🚀 go-pugleaf

XCOM appears to be making something of a revival at present, with the
alleged remake on the distant horizon, which got me interested in the
original games again.  My preferred choice of the two is TFTD, even though I
bought both UFO & TFTD, I come back to the latter again and again.

I thought it may be useful to add my own observations on playing TFTD, now
the ng is up and running.  You'll have to bear with me, it's been around a
year since I played, and recently installed again due to the interest
generated in the comp.strategic ng.  I'm glad I did, it's good to be back in
action again :-)

Please feel free to comment and make suggestions, anything to improve my
chances are welcome!

In the beginning...


Bases & building...

    Primary base location has become Midway Island, hence the name, 'Midway
React'.  I kinda like it and its stuck.  It may not be the perfect placing
for a base, but it was becoming something of a tradition, which I am going
to break in later games.  After going back over the FAQ and OSG, plus
assorted bits and pieces, I have decided to go to Europe for primary base
location.  Euro React just doesn't have the same ring to it though...

    As we all know, the first base design is a mess.  I used to first get
the top sub pen moved to between the lower two, and start work on an alien
containment, wide area sonar and additional stores/living quarters.
However, in retrospect, I am beginning
to feel this is additional moving of the sub pen is work which can be left
until later.


    Priority goes to alien containment and the wide area sonar, followed by
living quarters and stores.  I sack the 10 technicians, as they are of no
use at this time, replacing them with additional nauts - 4, and filling the
remaining living space with as many scientists as possible.  As the base
layout is such a mess, the building of the containment, sonar, stores and
additional living quarters is only hampered by funds on hand.  This leads to
the rearming of both Barracuda's - the cannons go, replacing them with two
Ajax on one ship, while the other goes with an Ajax/DUP set up.  I don't
like using the DUP's simply because of how many torpedo's the ship can
carry.  The mixture helps, but at the beginning of the game, I prefer to
stick with the Ajax for one vessel while the other has a mix of both.  Cost
is another factor in this, as ever, so I tend to keep costs down by going
for the Ajax as my personal preference, overall.

Equipment issues...

   When it comes to equipment, I sell off the dye grenades, torpedo launcher
+ torpedo's and dart guns go as well, keeping only PDG's, grenades, Harpoon
rifles, plus the heavy weapons, however the AP rounds get ditched
immediately in favour of the area affect ammo - HE and Phosphor rounds.
These heavy weapons will become the mainstay of my troops after a few
missions, to figure out who's capable of using them, and figuring out who
are the wimps of the squad.  I have also been using the Thermal Tazer as a
standard piece of kit nowadays, everyone gets them, just in case of any
'close encounters'.  In fact, these 'bang sticks' have become a life saver
many times - I never go anywhere without them - no cost, no ammo, and single
handed use means a grenade can be on hand if needed.
    Nauts are equipped based on their stats, obviously.  Those who are just
too weak to be of any value are used as scouts initially and I go for a very
cautious approach during those early missions.  PDG's and grenades are
standard issue until sonic pulsers are around to play with, though I never
go without PDG's, they are just too valuable not to take, especially on
terror missions on islands and ships.  My current squad has up to 6 scouts,
4 gunners, 2 MC Disruptor specialists, and/or one each of a Thermal Shock
bomber and Disruptor Pulse operator.  This is based on a late game in
progress, which is having problems, but not with my squad, I hasten to add.

Research...

    Scientist primarily research the Medi Kit above all else.  First reason
is the safety and survival of my operatives, and secondly, when I can afford
to buy technicians, they can produce Medi Kits, at no cost on special
materials, indefinitely, or until the money runs out.  I then research the
Particle Disturbance scanner and finally [or at some stage] Gauss
technology.  I don't like the Gauss weaponry, as I have found in the past it
is a worse shot than harpoon rifles, and also you need to build it yourself.
This means that you have to build and supply your own ammo, which gives no
returns from the technicians who can be put to better use making medi kits
for cash.  I stick with the Harpoon rifle and Terran heavy weaponry until I
research sonic weapons.
    As a side note, in the current game I play, I tried an experiment.  I
didn't research sonic weaponry until I had funds to get a decent size
research base up and running.  My observations suggest this forced the
aliens/game to stick with lower spec sonic weapons and stay with Gillmen and
Aquanoids for a lot longer than I remember from previous games. I may be
wrong, but it may be a useful point - the game knows what you are
researching and adjusts accordingly to the weapons you use.  Can anyone
confirm this?
    In my current game, I researched all non-weapon alien technology and
items; corpses etc.  I sold off all items, bar one of each item, except
sonic pulsers and sonic weapon clips, which I kept around 10 of each
initially, for later use.  I break research into two camps.  My main base
has a complement of around 50 scientists, working on the weaponry and
'useful' live aliens.  The second, and larger base, researches all other
items and aliens.  While it means my smaller base takes longer to research
the useful stuff, when completed, I have items on hand from completed
missions.  A contentious point, I know, but its under review for my future
games.  I also built a prison base for additional live alien soldiers only.
However, its been remarked that there is a bug which limits the amount of
live aliens you can keep.  No matter how many you capture alive, after the
limit has been reached, all live aliens end up corpses when back at base.
This appears to be happening in my current game, much to my frustration.  I
will have to transfer and get rid of those additional containment pens and
see what happens.

Tech & building priorities...

    As stated, I research the medi kit - it saves lives and brings in cash
for those technicians making them.  I will also make ammo for the sonic
weapons, including the sonic pulser during the early game, when money and
space is at a premium, and missions are more 'wax anything, with unnecessary
force' kind of affair.  This approach means less returns in the way of alien
weapons, which get destroyed in firefights and exploding grenades, but it
means the area affect weapons have more chance of a) keeping more aliens
dead, and b) keeping my operatives alive longer.  It's a pay off which needs
refining - making sure there are weapons left around to pick up, but without
the danger of having another alien lurking just in range to pick off my
mule.
    Craft Gas Cannons offer the best profit per units built, so I read.
When this is researched and available, this becomes a priority for my
technicians and the number to build goes into the thousands [a useful
inclusion for the remake - have a continual build option].  It has meant the
difference between having XCOM funding terminated and waxing an alien
colony, which gets brownie points with the funding organisations.

Squad deployment...

    Depending on where the Triton lands, I always head for the edge of the
map with my scouts.  I figure on finding the edge means one less point of
opportunity fire to come from, and then head on from there.  My scouts will
sometimes be deployed in a three man team - 1 scout, 1 ammo mule and 1
weapons mule.  If need be, I set up a 'supply line' back to the sub, if
viable.  This supply line is a priority during colony assaults, but more of
that later.  These scouts/mules will eventually become pretty strong, _if_
their stats increase; I've had more than a couple of operatives run around
fully laden during many missions without any increase in their strength.
    These early missions mean the gunners are primarily heavy weapons,
supported by Harpoon riflemen.  The riflemen act as a kind of second scout
for the squad.  If they spot something moving in their area, the autofire is
a very useful facility on the HydroJet Cannon, especially HE.  However, I
have a fondness for Phosphor myself - maybe I'm a closet pyromaniac and just
don't know it! :-)

    Terror missions can be really painful during the early stages of the
game, especially if you are still using terran weapons.  These two part
missions can see you without ammo, and in a worse case scenario, having to
abandon the mission, due to no offensive capabilities.  Hence the Thermal
Tazer being standard issue.  It may mean you get some casualties, but could
mean the difference between completing the mission or risk continued alien
activity...

    Well, that's about it, I hope this has been insightful or even maybe
useful.  If not, then feel free to add to the thread.

Thanks

Detonate