Messages

91

The X-Com Files / Re: Weapon balance / meta

« on: December 10, 2019, 02:22:02 am »

Another perk of the minigun: Getting the 'Lucky' commendation.

I'm personally more of a rifle/shotgun/launcher type of guy. Over a year into the campaign and I've never once got Lucky.
Today I've tried the minigun for the first time and BAM! Got Lucky right away.

92

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

« on: December 10, 2019, 01:00:35 am »

Awesome! And I thought I would have to take a break from the game for some days. Nope.

93

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

« on: December 09, 2019, 11:30:02 pm »

Finally received Lo Wo's hideout mission, this happens.

94

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

« on: December 03, 2019, 09:43:59 pm »

Regarding the Asylum mission: The music file is funny, but after 45 minutes on that map, it almost made me have to go the asylum 
Especially after (at the very end) I finally realized I had forgotten to take the right equipment with me to finish the mission....
And had to reload... I muted the music then....
Aaaanyway:
Maybe you shoud try something like György Ligeti's "Requiem" (used in e.g. OMEN and 2001:Space Odyssey), its way more spooky and well... maybe less repeating.
Or something from the Doom 1 music for the PSX, some of the most creepy and good songs i know (for games).

Hmm, I like that track. When the mission was over I immediately had to look it up and listen to it for another hour or so
Now, whenever I hear an appropriate beat, my mind keeps adding "that boy needs therapy; purely psychosomatic; that boy needs therapy".

More importantly, I feel it fits the mood of the asylum well, since the enemies don't really harm you and it's a pretty unique (and one-off) mission anyway.
Combined with the briefing, the music immediately communicated to me, that I was in no danger, despite my poor preparation and could just take it easy.
I had some good, relaxed ghost-busting fun, nothing spooky there.

95

The X-Com Files / Re: Stunned Citizens

« on: December 03, 2019, 09:18:17 pm »

I wouldn't mind, if stunning civilians got penalized a bit. After all, X-COM always steals their stuff after the mission, which is really weird.

I will still zap every civvie, who blocks my way, though. Having to wait a turn or even several turns for them to clear a tight corridor is just stupid.

96

The X-Com Files / Re: How to deal with Ninjas?

« on: November 28, 2019, 08:46:56 pm »

Camoflage does not work when a unit is on fire.

Right, I understand. I just thought, since flare guns were specified, that they were somehow special and could maybe 'illuminate' invisible units without lighting them on fire.
Using fire on hidden assassins only makes sense, if you already have a general idea of where they might be. In which case the flare gun would be the last weapon I'd use because of its small splash radius.

97

The X-Com Files / Re: How to deal with Ninjas?

« on: November 28, 2019, 12:17:15 pm »

Don't flare guns reveal them?

Do they? I thought the flare gun was just like an incendiary grenade but worse. I've never used it.

98

The X-Com Files / Re: Some suggestions

« on: November 25, 2019, 03:00:26 pm »

When you shoot down last guy, he goes down alive, bleeding...why is he counted as dead when battle ends? When someone is bleeding for 2 turns or more and battle ends, he is captured, isn't he?

Sometimes they die, sometimes they don't. When the battle ends, it counts as another turn elapsing, so unconscious enemies take one more round of bleeding damage, which may well end up killing them. Same for your own troops, I presume.

If you haven't already done so, disable auto-end battle in the advanced options. That way you still have an opportunity to heal wounded enemies before the turn is over.

99

The X-Com Files / Re: UFO very very early

« on: November 25, 2019, 02:49:21 pm »

I got extremely lucky with one of those in my new game.
Two almost-rookies with starting equipment. I intended to just grab one sectoid corpse and his stuff but I just couldn't do the pickup safely without killing most other enemies too and then I just killed them all in the end

The car was parked just in front of a large scout and all but one sectoid spawned either inside or behind the ship. So I had effective cover right from the start. My dudes seemed quite strong against psi, too. Only a single panic attack. Aliens were armed with mostly canister guns and plasma rifles. Most importantly, they had no pistols, so I didn't get much reaction fire. That means I could weaken them (somewhat) safely with snap pistol shots and retreat back to cover, then rush in with shotguns the next round (melee skill was too low). I lost a a guy near the end, when a point blank shotgun blast didn't kill.

That mission made me filthy rich (well, about 1.5 million was a lot of money then). Most importantly, lots of alloys, which I will soon be able to research.


I received a downed UFO mission mission later on and it was much harder even though on paper it should have been far easier.
Just 3 or 4 living enemies, lots of government soldiers fighting on my side and my two trained agents armed with assault rifles this time (unfortunately still no grenades). Sounds good? But it was a nightmare.
The allied soldiers took out an enemy despite their ineptitude, but what they mostly did was to draw lots and lots of enemy fire. This resulted in the map being covered in smoke, which didn't hamper the sectoids at all but it totally ruined my plan of sniping from a safe distance, while the grunts take the heat. So I had to get close, which I wasn't equipped for.
Compared to pistols, rifle snap shots are inaccurate and most importantly in this case, they cost more TUs. The alien's reaction fire was triggered and I had a very bad day.


