So Much Pain in this Game

[NKF]

I don't think the production of Retaliator is too much of a trigger as a visit by UFOs is just a random daily event as long as there are sufficient UFO types in the alien dimension to form the invasion fleets. It's not so easy to force an event, but you could try saving the game at the start of a day, fast forward through a few days, then reloading and try again until you get some UFOs. Like base scrumming, but for UFOs.

 

I'd take it slowly and progress to three or more Annihilators if possible before raiding the AD. There's no real rush as long as you have a good grip on the ground battles. Or if you just want to get it done and over with as soon as possible, a very careful use of 5 - 6 armed-to-the-teeth Explorers can also do it while employing a hit and run strategy. Use the safe-zone along the right side of the alien dimension map. UFOs will chase you there, but patrolling UFOs rarely get close enough, so it's great place to recharge your shields in between swarming lone UFOs that get separated from the main force. It's not easy though.

 

Oh, hey, that remind me. Some of the Evonet sewage works maps have a water layer on the lowest floor. You can crawl through it as if you were swimming. There should be one just next door to the common Superhuman X-COM map, in between the base and the Cult's Temple of the Apocalypse.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

If the aliens timed their raids around you building a certain ship... what would happen if you never built it?

 

Methinks it to be more likely they step up their fleets according to your score, same as they do their tactical weapons. I'm all but certain score is the trigger that causes them to give up on infiltration and start on the true Apocalypse (where they fly in and attempt to level the city).

 

Fighting in the alien dimension has the benefit that you're not damaging Mega-Primus. You can't salvage any UFOs you drop, and you'll be fairly outnumbered to start off with (though multiple Annihilators and/or good tactics can take on anything), but once you've cleared the alien airspace you've as good as won the game. Suddenly you can pick your fights, and hence spend as much time as you like on repairs/research/training/whatever.

[Hobbes]

I don't think the production of Retaliator is too much of a trigger as a visit by UFOs is just a random daily event as long as there are sufficient UFO types in the alien dimension to form the invasion fleets. It's not so easy to force an event, but you could try saving the game at the start of a day, fast forward through a few days, then reloading and try again until you get some UFOs. Like base scrumming, but for UFOs.

 

Yup, I've tried editing the game to see if it was an automatic trigger but I guess that in the 3 games my score had progressed enough by the time I built the Retaliator so that Battleships would appear. It was just coincidence that I was buildng the Retaliator, the real trigger is your score.

[BadgerBadger]

Y'know, I don't remember the game ever being as hard when I first played it some 12 years ago.....

 

I know you're supposed to be fighting an uphill battle in X-COM, but I just think that maybe Superhuman in Apoc is taking the pee-pee slightly....

 

One of the things APoc did well, IMo, was to make the Aliens seem pretty frightening and effective - it SHOULD seem like an uphill battle. Ufo:Am did a pretty good job of this as well - ( as much as i like the "mood " of AS, i almost immediately felt like I was "the brotherhood of steel" in Fallout Tactics - and the pushover aliens, when they come; are morelike the idjits in the original "V" series than, say, the War of the Worlds martians)...

 

Which speaking of, is what brought me back to this thread -

I finally got to watch the (recent) movie for War/Worlds and was surprised at how much i enjoyed it - most of the changes weren't[/] idiotic...

and the 'martian grass' gave me extra creepi-jeebies, having played too much ufo series...

but while watching it I couldn't help thinking "so much pain in this game", and chuckling.

 

I'm also reminded of Day of the Triffids (..brainman, ahem) - and i mean the book, not the B(C?)-movie.

Not really an alien invasion, but a hell of an armageddon/apocalypse - and a pretty astute commentary on how people act when the comfortable, artificial security blanket is stripped away revealing, as always in crisis, one's true character.

 

( in turn, X-com's 'morale' effects continue to shame newer games by their absence... telepathic squads of perefctly-coordinated troops, is that what "role playing" means in gaming? remove the human element and what kind of game do you have?).

