OpenXcom Forum

OpenXcom => Playthroughs => Topic started by: abacaps on August 20, 2014, 09:32:16 am

Title: Shortest game ever
Post by: abacaps on August 20, 2014, 09:32:16 am
I just had my shortest game ever. Only a couple of days in, my base gets attacked - before any UFO missions. I had researched nothing at this point. My soldiers therefore had no armor and only the basic weapons. They were completely wiped out by cyberdiscs as my rifle-equipped soldiers were useless. I lost the base, and thus the game. This was on superhuman level. Was this just a fluke? My next game I'm in August without a single base attack.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Solarius Scorch on August 20, 2014, 12:13:38 pm
I just had my shortest game ever. Only a couple of days in, my base gets attacked - before any UFO missions. I had researched nothing at this point. My soldiers therefore had no armor and only the basic weapons. They were completely wiped out by cyberdiscs as my rifle-equipped soldiers were useless. I lost the base, and thus the game. This was on superhuman level. Was this just a fluke? My next game I'm in August without a single base attack.

Luck is important, but base location is important too. Still, it could be a fluke.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Falko on August 20, 2014, 02:36:28 pm
"Only a couple of days in" is very hard
months ago i had a game that had 2 base attacks in january (~15. ~30.) these were very hard to fight but gave me a huge push in loot/researchstuff
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: abacaps on August 20, 2014, 03:53:28 pm
Yeah at first I was happy -  lots of loot. Then I saw the cyberdiscs, and after shooting one four times with a rifle with no effect I thought...oh shit, should have invested in heavy weaponry early.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Sectoid_Soldier on August 20, 2014, 04:21:57 pm
At such an early stage in the game, on wouldn't have had a working alien containment. You should have captured a leader, or commander, which would have given you psionic powers that early in the game.

It could have been a bonus!  8)
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Falko on August 20, 2014, 04:26:43 pm
i assure you base attacks in January are more about surviving than capturing aliens
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: ivandogovich on August 20, 2014, 05:57:42 pm
I have seen this same thing playout on SuperHuman.  HE packs are the only hope, so purchasing some at the start of the game may be your only hope.  Stunrods will Drop a Cyberdisc, but its pretty suicidal trying.

Cheers, Ivan :D
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Sectoid_Soldier on August 20, 2014, 06:32:08 pm
Stunrods? They're difficult to bring down with rifle fire, but it's possible.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: ivandogovich on August 20, 2014, 07:18:50 pm
The nice thing about tagging them with a stunrod, is that they won't explode when they drop. :)  Its just braving their fire to get there.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: MeatLoaf on August 20, 2014, 08:30:29 pm
Stunrods? They're difficult to bring down with rifle fire, but it's possible.

On the harder difficulties cyber disks have 34 armour and 0.8 resistance to bullets. Since rifles do an average of 30 damage you need a roll of 146% (44) to do just 1 damage (TFTD damage model runs from 50-150%, standard model is 0-200%). A max roll for the rifle and a normal hit from the HC is worth 14 damage.
Powerful explosives hit all sections of the tank for a 4x bonus, if your guys can handle the weight a large rocket has a 35% chance to insta-kill (104 damage for an average roll verses 120 health). When choosing explosives you need to roll atleast 58 before any damage gets past the resistance (0.6) and armour.

Early game I order my guys by strength using / * - and + to signify importance.

+ = 50 str = AC+RL or rifle and 2 extra rockets
- = 40 str = rifle+RL+rocket+clip
* = 36 str = rifle+RL
/ = 30 str = RL+rockets or AC and ammo
less than 30 strength gets a rifle and is first to leave the ship/assault enemy positions.


/edit I'm also a big fan of the long corridor base layout (https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Base_Layout_Strategy#Time-Efficient_Corridor_Build).
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: BlackLibrary on August 21, 2014, 12:29:50 am
Had the same issue with two base attacks in January.  I was forced to fight a retreating battle, had a rookie go to the store room to get rocket ammo.  Found the Flame thrower mod and realized just how sick it is against Cyberdiscs.  Even the incendiary rockets had good value.  I was quite stunned to see just how great they were against cyberdiscs.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: ivandogovich on August 21, 2014, 12:48:35 am
Had the same issue with two base attacks in January.  I was forced to fight a retreating battle, had a rookie go to the store room to get rocket ammo.  Found the Flame thrower mod and realized just how sick it is against Cyberdiscs.  Even the incendiary rockets had good value.  I was quite stunned to see just how great they were against cyberdiscs.

Nice information!  I need to start packing some incendiary grenades!

Cheers, Ivan :D
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Ran on August 21, 2014, 01:22:58 am
In the times of v0.5 I started hundreds of new games to make statistics on alien appearance ratios.
Weirdest game was a base attack by Snakemen in 2nd week, there were no (human) survivors. I had managed to deal with very early Sectoid attacks on superhuman, but them Chyssalids... :-\

I must say I never used  rifles and usually sell the small stuff immediately to make space for my purchases.
Anyone strong enough will carry Heavy or Autocannon, preferably with HE ammo, the strongest soldier gets the rocket launcher. The rest gets grenades. They work really well in early game if used at large numbers. Your guys will improve quickly and after some missions most will be strong enough to carry heavy weapons.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: abacaps on August 21, 2014, 03:40:08 am
I must say I never used  rifles and usually sell the small stuff immediately to make space for my purchases.
Anyone strong enough will carry Heavy or Autocannon, preferably with HE ammo, the strongest soldier gets the rocket launcher. The rest gets grenades. They work really well in early game if used at large numbers. Your guys will improve quickly and after some missions most will be strong enough to carry heavy weapons.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't think of equipping the low strength ones with grenades only - sounds like a good strategy! When my soldiers are stronger I equip the best ones with both heavy plasma and a rocket or heavy cannon with HE ammo - packs a powerful punch against any alien.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: MeatLoaf on August 23, 2014, 02:45:49 pm
Had the same issue with two base attacks in January.  I was forced to fight a retreating battle, had a rookie go to the store room to get rocket ammo.  Found the Flame thrower mod and realized just how sick it is against Cyberdiscs.  Even the incendiary rockets had good value.  I was quite stunned to see just how great they were against cyberdiscs.

