I messed up somewhere and looking for advice

[Chuckebaby]

First off, i love the game. it is amazing and I have a good 20 hours invested into it.
But I fear the end is near (2 bad months in a row).

I'm seeing a lot of alien craft activity (white X's) on the map and no way to combat them while still attending to other missions.
I probably slacked off on my research and promoted other things first (like weapons).

I'm wondering if anyone would care to look at my game file and give me any suggestions. If not, I thank you anyway. I have no one to blame but myself.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19pcO5P35v7Es38ixBXSyF2pxidSRJ6lh/view?usp=share_link

[Mrvex]

Alright i took a look

First things first, clean up your research and focus down on these research points, you have too much going at once.

1) UAC
- Gives access to Dragonfly, which is a 8 troop, fast infantry transport, pretty much essential upgrade to your helicopter, plus its fast enough to "outrun" some Cults units like Apaches on the globe
UAC contact also gives you access to craft weapons for your interceptors like the cannon.
2) Xenonauts
- Gives access to armoured vest, which is 28 frontal armor for your infantry, it takes 30% less damage from bullets, it makes your men really hard to wound with low caliber weapons like pistols and pretty much makes then almost invincible towards shotguns, it also comes with a shield variation which has 38 frontal armor, together with taking only 70% damage from bullets, your agents with shield should have no problem tanking submachineguns and rifles.
3) If possible, try to research Church of Dagon operations, its the last prequisite for Osprey, you need to research a living Dagon Sorceror/Chosen fo Dagon
Osprey can carry up to 16 soldiers and can use heavy weapons for its gunports, meaning Osprey can fight against low level cult vehicles and destroy them.
3) FINISH TERMINATING RED DAWN ASAP
Or else there is a negative -500 misssion (concealed only, super short timer) waiting for you, its possible to finish it before it pops up but you really need to pull scientists from everything and dump them all on this project

Misc.
1) Once you get above the water, you have at your US base, 6 eligible soldiers for bio enchantments, bio enchantment, despite the sanity penalty is pretty much no brainer for me because its one of the very few ways to boost carry capacity which is essential as you get better armor which is also heavier at the same time and otherwise limits your soldiers possible firepower, its also problematic with weapons like miniguns that are heavy already.
Only mechanized armor otherwise helps you boost your carry capacity, like power armor, which is end game.


I also took a look what are these white dots, they are MIG fighters or Helicopters, not UFO (And probably all the dots walking on the map are Cult units, not aliens), meaning there is a cult base somewhere


You are in for a hell of a fight, if you use your van (van cannot be spotted by globe units), you can force move it to certain location and patrol, this lets you detect enemy bases in the area, here is what i found in Europe and i must say, i do feel pity for you actually, by sending the van to Europe, i instantly found 2 bases, one for Red Dawn and one for Church of Dagon.



Here is the thing that actually worries me,


Manor number  13, there are, at minimum, 13 bases on the planet of Cults on the planet.

13

I...it will be a really tough fight even if you could slip a helicopter in there, Cult Manors, while far from being that difficult, are something i only ever attempt to do with armoured vest and Dragonfly at minimum because you do face alot of enemies at once, you are against RNG timer of reinforcements (which can be savescummed btw) and the map is total shitfest with next to no cover for your men (hence armor is important)

BUT, these missions will give you ALOT of score due to the bodycount and the loot you get from them, so if you can savescum your way through them as you did for the whole campaign already (0 dead soldiers in Feb 1999 is sus with your nonexisting protection gear and looking in the possible research stuff, you had quite some harder missions already done.

If everything else fails, i can simply do some voodo background magic to the save file so you will get good rating at the end of the month anyway regardless of what happens. Though i prefer you would do the hard and honest work of save scumming first and use the latter as last resort so you your work doesnt burn up like paper

But anyway it is kinda late for your campaign anyway and will take you a herculean effort to make it up for the time lost, by the 1999, you should be ready to get to promo 3, if not have promo 3 already given the real game now begins with aliens invading.