So, a valuable lesson was learned:
In early missions against sectoids bring pistols, preferably colts, even if you have 'better' equipment available. Shotguns are also useful, but only if you can be assured, that they won't be able to fire back (take out shields first).

100

The X-Com Files / Re: How to deal with Ninjas?

« on: November 23, 2019, 04:54:08 pm »

Ah yes, drones, I almost forgot about them.
I didn't even plan on researching AI any time soon this campaign. Generally I find dogs (and rats, but I haven't found any yet) to be more useful than scout drones. Guess I'll have to rethink that.

Actually I remember bringing one of those to the Lo Wo hideout mission in my last campaign. Poor thing got massacred from a blind spot. Couldn't even see the baddie. That made me not want to use basic drones any more. But now thinking about it again, I realise I did it all wrong. I should have brought more than one and covered all angles of approach. Next time I'm doing that mission, I'm gonna set up a perimeter of at least 4 scout drones and put a couple of flamethrower armed agents behind them

Also smoke, good idea. Right now I'm only using it when faced with lots of ranged enemies and I don't have any decent cover. I haven't even considered using smoke cover against melee/close range enemies. Coupled with thermal vision from drones or rats, that should really be helpful.

About motion scanners, I don't really like fiddling around with those. Indoors they are quite good but outdoors, where assassins are usually found, the short scanning range is just too bothersome for me to use. I guess coupled with smoke they're better... we'll see.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. I think I am much better prepared for Black Lotus outpost and base missions now.
My new overall strategy:
Spend the first couple of turns taking out as many enemies as possible in the usual way, so they don't bother me during my ninja-hunt later on (in my experience, ninjas tend to attack me only during the second half of a mission). Only spread out my troops enough to avoid grenades. Then lay down smoke wherever I intend to go. Apply fire liberally wherever I don't intend to go but leave a path for enemies to come to me. Guard against ninja attacks with drone reaction fire on enemy turn. Use scanners on my own turn or again, use drones for scouting.
Sounds like quite a hassle. I'll probably end up cutting some corners and paying the price

101

The X-Com Files / How to deal with Ninjas?

« on: November 23, 2019, 04:18:49 am »

No other early game enemy gives me as much trouble as the fiendish Block Lotus Assassin. I'd rather face Chupacabras at night, at least those I can reaction-shoot. I never manage to finish an outpost mission without losing an agent or a dog if I'm lucky. The only way to even find a ninja is to wait for one to attack me, since their throwing range is significantly higher than my spotting range.
My original plan for the new 1.0 start was to leave the Black Lotus arc to later. Postpone doing outposts and bases until I have at least Bio Exo suits available (with that strong cutting resistance an agent can usually tank a hit or two) but I just can't leave them be. The promise of briefcases full of sweet dosh and flame gloves is just too alluring.

My strategy at the moment is to simply let the dog walk in front of my group of soldiers and hope, that the ninja strikes from that direction and manages to only kill the dog and nobody else. Then get him in the next turn.

Honestly, I am quite baffled by the difficulty of this enemy type compared to others, particularly at this point in the game and even later. Even by late 1998 the only thing I can do is to tank their attack with my improved armour and then retaliate. The presence of assassins in any mission makes it significantly harder than corresponding missions of other cults. The exception being the HQ, strangely enough, thanks to its layout, which enables camping behind corners and doors.

Anyway, how do you guys deal with these wretches? I must be missing something really obvious.

102

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 1.0.2: Judgement Day

« on: November 20, 2019, 05:54:20 am »

Thanks for the answers! Not sure if it's a bug or a minor quirk, but I wish to share it anyway: Sometimes, when I'm in the Geoscape too long (ie: Checking 'paedia articles, making lists of stuff to go for my vehicles and so on), the currently playing song gets partially "stuck", repeating a part of it while the rest of the song keeps going. Changing the music track fixes it. I dunno if it happens in Battlescape as well.

I think I know what you mean. I have the same problem, not just with this mod, but vanilla too. A single note getting "stuck" forever. IIRC it has always been this way for me. Only the original midi tracks are affected. I guess something wrong with the emulation? I sometimes get similar sound glitches with dosbox. It gets really annoying after a while, even painful with headphones.

I ended up replacing the original geoscape tracks with mp3 tracks. Problem solved.

103

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

« on: November 14, 2019, 06:58:53 pm »

I recently got awarded 'Night Owl' for the first time, but it isn't displayed properly everywhere.
In the soldier's records it is shown correctly. However in the bonuses window, it is nowhere to be found. Instead there is a commendation simply called 'Commended!' and apparantly it gives me +1 readiness. That one isn't even listed in the ufopedia.

I don't know, if I'm getting the promised sight bonus from Night Owl, but I'm definitely getting the RDN bonus from Commended.