X-Com: Enemy Unknown Ironman Challenge [On Again For 2012]
- Thread starter archnemesis
- Start date
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
This isn't it?
http://www.bladefirelight.com/images/files/XcomUtil 9.7 Beta-442.exe
This thread seems like it has the basic info to get extender + util to work together:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1358365
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_kEZ24BkH8&feature=youtu.be
Episode 2 of my Let's Play!
Still looking for feedback (new mic! Fixed the static!
).
Dibs, btw. Thanks for doing that Thnikkaman.
Episode 2 of my Let's Play!
Still looking for feedback (new mic! Fixed the static!
).
Dibs, btw. Thanks for doing that Thnikkaman.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Playing through the game again, I can see why Firaxis is gonna limit psi-usage on the Xcom side.
It seems like it's just so unbalanced. When I don't have psi, the aliens are overpowered, and when I do have psi, I am overpowered. Once I get psi capability, all the old tactics just go out the window and the game just becomes me mind controlling one unit, then using him to scout another enemy, mind controlling that one, then on and on in a daisy chain until every single alien on the map is under my control and drops all their weapons. At which point I march them all in a line in front of my troops for the newbies to execute.
Blaster bombs, too. Accuracy stat is irrelevant, proper scouting/spotting is irrelevant, just blow everything up. Much too overpowered and unbalanced.
Possible fixes:
Limit the amount of psi amps or psi-capable soldiers on a mission
Increase the influence that distance has on psi-success probability
Only allow mind control via line-of sight
Limit the amount of mind controlled aliens you can have at one time
Increase the rarity of blaster bombs
Remove the waypoint function and have it fire just like a normal rocket launcher. Or, reduce it to only one waypoint
I'd probably also fix the tech tree so that there is nothing useless to research, i.e. anything you research helps you out in some way so that you don't feel like you wasted your time researching something useless.
It seems like it's just so unbalanced. When I don't have psi, the aliens are overpowered, and when I do have psi, I am overpowered. Once I get psi capability, all the old tactics just go out the window and the game just becomes me mind controlling one unit, then using him to scout another enemy, mind controlling that one, then on and on in a daisy chain until every single alien on the map is under my control and drops all their weapons. At which point I march them all in a line in front of my troops for the newbies to execute.
Blaster bombs, too. Accuracy stat is irrelevant, proper scouting/spotting is irrelevant, just blow everything up. Much too overpowered and unbalanced.
Possible fixes:
Limit the amount of psi amps or psi-capable soldiers on a mission
Increase the influence that distance has on psi-success probability
Only allow mind control via line-of sight
Limit the amount of mind controlled aliens you can have at one time
Increase the rarity of blaster bombs
Remove the waypoint function and have it fire just like a normal rocket launcher. Or, reduce it to only one waypoint
I'd probably also fix the tech tree so that there is nothing useless to research, i.e. anything you research helps you out in some way so that you don't feel like you wasted your time researching something useless.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
I never spent much time playing around with Psi, the training always took too long and I was impatient + my soldiers after training still seemed to be so psi-weak that MC never worked. Is there a trick to it I missed?
IIRC, the Xenonauts solution to Psi was to have humans unable to use it at all, but capable of researching Psi-defenses to protect yourself against it.
methane47
Member
I think at the very least I want to mod the PSX soundtrack and the custom base layout for the very beginning of the game. Time to grab the util program.
Anyhow I made a few avatars from screencapping the intro but I'm not sure I want to switch away from mine just yet, even for screamy guy. Grab one if you want one.
From this fan art.
Looks nice... but I love my avatar the best.
You just have to create multiple labs immediately after the research is done. You also have to focus on unit preservation before even knowing a recruit's potential. It really changes how the late game plays.
If I was going to tweak Psi...
Psi strength is discovered in 2 weeks, but takes more lab space.
Psi attacks would drain more energy.
TUs spent by a mind controlled enemy costs energy.
A single unit is further drained when controlling multiple units.
The amount of energy drain would be calculated with a formula weighted on the Psi Strength differential using Psi Skill as an energy saving modifier.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Thanks, I was trying to go to the website (so up to the .com part) instead of find a direct file link from the same server, silly me.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Ah, yes, those are good ideas too!
