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[McNum]

You know, I bet there's something to examine about that whole games and story discussion with X-Com. But I'll spare you the long version, and just say this. One thing X-Com does very, very well, and I bet it's a happy accident, is making sure the gameplay IS the story. Sure, we got your common elements, like the alien species, the endgame and so on, but how you get that far? That's new every single time.

I think these playthroughs in this thread all go to show that. Plus, there's the fact that a local game, on my PC, started a tangent on Starship Troopers, simply by rolling Buenos Aires as a terror site.

I've been thinking of doing a little something at the end of every in-game month, like an overview of all X-Com activities, in the month. And go a bit meta and out of character, as i said, I'm in this to win, so I'm not doing an Ironman since I never beat the game. But since I did join the Ironman thread, I suppose I should pay respects to the guys who CAN do an Ironman. So, I'll count my reloads. Every time I rewind, it's an Ironman I would have either failed or been significantly worse off. Yeah, yeah, I know we can also just play for fun, but I like a little encouragement to not just hit Load Game when things get rough. Keeps things transparent and honest. You guys think that's a good idea?

Oh, on that point, I would like to compliment one thing about the X-Com UI. Try finding the Load Game button in the Battlescape. Go on, take a look.

Answer:

Spoiler

There isn't one. To reload in the Battlescape you have to pick Abort Mission to get to the Geoscape, where you CAN load the game. So, to re-load you must concede defeat first.

Isn't that just a great little detail?

 

[ruttyboy]

Why not set up some thresholds, like lose more than X soldiers on a mission is a reload?

 

[fresquito]

Okay, you made it. I'm buying the game now and I will have my first game of X-COM ever. So, should I go with beginner?

 

[McNum]

Why not set up some thresholds, like lose more than X soldiers on a mission is a reload?

Because some prizes are worth a lot of men. Like Live Aliens or a ton of Elerium. Or a critical base. Plus, it cripples the story if you all know that I'm going to get away with at least half my troops every time, doesn't it?

Honestly, the fun, at least for me, is seeing the reload count rise a little too high after some mission. I'm at 1 reload at the moment. Not counting the rerecording for this thread reloads, of course. Only Ragequit reloads count.

Okay, you made it. I'm buying the game now and I will have my first game of X-COM ever. So, should I go with beginner?

That depends, how many steps do you want off the Skyranger? If your answer is more than one, then yes, go with Beginner. X-Com Beginner is like Hard in most new games. You'll want to read up on what button does what, too, the UI is so 90s.

And read this: Starting Your Shadowy Paramilitary Organization. It's a beginner's guide to the game and it'll help you avoid the worst pitfalls. So you can fall in some much better ones later.

 

[Sinatar]

Okay, you made it. I'm buying the game now and I will have my first game of X-COM ever. So, should I go with beginner?

Unless you mod the game it'll set itself to beginner regardless of what difficulty you select.

True story: This bug is the reason Terror From the Deep is so hard, they got all these complaints about X-COM being too easy so they made TFtD ridiculous.

 

[Mashing]

Recuit Mashing, fresh from the academy, is eager to kick some alien butt. Little does he realize that he'll probably never see his family again.

Reporting for duty.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Okay, you made it. I'm buying the game now and I will have my first game of X-COM ever. So, should I go with beginner?

if you are green to XCom I would highly recommend beginner... and it's still a hell of a challenge.

That's part of the thrill, though!

 

[ruttyboy]

Because some prizes are worth a lot of men. Like Live Aliens or a ton of Elerium. Or a critical base. Plus, it cripples the story if you all know that I'm going to get away with at least half my troops every time, doesn't it?

Honestly, the fun, at least for me, is seeing the reload count rise a little too high after some mission. I'm at 1 reload at the moment. Not counting the rerecording for this thread reloads, of course. Only Ragequit reloads count.

Fair enough, I was just thinking as you asked for encouragement not to reload that might help. Go load crazy if it's worth it!

 

[McNum]

if you are green to XCom I would highly recommend beginner... and it's still a hell of a challenge.

That's part of the thrill, though!

It really is. The traditional X-Com welcoming salute is three shots of buring green plasma from three seperate aliens just as your men leave the Skyranger.