IF, you have a save, PRE 1999 of in game time (And pre December 1998 just to be sure, its possible with save file edits to reverse the clock and give yourself more time to sort your shit, like giving you extra year to mop up Cults before the meatgrinder starts with aliens. Once the invasion starts, there is no going back with clock editing.

[Chuckebaby]

First off let me thank you so much for this. I was amazed how well you knew everything that was going. You are 100% right about the base in in Italy (Milan).
It's a nightmare. I couldn't get the chopper in there because it was getting shot down every time. So I went in with the van (4 soldiers) and I'm getting laid out.
Every time I get the upper hand, A message comes up that says "Reinforcements coming in". Or something like that.

What happens is next is these dudes drop in that look like Navy seals and they don't mess around. They have me pinned down at the gate (even tough i took out the tank with dynamite). I'm backed into a corner with no where to go. having to reload saves and now I'm stuck in an infinint loop.

I honestly feel embarrassed that I'm playing on beginner. and doing this bad

Thank you so much for the direction and time you have taken to check this out. I've looked at downloading a text editor to try and edit the .rul file (rules set/Alien deployments).
But I don't mod at all. I'm just reading about it as much as I am trying to get to the next level in this game (trying to keep my head above water)

I just hate the thought of throwing away all these hours. I do have previously saved games from a month or 2 earlier but I fear of doing this same loop again.

[Mrvex]

First off let me thank you so much for this. I was amazed how well you knew everything that was going. You are 100% right about the base in in Italy (Milan).
It's a nightmare. I couldn't get the chopper in there because it was getting shot down every time. So I went in with the van (4 soldiers) and I'm getting laid out.
Every time I get the upper hand, A message comes up that says "Reinforcements coming in". Or something like that.

What happens is next is these dudes drop in that look like Navy seals and they don't mess around. They have me pinned down at the gate (even tough i took out the tank with dynamite). I'm backed into a corner with no where to go. having to reload saves and now I'm stuck in an infinint loop.

I honestly feel embarrassed that I'm playing on beginner. and doing this bad

Thank you so much for the direction and time you have taken to check this out. I've looked at downloading a text editor to try and edit the .rul file (rules set/Alien deployments).
But I don't mod at all. I'm just reading about it as much as I am trying to get to the next level in this game (trying to keep my head above water)

I just hate the thought of throwing away all these hours. I do have previously saved games from a month or 2 earlier but I fear of doing this same loop again.

XCOM files can be edited with a humble notepad (I use notepad plus) and is super easy to navigate in, in it you can see things like alien activities, XCOM activities etc... these are the entries you want to alter to boost yourself back up and take down Aliens down, you can also haxxxxxxxxxor many things but try to only do the score shuffling.
Just open your save file with notepad and start hacking away, with precision of course, given unforseen consequences might otherwise occur.

You do really need to get better crafts ASAP, getting to promotion 3 also unlocks you Migs which can clear the way of cultists aircraft, there is a second way i prefer prior to having migs/interceptors is to simply lure out the guards by sending a craft to the manor, once the warning about interception pops up, get it out of there and sneak in a second, actual infantry craft, Helicopter is too slow, but Dragonfly is fast enough, their jets do require a refueling time so there is a window of time you can sneak in it.

Once you get in there, you can metagame the hell out of the reinforcements given their arrival is completely RNG (Just save before the end of each of your turn and reroll the save each time they spawn). Second thing you should know that any mechanical, alien or animal units on the map alive will prevent surrendering of occupants, surrender usually happens if you battered them to shit enough and only some enemies left. But enemies like gilldogs, gillmen, armoured cars, dogs etc...
Hybrids do use surrender mechanic, i am mentioning this in particular given in this mission with RNF waves, it can be very frustarting having some 4-6 cultists holled up somewhere that gave up on fighting, but there is like a gilldog, stuck in a garden on the other side of the map preventing you from getting the victory screen and when you do finally find it and kill it, BOOM, instant victory screen.

