Thanks for the tremendous response for XCOM:USG and XCOM2:USG! I've
received feedback all over the world and I thank you all. This is the
second rev of the XCOM2:USG. Undoubtably lots of things are missing
despite plenty of feedback since the first version, but with your help
details will be filled...
Many of you may have read my bad preview of XCOM2. XCOM2 is a nice
game, but I cannot realistically call it a good simulation of
underwater combat. My rating for it is 4.5 out of 5... But it is STILL
a must-buy. :-) And it is HARD!
This version has a new chapter organization scheme since the original,
based on XCOM: Official Strategy Guide, has simply too much stuff
under combat and not much about other things. Thanks to Jeff James,
since I borrowed his chapter scheme (slightly modified) from his
upcoming "TFTD: Totally Unauthorized Guide"! :-) It's from ////Brady
Books, and should appear some time in June, along with the Official
Strategy Guide by Dave Ellis of MicroProse, from Prima Books. If you
want to know more about these books, they are listed in Appendix C.
Jeff's probably have a few sections that I don't have, like detailed
maps of every thing which are too big to include here (like the
complete maps of three levels of T'Leth...) So don't think that this
guide is every thing there is to know about TFTD!
I am still taking your suggestions for XCOM3. I have indirect contact
with Mr.Gollop and I can REALLY pass on your suggestions, no kidding.
I already have most of the common ones like robot units, construction
kits for weapons and tanks, and so on, reorder troops, fix the 80-item
limit, etc. etc. Think of some UNIQUE ones and send them to me!
XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
0.2 Credits where credits are due
Thanks to MicroProse and Mythos Games for bringing us such a nice
game... I can't wait to see XCOM3!
Thanks to all the people who have contributed to the previous edition
of XCOM2:USG, which includes but is not limited to: Donny Chan, LT;
Robert Bellflower, xenologist; "FractalLaw", Researcher; Kenneth Tan
(Automan), CMDR; and many others.
Thanks to all the people who have contributed to previous editions of
the XCOM:USG, whom include but are not limited to: William Kang, CMDR;
Tim Chown, CMDR; Doug Osborne, SG; Stuart Lamble, SG; Seth Cohn, SG;
Bill Soo, SG; Jeff Shaffer, Economist; Rob Eiben, SG; Jim Muchow, SG;
Menachem Pasteich, architect; Paul Close, publicist and simulation
expert; JGrif36366, Researcher, and fellow XCOM players all over the
world discussing the game on USENET, America On-line and elsewhere.
Lots of thanks goes to Jeff James (CGW columnist), who shared his
knowledge of the game (and the chapter scheme!) with me and provided a
lot of exclusive information (non-MicroProse), including the Julian
Gollop interview. We honor you as XCOM Admiral. :-)
0.3 Notes on the USG
XCOM: UFO Defense and XCOM2: Terror From the Deep are trademarks of
MicroProse software.
This document's organization is mostly based on Jeff James's book,
_Terror From the Deep : Totally Unauthorized Guide_, and is used with
permission.
This document is available FREE of charge. You are under NO
obligation to send me ANY compensation. However, since I collect
stamps, feel free to mail me a nice postcard of your region, country,
state, etc., preferably with a nice stamp too. :-) This is sometimes
called "postcardware", as opposed to shareware. :-D And I wouldn't
mind if you throw in some dollar bills or a check... ;-)
All readers, PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing
remark... If you find an question about the game that is not covered
in the USG, e-mail it to me. I'll try to answer it and include it in
the next update.
The USG should be available at the Game Domain WWW
Also check out the Alasdair Allan's Un-official XCOM/UFO Homepage
http://www-star.st-and.ac.uk/~aa1/XCOM/xcom.html
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XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
Any quick updates can be found on my own homepage
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kschang
Which is up "most of the time". If it cannot be found, try at a
different time of the day...
If you are on America On-Line, look in the PC Games Forum (keyword:
PCGAMES). Go into the file library, and search under XCOM or XCOM2.
If you REALLY can't find it, don't have FTP or WWW, not on AOL, can't
read news, etc., (i.e. there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you can get to it)
(how did you know about this in the first place? ) then send me e-mail
(see below) and I'll try to get back to you.
Please don't just mail me and ask "it's nice and do you have an update
and if so please send it to me". If I have an update I can release I
would have released it already.
I maintain this at home on my PC and I only have a UNIX shell account
which this won't fit with other stuff I need. So don't expect too fast
of an answer if you request this by e-mail.
0.4 The author
I? I am just a game player who didn't like the existing FAQ's and
strategy tactics collection available out there, and decided to write
my own. Lots of people like what I did, so I kept doing it.
You can contact me at:
Internet1 kschang@sfsu.edu (preferred)
WWW Homepage http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kschang
Internet2 ksc1@aol.com (only if you must, see below)
America On-Line Ksc1 (that's a "one", not "ell")
US Mail Kasey Chang, 2220 Turk Blvd. Apt. 6
San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
If you contact me via Internet e-mail I usually reply within two
working days. Please use the preferred e-mail address if possible, not
BOTH. I only sign onto America On-Line (second address) twice a week
so you won't get a prompt reply if you contact me there.
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XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................1
0.1 Introduction ...................................................1
0.2 Credits where credits are due ..................................2
0.3 Notes on the USG ...............................................2
0.4 The author .....................................................3
1.0 WHAT IS XCOM AND OTHER THINGS................................... 5
1.1 So what is XCOM2: Terror From the Deep? ........................6
1.2 What do I need to run XCOM2:TFTD? ..............................7
1.3 What's the difference between XCOM1 and XCOM2? .................9
1.4 Gameplay bugs/gripes ...........................................9
1.5 Future of XCOM, and related things ............................10
1.6 Where can I find XCOM related stuff? ..........................11
2.0 BASES AND GEOSCAPE..............................................11
2.1 Bases .........................................................12
2.2 Sub Intercepts ................................................16
2.3 Finding Alien Colonies ........................................16
2.4 GeoScape Tricks and Tips ......................................16
2.5 How do I win? How do I lose? ..................................17
2.6 How is scoring calculated? ....................................18
3.0 INTERCEPTING USOS...............................................18
3.1 Tracking USOs .................................................18
3.2 Target Selection ..............................................18
3.3 USO Attack methods ............................................20
3.4 Weapons .......................................................21
3.5 Go Home Early .................................................21
3.6 Keep Landed USOs covered ......................................21
3.7 Weapon vs subs analysis .......................................21
4.0 FINANCE.........................................................22
4.1 What really eats up money at XCOM? ............................22
4.2 How do I earn more money? .....................................22
4.3 How do I cut expenses? ........................................22
4.4 What do I manufacture to make more money? .....................23
4.5 The "Transfer Salary Savings" trick ...........................24
4.6 Aliens signed pact with XXX! ..................................25
5.0 RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING......................................25
5.1 What should I start researching first? ........................25
5.2 Overall strategy ..............................................25
5.3 Research Tree [probably incomplete] ...........................26
5.4 Any hints on manufacturing? ...................................28
6.0 THE ALIENS......................................................28
6.1 Average Alien Stats on easiest level ..........................28
6.2 Alien attack/defense summary ..................................29
6.3 Alien specialties .............................................30
6.4 Alien Missions ................................................30
6.5 Battle Notes on individual aliens .............................30
7.0 SOLDIERS, EQUIPMENT, AND LIMITS.................................31
7.1 Soldiers ......................................................31
7.2 Packing Advice ................................................33
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8.3 Specific Weapon Notes..........................................35
9.0 MOLECULAR CONTROL COMBAT........................................38
9.1 Offensive tips:................................................38
9.2 Defensive tips:................................................38
10.0 GROUND ASSAULTS................................................39
10.1 General Combat Notes..........................................39
10.2 Capturing Aliens..............................................39
10.3 General Combat Tactics........................................41
10.4 Movement .....................................................43
11.0 SPECIFIC MISSION TACTICS.......................................46
11.1 USO Recoveries and Assaults...................................46
11.2 Colony assaults...............................................47
11.4 Anti-Terror Mission in general................................48
11.5 XCOM Base Defense.............................................49
11.5 Mastering T'leth--The Final Assault...........................49
12.0 MISC QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS...............................50
Equipment..........................................................50
Movement...........................................................51
Molecular Control Combat...........................................52
Soliders...........................................................53
Miscellaneous......................................................53
How do I use.......................................................54
APPENDIX A: SOME TROUBLESHOOTING....................................55
APPENDIX B: TABLES..................................................55
Base modules.......................................................55
XCOM Crafts........................................................56
Craft Weapons......................................................57
XCOM Ground Weapons................................................57
SWS Types..........................................................58
Armor..............................................................58
Equipment list.....................................................59
Stuff that can be bought, hire, or leased .........................59
Stuff that must be researched and manufacturered...................60
USO speed, range, etc..............................................61
USO floorplans.....................................................62
APPENDIX C: TFTD BOOKS..............................................62
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XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
1.0 WHAT IS XCOM AND OTHER THINGS...
1.1 So what is XCOM2: Terror From the Deep?
1.1.1 What is the "background" of XCOM2: TFTD?
XCOM had defeated the alien invasion which threatened Earth about year
2000. Their base at Cydonia, Mars was destroyed. But not all of it...
Deep in the ruins of the Cydonia base, a tachyon beam came to life,
sending out a signal... To Earth.
Deep in the oceans, machinery buried for millenia came back to life,
unseen by human eyes...
[cut to]
It is the year 2040. New aliens in flying subs (unidentified swimming
objects, or USOs) have appeared all over the world, often attacking
ships and terrorizing coastal cities. Only one force stand in their
way: the XCOM Underwater Experimental Facility.
Again, you are in overall command of XCOM. You will launch and control
fighter subs to attack marauding alien flying subs, send aquanauts to
attack crashed or landed subs, raid alien colonies and other targets
on Earth (if you can find them), keep the sponsor alliances happy and
USOs out of their territories, buy the ammo and weapons you need in
the war, research and build better weapons as your aquanauts bring in
captured alien artifacts for analysis and eventually manufacture our
own copies, pay for everything by contributions from sponsor alliances
and selling stuff, and eventually figure out the alien threat's origin
and end the threat once and for all.
If you say "this sounds just like XCOM", you're absolutely right.
1.1.2 How does XCOM2 play?
In three words, "just like XCOM". If you've never played XCOM, here's
a description:
The game is divided into two main segments: GeoScape and BattleScape.
GeoScape is a 3-D view of the globe, rotate-able and zoom-able. This
is where you control your various bases around the world (with
sonars), your fighter and transport subs (carrying your aquanauts),
your inventory at each base, the subs and alien bases/targets
currently in sight, and so on. Once ground contact is made (transport
landed next to subs, you attack alien base, aliens attack your base,
etc. ), the game switches to Battlescape.
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Battlescape is an isometric tile-based 3-D combat with viewpoint
similar to SimCity 2000 and Syndicate but lower resolution. The combat
is turn-based with opportunity fire on the opponent's round (provided
you have enough TimeUnits [TUs] and reaction), with plenty of
different weapons and terrains. Everything is mouse-driven so game is
very easy to learn yet hard to master.
1.1.3 If I have XCOM, should I buy this game?
Yes! If you think XCOM is easy, you'll get CREAMED in this game! (At
least early on) Graphics are somewhat better, though some people
complained of clashing colors. There's more use of shading and
lighting effects, sound is better too, with more soundcards supported.
Even though the physics are goofy, it's still a great game.
1.2 What do I need to run XCOM2:TFTD?
1.2.1 What type of PC do I need?
You need a 386 or better, minimum of 4 MB RAM, VGA, Mouse, MS/PC-DOS
5.0 or higher. A 286 won't work since XCOM uses a 386 DOS extender.
An SX will work though.
If you have the bare minimum, 4 megs, do NOT use any SMARTDRV. It eats
up a lot of extended memory, and may not leave enough for XCOM. If you
see the green text bug, take out SMARTDRV.
Despite the box says SVGA, the game uses only VGA. This is a goof-up
on the part of MicroProse. And caused quite an uproar (charges of
"false advertising", etc. *sigh*)
It comes on four (4) 3.5" HD disks, and needs about 15MB of hard drive
space to install, more if using disk compression software such as
Stacker or DoubleSpace.
There is a CD version takes up only about 4 megs of hard drive space.
1.2.2 What's the difference between disk and CD version?
CD version has a much longer animated beginning and ending. Instead of
slideshows you get full animations.
