RedBear

Just wait 'til you walk around a large boulder and find three of them sitting there - that 's not much fun! As long as you keep yourself mobile, and move yourself kinda quick after they've fired at you, you'll be ok. Doesn't take anything really complicated tactics wise, 'cos they've actually got quite a comparatively long reload time! Spot it, plot/spot the impact point for its incoming fire, get out of way soon as you see that small smoky ball, then kill it quickly. "Squash 'n go". :devil: Nothing complicated needed, honest!

Run away from the "point of impact" (funny smoky splodge) very very (damn) quickly. It hasn't got a very large "area of effect". Learned this tactic when whole squads of my best guys in heavy armour started to go down. Hate the damnable things. Or - destroy them, with concentrated firepower from your squad, before it "gets a round off". Is workable if your sauad is good/advanced enough. Hope this helps!

"Eliminate" - destroy target totally, utterly - whole point target is supposed to be "dead", good and! "Neutralise" - funny catchall term that is generally left to individual discretion. The usual idea is to stop the target from interfering with other ongoing operations. Depending upon the tactical situation, this can mean anything from "incapacitation" (via "capture" or "unconciousness") to destruction of target. However, if the "neutralise" order is given with a "wink", this generally means something like - "blow their brains out as quickly, quietly, and with as little mess and fuss as possible". It's these funny little nuances that can make all the difference.

Points taken Pete. Jeezus .......... wish they would make their minds up 'bout what they are actually doin', 'cos now it almost feels like a different game. Looks same, plays differently. Ah well, go mess with Ghost Recon for a while then have another go.

The 1.2 patch does seem to making some rather marked differences on the game, and I don't know if these are good, or not? :hmmm: Decided to patch the game with the latest patch, and give it a quick go (on "easy" this time) just to see if this made any real difference. Several seemed to pop up, notably: seemed to gain far less experience than used to; new squad members seem to be of a generally bad calibre, and I mean really bad; it now seems to be very hard to gain decent weaponry in any quantity, and it is very hard to find any kind of quantity of ammo for these weapons; some of the later types of "human" weaponry became available to me almost immediately; and; some pretty difficult mission types started appearing almost instantaneously. Several times I found myself facing heavily armed and armoured Reticulans with just UZi's and Shotguns, which is not very pleasant. All this on "easy" level. It actually felt harder to progress in the game than when I completed it on "hard", which, to me, seems rather strange. Wot's going on. This seems to be a retrograde step to me!

Would've really liked an "overwatch" feature, but alas ..........

Earlier on in the game, and at easier difficulty levels, there may actually be a place for Sniper Rifles in your squad, but, later on in the game, they are simply a waste of space, for there are weapons, such as the Gatling gun, or the Double -Barreled MG that can inflict vastly greater amounts of damage at appropriately long ranges. Personally I prefer any generic type of Assault Rifle, my favourite being the HK G3 - good range, good long range firepower, good "burst" mode at shorter ranges and an acceptable "shot" and "reload" rate. The low "shot" and "reload" rates of your average sniper rifle means that it generally, in this game anyway, has little real utility in your average mission. Try taking one into a UFo. Normally i'm a great fan of sniping weapons and sniping generally, but the lack of a specialised critical hit system (as in shots to specific body parts, such as the "head", "torso" or "eyes") and its associated damage penalties ("dead", "blinded", "immobilised") renders sniping of little real use. I generally prefer a good "all round" weapon, and the G3 fits the bill. The best implementation of "Sniping" and "Critical hits" systems that i've seen so far is in the "Fallout" series of games, where sniper rifles can actually be quite deadly. Favoured tactic - shot to the eyes. If you hit, at best - dead, worst - blinded. Can't ask for better than that. :devil:

Oops, sorry Pete! Guess I'm just a happy "smilie" kind o' guy. Think Iwas just trying to demonstrate the depth of frustration, and emotion that this particular title engenders in me. Instead of just being "pretty", to look at, and an "ok" to "very creditable attempt" in my estimation, this could've been an absolutely "epic", "ripsnorter" of a game that could have made an impact as great, if not greater than any of its "ancestors" or "peers", in this particular genre, with just a wee bit more development time, and a hell of a lot more conceptual market research. So much promise, but ........ Hope they listen! Oh well, i'm looking forward to the sequel already. Just have to wait and see.

Hee Hee Hee !!!! : Funnily enough, I got that idea pretty quickly. Yeah I grasp the concept, and did so straight away. I just don't HAVE TO LIKE IT, do i? :hmmm: I, personally, 'n this is just me (my own view now), would've been a wee bit more impressed if they were just a teeny bit more military sounding :alien2: :inlove: and less "hammed up" ??? The voice characterisation still doies set me a wee bit on edge, though. Probably just me being a pain as usual.

