XCOM2: Terror from the Deep The UN-official Strategy Guide and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Updated Apr-15/95 Maintained by Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang 0.1 Introduction Thanks for the tremendous response for XCOM:USG! I've received feedback all over the world and I thank you all. This is the first rev of the XCOM2:USG. Undoubtably lots of things are missing 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... But it is STILL a must-buy. :-) And it IS HARD! This guide is VERY similar to XCOM:USG since most of the strategy and tactics STILL apply. In fact, they are more important than ever, since the game is much harder, much less forgiving of your tactical blunders. 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 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 with me and provided a lot of exclusive information (non-MicroProse), including the Julian Gollop interview. 0.3 Notes on the USG 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, I'll include it in the next update. The USG should be available at the Game Domain WWW WWW : http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain 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: Internet 1 : kschang@sfsu.edu (preferred) WWW Homepage : http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kschang Internet 2 : ksc1@aol.com (only if you must, see below) America On-Line : Ksc1 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 (2nd address) twice a week so you won't get a prompt reply if you contact me there. Table of Contents 1.0 XCOM2 General Information What is this game? What about bugs? Patches? Expansions and future versions? How do I win or lose? 2.0 The GeoScape Screen and General Hints How do I use GeoScape? Any tricks or tips? 3.0 XCOM2 Bases Where do I put my first bases? How to I build bases that are easy to defend? How much defense do I build? 4.0 XCOM2 Hardware What kind of weapons are available? Which ones are the best? 5.0 Finance How do I make more money? How do I spend less money? How do I cheat and get more money? 6.0 Research and Manufacturing What do I research? What do I build? 7.0 Intercepting alien subs How do I intercept alien subs? What weapon should I use against alien sub type X? 8.0 Soldiers, Movement, and Combat Who do I send on missions? How do I avoid casualties? 9.0 The aliens Who are these & *#%*!? How do I kill them most efficiently? 10.0 Ground Assaults What do I do in subs assaults and recoveries? What is the best way to defend my base? Assaulting alien bases? 11.0 Mastering Cydonia -- The Final Assault How do I win the "final confrontation"? 12.0 Misc Stuff Any other questions? (if information you are looking for is not listed, e-mail me and I'll give you an answer, and I'll include it in next update) BEGIN XCOM2 UN-official Strategy Guide 1.0 XCOM2 General Information 1.1 What is XCOM2: Terror from the Deep? XCOM had defeated the alien invasion which threatened Earth about year 2000. Their Martian base at Cydonia 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 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 alien subs 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. 1.2 How does XCOM2 play? In three words, "just like XCOM". MOTS (more of the same). 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. Battlescape is an isometric tile-based 3-D combat with viewpoint similar to SimCity 2000 and Syndicate. 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 to choose from. Everything is mouse-driven so game is very easy to learn yet hard to master. 1.3 What type of PC do I need? Is a Demo available? You need a 386 or better, minimum of 4 MB RAM, VGA, Mouse, MS/PC-DOS 5.0 or higher. It comes on 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's a CD version which has a much longer animated beginning and ending, but is otherwise the same game that takes up only about 4 megs of hard drive space. You need a double-speed CD-ROM drive in order to see the animated beginning and ending, or you'll see the slide-show instead. See the README.TXT file for details. (Note: there appears to be a bug on some computers so even if you have the right hardware slideshow will play instead of animation) You CAN install the CD version onto the hard drive if you have enough space. There's an install option for that. All major soundcards including Gravis Ultrasound are supported. Gravis owners must have FULL set of patches available on HD. The game uses 32-bit protected mode, so it would not run under Windows. No compatibility claims was made to any other versions of DOS such as DR DOS, Novell DOS 7, or even OS/2. 