Xcom, very late to the party

[El_Cid]

Well the emperor penguins will thank you

Not sure if it would help or hinder global warming mind you.......either less alien activity could be good, but you got to balance that with your increased activity in the area, so that could make it worse...........it's a tough call.

But the penguins would definately prefer the reduced anal probes etc, that's got to count for something

[lord of the mark]

Where do you feel the most emotional attachement for? - that's where my first base goes as it means i'm far more likely to fight harder(and not ignore so many terror attacks!).

See thats where atmospherics, including graphics, comes in. I don't feel any emotional attachment to the map outlines on the Xcom globe. I have to reall y try to get into the roleplaying of simply defending the globe. At this point it the strategy/gameplay looks good - if the story gets immersive, that must come later. At this point I am just going to powergame, playing to win without emotion.

[El_Cid]

put it this way - do you want to save Texas or Taiwan the most? I wasn't talking about the graphics in the game, role play it - what nation would you fight hardest for?

Stick your base so you can cover that place(and hopefuly some profitable nations as well) because it's a long and tough battle ahead of you, full of anguish, sacrifice and painful choices.
Not to mention months of gaming - if you dont give a sh*t you will see the game over screen much more frequently.

[lord of the mark]

put it this way - do you want to save Texas or Taiwan the most? I wasn't talking about the graphics in the game, role play it - what nation would you fight hardest for?

But Texas and Taiwan are just spots on an relatively abstract earth map - and both USA and China just give me money. Its not even like I get oil from Texas and memory chips from Taiwan. So I will just defend most the country that gives me the most money, or whichever is easier to defend with an optimally located base.

[Quillan]

Geez, LoTM, you are waay too anal about these games. Just do what I did the first time: look at the list of UN member contributions, and cover your biggest providers. That usually means either covering North America or Europe with the first base. Don't analyze deep meanings so much.

[Lord Avalon]

According to this Unofficial Strategy Guide, while the US is the biggest contributor, there are a lot of contributors around Europe. So it calls it a toss up between northcentral US and Europe.

Naturally, I would usually start in the US, but after reading this, I tried Switzerland. Haven't played in a while, but IIRC, it's more expensive to start another base in Europe than in the US, so you save something there.

[El_Cid]

so mercenry! come on guys where's your hearts! Money is important, but if you're prepared to let the aliens get a foothold due to lack of passion and commitment to 'your' people, then the human race is doomed!!

I make sure my base covers wales and ireland, and they don't even give me any money directly(probably comes from the uk contribution though)! That way i know i'll get motivated to fight to the death against the alien menace

When you have to rely on graphics to get you motivated you are actualy losing the best 'real world' representation - that of your mind! Graphics chips can't compete with that imho.

[Alinestra Covelia]

That reminds me of another great old game - Syndicate by Bullfrog. Did anybody play that? The game started off with a world map with some important changes (I remember China being a thin strip of land near the Pacific, with a much smaller population... guess the nation had a revolution or something) and I think you also could choose where you started. The default choice was in Europe.

[DrSpike]

A true classic that actually predates Xcom and was the first game to introduce many of its elements.

[lord of the mark]

so mercenry! come on guys where's your hearts! Money is important, but if you're prepared to let the aliens get a foothold due to lack of passion and commitment to 'your' people, then the human race is doomed!!

Au contraire, my mission IS to save the whole human race, not any one nation. I lead an international team, uniting all the nations of man against our alien enemy

[lord of the mark]

Geez, LoTM, you are waay too anal about these games.

I like to talk strategy when playing a strategy game.

[El_Cid]

@ LotM, So where did you decide to save first?

@AC(and Dr.) - mmmm Syndicate, great game for sure in it's wonderful dystopian way - it was such a great bleak worldview...and sadly maybe like a few other great titles will become a prophetic game? Ahh.... nothing like the sound of multiple chainguns in the morning.

hmmm I don't think i ever did complete it....some of the missions were really tough, i'll have to dig it out of storage and try again

[BeBMan]

I'd give somebody else's life for a cool new X-Com game

I played UFO Aftermath and it wasn't soooo bad IMO. But overall not as cool as the real stuff. And I never got into the sequels.

X-COM

[Garth Vader]

I generally built my first base in Germany to cover Europe since that's a high money area.

I would build a second base right away in NA. It would eventually become a fairly major base. Any other bases would just be radar stations.

[DrSpike]

@AC(and Dr.) - mmmm Syndicate, great game for sure in it's wonderful dystopian way - it was such a great bleak worldview...and sadly maybe like a few other great titles will become a prophetic game? Ahh.... nothing like the sound of multiple chainguns in the morning.

hmmm I don't think i ever did complete it....some of the missions were really tough, i'll have to dig it out of storage and try again

You are a mere beginner.