Remove the limit of 80 items?

[Danny]

Okay you can have as much stuff s you want in the Skyranger, but the more things there are laying on the floor the higher the chance the aliens throw grenade or aim a Blasterbomb into there...

It would make sense as they would want to cut Xcom's supply line...

[Quixote]

Okay you can have as much stuff s you want in the Skyranger, but the more things there are laying on the floor the higher the chance the aliens throw grenade or aim a Blasterbomb into there...

It would make sense as they would want to cut Xcom's supply line...

Has any of you ever seen this happen?

[yrizoud]

No, but I did accidentally shoot an explosive round at the exit of the skyranger : My soldiers were unharmed thanks to power armors, but the "store" tile was obliterated.

[Danny]

Has any of you ever seen this happen?

I have had Blaster bombs directed into a half full Skyranger (half my troopers were still inside)...
Well in the original... XD

Or an alien grenade right at the entrance...

[Warboy1982]

Has any of you ever seen this happen?

yes. this is the reason the AI was disallowed from using explosives on the first turn.

[Nevill]

yes. this is the reason the AI was disallowed from using explosives on the first turn.

Why, though? It was the only reason you would want to disembark from the ship immediately upon arrival despite the reaction fire. The tactic to skip the first turn was not always the safest one.

[SupSuper]

Why, though? It was the only reason you would want to disembark from the ship immediately upon arrival despite the reaction fire.

Not quite.

[Jo5hua]

Why, though? It was the only reason you would want to disembark from the ship immediately upon arrival despite the reaction fire. The tactic to skip the first turn was not always the safest one.

Doing this on SuperHuman is quite dangerous. Especially on Terror/Battleship missions. I've had instances where I've had 4 even more aliens in the surrounding landing zone. That would be a sure fire way to have all my men fall to an alien grenade, or worse a blaster bomb.

My strategy lately has been to first throw a smoke grenade outside, then wait a turn, scout the immediate area with a plasma hovertank, then proceed (carefully) outside.. Also because the units can only make it so far outside the aircraft, they usually need another turn to get into proper positions. That -- or risk getting shot down by any aliens that may be near by.. *shudder*

[Mr. Quiet]

Hey Warboy, when are you gonna add the option for us to decide how far the Aliens will face the Skyranger upon landing? I found the original thread talking about it, but it's too old to revive and I don't want trouble :)

I really love the idea and hope you give us more options on this. I don't like if it only depends on the difficulty. Please :)))))

[Solarius Scorch]

Doing this on SuperHuman is quite dangerous. Especially on Terror/Battleship missions. I've had instances where I've had 4 even more aliens in the surrounding landing zone. That would be a sure fire way to have all my men fall to an alien grenade, or worse a blaster bomb.

In the UNIMOD (an extensive mod for UFO: Extraterrestrials, that makes this game not only playable but actually very fun), there is a simple solution: on turn 1, aliens have a random number of TU spent. This means that even if you leave your landing craft straight away, chances are the aliens won't react. This is to simulate how the game works on later turns, and while simplistic, this solution is effective and IMHO better than the vanilla, which gives aliens an unfair advantage.

[moriarty]

on turn 1, aliens have a random number of TU spent

that is actually a very simple yet clever way of making things more "realistic". also, it's very much in the vein of the original game design: randomize as much as possible, so the game mechanics appear more clever than they actually are

[Solarius Scorch]

that is actually a very simple yet clever way of making things more "realistic". also, it's very much in the vein of the original game design: randomize as much as possible, so the game mechanics appear more clever than they actually are

Precisely.
It's clever and it works. I love this simple mechanism.

[BlackLibrary]

[Using King Leonides Voice] This is XCOM! [/Using King Leonides Voice]

Think like an alien.  Its night time.  You came to earth to pickup a few things.   You came strapped with your best Plasma weapons and a pair of shades.  You are doing your business, raping, pillaging and what not when...lo an behold you hear something! Its loud!  Its kicking up dust and sand.  Civilians are crying out "Thank the Lord!"  You look up in the sky and you see this hulking Russian made VTOL with massive engines coming down.  You have a bad feeling about this...and you haven't had dinner yet.

What do you do?
A.  Continue pillaging at random
B.  Take a smoke break
C.  Load a fresh clop and get in position to ambush the intruder like you get paid to do it!

Its XCOM.  Its D-Day.  It Normandy beach.  When the transport doors open, its all hell, plasma bolts, and gritted teeth...no roses. 

Hell, I'm sort of pissed to know that aliens can't use explosives on round 1.  I guess because their is zero defense against Blast Launchers, but still...

[moriarty]

to counter this argument... think like a human military strategist: if you are trying to land a strike team, what do you do to "soften" the LZ? right. ANYTHING.

that would include strafe-bombing the designated landing spot, perhaps dropping a few grenades while descending, and using vehicle-mounted machine guns to mow down anything that moves before the ramp even opens.

since we don't get anything like that, we have to even the odds somehow, and including randomized TUs to account for aliens trying to take cover from "landing zone softening measures" sounds like a good idea to me

don't think of it as "aliens are ignoring the landing transport" but rather as "aliens are partially distracted by other measures taken by the landing troopers that we cannot possibly show in the game"

[Solarius Scorch]

I get what you are saying Black, but then again, why don't they continue this tactics in turn 2 onwards? If you wait them out, they'll abandon it and start wandering around. It's like an "empty" turn for me on most occasions.

Still, kudos for your explanation.