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. Beware that it is often quite busy and thus hard to get in... 1.5 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! Many have reported problems using the General MIDI sound option. If you have problems with General MIDI, use regular FM sounds. There is a known problem regarding SB16 with Waveblaster daughterboards. Select 8-bit SB for sound and General MIDI for music should allow the game to work. On some computers the CD version plays the slide show intro instead of the full animation even though the hardware is present (i.e. 280K+ on CDSPEED test). This can also happen if you install the whole game onto the HD. Many have reported the "missing commander" bug (they captured one but cannot research). Try checking your base stores and transfer out some existing prisoners. One player have reported funding problems, larger than expected expenses. MPS is looking into that. 1.6 Any plans on sequels? Mission disks? Other computers? How about XCOM fiction? Can I write my own? XCOM3 is in the works... See CGW's exclusive interview with Julan Gollop, designer of XCOM. (http://www.ziff.com) There is current NO PLAN on porting XCOM2 to other computers. If you want to see a native version, tell MicroProse. One address to try is MicroProse@compuserve.com. Regarding XCOM Fiction, here's the OFFICIAL word from MicroProse: ----BEGIN EXCERPT---- From our official people, you need to write a letter giving a clear outline of a proposal to submit to our marketing/P.R. folks. Keep in mind that we do our stories (although that in itself is no reason you couldn't do your own), so you may want to see what we have done so far by looking at our Web page. [http://www.microprose.com, which is impossible to get in...] You may want to outline things like potential storylines, your intent for distributing (free, Web page, for money, etc.), and similar things. Tim Patterson, MicroProse Software ----END EXCERPT---- 1.7 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: 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?) 1.8 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 alien subs, 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. 1.9 If I have XCOM, should I buy this game? Yes! If you think XCOM is easy, you'll get CREAMED in this game! Graphics are better. There's more use of shading and lighting effects, sound is better too, with more cards supported. Even though the physics are goofy (see section 14), it's still a great game. 2.0 The Geoscape Screen The GeoScape screen is where you will control the interceptions and provides access to the BattleScape and the base controls. 2.1 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 alien sub 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. Since the best weapons have a chance of blowing a smaller alien sub totally to pieces, you may want to keep one fighter armed weaker than the rest for intercepting smaller alien subs. (Assuming that you even WANT to go after small alien subs) 2.2 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 alien subs, 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 alien subs 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 alien subs have firing ports! One Disruptor pulse and... 2.3 Base Management [also see 3.0 for XCOM Bases] 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 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. 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 delievered early NEXT month, so you get maximum research from them while not paying an extra penny in salary. 2.4 GeoScape Tricks and Tips Many people don't realize that click on the SUB's icon will bring up all known info about the subs. If you detected it via Transmission Resolver, you'll know A LOT about it. Alien sub 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!) 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. Landed/crashed subs still has info, such as size. 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 Target Selection If several targets presents itself, which one should you attack? Here are some of my general guidelines: 2.5.1 Alien subs in flight Attack the biggest subs you can handle. Launch from the closest base FROM ALIEN SUB'S INTENDED TARGET if it is known or can be deduced from sub's 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 alien sub may take off again. Keep a fighter sub on top of a landed alien subs in case it takes off before your transport sub can get to it. 2.5.2 Downed/Landed alien subs Attack the biggest alien sub 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 alien sub instead of a shot-down alien sub. 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 alien subs 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. 2.5.3 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) 2.5.4 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 strength/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. Also, 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... 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. Confirmed by MicroProse: all aliens captured in the first half of a two-part mission are considered DEAD if you win in the final briefing. 3.0 XCOM Bases 3.1 Where should I put my first base? Additional bases? 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. 3.2 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 XCOM crafts seems to have shorter ranges. 