Messages

31

The X-Com Files / Re: I beat vanilla on Superhuman. Is this mod worth a shot?

« on: February 23, 2021, 09:16:30 pm »

Vanilla PSI was always problematic and both super frustrating (like in TFTD when your guys start getting MC'ed in the back of the sub) and super OP in the hands of the player.

I think one of the things I like most about X-Com Files is that PSI is handled way better. It's still very powerful, but has several balancing factors to ensure that it doesn't completely dominate the game.

I also think that melee is way more viable in X-Com Files -- a lot of the weapons are really fast, and the CQC helps you far more than the aliens (who are often too stupid to move away).

32

The X-Com Files / Re: Farm animals

« on: February 17, 2021, 09:33:51 pm »

I've seen them in the Cult Cleanup missions where a bunch of Cult of Apocalypse guys are fighting council scavengers, townsfolk and livestock. It's the only mission I've seen the Scavengers in I think too.

33

The X-Com Files / Re: Research time

« on: February 14, 2021, 01:25:28 pm »

As far as I know:

. is 1 scientist-day
- is 5
= is 20
# is 100

There is up to +- 50% randomness though, so you can't tell exactly how long something will take.

34

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 1.7: Market Corrections

« on: February 14, 2021, 01:23:07 pm »

My base is is Albania, so kinda there. I think you think I am inexperienced, and that is why I don't want challenge, but I finished TFTD when I was a kid and did not speak english, alnong with every clone I got my hands on, so I know how to play it, I just don't find combat fun anymore. What I do like is a story, cool gadgets, enemy factions, mission types, etc. of THIS mod. In short, i love this mod DESPITE the game.
Anyhow, starting over isn't really on the table, as I spent considerable time on this, and replaying it would just be wasting it. I might cheat and remove the warning once. I have 2 more bases in construction anyway, so maybe it is salvageable.
I threw in a save if someone needs it, for some reason, not sure.

I took a look at your save, and I'd recommend a restart, though you can recover in X-Com from almost any setback. Definitely take a break if you need to -- I usually take a 1 year break between coming back to X-Com.

You absolutely need multiple bases in this game, and you'll want them early. There is just too much to research and too much to manufacture to get through without them. Note that you don't need to keep a full complement in each base -- just hangers, storage, living quarters, gym, and 10 soldiers to handle the easy stuff. Keep an extra hanger open at smaller bases. You can load up the Osprey at the main base, and then transfer the whole thing over. It works well for the Cult bases and HQ since those stick around for a while. The dragonfly can handle local stuff (e.g. Outposts for easy money).

Extra bases also let you build out more Labs and get more Scientists. While Scientists are expensive, in the long run they make you money. You can research all the cheap weapons and prisoners for points. Points early on means that the funding increase carries forward for your entire game.

The critical research before 1999: Promo III, Radar, Interceptor, Stingray, Kitsune. Try your best to get Personal Armor (or even Cyber Armor, which is the armor you'll be using for a very long time). That requires a bit of luck -- capturing a live alien in a UFO landing, but it looks like in your save, you've already got what you need.

I'm surprised you don't have Kitsune though. I'm not sure what triggers it (you get a notification of Lost Alien Ship Data), but getting the Kitsune means that you basically have worldwide transport range (and in a ship that is both fast and can defend itself). That's why getting the Skyranger / Skymarshall isn't critical before 1999.

35

The X-Com Files / Re: Research time

« on: February 13, 2021, 12:55:18 am »

The research progress is just like how it works in vanilla X-Com. It's simply a comparison of how many scientists you have versus the difficulty. You can get a rough estimate of how long something will take by the little marks on the top left. Each # is 100 scientist-days, and if you're unlucky, it can be an extra 50% on top of that.

36

The X-Com Files / Re: Rats

« on: February 12, 2021, 01:05:07 pm »

A decent number of enemies in the game have it too. The extra info tab will tell you if they have psi sense and at what range.

Sectoids have pretty good psi sense. One time, a Sectoid lobbed a grenade through the hole in the roof of a damaged UFO at my clustered soldiers. Later when you get mind control, they're really good for telling you exactly where every alien is inside a UFO.

37

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 1.7: Market Corrections

« on: February 04, 2021, 09:02:33 am »

Anyway, here's my unasked for suggestion: megaphones! Sometimes I can't get close to a cultist to stun them without heavy losses, but after taking out enough people I've had them panic and surrender, and that's really satisfying. What if you could use a megaphone to do morale damage (after some requirements are met??) -- the old "we have you surrounded, come out with your hands up, you have no chance!" etc.

I think there are lots of ways to stun enemies already, and I do like that stunning enemies carries an extra degree of risk and difficulty. I do have a different idea for megaphone though -- maybe you can use it to affect civilians / neutrals. Using the megaphone on one should be an automatic hit, and on their turn, they will just move toward your landing site and stay there. It would help greatly in keeping civvies out of harm's way in lots of missions, and also speed things up (once they get close to your craft, they stay there and stop moving, making the end-turn phase go faster). It might not be possible in the current game engine though.

38

The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: February 04, 2021, 08:55:58 am »

NV is an armour property, not a unit property.

Anyway, why do you need to check the stats so badly? I understand armours, because they help see if your weapon will work, but why do you care so much about an enemy's exact strength or accuracy? Is it just curiosity, or something else?

No idea how to do that in the first place...