Oh, one really useful tip: The game is turn based, but your troops can shoot off-turn IF you leave them enough Time Units to do so. The Reactions stat is what allows them to do this. So if you want to make really sure, there are four buttons at the bottom of the battle UI. Three red and a green. Each red button allways you to save TUs for a reaction shot of that kind. I keep mine on Snap Shot when I'm advancing, so if an alien pops out on its turn, it gets shot at.

But the really fun part about reaction fire is... that the aliens can do it, too. That's what kills you off the Skyranger on your own turn, unless you do something to avoid that. On lower difficulties (when that bug is fixed), the Skyranger is most likely only camped in Terror Missions, but you never know. So take it slow, and remember: The aliens have to see you to shoot you. I'll give a demonstration in my next chapter. At least, I hope I will.

Fair enough, I was just thinking as you asked for encouragement not to relaod that might help. Go load crazy if ti's worth it!

Heh, no worries. I'm trying to keep it low, but I've never won this game before, so... I might be tempted. Hence the wall of shame reload count. That and I'm going to post some more information alongside it.

 

[Acosta]

I'm a beast! Send me alone!

 

[schragnasher]

Anyone want to run a game where we share a save, each person runs a single month.

 

[fresquito]

Not bad for a green-green, not bad.

So things went like this:

My main base is called Somiatruites and is located in Girona, Spain. Why? You ask. Because I live there; easy. I have started work on an alien "somewhatdoIknow?" and on a big scanner, or something like that. I've recruited ten sciencists more and ten new soldiers, which I've called after gaffers from this thread, in order of participation. I've equipped them with assault rifles and some grenades and smoke grenades. I think these have been my first base actions.

Then a UFO has appeared and after some tries, I've hit it. It's fallen over german territory and I've sent my first batch of meat... I mean, my incredible soldiers there. You know, it sounds silly when you read it, but that's how war between aliens and mankind has started.

The scenario was a farm, and the UFO was near our own ship. Aliens were nowhere to be found at first glance. But they've started appearing like rabbits once my men have entered the UFO. To make it short: my men have killed seven of them and we've only lost two. My condolences go to gabrielh and randomwab's families. Well, only to gabrielh's, since he's killed one of those big headed monsters before dying, at least. archnemesis has gotten a piece, Mindlog two and More Fun To Come three (he's a relentless killing machine). All three of them (the soldiers, not the dead aliens) have been promoted to sergeant. The rest of the crew remain rookies. BTW, Gexecuter was part of the mission, but did NOTHING. The new sergeants point at him and laugh.

Back to home and that's all for now.

On a side note: it'd be nice if the game told what facilities do, if I have any item I'm purchasing, what the hell icons from the battle menu are for and, in general, a bit more info on what things do and what are they for. All in all, it's been great. I had faith in your word GAF, and you didn't put me down.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Check out the in game UFOpaedia for detailed info on buildings, weapons and craft.

 

[grkazan12]

Quick question: What do I need to enter a downed or discovered UFO? and how do I retrieve or pick up stuff in battleground mode?

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Quick question: What do I need to enter a downed or discovered UFO?

Balls of steel.


serious answer- just send your Skyranger to it...?

and how do I retrieve or pick up stuff in battleground mode?

You have to stand over a corpse/weapon, hit the little icon that looks like an Oscar trophy, and it should pull up a screen that looks like the equipment check before a mission. Just pick up whatever items you want and drag them to your backpack. Just keep in mind it costs time units.

 

[archnemesis]

Quick question: What do I need to enter a downed or discovered UFO?

Send your Skyranger to it by clicking on "Intercept" then "Skyranger". You can customize its crew and equipment from the base screen.

[...]how do I retrieve or pick up stuff in battleground mode?

Stand on top of a body and it will appear on the equipment screen. You won't be able to use any alien equipment before researching it. If you complete a mission successfully you'll automatically get all enemy items. There is no reason to pick anything up manually.

 

[grkazan12]

What I meant was when I see the UFO with my soldiers sometimes I can never find the entrance to actually get inside?

 

[fresquito]

Check out the in game UFOpaedia for detailed info on buildings, weapons and craft.

