Shortest game ever

[abacaps]

I just had my shortest game ever. Only a couple of days in, my base gets attacked - before any UFO missions. I had researched nothing at this point. My soldiers therefore had no armor and only the basic weapons. They were completely wiped out by cyberdiscs as my rifle-equipped soldiers were useless. I lost the base, and thus the game. This was on superhuman level. Was this just a fluke? My next game I'm in August without a single base attack.

[Solarius Scorch]

I just had my shortest game ever. Only a couple of days in, my base gets attacked - before any UFO missions. I had researched nothing at this point. My soldiers therefore had no armor and only the basic weapons. They were completely wiped out by cyberdiscs as my rifle-equipped soldiers were useless. I lost the base, and thus the game. This was on superhuman level. Was this just a fluke? My next game I'm in August without a single base attack.

Luck is important, but base location is important too. Still, it could be a fluke.

[Falko]

"Only a couple of days in" is very hard
months ago i had a game that had 2 base attacks in january (~15. ~30.) these were very hard to fight but gave me a huge push in loot/researchstuff

[abacaps]

Yeah at first I was happy -  lots of loot. Then I saw the cyberdiscs, and after shooting one four times with a rifle with no effect I thought...oh shit, should have invested in heavy weaponry early.

[Sectoid_Soldier]

At such an early stage in the game, on wouldn't have had a working alien containment. You should have captured a leader, or commander, which would have given you psionic powers that early in the game.

It could have been a bonus! 

[Falko]

i assure you base attacks in January are more about surviving than capturing aliens

[ivandogovich]

I have seen this same thing playout on SuperHuman.  HE packs are the only hope, so purchasing some at the start of the game may be your only hope.  Stunrods will Drop a Cyberdisc, but its pretty suicidal trying.

Cheers, Ivan

[Sectoid_Soldier]

Stunrods? They're difficult to bring down with rifle fire, but it's possible.

[ivandogovich]

The nice thing about tagging them with a stunrod, is that they won't explode when they drop.   Its just braving their fire to get there.

[MeatLoaf]

Stunrods? They're difficult to bring down with rifle fire, but it's possible.

On the harder difficulties cyber disks have 34 armour and 0.8 resistance to bullets. Since rifles do an average of 30 damage you need a roll of 146% (44) to do just 1 damage (TFTD damage model runs from 50-150%, standard model is 0-200%). A max roll for the rifle and a normal hit from the HC is worth 14 damage.
Powerful explosives hit all sections of the tank for a 4x bonus, if your guys can handle the weight a large rocket has a 35% chance to insta-kill (104 damage for an average roll verses 120 health). When choosing explosives you need to roll atleast 58 before any damage gets past the resistance (0.6) and armour.

Early game I order my guys by strength using / * - and + to signify importance.

+ = 50 str = AC+RL or rifle and 2 extra rockets
- = 40 str = rifle+RL+rocket+clip
* = 36 str = rifle+RL
/ = 30 str = RL+rockets or AC and ammo
less than 30 strength gets a rifle and is first to leave the ship/assault enemy positions.


/edit I'm also a big fan of the long corridor base layout.

[BlackLibrary]

Had the same issue with two base attacks in January.  I was forced to fight a retreating battle, had a rookie go to the store room to get rocket ammo.  Found the Flame thrower mod and realized just how sick it is against Cyberdiscs.  Even the incendiary rockets had good value.  I was quite stunned to see just how great they were against cyberdiscs.

[ivandogovich]

Had the same issue with two base attacks in January.  I was forced to fight a retreating battle, had a rookie go to the store room to get rocket ammo.  Found the Flame thrower mod and realized just how sick it is against Cyberdiscs.  Even the incendiary rockets had good value.  I was quite stunned to see just how great they were against cyberdiscs.

Nice information!  I need to start packing some incendiary grenades!

Cheers, Ivan

[Ran]

In the times of v0.5 I started hundreds of new games to make statistics on alien appearance ratios.
Weirdest game was a base attack by Snakemen in 2nd week, there were no (human) survivors. I had managed to deal with very early Sectoid attacks on superhuman, but them Chyssalids...

I must say I never used  rifles and usually sell the small stuff immediately to make space for my purchases.
Anyone strong enough will carry Heavy or Autocannon, preferably with HE ammo, the strongest soldier gets the rocket launcher. The rest gets grenades. They work really well in early game if used at large numbers. Your guys will improve quickly and after some missions most will be strong enough to carry heavy weapons.

[abacaps]

I must say I never used  rifles and usually sell the small stuff immediately to make space for my purchases.
Anyone strong enough will carry Heavy or Autocannon, preferably with HE ammo, the strongest soldier gets the rocket launcher. The rest gets grenades. They work really well in early game if used at large numbers. Your guys will improve quickly and after some missions most will be strong enough to carry heavy weapons.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't think of equipping the low strength ones with grenades only - sounds like a good strategy! When my soldiers are stronger I equip the best ones with both heavy plasma and a rocket or heavy cannon with HE ammo - packs a powerful punch against any alien.

[MeatLoaf]

Had the same issue with two base attacks in January.  I was forced to fight a retreating battle, had a rookie go to the store room to get rocket ammo.  Found the Flame thrower mod and realized just how sick it is against Cyberdiscs.  Even the incendiary rockets had good value.  I was quite stunned to see just how great they were against cyberdiscs.

Just tried this out (Autocannon/IC) and I averaged 28 damage per hit on the Cyber disc and 10/turn burn damage, I also failed to destroy any equipement in my spawn room using 7 incendiary grenades sucessively... If the AOE damage multiplier also works on sectopods and if crsylids avoid fire IC ammo may make the ultimate base defence weapon.