🚀 go-pugleaf

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

I'd like to take the opportunity; I often have what I consider to be good
ideas, but never seem to get around to putting them out...

>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

I have always dropped my first site in the middle of the Atlantic, right
between Europe and NorthAm; mainly because that puts your initial "service
area" in range of the higher-paying customers.  In other words, it seems
more cost effective to me.  Like yourself, I'm also hung on naming
conventions: my first base usually gets named ATLANTIC DEEP, the others
named similarly (YELLOW DEEP in the Yellow Sea off of China, for example).

Another consideration: later in the game when money is reasonably available,
I build "mini-bases" that consist of only sonar facilities, and possibly a
sub pen with a dedicated interceptor.  I call these DETFAC's (DETection
FACility); since I usually stick one at the North Pole, that base gets named
ARCTIC DETFAC.  These bases provide one and only one primary purpose: expand
your search ability.  They seldom get improved upon (qv) and if they get
whacked by an Alien attack, I don't sweat it.

>    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.

Agreed on both counts.  For Base 1, I usually just focus on adding the stuff
to get going in style: one or two extra labs, extra living quarters,
storage, WA Sonar, Alien containment:  pretty much in that order.

I also whack the technicians as useless, but I go that route one step
further: my very FIRST hiring and firing decision is with the aquanauts.  I
inspect my team, and IMMEDIATELY "fire" anyone with a Bravery of 20 or less.
I don't worry much about the other stuff at this point in the game, but I
won't put up with one of my aquanauts panicking and running the first time
he/she sees a frightened Sectoid fifty yards away.

REORGANIZING THE BASE LAYOUT: I've studied the XCOM strategies and I know
the difference an effective base layout makes, particularly with respect to
coming under a base attack.  But frankly, I personally can't justify the
costs (time, money, and loss of use) just to reorganize.  Hence, I recommend
saving the "perfect base layout" theory for future bases; leave the original
one alone, and consider altering it after you're better established, when
your other bases can take up the workload of the first one when it goes
offline for remodeling.

ARMING: with the initial weapons, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the
cannons.  Throw em away.  Whoever would chase down an Alien Sub with cannon
is just trying to piss the alien off until it surrenders from exhaustion.
My attack subs use weapon mixes: one DUP, one Ajax.  That way the Cuda has
both range and volume of firepower.  If you manage to not bring an alien sub
down with one sortie with this loadout, it needed two sorties anyway.

A NOTE ON `NAUTS: I prefer to house 12 Nauts at my base.  This keeps 8 on a
RTG status (ReadyToGo) for the usual mission, and leaves 4 in reserve.  I
use the reserve troops as replacement for injured Nauts.  If at all
possible, NEVER send an injured Naut out to fight.  If I'm responding to a
major event (terror mission, base attack, raid on an intact alien sub) I
send EVERY fit and able aquanaut; hopefully I can muster ten, if not the
full compliment of 12.

Of course, if YOUR base is under attack, EVERY TROOPER WHO CAN CARRY A GUN
(injured or not) throws in to defend.

As the game progresses, I increase my troop number to 16, mainly for
training purposes (qv).

>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.

Again, I agree totally.  The only weapons I initially keep are the Harp
rifles, autocannon, and grenades.
With the autocannon, I primarily use phosphor and HE rounds, but I keep a
few clips of AP handy for one intended purpose: "inside work", when the Naut
actually enters an alien sub.  The first time you fire off a burst of HE or
phosphor rounds when you're clearing out the inside of an alien sub and you
get a "friendly fire" casualty, you'll see what I mean.  That extra clip of
AP rounds minimizes collateral damage but still keeps the auto-toting
soldier useable.

Interestingly, my main use of phosphor rounds is for illuminating dark areas
in night engagements (which I try to avoid if at all possible; the aliens
see too well in the dark).  Since I try to avoid night engagements, I don't
keep illum grenades on hand.  Also, I feel that the benefits of using smoke
rounds are too few to bother with developing tactics for their use.  There's
usually plenty of terrain to provide cover.  If there ISN'T enough terrain,
that works both ways: the aliens have no cover, either.

Torpedo Launchers are a waste of time.  The weight of the weapon and it's
limited ammunition makes them NOT very use-efficient.

THERMAL TAZERS:  I don't make great use of them at the beginning of the
game; you've got more important things to worry about.  At best, I'll arm
the two ReconNauts with them, in case they get lucky and blunder on an
opportunity to ZAP an alien; when the time comes that I need to study a
particular live alien, I'll make the effort to "corner" one, and send the
ReconNauts in after it.  Only in the later stage of the game do I use TAZERs
regularly: when I develop my Aquanaut Training Program (qv).

HVY WEAPONS: Inspect each Naut; the ones with the high Strength/Stamina are
the ones you want to be your "heavies", carrying the Autocannons.  Try em
out.  If they still seem slow (due to inherently slow speed), put em back in
line as regulars.

SQUAD ORGANIZATION: My eight-man squads are usually organized as follows:
four "regulars" equipped with rifles and a grenade apiece; two ReconNauts
equipped with pistols, tazers and motion detectors; and two "heavies" with
Autocannon ONLY.  As the game develops, the equipment will upgrade,
naturally; and as the aquanauts develop better physical characteristics,
they'll carry a few "extra's", like an extra grenade or two.

