Messages

1

The X-Com Files / Re: Pre-Invasion questions

« on: March 14, 2025, 05:02:54 am »

I've found that Gas Grenades (especially from the Tactical Grenade Launcher) work quite well against Sectoids early on. They go through shields, and with the Sectoid's low health, it usually means that one shot will stun (or sometimes kill) it. It's a great source of captures as you're about to enter into the mid-game.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Pre-Invasion questions

« on: March 13, 2025, 10:07:36 pm »

How do you define "reliable" ? Against cult humans, i would say taser cannon is reliable, one-shots just about anyone i ever encountered. One knockout grenade does not drop a beginner level goon with a bat, in my experience. He just leaves the cloud next turn and keeps attacking. How many knockout grenades per target would you say is "reliable" ?

Grenades can be thrown much further and you can carry a lot more of them. You don't need a dedicated agent to carry them either.

They do have a tiny radius, so it basically needs to land at their feet. I don't think I've ever seen a basic goon survive a direct hit, but it's not too hard to throw a second one to make sure.

Overall, I find them more useful than the taser cannon. I still use the basic taser and blunt rounds more though. Once you have agents with lots of TUs, melee works even better.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Pre-Invasion questions

« on: March 13, 2025, 06:56:56 pm »

1. How do i know which craft weapons are any good, and does it even matter ? I meah the machine guns you put on small helicopters, LMG, MG, BOMG, etc. Do their stats matter at all ? Or just slap any random 4 MGs on that heli and dont bother thinking too hard about it ?

I always use the HMGs, and it seems to be overall the best

2. MG descriptions say they "strip armour"...is that a joke or am i misunderstanding how armour works ? What can damage 25 and 5% pre-damage do against a minitank ? Is there a way to just repeatedly shoot an enemy with minigun for 0 damage to lower their armour ?

Whenever you see the white flash on a hit, some armor has been reduced even if no damage was dealt.

3. Speaking of minitanks and armoured cars...what can i even do against them ? Light cannons give 0 damage. Grenade launchers and Milkors give 0 damage. Miniguns - 0 damage. EMPs ? Minitanks take 40% damage from EMP, meaning it would take at least 3 EMP grenades per minitank, and that doesnt help with armoured cars at all. High explosives (that i have a very limited amount now with no way to get more of) ? My only Gauss pistol with a single clip that doesnt even have a reduce armour stat ?
Granted, i killed some vampire knights the other day with some sniper fire, but they are melee and there were civilian distractions as well, it took quite a while.

Dynamite is a bit easier to obtain than HiEx and can deal reliable damage, though you might need more than one. Miniguns work if you keep shooting. HMGs can get through their armor, but can be risky to use if they survive. Snipers can also work, but takes patience.

You shouldn't have large numbers of tanks to deal with before promo 3, so it's definitely time to break out those limited quantity weapons you might get.

4. Speaking or armour, early on you get Bio-Exo suit...what is it for, exactly ?

It provides great protection against cutting and chemical attacks. Against monsters, they can allow you to survive a hit or two. Not too bad to take out against Black Lotus when hunting for assassins. They're also more or less required for certain missions.

5. Speaking of dubious items, does the knockout grenade -slash- gas grenade do anything special ? Or is it just as it appears - a small patch of concentrated smoke that enemies leave immediately with no ill effect ? Or, for instance, smart shotgun, a very late 2-shot low-damage 3-range little thing...i dont see the niche for it, over say, BO SMG.

Knockout grenades provide a reliable way to KO most human and monstrous enemies you will encounter before 1999.

Gas grenades are absolutely deadly against all human enemies and even decent against aliens. They are some of the best weapons you can use when you get them.

Both grenades are extra useful during night missions, where you don't want to directly shoot your target and get auto-revealed to all the snipers on the map.

6. Speaking of knockout, i got some dart muskets here, am i correct that bio damage has to get through armour first to do anything, but electric damage ignores armour completely ? So to capture armoured targets bio darts are useless ? And what is the point of poison darts, exactly ?

They're all just damage types. Different enemies are weak against different attacks. Electric Darts deal more damage because it deals 50% health, and 75% stun (compared to the Bio Dart's 10% health, 100% stun). Both have to get past armor first.

8. Are dogs the only real way to spot stealth units ? Is there anything else i can do ? Like, peppering the terrain with fire or proximity mines...err...

Look for the anti-camo stat. Dogs are decent. Scout Drones and Rats are better. Motion Scanners can help too. Utilize the scout-retreat tactic to minimize your risks -- move 66-75% of your TUs forward with a rat or whatever, and run back toward safety.

