Some help with original xCOM tactics please.

[Lostprophet]

After playing this game i loved it so much that I downloaded a cell phone version of XCOM called pocket UFO. From what I've read on these boards the phone version sounds very similar to XCOM and i understand there are alot of vets on this board. what i want to know is what are good tactics for pocket UFO as the aliens keep destroying my unarmored soldiers and my tanks. sometimes the aliens even cause an explosion at my ship after the 2nd turn and i lose patheticaly.

I dont have problems fighting in alien Invasion and im not used to the XCOM version of fog of war. how do you fight better in xCOM original?

After 2 days of playing i still havent won a round in pocket ufo and im starting to get depressed

[Robbos]

Crouch behind cover. ALWAYS. In the start game, use as many tanks as possible. Remember that one soldier against a alien is a unfair fight against you. Aliens like to walk forward, fire, then retreat.

That should help.

[Panthera Leo]

Well, Pocket UFO is designed to work with hand held devices in general, I have a PDA with it.

Make for the armor and plasma weapons on the research tree ASAP. Just Alien Alloys gives you your first armor upgrade, and it will jumps your survival rate dramatically. Flying suits(AA + Ellerium-115 + Alien Propulsion (+ maybe alien navigation)), are a must late game. Skip the power suits, their not as good, cost Ellerium-155, and the Flying suits are just one more research project away.

Flying suits and hover tanks are about the only thing that will save you from "The Black Plague".

I say Plasma weapons, not because the ammo takes Ellerium-115 to make(ick!), but because they do excellent damage and the aliens will feed you all the ammo you need. Also once you get all the plasma weapons researched you get plasma cannons for your interceptors. Btw, skip the first two new ones, keep the Avenger(They all take Ellerium-115 as fuel, and the Avenger smokes it's predecessors in every way)! The cannons make you practically invulnerable to every thing but a battle ship(very large).

One last note, wile I'm being nostalgic, Even in Pocket UFO, you should be able to intercept UFOs with more then one craft. When the first arrives, minimize the window, and wait for the second to get there. Though in practice, armed with two plasma cannons, one Avenger will kill anything. Even if a battle ship puts it in the shop for weeks.

Edit: One last note, set idle workshops to make Alien Alloys. They turn a fair profit, and are easy to make.

[DanielOR]

Some general useful ideas:
0. At least one tank if you can afford it - getting out of the drop ship is one of the two dangerous activities, equaled only by clearing an intact UFO.
1. Rocket Launcher (either tank-based or handheld) is the way to go.  Unless it is a terror mission, there are no friendlies.  See a cover (building, fence, orchard)?  Blow it up! 
2. Slow movement, reaction shots, crouch behind cover (as was stated above).  Soldiers cover each other and concentrate fire.
3. Pay close attention to "reaction" stat - if it is below 35, the soldier cannot be "point man" in clearing anything and may not live long.  Above 40 is decent; 50+ is your points man of choice.

[Darkpriest667]

listen im not trying to knock these guys xcom tactics... but here is what ive found...


money is a serious problem in xcom... the way to get around it completely...

research heavy plasma as soon as possible.. build a second base that does nothing but production plus 15 soldiers to guard from alien invasion..


once you have gotten heavy plasma researched build 10000s of them... sell them for a 25k-40k profit (forgot how much been years since id one the calculations)

I beat it on 4 of the 5 levels with that tactic.. superhuman was just too tough

[DanielOR]

In general - I agree, money is a problem in the beginning.  I tend sell heavy plasma, save a few - certainly, whenever I have more guns than clips.  All plasma pistols/clips save 1 for research.

Don't recall what is the best cash/hr of production.  Don't forget - there is a money cost to production, too.  I recall hearing long ago that some laser crap or medkits are a good thing to sell - cheap and fast to make.  but anything goes, really.

[Captain Bipto]

{([Non FLAMER])}

It is easy. Research laser weapons. Shoot down ANY UFO you can and research ALIEN MATERIALS so that you can research ARMOR (yeah you flamers insert the proper name and earn my enmity...E-N-M-I-T-Y=get a life yo!)

From there you should focus on shooting down/capturing UFOs should you can research/build better ships.  Go to any UFO-based event just so you can capture AND sell any alien tech.  Trust me you can beat UFO Enemy Unknown with the handful of plasma weapons you have found.

[DanielOR]

Cpt. Bipto,

I am with you on the "laser-armor-capture-kill-sell" part.  Necer seem to build anything other than Avengers, though.  Seems to me an Interceptor with a single plazma cannon can take down anything save battleship, and those I take on the ground (or leave alone earlier in the game)

[Hawkace]

The blaster in the x-com is very helpful.
Take 3 or 4 blaster man in your team. When a alien is seen, kill him with the blaster guys who stay around the ship. make navpints: forward, in highest hight. to the target. down.
you can crack the walls (roof) of the ufos also. If you have cracked the wall, get one blaster in and you hit mostly 1 or 2 enemys (large ufo).

[Darkpriest667]

hawk thats much later in the game


and frankly i dont find it very sporting to send more than 2 men in a 16 man team with blaster launchers... once i leveled the entire map with blaster launchers... it was a win but it wasnt very satisfying

[geever]

I always hated blasters in XCOM games. I'm happy we don't have similar!

-geever

[DanielOR]

Agreed, the blaster launcher was rediculously powerful.  as a matter of principle, just for grins, I once made a breack in a UFO hull, then sent in the "flying armor SWAT team".  another time two blaster launchers - one to punch a hole, another to send a missile down that hole.  Definitely something to do once. 

now, how about a much weaker version of same for humans?  It would make a RL much more appealing if there was some control of the missile once it left the barrel.  And the tech is about what - 30 years old today?  An anti-tank missile with a thin cable or lately - radio controlled.  They can be made VERY expensive, but ain't nothing sweeter than seeing and alien snipe, duck around the corner and saying "guess what I have?  the around-the-corner-shooter!"

[Darkpriest667]

Agreed, the blaster launcher was rediculously powerful.  as a matter of principle, just for grins, I once made a breack in a UFO hull, then sent in the "flying armor SWAT team".  another time two blaster launchers - one to punch a hole, another to send a missile down that hole.  Definitely something to do once. 

now, how about a much weaker version of same for humans?  It would make a RL much more appealing if there was some control of the missile once it left the barrel.  And the tech is about what - 30 years old today?  An anti-tank missile with a thin cable or lately - radio controlled.  They can be made VERY expensive, but ain't nothing sweeter than seeing and alien snipe, duck around the corner and saying "guess what I have?  the around-the-corner-shooter!"

theyve been turning bullets around corners with the same technology for about 10 years now..

aside from that.. i just feel like the humans got too powerful in the end..

there is only one thing in xcom that really was always a pain no matter what your load out... Ethereals... mean suckers and they liked to carry around heavy plasma and blaster launchers EEK

[DanielOR]

Them ethereals sure are a biatch to deal with.  I would tangle with them only using best armor and stun bombs.  And, preferably, using flying tanks to scout.  And immediately note any soldier who got paniced or taken over by aliens - means they cannot be in the final assault team.

[blondandy]

you need your own seriously well-practised psionic soldiers to take down ethereals.