I either drown it or just shoot it down and hopefully that kills most of them.

Speaking of which, regarding the monthly rating, is that affected more by the failure to shoot UFOs down, or the failure to attack the crash sites?

Doesn't matter about spoilers, I've finished the game twice at least - but I've never been able to find a strategy to deal with those orange cloaked swine!!

[japester]

Oh, the painful phase before you get psi-labs where you start learning just how low your best soldiers' psi scores are. At that phase of the game, I sometimes throw waves of Rookies at Ethereals just to see who needs to be put down like a dog.

Hobbes nailed it. I was just going to say that allowing ships to land is the key to Elerium. I never bothered blowing up the engines.

Any alien activity negatively impacts your funding unless you intervene. But kind of like in real life, fly-bys aren't a big deal. Perhaps the public at large chooses to ignore those. A successful terror mission is a huge morale killer, however. If not stopped, that one will definitely reduce your funding in the affected country.

[SectoidSquisher]

Yep, I always go for Terror Missions, unless they're happening somewhere they've stopped funding like Australia did the other day. Sorry Aussies! (Puts on Al Capone voice) No money, no protection. . If I find Terror ships in the air, I nearly always drown them.

But kind of like in real life, fly-bys aren't a big deal.

Seen a few UFOs recently have you?

Oh, the painful phase before you get psi-labs where you start learning just how low your best soldiers' psi scores are.

Indeed, but when you scramble that first Alien's brain and make him blast some of his mates more than makes up for it. I can't remember if you can use their inventory when you're controlling them. If not, shame - put it in the new game, Firaxis! Controlled Alien + Alien inventory + Alien grenade = Alien suicide bombers!!!

[Zhab]

Speaking of which, regarding the monthly rating, is that affected more by the failure to shoot UFOs down, or the failure to attack the crash sites?

Well that is a trick question. Aliens don't make any points for an ignored crashed sites. Aliens makes point for having a UFO fly around and you get points for shooting it down. The more time they fly around the more point they makes. The points you get for shooting them down depends on the UFO type.

Now here is the "tricky" part. Aliens don't make any points if you ignore a crash site. But ! You don't make any points if you ignore one. Doing UFO recovery missions are pretty much guarantied to to give you more points than you get for just shooting it down. So in a way, ignoring crash sites cost you.

But crash sites and landed UFO are 2 very very different things. When a UFO land, it is to accomplish a "mission". Each time a UFO take off from the ground, it counts as a successful missions. UFOs can land and take off more than once before disappearing. Aliens score points for each successful missions. Each missions score differently. The one mission type you absolutely can never ever afford to ignore is a terror mission. A successful terror mission gives the aliens an overwhelming 1000 points ! If you go on site and abort the missions instantly, you get about -400 points. But the aliens don't get their 1000 points even if you basically let them do whatever they wanted. So even doing that is about 600 points better for you.

So ignoring a UFO completely allows it to score points for fly time and score points for one or more missions. Which can turn out to be quite substantial in some cases.

So overall, ignoring a UFO sighting is probably worst than ignoring a crash site.

[ShanDaMan]

Dealing with Ethereals is tough, but not impossible. The strategies mentioned already are good.

Be quick, because after 20 turns the aliens become aware of each one of your soldiers' locations. Expect a barrage of attacks. Hopefully by then you have thinned them out and their morale is really low.

I use a guy with a Motion Scanner to help my "inside UFO guys" move more quickly (avoid empty rooms).

Also, the Ethereals can't Mind Control a HWP.

In all cases, a couple of blaster bombs to the UFO bridge is a pretty good equalizer.

[SectoidSquisher]

Yep. Make a hole in the UFO, then drop a Blaster Bomb through it - that should put an end to the mind control nonsense - unless you're talking Ethereals who can mind control even at lower ranks?

I always try and intercept UFOs, unless it's the 100th Battleship heading to Defiance (my main base) - even my Firestorm can't catch the damn thing, I just let my base's defences deal with it. It was funny yesterday when they sent Snakemen to attack, the ship got through, but I killed about eight of them in the very first turn. Bit of a failure there, my slimy friends.

Edit: Zhab - a very useful post there!

[japester]

Seen a few UFOs recently have you?

Recently? No.......

LOL. I wish!

Good info, Zhab. I never really peeled the layers of the engine back to look at points and such. I think the game is personally more fun without knowing the math. Heh.

