recently my game came to a grinding halt because i ran out of Elerium for my ships (i never even knew they needed it), i couldn't send out missions to get any more cause i didn't have enough to send them in the first place.

 

what i want to know is how do you conserve your supply of elerium 151?

Standart aircraft (Interceptor and Skyranger) use "fuel". But your new aircraft based on ufo technology (Lightning, Avenger, and Firestorm) use Elerium 115 (they use special engine isnt it...).

 

Each fly a lighting and a Firestorm cost 1 unit of elerium (1 engine) and an Avenger 2 units (2 engines).

 

Usually I conserve at least one interceptor to avoid to use Elerium stock for intercepting small UFO...

 

 

Umbriel the small veteran

they use only one unit? i must have flown about 15 missions in 5 minutes, probaly didin't help me using loads of elurium making flying suits

Ah elerium, the best way of conserving it is to gather more! Ah, well, that's easier said than done eh?

 

Just encourage a floater or snakeman base to pop up near your primary base and you're all set.

 

Ambush the supply ship that comes every so often and DO NOT destroy any of the UFO power units. See that purple dot at the base of the unit? That's the elerium. Very fragile those things.

 

Also the supply ship won't carry any terror units, so you need not worry about reapers or chryssalids. Especially chryssalids.

 

Okay, now for actually conserving elerium:

 

- listen to umbriel. Use plenty of interceptors and only sparingly use Firestorms, Lightnings and Avengers.

 

I only have one Lightning and one Avenger for most of my games, and every other base has one interceptor armed with single or dual plasma cannons (for the posh bases).

 

With enough bases, you need not worry about chasing ufos across continents. It's just a matter of guessing where they're headed and once they're there, launching the closest inteceptor. Only problem is engaging battleships, but you could probably have two or three Avengers in the odd base or so for just such occasions.

 

Oh, and Skyrangers: keep one or two for old times sake I say. You never know when that tough hunk of outdated junk will come in handy.

 

- Unless you're fighting battleships, do not waste fusion balls on any of the UFO's. For all non-battleships, even a lightning armed with a plasma cannon will shoot them down with no trouble. I know, wasting a small scout with a fusion ball is cool and all...

 

- Coincidentally, use more plasma cannons. They're expensive on elerium, yes, but only for initial building costs. They don't need elerium for rearming. Great investment, even if you only arm your interceptors with one.

 

- If you have a high soldier turn over rate, use less power suits but more personal armour.

 

I only give power suits to important units or units that show great promise (like fending of multiple ethereal commander psi attacks). Later, if the elerium stockpile is flourishing, powersuits for everyone! Rusk!

 

Personal armour uses no elerium, and it's a great way of getting rid of that big pile of alien alloys. Still probably worth building some even if you start using power suits exclusively. You never know when a new recruit will need a suit of armour in a pinch. Or you could sell them.

 

- Don't waste elerium by building ammunition such as heavy plasma cannon clips. It's not worth it, and the aliens will start carry plenty of them sooner or later. So much that I don't even bother stocking my base with heavy plasmas anymore and just grab them off the aliens during combat. But I suppose that's not everybody's cup of tea.

 

- Use special weapons like the blaster launcher and fusion hovertanks sparingly. They're very useful, but come at a very high cost. Stun bombs and alien grenades are also quite costly on elerium, so you might want to collect them rather than build them.

 

Etcetera, etcetera.

 

- NKF

do laser tanks use elurium?

Nope. They're good old Terran technology, 100% free of elerium.

 

Of couse, the plasma hovertanks are just like the craft plasma cannons and do not need elerium for refueling. Only for building. So you might want to take that into consideration as well.

 

Overall, I find Plasma and laser HWPs work pretty well together. One gets a birds eye view of the field, while the other plods along on the ground (and is considerably cheaper too! ).