3.3 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... 3.3.1 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 5 percent chance of detecting an subs within its detection radius (just like the UFOpedia says), so you don't need both small and large sonars, just large will do (unless you run out of money!). Ten 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. 3.3.2 Intercept Base 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 SWSs) since aliens may get mad seeing their alien subs getting destroyed in your area. 3.3.3 Strike Base 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 alien subs and/or bases in the area. 3.3.4 Research Base / Manufacture Base 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 3.3.5 variant. 3.3.5 Special Research Base or Manufacture Base Alien subs 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 alien subs 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. 3.4 How do I design secure base easy to defend? The truth is, it doesn't matter really now. In XCOM2, they do NOT come through the sub pens and airlocks now. They just appear randomly within the base. (EEEEEKKKK! Did MicroProse read this section or what?) Following is a theoretical way to counter that. To counter that, cut base up into sections. One central corridor with airlock, then links off into different sections via more corridors to sections of workshops, labs, and so on. This will allow you to block off different sections of the base and allow you to concentrate on clearing out one section at a time with overwhelming firepower. Here's a very general and theoretical idea: SSASSD Key: S = Sub pen G = General Stores A = Airlock SSQSSX Q = Quarters L = Laboratories D = Defenses Q W = Workshop C = Alien Containment X = Misc CGLGLD Q 2 Sub pens, 5 Quarters, 2 Labs, 2 Workshops DQGQWW 3 Gen.Stores, 3 defense, 1 Alien Con, 1 Misc. How does this work? I hope you have plenty of particle displacement grenades available. Any way, notice that there are basically five sections of the base (sub pens, left and right labs, left and right workshops). Your plan is to isolate each section with ParDisGre's and you concentrate on one section at a time. Quarters are located at the chokepoints so you have fast reaction time, and Gen.Stores are spread throughout the base so you have equipment available elsewhere. 3.5 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, 3.6 How should I defend a base? How much defense is enough? 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. On the other hand, if you don't have fighter subs to fight large alien subs, 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 subs usually scout ahead of the large subs 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. 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 are pulled from inventory in the order on the SELL screen, top to bottom in order. So if you have lots of harpoon rifles and pods you'll never got to sonics and disruptors. If you really ran out of space and do not want to conduct a fire sale, stuff the extras into the transports, though selling them is much easier and gains you money. 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... 3.7 Base modules Name DaysBuild Cost Maint 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 range, 5% detect/10 mins Wide Sonar Array 25 800k 15k 450 km range, 5% detect/10 mins Torpedo Defense 16 200k 5k Def value 500, Accuracy 50% General Stores 10 150k 5k Holds 50 units of equipment (2) Alien Containment 18 400k 15k Holds 10[!?] live aliens M.C.Generator 33 1300K 5K Makes base harder to find Gauss Defense 24 400k 10k Def value 600, Accuracy 60% Sonic Defense 34 600k 12k Def value 900, 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 alien sub 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. 4.0 XCOM2 Hardware Here's the comprehensive list of all the toys you get to play with. Of course, most of them requires research. 4.1 XCOM Crafts and their weapons XCOM crafts comes in two flavors: traditional, and alien-based. traditional, besides using conventional tech, also requires MONTHLY RENT, so replace them with alien-based crafts as soon as possible. XCOM weapons also comes in two flavors: built vs bought. 4.1.1 XCOM Crafts Speed Accel Fuel Weapons Hull Cargo SWSs Note Triton 790 2 1400 0 160 14 3 Barracuda 2400 3 800 2 120 0 0 ----Research required---- Manta 4600 9 30(Z) 6? 2 400 0 0 (1) Hammerhead 4030 9 60(Z)12? 1 960 12 0 (2) Leviathan 5400 10 50(Z)10? 2 1250 26 4 (3) (Z) Uses Zrbite for fuel (1) new fighter (2) new fighter/transport (3) ultimate craft 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 Weapons : 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. 4.1.2 Craft General Advice None at this moment, except to note that Leviathan has LESS fuel capacity than Hammerhead 4.1.3 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 1: 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) 4.1.4 Craft Weapons General Advice You don't want Ajax torpedoes. Replace with DUP's ASAP. Dump the Gas cannon too. Sonic Oscillator is a good weapon, kind of "toned down" underwater plasma cannon. 