[Chuckebaby]

XCOM files can be edited with a humble notepad (I use notepad plus) and is super easy to navigate in, in it you can see things like alien activities, XCOM activities etc... these are the entries you want to alter to boost yourself back up and take down Aliens down, you can also haxxxxxxxxxor many things but try to only do the score shuffling.
Just open your save file with notepad and start hacking away, with precision of course, given unforseen consequences might otherwise occur.

You do really need to get better crafts ASAP, getting to promotion 3 also unlocks you Migs which can clear the way of cultists aircraft, there is a second way i prefer prior to having migs/interceptors is to simply lure out the guards by sending a craft to the manor, once the warning about interception pops up, get it out of there and sneak in a second, actual infantry craft, Helicopter is too slow, but Dragonfly is fast enough, their jets do require a refueling time so there is a window of time you can sneak in it.

Once you get in there, you can metagame the hell out of the reinforcements given their arrival is completely RNG (Just save before the end of each of your turn and reroll the save each time they spawn). Second thing you should know that any mechanical, alien or animal units on the map alive will prevent surrendering of occupants, surrender usually happens if you battered them to shit enough and only some enemies left. But enemies like gilldogs, gillmen, armoured cars, dogs etc...
Hybrids do use surrender mechanic, i am mentioning this in particular given in this mission with RNF waves, it can be very frustarting having some 4-6 cultists holled up somewhere that gave up on fighting, but there is like a gilldog, stuck in a garden on the other side of the map preventing you from getting the victory screen and when you do finally find it and kill it, BOOM, instant victory screen.

I just downloaded Notepad+. I'm going to just get familiar with it and see what I can do. I'll follow your suggestions and only make some minor changes (if I can figure those out enough to understand them). Can't thank you enough for all your advice. I am extremely grateful.

By the way, What is RNG ? I see people have menitoned it, does that mean random activity events?

[CaptainVietnam]

Instead of editing files it's honestly better to simply restart. This mod is a lot about trial and error and coming back again to do it all over again but better this time (just like regular xcom was back in the day).

when and if you do just restart I recommend

medicine, Advanced medicine, Bio lab, non standard weapons, shotgun, Personal armor, Kevlar,  research cults, and dead creature to get promo 1.

After that you try to rush get armor vest best armor early on. then rush for science lab

if you are ever confused middle mouse click on item or press q at the globe and look it up on tech tree viewer and use it to guide you.

Also fight human cults at night they cant see you if you hide in the dark don't let them get close to you. most of the time your free to pick everyone off without even getting shot at.

eventually you encounter sniper/high ranks who can shoot you in dark if they someone sees you. if you fire. or step in the light. (red dawn has a lot of snipers) for them I just straight up just throw frags at them and almost never shoot my gun so I don't get sniped out from the dark and stay hidden. thrown items do not trigger sniper spotter mechanic.



 

[Chuckebaby]

Instead of editing files it's honestly better to simply restart. This mod is a lot about trial and error and coming back again to do it all over again but better this time (just like regular xcom was back in the day).

You have a very valid point. my only fear is I run into the same issues all over again.

XCOM files can be edited with a humble notepad (I use notepad plus) and is super easy to navigate in, in it you can see things like alien activities, XCOM activities etc... these are the entries you want to alter to boost yourself back up and take down Aliens down

So I tried a few things in notepad. i tried adjusting mission scores from previous months and also tried adjusting Alien activity/Xcom activity for different countries but I'ts not working.
It's probably my fault as I just don't know what I'm looking for. I am pretty new to notepad but I can totally understand most of these stats in this text. Just can't find a way to keep my head above water until I get my research sorted out and tackle those Manors.

Thank you for everything though.

[Solarius Scorch]

I have recently decreased the chances for manors to appear, by 33%. Also, new manors are usually lowest level.

As always, unreleased X-Com Files can be downloaded from: https://github.com/SolariusScorch/XComFiles/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

[Chuckebaby]

I have recently decreased the chances for manors to appear, by 33%. Also, new manors are usually lowest level.