9. Will there later be a better\faster way to increase the usefulness of AI drones ? Because in my opinion you dont have enough time really to raise it's accuracy the hard way before the invasion starts. Outrunner armor is a complete liability in harder, more enemy-rich missions, so you can only take it on very occasional easy walks, and i'm finding myself almost at invasion with AI barely over 60 accuracy.

I've found that the Minigun Tank will increase their stats ridiculously fast. I usually wait for that.

I've never built Outrunners, but I feel like there are plenty of cakewalk missions to train them up.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Cult of Apocalypse missions

« on: March 12, 2025, 01:04:04 am »

It's my favorite mission now, even though initially it seemed impossible. I especially love it on Superhuman with all the enemies.

Night mission is the way to go for sure. None of them (as far as I know) have any sort of special night vision. None of scout-sniper mechanics. Plenty of them have heavy weapons, but that doesn't matter if they never get a shot off on you, which isn't that hard.

Pre-prime high-exposives and gas grenades. Run down the ramp, throw it, and run back up the ramp. End the first turn and watch the fireworks. After the first turn, the LZ should be clear and you just have to be careful to manage light sources. It basically becomes a turkey shoot, or opportunities to train up your melee and mass-killer medals.

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The X-Com Files / Re: CF-105 ARROW vs Greater Manors

« on: February 12, 2025, 01:31:15 am »

The question is definitely what niche the Arrow fulfills. Even the MIG doesn't have much of a niche -- it's far too fragile to intercept any UFOs, and I don't think I've ever used a single one because the Interceptor does the job so much better.

By the point you can get the Stingray, you've got promo 3 and the Interceptor isn't far off. With just the cannon, you can't reliably fight the level 3 cult manors. Even against the level 2 cults, there's not much of a difference compared to the Little Bird.

6

The X-Com Files / Weapons with Hidden / Lesser Known Benefits

« on: February 09, 2025, 08:47:14 am »

X-Com files has tons of weapons, and while most of the weapon's characteristics are readily apparent, there's definitely weapons that have hidden / lesser known benefits. I'll start with three of my favorites:

• The PSG-1 has a reduced no-sight penalty (0.65 instead of 0.5). It's the only weapon I know with that property, and it makes it one of my favorite sniper rifles in the early to early-mid game. It makes a bigger difference than you would initially think.
• The BlackOps CAWs has a reduced range penalty. I think most people like the CAWs, but even though its other stats aren't very impressive, it tends to perform very well because it has a -4 drop off instead of -6 (that most shotguns have). This makes it way more accurate at longer ranges. I also feel like its shot grouping is tighter, but that's probably just my perception. A few other shotguns also have the reduced penalty, like the Thrasher, but its base range is so low that it's hard to take advantage of the accuracy.
• The Heavy Nail Gun is a work item and makes those Industrial Investigation missions a breeze if you manage to get it early enough.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Cyberweb heist map

« on: February 07, 2025, 01:48:38 am »

To me, the issue is that the map is just kind of annoying to play on. Going down the staircase is a part of it. The other part is just the inevitable bug hunt because of all the ventilation shafts.

As a one-off mission, I wouldn't mind, but the map tends to crop up fairly often, and it just becomes a slog at that point.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Plot cost-benefit ranking (light spoilers)

« on: February 03, 2025, 10:10:13 pm »

The Smartgun is an excellent generalist weapon. At the point where you can get it (mid 1998), and in every specific role, there's probably a better weapon, but the smartgun is probably the 2nd or 3rd best. After you get a steady source of alloys, the Tritanium ammo upgrade also keeps it relevant.

It won't be able to deal with the toughest enemies (it can still hurt the Supersoldier from any angle with a lucky roll), but it works well against most opponents at most ranges. In a previous game of mine, it was the leading cause of deaths for my tanks (due to friendly fire), so it definitely can pierce pretty heavy armor.

The main strength is its volume of accurate fire: 3-round snap and 5-round burst with a range of 25 each, and you can fire them twice and still move. The macro SMG doesn't have the rate of fire or range, despite doing a bit more damage.

Of course, I do supplant the Smartgun with sniper rifles and explosives to deal with opponents it's not good against.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Promotion II... Now what?

