Skipping terror missions?

[Darkercloud]

Can you skip terror missions while still being well off in the game? They are just to difficult for me.

[ivandogovich]

You can generally skip a mission, just don't ignore it.   In other words, go to the site, land, then abort.  If targets present themselves a few rockets out the back might be fun, but otherwise, just abort. 

You will have a negative score from the mission, but you will not get as big of a negative for the month if you ignore it.

This tactic is often employed when dealing with the first Snakeman terror mission if you don't have flying armor as Chryssalids can be a nightmare.

[Darkercloud]

The problems I have is my people panicking and mind controlled.

[ivandogovich]

Is this your first Terror Mission?  Sounds like a Sectoid Medic or Leader is messing with you.

There are tactics to deal with these psi attacks that may help.

The enemy tends to attack your weaker (psi) soldiers, so attacks tend to fall on 2-4 main soldiers.  This is a really good indication that they are Psi weak, and many use this as a marker to fire them after the mission to build a stronger force.  I don't follow this method, but it is a way of approaching the game.

Anyhow, these targeted troops can be thought of as lightning rods drawing the enemy's fire.  Once the attacks begin, try to disarm these troops if you have control of them, or give them non lethal weapons: stun rods, medikits, smoke grenades, etc.   You can also try having your heavy weapons troops set their weapons on the ground at the end of their turns.   Meridian did this to great effect in his SuperHuman Hawaii Challenge LP, and kept his troopers safe from enemy controlled rocket launches. 

Combine this with aggressive search and destroy tactics, and you can start destroying the enemy's morale enough that they will panic, and very likely you will kill the Psi attacker and end the assaults.

[Darkercloud]

Is this your first Terror Mission?

Yea it's my first one, Just recently finished researching laser weapons too, They helped me immensely against the flying disc enemies in the mission.

[kkmic]

Cyberdisks? Oh boy...

[Meridian]

Yea it's my first one, Just recently finished researching laser weapons too, They helped me immensely against the flying disc enemies in the mission.

If you're a new player and you are playing on difficulty other than Beginner... I strongly recommend aborting the Cyberdisc terror missions in the first 5-6 game months.

If you're an experienced player and playing on Genius difficulty or lower... consider aborting if you get a bad start (i.e. many enemies see you at the beginning or the map is not open enough).

If you're playing on Superhuman, you deserve it

[hellrazor]

If you're a new player and you are playing on difficulty other than Beginner... I strongly recommend aborting the Cyberdisc terror missions in the first 5-6 game months.

If you're an experienced player and playing on Genius difficulty or lower... consider aborting if you get a bad start (i.e. many enemies see you at the beginning or the map is not open enough).

If you're playing on Superhuman, you deserve it

Nothing a few Heavy Rockets couldn't solve.
After all a Heavy Rocket has a 25% chance to kill a Cyberdisc with a direct hit.
Otherwise i recommend Laser Rifle Autofire
Approaching them with Stundrods and stunning them also is a good option, if they do not face you.

[Dioxine]

Otherwise i recommend Laser Rifle Autofire

Goes like hot knife through butter... and you should have a stock ready by the 1st Terror.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

Trick for skipping terror missions: keep track of your estimated score. If you're pretty sure you've accumulated at least 500 points this month, you can probably skip the terror mission. 16 civilians lost = 480 points lost. Also it's better to skip a terror mission than go and lose more points from soldiers and tanks lost than you regain back with kills--on the other hand if you can take out a bunch of aliens and then run home, you may cause the terror mission to cost you fewer points.

In the end it's all about the points. If you get a positive score, a country or two might hate you for neglecting them but the council as a whole will pat you on the back. After that just try not to neglect any countries cause that'll keep your funding up, but most importantly never have two terrible scores in a row. If they threatened to cancel you last month and you're not doing so hot this month and you get a terror mission, you can thank your lucky stars. Gather up every soldier you have and head over there. Kill as many aliens as possible, Keep one guy in the craft, leave if you absolutely need to but try to at least gain a Pyrrhic victory cause even losing almost all your soldiers will spare you a lot of points if you win the mission.