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Playthroughs / Re: For some, the war is just beginning...

« on: May 30, 2016, 04:18:54 am »

Death from above!

The second assault on the Snakeman base went much better, and I destroyed it with only four casualties. Oddly, it had a totally different layout than the first time.

Celebrations were cut short. Next up was a nighttime terror mission in Cuba against the dark creatures I now know are called Chryssalids. X-COM held them off for a while, but they eventually cut through my soldiers, even the ones in power suits. The last man left ran back to the Skyranger and had enough TUs to move onto the ramp, just one space short of being inside. I figured that trying to save just one more soldier wasn't worth potentially losing the Skyranger and aborted... then learned that meant losing the Skyranger anyway.

I've researched the flying suit. Is it as decisive a Chryssalid countermeasure as it appears? I haven't seen a Chryssalid ranged attack, so it seems like they could be easily picked off from the sky. I haven't tried that yet, as the next terror mission and the elusive Alien Base-1 were both Floaters.

Alien Base-3 introduced me to the Mutons, or, Those Guys From The Intro. The intro showed X-COM send them packing with rifles and auto-cannon AP rounds, but I wouldn't want to try that, considering the beating they could endure from lasers and grenades. After a long fight, I stormed the control center, only to find it empty. The mission didn't end, even though I'd swept every other part of the base. I started sweeping it again, then a few more Mutons ran up without attacking and were shot, and the mission was won. Kind of strange.

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Playthroughs / Re: For some, the war is just beginning...

« on: May 20, 2016, 07:05:18 am »

I appreciate the comments! I've read the suggested wiki articles, which should be helpful. I hadn't realized reaction fire was affected by the TUs remaining, beyond leaving enough for a snap shot.

As for progress in the game, the first total wipe of this run happened when I sent an understrength squad after a downed UFO. I got overeager to catch one of these Snakemen and made some avoidable mistakes. The capture attempt on the next Snakeman UFO was successful, though.

The big deal today was discovering an alien base in Nigeria (labeled Alien Base-2, so they apparently have another one out there somewhere). I was on edge descending into that bizarre place, fighting Snakemen... and something worse. Some creature that looked like it was made of darkness.

My soldiers dropped until there was one left, who cheesed it back to the deployment zone. I laughed when the mission results screen came up with Rating: OK. Taking out 16 aliens must have compensated for the fact that almost everyone died. I tried to trash as much alien machinery as possible too, since the briefing mentioned destroying the control center, but the base is still there.

I have a Firestorm now, after some irritation in building it. I stopped production right after starting it to make a few more lasers first, and when I tried to start the project again, saw that the resources weren't returned. It's funny that this is the only thing in X-COM that's really annoyed me. I guess I expect the aliens to mess up my run, not my own engineers, though it's really my fault.

Strangely, Sectoids were my constant nemesis on the first two attempts, but they've barely shown up this playthrough. Just, like, one UFO and one terror mission.

Anyway, I'm stopping now with a fully-equipped squad ready to go back to the alien base. Tomorrow, I'll try to erase that little pink square from the globe.

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Playthroughs / For some, the war is just beginning...

« on: May 18, 2016, 10:42:01 pm »

Hello everyone! With this game's recent GOG release, I'm finally delving into it. I've somewhat stubbornly committed to difficulty 2, Ironman-style, and no looking up spoilers... though with a game this acclaimed, I haven't been able to avoid hearing some.

1. First attempt - straight outta the (DOS) box

This run came to a quick and ignoble end. UFO recoveries went OK, but terror missions were a brick wall; every time X-COM faced the aliens in urban warfare, X-COM was annihilated. Just as I thought I was getting the hang of things, the council unanimously decided to shut the project down.

I'm struck by how great a job the game does of capturing the eeriness of alien encounters, battling a mysterious enemy with superior technology and superhuman abilities.

2. Second attempt - with XcomUtil

I didn't use any of this utility's options that alter the game structure, but convenient features like statstrings in soldiers' names were appreciated. For the first time, I won a terror mission, which was a great feeling. I used heavy lasers to bring down the Cyberdiscs, having sworn-off explosives for Sectoid terror sites after a soldier with a rocket launcher was mind-controlled and promptly blew herself and five comrades up.

There were some crippling setbacks, though. A very large UFO swatted down my Interceptors and landed in the dead of night. My solders went after it, clearing out the surrounding area with only a few casualties and the gradual realization that the structures were the five legs of a huge craft suspended overhead. I figured out how to enter through the central appendage and ascended to a four-way intersection, positioning soldiers on overwatch facing every direction. And then some kind of ball zigzagged down one of the corridors and vaporized them all.

Then, while my new team was en route to a terror mission, the main base was attacked and destroyed without resistance. The Skyranger and its passengers were immediately lost as well... it seems unfortunate I couldn't have them land at the hangar that was just constructed at the second base. I couldn't get that base running in time to turn things around.

3. Third attempt - OpenXcom 1.0

Immediately, conveniences like mouse Geoscape rotation and scroll bars make the game more pleasant.

With some knowledge, now, of how techs work, I'm going for laser rifles first, then personal armor, then the Firestorm (which I researched last time but didn't get the chance to build). Loading up on scientists with the first Living Quarters instead of hiring enough soldiers to fill up the Skyranger. Finally captured a live alien! Grant me your secrets, purple floating man. And I handily won a terror mission in Bombay. These Reapers worried me at first, and one of them killed a couple of guys, but they actually seem easy to handle.