X-Com help

[DrSpike]

It works on my Amiga, which I still have.

[Kuciwalker]

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
There's a fan made patch that'll make it work, that is. I'm not sure if it works with any other version then the gold edition.

This more correctly says what I meant when I said there was a Windows version.

ACK!

[Tuberski]

The most recent game I started, I found 2 UFOs already landed, should I wait for them to take off, or attack them while they are landed?

Even the tiny scouts seem to have up to 4 aliens when I attack them without shooting them.

Also, the weapons and equipment I get from battles:

I don't seem to be able to use them, should I sell all of them immediately or keep one so that it can be researched?

Does it matter?

ACK!

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by DrSpike
It works on my Amiga, which I still have.

I think its the hardest version, it might not have the night missions(well its version of night is no way near as dark as the PC version), but I've played the PC and PS( ) versions and they are just not as brutal as the amiga version IMHO.

Sadly my Amiga is a little sick these days, still i can play games from the floppy


@Tuberski - when going on the combat missions to kill the aliens just be as cautious and tactical as you can. Move you guys so they give each other covering fire(like you see in good war movies).

Split them in two groups if needed, then you can come at the spacecraft from two sides, or send one group to the ship and have the other move around the landscape clearing houses/barns etc. Do it like a SWAT team and you will have a decent chance

And if you get a situation where you want to move one more square to see around the corner, but wont have enough points to do anything else.......its best to choose not to move, if you want your soilders to progress and improve thier skills and rank.

And as people have mentioned you will find it helpfull to name your soilders as numbers based on their stats. I used something like:

S60 H45 G50 TU32 etc where each made reference to a particular skill(in my example S60 is for shooting ability, H45 for health, G50 grenade throwing + TU50 time units etc). The trick is trying to fit as much info in their name as you can so you can see on the battlefield whos good at what. Ok you have to update them all the time, but thats half the fun......the other half how these poor souls become numbers and loose their names

Keep one of everything untill you have researched it(in fact keep it all unless you get short on cash).

Investing in Scientists and laboritaries so you can research new techs is a vital part of the game.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Tuberski
The most recent game I started, I found 2 UFOs already landed, should I wait for them to take off, or attack them while they are landed?

Even the tiny scouts seem to have up to 4 aliens when I attack them without shooting them.

Also, the weapons and equipment I get from battles:

I don't seem to be able to use them, should I sell all of them immediately or keep one so that it can be researched?

Does it matter?

ACK!

if they have already landed, you better send your Skyranger immediately! Once they take off they are nearly impossible to intercept (they disappear fast)

You may not have time to return to base to restock and resuplly. You might consider doing both missions consecutively. This will require you not to take too many losses on your first mission. But time goes real slow during missions. So take your time and be cautious.

you can't use the equipment until you research it. This is why it is important to recruit more scientists and build more labs. Start researching plasma rifles and heavy plasma. and then alien metal alloys (whatever it's called)

If you need the money, sell all of them except one. But it's a good idea to keep enough plasma rifles to equip one skyranger (in anticipation of researching it). sell any excess. For example, if you usually carry 14 men in your skyranger keep 14 rifles. Once you actually load those weapons onto the skyranger they won't come up on the sell screen.

[Skanky Burns]

Anticipate for the future. If the weapon you have in stock but not researched is better than the weapons your soldiers are currently using, keep them unless you need the cash. Never sell clips unless you are desperate for money or you have plenty of spare clips for a better weapon. The money you get is not worth the risk of running out of ammo later on, and these ammo clips don't take up much stores space.

[Urban Ranger]

I used tanks to enter UFO's first. They are tough so it's unlikely that they'll get killed by a single shot, then I can move the soldiers in to kill of the evil aliens.


Skanky,

No, terror missions disappear after a while even if you have a plane sitting on top. IIRC, that is.

[Urban Ranger]

Tub,

You should equip your soldiers with autocannons. Go cautious. Use aimed shots at first. Reserve movement for opportunity fire (switch to snap shots at the end). Use a tank.

Originally posted by Dissident
you can't use the equipment until you research it. This is why it is important to recruit more scientists and build more labs. Start researching plasma rifles and heavy plasma. and then alien metal alloys (whatever it's called)

I don't think you can research plasma before reseaching elirium (something like that) and alien alloy.

[Kassiopeia]

Research lasers! They are of first priority. Researching plasma trinkets will take too long, and the projectile weapons, err, assault rifles utterly suck. Laser rifles have infinite ammo, pack a punch and are fairly accurate.

[reds4ever]

If possible, shoot the UFO's down using the 'cautious attack' option, you'll get more aliens alive to give your soldiers experience points and also there will be more goodies on the UFO to sell

[Dis]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Research lasers! They are of first priority. Researching plasma trinkets will take too long, and the projectile weapons, err, assault rifles utterly suck. Laser rifles have infinite ammo, pack a punch and are fairly accurate.

I never did lasers. I heard they are kind of necessary on the higher levels. but I've never had to research them. Plasma comes soon enough.

Until then I rely heavily on rocket launchers and assault rifles (I'd never use a pistol )

[Skanky Burns]

I always went straight from standard weapons to plasma. Laser takes too long for too little.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I used tanks to enter UFO's first. They are tough so it's unlikely that they'll get killed by a single shot, then I can move the soldiers in to kill of the evil aliens.

There are a number of ufos that you can't use that trick for. Alas.

Skanky,

No, terror missions disappear after a while even if you have a plane sitting on top. IIRC, that is.

Possibly. I know some other missions you can keep sitting there for an infinite time, but I also seem to recall terror missions disappearing even while targetted. They last long enough for you to wait for day though.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I don't think you can research plasma before reseaching elirium (something like that) and alien alloy.

Elerium and alien alloys exist on a seperat "tech tree" to plasma weapons, so all three can be researched in any order.

UFO Tech Tree by Nethog. Contains tech trees to many other games too.

And as a random fact, the only way to shoot down the tiniest ufo size is to equip only cannons to your interceptor. Any other weapon will destroy the ufo. As another random fact, before I discovered raising levels in the tactical map, I though the smallest ufo was an oil-well. "Gee, those aliens like hanging around that oil-well a lot".