Ah Psi -Guns! Total pain in the bits! Where possible use your squad members with the highest Willpower values, and equip them with Psionic-helmets or enhanced Psionic Helmets (or not to spoil it, some of the later types of armour). This is supposed to help. In my experience it really didn't seem to make even the slightest bit of difference - many a time i have seem guys with "Heroic" willpower values, equipped with enhanced Psinic helmets being possessed with but a single shot. Best response - indirect fire. If they can't see you - the can't Psi you. Use "Super Strikers" or "Gl's" to lay down mini "artillery barrages"at "chokepoints" such as doorways in large rooms, or corners, where you expext them to enter from Also, if they gut who Psi'd you is killed, the trooper reverts to your control, so if one of your guys gets "possessed", kill the "grey" who is controlling him quickly as possible. Where possible concentrate your squad in one area, so they can support each other, so if one guy gets Psi'd the others can quickly take down the one who did it! It must work 'cos I managed to complete it I could go into excruciating detail about tactics, but I don't want to spoil it for you! Hope this helped. Enjoy!

Don't know what to think about this one. Had it on pre-order for what seemed like absolutely ages. The more I saw of the screenshots and dev. notes, the more i was impressed, and I couldn't wait for it to come out, and i'm hard to impress, and more than a tad fussy about what I play. ('n basically, I have just about all of the games of this type that exist - you name it i've got it, and completed it - house like a small software shop!) 8.15am, 03/10/03 it drops through the letterbox, 30 mins. later it's installed and runnning. Phht! Well!!! Nice cinematic intro - good start. Messed about with it for about ten minutes, then my monitor started "screaming" and making sounds like it was about to "short". "Poo" pants, scream, dive behind couch. (Had a monitor blow up on me before - not very pleasant I can tell you - especially when my nose was about 2 inches from it at the time. Found myself sitting in the middle of room, with my ears "ringing" wondering how the hell I had got there). Updated graphic drivers, continued playing. Little "bugs" started to "crop up" all over the place. Soon thought game was as "buggy as an anthill" - BUT THIS IS NO DIFFERENT TO ANY OTHER NEW GAME THAT IS RELEASED!!!!!!! Reconciled myself with the fact that a patch would be probably be immediately pending. Impressed with graphics, in 1024*768, 32 bit colour the game looks positively lush pity about the camera angles - ended up playing in an almost totally zoomed out "top down mode", which was a pity 'cos the textures, etc, are breathtaking. WOULD IT HAVE KILLED THEM TO PUT IN A 1st PERSON - "TROOPERS EYE VIEW" MODE, then you could actuall admire the really cool graphics - up close your squad looks excellent, espcecially in "Heavy Armour". Bit miffed that you couldn't actually see what you were researching (as in the UFo games), 'cos that helped give thet game a point. (As in a reward/CARROT for the sometimes totally "pain in the butt" mission that it took to acquire it! ) Then everything was just "downhill" from there. There seemed to be a lot of omissions from the manual, for example - the actual way to pick up K'o'd aliens (which messed up a lot of missions for me, and caused a lot of frustration) and which weapons actually required Heavy armour for their usage - because of these I actually thought that this was another bug. All because it wasn't in the manual The voice characterisation of the various squad members started to get very irritating, to be fair some of it was brilliant - "Zinatul" sounds like a very distant, extremely "whiny" cousin of mine, but apart from that it sounds like you are commanding a set of misfits ranging in scope from "Lurch" (As in the "Addams Family"), to what sounds like an aging, slightly stroppy, middle-aged French farmer. Ok guys, really military. The "elite of the elite", that lot. (I Don't think!) Available weaponry - initial selection was ok, but i was surprised to find that there were no "light support weapons", as in the: M249, LSW, M60, and their various generic counterparts. Why?! They are an integral part of any squad. I almost always felt that I was "seriously outgunned", almost up to the finish. Not good. The "balance of forces", as in terms of the opposition that you were facing (with regard to number, armour and weaponry that they were equipped with) was at times highly unbalanced. It was ok at the start, then after the Russian "Dreamland" Base mission, everything just "went to hell". Every other alien seemed to be carrying a rocket launcher, and seemed to be able to reload it in about 0.0 seconds flat. I've actually seen one alien having three rockets in the air at one time -one about to impact, one midway, one just launched. Result - a very quick death, and a lot of dissatisfaction. "Base Missions", both "attack" and "defense" just a pain, and trying to capture/board an alien ship was something else. Many a time they could see me, launch rockets at me (by the dozen) with miraculous accuracy, and I cold not, somehow, see them, even when they were just "two" tiles diagonally away from me. Oh Yeah, the overall grand global "Strategic" element. Where!!? Intercepting the alien ships. Ah-ha. Gripping stuff! Replay - not for a while, 'til i'm very, very bored. And even then.... I apologise if it looks like i am trashing this game, for I am not. The graphics engine is stunning, the plot is original, and quite well executed, but i have to keep asking myself - where is the rest of this game? OVERALL, THIS IS A VERY GOOD GAME, AND IF YOU HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS GENRE, THEN YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY "LAP IT UP". It is "pretty", but feels as if it is only half-developed, as if somewhere along the line they either "ran out" of ideas, or development cash, or simply tried too hard to be "different", from previous offerings in this genre. Sometimes, different is not what we want! Overall - too much "stick", not enough "carrot", and the "Cherry on top" (as in the "ending", which like Shakira, is short, but very nice) was that miniscule it wasn't worth fighting, or waiting for. However, after saying all that, someone tell me when either the next part, or the sequel to this is coming out, please, and i'll definitely pre-order it, for this was very promising. They'll get it right next time! Have to wait for "Fallout 3" now.