You need a double-speed CD-ROM drive (minimum throughput of 280K/sec)
in order to see the animated beginning and ending, or you'll see the
slide-show instead. See the README.TXT file for details.
You CAN install the CD version onto the hard drive if you have enough
space. Run the INSTALL in the \HARDDISK directory.
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1.2.3 What sound cards are supported?
All major soundcards including Gravis Ultrasound are supported.
Gravis owners must have FULL set of patches available on HD. If you
don't you WILL have sound problems.
Be warned that some "Soundblaster compatible" soundcards may not be
really 100% compatible.
1.2.4 Any incompatibility problems?
The game may run under Windows but I have no information on the PIF
settings, sorry. Someone reported that default settings seem to work.
Some people has reported that XCOM2 will run under Windows 95's final
beta, I have no further details.
No compatibility claims was made to any other versions of DOS such as
DR DOS, Novell DOS 7, or even OS/2. I have no information on OS/2
settings. If you have it, please send it to me for future updates.
Some have reported problems running with ANY EMM manager such as
EMM386, QEMM, 386MAX, Netroom, etc. See APPENDIX A: Some
Troubleshooting.
I personally have ran XCOM2 under QEMM 7.04 and 7.5 with no problems,
but I have 16 megs of RAM. Your mileage may vary.
1.2.5 Where can I find a demo?
There is a playable demo available on most on-line services such as
America On-Line in the MicroProse forum /SIG/ roundtable/ whatever.
For Internet access, try ftp.microprose.com. They just put in T-1
access and both ftp.microprose.com and http://www.microprose.com
should be easy to get in now.
1.2.6 What about any bugs? Any patches?
Some freeze-ups and occasional "blue text bug" has been reported,
though not as pervasive as XCOM1. Some situation can be caused by
"hacking" of data files, so keep a backup!
If you PERIODICALLY experience blue text bug, disable EMS and optimize
your memory again. Also try decreasing your SMARTDRV settings. You are
short on either conventional or extended memory.
See APPENDIX A: Some Troubleshooting for more help.
One player have reported funding problems, larger than expected
expenses. The problem is so far unconfirmed.
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No patch has been officially announced though sources close to MPS
indicate that a patch to fix a problem with SB16 and the wavetable
daughtercards is in final testing.
1.3 What's the difference between XCOM1 and XCOM2?
Quite a few, though most are cosmetic
- Most battles are underwater -- And it LOOKS underwater too!
Shots trail bubbles. Aquanauts "leaks" air bubbles, etc.
Unfortunately there are no fish, currents, etc.
- More terror sites -- Instead of cities, you now handle
terror sites at ports, resort islands, cargo ships, and cruise
ships.
- More two-stage missions -- Terror sites are now sometimes
two stage missions. So are the alien colony attacks and
artifact site attacks. If you attack UFOs, you may discover
an alien colony nearby. Also see 1.4, gripes about XCOM2.
- Your weapons are punier -- Your guns and rifles carry
smaller magazines, and are really puny at first. Better
research some better weapons fast...
- Zrbite is more plentiful -- It's easier to find more Zrbite
in TFTD than Elerium in XCOM.
- Terrain has more corners and cubbyholes -- Which also makes
game harder since aliens have more places to hide
- Aliens are smarter! -- They use grenades and disruptor
torpedoes (i.e. blaster bombs) more effectively now.
- Research is different -- Research tree is really weird
now... Research lots of dead bodies and live aliens for
advances.
- Each transport can only attack ONE ground target (!) -- In
XCOM I was able to attack multiple ground targets using the
same team. NO LONGER!
1.4 Gameplay bugs/gripes
1.4.1 GRIPE: It doesn't FEEL underwater
Ever tried throwing ANYTHING underwater? Try tossing a grenade
underwater in XCOM2.
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1.4.2 BUG: Two-stage missions item losses
In two-stage missions, all aliens stunned from the first part are
counted as DEAD. All items not carried on the soldiers are NOT
available in the second part.
This is a bug since 1) it was not like this in XCOM1, at Cydonia's
pyramids. 2) the mission screen says that those items should be
available.
1.4.3 BUG: Underwater Only weapons reaction fire on land
HydroJet Cannon can only be fired underwater, but when on land, a
soldier can reaction fire it...
1.5 Future of XCOM, and related things
1.5.1 Any plans on sequels? Mission disks?
XCOM3 is in the works... See CGW's exclusive interview with Julian
Gollop, head of Mythos games, designer of XCOM. (http://www.ziff.com,
look under Computer Gaming World, April 95 issue) Project release date
is sometime in 1996. It will feature SVGA graphics and a more detailed
physical model.
No mission disk for XCOM 1 or 2 are currently planned.
1.5.2 Other computers?
There is current NO PLAN on porting XCOM2 to other computers. If you
want to see a native version, tell MicroProse. You can try
MicroProse@compuserve.com.
If there is one, it'll probably be for the Amiga. There IS an XCOM (or
UFO, its European name) for Amiga.
1.5.3 How about XCOM fiction? Can I write my own?
Here's the REVISED official word from MicroProse
------
If you are interested in writing fictional stories for X-
COM, please write a letter which includes a clear outline
and proposal for our marketing and public relations staff.
[see address below]
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XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
Understand that we have an in-house writer (John
Possidente), so you may want to see what track our stories
have taken by looking at our WWW page, at
http://www.microprose.com
[Editor's note: you can also find the stories at the UN-
official XCOM Homepage. ]
Although we do our own stories, that is no reason you could
not submit a story to us.
Please include a rough outline of your story ideas, and your
intent for distribution (free, on web page, for money, etc.)
Tim Patterson, MicroProse Software
MicroProse@CompuServe.com
------
[Sorry, Tim, for quoting you out of context last time! ]
1.6 Where can I find XCOM related stuff?
The MicroProse Homepage is at
http://www.microprose.com
This contains patches, updates, drivers, stories, and more. The ftp
archive site is
ftp.microprose.com
The UN-official XCOM Homepage is at
http://www-star.st-and.ac.uk/~aa1/XCOM/xcom.html
It is maintained by Alasdair Allan (aa1@st-and.ac.uk)
2.0 BASES AND GEOSCAPE
The GeoScape screen is where you will control the interceptions and
provides access to the BattleScape and the base controls. But since
you must establish a base first, let us talk about that first.
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2.1 Bases
2.1.1 Where should I put my first base? Later?
There are several things to consider while placing your first base.
Keep in mind that your first base will be your only base for a while,
so make sure you place it where you get maximum coverage of the
sponsors, who also pays the most.
The problem is how to maximize the country coverage WHILE maximizing
the covered countries' total payment. We know that the US pays the
most (always), so a base near US is usually a good idea. Something in
the Gulf of Mexico further out is good.
2.1.2 How should I name my bases?
I personally name bases based on the ocean they are in, plus the COM
suffix (stands for Command). Ex: PacCom (Pacific), AtlanCom
(Atlantic), IndCom (Indian), etc. If there are more than one, one gets
No (North), So (South), etc. prefixes.
Naming bases is important because it means less confusion on the
Intercept screen on choosing which base to launch the fighters and
transports. Launching from the wrong one means the craft will not get
there in time, run out of fuel before getting there (never get there
since it will come back first), etc. This is important since XCOM2
crafts seems to have shorter ranges than XCOM1.
2.1.3 What should I add to my base at first? Later?
Initial modifications you need for the main base are: alien
containment (prisoners), general stores (ammo and captured artifacts),
and long range sonar (detection). Later, with more money, add labs,
llving quarters, workshops, and defense, in approximately that order.
Defenses comes last usually since you can defend with aquanauts and
SWSs. Of course, don't clog up the 80-items list.
If you have lots of money and the necesary techs to build a craft, try
to keep an sub pen available,
2.1.4 What types of bases should I build?
I use about 5 types of bases. You can "grow" from one to another, but
usually finances will limit your growth...
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2.1.4.1 Sonar base
The sonar base just have sonars, and later, Transmission Resolvers.
Remember to put in a storage space (for SWSs and their ammo) and a
living quarter (for expansion and a few aquanauts as guards). Stock it
with a SWS and a few aquanauts for defense, add one defense station
when you can afford it.
Each sonar has a 10 percent chance of detecting an subs within its
detection radius (just like the UFOpedia says), so you don't need both
regular and wide sonars, just wide will do (unless you run out of
money! ). Five sonars means 50% chance of detection, etc.
I suspect that Transmission Resolver detects 100% of alien traffic in
the effective range, but cannot confirm it.
2.1.4.2 Intercept Base
Intercept Base is a Sonar base with a hangar housing a fighter sub.
Watch the storage space since fighter subs needs its own weapons and
ammo. Add one if needed.
Consider adding defense now (or assign more guards and SWS) since
aliens may get mad seeing their USOs getting destroyed in your area.
2.1.4.3 Strike Base
Strike Base is an Intercept Base with a second hangar housing a
transport. Remember to add storage (weapons and ammo, plus loot) and
alien containment (prisoners) when needed.
Consider adding more defense, esp. when the aliens will get really
mad as you attack more of their USOs and/or bases in the area.
2.1.4.4 Research/Manufacture Base
A base should specialize in either research or manufacture, not both
(doing so is putting too many eggs in one basket). Add living quarters
and either workshop or laboratory as needed. Manufacture base needs
more storage space or an empty hangar (if building crafts) so make
sure you have enough or use TRANSFER a lot.
You shouldn't have to build a lot of defenses here, esp. if you build
the next variant.
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2.1.4.5 Special Research/Manufacture Base
USOs will start looking for your base if their brethrens keeps getting
attacked and destroyed in the area. This suggest that if you build a
base at North or South pole, only stock it with soldiers and needed
equipment (no crafts or sonars, or maybe a hyperwave decoder), and
wait until USOs enter a different zone before attacking them, you can
keep a base pretty safe.
Many people have employed this tactic and it seems to work quite well.
This is also great for MC labs.
2.1.5 How do I design a easy to defend base?
It appears I have exaggerated the alien base attack. MPS appear to
have gave aliens an extra turn to deploy before allowing your soldiers
to move. So you will find aliens in modules adjacent to the airlock
and the hangars. The following base building hints are still valid.
XXXXXX This base has only ONE access point: by the lift.
X.XXXX Any other way (such as through the hangar) actually
X.XXXX takes LONGER. And the long corridor spanning FOUR
A..... sections makes EXCELLENT choke points and impromptu
HHHHHH minefields with proximity grenades are great for
HHHHHH defense in this kind of situations. If you don't
need three hangars, you can trade the right one for
four more structures down the right side.
Basically, put the access lift off to one side of
the map and try to isolate that and hangars from the
XXXXXX rest of the base.
X.XXXX
X.XXXX There is one catch: sometimes, there's a bug in
A...XX the game that eliminates some doors that leads you
HHHH.X to the rest of the base. Without rockets and
HHHH.X blaster bombs to "dig", you can't kill the aliens in
the other section and thus cannot finish the battle
at all.
2.1.6 How should I defend a base?
Defending a base against alien raids is tough. Fortunately, unless you
are doing terribly well, aliens usually don't bother your bases for a
while. But near the end, alien battleships and dreadnaughts will come
after your bases, then you have a problem...
To defend against that, you need a high defense rating. I don't know
how much is enough yet, but I would suspect about 3000, which is what
I recommended for XCOM1.
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On the other hand, if you don't have fighter subs to fight large USOs,
you may want to let it land and take it out on the ground (i.e. at
your base). Remember you will see A LOT of aliens on a base raid, I
hope you have a lot of USABLE equipment (i.e. GOOD stuff in the first
80 items)...
Small USOs usually scout ahead of the large USOs that will actually
raid your base. If you can destroy the scout before it detects your
base, you can prevent the base attack. M.C. Generator will also
decrease chances of detection.
Always clean out old inventory! Old inventory will prevent you from
getting to the GOOD weapons since you are still limited to 80 items
during base defense, and base have lots of stuff...
The 80 items used in defense are pulled from inventory in the order on
the SELL screen, top to bottom. So if you have lots of harpoon rifles
and pods you'll never got to sonics and disruptors.
Inventory in transports now are available for base defense. This is
DIFFERENT from XCOM, in which your transports are yet a separate place
of storage.
Particle Displacement Grenades are vital in base defenses. Dump a few
near entrances and doors, and get ready for the alien death screams.
