Why I hate TFTD

[Knan]

I'd say that the biggest issue I've had with TFTD is Lobstermen and Lobstermen alone

 

Hey! I love lobstermen! Just as lovable as Mutons in UFO. Forces you to actually use that stockpiled heavy artillery you keep for emergencies.

 

Nothing's quite like that "uh oh, I'm down to my last clip, no grenades left, and there's an angry lobsterman somewhere in that big cloud of smoke and debris" feeling.

[Knan]

Hey! I love lobstermen! Just as lovable as Mutons in UFO. Forces you to actually use that stockpiled heavy artillery you keep for emergencies.

 

Nothing's quite like that "uh oh, I'm down to my last clip, no grenades left, and there's an angry lobsterman somewhere in that big cloud of smoke and debris" feeling.

 

On the other hand, the two-stage ship bughunts are unfun, verging on very unfun, and almost certainly results in heavy casualties every time until psi.

[Kren]

Lol, cant believe people still play this game. Although it might seem frustrating at times it aint if you follow some rules. To back it up i finished the game on superhuman, without using save/load option durring play. The biggest problems were with research. Either you couldnt get the alien needed or even more frustrating when commander was researched he gave you nothing (a stupid mistake if research tree wasnt completed)and you couldnt research new one.

 

Few hints:

-Take every mission you can. You dont need to finish it, but if you get there and abort you will get far less negative points as if you dont get there at all.

-Every mission move all your aquanauts at least few squares and fire few shots (anywhere you want). Even if mission is impossible, move them before aborting. This way they will train without any serious danger.

-Never ever try to do a mission with lobsters if you dont have thermal lance or better. When you research and train your MC squad, game is easy.

-Never try to finish two stage missions. Casualties are high and completely unnecessary. Only exception is when hunting for key aliens. In that case just kill one, pick it up and take the hell out of there.

-Be sure to research navigator, engineer and medic so many times it wont give you no new info.

-Untill you have soldiers with MC skill high enough, bases are a no-no. Always make a hole in the wall (second floor) of the central area, look inside with alien under your control, take control of few with torpedoes inside and light the place up. Second stage only take few soldiers and destroy command center. Return to starting point and abort.

-Grenades are your best friend at start. Never try to shoot an alien if you can throw grenade. Less action points, better chance to kill it. Sonic pulsar is your best friend and first to research. With some experience you learn alien favorite spots and before going there, rather throw few granades.

-Never try to clean any tasooth ship with more than one floor unless you have MC squad with you.

-MC soldiers never leave the ship. You cant afford to lose them. To train them, use only those with 90+ skill. Just make them use MC skill once in a mission and abort if it is dangerous.

-Build defense of main base strong enough to shoot down invaders 95% of times. Otherwise you can end up doing nothing else.

-Make aqua plastics and basic armour out of them. Very profitable.

-At later stages, avoid using heavy weapons. Soldier can get under alien control and if you have gauss rifle and Ion armour it wont hurt others in squad. Use thermal lance or higher for tougher aliens.

-At least every other soldier should carry medikit.

-When starting mission, just open and close doors first few turns.

-Always send a joe doe to open the doors. Have one with good accuracy and one with bomb several tiles behind should something go wrong.

 

...etc...

[Zombie]

-Every mission move all your aquanauts at least few squares and fire few shots (anywhere you want). Even if mission is impossible, move them before aborting. This way they will train without any serious danger.

Just shooting at random or walking around does nothing to train your aquanauts. You actually have to do something useful (like shooting and hitting aliens) or tossing grenades. See the Experience Training article in the wiki for information. Yes, it deals with EU, but the same mechanics apply to TFTD.

 

- Zombie

[Knan]

-Never ever try to do a mission with lobsters if you dont have thermal lance or better. When you research and train your MC squad, game is easy.

 

Well yes. Though having super-mc/psi-soldiers along controlling everything takes the fun out of the game. There's no challenge anymore.

[NKF]

edit: Ha! I seem to have killed the quotes. Hmm. Bold they will be!

 

Indeed it does ruin the game. But the first time I played through the game, I didn't even realise there was such a thing as the MC Disrupter, nor did I realise that the MC Reader or the drills could be used by my aquanauts. My second play through the game was quite pleasing, I can assure you!

 

Now, just a few comments Kren's tips:

 

Take every mission you can. You dont need to finish it, but if you get there and abort you will get far less negative points as if you dont get there at all.

 

If you can, try to kill a few aliens while you're there. Drag the dropped weapons, and maybe even any stunned aliens, into the Triton before dusting off. This nets a few extra points and gives you something to sell, and perhaps research.

 

Never ever try to do a mission with lobsters if you dont have thermal lance or better. When you research and train your MC squad, game is easy.

