UFO:Alien Invasion
General => Tactics => Topic started by: EchizenR on June 12, 2008, 05:27:14 am
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Just started playing UFO:AI. I'm playing on a laptop, so could anyone tell me how to move the screen, or for that matter, how to switch to full-screen?
Another issue is with the missions, there isn't a clear objective given. For instance, the first mission only states it to be a terror attack. So I have to save all the civilians? Also, it seems really hard to combat the aliens without someone dying, the alien would just 1 hit KO a soldier with a blade regardless of armour. Is it true that armour is useless? I read something to that extent.
Furthermore, the tactical mission training doesn't work. As soon as it loads, and I click anywhere, the screen returns to the main menu. So, it's pretty hard for a beginner to learn the ropes.
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EchizenR: hang in. Let me take this in order (sort of)
Full screen - under video options, I believe.
Moving the view within the screen: mouse wheel or up-down arrows zoom in and out. Mouse against corner of screen moves the camera at same angle. left-right arrow rotate teh view. Finally, the blue button on the left of the game screen show you different levels (eg different floors of a building)
Objective is to kill all the bad guys. Saving civilians is a good thing, "fo sho", but persoanlly - I value my soldiers way more. As your fightin unit becomes better and wipes out the aliens faster, so will the civilian survival rates rize. Until then - DUCK.
Training: yes, for now you just watch all the way through.
Combat: well... There are multiple threads about this. General rules (according to your truly) - duck, crouch, use cover. Always end a turn with all your soldiers covered, never in the open. Move slowly and never alone. Soldiers should cover each other and focus fire. Do not engage close in. Your weapons have an edge at high distances (especially the sniper rifle and the machine gun in capable hands). use grenade launchers - they helps lots in the beginning. Armor helps a bit, but you have to wait for the next one for it to be effective.
Well, good luck!
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Thanks for the advice. But under video options, I only see the different screen resolutions. If I increase it, then the window becomes bigger without fitting the screen. My Windows resolution is set at 1280*768. Because of this, if I drag my mouse at the edge, the whole game freezes up.
Also, under production, is there a set time for stuff to be produced. I've chosen to produce some guns, but the figures doesn't seem to change as time passes. How does it work?
I'm on my 2nd mission, after the UFO intercept. I'm guessing that such intercepts depend on the aircraft that is sent out? I sent one silhouette-class and a saracen-class interceptor, and both got destroyed. Is that usually how it works?
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Far as interceptors: yes, in the beginning of the mission, that is how it works - you mostly loose your fighter. There are two distinct schools of thought here.
1. Overwhelm from afar. Use either type, though in the beginning the extra-gun on the stiletto helps. Your weapon fo choice is AA missile rack + computer. You stay far away and just unload and hope it hits.
2. Close in and swarm. Here Stiletto is definitely the way to go, as 2 vs. 3 weapons becomes abig deal. You use SHEVAR cannons with HEI ammo and Rocket Pods, if you have 'em. You send a swarm of fighters in so they hit at the same time. You will loose 1 or two, but likely will hit the target.
Either school calls for multiple (3+) interceptors per UFO, as your fighters stand no chance alone.
Full screen - ummm..I will check later. I recall finding it without much difficulty, somehow. Look around the menus carefully. Little help, anyone?
Production - each item in the production list, if you click on it, will show you number of hours needed (man-hours?) and $ cost to produce. Guess they did not make it yet.
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It's best to draw aggro with a 'tank' interceptor equipped with your best armour and saturated with Raven scramblers. It'll usually do an excellent job absorbing and deflecting fire while the remainder of your interceptor swarm rips its target apart. This tactic will rarely result in losses.
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I believe there is a checkbox somewhere below the resolution drop-down.
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Fullscreen can also be passed as a parameter to ufo, if your in windows you can just edit the shortcut and change the option (it should already be there).
Steve
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Thanks everyone. I'm assuming that as the mission progresses, more men will be available for hire. During a mission, when I fired a grenade launcher, instead of landing in the target zone, the grenade bounced away, so do I have to take that into consideration, and how to I estimate next time?
And how do I pick items up? Sometimes I throw a medikit only to find I can't pick it up again.
Also, I've read many tactics threads, but does anyone have a video of their game? I would l ove to take a look.
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"air burst" actually explodes on impact. "timed" bounces for a while and explodes once it stops. Choose accrodingly. Some folks already mentioned that grenades may roll off the edge of the map and straight into another dimension, evidently. That, on top of the usual "miss the doorway, grenade bounces right back under my feet oh shi..." kind of a deal.
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How about picking up items? At the end of missions, there's a score for items that we picked up.
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> How about picking up items? At the end of missions, there's a score for items that we picked up.
It`s maked automatically.
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Lasers are you friends. Use lot's laser rifles /heavy lasers. They're incredibly accurate and powerful. Set up your soldiers in a neat fire line, make sure they are crouching, set them all to reaction fire (preferably pulsed fire), click end turn and watch the fun. Alien weapon are very inaccurate at longer ranges.