« on: February 03, 2025, 09:51:00 pm »

Based on your description, you're doing quite well. I think it's totally fine to take some time to staff the lab, and you're already saving up for it. Tips to get more money:

• Some missions like Red Dawn Outposts are relatively safe and easy (especially if you know how to do them at night). You can get quite a bit of money from them.
• Undercover missions can also be lucrative, but you also need to know how to handle them safely.
• There's good bit of snowballing going on with respect to the funding -- it's basically a monthly multiplier based on your score. This means that higher scores early on give you huge returns over the course of the game. One of the best ways to boost your score early game is researching the dossiers. You should be using the secret files as soon as you get them. Research "cheap" weapons as soon as you get them so that cultist interrogations give you the dossiers.

Continue beating down the cults. You have to take out at least one cult before promotion 3, but you have so many options for the other requirement that you're likely to get it in due time.

There's not much you can do about the random events like fighters getting shot down, and you don't really need to do much about it.

I've talked about it before, the but the early syndicate missions are great (just be careful not to advance them until you're ready). You can get your hands on advanced BlackOps weapons some of which can serve you well into the late game.

As an extra note: I don't find that the game is affected much by the difficulty. You get more enemies on higher difficulties, but that just gives you more opportunities to use explosives for more fun. The extra loot makes up for the extra enemies.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Plot cost-benefit ranking (light spoilers)

« on: February 03, 2025, 09:08:21 pm »

I also concur with the early Syndicate missions. Stuff like the Syndicate Warehouse is ridiculously easy (almost too easy compared to when you get them, if you ask me). You can get the Syndicate Weapons Crates, which has a small chance of giving you the Smartgun.

The Smartgun is probably one of the best weapons in the entire game until you get Turbolasers/Plasmas/Chem Pulse Rounds. At the point where you can first get it (just after promotion 3 / mid 1998), it's an absolute game changer. It also uses normal LMG ammo, so even if you aren't able to get the acquisition, having a few on your squad makes a big difference.

The Ghost missions are also pretty good, but you really need to have a source of laser damage if you want to do them safely, or ideally with a few laser tanks. Haunted Farm is pretty easy. Haunted House can be brutal. The undercover mission can also be very hard (though I heard it was adjusted not too long ago).

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The X-Com Files / Re: Is there a mod for streamers? If not...

« on: October 31, 2024, 06:51:35 pm »

I don't think there's any mods specifically for streamers, but you might be able to do things to speed up the game:

- I believe the lastest OXCE (nightly) releases have more fast-forward options. I actually have a custom build that has a button to speed up the game (skip walking/projectile animations, don't center the screen when switching to next soldier, etc.). Those make the clean-up phase and long enemy turns more bearable.
- Mod the enemies so that enemies like the various beasts can surrender. You'll need to do this yourself, but it isn't super hard. Alternatively, if you want to make the game much harder (but more exciting), you can get the mod that makes all melee beasties just zombie-rush you.

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The X-Com Files / Re: How to fight ghosts

« on: October 31, 2024, 05:36:09 am »

The first Ghost mission is basically training. Deploy a full squad though. Take plenty of Tasers and you'll be fine. If you're patient, it's even a good melee training mission with stun batons.

Later missions require more planning. It's a good time to break out any laser weapons you might have collected. There's no better time to use them.

The Laser Tank makes these missions a cakewalk, but the Rocket Tank is good enough too, because nothing can hurt it.

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The X-Com Files / Re: How does one Fight the Flying Avatar Lady?

« on: October 31, 2024, 04:49:04 am »

I concur with the stun tactic. The grenade launcher with blunt works best. You can kneel and get decent accuracy aimed shots from beyond line-of-sight for your entire squad. Their shields are weak against stun. Don't bother with guns until their shield is down since their shield works well against Kinetic.

The best mission to do this is the Root of all evil mission.

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The X-Com Files / Re: OMG Natasha Morozova and Co just kicked my butt!

« on: October 31, 2024, 03:07:20 am »

In addition, it's important to be aware that if you ever hit an enemy directly with gunfire, they automatically spot you. This is most noticeable if you ever do night missions against Red Dawn. You can have a sniper be fully smoked, in darkness, and away from everyone, and they will get lit up as soon as they shoot an enemy. Your best bet is to use grenades and explosives in this situation.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Best usage for early alien alloys?

« on: October 31, 2024, 02:57:59 am »

It depends on exactly where you are in terms of enemies. However, if you can, the Heavy Tritanium Suit costs a bit more alloy, but essentially makes your agent like Robocop against conventional and laser weapons. Nothing gets past it -- not gunfire, not explosives, not the dreaded gas grenade.

I would also save just enough for a single tank (Laser is best, but if you don't have it, rocket works well too). It is super good against Ghost missions, which will be popping up.