Thanks. I'll make sure you take part in the next mission as a reward :-D

 

[frontieruk]

What I meant was when I see the UFO with my soldiers sometimes I can never find the entrance to actually get inside?

the entrance always looks like the circled panel

 

[Orgun]

the entrance always looks like the circled panel

Is there a way to open the UFO doors without actually entering? In Xenonauts it's just a right click but i'm guessing that doesnt exist in UFO defense

 

[frontieruk]

Is there a way to open the UFO doors without actually entering? In Xenonauts it's just a right click but i'm guessing that doesnt exist in UFO defense

having read some of the guides to ufo storming, I'd say no there isn't a way to just open the door, but being my first play through I could be mistaken.

 

[epmode]

Is there a way to open the UFO doors without actually entering? In Xenonauts it's just a right click but i'm guessing that doesnt exist in UFO defense

It's possible in UFO Defense but only if you're using the UFO Extender mod.

I *highly* recommend it.

There's an easy guide to installing it here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146530

I'd suggest going through the INI file after installation to see exactly which tweaks you'd like.

 

[robin2]

Is there a way to open the UFO doors without actually entering? In Xenonauts it's just a right click but i'm guessing that doesnt exist in UFO defense

If you are using UFO Loader (search for it on ufopedia.org) you can enable to open doors (any door) right-clicking on them. In TFTD this happens by default.

Again with UFO Loader, and XComUtil too if my memory serves me well, you can set the High Explosive capable of blowing holes in UFOs shell.

Sometimes UFOs are heavily damaged from the air battle with your aircafts, and present destroyed sections, from which you can enter.

 

[Orgun]

It's possible in UFO Defense but only if you're using the UFO Extender mod.

I *highly* recommend it.

There's an easy guide to installing it here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146530

I'd suggest going through the INI file after installation to see exactly which tweaks you'd like.

Ah cool. I never bothered looking at that because I didnt think it would work with the steam version.

I'm just playing the bog standard game atm. My current method of opening doors is to get my rookie with a pistol to walk in first

Once this game ends I think i'll grab that extender mod.

 

[Stumpokapow]

The directorate sent recruits Minsc and Billy Chu families the usual compensation package with a Terra Medal for Valorous Sacrifice in the Battle Field and a personal letter from our President. Recruit Archnemesis was promoted. Replacements are on their way.

Minsc dies, stump survives.

Awww yeaahhh

 

[Mindlog]

Mindlog two

It's what I do.

It's possible in UFO Defense but only if you're using the UFO Extender mod.

I *highly* recommend it.

There's an easy guide to installing it here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146530

I'd suggest going through the INI file after installation to see exactly which tweaks you'd like.

Everyone should take the time to set-up at least UFO Extender. It adds a lot of little fixes that make the game more enjoyable.

 

[Orgun]

Oh wow Night missions. What a bloodbath. Twelve men went in - three returned.

 

[frontieruk]

Oh wow Night missions. What a bloodbath. Twelve men went in - three returned.

ouch

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Buy some electro flares for next time and chuck them all over the map. They're very cheap and reusable. Aliens have a huge sight advantage over you otherwise.

 

[Orgun]

Buy some electro flares for next time and chuck them all over the map. They're very cheap and reusable. Aliens have a huge sight advantage over you otherwise.

Yeah I've learned that lesson the hard way! Didn't help that there was an alien sniping my guys from a roof as they moved through the field. Damn sectoids

 

[gutabo]

Gutabo reporting for duty, Sir yes Sir! I'll be on the wait list Sir!

 

[Mr_Guillotine]

Considering buying one of the x-com games because of this thread now, any of them in particular I must buy?

 

[frontieruk]

Considering buying one of the x-com games because of this thread now, any of them in particular I must buy?

UFO Defense or Terror from the Deep are the fan favourites I think?

 

[Rentahamster]

it cripples the story if you all know that I'm going to get away with at least half my troops every time, doesn't it?

Yes, totally. Half the fun of these stories is to see who makes it out alive and which unlikely rookie saved everyone's asses this time. When you play the game of XCOM, you win or you die.

 

[Jintor]

When you play the game of XCOM, you win or you die.

nice.

 

[archnemesis]

Considering buying one of the x-com games because of this thread now, any of them in particular I must buy?

The first two games are very similar and they're both fan favorites. I personally love the third game, Apocalypse, but some fans didn't care for it. Interceptor and Enforcer are both mediocre spin-offs, but they don't cost anything extra if you pick up the Complete Pack. It's currently 75% off on GamersGate, but if you prefer Steam or Direct2Drive you can wait a few months since it's discounted regularly.