4.2 XCOM Ground Weapons Ground weapons accuracy is further modified by free hands, kneeling /standing, and soldier's shooting accuracy. Time Units used is always expressed as a percent of a soldier's total TU. Also see 8.6.X on battle notes for each type of weapon. (Accuracy / TU% needed) 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 Harpoon 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 Torpedo 90 HE Large Torpedo 80 I Phosphorus Torp. Magna-Blast Grenade 50 HE Dye Grenade 10 HE Particle Disturbance Grenade 70 HE Magna-Pack Explosive 100 HE Thermal Tazer 80 Frez --Research required--- 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 Sonc SP clip (20) Sonic Blasta Rifle 110/60 75/40 95 Sonc SBR clip (15) Sonic Cannon 115/70 80/50 130 Sonc HP clip (10) Disruptor Pulse Lchr 120/75 210 HE Disruptor Ammo Thermal Shok Lchr 120/70 70/50 90 Frez Thermal Shok Bomb Sonic Pulser 120 HE Vibroblade 80 AP HTH Thermic Lance 110 AP HTH Heavy Thermic Lance 150 AP HTH 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 4.3 SWS Types Shots Dam TU ArmorF/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. 4.4 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 1 : Mag. Ion Armor "flies", like "flying suit" 4.5 Equipment Equipment are non-combat items that you may need to use in BattleScape. 4.5.1 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 Sensor see UFOpedia for instructions Molecular Control 50% allows you to see alien's status screen Reader (ID, TUs remain, health, + other stats) Molecular Control 50% allows panic or control of aliens Disruptor with M.C. training 4.5.2 Very General Advice None at this time. :-) 4.5.3 How do I use... Check your UFOpedia. Below are some additional tips: 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 they won'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. 4.6 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 3 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 Phosphorus Torp Ammo 1200 Magna-Blast Grde. Weapon 300 Smoke Grenade Weapon 150 Part.Disp.Grenade Weapon 500 Magna-Pck Explo. Weapon 1500 Thermal Tazer Weapon 1260 Chemical Flare Equipment 60 --Personnel have monthly salary of half of hiring bonus --Craft have month lease payment same as hiring bonus 4.7 Stuff that must be researched and manufacturered See 5.4 for profitability study of these items. Note that costs have remained virtually UNCHANGED. Engineer Workshop Aqua Sale Hours Cost Space Zrbite Plas. Price [Equipment] Par.Disp.Sensor 220 34k 4 - - 45600 Medikit 420 28k 4 - - 46500 M.C.Reader 1200 262k 4 1 1 304000 M.C.Disruptor 500 160k 4 1 - 194700 [Armor] Aqua plas. armor 800 22k 12 - 4 54000 Ion Armor 1000 42k 16 5 5 85000 Mag. Ion Armor 1400 58k 16 16 5 115000 [SWS] Coelacanth/Gauss 1200 500k 25 - - 59400 Gauss ammo ? 200 Displacer/Sonic 1200 850k 30 30 5 980000 Hovertank/launcher 1400 900k 30 25 8 1043000 SWS Pulse Wave Torp 400 15k 25 5 8 31500 [weapons] Gauss pistol 300 8k 2 - - 20000 Gauss pistol clip 20 1k 3 - - 1050 Gauss rifle 400 20k 3 - - 36900 Gauss rifle clip 45 2k 4 - - 1950 Heavy gauss 700 32k 4 - - 61000 Heavy gauss clip 70 4K 4 - - 3220 Sonic pistol 600 56k 3 - 1 84000 Sonic pistol clip 60 2k 4 1 - 4440 Sonic blasta rifle 820 88k 4 - 1 126500 Blasta power clip 80 3k 4 2 - 6290 Sonic Cannon 1000 122k 4 - 1 171600 Cannon power clip 80 6k 4 3 - 9590 Dis. Pulse l'cher 1200 90k 5 - 1 144000 Dis. Pulse ammo 220 8k 3 3 - 17028 Thermo Shok l'cher 900 78k 3 - 1 120000 Thermo Shok bomb 200 7k 2 1 - 15200 Sonic Pulser 200 6.7k 2 2 - 14850 Vibroblade 150 7k 3 1 - 1500 Thermic Lance 220 12k 3 2 1800 Heavy Thermic Lance 300 20k 3 2 2000 [Crafts] Hammerhead 14000 400k 30 - 65 -* Manta 18000 600k 34 - 85 -* Leviathan 34000 900k 36 - 120 -** [Craft Weapons] Gauss cannon 300 182k 6 - - 211000 Gauss Ammo 5 200 2 1012 Sonic oscillator 500 226k 8 15 - 267300 P.W.T. launcher 400 242k 6 - - 281100 P.W.T. ammo 600 28k 6 4 - 53300 [Misc] Aqua plastic 100 3k 10 - - 6500 Zrbite - - - - - 5000*** Ion Beam Accel. 1400 130k 22 16 5 250000 Mag. Navigation 1600 150k 18 - 3 80000 * needs 1 Ion Beam Accel. + 1 Mag. Navigation ** needs 2 Ion Beam Accel. + 1 Mag. Navigation *** Zrbite can ONLY be captured as parts of sub or base, which makes it extremely valuable, so NEVER sell or waste any of it 5.0 Finance 5.1 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. 