3-shot airburst is the way to go for the grenade launcher. Makes minced meat out of alines.
Also, you can pick up items manually by standing over a dead alien and entering the inventory - just make sure you got some room to put the new stuff.
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I am with the TrashMan on all accounts: for the accuracy challenged infantrymen, laser weapons are the way to go. Between them and snipers you have a huge advantage over long distances.
Reaction fire shoudl be used (ok - in our doctrine) exactly as TrashMan described. I would only add: to be used when you have superior numbers and know exactly where the bad guys are. Such a line is vulenrable to grenade attack or to a rush by several armored aliens, as well as long distance sniping by particle beam weapons (the only alien long range tech).
The only situation where I use this routinely is while clearing a downed Harvester. 2-3 bad guys always try to walk out the broken side. Often they are picked off by sniper and machine gun (or heavy laser) fire before they even get off a shot. The remaining 1-2 bad guys can be hunted down and more easily taken alive if needed.
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But if I down an alien harvestor, there's an option to auto-complete the mission right? Is it advisable to do that?
May I also know what's the acceptable soldier loss rate? I've been losing 1 soldier per mission so far.
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You should strenuously avoid the auto-mission button. The important thing about going on missions is that your soldiers earn experience to make them better. Auto-mission == no experience. Having said that, i have used it on occasion - if a particular map is bothering me.
Acceptable loss rate is whatever you're willing to accept. However, as you improve your tactics [and get to understand alien tactics] you should be able to complete most missions with no loss. It also makes a difference what difficulty level you selected. On 'standard' or harder difficulties you can't afford to lose that many troops, as there are limited replacements available.
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You should strenuously avoid the auto-mission button. The important thing about going on missions is that your soldiers earn experience to make them better. Auto-mission == no experience.
And no alien items collected either.
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I've concentrated my research on armour and am presently doing nano-composite armour. After that, could someone recommend an alien weapon to research as I've got quite a few. Plasma beam rifle, plasma pistol, plasma cannon, and more that I can't remember. In addition, I've also got several blades waiting for lab time.
I''ve ignored the alien autopsies for the time being. Dont see the importance of it, or capturing aliens. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Another question is do soldiers gradually get increases in stats, for instance speed? What does the mind attribute do? Also, I'm rather confused about heavy and explosive weapons. Which category does the GP fit in?
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after armor, I would do laser rifle, maybe heavy laser.
do not ignore alien autopsy - do at least one! it gives you the options of reasearching stun rods.
then breathing apparatus (I think) + live captured alien will give you gas grenades that quite rock the house.
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Laser's the one that uses the DF cartridges right? Is it better than plasma or particle beam-based weapons?
Also, I am able to equip a particle beam rifle after getting the accelerator. Is it good?
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Laser is indeed the one using the DF cartridges. It has a distinct advantage on not relying on alien tech, i.e. being available right away. In my view, plasma weapons are no good as they are short range. I prefer to fight from the outside if possible. Particle beams are good, but you do not get them very early and you need to research the rifle itself, and, I think, one more weapon to get "man portable particle beams" - then you get to load the ammo for particle rifles. I do believe particle rifles are better than lasers, though lasers are unsurpassed for low spread, i.e. accuracy at high ranges.
Dan
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And what category are particle-beam and lasers under? Heavy or assault?
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One of each: laser rifle and heavy laser. Particle beam rifle hits at 150, while particle cannon only at 50 (typo?)
final selection, IMHO, i particle beam rifle and heavy laser.
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I'm still confused, so particle beam rifle is an assault weapon while heavy laser is a heavy weapon?
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exactly
Laser Rifle- Assault
Particle beam- assault
Heavy laser- heavy weapon
Particle Canon - heavy
Both lasers use DF cartridges
Particle need specific ammo for each weapon and you cant manufacture the clips- you must capture them on aliens.
Personally i like PLasma canons, or the powerfull short range burst, but high TU need usage limits its usage
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May I know how does moral factor in during combat, for soldiers as well for aliens (if they have)?
Also, does getting more workshops/workers decrease production time? The same question could be applied to hospitals/medics.
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In hospitals, medics only increase the solider capacity of that hospital. Once a soldier is added to the hospital he will heal at a higher set rate that if he was not in the hospital.
Steve
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your troups: wounded or nearly-stunned soldiers may do dumb stuff, like run away or even kill team mates (happened to me on one ocasion). Not a frequent event. On one ocasion soldier paniced for 2-3 turns, than got control of himself and went back to the usual business of killing.
Aliens: after some (most) have been killed an isolated alien will/may drop his weapon and crouch in a corner, looking all upset. If you keep firing in his genral direction, he will stay that way longer. If left alone, he will eventually recover, pull out his side arm and may very well still cause some damage.
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Production?
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yes? you can do that...
