14 replies to this topic

[Gray Fox]

Is there any requirement for encountering an alien base? I`ve played for about six months after researching the alien leader, but I haven`t found any bases yet. I need the commanders there. This hasn`t been any problem in my previous games, but this time I wonder if I have done anything wrong?

[Neorapsta]

As far as I can tell there are no requirements. Just keep an eye out for alien transports visitting certain areas frequently, as I think they start off with you(about 25 of them I think). You also get the occasional tip-off occasionally to help you out.

[Zombie]

Requirements? *chuckles* No, just play normally and the aliens will build bases! Seriously though, finding an alien base depends on a few factors.

1) What difficulty level you are on.
The higher the difficulty level, the more likely the aliens are to build a base earlier.

2) How successful you are at attacking (and therefore, ticking off) the aliens.
If you shoot down and visit lots of grounded UFOs, the aliens will want to make things tougher for you and they will be more likely to build a base.

3) How many months you are into the game.
The current campaign that I am on, the aliens did not build a base until May 1999 - so hold in there! If you have not seen any bases by let's say a year in, then you should start to worry.

4) How often you send your transports out on scouting missions.
The more often you have your ships flying over a suspect area, the greater the chance of detecting a hidden alien base - or activity leading to a base.

5) How often you check your Graphs in the Geoscape screen for alien activity.
This is the biggie! Check the alien activity menu in the Graphs section more often. You will probably catch where an alien base is hidden with high alien activity and low X-COM activity in an area or country.

Hyperwave decoders are also nice (if you have them yet) for determining what an alien ship is up to! Sometimes the game (actually X-COM agents) will also reveal the location of an alien base - but this is usually if you had a bad to a so-so month. So, follow these steps, and hang in there! An alien base will soon be spotted, you can nab your commander, and continue on with the game.  

[NKF]

My advice is:

Stop shooting down UFOs on base building missions! If you want them to build a base, destroying the scouts will prevent them from finding a new base site. Hyperwave decoders help identify these immediately, although it can be hard early on without one.

On the other hand, you don't need an alien base for a commander. All you need is to capture the commander off a battleship.

- NKF

[Zombie]

This is true : if you do not shoot down the scouts (kinda tough to know what's what without the Hyperwave) the aliens will attempt to build a base. However, in my experience, no radar or person is 100% effective in detecting or shooting down every last UFO that comes for a visit. One base scout is usually able to slip by your radar undetected, sometimes with intense patrolling on your part.

And if you get to it when it has landed, most likely you are already too late. The base building process is already in motion and rarely can be stopped. The aliens are known for overwhelming - send in a ton of ships and one is bound to complete the objective. Now, I have been able to stop a base from being built by the aliens after a scout has slipped by but this becomes more difficult the farther you are into a game.

Finally, grabbing a commander from a battleship is fine. A commander is a commander is a commander - wherever you get it from. Any commander (base or battleship) will yield the appropriate information when researched in the correct order.  

[Hobbes]

Zombie, on May 4 2004, 11:02 PM, said:

Finally, grabbing a commander from a battleship is fine. A commander is a commander is a commander - wherever you get it from. Any commander (base or battleship) will yield the appropriate information when researched in the correct order.  

IIRC, you can only research Cydonia or Bust after you capture and research an Alien Base Commander. But I'm not completely sure about this. I think I'm going to check it out...

[Zombie]

For the PSX version of X-COM you only need a commander (doesn't matter from where). I probably should specify the port to avoid these problems! As far as I know, the PC version needs a Base Commander to get Cydonia or Bust.

[Jman4117]

O.o

I almost always get mine from a battleship.......

[Lonestar]

I actually got a Commander from one of those little dinky U.F.Os.  It was pure luck.  Shot one of the Ethereals, knocked him out.  Turned out he was a Commander!  Has this happened to anyone else?
    By the way, this was on P.C. and I still got Cydonia or Bust.

[Jman4117]

I have gotten an Ethereal leader from a large scout once or twice.

[Pumpkinhead]

There's not meant to be Leaders on anything less than a Harvester ... That means no scouts...

And there's certainly not meant to be any Commanders on anything save a Battleship and Base...

I'm not saying you guys I lying or anything... I'm just saying it's very odd

[Jman4117]

I've only seen this happen with ethereals and only on the large scout.

P.S. - I looked at the large scout in a map editor and there is a spawn point in there for a leader.....just rarely seems to be used.

[Bomb Bloke]

Just a note about finding the bases, try looking for them. Send your interceptors to random locations on the map, and have them patrol there for a few minutes. Then move them around. You'll pick up the bases fairly quickly this way. Some bases will be reported to you anyway, and you'll find some while your craft fly on standard missions, but relying on these methods won't find you as many bases as there are.

[NKF]

Note: The only requirement for 'Cydonia or Bust' is to research a commander (it doesn't matter where you get it from, they are all stored in the same value) after you've researched 'The Martian Solution'. This in turn requires a leader and 'Alien Origins' to have been researched. That's it really for the first half of the prerequisites to get to Cydonia.

- NKF

[Gray Fox]

I see... But I read on another x-com page that commanders only lurked in bases. I`ve never let any alien ships live, never even very large, and stunned all the aliens inside, but the highest ranked alien is leader.
If I detect a scout, shall I just let it go?
I also read, that nomatter how high difficulty I choose, it would reset to Beginner if I saved. It seems true, as the game was no harder on Superhuman.