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How to Deal with CyberDiscs?


AegonTheMad

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Even Laser Pistols can take them out fairly well. But since you probably don't even have that yet, try High Explosives. You can't throw them very far, but if you can sneak ago close enough to throw one in his general vicinity, it could take it out. Heavy Cannons will do you good too.

 

If you get a chance, research Heavy Plasma ASAP. Don't even worry about the clip. When you are on the battlefield with HP researched, you can fire the gun, you just can't unload or reload the clip. Takes about two weeks to research with 30 or so scientists, though.

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Nothing worse than playing a brand new superhuman campaign, and about the second mission your soldiers go on, you end up facing cyberdiscs with nothing but pistols and rifles. Bleh, I say!

 

High explosives are by far your best bet, and LARGE ROCKETS. Remember that. Not small or HWP rockets. They're too weak - and at most will need 3 - 4 rockets minimum per cyberdisc. The large rockets pack almost as much punch as the high explosives and they can be fired at the enemy rather than lobbed.

 

The high explosives need someone with at least 40 strength before you can throw it any decent distance, so you will have to really plan your moves if you plan to plant any of these charges with weaker soldiers. They are mainly limited in that you can only destroy a cyberdisc if it's on the ground, or if it's next to a roof of some sort. If it's high up in the air, and there are no nearby platforms you can place the explosive, you will not be able to hurt it.

 

As for the rockets - give the launcher to your most accurate soldier. Accuracy is key here, since the rocket launcher is the most accurate aimed weapon in the game, it pays to make as much use of this as much as possible. A direct hit with a 100HE rocket is nothing to sneeze at, particularly for the large units as they take much more damage than anything else. Note that you can have other officers carry the rockets if the soldier has under 40 strength. Arming the rocket is always 15 TUs, no matter where you get the rocket from.

 

A combination of large rockets and high explosives should be able to deal with them just nicely.

 

Alternately, you could also use the incendiary shells for the Auto or Heavy cannons. Use them indirectly. Set fire to the cyberdisc and hide. While this won't knock the cyberdisc out immediately, it does mean that the cyberdisc will be taking on a lot of damage every turn (x4 the norm). The key thing here is the constant damage dealt to the cyberdisc (don't even try to use rifles or pistols -- they're like throwing pebbles at a castle wall). Since there are a lot of places that the cyberdiscs cannot get to, such as inside the large house in the fenced off area, or through most doors, you should be able to wait until you hear it die (or explode). Of course, fire does wear off after a while, so you might need to reapply the flames. Don't forget that incendiary shells are area effect weapons, so you needn't see where the cyberdisc is to hurt it. A motion scanner should help you here, but if you know it's there, fire away.

 

Personally, I'd chance the high explosives and the large rockets to take these buggers on rather than incendiary shells. A cannon HWP won't steer too far off either, as it can punch through armour fairly decently (you may even want to chance the Heavy Cannon with AP shells too if you're feeling extra brave).

 

In the end though, it's just a matter of using the biggest and most powerful (big damage value) weaponry you have to counteract against their superior armour. And as it has been pointed out, the laser pistols are quite handy at taking them out early on. This promises that the laser rifle and even the plasma weaponry will prove to be even better. Try to aim for the small launcher though. Not only does it stun research vital aliens, it literally maims sectopods and it outright kills cyberdiscs (and I do mean kill, as their auto destruct sequence does the killing for you). Most of the time you only need to have the cyberdisc caught in the stun bomb's blast radius to knock it out.

 

- NKF

 

P. S: Yes, I realise that none of these weapons (except the heavy cannon(AP) and the cannon HWP) are civilian friendly weapons. That doesn't matter. You can more than make up for your reduced score later on. It's just a matter of surviving through the first few encounters before you are on a fairly even footing with the aliens.

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LOL.

 

I got those bastards too in the early game, with only motion scanner(for money) and medkit researched.

 

I got 14 men on my skyranger(standard), and I lost 5 of them to an invested city with Cyberdiscs and Sectoids.

 

The CD's can be destroyed by normal rifles, it just took me ten guys on a long range, and 5 on a short range, with about 10-20 hits to destroy a CD. A, small, bonus is that I got more CD corpses, that way. :D

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TFTD is freeware under any condition. UFO is free if you have a subscribtion to PC Gamer and order the particular free game CD. Apocalypse is still sold in stores and generates revenue, I can still locate it at the local Electronic Boutique.

