Because no one uses the Other Games Forum: X-COM

[Hauldren Collider]

Seems that on terror missions you need to chuck caution out the window and go for the quick advance. Otherwise the maps full of zombies and you're roundly ****ed.

Yeah, that's the impression I have too. Fill your team with extra Assault and spam run & gun, I think.

[Wiglaf]

I think you need rockets actually.

[Guynemer]

You need at least a couple Support guys with the three-extra-range promotion, to get to the civvies fast.

[regexcellent]

You need at least a couple Support guys with the three-extra-range promotion, to get to the civvies fast.

You can do it with the standard team. I had my sniper outfitted with a plasma pistol and I gave him the better pistol damage ability. Only one of my supports has the extra movement promotion. One thing you definitely need, though, is smoke grenades. My team has three of them. Use them to avoid needing cover. Keep one in reserve for when you face cyberdisks or sectopods. When you do face them, use suppressive fire from your supports (that have it) and your heavy. Anything that reduces aim is fantastic.

One thing that's really really good, actually, is SHIVs. If you've done enough crashed UFO missions, you'll have tons and tons of alloy, so they're pretty disposable. They're reasonably fast, and the alloy SHIVs can be used as cover.

Anyway, I think the key to winning the game is actually not letting your people get seriously wounded. Having experienced soldiers out of the fight for more than 5 or 6 days is unacceptable. Taking out enemies before they can even hit you is the main way to do this. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is liberal use of explosives to destroy cover, smoke grenades and suppressive fire to reduce enemy aim and increase friendly def, and very heavy use of overwatch. Have a fast-moving support pull the enemy and then run him back, set everyone else to overwatch so they pummel the enemies when they advance, then when it's your turn throw smoke grenades and frag grenades.

[kentonio]

I've never used a smoke grenade. You can get through a terror mission with the starter kit, you just need to be quick and manage your fields of fire.

Overwatch is of course key though. That's true for every mission though.

[Guynemer]

Looks like the Nexus (mod site for, mostly, Bethesda RPGs) is going to host X-COM mods as well. This one looks interesting: it odds a "second wave" option after the game is beaten, that adds a bunch of extra options for a second playthrough. Apparently, it was already in the game files, but not implimented, for whatever reason. I may give this a try after I go through Classic.

http://xcom.nexusmods.com/mods/7/

[regexcellent]

I've never used a smoke grenade. You can get through a terror mission with the starter kit, you just need to be quick and manage your fields of fire.

Overwatch is of course key though. That's true for every mission though.

Use them. That's your problem. Your forward characters should be getting that extra level of protection. If you have your people at squaddie rank then you should have two of them. I always made sure I had three on my team, unless a support was wounded in which case he would be filled in by a SHIV.

[Wiglaf]

There is also a mod that lets you shoot down terror mission UFOs before they land. Apparently it's just an .ini tweak. I was under the impression when playing that ignoring a big UFO could result in a terror mission, since it doesn't seem to increase panic all by itself.

I am surprised they don't offer all these tweaks in some advanced preferences menu, like in Civ.

[regexcellent]

You should be allowed to build more dropships in order to be able to tackle additional abductions.

[kentonio]

Use them. That's your problem.

Well I don't really have a problem, as I said you can do terror missions with just the beginning equipment and no SG's if you use decent tactics.

You should be allowed to build more dropships in order to be able to tackle additional abductions.

You could in the original, removing that was a deliberate design choice.

[regexcellent]

Well I don't really have a problem, as I said you can do terror missions with just the beginning equipment and no SG's if you use decent tactics.

Ah, I was mixing you up with the people who were failing the terror missions.

You could in the original, removing that was a deliberate design choice.

Well then they should add it back

[kentonio]

Well then they should add it back

It's not quite that simple. In the original you could end up with a big team and respond to any mission, but you tended to reach a point where it seemed like too much effort to respond to everything. By putting the missions in little groups and making you choose, it forces decisions on you and keeps an extra level of tension as you have to balance the needs of the council.

[regexcellent]

So make it expensive. And limit it to like, two dropships. Maybe three.

[Wiglaf]

So make it expensive. And limit it to like, two dropships. Maybe three.

From a game design standpoint, I don't think what the game needs is the opportunity to do double the ground missions. There's already more than enough. It should be possible to have a low worldwide panic level, but this isn't how to do it.

[Hauldren Collider]

I agree with Wiglaf and Kentonio--it's enough of a hassle to manage one squad.