Of course, aliens are now tougher... (Remember that it's now almost
impossible to get rid of particle displacement grenades once you've
thrown them, see the grenades section, 8.3.5 Grenades and Magna-Pack
Explosive)
2.1.7 Base Management
Since it takes several weeks before additional modules to the base can
be brought online, you need to build them ahead of time. See the base
status often to see how full are your facilities getting. If they are
getting close, start building additional facilities so that they'll be
ready by the time you need them.
Examine base status at least twice every month, check living quarters,
workshops and labs, etc, and determine your expansion schedule. See
above. Dismantle extra stuff before end of month so you don't pay
maintainence on them.
Hire engineers and scientists at the last hour of the month so that
they get delivered early NEXT month, so you get maximum research from
them while not paying an extra penny in salary.
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2.2 Sub Intercepts
If you send multiple crafts after one subs and the subs gets shot down
or destroyed, the shooter will go home, but other crafts will continue
onto the crash site, THEN return to their base. So make them return
to base manually. They will return faster, and thus be refueled/
rearmed/ repaired for next sortie faster. Click on its icon on
GeoScape and select "return to base".
If an USO has landed/bottomed, keep a fighter sub on top of it. That
way, if it takes off before your transport get there, you still have a
chance of taking it down.
Intercepted targets will not go away. You can keep a terror site
"open" by keeping it targetted by a craft continuously.
Since the best weapons have a chance of blowing a smaller USO totally
to pieces, you may want to keep one fighter armed weaker than the rest
for intercepting smaller USOs. (Assuming that you even WANT to go
after small USOs)
2.3 Finding Alien Colonies
XCOM agents have a chance of finding an alien colony for you, but
chances are pretty slim. So do not rely on that. Usually the game will
reveal an alien colony only if you did VERY VERY BAD that month.
Watch for high alien activity (check the graphs) yet no interception:
there's probably an alien colony in the area. Note: alien colonies can
be VERY CLOSE to each other, which should be a bug.
Send something slow like a Triton to patrol the area. An empty Triton
has pretty good range and therefore is good in spotting alien bases.
Watch USOs, esp. where they land. Trail it and follow it to their
base. After it lands, patrol nearby and you should see the alien
colony. If there are multiple subs landing of appearing at the same
locations, there is probably a base nearby.
Transmission Resolvers can find USOs on supply runs. Follow that will
usually lead you to a base.
Of course, you do NOT have to take out that colony... You go after the
supply subs instead. Just be careful... Some USOs have firing ports!
One Disruptor pulse and...
2.4 GeoScape Tricks and Tips
Many people don't realize that click on the USO's icon will bring up
all known info about the USO, even crashed ones. If you detected it
via Transmission Resolver, you'll know A LOT about it.
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USO crash sites usually disappear in a few days. If you have no
soldiers available, you can let it sit for a day or two.
Landed subs will take off in a few hours (less than a day).
Terror Sites disappear in less than a day (which mean you have to get
to one ASAP, even if it means skipping subs and landing at night! )
You can keep terror sites on the map if you can keep it targetted by a
craft, any craft. If you have several Tritons, you can probably keep
it targetted almost indefinitely, and it will not disappear!
There appears to be a bug that if you went into a non-terror battle
while the terror site is on the map, when you come back from battle
the terror site will have disappeared. This is unconfirmed.
This is even more important now that your transport subs cannot go on
more than one mission at a time. After a Battlescape mission, they
MUST return to base.
Check your graphs regularly to determine where to build your next
base. Watch for high-paying sponsors with high alien activity, then
check how much did they pay you via the Funding screen and see if they
are worth defending.
Areas with high alien activity activity probably have an alien colony.
2.5 How do I win? How do I lose?
You win by finding the sources of the alien threat and "deal with it"
once and for all... For some ideas... See H. P. Lovecraft's works.
You can lose by several ways (unconfirmed, guesstimated from XCOM):
1) You were in debt for over $1,000,000 for two months. Your
sponsors had had enough of your mismanagement and terminated the
XCOM project. Earth was conquered by aliens not long after.
2) You had two consecutive "badly losing" months (big negative
score), and your sponsors had had enough and terminated XCOM
project. Just how bad is a "badly losing" month depends on your
score and difficulty level
3) You lost all of your bases to the aliens.
4) You lost a certain number of sponsor to alien infiltration.
(not sure of exact number, maybe all? All but one? Two?)
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2.6 How is scoring calculated?
Like XCOM, score is kept for both sides. You get positive score for
conducting successful research, capturing and/or killing aliens,
grounding and/or destroying USOs, destroying alien bases, grabbing
alien equipment, and more. You get negative score for losing XCOM
aquanauts, crafts, SWS, and civilians.
Aliens score points by overflying your sponsors, lands in the oceans
(for whatever sinister purpose that they may have), conduct terror
raids and hoping that you ignore it (so NEVER do so since this REALLY
scores big for them! ), sign pact with funding alliances (which means
those countries don't pay you any longer! )
Your net score is (your_score - alien_score), which is the score you
see on the monthly performance report (and the graph). The funding
changes are affected by your total score.
3.0 INTERCEPTING USOS
Don't forget to check section 4 for info on XCOM crafts. Some of these
hints and related hints are also listed in Section 2.
3.1 Tracking USOs
Remember that USOs have specific targets and they do NOT change
missions in mid-air. They also head STRAIGHT for their targets on the
inbound leg. If you see an USO and lost tracking, try to extrapolate
its course and send interceptors to their estimated NEXT location
instead of going toward the last known location.
Interestingly, they sometimes abort their mission (just leave), esp.
in cases where they can't find your base to attack. If you have
Transmission Resolver, you can see USO's destination directly as it
comes into range.
3.2 Target Selection
If several targets presents itself, which one should you attack? Here
are some of my general guidelines:
3.2.1 USOs in flight
Attack the biggest subs you can handle.
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Launch from the closest base FROM USO'S INTENDED TARGET if it is known
or can be deduced from its path. Launching from the closest base at
the time of contact will result in a tail chase, resulting frequently
in lost tracking and waste of fuel and time.
If the landing site is on the dark side (i.e. night), you may want to
patrol nearby and wait for light. Of course, in the meanwhile the
landed USO may take off again.
Keep a fighter sub on top of a landed USO in case it takes off before
your transport sub can get to it.
3.2.2 Downed/Landed USOs
Attack the biggest USO you can handle. (How many times did I say
that?)
Larger subs have more aliens and more artifacts to recover, so risk
and reward are proportional.
If you have a choice, attack a landed USO instead of a shot-down USO.
Landed subs are undamaged and therefore have more artifacts (plus
Zrbite). Of course, it also has more enemies.
Some veterans have reported that they can finish game faster by
attacking landed subs only. While score may not be as spectacular,
they also have less risk of retaliation and can get more research done
and have more money (from the extra booty). Of course, land combat is
significantly harder...
Don't follow an USOs around with a loaded transport (with soldiers and
equipment). They are wasting fuel and time and they may not have
enough endurance to finish the race and not able to respond to a
different emergency (such as a terror site suddenly popping up
elsewhere)
This is ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT since transports now can go on ONLY ONE
MISSION at a time, even though it has plenty of fuel remaining. It
MUST return to base after mission.
3.2.3 Terror sites
Attack one ASAP, no exceptions. Divert from other subs or base attacks
if necesary, and definitely attack at night. The penalty for ignoring
a terror site is simply too large to ignore, and can cause loss of
sponsors.
Some terror sites are now "long missions" (two-parter), so take along
LOTS of reloads... Or grab every alien ammo you can. (One more reason
to research fast and furious)
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A terror site will NOT disappear if you have a ship enroute to it.
I've been told by reliable source (Jeff, that is) that he was able to
keep a terror site on the map for three days until he got bored by
keep targetting it with Tritons. :-)
3.2.4 Alien colonies
Depending on your soldiers, you should attack an alien colony as soon
as you are able to (don't take rookies) or people have low MC ability
or bravery.
You may want to consider leaving an alien colony alone nearby so you
can keep attacking the supply subs that drops by. Just make sure you
can handle the alien retaliation.
On the other hand... Aliens build colonies like CRAZY in XCOM2. They
build MORE THAN ONE PER MONTH, almost geometric growth! You have to
take out a few or else... (I've got a saved game where there's OVER
TWENTY alien colonies on the map, and I kill at least two a month...)
Alien colonies are A LOT TOUGHER in XCOM2. It's a "two-parter",
meaning you have to fight your way INTO the base, then fight to
destroy the heart of the base. You'll see LOTS of enemies, including
the really deadly ones. Take no mercy... No stun weapons, at least in
first half.
See 11.2 Colony assaults for more information.
3.3 USO Attack methods
Once you got a fighter sub in range of the USO, it's time to attack.
Here's what different attacks mean:
Cautious Attack: causes least damage per attack but remains at the
longest range and therefore has the least chance of getting counter-
attacked.
Cautious attack is useful when you want a not too badly damaged USO
(just enough to "sink" it).
Normal Attack: average damage per attack, enough for most attacks if
your weapon outranges the USOs.
Normal attack is useful as a general purpose attack.
Aggressive Attack: close to point-blank and let them have it in the
face! Causes the most damage per attack, but exposes craft to counter-
fire.
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Aggressive attack is good for brave/suicidal charges (toward an alien
battleship or dreadnaught, for instance). You want maximum amount of
damage done in the short time the fighter sub may live under fire, so
aggressive it is.
3.4 Weapons
Replace Ajax and Gas Cannon with D.U.P. launchers ASAP. Gauss cannons
are okay but I would go for Sonic Oscillators (equivalent to Plasma
Cannon in XCOM, though far less accurate)
I would not really recommend PWT launchers, since, like Fusion Ball
Launchers of XCOM, they don't cause enough "total" damage.
3.5 Go Home Early
When you send multiple crafts after one subs and the subs gets shot
down, the shooter will go home, but other crafts will continue onto
the crash site and THEN return. Instead, click on them and turn them
back early (Return to base). They will return earlier, thus be
refueled and rearmed faster for the next mission.
3.6 Keep Landed USOs covered
Even if subs has landed, keep a fighter sub on top of it until your
landing craft arrives for the action. That way, if the USO takes off,
you still have a chance to shoot it down.
3.7 Weapon vs subs analysis
Before attacking, click on the VIEW subs button to take a look at your
target before deciding whether to attack or not. Attacking with wrong
weapons means either the loss of your fighter sub or the USO totally
destroyed so that nothing can be recovered.
For this reason, if you WANT to go after the smaller USOs, keep a
fighter around with "wimpy" weapons.
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4.0 FINANCE
4.1 What really eats up money at XCOM?
The answer is: maintenence, and salary. If you have 100 scientists,
their monthly salary is $3 million (!). Add that to your bases (the
BARE MINIMUM sonar base costs over $1 million a month to maintain!),
and you will go broke pretty quick. Sponsors' money will barely make a
dent in your expenses, as they only pay you a few million, probably
not even enough for base maintainence.
Remember that expenses are deducted all at the end of the month. So
if you don't have enough money in the bank for monthly maintainence,
you will end the month with a NEGATIVE balance, and two months like
that will result in your DISMISSAL as XCOM supreme commander!
4.2 How do I earn more money?
Three (real) ways to make money in XCOM:
Make your sponsors happy, so they will increase their payments. The
problem is: they don't pay much to start with, and the increase is
just enough to sneeze at. Their payments may be enough to buy some
ammo and stuff, but don't expect much of an increase.
Manufacture arms for sale -- See 4.4 What do I manufacture to make
more money? As in XCOM, the equivalent of Laser Cannon, Craft Gauss
Cannon, takes the top prize as the top TFTD moneymaker.
Sell captured/surplus equipment--most of your money will be made this
way. Dump off all your obsolete equipment (harpoons rifles, etc) and
surplus and you will get LOTS of money. You will usually end with with
plenty of surplus sonic cannons, etc., and those fetch very good
prices on the market. :-) Doing this also means you need less storage
space (and less maintainence) and more "real" weapons on base defense
(due to the 80 item limit). Keep only one item of each type for
research, sell the rest. You need the money and the space for more
useful stuff.
Trick: once the research has started on the item, you can sell the
item for more money.
As a last resort, you can always cheat. See the last section for how.
4.3 How do I cut expenses?
* Cut Maintenence--dismantle any unused facility.
Transmission resolver SHOULD detect 100% of UFOs in range,
so get rid of all sonars once you have one. Also, you don't
EVER need more than one Alien Containment module.
