Fastest Game Over Ever

[The Reaver of Darkness]

I got a base defense mission four days into the game, and all I did before that was buy a bit of stuff and shoot down one small scout.



I never had this happen in the original game. In fact, I don't think I ever had a base defense mission before April until I played openxcom. Now the first one usually comes no later than March.

[Meridian]

Perfectly normal.

You shot down a UFO, RNG decided to spawn a retaliation (12% chance on Veteran), already the first scout of the retal wave found your base... and battleship followed.

Happened to me so many times already (on Superhuman with 20% chance), that I stopped shooting down UFOs completely...

[The Reaver of Darkness]

Happened to me so many times already (on Superhuman with 20% chance), that I stopped shooting down UFOs completely...

I find I get more base attacks when I stop shooting them down. Usually the retaliation scouts make themselves very apparent for quite a while before the attack. It's only a problem when the scout is a battleship, anything else (always a small ship) and you can shoot it down with an interceptor. Or at least that has seemed to be the case.

In this case, over the four days between shooting down that ship and getting attacked, my radar did not ever detect any alien craft.

[Meridian]

No, I mean I stop shooting down all UFOs, not just retaliation scouts.

If you don't shoot down normal UFOs, retaliation won't start until October 1999 (on Superhuman).

[The Reaver of Darkness]

No, I mean I stop shooting down all UFOs, not just retaliation scouts.

I meant if I've been shooting everything down and I suddenly stop, the aliens almost invariably have a big event in which over a dozen ships spawn in an area over less than a week, and there's about 2 chances out of 3 my base gets hit within the month. But if I continue shooting down everything I can get my hands on (usually 30-40% of craft at most, if I don't have Firestorms yet), I generally don't get my base attacked much at all. I might get one base attack by the end of the year.

I don't think I could stand to play without shooting down alien craft. I'm a sucker for justice. I don't give the aliens the slightest rest from my onslaught. I like to keep the fire lit underneath them. Only time I stop running ground missions is when my soldiers need to rest or retire and I need to wait for new tech to keep my casualties within acceptable limits.

[Countdown]

No, I mean I stop shooting down all UFOs, not just retaliation scouts.

If you don't shoot down normal UFOs, retaliation won't start until October 1999 (on Superhuman).

This doesn't cause issues with the scoring (aliens scoring too many points for completing missions) and funding and/or infiltration from the countries where you aren't shooting down the UFOs?

[7Saturn]

Should not, if you still have ground missions with landed UFOs. The collection of items (e. g. the Elerium) and the kills should give you enough points. Only thing I really recommend to shoot down, are terror ships on terror missions. And one trick on top of that: If you don't research unrequired items (like alien food or Plasma rifle, if you prefer using heavy plasma anyways), then you will have additional points for collecting alien artefacts, most of the time. As much as this game is repetetive at it's core, you still have plenty of means to vary your game play.

[hellrazor]

Well shooting down UFO's has some significant disadvanteges, first you will get less loot and mostly no Elerium. Second you will get retaliation missions.
Even thou i always keep at least one Interceptor around i usually tend to get a second Skyranger and man it with a second combat team asap.

Spreading some Radar bases, is not that expensive and usually they will pay their bills.

[Meridian]

This doesn't cause issues with the scoring (aliens scoring too many points for completing missions) and funding and/or infiltration from the countries where you aren't shooting down the UFOs?

UFOs don't get points for "completing missions", mostly.
They get points for the time they are flying around and for time they are landed (2x as much).
Score from landed UFO recovery will easily outweigh a minor score loss due to UFOs flying for a little while longer.

Also, you cannot stop infiltration mission (or retaliation mission) by shooting down UFOs.
They will eventually come to finish the job, always!
Only thing you can stop is terror mission by shooting down the final terror craft.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

Also, you cannot stop infiltration mission (or retaliation mission) by shooting down UFOs.

Well, you can shoot down the final battleship, but it comes in at 5000 and makes a beeline for your base. Easiest way to shoot it down is with 2+ avengers using plasma beams, but it's really just easier to install defenses.

[7Saturn]

Isn't it right, that then it will come over and over again? I darkly remember a discussion here, about that topic. In vanilla the simply went on and on, until they finally break through whatever types of defenses you use. Only after landing at your base this stopped.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

Isn't it right, that then it will come over and over again? I darkly remember a discussion here, about that topic. In vanilla the simply went on and on, until they finally break through whatever types of defenses you use. Only after landing at your base this stopped.

After the defenses shoot them down, it resets the retaliation mission and they have to find your base again. In practice I found the time it took them to come back was highly dependent on the stage of the game and number of alien missions around the globe (regardless of how many I was pursuing), so it probably means they give up after the battleship goes down to your defenses. It's likely the same if your craft shoots it down.

[Meridian]

After the defenses shoot them down, it resets the retaliation mission and they have to find your base again. In practice I found the time it took them to come back was highly dependent on the stage of the game and number of alien missions around the globe (regardless of how many I was pursuing), so it probably means they give up after the battleship goes down to your defenses. It's likely the same if your craft shoots it down.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO !

THEY KEEP COMING FOREVER!

Please... for the love of god... this has been discussed a bazillion times already.

Attached a vanilla save with a proof. Just fast-forward time and watch the show.

[Countdown]

UFOs don't get points for "completing missions", mostly.
They get points for the time they are flying around and for time they are landed (2x as much).
Score from landed UFO recovery will easily outweigh a minor score loss due to UFOs flying for a little while longer.

Thanks for the explanation, I guess I didn't fully understand how they got points.