 

- NKF

if you are desperate for elerium though use a save game editor

i prefer not to unless i'm really not enjoying the game

i only downloaded it b4 cause i needed some elerium fast and to tell you the truth when you start a new game and use the save game editor all the way through it gets pretty boring

thats good, the only reason i cheat is sometimes i enjoy it more, most of the time though i do it with out cheating

"Cheaters never prosper. They only win." ( https://www.HamsterRepublic.com/ )

 

Been dying to use that quote.

 

- NKF

Like it NKF. Like it a lot

 

Don't cheat... :hmmm: It spoils the game...

 

And the best way to get elerium is to down a battleship and clear it out. Of course after it's shot down most of the engines have already exploded but if you're lucky you get at least one, often you'll find two.

 

(Each engine holds fifty units of 115)

I usually only cheat after i completed a game but UFO is hard and i couldnt resist

Compared with most other games UFO and TFTD are hard aren't they? No mercy for the meek.

 

Cheat if you want, it's a good way to get your feet wet and for getting to know the game better. But once you're more comfortable with the game and know how things work (or how to exploit the aliens without outright cheating), start a fresh new campaign and go about it the proper way.

 

Winning with dismal groups of soldiers and equally pathetic equipment tends to be a lot more rewarding than winning a mission with illegally modified uber-soldiers. But I guess that's just my opinion.

 

Yo Veteran, what about just following Battleships until they land? That way you get all four engines intact. Probably not a valid option if you're using elerium based craft, but yeah.

 

- NKF

I've only succesfully tracked a battleship once... That was because I was using six Avengers all converging on the ship. I finally got it when it flew half way across the world and one of my en-route Avengers had to turn around to catch it... Damn it was hard...

Well, when the battleships land, it usually takes about ... oh, a couple of hours at least. An avenger can get there pretty quick, but a Skyranger would have to have been up in the air and near the target country in advance.

 

Speaking of Battleships, has anyone successfully destroyed a battleship that was making a B-line right for your base? Not the battleships scouting for your base, but the ones that appear after they've found the base and are now intent on throwing themselves against you until at least one of their ships get through.

 

Anyone? I've never been able to shoot them down, even with Avengers. They always seemed to be just a tiny fraction faster.

 

- NKF

yes, but not wit a ship....

 

i had my base fully equipped with fusion rockets and grav shields, these are the only two thingz i am thankful for because they dont take up elerium

 

but they do take a heap of cash and maintenance cost!!!

i agree with NKF an the elirium thing. i get missions a day from selling plasma weaponary i cllect on missions. and you can sell their corpses. i got so much elurium i had to transfer it to other bases. waste of money selling it.

i get missions a day from selling plasma weaponary i cllect on missions.

You mean *millions*... dont you?

Waste not, want not.

 

Check your inventory levels of e-115 before deciding to build a large number of items requiring large amounts elerium. Make sure you have plenty for fuel, then decide what to do with the surplus.

 

Cazbol

Speaking of Battleships, has anyone successfully destroyed a battleship that was making a B-line right for your base? Not the battleships scouting for your base, but the ones that appear after they've found the base and are now intent on throwing themselves against you until at least one of their ships get through.

 

Anyone? I've never been able to shoot them down, even with Avengers. They always seemed to be just a tiny fraction faster.

I think I've done it a couple of times, a LOT time ago though...

I've done it loads of times I know what you mean though. I managed to do it because I have bases in both France and England so whenever they went for one I launched from the other. Got them every time.

let the UFOs going on the ground and do the missions !

All my Elerium goes into ships and flying suits, plus the odd tank and craft weapon.

 

Supply ships are definitely the best way to get the stuff. I had a floater base in the arctic: let it land, then I get a guarentied day mission in easy terrian, against floaters!

 

And 150 orange rocks to boot

 

Craft plasma rocks. In standard attack mode, a craft armed with one can not be hit by any thing except a battleship. Same for TFTD, swapping plasma with sonic of course.

 

They should really let you dissasemble plasma clips to get elerium out. You get enough of them!

Perhaps it's like how you can turn a cow into a burger, but you can't turn a burger into a cow? Well, not right away, I grant you that.

 

But really, the aliens produce a lot of heavy plasma clips. It's ridiculous.

 

- NKF