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* Build your own crafts--Tritons and Barracudas have a monthly
rental fee, your own crafts do not. Of course, this means
you have to research subs construction and things.
* Minimize salary--use the salary transfer trick! (see 4.5)
4.4 What do I manufacture to make more money?
TOP SECRET -- XCOM2 Profitability study -- TOP SECRET
by Kasey Chang original (XCOM1 version) by Jeff Shaffer
We assume that you, as XCOM supreme commander, are willing to support
technicians long-term in order to make a profit. I calculated results
for a hypothetical 2 workshop operation. You would get slightly
better results with larger facilities, due to the economy of scale.
Technician actually costs $25000 a month, and scientist $30000 a
month. Check your base information screen.
[some numbers are rounded down to nearest 1000 (K) for space]
The "Unit Profit" column is sale price minus cost, minus the cost of
any Zrbite/Aqua plastic used in manufacture. A '-' means a net loss,
no further analysis. Of course, Zrbite is of alien manufacture and can
be hard to find...
"Monthly Profit" column is based on an "XCOM Month" of 24*31 = 744
hours. The calculation is number of technicians that fit in two
workshops times 744 times unit profit, divided by the hours required
to make one item. For example, the monthly profit for Motion Scanners
is 96*744*11600/220 = 1275993 (1275K).
Of course, that is not quite accurate since TFTD does do months more
correctly now (Feb has 28 days, etc.)
"Net Profit" column is the bottom line. Monthly expenses are the
salaries of as many engineers as fit in the workshops times $25K, plus
the maintenance on 2 workshops and 2 living quarters (70000 monthly).
As you can see, Gauss Craft Cannon is the winner, closely edging out
PWT Launcher. A profit can be made early in the game on particle
displacement sensors, however.
One final note:It costs roughly $7M to hire engineers and build the
facilities, so you'll need to "borrow" some money (preferably from
alien supply ships :) to get started.
[Editor's note: don't forget the "transfer salary trick" below]
4.5 The "Transfer Salary Savings" trick
Have two bases approximately equivalent to each other, like both
research (or manufacturing), about same living quarters, and
scientists (or engineers). Just before end of the month (last day,
last hour), transfer ALL of the scientists (engineers) to the other
base, and do the same on the other base (i. e. they swap their
contingent). When the end of month comes along, NEITHER side has their
scientists (engineers) (they are in transit), no salary is paid. If
you have like 100 scientists moving each way, you save $30,000x100x2 =
$6 million!
Of course, you don't get to "keep' the research, but that's nothing
compared to the money you saved. :-)
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4.6 Aliens signed pact with XXX!
Nothing you can do. One of the Infiltration subs got through and now
the sponsor stopped paying you. Consensus on the net is you canNOT
get them back (i.e. nullify the pact). And if enough sponsors left
you, you lost.
5.0 RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURING
All information here is subjective change due to a patch that should
be released sometime in the beginning of June from MicroProse. Some
of the research trees are VERY STRICT (and have "holes"). Even though
pre-requisites are present, because they're not in the right order,
necesary things cannot be researched. The patch is supposed to fix
that, we'll see.
5.1 What should I start researching first?
I recommend all gauss weapons for the starting projects. Dart pistols
and Jet Harpoons are pitiful against Sonic Blasta Rifles and Sonic
Pulsers (super grenade! ). :-P
After that, research all dead bodies you can find. As for later, you
need to capture aliens ASAP. Without captured aliens you would have
nothing to research, which is VERY BAD.
Capture would be hard since you don't have enough firepower... Go for
kills until you nab a couple Thermal Shok Launchers and Thermal Shok
Bombs, and research them ASAP.
5.2 Overall strategy
Keep roughly 100 scientists in your employment. You need that much
research to discover things in reasonable time, though you can
probably get by with 50-75.
Due to the way research works, concentrate on one project at a time so
you can start on later topics faster.
Research prisoners AND dead aliens ASAP. They now lead to other
technologies. HOWEVER: DO NOT RESEARCH TASOTH COMMANDER. According
to "FractalLaw", researching Tasoth Commander will result in NO
Leviathan, which means you will not be able to finish the game.
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5.3 Research Tree [probably incomplete]
These research trees are to the best of my knowledge. If you believe I
have made an error, please document YOUR sequence and and submit them
to me for review...
The "requirements" are more stringent in XCOM2 for researching items.
Often you must have items already present to be able research it when
a breakthrough is made.
This research tree format was supplied by Roy Indrebo of Norway.
Thanks Roy!
Tree Format:
Item1 ->
Item2 / Item3->
Item4
Item5
Translation : Item1's successful research will lead to Item2 and Item3
to be available for research, and Item2 and Item3's successful
research will lead to Item4 and Item5 be available. Item4 or Item5
cannot be researched until Item1, Item2, and Item3 are done.
Item5 (Item6) ->
Item6
Translation : Item 5 and presence of item6 in base's stores will allow
item 6 to be researched, and allows to be manufactured. This
is important that if you do NOT have Item6, you will NOT get Item6 as
a possible choice, and this may be hard to "repeat" later.
Item7! -+
Item8 -+-->
Item9
Translation : Item7 can only be captured, and with its own research
and Item8's research, means Item9 becomes available for research.
It is recommended that you follow the trees in EXACT sequence. Some
of the prerequisites are not listed since it's obvious (like
Coelacanth/Gauss needs Gauss techs, Displacer Sonic needs Sonic techs,
etc.)
Gauss Weapons ->
Gauss Pistol / Gauss Pistol Clip ->
Gauss Rifle / Gauss Rifle Clip ->
Heavy Gauss / Heavy Gauss Clip ->
Craft Gauss Cannon / Craft Gauss Cannon Ammo ->
Gauss Defense (which later leads to Coelacanth/Gauss)
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Sonic Pulser!-----------------------------------+
Sonic Pistol! / Sonic Pistol Clip!--------------+
Sonic Blasta Rifle! / Sonic Blasta Rifle Clip!--+
Sonic Cannon! / Sonic Cannon Clip!--------------+-->
Sonic Oscillator ->
Sonic Defense
Thermal Shok Launcher! / Thermal Shok Bomb!
Calcinite Corpse (Vibroblade! ?) ->
Vibroblade ->
Thermic Lance ->
Heavy Thermic Lance
Deep One corpse! ->
aqua plastics!->
aqua plastic armor =>>
Zrbite!->
ion beam accelerators =>>
Live Deep One terrorist! -> (See later tree)
ion armor =>>
Live Terrorist ->
Molecular Control Lab (M.C.Reader)
M.C.Reader =>>
Live Tasoth ->
M.C.Disruptor
M.C.Generator? (?Bombardment Shield?)
Lobsterman Navigator ->
Ultimate Threat
Magnetic Navigation (Magnetic Navigation?) ->
Magnetic Ion Armor
Transmission Resolver
Lobsterman Navigator ->
USO Construction (Aqua Plastic?)->
New Fighter Flying Sub
(1) (Gauss Tree) Coelacanth/Gauss> ->
New Fighter/Transporter =>>
Lobsterman Commander ->
T'leth, the Alien City
Latest Flying Sub =>>
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Tasoth Commander ->
T'Leth, the Alien City (NO Latest Flying Sub!!!!!)
5.4 Any hints on manufacturing?
Only manufacture thing that you REALLY need, like crafts, etc. almost
NEVER manufacture ammo since most require Zrbite, which is always in
short supply. Captured ammo is much cheaper and don't use your
precious Zrbite supply.
OTOH, Zrbite appears to be a bit more plentiful in XCOM2.. . So go
ahead and make 20 Thermal Shok Bombs for your raids...
NEVER let any engineers go idle. If you don't need anything built,
build something that makes money.
6.0 THE ALIENS
Most information here can be accessed via the UFOpedia.
NOTE 1: you can get info on particular alien stats by using a M. C.
Reader on them. Leaders and commanders are 10 to 20% higher, and there
appears to be random modifiers, depending on rank and position. Stats
are also higher on higher difficulty levels
NOTE 2: higher rank aliens also have higher "intelligence", which
means they will remember your location longer. Some alien species are
also more intelligent than others.
NOTE 3: Not all aliens have all positions. Only Aquatoids appear to
have medics, for example.
6.2 Alien attack/defense summary
[incomplete]
Alien Attack Defend Vulnerable
Aquatoid weapon, psi*
Gillman weapon
Lobsterman weapon, HTH sonic AP
Tasoth weapon, psi
Calcinite HTH?
Deep One bio ray?
BioDrone sonic beam
Tentaculat HTH
Triscene plasma
Xarquid energy beam
Hallucinoid freeze
Zombie HTH
HTH=hand to hand combat
IC =incendiary/fire
AP =armor piercing
SO =sonic
HE =high explosive
GA =gauss
Alien : alien name
Attack : attack method
Defend : resistance to type(s) of attack
Vulnerable : vulnerable to type(s) of attack
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6.3 Alien specialties
Soldier alien origin
Medic Species information *
Navigator lots of research **
Technician random sub stats
Squad Leader alien mission
Commander lots of research
* alien medics can give information on species other than their own
** navigators and commanders are VERY important, as they can allow
research of LOTS of stuff, like magnetic navigation, transmission
resolver, and more.
6.4 Alien Missions
Alien Probe survey area for resources
Alien Interdiction attack areas to drive out human presence
Alien Resource Raid grab for resources
Alien Infiltration infiltrate sponsor nations
Colony expansion build new colonies
Surface attack terror raid
Floating base attack attack XCOM base
Colony Resupply resupply other colonies from main base
6.5 Battle Notes on individual aliens
Kill Tentaculats anywhere. Kill them ASAP, even if it means wiping out
any civilians near it. Use all heavy weapons on it freely. You can't
afford to see any Zombies. (At least Zombies don't fly...)
If you are REALLY worried about Tentaculats (or don't want any one die
without making a kill), have everyone carry a PRIMED grenade around
(prime it first). If your soldier got turned into a zombie, or killed,
all equipment gets dropped, and the grenade should go BOOM at the end
of the turn.
Tentaculats CAN attack "floating" soldiers (via mag. ion armor).
Lobsterman are most vulnerable to sonic and AP weapons. Best deal:
vibroblade and/or thermic lances. Walk up behind it and Ziiiip! No
more lobsterman!
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7.0 SOLDIERS, EQUIPMENT, AND LIMITS
7.1 Soldiers
7.1.1 Soldier Statistics
We recommend that instead of using the default names, you adopt a
naming system for your soldiers that will help you to know at a glance
who to take on a mission.
System One reflects a trained specialty, such as scout (SC), heavy
weapons (HW), demolitions (DM), MC combat (MC), sharpshooter (SS),
etc. For example, "Steve Rogers HW/MC" has lots of strength and nice
time units for carrying the heavy weapons (and shooting them). His
MCStr and MCSkl is also pretty high so he also carries a MCAmp for MC
combat.
Here's some suggested specialties
Scout (SC) carry particle displacement sensor
Medic (MD) carry MediKit
Sharpshooter (SS) shooter, carry nice guns
Intelligence (IT) carry MC Reader
Heavy Weapons (HW) carry "heavy" stuff
Molecular Control (MC) carry MC Disruptor
You can also cross-train, of course. There's no limit in the number of
spots each person can hold... And real-life SEAL teams are all cross-
trained any way.
System Two just places the numbers in the name. Use just the first
digit (if rating is 42, just use 4)
To change the name, go to the soldiers screen (the one base display)
that displays their stats. Click on their name, and a cursor comes up,
allowing you to change them.
System Three, inlcudes a letter for the area the soldieris good in,
like A)ccuracy, T)Us, etc.
7.1.2 Recruiting Aquanauts
Sack weaklings ASAP. You want high strength, reaction, bravery, and
shooting accuracy, and when you get MC, MC ability. So recruit lots
of rookies, use them for scouts (they are cheap when compared to
SWSs). If they survive, keep them, else, oh, well, they've done the
world a great service. :-)
Why those traits? High strength means they can carry more (and
heavier) stuff. High reaction means they can get opportunity fire
(reaction shots) while enemy is moving.
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High bravery means they are less susceptible to panic, and shooting
accuracy is obvious. :-)Other characteristics are not as important.
Aquanauts only get promoted if there are enough of them to warrant a
promotion. So hire a lot of seamen, send them out to missions. The
ones that survive are able seaman, and when you have enough able
seamen, you have officers. Feel free to sack the bad able seamen
later to save on salary.