 

...anyway; as always i digress with my tangents. I believe my point was, "so much pain in the game" is what makes it more than a comic-book fantasy for kiddies.

 

So much pain in these stories; lol.

(ps: recommended reading? OLD MAN'S WAR. - sci-fi that reminded me why i had enjoyed reading sci-fi so much).

[Reprobate]

I just had some pain inflicted recently.

 

1st turn of my 3rd or 4th mission sent a 4 man squad through a doorway and at the other end of the hall was a door.Had the first rank knell and the second covering them in case some brainsuckers show up.Hit end turn.

 

Four hyperworms come flooding out from the far door and charging down on my men:

 

"AAHH!"

 

Unit critically injured...Unit critically injured..unit critically injured..Unit dead.

 

This was on novice.

 

Though this game still isn't as unforgiving as EU as your units,with armor,can take a couple hits before dying.

[Ki-tat Chung]

Yeah...best bet with Hyperworms, Brainsuckers, or almost anything close range for that matter...switch firing more to autofire. Snapshot and aimed shots are good for medium to long range, but when it's up close and personal, the faster your agents shoot, the better. Unless it's a popper; then set your agents with energy based weaponry (plasma, laser disruptor or stun) to auto, and projectile to no fire.

 

Edit: Oh wait, turn based. Forget what I said =P

 

Here's another hint that's slightly cheating; when you initiate research on an alien subject, live or otherwise, your scientists begin cutting it up, either killing it if it was alive, therefore creating a corpse, or destroying the corpse outright. This can be taken advantage of, by simply entering the bases screen, go to research, and set your biolab guys to start research on an alien subject. Return to your bases screen, and enter research again, making your way down the list of aliens. Each time you begin your research, the alien is disposed of from containment, but the research entry remains, waiting for your scientists to research on it. Saves juggling containment space. =]

[Ki-tat Chung]

More hints as I've been playing the past few days:

 

You can scalp from pretty much any vehicle except for blazer turbo bike and griffon afv tanks, the return isn't any where near as great as storm dog though, ~2000 for the interceptor, ~4000 for hawk air, and can't remember for the bikes or hover cars. Of course, prices change after a while, hawk airs only get me an extra ~1000 now.

 

As for hostile transtellar relations, this can be bypassed by simply 'selling' whatever you wish to transfer, exit the sale screen, go back in and repurchase the items for the base you wish to transfer to. If it is a 3rd party manufactured product, the items will ship from their warehouses, if it's an X-Com product, it will magically appear instantaneously in your storerooms. No need to go through pesky transtellar for item transfers anymore =]

[Sunflash]

So, since nothing was happenign at work today, I decided to fire up Apoc on my laptop and give it a go.

 

Fine and dandy! Medium, since I didn't feel like getting slaughtered from the get go, get setup, etc.

 

Slaughter the (single?!) Anthropod in the first alert, swarm and destory 4 of the 6 UFOs, shoot down and recover the last two...

 

Fast foward time to the second day, little book-keepi---

 

BASE DEFENSE. FULL ALERT, ALL HANDS ON DECK.

 

....Wait what?

 

YOU HEARD ME MAGGOT! MOVE!

 

 

So apparently slaughtering those UFOs ticked the Cult of Sirus WAY off. Which is bad because my base isn't in any easily defensaible position. (PS did you know they all came through the hanger, instead of the lift? Yeaaah.)

 

That'll be a fun fight to mop up. @.@

[Tex]

Med lab is a go, not sure on training

 

 

Agents can be assigned to various bases, but they don't have to be physically reside at their assigned base. Can't say I've checked to see if you can use facilities like the med-lab or training facilities at other bases though.

 

- NKF

[FireWarrior]

UFOs in Apoc generally appear once a week, as already stated with score deciding what they send through.

I heavily recommend adjusting your research when you get higher scores. Killing battleships with hoverbikes takes forever.