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X-COM Field Manual 31-1


Spaceman42

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would it make sense to say you have a platoon on the base, from which the active squad is drawn?

That has just given me an idea....you could name 1002 as Platoon Management and it could include stuff related to base and soldier management.

 

My first base usually has no less than twenty soldiers and when I get more assault bases I place about 14 soldiers on each. When the soldiers start getting with elite stats I group them all together on the first base and use them for everything. I usually end up with some 40 mean and dangerous grunts on my main base. There I definitly do some platoon management otherwise it gets too time consuming.

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Not sure if this was mentioned, but a note should be made regarding the use of high explosive weaponry when defending a X-Com base.

 

The issue of base truncation.

 

If a base module is heavily damaged -- both the lower floor and everything on the next floor being utterly destroyed -- that module will be destroyed. And if it's the only base module connecting a certain area to the access lift, that entire branch of the base will vanish from the rest of the base. Call it a cave-in if you wish. The structural integrity of the base is compromised and it collapses all the other base modules away from the access lift like dominos.

 

All your equipment and soldiers will not be affected. However, you'll have a bit of trouble buying and transferring more equipment or new staff. (as usual producing stuff ignores a base's storage capacity -- your storemasters are true geniuses!)

 

I don't recall what happens to ships and the aliens in containment if a hangar or a containment module is lost.

 

I'm not sure if any of this will fit into a field combat manual. It's more of a Geoscape issue than a Battlescape issue.

 

- NKF

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The game manual is just to give you the basics to get you up and started with the game. It leaves out quite a lot of the game for you to explore and find out on your own.

 

Come to think of it, it's rather odd that a Microprose game would come out with such a small manual. I recall looking at some older Microprose games, like an old MPS tank simulator. M1 tank platoon or somesuch. It was in a bargain bin for only 15 New Zealand Dollars, but when I picked up the box (which was much smaller than most present-day game boxes) I felt as though I was trying to pick up a box full of bricks. I'm pretty sure it had a tome full of interesting information about tanks, just like they had in the original Gunship 2000 (for helicopters, not tanks).

 

- NKF

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Ok wow :tank: where do i start, i just started playing again. as u all know.

ive been reading the things written in here so far and put sum of it into practice and other things that just bye reading inprove your game. i know mine has. the things that helped me the most to start with were:

 

Addendum February 2000: Psionics

3002 GENERAL TACTICS

3002.1. SQUAD MOVEMENT TECHNIQUE

2003 DEPLOYMENT TACTICS

 

Deployment tactics i was in awe of :o . because i just started i know other noobies might be prone to just getting every damm man outta that Skyranger asap. or shooting aliens outside of the craft straight away wen sumtimes it may be better to move out and establish better position.

 

The Psionics bit was good too, because i have no clue about the psionics part of the game and the equipment. even thought the article did hurt my brain :) i havnt read all of it throughly yet, but those were the things as a noob which helped imidiatley. Good werk on the way it was written u get sum guides ect sumtimes and you have no idea where u are at. everything was well worded and thought out. Ill keep reading and giving u guys feedback from a noobie point of view. "Catches Breathe"

 

hmmmm is this classified as a rant?? :P

Keep it up.

 

Peace

 

"Strength And Honour"

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because i just started i know other noobies might be prone to just getting every damm man outta that Skyranger asap. or shooting aliens outside of the craft straight away wen sumtimes it may be better to move out and establish better position.

The whole trick about the initial deployment is to get the troopers out of the Skyranger asap and secure the landing zone into a safe place. For me both things are connected.

There might be situations where you'd want to keep close to the Skyranger (I'm thinking about terror sites infested with chryssalids...brrr). In those cases I use the HWP as a scout while the soldiers stay back and pepper any alien it spots with their weapons. Usually there isn't much of the buildings afterwards and I end up killing a couple civilians also but it's better than spreading the troops and risking casualties.

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I've leveled the access lift with various explosives, and I've never had it become destroyed. That would not be a good thing, especially during the early game.

 

"Sir, we have repelled the alien assault, sir"

"What means were used to repel them, Squaddie?"

"Sir, the intruders were cleared from the hangars with minimal damage, then we destroyed the access lift, in order to prevent further incursion, sir"

"Oh, that's good. Now, how do you propose WE exit the base?"

". . . ."

"That's what I thought."

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I've never been able to destroy the access lift either. I believe it's indestructable.

 

This is a Good Thing™, by the way. You can recover and keep on fighting as long as the access lift survives even if the whole base is destroyed and all that's left standing is the lift. Since your staff and equipment survive the module cave-ins, all you'll need now is to have enough money to rebuild the modules and have a healthy-enough area activity rating so that you can afford to suffer the next month or two without being able to shoot down or assault enemy ships.