7.1.3 How do I improve stats of soldiers?
Try to always take a couple of rookies along to give them experience
to boost their stats. In XCOM, you learn by doing. Below are
activities that will improve traits:
Time Units Kills
Strength Carry heavy stuff
Energy Kills
Throwing Accuracy Throw more!
Firing Accuracy Shoot more!
Bravery get panicked more
Health Kills
Reactions Make more reaction shots
MC Ability fixed
MC Skills use more MC
Soldiers with kills gain more than those without kills.
7.1.4 Dividing up specialties
Assuming 10 soldiers and 1 SWS (normal for a Triton) you should have
the following:
2 grenadiers (pistol and lots of grenades) + MC stuff
2 rifleman (rifles, maybe heavy)
2 heavy weapons (heavy stuff, including disrupt pulse)
2 scout (high TUs + react, carry grenade and pistols)
If you decide to go to 14 soldiers, add two more rifleman and 2 more
grenadier/MC weapons.
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7.1.5 How do I get more officers?
Ensigns come from able seamen, and able seamen come from Seamen who
survived a mission and gotten at least one kill. For exact numbers,
see the manual.
7.2 Packing Advice
The 80-item limit is always a problem, especially on an Hammerhead and
Leviathan, when you can carry LOTS of soldiers. Here's a couple more
hints to see you through the 80-item Crunch:
- If you are short on ammo clips, use sonic weapons, which use
less ammo.
- Carry only ONE clip for your sonic weapons. You should be able
to find plenty of reloads during battle, esp. for Sonic Cannon
(which seems to be used by all aliens near the end of the game)
- Bring less misc. equipment such as MC Readers, medikits,
particle displacement sensors, M.C. Disruptors, and so on. You
don't need everything on every person (except maybe Medikits)
- Bring SWSs if you can. SWS is one item yet has plenty of
firepower. Too bad it takes FOUR soldier's space. Still, they
are quite useful in the early parts of the game
- Don't fight at night so that you need to take along all those
stupid chemical falres which you end up throwing all over the
place. (exception: Attack Terror Sites ASAP) Of course, you can
always pick up those flares again.
7.3 Basic Loadout for Transports
Triton : 1 SWS / 10 aquanauts or 14 aquanauts. The SWSs early on carry
more firepower and has more TUs than soldiers, which makes them good
scouts, and more survivable. Switch to only soldiers later.
Hammerhead : as many soldiers as you can fit. Hammerhead doesn't take
SWSs, too bad.
As the end of game draws near, your best soldiers should be as fast as
SWSs and carries just as much (if not more) firepower. SWSs are there
to simply scout ahead, esp. the PWT and/or Sonic versions (one each).
Feel free to add more soldiers if you can distribute 80 items okay.
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8.0 GROUND WEAPONS
8.1 General Weapon Notes
With smaller magazines in XCOM2 (10-15), ammo and reloads are becoming
a problem, esp with Gauss weapons and dart/harpoon weapons, which may
have auto-fire mode. Therefore, watch your ammo load carefully.
Sonic weapons are less of a problem since they do NOT have auto-mode
and you can usually find reloads easily. Gauss reloads must be
manufactured.
Use SWSs (or rookies?) to "beat the bush" and spot enemies, then shoot
them. Once an alien is found, everybody can take a shot.
If you can, take a aimmed shot. "One shot, one kill" is not a bad
motto. On the other hand... If you have the ammo, use auto shot
whenever you can. Why? It ensures a kill. Let me explain:
Auto shot fires three rounds, but is the least accurate of the three
shots. On the other hand, when you use the laws of probability, you
actually come out ahead using an auto-shot, since each shot is
calculated independently. For example, let's say chance of hitting in
auto shot is 25%, and snap shot is 30% (average). The chance of
getting at least one hit out of three is
1-(chance of no hits)
So 25% hit prob AND no hit in three tries is
0.75 * 0.75 * 0.75 = 0.42
Chance of getting at least one hit is then
0.42 = 0.56, or 56% 1 -
Which is much better than 30% (but no higher than the aimed
percentage). When your accuracy improves, you increase your chances of
hitting the target multiple times, which ensures a kill, and you use
less TUs than ONE aimmed shot.
It is not unknown to see three aliens line up in a row, you fired
auto, and each shot killed one alien.
8.2 The Great Pistol vs Rifle debate
Pro Con
Rifles more powerful use more TUs
more accurate two-handed weapon
Pistols uses less Tus less powerful
one handed weapon less accurate
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As you can see, they are exact complements of each other.
Very often, using a pistol is called for, since using a pistol would
mean you still have enough TUs to duck into cover.
Give pistols to heavy weapons people for when they ran out.
8.3 Specific Weapon Notes
8.3.1 Dart Pistols and Jet Harpoons
Use them only when you have to, sniper style, use Aimmed and/or Snap
shots only. Dump them for gauss weapons as fast as possible. They use
small clips and does little damage.
Auto-fire with Jet Harpoon is wasting of ammo, due to weapon's lousy
accuracy AND the low accuracy of the aquanauts in the beginning.
8.3.2 Gas Cannon and HydroJet Cannon
Gas Cannon is lighter and slightly more accurate than the HydroJet
Cannon and does a bit more damage per shot, but less effective with
only six shots and no auto-fire mode.
On the other hand, HydroJet Cannon does NOT work above water, so for
normal use, you would probably want the Gas Cannon. HydroJet Cannon
is pretty good, but since it only works below water, makes it rather
ineffective.
8.3.3 Torpedo Launcher
Torpedo Launcher packs your biggest punch in the early game, BUT IT
ONLY WORKS UNDERWATER! :-P I would NOT carry one of these. Carry
more grenades instead unless you have room to spare, then carry one
with two reloads.
Try to have another team member carry reloads. When you got to a good
firing point, have that guy drop the reloads on the ground, then
stand on top of the reloads.
Don't give torpedo launcher (or any hi-power weapons) to rookies with
low morale. If they go berzerk or gets M.C.ed by aliens, you may lose
a lot of people.
8.3.4 Gauss Weapon Family
Forget the heavy gauss. The 25% more damage that it does is offset by
having no auto mode and decreased accuracy.
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You can probably forget the gauss pistol also, but you need to
research it to get gauss rifle.
You also need to research heavy gauss to get gauss defense and craft
gauss cannon, the most profitable item in XCOM2.
Gauss rifle is one of the top weapons in the game, with decent damage,
automode (when necesary), and okay ammo capacity.
8.3.5 Grenades and Magna-Pack Explosive
Use sonic pulsers when you can... They are MORE THAN TWICE as powerful
as your regular grenades. Throw it REALLY FAR away. They also have
enough power to punch through some USO's outer hull.
For suicidal attacks, carry a primed grenade around as you attack. If
you die, everyone close to you goes POOF.
Particle Displacement Grenades should be used to block off doors and
stuff so nothing can sneak up behind you. They appear to have a 1-
square sensing radius, so do NOT throw them next to the door! Instead,
throw them one square away from the door so when the alien have to
come out before it blows up. For example:
(D=Door P=PD Grenade A=Alien)
Alien just behind door, does NOT trigger the grenade since not in
radius of 1.Then Alien steps through the door, and BOOM!
| |
AD P DAP
| |
[Jim Muchow's variation]
Throw one in front of the door, one off like above, then hide near the
doors in the shadows so you are not visible.
| X = YOU Just stand there, keep others out of
| sight. After a few turns, alien
| will come out and take a peek,
\----\ wondering where did you go. And as
| soon as it steps out the door, BOOM!
|
D P = PD Repeat as needed. They are dumb...
| Grenade
I haven't found dye grenades to be that useful. I've tried it in
covering my deployment, but it doesn't seem to work that well, but it
was listed in the sourcebook...
No comment on magna-pack explosives yet. Supposedly it's good in inner
port fighting, but I use sonic pulsers.
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Sometimes kneeling down will allow you to throw where you cannot
before
8.3.6 Sonic Weapon Family
Sonic weapons are good weapons, and virtually all aliens carry them.
Later they all carry Sonic Cannons only...
These are the weapons you should sell to raise cash. You should have
captured lots of them. Ammo may be a problem if you don't capture that
many, but in that case, usually one reload is enough, sometimes none,
since you can usually FIND reloads.
8.3.7 Disruptor pulse launcher
Disruptor pulse launcher is probably one of the greatest weapons in
the game. It is expensive, its ammo is expensive, but it is VERY
useful, but it ONLY works UNDERWATER. You can blow up things in ANY
direction, turn around corners, go up and down stairs, flatten entire
buildings, even punch a hole in subs's outer hull! Each aquanaut can
carry up to 5 reloads (2 on belt and 3 in backpack).
One XCOM trick is to leave the soldier and the launcher inside the
craft kneeling on top of the ammo on the floor. That way there's more
than 5 rounds available. Or you can have other soldiers carry more
ammo, drop them on the ground, then have the launcher guy stand/kneel
on top of them. You can use this trick on torpedo launchers too, but
it's not as useful.
Use a disruptor pulse to enlarge a standard door so you can fit a tank
through by targeting the wall next to the door.
8.3.8 Thermal Shok launcher
Nice weapons, but you may need more than one bomb to stun the suckers.
8.3.9 Hand-to-hand weapons
XCOM players asked for hand-to-hand weapons and they got them! These
weapons are NICE! Sneak up on a Lobsterman and Zzzzzzziiiiiiippp!
Fried lobster!
Thermic Lance is the best compromise between weight and potential
damage. You need TUs to get close to the enemy so give it to one with
high reactions, or try to bait the enemy and get it to spend its
reaction shots on someone else so you can sneak in and poke it full of
holes.
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9.0 MOLECULAR CONTROL COMBAT
See research tree on how to gain Molecular Control.
General observation: aliens STILL do NOT pick up dropped weapons.
9.1 Offensive tips
Panicked aliens drop their weapons (just as panicked XCOM soldiers) Of
course, they will pull out anything else they got left on them as well
as use their natural abilities (HTH or MC attacks) if any.
Aliens under M.C. control then stunned does NOT count as captured. It
appears that the computer counts mind- controlled aliens as
"friendly", which they sort of are.
You can NO LONGER access inventory of an alien under your M.C.
control. It was possible under XCOM (as a "feature").
To get more ammo, M.C. an alien, and have it throw its weapon toward
you.
Panic has a much better chance of success than control.
M.C. strength is more important than M.C. skill. M.C. ability
determines resistance to M.C. attacks as well as potential with
training
9.2 Defensive tips
The only REAL way to protect yourself against MC attacks is to kill
the attackers quickly. While some soldiers at the beginning may be
more resistant to M.C. attacks (i.e. high M.C. Ability, without M.C.
labs to help you identify them it is by chance. Once you get M.C.
Labs, sack those with low M.C. Ability.
If a solider was M.C.ed more than once in a battle and s/he survives,
sack him/her immediately after. S/he probably has low bravery and/or
low M.C. Ability, bad combination.
Get rookies with high bravery ensures they are more resistant to alien
panic attacks (though they may not be as resistant to mind control,
that has a inherent lower chance of success). I recommend sacking all
bravery below 30, maybe even 40.
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10.0 GROUND ASSAULTS
10.1 General Combat Notes
There is no penalty for destroying civilian property, so go ahead and
wreck the whole place like "The Dirty Pair" (anime). If the only
person inside the craft is unconscious and you abort mission, s/he's
MIA and the transport is lost as well.
In the early game, you want gas cannon and/or Hydrojet cannon as your
heavy weapons, and plenty of greandes (mix of regular and proximity).
Later in the game, you want almost exclusively heavy sonic (except for
the heavy weapons people carrying disruptor pulse launchers, who would
carry sonic pistols)
10.2 Capturing Aliens
10.2.1 How to I capture an alien?
You can capture aliens in three ways, so let's discuss advantages and
disadvantages.
Shoot an alien and hope it drops stunned instead of dead: Since smoke
inhalation produce stun damage, if alien had inhaled smoke for a
while, and you shot it later, it may drop stunned. This is too much of
a guess work though, and is dangerous if alien is armed. On the other
hand, Lobsterman, having so much health, does this a lot.
Use thermal tazer on the alien:Dangerous since thermal tazer is a
hand-to-hand weapon, but it's all you have early on. Remember to
stand RIGHT NEXT to the target, and DIRECTLY FACING the target, or you
cannot stun! Dangerous, of course, but Lobsterman are pretty dumb, so
if you double-team, you can probably stun it before it realizes that
you're next to it.
