bagelx

First of all, thanks for all the replies. here goes my response, in order of your posts Rattler: I am pretty sure you are right, on superhuman, base attack definitely happens earlier (possibly more often too). Though, it still depneds on if you shot down enough of alien USOs. Ppl also says that the closer you down the USOs, the more likely they will find your base. I think this is true (it makes sense, since you find alien bases by patrolling close to it) but it's hard to verify since the alien USOs in the beginning are small, fast ones that are hard to catch, so often you have to catch them close or they too fast and run away. NKF also mentions this. BTW, do anyone know if you have to shoot down USOs close to base for them to find you or will just intercepting them make them see you? (ie. if you follow them and maybe shoot at them, but don't crash them) ***** NKF: okay, so the aliens types are the same, and their weapons are the same, and the AI prob is the same The difference are the alien stats (incl. MC), their intelligence (which is part of their stat), and number of aliens at terror sites and alien bases. Also, from an UFO ALien stat spreadsheet I forgot I had, it seems the aliens have many hidden stats: height, close combat accuracy, aggressiveness, intelligence and points for kill (the last 2 I know about) This spreadsheet lists all the stats for the 5 difficulty levels, and it shows that the hidden stats I just mention do not change, as well as, bravery, Throwing accuracy, and armor. BTW, this is for UFO: Xcom 1, not for TFTD, I dont' have the TFTD one, but Bladefirelight seems to have one, probably from the same ppl who made the UFO one (aztec, For www.Freelancer.ag.ru, it's a russian site and I can't find it there) Also, I also notice the frequent Disengaging of USOs you mentioned, they sometimes disengage before you even can attack, and maybe right after you fire 1 shot, and choosing aggresive attack doesn't help much (maybe a little). And for the losing condition, I think you misunderstood, because I quoted what Kasey had in the USG, and he states that the diff. affects how negative your montly score is for it to be considered bad (ie. -200 for beginner, -20 for superhuman) and it should be listed in OSG. Next, the difficulty mentioned in the xcomutil readme, does say TFTD uses 6 for superhuman :dontgetit: Excerpt

Hey, Sgt, Strike, Ya, I would love to look at the guide you have start. I was thinking of having 2 versions after I am done. I will work on the html (not website) version as the main one and then convert it to text only which should be easy. The website idea is good, but I just too lazy to setup a website, capture and post screenshots, etc. Besides, many sites already have pics of some of the UFOpedia (like aliens, weapons). Unless, you are talking about some other types of graphics (eg. battlescape tactics) which I will still be too lazy to do , but there's more reasons to do them. So what graphics? As for PDF, I don't have PDF programs and I don't really see the need for using PDF. Email me at bagelx@hotmail.com, thanks

So I am writing my TFTD guide and collecting inputs to fill my knowledge gaps. I want to know what exactly does setting the different difficulty levels (1-5, beginner to superfuman) at the start of the game change. from the game manual, it says: The difficulty level affects:

The geoscape looks great and not only that, it is better designed with the funding shown, dialogs on the side, history log, etc. The intercept window is a little weak but it's still good. The battlescape equipment screen seems to let you choose the exact spot your troops are deployed, no more fustration! Again, everythings looks real good in there too. I love the fact that they are making the GUI better, fixing little annoyances and not just doing new graphics.

Hey Fellas, so whats the situation with the maps? Veteran, are your Top down maps done the same way like the ones in Kasey's UFO guide? And what's a hud? I think that the hand-made kind is the best for general purposes and putting ina guide, the screenshot looks the best but is hard to pierce together for big ships. Screenshot from the ingame overhead terrain/map viewer (is this what u call hud?) are the worst, it's too muddled up. As for the resolution, I don't think you can change it. I use the F12 key to take screenshot and it comes out 320 x 200 x 24BPP. It's way small for nowaday res, but you can zoom in and it'll look pretty much the same as ingame.

Wow, NKF, you know everything. Ya, what caught me was the the taskbar saying it's gold version when you alt-tab. Also, there's confusion (at least for me) that some ppl say that the version that came with those PC Mag CD's full version are gold versions. Is this true? Are they the same as the games in the Col. Ed. separated? I like to get these stuff straighten out so I can put it in my guide.

Okay thanks guys, at least I got the exterrestial part right ... Ya I know I should have checked the manual (had a feeling it may be in there and it may nip me in the butt for asking) but just too lazy and can't find it.