Well, just build like 3 psi labs and an extra living quarters when you can, then 2 days before the labs are done hire enough soldiers to bring your total to 30. Then, when the labs are done, send all 30 to training.
Once training is over, you'll see the psi strength and psi skill stats. The important one is psi-strength. This one is innate and can never be improved. Take all your soldiers with psi strength of 90+ and designate them to be your psi-troopers.
When on missions, at first just have them panic attack everything. Even failed psi attempts will build psi-skill. After a while, when the panic attacks start to succeed you can try your hand at mind control.
Admittedly, I hexed the shit out of my soldiers for this, but it always cracked me up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF1Ug2UDhnM
Gutsy choice of avatar for someone who has a character in my late March game. I should remember to bring him on the first Snakeman Terror Mission, if only just for an avatar quote. X-Com hates aliens, but loves irony.Gonna have to try the UFO extender etc after I lose this game. Wanted to play at least one game with vanilla Xcom.
dibs-
Oh crap, i'm fucked.
Anyone know if Pocket UFO was ported to anything other than Pocket PCs? Feel the need to play wherever I am
archnemesis
Member
You could use a PSP with custom firmware to play the Playstation version.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
My PSP screen is borked
Permadeath
Member
I watched it this morning. Part 2 is absolutely hilarious! Looking forward to more.
Finally I replayed the mission and it seems the problem comes from the game being a bit odd when it comes down to different levels. Anyway, in the end two rookies died, but this time it was much more fair, so that prevails. Now, I think I was really wrong in building my second base in the early days. Now I don't have enough resources to make them grow. I have to
Love your reaction to the base attack.
Thanks guys.
I'm looking forward to making more. ^_^ I'm really enjoying 'doing it live too'.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
lol that was awesome. Reminds me of:
I think you should have bought more troops in the beginning. They're relatively cheap so why not.
You could have used the long hallways a little bit more. You were camped out a little too close to the corner, so when the aliens spot you on their turn, they have more time units to spend shooting at you.
Try not to shoot an alien with the guy that spots them. If you shoot at an alien from beyond the alien attack range, he can't reaction shoot you in counter attack.
Once you see guys getting hit with psi attacks, just have them drop all their stuff and march them far away. Aliens always attack the weakest psi person, so use them as harmless decoys when you have the chance.
Thanks guys.
I'm looking forward to making more. ^_^ I'm really enjoying 'doing it live too'.
What's the mod you're playing again? And is it compatible with the Steam version?
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
UFO Extender
Check here (and the other threads about it) :
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1358365
Thanks, favourite alien-killing rodent.
Chapter 7: "Yar-har, fiddle-de-dee!"
Mar 6th to Mar 20th 1999
Found painted on the side of Skyranger-1:
While the existence of alien bases on earth was a bit of a shock, and definitely something that had to be taken care of, we came to the conclusion that we simply weren't equipped to take on an alien base. With Personal Armors in production and Medi-Kit research on the way, we found it prudent to instead prepare for some good old fashioned privateering. Those flying saucers were full of precious space-booty, yarr.
But first there was the matter of the downed Scout, though, and another fairly unremarkable UFO recovery mission was underway. Well, unremarkable, except for this trick shot our Tank Drone operator did. I knew it was a good plan to get a video game player to run these.
Afterwards, we spent we spent some of our captured booty on X-Com's third installation: The Twilight base in Central America, which I heard you're already quite familiar with, Ms. Lee. Or at least with its armed guards... Sorry about that. Anyway, that base was rushed a bit, as we didn't quite have a plan for it, other than getting a Hyper Wave Decoder running to cover both North and South America.
It was about this time the science team cracked how to treat plasma wounds, and made the very first Medi-Kit prototype. This would prove to be one of the more crucial inventions yet.
Another Scout appeared, and was unceremoniously shot down.
However as the Skyranger was prepping for launch, a large UFO appeared. Unfortunately, the supposed Supply Ship managed to take off and get away before Skyranger-1 managed to reach the landing site at the alien base. So, it was diverted to the crashed scout instead.
