Niewiems questions from Playthrough

[Niewiem]

Okay I just started playing and first question that comes to my mind is:
- Is it normall to have so many missions at beggining of game? It rained like 4 missions and one flying UFO during first day of game

[Dr.Crowley]

Yep, I had the same thing in the beginning. That's why I splitted my agent to 3 squads - monster hunters (Strange Life Form mission), witch hunters (cult and abductee missions) and assault unit (any type of assault).

[Niewiem]

Yeah I already have 2 squads and third hangar is building

-- posts merged; have a nice day! - Solarius Scorch ---

Uh already lost two squads - one to landed small UFO(not to self - do not touch UFO unless you have a lot better weapons) - second to some spiky mutant things... those are damn hard - one ate two full pellets of shotgun ammo and was still standing...

[Solarius Scorch]

Yep, these are hard enemies, especially if you're not experienced with them.

The good thing is, cars, guns and people are cheap.

[Dr.Crowley]

Uh already lost two squads - one to landed small UFO(not to self - do not touch UFO unless you have a lot better weapons) - second to some spiky mutant things... those are damn hard - one ate two full pellets of shotgun ammo and was still standing...

Right, even basic UFO with the small crew of Sectoids is a grave danger for your agents because of mind control and superior weapons. My 4-man team that was first to sucessfully breach into UFO AND return alive, became promoted to full-term SWAT-like heavy armored squad later.
As for those mutants - I guess you mean YetisShamblers - yeah, they are though as armadillo. Hope you never meet them in urban map

[mumble]

Please, the shamblers aren't that bad. Fire, or just a hail of lead will kill them. You can kill them early with just a crap ton of colt 45 fire, since they have almost no armor, and they are vulnerable to flareguns too

As for UFO's, well.. ...

...It is indeed possible early on, but you MUST think very carefully about how you do it. Sectoids are weak and fragile, so it comes down to more getting the jump on them, and using terrain properly than having the right gear. I beat them with just shotguns, kevlar, and hunting rifles, but the biggest challenge is 2 things that early

1: Getting a UFO landing is almost pure luck early on. Lets face it : trying to chase a UFO on a commercial flight is a silly idea, but if you get lucky, you can totally do it, if it lands. Always at least try if its close, worst you will do is waste a few ingame hours.

2: you will have 0 survivability. Kevlar is a really crappy defense against ANY alien weapon, even a crummy alien laser or pistol. Lasers will melt right through the kevlar plate generally, and kill you instantly : Generally you 1 shot sectoids also, but this doesn't make it less of a problem. Also, you get 4 people THAT early, so your margin for error is EXTRMELY low. This said, capturing a UFO THAT early is a huge boon : selling off the UFO parts, corpses, weapons, and the points alone for capturing a UFO (even with 3 / 4 agents killed) is a HUGE point gain that early, enough to turn a failure of a month into a decent month

Overall, just be mindful of what your gears capability is compared to what you are facing, and be aware of how vulnerable you are. Sectoids are fragile enough you don't need to worry about shooting multiple times, unless you get a VERY bad damage roll, so its mostly making the shots count, and not getting shot yourself.

Also, don't be afraid to attempt a night raid on a UFO : with flares, flashlights, and keen planing, the dark can actually help you : just make sure you put your flashlight dudes in cover, leave scouts in the dark, and throw flares into areas you are going to scout. But I admit, raiding a UFO before you get MP5s at least is a very bad idea (one I did anyway)

[Niewiem]

I do not know their name
There were like 6 of them on map and on my power level there was absolutely nothing that I could do to even single one
Edit
Like I said it ate 2 full shotgun pellets(all bullets) and it was still standing...

[mumble]

I see.. yeah, if its a shambler, or the SMALLER white beast men things, they take a bit of punishment.

1 tile wide guys are pretty easy, and it might of been you just got a bad roll fighting them. bigger ones can take around 6 shotgun blasts to die, pretty nasty, but very doable with coordination.

Also depends which shotgun you were using : the small shotgun, pump action, "shotgun", double barrel, all do different damage levels IIRC.

But never be afraid to flea : one good tactic when overwhelmed at the start, is to just fire away from the center squares around the car / van, and then leave after a couple kills....wont do much, but a few points certainly don't hurt.

And consider packing gear which you cannot purchase yet if its good : an "appropriated" AK47 can be extremely useful early on, even if the ammo is insanely scarce...and its handy bringing it along just as an ace in the hole.

also just a tip : middle mouse on a unit gives you the name, the gear they have, and shows if they are bleeding : very handy.

[Niewiem]

Oh that is great tip - did not know that - thanks!

It was small shotgun and those things were spike boars. I loaded save from mission with them and tried again. I litterally walked to one with all 4 agents and started shooting. It took more than 10 shots and was still standing and most of those were point blank so all 7 pellets hit... It seems they have armor that my weapon is unable to penetrate

Edit

I was able to kill 2 of them in another mission - it took 4 shots from shotgun with 40dmg AP rounds

[Dr.Crowley]

Oh yeah, spikeboars. Thank god they appear not so often because there were about 10 or 12 of them on the map almost every time I met these needlebutts. These mutants are quite tough and their spikes are really annoying due the bleeding they cause. But they can be killed anyway

Mongorns (or "white beast men things", like mumble said) are very prone to pass out if hit with shotgun shells, so I can't say that they are so much problem. Even HKMP5 can knock them down easily.

Speaking about other monsters - werebeasts are just losers in common monsters hunt, but their respective "Monster Attack" missions can become a local Werepocalypse if you won't act fast and kill them before they will surround your team. But remember - this is true just for my "spawn camp" tactic for monster missions (I choosed this way because it's much more easy for early 4-man team to survive Chupacabras' favourite zerg rush, for example).

[bluberd]

also just a tip : middle mouse on a unit gives you the name, the gear they have, and shows if they are bleeding : very handy.

Damn that's useful! O_O
Thanks

[mumble]

IIRC, spikeboars have a small amount of armor, or at least some damage resistances. fire, or explosives are your best bet. I personally found incendiary grenades worked best, followed by normal grenades. They can tolerate a few shots of the nitro express, which bounces off armor, so that should say something..

[Niewiem]

I did not have time to play lately so did not post anything here.
Whoa granades! I had this mission when my newest invention was normall shotgun and rest was starting equipment.