I think it's fine that you don't know the exact stats and things like the rank since there are already ways to do that within the game using the Mind Probe. In some cases though, lack of stats makes some of the entries a lot less helpful. For example, when it comes to zombie attacks, they do 0 base damage, but get a bonus from strength. If you have no idea what the strength of the zombie is, then you have no idea how dangerous that attack is.

39

The X-Com Files / Re: Suggestions for a Superhuman Ironman Youtube Playthrough

« on: February 03, 2021, 09:25:43 pm »

A big draw of watching let's plays is definitely the commentary, though you don't need to be speaking all the time. Make sure to have a good microphone, as that makes a huge difference in audio quality.

40

The X-Com Files / Re: Early gun balance

« on: February 03, 2021, 03:08:02 am »

Not exactly an early game weapon, but anyone else feel that the BlackOps Smartgun is ridiculously good (maybe too good)? As soon as I got it, it almost instantly because the only weapon I use, other than specialty weapons like Rockets and Snipers. It outclasses all the other weapons you get around that time (late 1998/early 1999) like the Macro SMG, Assault Cannon, and the lasers you find. With Trit ammo and the built-in armor reduction, it can even pierce power suits and tank armor (it's actually one of the biggest sources of friendly-fire deaths on my tanks). The Smartgun has an accurate and long ranged 3x snapshot, along with the slightly less accurate but equally long ranged 5x auto shot. At 25 squares, even if you shoot at the edge of your vision range, the penalties aren't that bad. The reaction fire is also incredibly good because of the accuracy and 3x burst.

41

The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: January 29, 2021, 01:22:12 am »

You will need to get the mind probe to determine the exact alien rank. Some alien ranks also look visibly different than the others (usually color somewhere). I haven't noticed if the sectoids ranks look different, though.

42

The X-Com Files / Re: Suggestions for a Superhuman Ironman Youtube Playthrough

« on: January 29, 2021, 12:25:44 am »

There's definitely copyrighted music that will get you into trouble (e.g. Frontier Psychiatrist for the ghost mission, and Black Lotus Shrine, among others).

I've been watching Yeti's X-Com Files Let's Play on YT. It's from a livestream so the style is a bit different. I'd say that keeping good pacing is the most important part. X-Com in general is a pretty slow game because it's turn-based, and I actually watch the series on 2x speed and still skip ahead quite often. X-Com Files is also a really, really long game. I'd recommend setting most of the speeds to maximum. If someone misses something, they can always rewind.

There are lots of weird UI quirks and just plain bad UI because X-Com is such an old game. I'd recommend learning all the UI shortcuts so that you can do common things faster.

One big thing with let's plays is that you want to show viewers the reasoning behind a decision and maybe a quick discussion of alternatives (e.g. it's fine to say, "I should do X for this reason, or maybe Y for another reason, but I'll do X because of this"). However, don't show users long periods of equivocation or deliberation. In a livestream it's better since your viewers can give input, but when just sitting and watching, I don't want to see a bunch of hem-hawing.

For routine stuff, it's fine to either cut it and just show the end result -- for example if you're cleaning house, just show the user the final sell list before you click sell. For routine missions like an easy strange creature later on, it's fine to cut directly to the end screen, or just show a fast-forward replay of the mission. Alternatively, it would be entirely fine to show movement at 10x speed, and slow down to only show attack on your agents or on the monsters, though that would take a lot more editing. You can also fast-forward the end of long missions where you spend multiple turns hunting down the last enemy.

Finally, make sure to stay positive. X-Com Files can be really frustrating at times. Even when things go bad, it's important to keep a positive outlook. It's fine to gripe about something once or twice, but I've stopped watching many let's plays because there was just too many negativity.

P.S. Yeah the Avatar is no joke. Definitely the hardest of the 4 cults.

43

The X-Com Files / Re: Counter-grenade tactics

« on: January 27, 2021, 02:04:41 am »

There's never much you can do about grenades and blaster bombs. However, I have found that in X-Com files, grenades are a bit less dangerous. Your soldiers tend to have more health, and many armors have built-in resistance to Plasma Grenades and Concussion damage.

44

The X-Com Files / Re: I beat vanilla on Superhuman. Is this mod worth a shot?

« on: January 27, 2021, 12:49:28 am »

Weird, I never once used that strategy. It feels like it would just lead to tons of deaths.

The scout-sniper strategy, grenade relay/spam strategy, and rocket-all-the-buildings strategy tends to work really well for me at least.

Anyway, I'd recommend playing "Experienced" if you want a decent challenge and plan to play with limited/no reloading. "Veteran" is good if you don't mind a big challenge, squad wipes, and some frustration. The main difference is that there are often far more enemies on Veteran. I haven't played it, but from what I heard, Superhuman has absolutely ridiculous numbers of enemies, and every mission becomes a slog.

45

The X-Com Files / Re: I beat vanilla on Superhuman. Is this mod worth a shot?

« on: January 26, 2021, 03:35:23 am »

This game references a lot of stuff, but funnily enough, I don't think I can recall a single X-Files reference (though it's been too long since I watched that show).

Vanilla X-Com isn't that hard even on Superhuman if you know how the game works and what to do. I'd say that a good part of the challenge in this mod is not knowing what to do. There's also way more enemies in most missions, and aliens in general tend to be far tougher (though by the time you meet them, you'll have way better weapons too).

You'll definitely find a good challenge in this mod, though its flavor in the early game is more about investigations and uncovering secrets. There will be a number of situations in the early game where you're badly outnumbered and outgunned, and situations where you'll need to retreat rather than fight it out. Since most missions have no penalties for withdrawing, knowing when you've started in a bad spot and aborting right away is crucial.