This fight in the desert marked the first trial by fire of the Personal Armors as perfect free took a bad hit and fell unconscious, but managed to survive long enough to get medivaced back to base. Analysis of her armor and wounds showed that the armor had absorbed just enough of the blast to make the wound survivable. But she would be out of action for more than a month.
Our science team, in the mean time, had been hard at work figuring out how the Small Launcher the aliens had wielded against us worked. If reverse engineered, it would make Stun Rods obsolete as we'd get a ranged explosive non-lethal weapon to use on the aliens.
While they were doing that, we shot down and raided yet another scout, this time full of greys. Again, the Personal Armor turned out to save lives as Adnor took a hit, but kept going, despite being wounded. After a quick mop-up, he was taken back to Vanguard base for treatment. Two deaths turned into injuries. Would still prefer neither, but the armor is worth paying for.
(Game Concept: Fatal Wounds - When your troops take damage, there's a chance they they will receive 1 to 3 fatal wounds. The more damage, the bigger risk of wounding, at more than 10 damage, wounds are guaranteed. A fatal Wound can be treated with a Medi-Kit, but left untreated, each wound will deal one damage per turn. This is what causes downed troops to bleed out if the blast didn't kill them outright. So if you see a trooper, like Adnor here, take a hit, get a Medi-Kit to him fast! If you have any. You can also just finish the mission before he dies, like I did.)
The Small Launcher and Stun Bomb were researched, and we could now manufacture them on our own, but now it was time to figure out just what powered the aliens' UFOs and weapons. The element we now call Elerium-115, or just Elerium for short.
On March 20th, we identified a new class of UFO. At the time, the purpose of this ship was unknown, and it vanished east of China as our Interceptor lost its target.
We hoped we had scared it away.
Classified Information!
Not to be publicized as part of operation Blue Sky!
Do not distribute outside X-Com.
Notes: This a kind of in-between chapter. A lot of little things happened, but no major UFO mission or Terror attack. Even if the Terror Ship was RIGHT THERE. Think it aborted? It's three days later than this entry in my game and no Terror mission yet, but the March one is overdue... Also, three bases now! Woo!
I have also decided on a few behind the scenes ideas, hoped you liked the Jolly Roger. That's the ingame Sectoid head and the X-Com logo turned into white silhouettes on a black background. I cut out the eyes and nostrils to make a Sectoid skull. And yep, I got to name a background character. Guess Ms. Lee's first name! (And her story purpose, if you can. I'm saving her for a particular ingame event, although I won't make her a soldier. And if that event doesn't happen, I got a backup plan for one that will.)
Still, I hope the next part of the game becomes a bit more interesting. Then again, do I WANT X-Com to be more "interesting"? Interesting means Chryssalids and psionic Sectoids, I think.
Also, Vanguard is going to be Science, Forge will be Manufacturing. What should Twilight be? Just a listening post with a strike team? Would it make sense to save it for the Psi-Labs?
Mar 6th to Mar 20th 1999
Found painted on the side of Skyranger-1:
While the existence of alien bases on earth was a bit of a shock, and definitely something that had to be taken care of, we came to the conclusion that we simply weren't equipped to take on an alien base. With Personal Armors in production and Medi-Kit research on the way, we found it prudent to instead prepare for some good old fashioned privateering. Those flying saucers were full of precious space-booty, yarr.
But first there was the matter of the downed Scout, though, and another fairly unremarkable UFO recovery mission was underway. Well, unremarkable, except for this trick shot our Tank Drone operator did. I knew it was a good plan to get a video game player to run these.
Afterwards, we spent we spent some of our captured booty on X-Com's third installation: The Twilight base in Central America, which I heard you're already quite familiar with, Ms. Lee. Or at least with its armed guards... Sorry about that. Anyway, that base was rushed a bit, as we didn't quite have a plan for it, other than getting a Hyper Wave Decoder running to cover both North and South America.
It was about this time the science team cracked how to treat plasma wounds, and made the very first Medi-Kit prototype. This would prove to be one of the more crucial inventions yet.
Another Scout appeared, and was unceremoniously shot down.