Use thermal shok bombs and launcher: safest way to capture an alien,
shoot and scoot. Still double/triple team to be sure though...
[Has any one been able to stun an alien with dye grenades yet? I can't
do it so far... ]
10.2.2 So what's your recommendation?
Several ways to make captures safer:
Double/triple-team on capture: at least two soldiers should carry
thermal shok bombs/launcher and ready to fire in salvoes in case the
alien does not drop after one hit.
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Combine MC combat with capture: panic it with MC to make it drop its
weapon (repeat if necesary), then stun it. Be careful since alien WILL
pull out any other weapon that it has on it, including GRENADES. After
it is out of weapons, and if it does not have HTH attack, you can use
thermal tazer on it safely.
WARNING: it is now IMPOSSIBLE to get to the alien's inventory screen,
so you canNOT make it drop all its weapons.
WARNING: release molecular control on the alien (wait one full turn),
THEN stun it, or otherwise it is NOT captured! Somehow computer
counts molecular-controlled alien as "friendly" and not "captured".
WARNING: all aliens on "first" stage of a two-stage mission stunned is
considered DEAD. Only aliens stunned in second stage counts.
If a stun attempt fails, shoot the alien with a light weapon like a
pistol. The addition damage may cause the health to drop below stun
damage, which ALSO counts as "stunned". Just don't kill it (yet).
10.2.3 Do you HAVE an alien containment facility?
Does the home base of the transport have alien containment facility
available? If not, all aliens you captured will DIE upon end of ground
battle.
Periodically check your base inventory. If you have too many alien
soldiers, transfer some out so you can research the high-ranked stuff
(UNCONFIRMED)
10.2.4 Special notes on Alien Containment Facility
by Robert Bellflower
Alien containment can hold ten (10) TYPES of prisoners, not a total of
10 prisoners. For example, 4 aquatoid soldiers, 2 aquatoid medics, 1
aquatoid technician, 2 aquatoid navigators, and 1 aquadtoid squad
leader counts as 5 types of prisoner, but 11 TOTAL prisoners. New
prisoners will stop being put in alien containment ONLY when the total
TYPES exceeds 10. Building a second alien containment facility at the
same base does NOT change this. There is no reason to ever build more
than one alien containment at the same base.
There are two ways to remove prisoners from alien containment. The
obvious is to transfer them to another base. This only spreads your
problem out. However, if you have the same TYPE of prisoner at more
than one base, transfer all of the same TYPE to the same base.
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Whenever you capture a prisoner, open up the research screen and start
the prisoner as a new project. You do not need to assign any
scientists to the research at this time. That prisoner TYPE, and all
of his identical brothers, will be removed from the alien containment.
You can confirm this by opening up the transfer screen.
If you capture more of the same TYPE of alien before the research on
that type is completed, they will be place in the alien containment.
They can be removed by transfer, or, after the first is done, add the
new prisoner to the research list. You don't ever have to research
the second prisoner, it just gets it out of the alien containment. And
in XCOM2, you may need to research the same alien TYPE again.
10.3 General Combat Tactics
10.3.1 SWS usage
SWSs should be used for "beating the bush" and flush aliens out for
soldiers to shoot. Since Aqua Jet Torpedoes only work underwater, the
early preference is Coelacanth/Gas Cannon. Later, use
Coelacanth/Gauss, and later Displacer/Sonic.
10.3.2 Grenade usage
Grenades should be used for firepower supplement. If you suspect an
alien in the area, drop a grenade in the area. Since you can throw
beyond your visible area, this can REALLY raise your survival rates.
This is important if you see aliens toss grenades or take shots at you
but you don't see them. Toss a grenade in the area, and see if you
hear screams. If not, send an SWS slowly into the area.
You CAN equip someone with ALL grenades, but with only 80 items in
inventory for more than 10 soldiers you won't get a very good
distribution.
Rookies can be effective grenadiers since grenades are area weapons
and grenades don't miss by very far. Of course, make sure their MC
Ability and/or bravery is high, or...
Magna-Pack Explosive is just a very heavy grenade, and you will have
problems tossing it. Toss it a short distance or drop it on ground,
then RUN away from the area. This would mean you need to set it for
multiple turns.
Particle Displacement grenades are great for traps. Use them to
prevent aliens coming up behind you, and/or pin aliens (toss one on
either side of it and it can't move without setting one off)Just
remember where you threw them (check the map) and don't walk near them
yourself.
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Par. Dis. Grenades cannot be "destroyed" now. Many have tried to set
one off by dropping grenades on top of it, but the safest way is to
save the game, and reload it.
All ParDis Grenades will be primed but will NOT explode when you walk
up to them. (This is better than XCOM1, when all Prox. Grenades
disappear after saved game)
You can toss grenades to upper levels and through windows, though you
may have to kneel down to do it, and it requires a bit of extra
"height" available.
Sonic pulsers can punch holes in some USO halls, so save disruptor
pulses for other uses.
This of course, means that your transports can be hit by aliens, and
if a grenade explodes OUTSIDE, aquanauts INSIDE can be killed.
10.3.3 Disruptor pulse usage
Disruptor pulse is equivalent to blaster bomb in XCOM1, except this
one ONLY works underwater (HEY! I want my blaster bombs for land use!
Where's my ROCKET LAUNCHER?)
Like blaster bomb, it can shoot around corners, has wonderful damage
(210 points!) and is very effective. Of course, it is also EXPENSIVE,
and so is ammo. So, use them carefully (don't save them either).
Remember that disruptor pulse do NOT explode when they reach their
last waypoint. They explode when they actually HIT something. If you
just fly a DB into an empty spot, it will NOT explode. I typically
make them fly overhead, then DIVE straight down at the target.
And for completeness' sake, I add a few waypoints all around the
impact zone just to make SURE it hit something.
Use sonic pulsers to open holes in USOs, not DPs.
10.3.4 Rookie Sonic Fodder
One possible if cruel tactic is to use rookies instead of SWS as
scouts. A rookie is a smaller target, though have less armor and a lot
less TUs. On the other hand, they cost about 1/9th as much.
Just make sure you give them weapons that won't cause too much damage
if it turns out they are susceptible to alien MC...
10.3.5 Leave opportunity for shots
To make opportunity shots in the enemy movement phase, you need TU's
left unused, as well as a high reactions rating (over 50 preferred).
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BUG: underwater-only weapons fire on land during op. fire.
10.3.6 Saving ammo
XCOM has a peculiar way of counting ammo usage: any clip that was
fired (even just one round!) is consider "spent" at the end of the
scenario UNLESS unloaded from the weapon.
So, if you just fired one round, unload it when the end of battlescape
is near (you DID time the alien movement phase, didn't you? )
Interestingly, the same thing applies to the aliens as well! If you
panic the aliens and they drop their weapons, you should pick them up
and unload them, toss the ammo clip aside. That way you gain a clip
independent of the gun you got (plus clips the alien was carrying).
Do this with disruptor pulse launchers later. Lots of aliens carry
them later (almost ALL aliens on base attack missions carry disruptor
pulse launchers)
This is REALLY important now on two-stage missions since you only get
to keep what's actually ON your soldiers.
10.4 Movement
10.4.1 Deployment from Transport into Battle
Always send an SWS out first... It will at least make aliens nearby
to waste their weapons on it, not your aquanauts.
Prime a grenade for most soldiers and be ready to throw. There's
usually a few aliens nearby.
Move the initial soldiers at least 8 squares away before deploying the
next two so you don't invite grenades or torpedoes.
If you have mag. ion armor, fly up and stand on top of the transport
to clear the "blind side"
10.4.2 Use the terrain!
You can use the terrain in other ways than just hiding behind
something.
Use secondary explosions to your advantage! If alien is standing next
to volatile object like fuel drums, blow THAT up!
Aliens DO shoot through each other, so if you have NOWHERE to hide,
hide BEHIND an alien and pray. (It was reported that one alien shot
itself when attempting to shoot down the gravlift)
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Kneel whenever possible. It increases your accuracy and decreases the
enemy's (make you a smaller target)
WARNING: you may have to kneel down to look through windows. Be
careful as you "clear" buildings or your aquanauts will get shot in
the back.
Always hide behind something; it could mean the difference between a
wound vs. death! Of course, that also means that you have to have
enough Tus, which is related to snap shots vs aimmed shots and pistols
vs. rifles.
If you have magnetic ion armor, do not stay off floor unless you have
something to hide behind also.
10.4.3 Alien Movement and visual range
>> Do the aliens have better night vision? <<
Yes, a few squares more
>> Why they can shoot at you but you don't see them? <<
They can see you... And the XCOM AI cheats slightly: it REMEMBERS your
position(s).
Aliens capitalize on this by moving forward, spot you, then move back
out of range. Then for next X turns those aliens in range shoot at you
out of your visual range.
visible
range
A-----|->A
| | YOU
A<----|--+
This is why soldiers may get mind-blasted even if no aliens are in
sight.
WARNING: aliens are a lot sneakier now and shoots from different
levels (guns, grenades, and disruptors), and often hides behind things
to stay invisible.
10.4.4 Listen and watch
Watch carefully in alien movement phase. Sometimes you CAN spot them
moving around. TRY to remember the surrounding terrain, then go to
overhead map or scroll around and see if you can spot where that was.
Watch carefully where the shots came from. Aliens use TUs when they
move, just like you do.
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Sound can give you important clues to alien locations. If you hear
door sounds, you know alien moved in/out of a door. Different door
makes different sounds.
Aliens also have no manners. They leave doors open after they go
through. Watch doors carefully.
The length of the alien movement phase is proportional to the number
of hostile aliens left on the map. Just keep in mind that stunned
aliens can wake up, though rather unlikely. Those that drop
unconscious from taking a regular shot (not a stun shot) are more
likely to wake up.
10.4.5 Spread out and cover each other
Bunch up invites enemy attack you with sonic pulsers, or worse,
disruptor bolts. Stay AT LEAST eight squares apart. Sonic pulsers
(alien grenades) are now HE damage of 120, 33% more powerful than
alien grenades in XCOM1.. . Which means ONE grenade can kill LOTS
more soldiers... Same goes for Disruptor pulse torpedoes... Here's a
simple demonstration with a four person fire team:
A ----------> A
C ----------> C
B ----------> B
D ----------> D
They should be at least six squares away from each other.
10.4.6 Retreat (Tactical withdrawal)
Sometimes you can't win and it's time to cut your losses. To retreat
from a landing assault (sub recovery or assault, terror site), move
any many units as you can back into the transport, then hit the dust-
off button. Any units left behind are "missing in action".
If the only solider onboard the transport is unconscious and you
select dust-off, s/he's also missing in action, and you lose the
transport. Fortunately, if the remaining unit is an SWS, you WILL get
the transport back. (that's a bug, IMHO)
To retreat from a base defense mission, just hit dust-off. You will
lose the whole base to the aliens, of course, including the crafts (no
home elsewhere for them)
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10.4.7 Alien movement habits?
Nowadays, aliens usually do not charge you unless they have HTH
capability, like Lobsterman, or they have HTH weapons like vibroblade.
If they only carry a gun, they may just walk around.
I've seen a Gillman walked up to within three squares of one of my
soldiers, then turned around and ran.
10.4.8 Elevator as safe haven
Some have reported that if you stand on elevators you will not be
attacked, while you can keep shooting.
This does NOT work on stairs though.
11.0 SPECIFIC MISSION TACTICS
11.1 USO Recoveries and Assaults
[Definition: attack on subs shot down is "recovery", attack on landed
USOs (not downed) is "assault"]
SWSs CAN enter an USO with a single-width door if you help make the
door wider with a disruptor pulse launcher and/or a sonic pulser.
Just target the panel beside the door with a sonic pulser or disruptor
pulse. On the other hand, most subs now have two-wide doors
Sonic pulsers and disruptor pulses can be used to punch a hole in the
outside wall of USOs, creating an alternate entrance. This will allow
you to surprise the aliens inside since usually they gather by the
doors waiting for you.
Corollary: if you have mag. ion armor, on a multi-level USOs, consider
attack from top down by blasting a hole in the roof or top level,
posting guards near the sub doors or use proximity grenades. You can
do this easily with the "Fleet Supply Cruiser" since FSC has top
entrance.
Post guards outside an USO when attacking inside. Any aliens outside
will attempt to return, and getting shot from behind is not fun.