 

[O D I N]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdcRqIfS6hM&feature=youtu.be

I'm actually doing an X-COM Let's Play on "Ironman".

Any feedback would be appreciated, as it's my first Let's Play. But I wanted to share the video since it's part of the Ironman theme. ^_^

 

[Mr_Guillotine]

You're getting feedback on your mic, might want to turn the decibel boost down or something.

 

[robin2]

Considering buying one of the x-com games because of this thread now, any of them in particular I must buy?

UFO is the one.

TFTD is an UFO clone with different graphics (it was made in a rush, to capitalize on the success of UFO). It has a couple of changes but it has the "alien in a closet" syndrome, which makse certain missions, like the ship attack, hours long searching for the last damn hidden (in the closet) alien.
Pick this instead of UFO if you are more intrigued by the underwater setting.

Apocalypse is a real sequel which tried to advance the formula. Partially succeeding and partially not. It is longer and has more content and variety. It overall felt inferior because the realtime+pause combat (it has turn too but they were added secondarily, and stats are balanced for realtime) doesn't have the same tension (and depth) of the original turn based combat.
It has an environmental destruction like no other game, a huge amount of maps and graphics, and an unique and beautiful visual design (reto-futuristic "sixties"-style).
It was the first X-Com game I played to completion and I think it's still a great game.
Pick this if turn based combat doesn't please you too much and if you like the colorful art stile.

 

[fresquito]

Can anybody tell me what do the icons from the battle and interceptor menu do? I've checked the manual, but most of them aren't explained.

 

[archnemesis]

Can anybody tell me what do the icons from the battle and interceptor menu do? I've checked the manual, but most of them aren't explained.

Left column: Do not engage enemy. Engage with both weapons.
Right column: Engage with weapon with longest range. Get as close as possible. Escape. Look at UFO.
Top left corner: Minimize (useful when engaging a UFO with multiple Interceptors)

Top row: Move solider up (e.g. in elevator). Move view up. Map. Inventory. Go to next soldier. Toggle view depths (change to view roofs). End turn.
Bottom row: Move soldier down. Move view down. Crouch/kneel. Center on selected soldier. Go to next soldier (cannot go back). Help Settings and save game. Abort mission.
Green/red icons: (from left to right, top to bottom). Do not save time units (TU). Save TU for snap shot. Save TU for aimed shot. Save TU for auto shot.
Stats: Green - time units. Yellow - energy. Red - health. Blue - moral. If you click on the military rank (the big R for recruit) you can view all stats.

 

[fresquito]

Thanks a lot.

 

[robin2]

Bottom row: Move soldier down. Move view down. Crouch/kneel. Center on selected soldier. Go to next soldier (cannot go back). Help. Abort mission.

In the help menu there are also some options, like the scroll speed.

 

[McNum]

In the help menu there are also some options, like the scroll speed.

And it's where you save in battle, too. Since you're new to the game, I'd advise saving often. In different slots.

 

[O D I N]

You're getting feedback on your mic, might want to turn the decibel boost down or something.

Thanks. I'm gonna try that.

I know I'm picking up the fans from my computer too (using turtle beach X11s, which pick up everything for some reason. New mic ordered (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RL84OY/?tag=neogaf0e-20)). But I'll try that. Thanks.

 

[loganclaws]

Can someone help me please, I'm trying to find the explanation of each statstring that the XComUtil adds after the names of the soldiers. I understand that the letters before the forward slash show the rank of the soldier but do not know what the abbreviations following the forward slash mean.

 

[archnemesis]

Can someone help me please, I'm trying to find the explanation of each statstring that the XComUtil adds after the names of the soldiers. I understand that the letters before the forward slash show the rank of the soldier but do not know what the abbreviations following the forward slash mean.

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Statstrings

It's a bit too confusing for me. I've never used it.

 

[McNum]

Chapter 2: I'm from Buenos Aires...and I say kill 'em all!
Jan. 18th 1999

Excerpt from Buenos Aires nightly TV news:
"A major gas leak has been reported in central Buenos Aries, there are reports of several fires and explosions. The police say that all civilians should stay away from the area, and an evacuation of the people stranded in the area is underway."