However as the Skyranger was prepping for launch, a large UFO appeared. Unfortunately, the supposed Supply Ship managed to take off and get away before Skyranger-1 managed to reach the landing site at the alien base. So, it was diverted to the crashed scout instead.
This fight in the desert marked the first trial by fire of the Personal Armors as perfect free took a bad hit and fell unconscious, but managed to survive long enough to get medivaced back to base. Analysis of her armor and wounds showed that the armor had absorbed just enough of the blast to make the wound survivable. But she would be out of action for more than a month.
Our science team, in the mean time, had been hard at work figuring out how the Small Launcher the aliens had wielded against us worked. If reverse engineered, it would make Stun Rods obsolete as we'd get a ranged explosive non-lethal weapon to use on the aliens.
While they were doing that, we shot down and raided yet another scout, this time full of greys. Again, the Personal Armor turned out to save lives as Adnor took a hit, but kept going, despite being wounded. After a quick mop-up, he was taken back to Vanguard base for treatment. Two deaths turned into injuries. Would still prefer neither, but the armor is worth paying for.
(Game Concept: Fatal Wounds - When your troops take damage, there's a chance they they will receive 1 to 3 fatal wounds. The more damage, the bigger risk of wounding, at more than 10 damage, wounds are guaranteed. A fatal Wound can be treated with a Medi-Kit, but left untreated, each wound will deal one damage per turn. This is what causes downed troops to bleed out if the blast didn't kill them outright. So if you see a trooper, like Adnor here, take a hit, get a Medi-Kit to him fast! If you have any. You can also just finish the mission before he dies, like I did.)
The Small Launcher and Stun Bomb were researched, and we could now manufacture them on our own, but now it was time to figure out just what powered the aliens' UFOs and weapons. The element we now call Elerium-115, or just Elerium for short.
On March 20th, we identified a new class of UFO. At the time, the purpose of this ship was unknown, and it vanished east of China as our Interceptor lost its target.
We hoped we had scared it away.
Classified Information!
Not to be publicized as part of operation Blue Sky!
Do not distribute outside X-Com.
Notes: This a kind of in-between chapter. A lot of little things happened, but no major UFO mission or Terror attack. Even if the Terror Ship was RIGHT THERE. Think it aborted? It's three days later than this entry in my game and no Terror mission yet, but the March one is overdue... Also, three bases now! Woo!
I have also decided on a few behind the scenes ideas, hoped you liked the Jolly Roger. That's the ingame Sectoid head and the X-Com logo turned into white silhouettes on a black background. I cut out the eyes and nostrils to make a Sectoid skull. And yep, I got to name a background character. Guess Ms. Lee's first name! (And her story purpose, if you can. I'm saving her for a particular ingame event, although I won't make her a soldier. And if that event doesn't happen, I got a backup plan for one that will.)
Still, I hope the next part of the game becomes a bit more interesting. Then again, do I WANT X-Com to be more "interesting"? Interesting means Chryssalids and psionic Sectoids, I think.
Also, Vanguard is going to be Science, Forge will be Manufacturing. What should Twilight be? Just a listening post with a strike team? Would it make sense to save it for the Psi-Labs?
Just watched it. Sorry pal. BTW, why didn't the tank shot at all?
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLGkuG0WWtA
lolz
I usually put the psi labs in my main combat base since that's where all my soldiers are anyway.
Storage. You'll need some place to stash all that sweet loot. After a few playthroughs with Elerium shortages I now always stash enormous amounts of Elerium & UFO component tech.
Yeah, I was wondering what I should call the chapter where I decide that X-Com should become pirates. But you can't go wrong with Lazytown's "You are a Pirate!" song. Besides, apart from Guybrush Threepwood, it was the first association I had with the word "pirate".
Yeah, but I'm going to need living space at Vanguard for another 50-ish scientists, so it's getting cramped.
I was thinking of making a pair of Psi-labs at Twilight and transfer soldiers over as needed. Of course, I don't really know how to make Psi-labs do their thing yet. How do they work when I get them?
Or the storage idea sounds nice, too. Yeah, I'm at 500-ish Elerium and I haven't even researched the stuff. Seriously, Supply Ship raids. 150 Elerium. Nice.
