no way to continue

[frumius]

I just lost my main base (research) and with my low monthly funding there is  no way to rebuild. Bases are just too expensive and now my radar coverage over all of Asia is gone. This is the third time. I don't care what anyone says the Aliens have just too many advantages to be a fun game. Worst of all is the all-sentience, they always know where your troops are. It's fun to sometimes ambush them, but you can't. And the Aliens fantastic reaction fire and accuracy are dismaying. I know it's supposed to be that way because of the story line but it is NOT fun. You may criticize and laugh at the other UFO games out there but they did get some of the most important things right. Yes this is the developers game to do with what they want and I didn't pay for it but I just wanted to let off some steam. I know this has been said many times here, but I wanted to add my humble opinion.

[anonymissimus]

Sry, but how can you lose a base as long as there are some soldiers and equipment ? I once defended a base with 5 soldiers only without losses.
There can be a surprise base attack just in the moment when the dropship is out, that needs to be calculated (the above was such a case).
Perhaps you're playing 2.6, there you have to prevent aliens getting control over the power plant. Block the entrance that opens with fire and keep units ready.

[frumius]

Thanks anonyymissimus for the advice. What really discouraged me was a mission on the  jungle map. I arrived with troops outside the dropship with enemy all around. On one side of ship I had 4 soldiers with mg. sniper, sniper, and assault rifle facing one Sheevar at close range. 4:1 odds, no problem, right. I fired the mg first and before the bullet left the gun the Sheever's reaction fire killed me. Next the sniper-same thing. next the other sniper, couldn't miss at 99%, he did miss. lastly the assault weapon- he missed too!! So I had one man come from other side of ship to throw a flashbang. A one shot kill by a taman clear on the other side of the map across the river with what seemed to be a pistol. Next round the Sheevar killed both troopers on that side. 5 out of 8 dead on second turn. My remaining 3 men lost  the mission. Of course this situation doesn't happen all the time but the Shevar reaction fire does happen often and the accuracy of the aliens. It got worse. After my empty dropship got back to my main base it was to greet an invasion. All I could do was hire a few rookies and arm them with a few sidearms (all I could afford). I lost the base which was my research base. so no research for a long time. The first of next month my total income was about 180,000c, not enough to do much of anything. My other base managed to down 2 scouts to sell at about 12,000c each. Again not enough money to do anything but maintenance. My Stilletto was badly damaged and most of the soldiers in hospital, so of course along comes a Harvester full of Sheevars to invade. Every time I located a Sheevar his reaction fire killed my rookie. I took my last 2 snipers outside to snipe but aliens are better snipers. Yes I lost this base too. Funding going down, I surrendered. How's that for discouragement?  Looking back I can see where I should have done a couple of things differently but they wouldn't have made that much difference. Btw this was 2.5, I don't know how to use GIT for 2.6. I apologize for this long and dismal story. Hope someone reads it.

[anonymissimus]

I'll start with the jungle desaster as the ladder stuff are basically follow-ups.
Sure, whenever you see some alien, first check whether it is looking into your direction. The radar map can be helpful, albeit it's not needed in 2.5. If it is, spend as little time in its field of view as possible, as you have to expect reaction fire, especially if it's the first turn. I probably would have scouted a little more, taking care not to trigger RF, then record the alien positions in my mind, and then throw a smoke grenade out of inside the dropship, because that action may also trigger RF. Then inside the smoke it's safe to move and to shoot from. Machine gun full auto at close range vs the sheevar should be a safe thing. Alternatively, RF can be disabled by a flashbang as well, but you may be forced to throw the flashbang out of smoke anyway as it can trigger RF as well.
So, typically, the very first action should be launching a smoke grenade, if only to make it possible to leave the dropship at all without immediate RF. It always depends on how many aliens are looking into your direction. Sometimes you're lucky and they are right beside you but facing another direction, then you can just shoot right away.
It may also help to know the TUs the alien weapon RF needs, without pistols, it's always 8 for plasma rifles and blasters. To avoid RF, only 7 spent TUs are allowed before leaving the field of view, such as by entering smoke. The TUs needed to leave the field of view no longer count.
EDIT
About missing at 99%: Sometimes you're just that unlucky, but other times the numbers lie at you. Can happen if stuff is in the way. If you repeatedly seem to miss (some of the full auto shots really shout go through at high chance to hit), change strategy. For instance, grenades most of the time do some damage at least thanks to their area damage. And if the sheevar is still not dead, think about what it'll want to do its next turn - likely move towards you, so put a fire field in between.

[Andrew.Smart]

What really discouraged me was a mission on the  jungle map.

Those jungle maps are hard! I've always stuck to cover & used crouched snipers.

[anonymissimus]

I love tropical jungle estate! With some luck half of the aliens can be killed on first turn right away, and the mission sometimes is over on turn 3. But it stays a dangerous map - plasma blade sheevars rushing out of the nearby doors. Small, quick and fun! I'm afraid it may get crunched up for unknown reason, but I hope my statement in the mapping area does its part.

[frumius]

You, Anonymissimus, are very detail oriented person. I have a feeling that you and others like you are the only ones likely to win this game. I like the good variety of maps offered but what did you mean when you said about the jungle map " I'm afraid it may get crunched up for unknown reason"? What is "crunched up"?

[anonymissimus]

You may be very right about that detail thing. I need lots of time too, on a normal evening there's basically just enough time to play a single tactical mission and not much else as it often needs hours.

"Crunched up" is referring to changes in maps, mostly from 2.5 to 2.6. I often think "Why has this map been changed ? It was good the way it was." Usually this means that some map has gotten larger and/or become annoying to play IMO. This topic belongs into the thread I opened in the mapping area please.

[Adler]

I love that map too. When using smoke make sure to keep enough distance to the surrounding buildings, otherwise you may have company.
In my opinion it's one of the easier maps. I can't remember, but it was this map or a forest map where I managed to kill all aliens first turn. I think anonymissimus pointed out how to manage that map easy.