 

Might I recommend a few alternative weapons? Any one of the three sonic weapons are ideal. The pistol and rifle take 5-6 shots at most, while the sonic cannon can kill lobstermen within 2-3 direct hits. Thermal shok launchers tend to be a tad on the ridiculous side, making them excellent anti-lobsterman weapons. You can then easily kill it of with a magna-blast or GC-HE round at your leisure, after pilfering the goods and/or moving the stunned lobster.

 

Thermal tazers, if you're absolutely desparate, are also an option. But only in a real pinch!

 

Never try to finish two stage missions. Casualties are high and completely unnecessary. Only exception is when hunting for key aliens. In that case just kill one, pick it up and take the hell out of there.

 

It really depends on how you feel you're doing. Two parters are tedious, but if you've got the aliens on the run, and you feel you can keep going, keep at it. If you're being slaughtered, go in, do what you have to do, then get out.

 

Be sure to research navigator, engineer and medic so many times it wont give you no new info.

 

I highly advise against this. In particular, with the medics. Species or corpse information off medics do not give you the technologies that researching the real thing will unlock. Hang on to them till you have nothing left to do, and only when you want to fill in the gaps. This is especially important with the Deep-One. If you get it off a medic, and then are unable to research another Deep-One, you'll have effectively mangled the game and will have to restart, or resort to an editor.

 

Engineers and squad leaders do give interesting information that help you better understand the alien motives, but none of it is immediately practical. Best left for filling in idle scientist time after all the major research has been done.

 

The navigator - or more precisely, the lobsterman navigator, is a useful substitute for the first Lobsterman Commander in the end-game research, and in older versions of the game, for magnetic navigation, a key component of armour and sub research.

 

Untill you have soldiers with MC skill high enough, bases are a no-no. Always make a hole in the wall (second floor) of the central area, look inside with alien under your control, take control of few with torpedoes inside and light the place up. Second stage only take few soldiers and destroy command center. Return to starting point and abort.

 

In my case, it's until I get pulse wave torpedoes, only then will I annihilate a colony. It just makes assaulting the DPL Torpedo weilding tasoth horde in the central chamber all that much easier to perform. Plus it clears off the possible Tentaculat waiting in the adjoining observation post to the north. MC is a plus, true, but absolutely unnecessary.

 

But seriously though, treat it like the ocean liner missions. If you feel you're doing well, and are confident, go ahead and finish the mission off. If you're not doing well, pull back and retreat. Unlike terror missions and artefact sites, the colony will always be there waiting for you. Great way to perform a few training mission runs before taking it out completely. Go down, massacre a few tasoth and lingering halluicnoids, maybe gather some goodies, then dust off and repeat it again a few hours later.

 

MC soldiers never leave the ship. You cant afford to lose them. To train them, use only those with 90+ skill. Just make them use MC skill once in a mission and abort if it is dangerous.

 

I would recommend having them finish up all their attacks, if possible, before you dust off. A successful MC attack gives you as much as 3 times the experience you get from a failed attempt. Ideally, you want to perform 11+ failed attacks, or 3+ successful attacks per mission. This gives you a better chance at earning a fair amount of stat bonus points at the end of the mission. You can thank MikeTheRed for finding the ideal number attempts.

 

One thing about leaving soldiers in the ship - the aliens can sometimes fire shots or even grenades through at odd angles. I hate this, but it does happen. Nonetheless, the Triton is still one of the safer places to hide in.

 

At later stages, avoid using heavy weapons. Soldier can get under alien control and if you have gauss rifle and Ion armour it wont hurt others in squad. Use thermal lance or higher for tougher aliens.

 

Might I recommend the sonic pistol? If you look at the stats, you'd actually be surprised at how close it is to the heavy gauss cannon in terms of damage. Otherwise, it's many times better. Mag. Ion Armour can easily absorb it in the front plates, and can knock off a major portion of it on its weaker sides too. In addition, it can kill anything, with enough attempts and allows you to hold something in the other hand without the -20% accuracy penalty. The only real problem is that the aliens stop using it after a while.

 

When starting mission, just open and close doors first few turns.

 

If you've got a good vantage point and are overlooking a good part of the map, try and get as many aliens as you can before you have to deploy. Wait for as long as you need to and take out any aliens that may pass by. You may have to step outside to get a better view from time to time. If you've got a particle disturbance sensor, you can get a good indication of any aliens on the Triton's blind sides and ready a few sonic pulsers to deal with them.

 

You probably won't be able to win the whole mission this way, but you can certainly make the general vicinity safe enough for you to deploy unmolested if you are patient enough.

 

This can backfire on land missions if there are those steel towers right up near the Triton, as alien snipers tend to get a lot of good 'odd' angles from the towers. And as Triton sections are weak on land, any nearby grenades can rip out large sections of the ship. Nasty business that.

 

Still it's your call. Take any risks that you need to.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

I have to put in my usual cry against base defense. It costs money, takes up valuable space, and doesn't speed your progress.

 

Do commanders and leaders attack bases in TFTD? I'm not entirely sure. I know they do in UFO, and catching them in your own territory sure beats base assualts (which are two stage missions in the sequel).