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11.2 Colony assaults
The trick in colony assaults is use a lot of grenades and disruptor
pulses. Use grenades to clear corners, part. disp. grenades to block
corridors and/or doors so no one can come up behind you (esp.
Tantaculats!), disruptors to open walls so you don't have to go extra
distance around things.
Colony assualts are now "two-parters". You have to fight your way into
the base, then into the heart of the base deep underground.
11.2.1 Colony Assault Part 1
The "into" part isn't that bad, except almost all aliens to be armed
with disruptor pulse launchers. Others use lots of grenades and carry
HTH weapons. Of course, there's always those biological nightmares
like Tentaculats and Hallucinoids.
The base is composed of a two-story main module, a two-story secondary
module to the north, three "arms" as entraces to the east, west, and
south, and the M.C. Transmission towers to the east and west edge.
I would recommend you ignore the "arms" and attack the main module
directly. Blow a hole in the main module, then send some disruptors
inside, then up to second level. There's usually two Tentaculats and
two Tasoths squad leaders on the second level.
You can get into the second part of the base without killing all the
aliens by finding the "exit area" in the "secondary module", but it's
not that hard killing all the aliens if you're careful. Hallucinoids
are outside, usually by the towers. Lots of Tasoths and Aquatoids
inside, with two to four Tentaculats.
According to MicroProse, all aliens stunned on "top" (first part) are
counted as DEAD. Only aliens captured in the second level count. Also,
you lose ALL equipment not ON a soldier in the first part. This
"problem" may be fixed by the upcoming patch. See "1.2.6 What about
any bugs? Any patches?"
11.2.2 Colony Assault Part 2
The second part is messy. There are so many rooms to cover, and the
whole place is infested with mostly lobsterman and a few Tentaculats.
Fortunately, a few of the lobsterman seem to be armed with Thermal
Shok Bombs instead of the deadly Sonic Cannons and/or Disruptor
launchers.
You start out on level 2 (bottom is 0) in double-height rooms. Your
objective is the Synonium device on level 0. If you destroy that, you
can retreat. The base is ruined.
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The Synonium device is in a small room guarded by two Lobsterman
Commanders and a Lobsterman Navigator. It is VERY easy to recognize
if you've seen it once. On Level 1 it is usually marked by a
crosswalk very close to it.
11.3 Artifact site assault
Alien activity has attracted the attention of XCOM to an alien
artifact site with LARGE versions of the Synomium device used to
contruct a world-wide M.C. network. You must destroy it at all
costs...
You start in small rooms. You must use weapons to blast your way out
of those room, preferably sonic cannons. Don't waste explosives in
enclosed spaces.
Once outside, explore carefully. Your main objective is the control
center on level 3 ("ground" is level 0), and to get there, you need to
find the "main elevator". There are rooms mainly on level 0 and 1,
and a lot of small elevators linking them. Watch out for a Hallucinoid
hiding in the main elevator in level 0, and Tentaculats hiding in a
small hibernation room in main elevator's level 1 to the east. Once
you wrecked the control room on the top of the elevator on level 3,
the mission should be over. If not, you probably forgot about that
Hallucinoid on level 0.
11.4 Anti-Terror Mission in general
Your top priority is self-preservation. Killing 9 out of your 10
soldiers to save a city or ship is NOT worth it. If given a choice to
save your soldier or to save a civilian, save the soldier.
Consider stunning the civilians. Stunning the civilians makes them
"unpalatable" to the alien terrorists, and they count as saved at the
end of the mission. (WARNING: when they wake up, they count as ENEMY
and you must kill them! )
Do NOT mind control any of the civilians. They count as ENEMY after
you release control and you must kill them!
Kill Tentaculus ASAP. If necesary, kill the civilian near it so that
the civilian will not be turned into a zombie that will attack you.
Have two persons watch each other.
11.4.1 Port Terror missions
This one is relatively easy, being only a one-parter. On the other
hand, the aliens tend to shoot down at you from higher levels.
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Often the battle devolves to "hunt the last alien". Here's some
favorite alien hiding places: on top of tower, on top floor of that
three story building near north edge, in that "warehouse" in the
middle, in the little "tool sheds" all around.
Common enemy: The Deep One, Aquatoids, Gillman, Calcinites
11.4.2 Island Terror missions
This one is STILL relatively easy, being on a one-parter. This one is
tough due to the little "bunkers" hiding in some of the hills,
especially the big bunker right below those statues.
Favorite alien hiding places are: all those hill bunkers, top floor of
the "resort", between the hills.
Common enemy: Xarquids, Gillman, Aquatoids, Biodrones
11.4.3 Cargo Ship Terror missions
This one is TOUGH, being a two-parter. There are SO MANY places to
hide in a cargo ship! Also the ceilings are low, making grenades hard
to use, but you have no heavy firepower to take its place! >-P We'll
talk about part one here.
I don't have any specific hints for this one. Expect to see Gillman
and/or Aquatoids, and Tricenes in part one.
Watch out for Gillman grenadiers in part two. They throw sonic
pulsers from Level 3, and you can't shoot back due to bad angle!
11.4.4 Cruise Ship Terror missions
Expect to see Lobsterman and Biodrones.
11.5 XCOM Base Defense
You DID plan your base as mentioned in Chapter 4, didn't you?
Unfortunately, aliens now show up EVERYWHERE.
You must use ParDis Grenades to isolate parts of the base so the
aliens cannot converge on you, so do that first. Then, gather and
clean out one module at a time.
11.5 Mastering T'leth--The Final Assault
It's just a very long mission, no specific hints at the moment
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11.5.1 Preparation
No mercy, folks. Sonic cannon and/or Disruptor pulse launchers with
lots of reloads. Bring some extra grenades as well. You can bring
along one or two SWSs, preferably Displacer/Sonic.
11.5.2 Getting in : level 1
11.5.3 Base Interior : level 2
You can blow through the walls and take a short cut through the
levels.
11.5.4 Final Confrontation : level 3
This map is BIG! You end up on upper left corner of the map, and you
go all around the outer edge of the base with no way to bypass any
(i.e. cannot blow through wall).
12.0 MISC QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS
Equipment
- Why do I lose ammo that was fired only a few times?
After combat all clips that had been USED in the battle and
left in their weapons are lost, no matter only 1 round fired
or totally empty. UNUSED clips are NOT affected as are clips
separate from weapons.
HINT: You should unload any weapons that had fired and use
valuable ammo before the battle ends.
HINT: You can get MORE clips if you unload captured alien
weapons that you come across
- Why should I need grenades when I have heavy weapons?
Heavy weapons such sonic cannon, hydrojet cannon, and gas
cannon weigh A LOT. For the same weight you can carry a
lighter weapon plus a couple grenades, and move faster and
further as a result.
- How do I wake up unconscious soldiers?
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See UFOpedia on Medikit.
HINT: Heal any fatal wounds first before attempt to revive.
HINT: After applying shot of stimulant, exit medikit screen
and check your inventory. If "body" is still on ground, apply
another shot of stimulant until the "body" is no longer on
ground. S/he should appear in an adjacent square. You may
need LOTS of stimulant shots to revive a stunned soldier.
HINT: Stimulant also raises ENERGY. If you had soldiers
running all across battlescape, add some stimulant if they
can't move.
- How do I use particle displacement sensor?
See UFOpedia
HINT: They are useful to detect that one last alien you can't
find, esp. at night when visibility is less, or city blocks
(but there you have civilians)
HINT: They are somewhat useful for looking behind closed doors
that you would like to enter.
- How do I use the Disruptor Pulse Launcher or Displacer/PWT?
When you select Launch, you can specify a series of up to 9
"waypoints" which can go around any thing, climb and dive,
even fly in circles. The final waypoint is the explosion
point, UNLESS it runs into something solid first.
NOTE: There MUST be something solid at the last waypoint or
the "torpedo" will NOT explode! I usually fly the pulse
overhead, then dive. If not, fly the pulse all around the
impact zone to try to make it run into SOMETHING.
HINT: You can UNset a waypoint by right-clicking
Movement
- Some of my soldiers have TU's used before I moved them. Why?
Each soldier has a physical weight limit to the amount of
"stuff" he or she can carry, usually known as "encumberance".
If you carry less than or equal to the encumberance, no
penalty is assessed. For each weight unit over the limit, you
get a TU penalty. Carry too much and you can't move at all!
I haven't found the weight table yet, but I expect to soon.
- How can I fire on aliens in their movement phase?
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XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
This is called "opportunity fire". Leave enough TU's after
your move for at least a snap shot, then if your trooper saw
an alien and has good enough reactions s/he will fire at the
alien.
HINT: Use the 4 icons near the bottom left of screen to
reservethe TUs. Reactions usually need to be above 50.
- How do I open doors?
Target your soldier to move up to the door. Turn to face the
door (right click behind door), then right click one more
time.
HINT: Do not open doors without plenty of spare TU's or expect
to DIE. Using a motion scanner will help to see if any aliens
moved beyond the door.
HINT: When you are not sure, create another door! Either shoot
a hole in the wall or blow up the entire wall with sonic
pulser, HE, Sonic Cannon, or Disruptor Pulse.
Molecular Control Combat
- How do I get Molecular Control?
See 9.0 Molecular Control Combat
- What is MC ability and MC skill?
MC ability is a person's physical talent for MC and cannot be
improved. It is also a measure of resistance against enemy MC
attacks.
MC skill is a person's skill at USING the MC ability. It can
be improved with usage (so use it!) and training at a MC lab.
- Help! My soldiers kept getting MC blasted!
Fight harder, make more kills, don't get killed. Low morale
invites more MC attacks.
If you survive the fight, sack the ones who's not very good
and kept getting panicked or controlled.
Sack newbies with low bravery (i.e. below 40). Screen your
recruits carefully.
After you get M.C.Lab, sack everyone who has MC Ability of
less than, say, 60. Those have 80+ will be your MC
specialists. Players have reported of being MC-proof with MC
Ability >70.
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Soliders
- What's with troops missing in action (MIA)?
If one of your troopers in under alien control at the end of a
battle s/he counts as MIA; therefore try to wait until s/he is
no longer in control before finishing off aliens.
If you abort a mission, any soldiers you leave behind is MIA.
On missions with a transport, any one not on the transport are
"left behind". On an alien base assault, any one not on the
lifts are "left behind".
Yet another way to get people MIA is to try abort mission with
only an unconscious soldier in the transport. You'll lose that
person as MIA as well as the transport (strangely, a SWS
counts as a "soldier", and you can't stun an SWS)
HINT: use MediKit to wake them up (stimulant) then march them
in if that happens to you.
- How do my soldiers improve?
By doing things. They improve firing accuracy by shooting at
things, strength by carrying more things, and so on.
Those getting kills will improve more than those who did not.
Therefore, try not to let SWS get a kill since you will lose a
chance to let a soldier improve, and leave the easy shots
(against panicked aliens, for example) to the rookies. MC
skill also improves with use. (MC Str does not increase
though)
- How do I get more officers?
See 7.1.5 How do I get more officers?
Miscellaneous
How do I cheat? -
If you REALLY want to cheat, here's how to add TONS to money
into your accout. Yes, you are embezzling the world to support
XCOM. You are twisting arms, and it is for a GOOD cause. :-D
Use a sector editor (such as Norton DiskEdit) and edit LIGLOB.
DAT in your saved game's directory. Overwrite the first 8
bytes with
64 64 64 64 00 00 00 00...
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XCOM: The UN-official Strategy Guide Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang
You should get about 1.68 billion dollars. (In case you are
wondering, 64646464h is a hexadecimal number. In decimal it is
1,684,300,900) You can also use
FF FF FF 7F 00 00 00 00...
Which will give you about 2.1 billion dollars. (7FFFFFFFh =
2,147,484,647)
If you need more help, try finding these at the XCOM Homepage,
see section 1.
How do I use...
Chemical Flare
- Chuck one inside the building through a window to see
inside. You may have to kneel to angle one in.
- Carry one for each soldier for "night" underwater fights.
Visibility underwater is horrible.
- You can pick up an existing flare and throw it again.
Medikit
- Heal fatal wounds first, worry about unconscious and morale
later. If necesary, use TWO people's medikits.
- To revive a person, keep administering stimulant until s/he
no longer shows up on the ground in the inventory screen.
Should appear immediately at an adjacent square.