5.2 How do I earn more money? Three (real) ways to make money in XCOM: Make your sponsors -- 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 -- (still trying to come up with a reliable profitability chart!) Sell captured/surplus equipment -- most of your money will be made this way. Dump off all your obsolete equipment (pistols, rifles, etc) and surplus and you will get LOTS of money. You will usually end with with plenty of surplus heavy sonic, 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. As a last resort, you can always cheat. See the last section for how. 5.3 How do I cut expenses? * Cut Maintenence -- dismantle any unused facility. Trans. resolver detects 100% of UFOs in range, so get rid of all sonars once you have one. * 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 5.5) 5.4 What do I manufacture to make more money on the arms market? XCOM2 Profitability study -- by Kasey Chang original 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] Work Eng Raw Sale Unit|Monthly|Net Item Space Hrs Material Cost Price P R O F I T ----------------------------------------------------------------- Par. Disp. Sensor 4 220 - 34K 45K 11K 3765K 1275K Medikit 4 420 - 28K 46K 18K 3146K 656K M.C. Disruptor 4 500 1E 160K 194K 29K 4242K 1752K Aq.plas. Armor 12 800 4A 22K 54K 6K 491K - Ion armor 16 1000 5E+5A 42K 85K - - - Mag. Ion armor 16 1400 16E+5A 58K 115K - - - Aqua Plastic 10 100 - 3K 6K 3K 2343K 3K Gauss Pistol 2 300 - 8K 20K 12K 2916K 376K Gauss pistol clip 2 20 - 1K 1050 - Gauss Rifle 3 400 - 20K 36K 16K 3049K 534K Gauss rifle clip 4 45 - 2K 1950 - Heavy gauss 4 700 - 32K 61K 29K 2958K 468K Heavy gauss clip 4 70 - 4K 3220 - Sonic Pistol 3 600 1A 56K 84K 21K 2586K 71K Sonic Pistol Clip 4 60 1E 2K 4K - - - Sonic Blasta Rifle 4 820 1A 88K 126K 32K 2787K 297K Blasta Power Clip 4 80 2E 3K 6K - - - Sonic Cannon 4 1000 1A 122K 171K 43K 3078K 588K Cannon Power Clip 4 80 3E 6K 9K - - - Dis. Pulse L'cher 5 1200 1A 90K 144K 47K 2797K 332K Dis. Pulse ammo 3 220 3E 8K 17K - - - Thermo Shok l'cher 3 900 1A 78K 120K 35K 2846K 331K Thermo Shok bomb 2 200 1E 7K 15K 3K 1166K - Sonic pulser 2 200 2E 6K 14K - - - M.C. Reader 4 1200 1E 262K 304K 37K 2202K - Ion beam accel. 22 1400 16E+5A 130K 250K 7K 310K - Mag Navigation 18 1600 3A 150K 80K - - - P.W.Torp l'cher 6 400 1A 242K 281K 36K 6294K 3874K P.W.T ammo 6 600 4E 28K 53K 5K 617K - Gauss Craft Cannon 6 300 - 182K 211K 29K 6904K 4434K Gauss Cannon ammo 2 5 - 200 200 - - - Sonic Oscillator 8 500 15E 226K 267K - - - Coelacanth/Gauss 25 1200 - 500K 594K 94K 4371K 2406K Displacer/sonic 30 1200 30E+5A 850K 980K - - - Displacer/P.W.T. 0 1400 25E+8A 900K 1043K - - - P.W.T. SWS ammo 25 400 5E+8A 15K 31K - - - 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). '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, Guass 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] 5.5 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! 5.6 Aliens signed pact with XXX who stopped paying me! Nothing you can do. One of the Infiltration subs got through. (See 9.8 Alien Missions) and now the sponsor stopped paying you. Consensus on the net is you can NOT get them back (i.e. nullify the pact). And if enough sponsors left you, you lost. 6.0 Research and Manufacturing 6.1 What should I start researching first? I recommend all gauss weapons for the starting projects. Dart pistols and Jet Harpoons are pitiful against sonic rifles and sonic pulsers (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. 6.2 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. 6.3 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 "tree" is in pieces, some parts are repeated due to space and organization concerns. means item researches to self (i.e. can be used) -- means item1 and item2 are related, and must be both researched before either can be used Gauss Weapons |_________ | | __ |_________ | | ___ |_________ | | ___ -- -- -- -- -- Calcinite Corpse | Vibroblade | Thermic Lance | Heavy Thermic Lance Live navigator -+-> "Ultimate threat" | +-> Magnetic navigation | | V V Magnetic ion armor Transmission Resolver | +------------------------+ | V PWT Launcher Alien sub construction | | +-> Displacer/PWT New fighter flying sub ---------> +PWT Ammo (Manta, Coelacanth/Gauss) | New fighter/transporter Live Commander (Hammerhead, Displacer/Sonic) | | V +--------------------------------+ | +------------------------+ | | Latest Flying Sub T'Leth, alien city (Leviathan, | Bombardment Shield) | | | +----+----+ | V "The Final Mission" Live Deep One Terrorist (or Live Calcinite?) | +-> Alien origins | Live Tasoth +-> M.C. Lab -> M.C. Reader | | | V +-----------+------------+ | M.C.Disruptor NOTE: Following must be complete in this specific sequence! Deep One corpse -> aqua plastics -> aqua plastic amor -> zrbite -> ion beam accelerators -> deep one terrorist -> ion armor 6.4 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. 7.0 Intercepting alien subs 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. 7.1 Tracking alien subs Remember that alien subs 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 alien sub 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 alien sub's destination directly as it comes into range. 7.2 Alien Sub Attack methods Once you got a craft in range of the subs, 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. Useful when you want a not too badly damaged alien sub (just enough to "sink" it). Normal Attack: average damage per attack, enough for most attacks if your weapon outranges the alien subs. 