Problems with Sheevars and campaign pace

[Strzelec]

Hello everyone,

I have some questions about the campaign pace. I play on the very easy difficulty and I know that alien interest will increase slower because of that, but I am becoming worried since is November 2084 and I still face only scout, fighter and harvester. What worries me more, is that I found information that Sheevars should appear before Ortnoks, but in my game I have been fighting Ortnoks for a few months while no single Sheevar appeared. I would appreciate any help, because I couldn't find any information about very easy level.

[Strzelec]

I also want to mention that I researched all that I could and now I started disassembling UFO.

[frumius]

I am using 2.5 version and am at Aug. 2084 and have only encountered Shevars and no Ortnoks yet. Scouts,Fighters, and Harvesters are being dissassembled too. This is on the very easy level too. How are you doing against Ortnoks? From what I have heard about them I am not anxious for them to appear.

[Strzelec]

Thanks,

I fend off Ortnoks easily (I think battles should be harder, luckily from what I noticed choosing easier difficulty did not affect the battles), but the problem is not with Ortnoks themselves but rather with no signs of Sheevars which should appear before Ortnoks from what I found. Also I would really appreciate if someone would tell me how fast the alien interest increases on very easy level. Actually I amn not sure which version I use, because I found and downloaded the game from Desura, where it says that the last update was a year ago, but doesn't say when exactly it was updated and which version it is. Maybe in older version Ortnoks appeared before Sheevars, but I just want to be sure that it is not a bug and eventually I will see other races and UFOs. Anyway, thanks.

[hwoarangmy]

As far as I know, alien crews are random so you may have just been lucky (or not) to not deal with sheevar yet.

Concerning your version, you can see it in the main screen in the bottom left (it should be something like UFO: ALien Invasion 2.6 ... Jan 23 2016) => The version (2.5 or 2.6) is important and if you are playing a dev snapshot, the date should help.

Concerning the differences between version, I know that when difficulty increases, nations are more demanding (they will require you to save civilians during missions and they will not tolerate their happiness to get too slow).
On the soldier side, you have more soldiers to recruit at game start and I think you get more each month.
In battles, the aliens are weaker on low difficulty levels.
I don't know how difficulty changes UFO spawning (if it does).

[anonymissimus]

when difficulty increases, nations are more demanding (they will require you to save civilians during missions and they will not tolerate their happiness to get too slow

The amount of civies they require you to save does not depend on the difficulty level though, only the happiness they need to not end the project. Which is pretty pointless, since you need an overall happiness increase anyway to not be financially ruined.

[Strzelec]

Thanks for all your answers. However, my question about alien interest increasing rate is still opened. Also I would appreciate more details about how the difficulty affects the battle, because I didn't notice aliens being weaker - I counted bullets needed for each kill (of course I wasn't able to check all possibilities, but I tested the weapons I use the most often). I can't check the version, because I don't have the access to the computer right know, but I think it might be 2.4, because I rode change log for 2.5 and didn't find most of listed features in my game. I started to think about downloading the latest stable version from this website, but I'm worried that my save won't work with the new version. All information (expect from spoilers) is welcome.

[anonymissimus]

Alien interest, and in turn the numbers of UFOs and the alien equipment, increases much more slowly on lower difficulties. So you get e.g. alien body armor not already in May but in August or something. But I never played the easy levels for long enough. Do note that this has a strong downside - you neither can research the equipment, nor can you sell it for money, if the aliens don't field it yet.
In 2.6 difficulty level very trongly affects the damage dealt, Phalanx' damage is reduced, the aliens' increased on hard levels, the other way round on easy. This is not the case in 2.5 yet.
EDIT
If you are actually playing 2.4 it explains why there are Ortnoks but not Sheevars, before the rebalancing in 2.5 Ortnoks came before Sheevars (and as Sheevars are a much more dangerous foe this is the way it should be).

[Strzelec]

Thanks for all of your answers. Now I don't worry so much.

[hwoarangmy]

Also note that the game inproved a lot between 2.4 (first version I tried) and 2.6. The UI has changed and it will take you some time to get used to it. But you should definitely move to the latest dev version (even if your save game won't work).

[Strzelec]

Ok, maybe I'll go for 2.6 despite its instability, but I have one problem. When I opened the download section I couldn't find installer, just some info and files connected with the source. Considering I know NOTHING about the code of the game and its engine it would be nice if someone told me if there is a simple exe file which I can simply open and install the game without bothering with code and some other programs. Also I want to be 100% sure that the download will be safe. I know the game is on a free license and this is original site of the developers and maybe you will say I worry way too much, but since a virus outbreak on my computer 2 months ago I would rather have something checked twice before pressing the download button.

[hwoarangmy]

Seems like you didn't download the right file. It should be a bit more than 1 Gb. Link:
http://ufoai.org/snapshots/ufoai-latest-win32.exe

Considering 2.6, it is far from unstable. I played a 1 year old version and got no crash at all. There are some glitches and things that can be improved but it is more than enough to play.

[Strzelec]

Thanks a lot. I downloaded the game, opened it, but when it loaded the loading screen disappeared and now there is only game music and black screen. What can I do with that?

[hwoarangmy]

I guess the easiest would be to post your log file. See here to see where to find it:
http://ufoai.org/wiki/FAQ#General

Then, someone might be able to help ^^

[Strzelec]

Thanks, but today I intuitively turned on the game once more and it WORKED. Till today I was using version 2.4 from April 2012 and this new version looks like a totally different (and better) game. I also started at very easy level (as before), but, although the enemies are smarter now, they are weaker (as I observed, in this version difficulty level affects battles, comparing to 2.4). I have problems with happiness at higher levels, but would like to face strong aliens.. In my opinion there should be two difficulty levels to choose, one for overall campaign and one for battles, like it was for example in Medieval II Total War.