[ShanDaMan]

The one mission type you absolutely can never ever afford to ignore is a terror mission. A successful terror mission gives the aliens an overwhelming 1000 points ! .

I enjoyed your post, Zhab. I would add that an Infiltration mission must be stopped at all costs, because if successful the aliens WILL sign a pact with the country involved. Could be very costly!

[Hobbes__]

Be quick, because after 20 turns the aliens become aware of each one of your soldiers' locations. Expect a barrage of attacks.

Actually, the current theory at the UFOPaedia seems to be that the AI at turn 20 simply changes the setting of some aliens to 'guard' specific areas and send them instead to patrol. I've played UFO since 1997 and I've seen plenty of examples that contradict the 20 turn theory. Until someone figures out exactly what the game engine does regarding the AI and provides actual evidence those are all speculations though.

[SectoidSquisher]

By the way, the original Xcom game, together with all the other Xcom games is at GamersGate now for a piddling £2.49. Me gonna buy that right now - the only one I have is Enemy Unknown and I really want TFTD and Apocalypse.

Edit: Lovely jubbly, got that now. So after I'm done with the current Alien invasion, those other games should keep me going for a good chunk of the year.

[Brian Damage]

Dunno about anyone else, but I personally like to skip the interceptors a lot of the time and set my skyrangers to tail alien craft as that way the 'ranger will often get there just as they land to do their evil deeds. I seem to get a lot of farm missions this way, though :P. You get plenty of undamaged craft, though.

[Zhab]

I enjoyed your post, Zhab. I would add that an Infiltration mission must be stopped at all costs, because if successful the aliens WILL sign a pact with the country involved. Could be very costly!

If you know of a way to stop an infiltration mission, please share this glistering gem of knowledge with me. Because as far as I know it's impossible. Instead of explaining I will quote the UFOpaedia.

Initially, several Scouts will perform investigations prior to the main infiltration attempt.

According to the GameFAQs user IRS in the thread [1], it is possible to entirely stop an infiltration attempt if you manage to prevent every single Infiltration Scout from reaching the target country's soil. This means they must either be destroyed or shot down outside the country's borders. --Siegfried667 07:16, 26 May 2010 (EDT)

In the main Infiltration wave, A Large Scout will appear, followed by a Terror Ship, Supply Ship and two Battleships. It has been shown that shooting down any of these craft before they slow down will delay the next craft by a couple of days; if the craft are ignored even for a short while, long enough to slow down, the sequence proceeds extremely quickly. It has been conclusively shown that shooting down the UFOs or assaulting the landed ships will NOT stop the infiltration from succeeding. Shooting down the earlier ships will delay, but not entirely stop the 2nd Battleship. The moment the 2nd battleship appears in Earth's atmosphere, the infiltration is successful and complete.

When a country is successfully infiltrated, an alien base will be instantly created in or near the country. Always search for the alien base after the 2nd Battleship. And once you know that the base is there, you have several options available to you...

So how do you stop this ? Is it by shooting down all initial scouts before they reach target as rumored ?

[ShanDaMan]

Zhab, I was including "Infiltration" alongside "Terror" as urgent, potentially costly mission types that shouldn't be ignored.

I've not done an in-depth analysis, but I have noticed that if I destroy all ships my Hyperwave detects as "Inflitration Mission" type that I did not subsequently notice a country going to play for the other team. Whether I was able to destroy all scouts and they changed their mind or I was able to delay the inevitable by taking down the bigger craft, I cannot say. What I remember is that once I noticed "Infiltration" I dropped everything to take them out.

Now that you mention it, I'm curious whether it can be truly stopped or simply delayed (and delayed...) Anyone confirm any of this?

[SectoidSquisher]

Dunno about anyone else, but I personally like to skip the interceptors a lot of the time and set my skyrangers to tail alien craft as that way the 'ranger will often get there just as they land to do their evil deeds. I seem to get a lot of farm missions this way, though :P. You get plenty of undamaged craft, though.

Interesting tactic - don't they often outrun your Skyranger though? I can see that working with the Lightning or Avenger, but the Skyranger? Still, definitely another good way to pick up Elerium.

Farm missions can be so annoying, can't they?

I love the way in the original game the way you can clearly see when the Aliens are up to something by the amount of UFO activity over a particular spot, I hope the remake mirrors that.