 

I can't stand piracy myself, no X-COM game is abandonware though. You just make yourselves look bad if you can't even afford a copy. :hmmm:

 

But to the main main topic at hand... I've never really had a problem with Cyberdiscs. The only enemies I've really ever had trouble with were Sectoids and Ethereals... Must be because my tactics aren't Mind Control compatable.

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The CD's can be destroyed by normal rifles, it just took me ten guys on a long range, and 5 on a short range, with about 10-20 hits to destroy a CD. A, small, bonus is that I got more CD corpses, that way.  :D

That depends on the difficulty level, IIRC in superhuman you can't kill cyberdiscs with rifles...

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Hello all

 

Thanks to everyone for the very helpful replies.

 

As to the abandonware issue:

 

I bought the game years ago when it was new. Right or wrong, I couldn't bring myself to pony up more money for the game. If Atari decides to re-issue it, I shall reconsider.

 

Hell, I consider it trade for that $20 refund cheque they never sent me for MOO3!

 

Again, thanks for all the help.

Aegon

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QUOTE (Haijo @ Oct 23 2003, 08:54 AM)
The CD's can be destroyed by normal rifles, it just took me ten guys on a long range, and 5 on a short range, with about 10-20 hits to destroy a CD. A, small, bonus is that I got more CD corpses, that way. 

 

 

That depends on the difficulty level, IIRC in superhuman you can't kill cyberdiscs with rifles...

 

Sure you can.... It just takes the rifle equivalent of a machine gun. And no regular human could do it, only a SuperHuman could. :D

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As to the abandonware issue:

 

I bought the game years ago when it was new.  Right or wrong, I couldn't bring myself to pony up more money for the game.  If Atari decides to re-issue it, I shall reconsider.

 

Hell, I consider it trade for that $20 refund cheque they never sent me for MOO3!

 

Again, thanks for all the help.

Aegon

Uh, then that means they owe you. Once you buy a game, you own it. You can download the same game a thousand times and you won't break a single law. But if they promised you a 20 dollar refund (In writing of course. :D) and didn't pull through, then they're the guys ripping you off. LAWSUIT AT ONCE!!!! :crazy:

 

...

 

Heh, is 20 bucks too small for "Small Claims"? :D

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Off-topic AND promoting piracy....this is what happens when I'm busy for a few days? If you have an X-COM game you didn't pay for, I don't want to hear about it here. The only way TFTD is freeware is if you get it from PC Gamer. If you download it, that's piracy, and it WILL NOT be discussed here. We do not allow links to sites that have X-COM downloads, either, so I think this conversation has gone on long enough. Either talk about dealing with cyberdiscs or let the topic die. If it continues as a place to promote piracy, I'll lock it, and the offenders will be disciplined.
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Off-topic AND promoting piracy....this is what happens when I'm busy for a few days?  If you have an X-COM game you didn't pay for, I don't want to hear about it here.  The only way TFTD is freeware is if you get it from PC Gamer.  If you download it, that's piracy, and it WILL NOT be discussed here.  We do not allow links to sites that have X-COM downloads, either, so I think this conversation has gone on long enough.  Either talk about dealing with cyberdiscs or let the topic die.  If it continues as a place to promote piracy, I'll lock it, and the offenders will be disciplined.

Sorry, but I don't think anyone was promoting piracy here. If anything we were contesting it. And TFTD cannot be recieved from PC Gamer by the way, you're thinking of the original UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown which can be found on the 2001 volume one Classic Games CD. According to many sources, TFTD is freeware under any condition so it's not piracy to download it.

 

Back to the Cyberdiscs...

 

 

I don't have any trouble with them, it's really the Sectoid escorts they have that really makes them a threat. My strategy is to always aim for the Sectoids first when they present themselves, so my soldiers won't end up dropping their weapons and running away from Psi attacks.

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True, but that's only if they explode on impact. If they don't, then that Sectoid standing nearby has the opportunity to mind control one of my guys still inside the Avenger and then... Well, the rest can write itself actually... :D

 

If a Sectoid and Disc are really close to one another then I guess a grenade would be a good idea... But I never use them in UFO defense anyway.

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