Mwahaha! Finally, Dosbox has improved enough that X-COM Apocalypse runs flawlessly here. So I've started my first runthrough, on Medium.

First impression: wow, armour from the get-go which actually works! Only things able to take me out so far are brainsuckers (of course, argh) and a Sirius cultist with a freak lucky shot with a pistol. Vs the only unwounded gal in the squad, of course.

I definitely feel under siege. Day two, and my base is attacked. And I'm unsure how my ammo stores will hold up in the long run (= a few weeks? Months? How long is a usual game?)

Probably should get less explosives-happy ... very little of the cultists' remains was usable for anything.

Taking out bits of the city with stray missiles is indeed very cool. And the odd message saying the police has blown up a random taxi. Civilians certainly live dangerously here

The longer you play, the madder (crazy mad, not angry mad ) the city gets. Try Nutrivend or Lifetree raiding the senate, Evonet attacking X-Com, or Megapol attacking Marsec (well - I suppose they are part competitors, but it shouldn't get this bad!).

You are right on not being too explosive happy - organizations are extremely sensitive to damage done to the building (but not civilians). It's hard to let loose with some of the juicier weapons like the Heavy Launcher missiles (and later the Dimension Launcher Missiles) except during UFO recoveries or the alien buildings. Small Launchers generally do fine in the city if you're careful or use them in a surface-to-air capacity. The autocannon is also not bad as long as you use its HE shells sparingly. It actually performs very well with AP shells, and is probably one of the strongest non-explosive ranged weapon you can buy at the start.

To save ammo: Get up close and personal and unload on full auto. Less misses that way. I'm partly serious there. A good way to close the distance is to run around a corner and let them chase after you. Or the old door ambush - just don't get right up next to it. Otherwise the good old kneeling/prone long range sniping with one gun (in fire teams) works wonders too. If you're using dual weapons in real-time, try aimed or snap M4000s or Autocannons for both great accuracy and a generous rate of fire.

For more ammo saving, Make use of the stun grapple. It's rechargeable, so you can use it to supplement your attacks. Plus it's got a very heavy kick against most of the weaker enemies you'll be facing,(KOd in 1 - 2 hits) save for the multiworm and the later heavier aliens you'll meet. Doesn't work against shields but you'll still get a lot of use out of them if you make them work for you. Once the enemy is down, there is nothing to stop you from shooting at the unconscious body point blank. Against tougher enemies, you'll need to bring their hitpoints below 160 for the effects to work.

If you don't mind stealing one, the power sword is a good ammo saver too. Very petite weapon that can fit down the side of your backpack, can deal gobs of damage up close and a very popular general-purpose digging tool. Only problem is that you need to be at least 1.5 tiles away from the target to hit it.

- NKF

Does duel-weilding in RT reduce accuracy?

Except for the LawPistol and Plasma Gun, duel wielding does reduce accuracy - but it increases rate of fire. A pair of M4000s for example fired on aimed or snap will feel like a single M4000 fired on full auto but with much better accuracy. It's not good for long ranged combat, but is ideal for medium to close range battles where throwing a lot more lead at the enemy than what you get back in return can mean life or death.

Funnily enough, you can dual weild weapons in turn based combat too. The only way to use them like this is to shift-click to fire. All it does is alternate the weapons at various intervals at reduced accuracy. Not all that useful unless you want to mix and match your weapons so that your off-hand weapon has some added effect, like stun, toxin or HE that you'd like to get applied every so often.

- NKF