 

- NKF

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was thinking about writing up a little bit about proximity mines, describing how they work, and then coming up with a little list of things you should do in case a live mine falls just a little too short when you're placing it.

 

Like, for example, stepping away from the mine if you're standing in its detection sphere (the 8 tiles surrounding it), or picking it up if you're standing on top of it. Or having someone else drop down on top of the mine, pick it up and reposition it (or -- with the help of flying suits -- float down onto them in the addendum), etc.

 

Never really quite got the hang of it, it's hard to write without knocking down the fourth wall. It's been left to stew for a few days, so I just gave up.

 

Anyone wanting to try their hand at it, feel free. Simple though the mine may be , its actually quite a complicated little device (to describe, at least). Anyway, here are most of the points about the mine that I wanted to make:

 

 

 

- Proximity mines only detect lateral movement. That is to say, they are set off by any movement into the any of the tiles surrounding the live mine, or onto the live mine itself. The mine even ignores walls and doors, etc. But this does not apply to vertical movement or if anything moves away from it.

 

- (elaborating a little from the above) It's safe to walk away from the mine if you are standing in any of the tiles surrounding a live mine. Naturally, don't do this when standing on the mine.

 

- It's safe to drop down onto any tile next to the mine or onto the mine itself. Either by flying or just dropping from the ceiling.

 

- Similarly, it's safe to fly away from a live mine.

 

- The mine can be destroyed by explosives. Though it's only adviseable to destroy the mine if there's no alternative. Even with armour, the explosive should be set off as far away from the soldier as possible, as your under armour is by far your most vulnerable spot and no mistake.

 

- Just like every other live grenades in the game, it's safe to pick up a live mine and reposition it. However, it's highly recommended that live mines not be used in the grenade relay manoeuvre.

 

- If all else fails, and you have nowhere to move and no way to diffuse the mine: stay still. Don't move and wait until the bomb squad arrives (i.e. wait until the mission ends).

 

 

I'm not sure how you can fit the proximity mine bug found in the Collectors Edition into this lot though. Probably in an out of context suppliment for game bugs and 'features'.

 

Well, if anyone else has anything additional to add, you know what to do.

 

- NKF

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Well, I wrote earlier that the mine used a ring of ultrasound sensors for its detection. Weighted so it lands upright; no sensors on top so you can approach from above. Easy enough to build one that triggers on an approach rather than a retreat. Doesn't quite explain how it triggers through walls, unless there's a draft somewhere.
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Here's the TOC. GREEN text indicates sections that have already been completed; YELLOW text indicates partially complete sections; RED text indicates stuff that needs to be done.

 

Chapter 1. Platoon Organization and Makeup

 

1001 INTRODUCTION

1002 HISTORY

1003 GENERAL PLATOON ORGANIZATION

1004 GENERAL SQUAD ORGANIZATION

1005 SPECIALIZED SQUAD ORGANIZATION

Light / Recon Squad

Heavy / Demo Squad

Sniper Squad

Communications Squad

HWP Squad

Other Squads

 

Chapter 2. Initial Deployment

 

2001 INTRODUCTION [i want to rework it so it's not point-form]

2002 DISEMBARKING TACTICS

2003 REORGANIZING AND DEPLOYMENT

2004 ADDITIONAL NOTES

 

Chapter 3. Field Tactics

 

3001 INTRODUCTION

-> Time Management [This needs to be moved.]

3002 GENERAL TACTICS

3003 CLEAR TERRAIN

3004 FORESTED / JUNGLE TERRAIN

3005 HILLY / MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN

3006 URBAN TERRAIN

3007 COMBAT IN MILITARY FACILITIES [The stuff here is good, but needs to be reorganized.]

 

Chapter 4. Clean-Up and Recovery

 

4001 INTRODUCTION

4002 CLEARING AN AREA

4003 CONDUCT TOWARDS CIVILIANS

4004 TREATMENT OF CAPTURED ALIENS

4005 ALIEN ARTIFACT RECOVERY

 

Appendices

 

5001 APPENDIX A : PYROTECHNICS USAGE

AND DEPLOYMENT

5002 APPENDIX B : SPECULATIVE COMBAT

SCENARIOS

5003 APPENDIX C: SPECULATIVE ALIEN

STRENGTH ASSESSMENT

5004 APPENDIX D : SPECULATIVE FUTURE

TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

 

[Edit: changed colors for clarity]

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