I don't have a problem with these features Solarius. They sound fun how you describe them.
In my game, and it was my first time playing Xcom Files, I could have easily destroyed these cult bases if I could have found them. Maybe I didn't have the required research, I don't know.
I had gotten to a decent level of research in my opinion, maybe not for the time I was at, but I was playing at beginner level. I was taken out by something I could not fight against. I had no way of finding these bases and no way of completing any more missions. Now I have to start again. It does feel a little disheartening. If I knew where the bases were but didn't have the skill or men to beat them at least it would have felt like I deserved to lose.
How do I prevent this in the future? Up until this point I had successfully completed most missions that had shown up. I had tried to take leaders alive and research them, but maybe I could have done a better job with this.
At what point do I need to be at to stop this from happening in the future?
Perhaps I did not have the right language set, but these craft only looked like UFO's to me. If they are only cars and helicopters could they move slower and be weaker on beginner difficulty? I had humvees with cannons on them and I could not take down a single craft. One time they ran away but the other two craft that were chasing me destroyed my humvee. My dragonflies could not even outrun them. I would assume a plane is faster than a helicopter or car.
I had an enemy base right next to mine, I know this because whenever a craft would launch it would get chased straight away. It is kind of funny to think about. I must have been doing terribly in the game.
But I do really appreciate your work Solarius, great mod and great work. My inability to beat it should not take away from that.
Anyway, I have attached my save file.
Edit: Keep in mind that I could not do any missions for the last two months of the game. So that may be the reason for any low ratings with countries.
Edit 2: Just found out by looking at my own save file that I had 14 cult manors on my map.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Please allow me to share some insight.
I never had a problem with the first two game years in this game, on the superhuman level. The progression seemed very natural. My first playthrough, that went into about first 1.5 game years, had not been unsuccessful, but was unsatisfactory, due to what appeared a low pace of development. However, even in that playthrough, I managed to take down cult mansions without access to OSPREY and BlackOps equipment. I used trophy equipment, with explosives (a skillful use of even a dynamite would suffice) playing a very important role in such assaults. The use of crawler was important for delivering enough troops to the mansion. Please note that early mansion vehicles could also be taken out by a couple of humvees with RPGs. However, with the hiring of a military advisor, you should have an option to use gun helicopters for these purposes, armed with 4 hwy machineguns. For dealing with mansions guarded by attack helicopters (they look like Mi-24 Hind on the picture), it becomes necessary to use multiple gun helicopters of your own. One way or another, the problem of early mansions, where no enemy fighter
jets are involved, is solvable with really early tech. I have found a playthrough that relied on this early tech to be very unsatisfactory, though. One of the reasons for that being that by the time a mission to rescue a doctor from MiB assault had appeared, my tactical equipment had not been adequate (i.e. no full miniguns, mortars, and strong sniper rifles were available for purchase).
In my subsequent playthrough, I spearheaded the development towards the OSPREY. This allowed me to storm the early cult mansions without any aerial fighter unit (whether helicopter or fighter jets) support: the OSPREY craft has sufficient speed to outrun helicopter units that defend the mansion. I also spearheded the research into early armor (armored vest, incl. tritanium version) and BlackOps equipment access. By the time of a first assault, I had armor vests (green ones), BO miniguns, and BO sniper rifles, along with trophy grenade launchers. While the early assaults on the mansions don't really require such equipment, it is much more relevant for the cult base assaults. Also, the presence of minigun on the mansion assault makes the assault much more streamlined.
I made all my tactical combats casualty-free. I achieved this by using skillfully using smoke, dogs, snipers, grenades, and also occasionally rolling back into auto-saved positions (set to every two turns). The basic tactics of skillfully using smoke, snipers and spotter units (early in-game, dogs are an ideal fit for this role) remains viable for a significant fraction of the game, until at least a very advanced armor becomes available. With an occasional use of auto-saves, such approach allows for a rather easy casualty-free playthrough.
A first cult base could be taken out with OSPREY. After capturing a main cult artifact, and researching it, it becomes possible to gain access to much heavier equipment. In particular, mortars and rocket launchers. By that point, storming cult mansions and bases becomes relatively routine. Taking 4 mortars on a mansion mission, and skillfully applying that tool, leaves virtually no chance to the enemy. In general, a skillful use of mortars and rocket launchers enables a successful completion of even a medium alien craft assault missions (e.g. harvester). In fact, a skillful use of these weapons allows a very systematic and lethal approach to dealing even with the armored alien units. I was able to take on a landed terror craft, with no casualties, by arranging for a proper rocket assault in the first turn, and a mortar salvo in the second.
Please note that an interrogation of EXALT top-ranking members may enable an access to a trophy fighter. However, in practice it's of relatively little use, even though it could relatively easily take on the early helicopters, and -- with a good pilot -- even fighter jets. A more important trophy craft is available through the Kiryu-Kai research branch, and I highly recommend to pursue this route, since it is capable of allowing a very quick global response to incidents, and could confront successfully enemy fighter jets. In general, by the time the enemy fighter jets come into a play, and could not be outrun or outmaneuvered, the X-Com should have access to RAVEN. A group of three RAVEN fighters, staffed with good pilots, could take down a terror ship. Only battleships and special anti-fighter ships remain out of reach for this early, and relatively under-powered craft.
By the time a second or third cult base is being takedown, it is in general possible to gain access to, and to start fielding, both heavy tac suit, and its tritanium version. The latter makes a huge difference in fights against both aliens, and also MiB.
The bottom line is this. There is hardly any reason why there exists a difficulty in this game, in the early game segment (of two years), even on superhuman skill level. I think the greater difficulty is with the necessity to capture enough ranking live aliens with relatively moderate capture equipment early enough, to gain access to alien power and electronics tech, that enables a more advanced weaponry (even gauss and laser). The relatively long game segment, whence only RAVENs (still vulnerable to hunter support crafts, battleships, and well-setup small counter-fighter arrangements), tritanium heavy tac suits, and where OSPREY craft quickly becomes irrelevant, is the main source of strategical challenge. In principle, the only reason to develop tritanium munitions is to keep combat efficiency reasonable in this critical segment, in the face of gradually more challenging enemies. The tritanium munitions allow the BO equipment (mostly, its minigun and sniper rifles) to remain viable, even against tougher enemies. Another source of challenge is the early limitation on the availability of AI units, and also on the size of the crew for underwater missions.
