Satellite Bases with No Humans -- Invasion Threat?

[mobius]

so I have 2 bases set up with hyperwave decoders I use to keep an eye on other corners of the earth. they're quite bare, couple hangars, hyperwave, stores and empty living quarters

 

assuming I don't shoot down ships nearby, can these bases be instantly destroyed by the aliens (having no automated defense/soldiers). should I waste the money to build defenses? the logic being, since it seems the aliens rely on telepathy (or nearby take-downs) to find bases, if there are no minds to detect, the base should be invisible

 

technically, there are souls there .. base support, interceptor pilots, cooks, etc., but I doubt these actually count

 

thoughts?

[FullAuto]

Sadly, the aliens will still find them if they look hard enough. It's not telepathy you have to worry about, but UFOs flying over the base & discovering it. I'd get some soldiers in there, so if any aliens attack you get a base defence mission. If you don't want to risk that, then by all means get some defences set up.

[mobius]

yeah, I was actually thinking that after what just happened a few minutes ago. a small scout flew -directly- over one of my satellite bases before I was able to shoot it down (no intercepters at that base atm). better throw up a mindshield and hire a few rookies

[FullAuto]

Sounds like a good way to go. If you want to use base defences, which will be cheaper, I think (if money's a problem) three fusion ball defences and a grav shield will make your base pretty much invincible.

[NKF]

Three fusion balls and one grav shield still allows battleships through. It's good though. Pretty good. Four fusion ball defences, now that's the ticket. Or, if you want, build lots of missile defense pods. They're cheap and though they are weak individually, lots of pods tend to stack up pretty well when combined with the grav shield and they should all be up and running a lot faster than any other defense pod. I wonder how much each missile defense pod costs in relation to the fusion ball defense pods.

 

But only do this IF you want to watch the base get attacked every few days. Once found, the group in charge of sending the battleships will not stop sending ships until one ship gets through. When one gets through, they get a sudden case of amnesia.

 

A mind shield is by far the best passive defense pod you can build. It makes it very difficult for them to locate the base. Also try to avoid performing any air combat near the base as a rule of thumb.

 

In the end, a small squad of soldiers with laser rifles and maybe a few HWPs (any type) will prove to be more adequate. You also get a free compliment of HWP ammo for base defense if you've run out of HWP ammo. Oh, and a few base modules, such as the hangars and grav-lift, cannot be destroyed by excessive bombing. What you do with this information is entirely up to you.

 

 

- NKF

[FullAuto]

It's four, is it? I could have sworn three does the job.

Damn. Excuse me, just got to go build some modules....

[JellyfishGreen]

I think I'd rather run a good base defense mission (with proper chokepoints, prox mines, and a motion detector guy in an upstairs closet) than be woken every night by the sound of yet another battleship exploding overhead.

[mobius]

okay, reading the posts made me think of a couple more questions ..

 

1) if you have 2+ grav shields, does their effect stack? ie, 3 fusion defenses, 2 grav shields, do you get 9 blasts?

 

2) if you do set up virtually impregnable defenses, and the attacks come continously, does this positively effect your favorability with nearby countries for all the downed battleships (which presumably would not have come to Earth otherwise)?

 

at any rate, I actually like manual base defense since my bases are laid out in the recommended fashion and you can get some loot, and have no defenses even at my main base. I may actually skip out on the shields and just set up a few squads of expendable rookies with laser rifles and personal armor

 

it's early July 1999 and I've only been attacked once (I am on beginner mode though, as it's been a long time since I've played and I'm a wuss). I think I can beat the game with one more captured leader (I have Alien Origins ready to reseach, and a commander ready to be tortured .. er .. questioned) .. so it seems like the aliens have been quite lax in their retaliation duties

[Fox]

1) I believe the effect of grav shields is continuous. 2 grav shields will repel a UFO twice, in effect letting you fire 3 times. Of course, I haven't played X-COM in like a year, so I could be wrong.

 

2) Good question.

 

I'm real helpful, huh?!

[NKF]

1. Well, I used to think multiple gravshields worked. I mean, I thought they did way back when I first started playing the game. But as this was reliant on vague memories, it's not quite true. Recent tests prove otherwise. Only one works. Same goes for radars too, by the way. One of each type.

 

But hey, one gravshield effectively doubles ALL your attacks. So every additional defense pod can really build up damage!

 

2. Destroyed battleships probably do score points, but I couldn't possibly stand watching a battleship getting blown up every few days.

 

- NKF

[Jman4117]

Placing a small garrison of troops at the base is your best bet. Perhaps 8-12 soldiers and 3-4 tanks. I would have 1 living quarters, 3 general stores, a hyperwave decoder, a mind shield, and a hanger. Lightning (or Interceptor/Firestorm if you use xcomutil) for missions equiped with plasma cannon. For small arms get the best you can, heavy plasmas and blaster launchers, and of course your usually variety of grenades.

