General > Discussion

Winning strategy?

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Salvo:

--- Quote from: geisthund on May 27, 2012, 04:59:53 pm ---I don't use autocomplete because more civvies die that way, although I've read that your soldiers level faster?

--- End quote ---
The opposite. They don't level at all! The kill count and the mission count go up but soldier stats do not improve. I'm playing version 2.4 here. Not sure if that matters.


Anyway:
- In my last game, I put my first base at the spot where Asia, Russia and Middle-East borders meet. Seemed like a good starting move.
- I guess you could build your 2nd base in South America. It seems to get unhappy quite fast.
- I keep 2 small hangars at each base for 2 Stiletto interceptors. Craft equipment: 3x SHIVA cannons, ECM, Targeting Comp, no armor. I never shoot down Harvesters. Both Stilettos are scrambled against any Fighter UFOs. I don't use Saracen interceptors or missiles at all.
- If you're feeling lucky, you could try to coordinate an attack against a Harvester with 4-6 Stilettos. Just be prepared to lose one of the Stilettos. Or if the Harvester will pass near the base, give a retreat order to the Stiletto it's firing at. With any luck, the Stiletto won't be destroyed while the other 3 can pound it for good measure. Make sure to attack with the right pair of Stilettos first, so their home base is the one nearby. All this requires some precision. Set up an ambush point somewhere along the Harvester's flight path and let it fly to your 4x Stiletto squadron. Then give it a warm welcome with all those SHIVA cannons. Engage it when it's close enough for your weapons. Often the Harvester won't open fire until you've attacked it first!
- The first base is the only base that gets a large hangar. I don't keep any other ground assault teams.
- Reserve 300-500k of money for building your second base. Reserve 500k for building each base after that.
- I don't hesitate to use the end-of-the-month fire&rehire exploit to save funds.
- Build a UFO yard as soon as possible. Start collecting UFOs. Even if it takes a long time before you can start disassembling them.
- Research gets priority over manufacture. Build a lab cluster first. Then focus on manufacturing/disassembly. Wait until there are enough scientists to hire before building labs.
- Eventually you'll want: one base with 5 labs, one base with 5 workshops.
- Note that some new researched items appear in the global market. This means you don't have to manufacture them, so don't waste precious workshop time to produce things you could simply buy.
- When building a new base, first build modules that are quickest to build - that is, Living Quarters and Storage. When LQ is built, hire 2-4 soldiers to defend the place. Remember to buy guns for them.
- Manufacture stuff in small batches, not large ones.
- Be very very cautious which base modules to build. Some of them are nasty expensive.
- Use cheap weapons in battles. Use the more expensive weapons sparingly. Some weapons are more useful when sold instead of used. No need to use a plasma grenade against a wounded Taman. (One does not simply draw a line between the strategic and the tactical elements.)
- Note that at some point you have access to an improved radar. So whatever your base's initial detection range is, don't hesitate to leave some gap and put some distance between your bases, which the advanced radar will later close up.
- If you don't feel like sending a ground team against an UFO, shoot it down over water. So decide first whether you want a ground team to handle the UFO before actually shooting it down.

Flyshberg:
Thank you very much. That's much stuff for me to think about.

bit5nip3r:
Hi there,

Bases
I have 5 bases, which now have individual purposes.

BS1 - In Russia on the Border between Europe, Russia and Middle-Eastern Alliance (Purpose: Research (60 Scientists), Interception x1 Saracen, DropShip x1 Firebird) has UFO Yard 1 next to it for researching new craft.
BS2 - In North America (mexico area) on the border between the two nations (Purpose: Production (40 Workers), Inteception x1 Saracen, Dropship x1 Firebird) has UFO Yard 2 for dissemblying UFOs
BS3 - Africa (Purpose: Interception x1 Saracen, Dropship x1 Firebird)  Soon to have my first Stingray Interceptor
BS4 - The Commonwealth (Purpose: Production (40 Workers), Inteception x1 Saracen, Dropship x1 Firebird) has UFO Yard 3 for dissemblying UFOs
BS5 - South America (Purpose: Fast Aircraft Production (50 Workers)

With these 5 bases and the advanced radar, and smaller radar sites, I cover every bit of the Earth, except for the Antartic.