Had the same problem with trying to research/manufacture Alien power Cells. Picked plenty of them up, was not allowed to develop them for some unbeknown reason. Probably a bug right enough. Went to the Moon - shot everyting in sight. "Game over man -game over." Was that it?! Nice ending - kinda short though. Ah well - Back to "Fallout Tactics" or X-Com Apocalypse. Again!!!! ??? ???

Yeah, I agree. Foldable weapons are a bit of a pain, but they do have a place in your squad! If you rely on them solely, then you are goin to lose your squad very quickly (well, even more quickly) - you have to have other types of firepower in your squad to compensate. My current favourite squad weapons loadout is: 3 * Gatling Guns; 1 * Rocket Spitter; 1 * Twin Barreled MG (like this weapon a lot -would use more in my squad if I had 'em); 1 * Folding Gauss (quicker to deploy than folding MG); 1 * Folding MG - slow to deploy but one that baby starts firing, it can deal out a lot of damage. Unfortunately, you have to use "Heavy Armour", with this loadout, which limits your movement, but the available firepower compensates for this. If you haven't got Heavy Armour, then simply equip your best Armour - Fire armour, say, grab as many Super Strikers or Grenade Launchers as you can, and go in hard with "indirect fire", as others have already mentioned. Use indirect fire on their suspected hiding places - you may not be able to see the "grays" themselves - they may be out of your spotting range/arc, but you will probably be able to see the "trail" of any fire/rounds that they are putting out/down. Saturate the area with indirect fire-even up to the point of hitting an area with 4, 5 or even 6 Gl rounds, per squad member - as in a small artillery barrage. It is surprising how many kills you can actually get, using that method. It is especially handy in Base Defense missions, because in this case you do not want the greys to have "line of sight" on you, for, if they get it, you, are going to get "psi'd" silly( in my case it's generally my best trooper with the shootiest weapon that i've got who get "possessed" - who then wipes out the rest of my squad), and then get absolutely pelted with rockets...... If they see you - result - Squad dead within about 10 seconds - game over. Hit them before they hit you. If Psi is a hassle to you early in the game - use your troops with the best willpower that you have (natch) - use every Psi hemet that you have, and use as indirect fire (as above) as much as you can. Oh yeah, also, save your game frequently, after everu other grey killed, if you have to. Hope that this was useful!

Capture a "Planter" (which is not much fun!!) . Convert bases to "Anti-Biomass" in any areas about to be overrun.

Base Assaults were really driving me nuts also. Right!!! If you are targeted by a "rocket strike", guesstimate where you think that it is going to impact, and then get out of the area of impact as soon as possible, if possible. It does work, but you have to be sharp about ii!! Hard to do when you are wesaring "Heavy armour", mind you! I hate Psionic weapons. Best response is to quicly find out who is using it/them, and klil 'im as quickly as possible. Any of your squad that are "possessed" will then "snap out of it". Cover the "elevator" and "Hanger entrances", 'cos that is where they are going to come from, and "concentrate your squad members in one area if possible, to provide mutual covering fire. Weapon and Armour wise, Heavy armour and your heaviest weapons (Gatlings and Twin barrelled MG's are especially handy) are my weapons of choice in this situation, 'cos you want "one hit takedowns" - you don't want to give them enough time to "psi" you or start lobbing rockets at you. Another handy tactic is to equip several members of your squad with any type of grenade launcher you've got and "indirectly" barrage any areas that you think that they are going to attack you from, but not until you've actually spotted someone -to conserve ammo. If you kill them before they can see you, all the better. It does work - you've just got to practise it a bit. Hope this helps! :devil:

Heavy Armour, "Enhanced" or otherwise, with plenty of "Double barrelled machine guns", 'n, Gatling guns, 'n other really "shooty" stuff seems to do the trick. Oh yeah take as many Medi Packs as you can carry. You will need them!!!

Thanks Pete, i'll give it a shot!

Ok, I'm gonnna take a really deep breath ...... I've tried downloading the English patch several times, from various different sites, and when i try to open/unzip them winzip keeps telling me that the contents are basically corrupt. This is becoming a severe pain. (EXTREMELY POLITE P.C. VERSION). Anyone else had this problem?