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. Good for brave/suicidal charges (toward an alien battleship or dreadnaught, for instance) 7.3 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) 7.4 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. 7.5 Keep Landed alien subs 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 alien sub takes off, you still have a chance to shoot it down. 7.6 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 alien sub totally destroyed so that nothing can be recovered. For this reason, if you WANT to go after the smaller alien subs, keep a fighter around with "wimpy" weapons. 8.0 Soldiers, Movement, and Combat 8.1 Soldiers 8.1.1 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 motion sensor Medic (MD) -- carry Medi-Kit 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. 8.1.2 Recruiting Aquanauts Sack weaklings ASAP. You want high strength, reaction, bravery, and shooting accuracy, and when you get MC, MC strength. 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. 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. 8.1.3 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. You want more strength? Carry heavy stuff. More accuracy? Take more shots. Soldiers with kills gain more than those without kills. 8.1.4 Dividing up specialties (with help from Jeff James) Assuming 10 soldiers and 1 SWS (normal for a Triton) you should have the following: 2 medics/pack mule (carry medikit + reloads + grenades) 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. 8.1.5 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. 8.2 Movement 8.2.1 Deployment from Transport into Battle Always send an SWS out first... Just past the wing of the Triton so it can see past it, then look "up" and "down". Prime a grenade for most soldiers and be ready to throw. 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" 8.2.2 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) Kneel whenever possible. It increases your accuracy and decreases the enemy's (make you a smaller target) 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 If you have magnetic ion armor, do not stay off floor unless you have something to hide behind also. 8.2.3 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 AI XCOM 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. 8.2.4 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. 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 shot (not a stun shot) is more likely to wake up. 8.2.5 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. 8.2.6 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) 8.2.7 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... 8.2.8 Stairs as safe haven? Some have reported that if you stand on stairs you will not be attacked, while you can keep shooting. This is UNCONFIRMED. 8.3 General Combat Tactics 8.3.1 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. 8.3.2 Grenade usage Grenades should be used for firepower supplement. If you suspect an alien in the area, drop a grenade in the area. This 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 Strength 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. It appears that the timer mechanism has changed slightly. Setting of 0 means it goes off at the end of your turn, and setting of 1 means it will go off at the end of the alien's turn, which is a little different from XCOM1. 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. 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 outer hull of alien subs, 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. 8.3.3 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!) 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 its 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 alien subs, not DPs. 8.3.4 Rookie Sonic Fodder One possible if cruel tactic is to use rookies instead of SWSs 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... 8.3.5 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). BUG: underwater-only weapons fire on land during op. fire. 8.3.9 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) 8.4 Capturing Aliens 8.4.1 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...] 8.4.2 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. 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". 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). 8.4.5 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) 8.5 Molecular Control Combat See research tree on how to gain Molecular Control. General observation: aliens STILL do NOT pick up dropped weapons. 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 M.C. 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 MC 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. MCStr determines resistance to MC attacks as well as potential with training 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 MC attacks (i.e. high MCStr, without MC labs to help you identify them it is by chance. Once you get M.C.Labs, sack those with low MCStr. If a solider was MCed more than once in a battle and s/he survives, sack him/her immediately after. S/he probably has low bravery and/or low MC strength, 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. 