Alien Terror missions are basically suicide runs. For BOTH sides. The aliens drop off a squad of troops, including some specialized terror troops, and then high-tail it out of there. They only begun doing this when X-Com started operating, leading us to believe that these missions were specifically designed to lure our agents into a trap or risk losing support from the affected country. It's a horrible situation, as we have to go, but we know that the aliens are waiting for us.

This is not all bad news, though. Because we know that they know. And knowing is half the battle, as they say. The rest is shooting stuff with lasers.

So when you know that the enemy is waiting for you, and you have to spring a trap, what do you do? You send in the drone first, of course.

This way, you won't lose a man to to some unknown alien you haven't seen before. Like this ugly thing. The boys call them "Floaters", which all things considered is a good description of them, since they don't actually touch the ground. So the name stuck. However, big floating alien with a gun is still a problem. One that good men like Thinkkaman is the solution to.

Now the implications of meeting a different species of alien are major. Here on Earth, there's just one big civilization: Us humans. And we like it that way, or else we wouldn't have X-Com, now would we? But two different species of alien looking at Earth and thinking "That thing has got to go." at the same time? Now that's unlikely to say the least. But the implications of having more than one alien species pissed off at us? Ugly. About as ugly as the next thing we encountered.

This thing:

"A cyborg cow-thing", was the word on the radio. Big as a tank, but not too quick, and apparently not armed. Meaning this thing you probably want to stay away from, as it looked pretty strong. However, as we quickly found out, these things weren't as scary as first believed. We had the HWP greet one.

And another fell in the crossfire from a laser battle with a Floater.

However, there were a lot of floaters, as expected, they had surrounded us.

Of course, this only meant we didn't have to go look for them. But seeing it and being able to hit it are two different things entirely.

During the fighting, we had heard several explosions, but it wasn't until Myke had a chance to investigate that we realized what was going on. The aliens were blowing up civilians with grenades, leaving a mess of things.

(Note: For an old game, X-Com really does damage well.)

Another cow-thing was blasted with a rocket, and each Floater fell one by one to coordinated laser fire

(Note: That screenshot is not altered in any way. That happens for a split second, but it looks pretty neat when caught like that.)

The final enemy was found inside a house by CappyFish, who in a burst of creative thinking fired his laser pistol through the open window, killing the Floater.

And just like that, Buenos Aires was alien-free again. And that is how you deal with a "gas leak", you send in the professionals.

Of course, not everyone believed the story, for some reason.

This was a job for our PR people, though. They do a good job, ridiculing people spouting such nonsense as alien invasions as conspiracy nuts. I mean, a global conspiracy to conceal the existence of aliens? How silly is that? *ahem*

(Notes: No casualties! And no reloads either! This Terror Mission just went by the book. Although there is still room for improvement, of course. Floaters can take several Laser Pistol hits to kill, so those Laser Rifles are really wanted. Also, I was really lucky that it was Floaters. Sectoids with their mind control and Cyberdisks would have been a nightmare this soon.

Next chapter... Well, I just shot down a UFO, so I guess I'll clean up that, which should wrap up January. This mission took about an hour to play, by the way. Also, I think I should find an overall name for this game, just to have a better header for each chapter.)

EDIT: Wait... "Live Aliens Recovered: 2"? I didn't even notice that while playing!

 

[Songbird]

The final enemy was found inside a house by CappyFish, who in a burst of creative thinking fired his laser pistol through the open window, killing the Floater.

...

(Notes: No casualties! And no reloads either! This Terror Mission just went by the book. Although there is still room for improvement, of course. Floaters can take several Laser Pistol hits to kill, so those Laser Rifles are really wanted. Also, I was really lucky that it was Floaters. Sectoids with their mind control and Cyberdisks would have been a nightmare this soon.

Next chapter... Well, I just shot down a UFO, so I guess I'll clean up that, which should wrap up January. This mission took about an hour to play, by the way. Also, I think I should find an overall name for this game, just to have a better header for each chapter.)

EDIT: Wait... "Live Aliens Recovered: 2"? I didn't even notice that while playing!

Nicely done, troopers! Cappy's time to shine too.

 

[loganclaws]

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Statstrings

It's a bit too confusing for me. I've never used it.

Yes I saw that wiki page and it didn't explain much. I thought the stat strings are all predefined and there would be an explanation of what each abbreviation means. Is this wrong? Are the stat strings user defined? Bah.

Edit: First time playing X-Com, it's so good.