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So getting 2 workshops and more workers shorten production time?
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of course. 10 workers per shop, I believe.
My preference is to take the production off the main base. The "factory" has 3 workshops.
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same as the research facility - 3-4 labs contamination, UFO big and small for disassembly and research and a missile pod- just in case. When the base attack is implemented ill probably put some security soldiers in
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Nevasith,
this is an interesting question: to leave the labs at the main base, or to have a dedicated research facility. I found that:
1. With all production at a dedicated "factory", I had plenty of room left at HQ to build three labs (plenty) plus room for everythin else I needed - so far.
2. having research done outside of HQ (tried that too) created the need to shuttle samples of alien tech over there, made me duplicate the alien containmner and UFO disassembly facilites - since it only checks facilties at HQ upon capture, I believe. So, the HQ was a transportation hub, anyway.
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well i think perspectively-you need some antimatter storage (though it doesnt do anything now) more storage space, missile batery, some living space, and hangars for dropship, and two interceptors (could be avoided but i cant imagine a base without a proper defence system)
Also it serves some cosmetic purposes- I wouldnt risk to hold aliens in my HQ- especially after odd behaviour research. While examining the alien technology you dont know what you are facing - it would be wise to keep the research and disassembly away from the headquarters and your best soldiers- in case of some antimatter explosion(extreme would blow the earth anyway, but...) destroying plasma clips or particle weapons
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makes sense. So, a dedicated lab, a dedicated fab, and a dedicated hub
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yes- the rest just small outposts with only the needed stuff- AAsam, some interceptors and a radar (and needed structures for them)
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But since we are able to build 7 bases, almost one on each continent, I thought I would build 3 'main bases', in that they would have the basic production, alien facility, 2 storages, 1-2 labs, 2 living quarters, 1 team room, 1 large hangar and UFO hangar, and always 1 SAM plus the basics, to be able to respond to threats across the map without having to travel far, that way the Firebird is at less risk. Then the other bases, I'm considering making into dedicated production bases with a minimum batch of soldiers and AA def. As for research, after a certain point, it becomes useless right?
And what about this base attack thing? Also, I would like to ask if the random UFO is a threat to my bases. If for instance, I see an UFO approaching, do I assume it'll be game over if it reaches my base? Do they function for any other purposes than just to train soldiers, since the crashed UFO would be too damaged to be salvaged.
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I prefer to have one base with assault team- That way soldiers progress much faster- and other bases only for radar, fighters and SAM.
That way you can allways make one of them a dedicated factory, another lab.
This way there is almost no place for an UFO to hide, and absolutely no way to attack a firebird by surprise as the radars will warn me and give me some time to send closest interceptors or even activate SAM
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But since we are able to build 7 bases, almost one on each continent, I thought I would build 3 'main bases', in that they would have the basic production, alien facility, 2 storages, 1-2 labs, 2 living quarters, 1 team room, 1 large hangar and UFO hangar, and always 1 SAM plus the basics, to be able to respond to threats across the map without having to travel far, that way the Firebird is at less risk.
Minor quibbles here:
1) Alien Containment would only ever be needed at your research base. Since there are issues involved in transferring scientists, there is a built-in incentive to do all or most of your research at one location.
2) For Living Quarters i figure one per every two Workshops/Laboratories, plus an extra for your squad. more on this later
3) I'm mystified as to why the Team Room is already in the game, as it currently does nothing. There are plans for it but i feel it should have been left out until those plans become reality.
4) One building you didn't mention is the Hospital. It is not required, but very handy, to have one wherever your soldiers live.
5) I'm with Nevasith on the proliferation of squads. The more squads you have, the less experience each squad can accumulate. A single Firebird with two fuel tanks can reach anywhere in the world. The chance of it getting jumped by a Harvester are almost nil after you get all your radar sites working. Before that, it's going to be a crap shoot regardless. The only reason i can think of to use more than one squad is the tendency of the game to give you a Harvester to down right around the same time it gives you a new terror mission. In those cases, it is handy to have a 'B' squad to handle the Harvester while the 'A' squad deals with the terror mission. Even then, you would want to keep both squads at the same base. It makes logistics much simpler to only have to supply weapons and such to a single location, and you can exploit the way the game tracks these goods. Since these items are not kept by the soldier, but rather kept in base storage, you only need to buy/manufacture enough goods to supply one squad [with a reasonable amount of spares to cover battlefield losses].
And what about this base attack thing? Also, I would like to ask if the random UFO is a threat to my bases
As Nevasith has hinted, the game does not yet allow for Alien Invasion of your bases. Also there is no bombing, missile attacks, or anything like that. I believe the aliens will take 'interest' in a base when they fly directly over it. I don't know if the shooting down of that UFO stops 'the word' from getting around.
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With regard to number of squads, i start with 1 and once they have some experience split it into two and always have half elite/half new soldiers so i always have some expendable troops to send in first.
Steve