[JellyfishGreen]

Noting always that if you haven't RESEARCHED heavy plasma yet, your base defence may turn out to be one tank and two antique pistols and a stun rod, and a room full of unusable alien artifacts.

 

I survived, naturally. (They were only floaters.)

[Maugan Ra]

floaters are easy kills.. but i alwyas tend to need an AC for reapers..

[Jman4117]

AC-HE > All :devil:

[Warlord]

Ok, here are a few points of wisdom on base defense.

 

1. Multiple grav shields do not stack. You get one repulsion of the alien craft, regardless of how many grav shields you have at the base.

 

2. Yes, shooting down multiple battleships does improve your scoring, but by such a small amount as to be completely worthless. You are better off just letting the ship land and taking them out in tactical combat.

 

3. The magic number for base defense is 3000. Where does this number come from you ask? Why, that's the hull strength of a battleship. As long as your defenses can consistently do 3000 points of damage to an attacking vessel, your base in invincible. A word to the wise though; Don't ever count on the accuracy ratings in the UFOPedia. Plan on 50% accuracy, regardless of the type of defense pods you are using. All this means that you need a defense rating of at least 6000 to be 100% safe from attack.

 

4. Unless you are very close to going to Cydonia or T'Leth, it is in your best interests to let the aliens attack your base and kill them in a base defense mission. When you let your defenses do the work for you, your base will continue to get attacked about once every 1.5-3 days. This gets very old, very fast. Unless you are getting ready for the final mission, it is almost impossible to get anything done with the constant attacks.

 

5. In base defense, against the weaker species of aliens, proximity grenades are your best friend. Against the stronger species, psionics are the only way to go. Also, a word to the wise. Make sure you have at least two soldiers with good firepower in any base defense squad. There is nothing nastier than being rushed in a small base by a cyberdisc, and not having sufficient firepower to stop it before it gets so close that killing it is suicidal.

 

6. In general, for small bases, I maintan a five man garrison squad. I have two riflemen, two heavy weapons specialists, and a medic. Early on, the HW guys should carry autocannons and have a good supply of all three ammunition types with them. HE and Incendiary ammo are excellent at knocking out groups of aliens as they storm out of the airlock, but if things get down to close quarters combat, you will need that AP ammo, or a sidearm. Later on, the heavy weapons guys should have heavy plasmas or small launchers, and it never hurts to have a blaster launcher with one or two bombs just in case. I keep the riflemen armed with laser rifles, and later plasma rifles, and a good supply (about 4 each) of proximity grenades. Properly used, proximity grenades can whittle down a group of sectoids, floaters, and even snakemen with ease.

 

7. Last, but not least, keep in mind that rookies are not always the best choice for base defense squads. If you want to spend the time and money, it is a very wise decision to have psionic training facilities at every base. If you don't want to spend that money, then all of your base defense squads should be rotated through a base that has psionic training capability. Trust me when I say it can get ugly when sectoids attack a base, and your autocannon guy that is loaded up with HE gets mind controlled. Also, it is a good idea to have at least one higher ranking, combat experienced soldier at each base. The effect on morale can be the difference between victory and defeat, especially if the mission is not going well and you are taking casualties.

[NickAragua]

A few addendums to the excellent run down of base defence above:

3. No amount of base defence will make your bases COMPLETELY safe, it's statistically possible for enough of your defences to miss. However, depending on your tech level 3000 + a grav shield will do the trick. If you're building fusion defences, you might as well build 3000-worth and then a grav shield, saving yourself about a million and a half bucks.

 

4. Agreed, though an attack still takes less time than a full base-defence mission. But you get no money and negligible points, so if you're strapped for cash/equipment, you're better off letting the aliens land.

 

Also, a little bit of philosophy:

To blow up alien battleships with base defences, you're most likely spending upwards of five million dollars, not to mention using up about four or five squares in your base facility. Of course, if you're raking in cash from selling plasma guns and alien cadavers, and you're only talking about a crappy little radar base, then this stuff is not really an issue. Plus, that stuff takes a month or so to build, and while you're waiting for it to build, you should be defending your base with rookies and HWPs anyway. And let's not forget the maintenance costs (not too high, but they stack up).

 

Also, having psionics facilities at your bases is a great idea. Keep 10 x Number of Psi Facilities guys for defence at the base, and put them through psi-training. Those that show exceptional skill should be transferred to active duty, while those who 'don't make the cut' need to wind up going against non-psi aliens, getting sacked, or just left on base defence. For fun, keep psi-amps at that base, as well - it's a real disaster for the aliens when they attack a base full of psionic troops.

 

Make sure to make some armor for those guys on defence. It's no good if you have a full defence squad and they're wearing jumpsuits and fighting aliens with harsh language.

 

So, after all that rambling, the bottom line is:

Yes, your 'empty' bases can and will be destroyed by aliens.

You invested money in building that radar/intercept base.

If you don't want to bother with assaults and have a lot of cash to spare, build up to 3000 points worth of defence and a grav shield.

Otherwise, put about a skyranger's worth of troopers and equipment in there.