I think i will. Why do you specifically ask about XP? I know that many ppl have problems with dos versions in XP and it seems to me that not even ppl like NKF were able to fix all their problems (though they suggested a lot of things to try). My would be suggestion is to get the Col Edition or Gold (it seems more and more to me that they are the same thing, I thought they were different before). Col. ED. works fine on my XP, but can't tell/try/fix it with other ppl's XP since each have different configs. The dos one also ran on both my XP and W2K but the XP one had problems with a consistent crashing in one mission whenever I jumped from higher level places, or just walking down a stair. The problems with the dos vers for both Windows is the speed. Some part of the game is slow and other parts freaking fast (firing speed, scroll, geoscape clock). I have success slowing it down a bit with slow program and also the VDM Sound (addon, driver thingie , dunno how to call it). I would recommend VDM Sound to anyone for running old dos games, it gets you Sound in old dos games for W2K (maybe XP needs it too). So, ya, I will definitedly put all I know in the guide, and also I hope to fill in the information gaps that is present in the stuff above. ie. I will do a lot of testing for this and many other things in the guide and read more stuff of info out here on the web.

Just like what the title says: what does x-com stand for? It may have been answered before, but did search in forums and no hits. Anyway, I also like to advertise for my post in the TFTD forum, I am making a TFTD guide and need inputs, anything.

I started working on the guide, first used ms word to do it, but it too messy for html, so using Dreamweaver instead. I have 80% of the table of contents with the topics, and adding more sub topics as I go on. So, Bladefire light, what kind of strategy do you have? ie. what format are they in (typed up or in your head) and which exacts topics are they about. If you can share some info about game mechanics (tables, numbers & formulas, etc) I need those the most. And for the ingame and mockup (not really understand mockup in this case) images, I love to do that, but it is lot of work and hard to integrate with the guide (eg. gamefaq.com prob won't accept it). It is more like something you would have on a website than in a guide. So I really need opinions and suggestions, input for the strategy. Everybody please help.

I am thinking of making a TFTD strategy guide, it is not as much as a FAQ that I want to do, but a more indepth guide/reference. I have seen a few of the guides/FAQ out there, and the problem is that there's not alot and they are not that compelete. I read the Kasey USG and it is more like half FAQ/half guide, though the details are the most I have seen anywhere. I agree it is the best one out there. But that's the thing, cuz I have a few problems with it. I am not an expert on the game but I found some errors and missing info needed in the USG. I am sure he can fix them easily, or update or whatever (if he wants to) but I like to do one myself. And lots of stuff in it are repeated. I am kind of lazy and sometimes lack determination to finish stuff I want to do. So I really need to set my goal ASAP to keep me going, lest my interest fades out. So I want to know what people would want in a new FAQ. I want to add a lot reference stat details that probably nobody cares about. ie. I asked about how much energy is recovered each combat turn, and this detail is probably among the more useful information out of the ones I want to include. A taste of the less useful details: what exactly are the alien stats, how much to transfer items. Anyway, don't want to drag this on too far, so would people like more details like those? And in regard to this, I really want to get hold of electronic copy (cuz i am cheap and lazy) of the TFTD:Official Strategy Guide from Prima. (ie if ppl can or already did scan or type in the information in there) cuz i know that they have a lot of the number details already in there that takes me forever to figure out from the game. Ok, so here are some choices: - detailed info / [faq & tips/hints] / manual or some combination of these - just an update of kasey's USG to fix and add stuff - text based (easier for distribution ie gamefaq) - html with pure text so have better navigation (better layout and find things faster) - html with lots of other stuff that probably will be a website So these are some things I like to know what people think, any other suggestions will also be appreciated. Right now I am thinking it be more like a half detail reference with half faq/tips and it will html with text only. Again, the OSG is crucial to this, and if i can get most of what is in there, I will at least try to convert it to electronic format or help distribute it. FYI, the OSG should contain cool info like (not verified): armor strengths/weakness/calculation, accuracy tables??, to-hit modifiers??, dmg/explosive dmg, morale. I bet many of you don't know how armor actually works (i don't right now either) and what the heck are to-hit modifiers that's what i like to know. Lastly, SORRY SORRY for this long post and congrats for reading to here. Plz respond.