Xcom, very late to the party

[EPW]

Since there doesn't seem to be any viable substitute, I'll give this game another chance.

[Quillan]

I recall getting very lucky early in the first game I completed, and capturing a living gray commander. Researching him allowed me to build a psi-lab, and I eventually developed the rule of booting any soldier whose psi strength was below about 50. It didn't make the remainder immune to being mind controlled, but it sure made them much more resistant to it.

[EPW]

I bought the game on steam, this version actually seems to work for me.

[EPW]

Gah, I just lost 9/12 of my operatives on a terror mission, and this is on beginner!

[N35t0r]

And invading my base. I hate that.

The initial base layout is hell for defending as well, since they can enter through the elevators and through the hangars. Ditching it if you suspect it has been discovered, and/or setting up a new base with a more defensible design and move all your radars and air/space craft there ASAP are good moves.

You can also rearrange your bases with editors, which is a good idea with your original base. Also, most (all?) of your guys start on living quarters, you only get to chose from the first so much items on the items list, and all of the extra equipment starts lying around on the stores, so having little extra crap on your bases likely to be attacked (so you can equip your soldiers as needed, instead of having lots of crap and little sueful stuff) and having your living quarters close to the chokepoint are a must.

[EPW]

Wait, they actually attack your bases?

[N35t0r]

Later on, yes.

[Quillan]

I think it's after Ethereals appear in the campaign, because they find your bases by scanning the minds of the people in them. Once you've done enough research down the psionics tech line, you can build a Mind Shield module in the base that makes it much harder for the aliens to locate it. When they do come for it, if they defeat all the soldiers there the base is lost. So, any base where you have scientists or engineers should have some soldiers as well, even if you don't use them on missions.

Base defense starts with initial planning, which is why defending your first base sucks unless you use an editor to change the layout. When the aliens come, they gain entry through the sections that connect to the surface: the elevator and the hangars. When designing a new base, put all your hangars at one side of the map, touching only another hangar. One hangar should connect to an elevator shaft, no hangar should touch any other module. Leave empty space between, and connect the elevator shaft to something on the other side. That way you know where to defend because they can only come through the elevator, and it's small.

I cannot say for certain about this, but back when I was playing I made a number of bases that only contained the elevator, 1-2 hangars with fighters, and a radar station. Not a single one of these was ever attacked. That might just be luck, due to a minute chance of discovery because I had no people there. Then again they might be immune, since you don't have to crew your aircraft the game might treat them as having no minds present to scan.

[Main_Brain]

which is why defending your first base sucks unless you use an editor to change the layout.

Huh? You only need to rebuild&raze the one building besides the Elevator.

Base Defense was fun, Especially if you were able to MindControl Aliens.
I also remember there was a Bug due to which you got Tons of Elirium-115
in those Missions

[Quillan]

Huh? You only need to rebuild&raze the one building besides the Elevator.

The last time I played X-Com, the initial base had two hangars in the top row (at the corners), one hanger in the center of the bottom row, and the elevator smack in the middle of the grid. I had to rearrange the whole thing.

[N35t0r]

Radar stations (any of them I think) are among the best buildings to use for chokepoints, between the elevators and the rest of the base.

I always thought that they discovered your bases by sending scouts over them, and from your radars and/or aircraft activity.

That's why later on in the game, I usually found two bases, one in the north pole and another in the south pole, just for research and manufacturing, respectively. I've never been attacked on those.

[El_Cid]

The last time I played X-Com, the initial base had two hangars in the top row (at the corners), one hanger in the center of the bottom row, and the elevator smack in the middle of the grid. I had to rearrange the whole thing.

?? I think you must have edited that in. it looks something like this:

****SkyRanger*****
**** Hanger *****
***SR+AS+LQ****WS
IntrCpt+GS+LB+IntrCpt
HAnger*******Hanger

something like that? But yeh it can be made defensible with two buildings(LQ+LB in that pic) getting destroyed(when you have built replacements), and if you keep a space on either side of the Skyranger hanger.

[Dry]

Here it is (from http://www.escapistmagazine.com/foru...2.82574?page=1) :


first change (page 3):



Final version (page 3):

[El_Cid]

Cool, 'printscreen' into paint has not been working for me! what did you do to get the screenshots?

So that first one is the default starting base, my version from memory was a little off, but close enough

The best/most defensive option when building a new base is to start with the access shaft in one of the corners, then build(very slowly obviously) one building at a time until you create a long corridoor down one side. Then you go across one square with a connecting building to join the rest of the base. This gives you a great choke point and long straight views down te ecorridoor the aliens have to travel down - plenty of kill zone

[Lord Avalon]

I'm reading that Escapist thread - he's playing a version where laser weapons require Elerium. It would suck if you didn't find any for a while. But he's been lucky - even getting intact UFO power sources on his first two missions!