[Zhab]

Zhab, I was including "Infiltration" alongside "Terror" as urgent, potentially costly mission types that shouldn't be ignored.

If they can be stopped, I agree that you just can't ignore them. If they can only be delayed, I can see game scenario where you might be better off ignoring it. I currently think it is impossible. So as of now, I would not say that you should NEVER ignore such mission.

Anyone confirm any of this?

As far as I know this have never been confirmed. But what you said intrigue me. Makes me want to test it out for myself.

The only possible rumored way is to deal with the scouts before they reach target land. So what you are saying does seem to go along those lines.

[SectoidSquisher]

Trouble is until you get the Hyperwave Decoder, you're in the dark about what they're up to.

[Brian Damage]

Interesting tactic - don't they often outrun your Skyranger though? I can see that working with the Lightning or Avenger, but the Skyranger? Still, definitely another good way to pick up Elerium.

Farm missions can be so annoying, can't they?

I love the way in the original game the way you can clearly see when the Aliens are up to something by the amount of UFO activity over a particular spot, I hope the remake mirrors that.

It's always seemed to me that if you manage to detect them, then they're likely to land within your radar range anyway, or shortly outside it (in which case they're slowing down and the 'ranger should be able to keep up). If you want to keep a swift eye on them because they're currently too fast for the 'ranger and they look like they're going out of range, you can tail them with an interceptor until they change course and slow down. Then just use the interceptor as an observer while the skyranger covers the distance.

[SectoidSquisher]

Right now, most of them are even outrunning my Interceptor - the only craft capable of keeping up is the Firestorm - and that hasn't got much range. Am building an Avenger as we speak.

[Brian Damage]

Right now, most of them are even outrunning my Interceptor - the only craft capable of keeping up is the Firestorm - and that hasn't got much range. Am building an Avenger as we speak.

Yeah, you do get the occasional cross-country sprinter. I usually deal with those by having multiple bases, though :P.

[SectoidSquisher]

Yep. The Aliens own the Earth right now, they've got loads of bases, they've got complete air superiority as well. It doesn't look good...

Man, I am so looking forwards to this game! Just talking about the old game has me thinking how amazing the new one probably will be with the modern graphics, sounds and those extremely snazzy looking plasma effects!

[SectoidSquisher]

OK, I just tried following a Medium Scout with my Skyranger, that was on its way to Siberia and it's like the damn thing knew what I was up to! It sort of flew around the area for a while, and then got bored and shot off to the south!

[Brian Damage]

Aerial scouting mission, I'd guess. I have to go look up the mission types on the UFOpaedia again. Might even be looking for X-Com bases :P

[EDIT]: Missions and behaviours are here.

[SectoidSquisher]

This is about TFTD that I've just bought - I haven't played any missions yet, but I've noticed that the menus and Geoscape are pin-sharp, as opposed to being quite blocky in Enemy Unknown - is there a way to get EU to look like TFTD? After all, they use exactly the same engine.

[Brian Damage]

You might actually have a different filter enabled in DOSbox for TFTD as opposed to Enemy Unknown. IIRC there a a couple in there that reduce the blockiness quite a bit. Have a look at your .conf file.

[EDIT]: Assuming you mean "blocky" as in "pixelly".

[SectoidSquisher]

Yep, pixelly is the word I was hunting for. Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out.

[Brian Damage]

I think this is the specific stuff you have to look at:

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq 3x,
# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3 x,
# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=advinterp2x

Generally I just alter the file so that the game in question runs windowed (fullscreen=true -> fullscreen=false, earlier in the file), which is an improvement in itself.

[EDIT]: This seems to make the game look much nicer:

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=1280x960
output=ddraw
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=32

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq 3x,
# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3 x,
# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=super2xsai

[Brian Damage]

Now I'm playing UFO. New campaign. Base in Siberia. First bloody mission, this one guy who's stuck in the open in front of a Sectoid dodges two plasma shots, then come his turn moves a couple of squares then uses two auto shots and hits said Sectoid three times in the leg, stomach and face. The little bastard doesn't go down, and I'm left clicking the "end turn" button and thinking "Whoops, dead rookie". But no, the Sectoid takes his bruised ego and my three lead slugs and hightails it around the side of the UFO.

The chase is on :P.

[EDIT]: Ha. He ran right into the firing cone of another rookie :P.