EDIT: I think I should explain one thing about my base building, come to think of it. That is, why the hangars? Those are for Base Defense purposes. Aliens spawn at the lift and in the hangars, but if they aren't available, they'll use the X-Com side's spawn points deep inside the base. So by having at least two hangars leading to the acess lift, you have a choke point in the lift itself, making it easier to set up ambushes.
I'm gonna take these lessons to heart. I've been playing this game for years, but it's been a while. Thanks for the tips.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146530
It's actually a couple collections of mods.
I didn't wanna risk missing and taking out my own guys. While the tank is accurate, Murphy's Law of X-COM says otherwise. @__@
perfect free
Member
Well, on the plus side, if I make it through the campaign alive I'm gonna have some badass scars. (Or disfigurement. Hopefully scars, though.)
I'm thinking that the wounded people would make an excellent command crew for Skyranger-2 (or Lightning-1 if I get one of those first), actually. They're mostly officers, and I would think I'd have my second team up and running in a couple of months.
But on the bright side, someone had to test out the armor. I'm getting a World War 1 scenario out of this. When helmets were introduced, the amount of reported head injuries skyrocketed. Why? Because people were surviving head trauma now! So there were fewer fatalities, but more head injuries. Same deal here, less people dying, more people getting hurt.
platypotamus
Member
Playing through this (not really trying to iron-man, but haven't reloaded yet, so maybe?).
In April, with two bases (about to build third, probably in either SE Asia or Africa). My only captain got hit by friendly fire two missions ago, and died.
One mission ago, I hit my first aliens using PSI Ops, and they wiped my whole squad.
Then I lost basically all my aircraft in UFO fights.
Fortunately, I was pretty wealthy at this point (had saved up to start that third base) and I was able to get things going again. Fought off a terror event in Russia, capturing a Chryssalid and a Snakeman while I was at it.
I think I need more scientists.
In April, with two bases (about to build third, probably in either SE Asia or Africa). My only captain got hit by friendly fire two missions ago, and died.
One mission ago, I hit my first aliens using PSI Ops, and they wiped my whole squad.
Then I lost basically all my aircraft in UFO fights.
Fortunately, I was pretty wealthy at this point (had saved up to start that third base) and I was able to get things going again. Fought off a terror event in Russia, capturing a Chryssalid and a Snakeman while I was at it.
I think I need more scientists.
bah. I already survived two floater shots without any pansy-ass armor. Imagine how badass I'll be all geared up! You may as well change my rank to Master Chief.
I reach 100 scientists in the first year, it's the only advantage. You need to get these as quickly as possible:
- plasmas
- suits
- your own UFOs
Manpower is fairly cheap, but you gotta be careful with the experienced ones. Send in the rooks first, ideally with an explosive
Regarding medkit usage (check the details in the ingame Ufopedia):
1. Use medkit while staying adjacent to your injured teammate
2. Select the injured (red) body part and click on heal
3. Repeat step 2 for every fatal wound your teammate sustained (check your teammate's stats)
Plasma weapons do more damage, but need ammunition. Damage, accuracy, TU cost and available firing modes for every researched weapon are listed in the Ufopedia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_kEZ24BkH8&feature=youtu.be
Episode 2 of my Let's Play!
Still looking for feedback (new mic! Fixed the static!
Dibs, btw. Thanks for doing that Thnikkaman.
Hahahaha oh man. That was funny. Good luck on the new game
I havent experienced a base invasion and im up to August 1999!Hahahaha oh man. That was funny. Good luck on the new game
Thanks man.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Btw is there a way to configure dosbox to minimise instances of bad performance? The cursor is always smooth but there's lag to the functions I click on or to other icons that are meant to follow the cursor or to scrolling if the area is busy etc. The new loader used with UFO Extender I think fixed that but it had other issues for me so I'm not using it, just Util. I've been googling and most of the DOSBOX settings pimped as solutions just speed the game up without correcting it, just making it less obvious due to the speed it runs at, while introducing other issues (such as super fast scrolling in battle).
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
If your only side effect is super fast scrolling in battle, then go to the options in battle, (the question mark button) and then set your scroll speed lower.
The FAQ thread on the steam forums is a good resource for troubleshooting.