I think the trick is to have your bases near multiple borders to try and cover as much area as possible with your radars, in conjunction with Radar sites.  When you first start off then your first base is going to be multifunctional, but then switch to a purpose built base setup with subsequent bases.  You soon realise that you run out of space to build if you keep them multifunctional.

Each base has two Laser Turrets, but my BS5 base has a SAM as well.  I have about 5-6 Radars sites and 4 or so SAMs. 

I would say build bases slowly, maybe building up two fully funcitonal bases first, that way you can keep your credits up.  I tended to build new infrastructure when the Nations paid me at the end of each month.

Research
I agree with geisthund:

1. best to research Alien tech first
2. base defences. Go for the Continuous Wave laser, gives you the Base Laser Turrent  (in 2.4 this seems to be the highest form of base defence)
3. Other stuff.
4. Story stuff.

Salvo is right: Research takes priority.  When you first start your base has workshops.  Get rid of them, put in more labs, sack your workers, hire more scientists.  Increase your research capabiltities.  You will get access to new tech faster, and will allow you to hit the Aliens harder much earlier in the game.

Aircraft/UFOs
I tend to have x2 partical beams per Saracen and alien aircraft plating.  This allows the Saracens at least to shoot down scouts and fighters.  I leave harvesters to land - this means I can send in a Firebird to recover 100% of the craft and thus gain the most in Alien Materials and Anti-Matter.  I'm about 90 hours away from my first Stingray (currently being built at BS5) so will then trial it against some of the UFOs to see how it fairs.  My goal is to ship to BS3 and for it to become a major interceptor for the southern hemisphere.  So far BS3 has 2 anti-matter storage silios so it will be interesting to see how much AM gets used per interception.

Prevent countries from Leaving
I generally sell them the scouts and fighters which keeps them happy.  Also making sure you conduct patrols with your Saracens in the countries that are less happy with you.  Of course building infrastructure as well in those countries will make them happy.

Credits
As you have researched Alien tech first you can auto sell the stuff you don't want or need.  I auto sell things like Plasma pistols etc. - I now make about 55000 to 70000 per mission from sellling this, so as a result have about 2.2m.  Also you can sell Alien detection, Astrgation, Partical Beams you remove from UFOs, but leave enough if you want to build a hybrid interceptor.  I suspect though that you will need a fast and tough craft to take down the bigger UFOs later on in the game.  Partical Beams sell for about 11,000, and I have about 24 of them to sell.  Hhmm, so another 264,000 credits sitting there.  The advanced radar pays off because UFOs stay on my scopes for longer, which means I can get to them, and results in around 5-8 missions per wave.

Hope this helps.

geisthund:
oh yeah. i forgot I have two stingrays, one in india and one at my radar base. doh.

you're so going to love them. ridiculously good at taking down UFOs, but also burn antimatter.

since getting my stingrays i've only ever used them for taking down harvesters. the saracans with 2x particle guns and alien armor can usually take down fighters by themselves without much trouble.

I guess that is also why i'm always low on antimatter -- i tend to shoot harvesters down.

Just wondering if it would be possible to recover a teeny bit of antimatter per shot down UFO, maybe 10-20... even despite the huge explosion there could still be a trace left over right? Then I'd have a little less incentive to let harvesters land just so I can cannibalize them (which is so... wrong. exposing civilians to human assault just so i can take their goody bags??)

bit5nip3r:
Forgot to add:

Battles

I've never lost a solider, but they have been injured.  I use plasma blasters and heavy machine guns (these are my favourites) as part of my 8 man strike teams, with night googles, nanocomposite armour and medikits for each.  I did think about the plasma grenades and throw those in front of my team to sweep out the enemy but then there maybe civies in the way, so stuck with the heavy weapons.  I don't really bother with any other weapons as most of the human ones are pittiful, and can be put your soliders in awkard positions.  I once had a alien sneek up on a solider who was carrying a grenade launcher.  Now if I had used the grenade launcher I would have lost a solider.  Instead, solider is moved away, and another solider chops the alien to bits with their machine gun.

My strategy is simple, shoot, duck and hide, and span out my troops in two man teams to sweep the terrain.  That way, if a solider gets hit, his co-solider can wip out the medikit.

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