[DazzD]

Nice work Brian Damage... Used that on the dos box for Xcom Apoc gfx look a tiny bit smoother but the game runs way better. Just set it to 1920x1200 (my native rez) windowed and hit Alt+Enter as it starts. Cheers

Edit: and now I can tab out to windows and back with out the gfx going all crazy. Thanks again!

[Brian Damage]

If you have it at a resolution like that that doesn't match up in aspect ratio to the original 320x240, you might want to set "aspect=true" under the [render] section. I think that'll help with any accidental stretching of graphics that you might notice happening.

[Hobbes__]

This is about TFTD that I've just bought - I haven't played any missions yet, but I've noticed that the menus and Geoscape are pin-sharp, as opposed to being quite blocky in Enemy Unknown - is there a way to get EU to look like TFTD? After all, they use exactly the same engine.

TFTD has a different look than UFO even if it's almost the same game because of the underwater theme and graphics. It takes some time to get used to it.

[54x]

Trouble is until you get the Hyperwave Decoder, you're in the dark about what they're up to.

Would be super cool if in the new games the alien ships moved in different patterns based on their mission- so scout ships might do sweeps of areas, harvesters would move randomly around a fertile area of the world, research/intelligence missions would zip between populated areas, and invasion, revenge, and supply missions would head straight to a target, possibly diverting in an arc around known areas of XCOM activity.

[Tanki]

You are going up against Ethereals and you don't have a psi-lab yet? Man you are on a road to destruction.
Stun one of them grab him then leave the mission, research him and the psi-lab then have some fun the rest of the game. You don't need to research the psi amp unless you want to MC aliens, the lab is only needed to know your soldiers psi strength, training is a plus.

I personally like to mind control them, have them walk out of their ship in a nice line, stand in a little circle then drop a grenade in the middle. I take no prisoners, you cant sell live aliens.

But if you don't have a psi-lab yet I would suggest not carrying your grenades in hand, keep them on your belt. Aliens wont access your inventory. They usually like to continuously target one or two of your guys find out who those guys are and have them drop their weapons or if they have been MC, stun them with a rod. After 20 turns the aliens know exactly where your soldiers are.

[Hobbes__]

But if you don't have a psi-lab yet I would suggest not carrying your grenades in hand, keep them on your belt. Aliens wont access your inventory.

This is incorrect, I've tested it to recheck. Had 10 guys with only grenades in their belt safely inside a Skyranger (the Ethereals were on the other side of the map). 1 soldier gets mind controled during the aliens' 1st turn, turn ends, kaboom inside the Skyranger.
What the aliens can't do is to pick up objects on the ground, but they will access your soldier's inventory and use any weapons/explosives.

After 20 turns the aliens know exactly where your soldiers are.

Do you have any proof of this? Because I've read a lot of theories about if the AI does something after turn 20 and they are just theories, no one has ever proved exactly anything. From my experience I've seen plenty of examples where nothing happens after turn 20.

One thing that does happen is that the aliens can make psi attacks without seeing your troops, from the beginning of the tactical game. That's how your commander gets mind controlled and kills the entire squad by firing its rocket launcher.

[Tanki]

I'm positive about both of those hobbes, as a 7K officer its my job to know this stuff.

I'm not sure about the CE or the steam version because I don't play those, they could have changed it in them.

Oh ya and I said they know exactly where they are doesn't mean they have to act on that info.

[Zhab]

Ok about the 20 turn thing. The AI always know where you are. That is how it is programed. Some dub this "cheating AI". But the aliens are not in "search and destroy" mode in the first 20 turns. But rather patrol some areas and react to proximity and/or line of sight with your soldiers. But after 20 turns, the game assume that there is some alien you can't reach or something. Like example you can't reach the second floor of a building because the stairs are broken. So the game have aliens converge toward your guys to put an end to the damn mission already.

That said, a panicked alien or a weapon less alien wont attempt to attack your soldiers. So even after 20 turns, it is possible that the remaining alien(s) wont seek you out.

[Hobbes__]

Oh ya and I said they know exactly where they are doesn't mean they have to act on that info.

About round 20 you're right, just checked the current info of the UFOPaedia and it's like as you mentioned, with proof. This makes me happy

Regarding the aliens accessing your soldiers' inventory, just placed all the rifles on their backpacks... the moment someone gets mind controlled it gets the rifle and starts shooting at your soldiers. I play the DOS version but afaik things like aliens accessing your inventory didn't change with CE or Steam.