8.6 Battle Notes on weapons 8.6.1 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. 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. Use SWSs (and 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 1 - 0.42 = 0.56, or 56% 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. 8.6.2 Dart Pistols and Jet Harpoons Use them only when you have to, sniper style. Dump them for gauss weapons as fast as possible. They use small clips and does little damage. Auto-fire with Jet Harpoon is a waste of ammo. 8.6.3 Gas Cannon and HydroJet Cannon Gas Cannon is slightly more accurate than the HJ Cannon and a bit more damage, 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. HJ Cannon is pretty good, but since it only works below water, makes it rather ineffective. 8.6.4 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 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 you 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. 8.6.5 Gauss Pistol, Gauss Rifle, and Heavy Gauss Forget the heavy gauss. The 25% more damage that it does is offset by having no auto mode and decreased accuracy. You can probably forget the gauss pistol also, but you need to research it to get gauss rifle. You also need to heavy gauss to get gauss defense and craft gauss cannon, the most profitable item in XCOM2. 8.6.6 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 UFO'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 2-square blast radius and 1-square sensing radius, so do NOT throw them next to the door! 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 medium/large scout's exterior 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 city fighting, but I use sonic pulsers. Sometimes kneeling down will allow you to throw where you cannot before 8.6.7 Sonic Pistol, Sonic Blasta Rifle, and Sonic Cannon 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. 8.6.8 Disruptor pulse launcher and Thermal Shok 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. 8.6.9 Vibroblade, Thermic Lance, and Heavy Thermic Lance 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. 9.0 The Aliens Most information here can be accessed via the UFOpedia. 9.1 Average Alien Stats (on easiest level!) [not ready yet...] ---- Armor ---- TUs Ene Hea Bra Rea Fir Thr Str MSt MSk Fro Sid Rer Und Aquatoid Gillman Lobsterman Tasoth Calcinite Deep One BioDrone Tentaculat 100 Triscene Xarquid Hallucinoid Zombie [Pending] TUs = time units Ene = energy/stamina Hea = health Bra = bravery Rea = reaction Fir = firing accuracy Thr = throwing accuracy Str = strength MSt = MC Strength MSk = MC Skill Armor = front/side/rear/under 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. 9.2 Alien attack/defense summary [incomplete] Alien Attack Defend Vulnerable ------------------------------------------------- Aquatoid weapon Gillman weapon Lobsterman weapon, HTH Tasoth weapon 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 : esp. vulnerable to type(s) of attack 9.3 Alien specialties and information possible from them Alien Soldier ----- mission (harvest, base, etc) Alien Medic ----- Species information * Alien Navigator ----- lots of research ** Alien Technician ----- sub stats (of that sub) Alien Squad Leader ----- alien origin Alien Commander ----- see research tree * alien medics can give information on species other than their own ** navigators are VERY important, as they can allow research of LOTS of stuff, like magnetic navigation, transmission resolver, and more. 9.4 Alien Missions Alien Probe -- testing area for resources Alien Interdiction -- attack areas to drive out human presence Alien Resource Raid -- grab for resources such as raw materials 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 9.5 Battle Notes on individual aliens Kill Tentaculus ASAP at a terror site. Kill them ASAP, even if it means wiping out the civilians near it. Use all heavy weapons on it freely. If you are REALLY worried about Tentaculus (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 9.6 subs floorplans [none at this time, sorry! Coming soon!] 9.7 subs speed, range, etc. [not quite finished, sorry!] Max Hull Weapon* Range Ship Max** Size Speed Damage Power Range in km? Width Crew Survey ship VS 2000 60 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 Fleet Sup. Cr 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 (C) in the host race. Any 4-space creatures counts as 4 aliens for this. 10.0 Ground Assaults 10.1 Packing Advice The 80-item limit is always a problem, especially on an Avenger and Lightning when you can carry LOTS of soldiers. While the OSG gave some hints on what to take, 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 heavy sonic (which seems to be used by all aliens near the end of the game) * Carry uniform weapons. Don't mix pistols and rifles, sonics and slug-throwers. Instead of a pistol/clip and rifle/clip, bring an extra clip for the rifle. * 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 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 electro-flares which you end up throwing all over the place (exception: Attack Terror Sites ASAP) 10.2 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 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. 