changing difficulty to easy, mid-game

[infael]

A base is under attack and I have to kill 10 Rets. Surprisingly, they're all slaughtering me real easy. How do I dial down the game difficulty?

[Accounting Troll]

There is a way, but I don't think it works in the middle of a tactical mission. Go into the profiles directory, then the directory for your current game. Open the UFOOptions text file and scroll down to the bottom. Change the difficulty line to read:

 

Key "difficulty" INT 2

 

Don't forget to back this file up before you play with it, and make sure you don't mess up the spacing in this file because otherwise the game won't run properly. Next time you load the game, it should tell you that it is at easy difficulty.

 

However, it may be possible to win your mission by changing your tactics and weapons. There are several points in the game where you should change things around to deal with the new weapons the Reticulans get.

 

What stage of the game are you at? What weapons and armour are the aliens using?

[infael]

I've found Kasputin Yar. The Rets are using rocket launchers amd sky/sun armor. I have 1 sun and 1 alien armor. My alien rifle is a laser rifle. I'm in Europe, fighting the biomass.

 

I've tried different strategies against the Rets, including waiting a while for them to unbunch during a base assault. Moset of my guys only have combat armor.

 

 

There is a way, but I don't think it works in the middle of a tactical mission.  Go into the profiles directory, then the directory for your current game. Open the UFOOptions text file and scroll down to the bottom. Change the difficulty line to read:

 

Key "difficulty" INT 2

 

Don't forget to back this file up before you play with it, and make sure you don't mess up the spacing in this file because otherwise the game won't run properly.  Next time you load the game, it should tell you that it is at easy difficulty.

 

However, it may be possible to win your mission by changing your tactics and weapons.  There are several points in the game where you should change things around to deal with the new weapons the Reticulans get.

 

What stage of the game are you at?  What weapons and armour are the aliens using?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Accounting Troll]

This is the toughest difficulty hike in the game, but it isn't impossible.

 

At this stage, your first priority in a tactical mission against the Reticulans should not be victory, but getting hold of a psi-projector or two. Once your scientists have researched psi-weapon operation, you can use psi-projectors to take over the minds of Reticulan soldiers in battle. Even losing a couple of experienced soldiers and a base in exchange for that first psi-projector is a net gain for you. There is a good chance of encountering a Reticulan with a psi-projector in an alien base mission.

 

The top priority for your interceptors should be Planters, followed by any alien vessel heading towards one of your bases.

 

Don't bother to send in your troops to salvage a downed UFO at this stage unless it is a planter and you don't have a sample of the bionode material yet. In the second stage of the mission the Reticulans rush you in a confined space, so casualties are inevitable.

 

The Biomass can cross a narrow sea such as the English Channel, but it cannot cross he wide seas seperating Europe and Africa from the Azores and the Canary Islands.

 

The best way to deal with an alien rocket launcher is to run for it. A running soldier can often get away from the danger zone in time. It takes several seconds to reload, and the alien is also vunerable to any soldiers not in the target area.

 

A Reticulan with a rocket launcher will be very reluctant to fire at point blank range if he is equipped with a plasma launcher or a rocket launcher. In a base defence or alien base mission, it is sometimes worth getting a soldier to run up to him and fire at point blank range.

 

Reticulan armour is relatively vunerable to hard (armour piercing) rounds. The MP7 and P90 machine pistols are useful in a close range engagement. The Neostead is also useful at close range because of the massive damage it inflicts.