As always, unreleased X-Com Files can be downloaded from: https://github.com/SolariusScorch/XComFiles/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

Thank you very much for this.

[Mrvex]

ini edits

I edited all you need and attached the "upgraded" save file to this post here, use it.
what i did is simply to push the clock inside of it that its the end of a month instantly, meaning the moment you load the save, you get score screen and you end up with negative 400 points, this is enough to continue playing (council is still happy enough) so now you get 2 months to straighten up.

Oh and also i included a small...second wind bonus to your armory, these should help you clear out the manors, they wont help you against aliens and you got limited amount of it, but will against bullets and explosives, your US base has recieved a shipment of high grade protection, enough for 6 soldiers, 5 regular and 1 for your officer/squad leader, gear them up.

[Chuckebaby]

I edited all you need and attached the "upgraded" save file to this post here, use it.
what i did is simply to push the clock inside of it that its the end of a month instantly, meaning the moment you load the save, you get score screen and you end up with negative 400 points, this is enough to continue playing (council is still happy enough) so now you get 2 months to straighten up.

Oh and also i included a small...second wind bonus to your armory, these should help you clear out the manors, they wont help you against aliens and you got limited amount of it, but will against bullets and explosives, your US base has recieved a shipment of high grade protection, enough for 6 soldiers, 5 regular and 1 for your officer/squad leader, gear them up.

oh my gosh Mrvex, thank you so much. I am so grateful.
I spent a good 2 hours last night using Notepad+ trying to find a solution.
I have honestly become fascinated with the text and what it does. But I'm still very much a newbie. and don't know what I'm doing.

After about 2 hours of tests I edited the researchScores: in the saved file.
 I increased them by 3000 or so for the past 2 months. This did the trick.
However, I am unsure of the ramifications and don't know if this would effect future research, research cores, etc.

When I first played this game back in the early 1990's I instantly got hooked.
I am getting that same feeling looking at the text files seeing the inner workings of this game for the first time and it's addicting.

I will use your edited file (I just downloaded it). Thanks again. I owe you one.

 

[Mrvex]

I will use your edited file (I just downloaded it). Thanks again. I owe you one.

No problem...but you are not out of the water yet. Maximum speed is required to not get in to another failure spiral, better crafts, better weapons, really, try to get the Dagon sorcerror alive, get him to talk and unlock the Osprey, the difference between having able to send 8 (w dragonfly) and 16 is massive. The Invasion is somewhat lenient at the start and those small UFOs will be manned mostly with sectoids and snakemen, who arent durable as the other things that can appear as crew, Mutons (The green hulky dudes) are your first stonewall because they have 40% DR against bullets on top of having decent armor (Most blackops weapons wont even scratch them, so incendiary, laser or chemical weapons must be used to fight them).

Furthermore to research topics, once you completed all i pointed out, you should research these topics and why
1) Advanced healing spray
Carries 3 charges, 3 point wounds are super common, but its quite pricy.
2) Knockout grenade
This is a ranged stun weapon, throwing in certain ways is better than shooting and you can use it on people and animals (And aliens) alike, problem is that you need a workshop to make these.
3) Chemweapons
These are short range chemical weapons, they absolutely anhilate humanoids, but they are fairly innacurate and short ranged, they also melt armor and can cause panic on targets (or stun them), they also let your soldier get the Chemist award, which increases sanity. Eventually, once you unlock the next laboratory, you can research how to make and use the Canister Gun, which is advanced medium ranged chemical rifle that hits hard as a truck (easily one taps alot of enemies), you do have one of these in your stock so you just need better lab to inspect it, you do alredy have it qued in your research (Science laboratory) so just finish it and unlock next batch of research topids.