10.3 [under revision] 10.4 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. Leviathan : 14 soldiers / 3 SWSs or 18 soldiers / 2 SWSs As the end of game draws near, your best soldiers should be as fast as SWSs and carries just as much (if not more) fire- power. 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. 10.5 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) 10.6 Alien Sub Recoveries and Assaults [Definition: attack on subs shot down is "recovery", attack on landed alien subs (not downed) is "assault"] SWSs CAN enter an subs with a single-width door if you help make the door wider with a disruptor pulse launcher and/or a sonic pulser, but most subs now have two-wide doors. Just target the panel beside the door with a sonic pulser or disruptor pulse. Sonic pulsers and disruptor pulses can be used to punch a hole in the outside wall of an subs, 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 subs, 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 that one has top entrances. Post guards outside an alien sub when attacking inside. Any aliens outside will attempt to return, and getting shot from behind is not fun. One trick you can pull is ALLOW an alien base on Earth once you've pinpointed its location, and keep assaulting the supply ships that comes to keep the base supplied. They just keep coming and coming, and the alien subs you take out more than offsets the "base on Earth" penalty, not to mention all the Zrbite and other goodies you get that you can sell later. Of course, watch out for the retaliation missions... 10.7 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 so no one can come up behind you (esp. Tantaculus!), 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. 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 Tentaculus and Hallucinoids. Note: according to MicroProse, all aliens stunned on "top" (first part) are counted as DEAD. Only aliens captured in the second level count. 10.8 Anti-Terror Missions 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. Tentaculus have 100 TUs (that's right, 100) so be VERY careful. If necesary, carry a primed greande one each person. If the person becomes a zombie, all equipment are dropped, INCLUDING THE LIVE GRENADE. (boom!) Aliens that use HTH (hand-to-hand) combat only such as Lobsterman and Tentaculus cannot attack someone in mid-air (by a flying suit or hovertank). They also cannot attack someone through a Window. Of course, Lobsterman can carry weapons too... Feel free to blow up oil drums, esp. with aliens next to one. They make great secondary explosions. 10.9 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. 11.0 Mastering T'leth-- The Final Assault [It's just a very long mission, no specific hints at the moment] 11.1 Preparation 11.2 Getting in : level 1 11.3 Base Interior : level 2 11.4 Final Confrontation : level 3 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 rifles/pistosl/cannons are lost, no matter only 1 round fired or totally empty. UNUSED clips are NOT affected (even if they are loaded), 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 tell when the battle is almost over by judging how long the alien movement phase takes. 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? 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. 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 motion scanner? See UFOpedia on Motion Scanner 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? 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 reserve the 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 Section 8.5 * What is MC strength and MC skill? MC strength 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 strength. 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). After you get M.C. Lab, sack everyone who has MC Strength of less than, say, 60. Those have 80+ will be your MC specialists. 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 Section 8.1.5 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... 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, I've found FOUR different editors. Unfortunately, I cannot honor mail requests. I got it from ftp.uwp.edu /pub/incoming/xcom, but that's a temporary location. XC2EDIT -- works under windows? Did not test XC2WEAP -- XCOM2 weapon editor, create your custom weapons! TFTDEDT -- Mephisto's TFTD editor, not always works XCOMUT03 -- XCOM Utility 0.3 beta by Scott Jones XCOMUTIL can be used on XCOM, XCOM 1.4, and XCOM:TFTD. This can edit the intelligence and weapon pattern of aliens. Change all alien rifles to pistols? Sure. Maybe change them all to blaster bombers or disruptor pulses? This can do that and much more.