- Stimulant also raises energy. So if you marched an aquanaut
all across the map, add some stimulant or theywon't walk very
far...
Particle Displacement Sensor
- Use this to look around corners and behind doors.
- Aliens hardly ever stay still between rounds.
Molecular Control Reader
- Usually you would use this to ID a target for capture but
here's a trick that you can use if you do NOT have one: try to
pick up the unconscious alien on the ground will also identify
alien's rank and position.
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APPENDIX A: SOME TROUBLESHOOTING
All information provided here are garnered from around the world. I
cannot guarantee that ANY of the solutions will work nor is any of the
information here "official".
PROBLEM: I can't get the intro animation (CD only) to run.
TRY THIS: Double-check your CD's I/O address (unless you use SCSI
CD). If you use MIDI, see if your CD's address conflict with the
MIDI address.
PROBLEM: I get the "blue text bug" (program is running, then all
of a sudden I get blue 40-column text crawling all over the place
and I get dumped to DOS or some other place) quite often.
TRY THIS: XCOM/TFTD is actually two separate programs: GeoScape
and Battlescape. Each has a different requirement. One wants
more extended memory, other wants more conventional memory. You
must maximize BOTH. To do so, create a boot disk. ONLY HIMEM and
EMM386, NOEMS specified. DOS4GW don't need EMS. If you use
MEMMAKER and similar programs, remember to specify "no expanded
memory", and optimize the memory again. Also, do NOT use any
disk cache (SMARTDRV) or similar software that uses a lot of
extended memory, especially on systems with only 4 megs of RAM.
PROBLEM: I have SB16 with Waveblaster, but I can't get SB16
digital sound to work together with general MIDI.
TRY THIS: Use SB16 digital sound with Adlib FM, or use SB (8-bit)
digital sound with general MIDI. You just can't use both. Patch
that fixes this should appear soon. See "1.2.6 What about any
bugs? Any patches?"
APPENDIX B: TABLES
Here's the comprehensive list of all the toys you get to play with.
Of course, most of them requires research.
Base modules
Name Days Cost Mant Remark
Airlock 1 300k 4k Entrance to floating base
Living Quarters 16 400k 10k Sleeps 50
Laboratory 26 750k 30k Allows 50 research
Workshop 32 800k 35k Allows 50 manufacture (1)
Sonar Array 12 500k 10k 300 km rng, 10% detect/10 mins
Wide Sonar Array 25 800k 15k 450 km rng, 10% detect/10 mins
Torpedo Defense 16 200k 5k Def value500, Accuracy 50%
General Stores 10 150k 5k Holds 50 units of equip. (2)
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Alien Containment 18 400k 15k Holds 10 aliens TYPES
M. C. Generator 33 1300k 5K Makes base harder to find
Gauss Defense 24 400k 10k Def value600, Accuracy 60%
Sonic Defense 34 600k 12k Def value900, Accuracy 70%
P. W. T. Defense 34 800k 14k Def value 1200, Accuracy 80%
Bombardment Shield 38 1200k 15k Gives defense an extra shot
M. C. Lab 24 750k 16k For troop MC training
Trans. Resolver 26 1400k 30k Evaluate USO missions
Sub Pen 25 200k 25k Maintains 1 craft
(1) In a workshop, the object being manufactured takes up some space.
So you will not be able to cram all 50 technicians in there.
(2) For exact composition, see base information / stores
NOTE 1: Defenses are noticeably cheaper to build in XCOM2
NOTE 2: You can dismantle a facility, even when it is under
construction. Simply click on the facility, and the program will ask
you do you wish to dismantle it, select OK
NOTE 3: To dismantle a base, you must remove all facilities
(transferring all people and equipment elsewhere if needed) then
finally remove the airlock itself.
Speed : maximum speed of craft, determines if it can keep up
with subs during interception.
Accel : maximum acceleration of craft, determines whether subs
will stay in range
Fuel : amount of fuel carried, endurance terms
Wpn : number of weapon pod mounts available
Hull : amount of damage the craft can take
Cargo : number of "spaces" craft can carry. Each soldier is one
space and each SWS is four spaces (see SWSs also)
SWSs : maximum number of SWS this craft can carry.
NOTE: in Fuel, 30(Z) 6? means 30 units of fuel (from UFOpedia,
probably Zrbite), and 6? means estimated Zrbite units used.
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Craft Weapons
Damage Range Accuracy Reload Shots
Craft Gas Cannon 15 8 25% 3s 200?
Ajax torpedo 60 32 70% 17s 6
D. U. P torpedo 110 50 80% 21s 3
----Research required----
Craft Gauss Cannon 90 20 35% 4s 50?
Sonic Oscillator 150 55 50% 5s 99
P. W. T. Launcher 200 60 100% 28s 2
Damage damage done to target if hit
Range max range of weapon, Kilometers
Accuracy hit probability when fired
Reload seconds needed to fire next shot
Shots number of shots available
NOTE: Match the weapon to the target. You want to force the alien to
land so you can board it and recover artifacts and prisoners, not blow
it into smithereens (though it might make you feel good)
XCOM Ground Weapons
Also see "8.3 Specific Weapon Notes" on battle notes for each type of
weapon.
Aimed Snap Auto Dam Type Ammo (Capacity)
Dart Gun 80/40 40/20 16 AP Dart Pod (12)
Jet Harpoon 90/70 60/35 40/40 32 AP Harp. pod (20)
Gas Cannon 90/75 60/40 60 AP GC-AP (6)
65 HE GC-HE (6)
60 I GC-P (6)
HydroJet Cannon* 80/80 50/35 40/40 40 AP HC-AP (14)
50 HE HC-HE (14)
40 I HC-I (14)
Torpedo Launcher* 110/80 50/40 80 HE Small Torp.
90 HE Large Torp.
80 I Phosporus Torp.
Magna-Blast Gre. 50 HE
Dye Grenade 10 HE Smoke
Par. Disp. Gre. 70 HE
Magna-Pack Exp. 100 HE
Thermal Tazer 80 Frez
--MUST RESEARCH--
Gauss Pistol 70/50 40/25 30/30 45 Gau GP Clip (20?)
Gauss Rifle 100/60 65/30 50/40 60 Gau GR Clip (15)
Heavy Gauss 90/80 50/40 75 Gau HG Clip (10?)
Sonic Pistol 85/50 65/30 80 Snc SP Clip (20)
Sonic Blasta Rifle 110/60 75/40 95 Snc SBR Clip (15)
Sonic Cannon 115/70 80/50 130 Snc SC Clip (10)
Dis. Pulse Lch'r 120/75 210 HE Disruptor Ammo
Ther. Shok Lch'r 120/70 70/50 90 Frez Ther. Shok Bomb
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Sonic Pulser 120 HE
Vibroblade 80 AP HTH
Thermic Lance 110 AP HTH
Hvy Thermic Lance 150 AP HTH
Key:
AP Armor piercing
HE High Explosive
I Incendiary
Gau Gauss
Sonc Sonic
Frez Freeze
HTH hand to hand
Note 1 : Accuracy for two-handed weapons is decreased 20% if
other hand is not empty (i. e. holding something)
Note 2 : Accuracy is increased 10% if the soldier is kneeling,
which takes only 4 TUs
SWS Types
Shots Ammo Dam TU F/S/R/U He
Coelacanth/Gas Cannon 30 50 70 90/ 75/ 60/ 60 90
Coelacanth/AquaJet Torp 8 90 70 90/ 75/ 60/ 60 90 *
--Must research and build--
Coelacanth/Gauss Cannon 50 120 70 90/ 75/ 60/ 60 90
Displacer/Sonic Cannon 100 130 100 130/130/130/100 90
Displacer/Pulse Wave Torp 8 140 100 130/130/130/100 90
Note 1 : The displacers "fly" both above and below water.
Note 2 : The displacers do not have more "health" compared to the
Coelacanths, but does have more TUs
Note 3 : Coelacanth/ Aquajet Torpedo only works underwater.
Armor
Fr/ Sd/ Rr/ Bt
None 5/ 3/ 2/ 2
--Must research and build--
Aqua Plastic Armor 60/ 35/ 30/ 25
Ion Armor 132/ 70/100/ 55
Magnetic Ion Armor 142/ 80/110/ 65
NOTE : Mag. Ion Armor "flies", like "flying suit", but only
underwater. Can't do it on land.
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Equipment list
Tus Usage
Chemical Flare 25% Use at dark places for illumination
--Must research and build--
Medikit 10% heal fatal wounds, raise morale, revive
unconscious people, add energy
Particle Displacement 25% registers movement within 8 squares, see
Sensor UFOpedia for instructions
M.C. Reader 25 ? allows you to see alien's status screen
(ID, TUs remain, health, + other stats)
M.C.Disruptor 25 ? with M.C.training, allows panic or
control of aliens
Stuff that can be bought, hire, or leased
These are the stuff you can buy, usually not very interesting.
Item Category Cost Note
Aquanaut Personnel 40000 hiring bonus
Scientist Personnel 60000 hiring bonus
Technician Personnel 50000 hiring bonus
Triton Craft 500000 hiring bonus
Barracuda Craft 600000 hiring bonus
Ajax Torpedo lchr Craft Weapon 16000 6 rounds
Ajax Torpedo Craft Ammo 3000
D.U.P. Torp lchr Craft Weapon 17000 2 rounds
D.U.P. Torpedo Craft Ammo 9000
Craft Gas Cannon Craft Weapon 30000
Cannon Ammo (x50) Craft Ammo 1240
Coelacanth/GC SWS 420000 30 rounds
Solid Harp.Bolt SWS Ammo 200
Coelacanth/AJT SWS 480000 8 rounds
AquaJet Torp SWS Ammo 3000
Dart Pistol Weapon 800 12 rd/clip
Pistol Clip Ammo 70
Jet Harpoon Weapon 3000 10 rd/clip
Harpoon pod Ammo 200
Gas Cannon Weapon 6400 6 rd/clip
GC-AP Ammo 300
GC-HE Ammo 500
GC-P Ammo 400
AquaJet Cannon Weapon 13500 14 rd/clip
AC-AP Ammo 500
AC-HE Ammo 700
AC-P Ammo 650
Torpedo Launcher Weapon 4000
Small Torp Ammo 600
Large Torp Ammo 900
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*** Zrbite can ONLY be captured as parts of sub or base, which
makes it extremely valuable, so NEVER sell or waste any of it
USO speed, range, etc.
Size Max Hull Wpn
Spd Dam Pwr Rng (km) Crew
Survey Ship VS 2000 600 0 0 0 ?
Escort S 2800 300 30 104 13 ?
Cruiser M 2600 300 25 280 35 ?
Heavy cruiser M 3800 450 60 160 20 ?
Hunter M 4500 500 50 144 18 ?
Battleship L 4200 1400 140 400 50 ?
Dreadnaught VL 4500 3400 120 480 60 ?
Flt Supply Cruiser L 3400 2000 70 304 38 ?
* Weapon Range should be divided by 8 for range in KM, see 7.5
? Range in kilometers are estimated based on XCOM1 data, not
confirmed. Please let me know if this is not correct!
** Maximum crew is absolute maximum reported in one mission. Number
is in format of X/Y (Z) where X is host race (race the subs belongs
to), Y as terrorists and Z as number of leaders (L) or commander in
the host race. Any 4-space creatures counts as 4 aliens for this.
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USO floorplans
[None at this time, sorry! Translating graph paper to ASCII is not an
easy job!]
APPENDIX C: TFTD BOOKS
Order of entries are only dependent upon order received. :-)
Title: Totally Unauthorized X-COM: Terror From the Deep
Price: $17.99
Author: Jeff James
Publisher: ////BradyGAMES Publishing
ISBN # 156686-302-3
Order Number: 1-800-428-5331
Available in: June 15th?
Yes, the same Jeff James who interviewed Mr.Gollop for Computer Gaming
World and the same one who helped me write THIS Un-official Strategy
Guide. I borrowed his chapter structure for this revision.
His book will include maps for all USOs, maps for all terror sites (at
least one variation of each), map of colony sites (both levels), and
complete map to T'leth (all three levels), plus real small team tactics.
--------
Title: XCOM : Terror From the Deep -- The OFFICIAL Strategy Guide
Price: ?
Author: Dave Ellis
Publisher: Prima Books
ISBN # ?
Order Number: ?
Available in: June?
Dave Ellis is the product support manager for MicroProse, and also wrote
the XCOM Official Strategy Guide.
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