4) Alien biology
Lets you research the alien contaiment facility, so you have somewhere to actually keep alive aliens after mission

5) Getting to promotion 3 ASAP
There are 4 ways you can get here
A) Integoriating a alien with rank of Leader
Might be the hardest one, given Sectoids are the same visual wise and without mind probe you cant discover who is a leader and who isnt, Snakemen though, those with red shell on their back are leaders, engineers are green (engineers are also super valuable) + the whole gameplay with aliens and their one shot full HP plasma weapons even in the...gifted armor you recieved.
B) Deep one communities
This is the underwater arc, by capturing a live Deep One.
C) Into the Dark
This one is easiest difficulty wise, but has harsh difficulty of random number generation, you need motion scanners, in to the dark and Hidden Caves, which requires UFO signiature science tech (alien comunicator) + you need to study a living spider AND shambler.
D) Cyberweb portal
Requires cyberweb story line progression, together with capturing live aliens, these two are the hardest one, combat difficulty wise because Cyberweb has some really massive maps, somewhat durable enemies and they hit quite hard, though having the six outfits i gave you might change that drastically, esp the blue version can facetank alot of their weapons.

[Juku121]

Might be the hardest one, given Sectoids are the same visual wise and without mind probe you cant discover who is a leader and who isnt...

Are your Sectoid bosses not wearing those little gold circlets?

[Mrvex]

Are your Sectoid bosses not wearing those little gold circlets?

Those are commanders (not leaders), that are required for other end game stuff and i only ever manage to get one of these during a base defence, but its nice that they are, unlike their common counterparts actually marked as "Do not kill this one".

And base defence isnt something he should be worried about...well for some time that is.

[Chuckebaby]

Are your Sectoid bosses not wearing those little gold circlets?

TBH, I have no idea if XCF is the same as FMP (Sectoid commanders with gold headbands). And to be even more honest, in the dark, I imagine it's nearly impossible to see that headband. My only chance would be in the day. But I know what you mean.

Furthermore to research topics, once you completed all i pointed out, you should research these topics and why
1) Advanced healing spray
Carries 3 charges, 3 point wounds are super common, but its quite pricy.
2) Knockout grenade
This is a ranged stun weapon, throwing in certain ways is better than shooting and you can use it on people and animals (And aliens) alike, problem is that you need a workshop to make these.
3) Chemweapons
These are short range chemical weapons, they absolutely anhilate humanoids, but they are fairly innacurate and short ranged, they also melt armor and can cause panic on targets (or stun them), they also let your soldier get the Chemist award, which increases sanity. Eventually, once you unlock the next laboratory, you can research how to make and use the Canister Gun, which is advanced medium ranged chemical rifle that hits hard as a truck (easily one taps alot of enemies), you do have one of these in your stock so you just need better lab to inspect it, you do alredy have it qued in your research (Science laboratory) so just finish it and unlock next batch of research topids.

4) Alien biology
Lets you research the alien contaiment facility, so you have somewhere to actually keep alive aliens after mission

5) Getting to promotion 3 ASAP
There are 4 ways you can get here
A) Integoriating a alien with rank of Leader
Might be the hardest one, given Sectoids are the same visual wise and without mind probe you cant discover who is a leader and who isnt, Snakemen though, those with red shell on their back are leaders, engineers are green (engineers are also super valuable) + the whole gameplay with aliens and their one shot full HP plasma weapons even in the...gifted armor you recieved.
B) Deep one communities
This is the underwater arc, by capturing a live Deep One.
C) Into the Dark
This one is easiest difficulty wise, but has harsh difficulty of random number generation, you need motion scanners, in to the dark and Hidden Caves, which requires UFO signiature science tech (alien comunicator) + you need to study a living spider AND shambler.
D) Cyberweb portal
Requires cyberweb story line progression, together with capturing live aliens, these two are the hardest one, combat difficulty wise because Cyberweb has some really massive maps, somewhat durable enemies and they hit quite hard, though having the six outfits i gave you might change that drastically, esp the blue version can facetank alot of their weapons.

A treasure trove of info bro. So thankful for everything.

I have beat Vanilla and FMP (also TFTD) many times but this is the most in-depth one I have played yet. So impressive.