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The X-Com Files / Questions for mid-late game (Post 1999 and open invasion)

« on: March 30, 2020, 03:58:13 pm »

Long time lurker, first time poster, great and in depth mod, especially with how it really forces you to stop and think as to whether or not you want to take a mission instead of going after everything as per the default strategy in vanilla X-Com.

But while I can usually find answers to my questions either by just searching the UfoPaedia or occasionally browsing the threads, I did have a few questions that I couldn't figure out answers to.

1) What exactly gets the Syndicate arc rolling at least insofar as you start fighting Syndicate people? I don't seem to have gotten the later MAGMA missions which is what I thought triggered them directly, which I suppose I could backtrack the question to what triggers those MAGMA outbreaks? I know i got it in some previous games that I restarted much earlier, but this current game (in May of 1999), and I don't seem to be able to get them rolling.

2)What are the requirements for Helix Psion? It doesn't mention it in the UFOPaedia entries the way it does for Bio-enhancement or TNI or things like Sectoid Legacy. In the same vein, what does it actually do? I don't have that many hybrid soldiers, and none of them have hit the requirements yet.

3) Speaking of Hybrid soldiers, if you recruit one, you're basically paying a bit more than double to have a guy with a purple shield, right? Are there any other differences between a human soldier and a hybrid recruit?

4) I got a cake from the Dreamscape mission. Eating it, except in the case of naturally super-strong psionics, yields 7 psi-strength permanantly. However, it contains some drawbacks, the thing projects occasional losses to psi-skill, reactions, accuracy, TU, stamina, etc. It is not consistent across agents that I could give it to. How does that actually work?

5) For undercover missions, do you ever get a suit of armor better than the bulletproof coat? (Which isn't all that bulletproof, really, but still better than nothing)

6) Last (for now) and most important to me, what exactly are the "Other" pre-reqs for the trio of Aliens Plot research, the one for clones, mind control, and hybrids all lead back to "other". I've managed to acquire a key and the Alien Embassy both researched, but that doesn't seem to be enough to let me attack the alien embassy on the maps. What do I need to be doing to knock them out and hopefully pull China back into the fight?

Thanks to everyone, and my apologies if these are questions that are too easily answered. I did try to search the forum posts before putting this up, but I didn't look at every single post, if something was buried somewhere, I might have missed it.

EDIT: One more question I forgot to ask. What exactly do you bring SMGs for? They aren't one handed like pistols, they have short range, and they don't have the raw power of machine guns. They seem to fall into the same sort of category (to me anyway) as shotguns, as simply not being as good as machine guns, rifles, and pistols for people you want having a backup gun if their primary weapon is grenades or psionics or something. I was wondering if anyone had just good old fashioned tactical advice.

EDIT #2: For the record, I am currently playing version 1.2 Some of my abandoned plays were on earlier versions, although I don't entirely remember which ones.

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The X-Com Files / Monsters: Final Solution Question.

The X-Com Files / Questions for mid-late game (Post 1999 and open invasion)