Just tried this out (Autocannon/IC) and I averaged 28 damage per hit on the Cyber disc and 10/turn burn damage, I also failed to destroy any equipement in my spawn room using 7 incendiary grenades sucessively... If the AOE damage multiplier also works on sectopods and if crsylids avoid fire IC ammo may make the ultimate base defence weapon.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Ran on August 24, 2014, 12:01:22 am
Sounds interesting, I've never used fire much. :)
However, isn't that quite an exploit in base defence?
IRL everyone would suffocate if you start a large fire in an underground base. It's unfair enough that stores/quarters are indestructible which makes base defence using the corridor base plan way too easy. You can blow the aliens to hell without damaging your base even if you detonate 20 blaster bombs in the corridor.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Solarius Scorch on August 24, 2014, 12:10:28 am
However, isn't that quite an exploit in base defence?
IRL everyone would suffocate if you start a large fire in an underground base.

I think the X-Com base should have more advanced vent system than Vietcong tunnels had. :)

It's unfair enough that stores/quarters are indestructible which makes base defence using the corridor base plan way too easy. You can blow the aliens to hell without damaging your base even if you detonate 20 blaster bombs in the corridor.

Nothing is ever a problem if you have enough blaster bombs... :)
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Ran on August 24, 2014, 12:33:57 am
Which you often do on superhuman, I had hundreds. ::)
Well, still I think there should be some penalty for blowing up your base, it doesn't have to be total destruction of everything behind a severely damaged facility like now but maybe some days of repair which disables the facility and costs you money.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Solarius Scorch on August 24, 2014, 12:39:11 am
Which you often do on superhuman, I had hundreds. ::)
Well, still I think there should be some penalty for blowing up your base, it doesn't have to be total destruction of everything behind a severely damaged facility like now but maybe some days of repair which disables the facility and costs you money.

Yeah, it makes sense. But I'm not yet prepared to set anything more specific. :)
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: MeatLoaf on August 24, 2014, 04:39:18 pm
Which you often do on superhuman, I had hundreds. ::)
Well, still I think there should be some penalty for blowing up your base, it doesn't have to be total destruction of everything behind a severely damaged facility like now but maybe some days of repair which disables the facility and costs you money.

Agreed, but then again the moment my base was breached I'd drop blast doors around the hangers and elevator and napalm everything, get my boys up there before the pilot realises and jack the battleship...
If I was alien I wouldnt even dream of trying to get inside the vipers nest, I can tow asteroids in with my space craft and orbital strike (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbaQD6eF_qc) the entire area (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJHlcurFVUI).
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Qpoter on August 30, 2014, 09:19:53 am
I once had a base attack on the 3rd day by Sectoids, and I managed to just barely survive it by carefully using proximity grenades, rockets, and heavy cannons with HE rounds.

Then it got attacked again a few days later, and I lost.

That's X-COM, baby!
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: new_civilian on October 11, 2014, 11:50:33 am
I just had my shortest game ever. Only a couple of days in, my base gets attacked - before any UFO missions. I had researched nothing at this point. My soldiers therefore had no armor and only the basic weapons. They were completely wiped out by cyberdiscs as my rifle-equipped soldiers were useless. I lost the base, and thus the game. This was on superhuman level. Was this just a fluke? My next game I'm in August without a single base attack.

Just had exactly the same experience. No chance for my soldiers, even though they brought down 3 of the 6 cyberdiscs. There wasn't even time for my ordered tank to arrive before the base defense...  :o

Oh and I lost ALL my base facilities in another game as the laboratory blew up. When the mission neded I had to sell EVERYTHING as I had no storage rooms, nothing only 3 hangars and the access lift!!!

Was partially my fault as I used a stupid base layout...  ::)
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: The Reaver of Darkness on December 15, 2014, 02:02:09 pm
It's a bug I've been hearing about a lot. On my playthrough, I got two base attacks in the first 3 months. In the original, it was rare to get a base attack before the 5th month.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: volutar on December 15, 2014, 04:14:29 pm
Your complains and reports are quite pointless without information on game version. There was loads of changes after 1.0, including base defenses and mission timings.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: The Reaver of Darkness on December 16, 2014, 02:17:37 am
Mine is: Version 1.0 (13-06-2014)
Might explain some things.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: hellrazor on February 14, 2015, 12:03:26 am
I have seen this same thing playout on SuperHuman.  HE packs are the only hope, so purchasing some at the start of the game may be your only hope.  Stunrods will Drop a Cyberdisc, but its pretty suicidal trying.

Cheers, Ivan :D

Large Rockets are also good. They have 33% Chance to instantkill a Superhuman Cyberdisc on directhit, i prefer them over HE packs (range).
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: hellrazor on February 14, 2015, 12:04:25 am
The nice thing about tagging them with a stunrod, is that they won't explode when they drop. :)  Its just braving their fire to get there.

Killing them with Large Rockets also does not explode them btw.
Title: Re: Shortest game ever
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 15, 2015, 02:32:56 am
cause more base defending where you have a base within cluttered up countries. That should punish players who build bases in the EU/ME part of the world where all the money rolls in faster. I'm kidding, don't take that away from me!