Also: when I find a Naut who carries heavy weapons satisfactorily, I change
his name, by adding "(HW)" to the end of his existing name.  That way I can
tell at a glance that a given Naut is one of my weapon specialists.  The
same goes for ReconNauts "(R)" and Molecular specialists, who get a "(*)".

I don't bother with PDG's; invariably, I end up arming and deploying one
somewhere, and either forgetting about it and rediscovering it the hard way
(whoops!), or needing to get past it at a later date.

>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


I go straight for the Particle Sensor; followed by the MedKit, then gauss
weapons.  I have no problem with gauss weapons.  They may not provide much
cash return, but an aggressive Destroy-And-Salvage policy will keep you in
plenty of money.

Except for learning HOW to make them, I don't worry too much about building
or equipping with MedKits until such a time as you develop Armor for your
aquanauts.  Before armor, I'd guess that 85% of the time that a Naut gets
shot by an alien, he dies.  It's a cruel philosophy, but it's statistically
efficient.

After successfully researching and building armor (plastic or whatever),
your Nauts are actually at a point where they can usually take a shot and
live long enough to use a medkit.  It's at this point that I try to ensure
that EACH aquanaut is equipped with one!

>    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

This sounds like a VERY reasonable estimate.  I'd bet money that alien
advances in XCOM's 1 thru 3 are based on player advances (among other
things, like force size)...

>    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

My own research method is less organized; I just cram as many labs and
scientists into a base as possible and go at it.  For big ticket items
(equipment, new subs, etc) I try to hammer the research with 30-50
scientists at once; the minor items (interrogations, corpses) usually get a
staff of ten or fifteen.

Is there a reason to keep more than one corpse/prisoner?  I've never been
aware of any benefit...

>Tech & building priorities...

No poignant agreements or disagreements, except to say that I seldom build
stuff solely to sell it.

>Squad deployment...

>    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! :-)

Ahh, tactics.  I LOVE discussing tactics...

The following applies to "normal" deployments (shot down subs, etc).

Remember my 8-man squads mentioned above?  The exit the Triton as follows,
when possible.  First, I use the buddy system.  A two man team will usually
save you if you run into any nasty surprises.  First pair out the door (when
possible) is a ReconNaut and a regular, headed for the right edge of the
area at a dead run.  Second pair is the same, headed for the LEFT edge.
IMPORTANT: the other four don't leave the sub yet; wait for the next turn.
On the NEXT turn, the teams that left continue to their edges.  Meanwhile,
back in the sub, pair up your remaining Nauts in Heavy/Regular teams (one
each), then deploy them closer to the center of the map but still on either
side.

You end up with a line of teams as follows, from right to left:
Recon/Regular, Hvy/Regular, Hvy/Regular, Recon/Regular.  When they're all in
position, advance them forward.  Deal with each "problem" as you encounter
it: hold up the rest of the line while the team that encountered the Hostile
takes em out.

There are, of course, exeptions to this rule.  One: if one of your teams
locates a hostile, and at the same time ANOTHER team locates one (or comes
under fire from an out of site location), you can't really have the second
team hanging around like a moving target while it's waiting for T1 to deal
with it's problem.

Secondly, if your squad comes under Molecular Control Attack, SCRAMBLE.  You
have to locate and neutralize that bad boy AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  An alien
attacking with Molecular is unique in that he has the potential to inure
MANY of your Nauts: by controlling ONE and forcing him to attack the OTHERS.
This is unlike your raygun-toting alien who can only shoot at one Naut at a
time; and, if you think about it, it's unlike your grenade-toting alien,
also.  A grenadier can only whack a bunch of enemy units IF THEY'RE ALL
CLOSE ENOUGH TOGETHER (a classic tactical mistake).

Needless to say, aliens attacking with any form of mind control (in the
other XCom's, too) get immediate Top Priority in my tactical evaluation.

>    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

You go, boyo.  I usually avoid terror missions like the plague until I've
developed alien weapon research as a minimum.  Then, when I'm on Stage 1 of
a terror mission, I go out of my way to scrounge weaponry from dead aliens
before proceeding to Stage 2.


A NOTE ON TRAINING: In the later, more developed stages of the game when
money is plentiful, I build two more specialized bases: TRAFACs and MOLFACs.

TRAFACs, or TRAining FACilities, are where the brand-spanking new recruits
go to.  They are typically equipped with obsolete weapons and outdated armor
(which means Plastic if I've developed and deployed the Mag Ion Armor, or
NONE if Plastic is the best I've got.)  To be blunt, the Nauts who survive
training at the TRAFAC become the replacements for the casualties at my
regular bases.  So if, say, one of my Hvy Weapon Specs at ATLANTIC DEEP
becomes a KIA, I transfer a qualified replacement from SUBO TRAFAC to A-DEEP
and re-equip him with the good stuff.  TRAFACs also serve two other
purposes.  I use the TRAFAC squads to do the minor jobs (mopping up at
shot-down scout subs, etc) and also as capture teams.  When it becomes
absolutely imperative to capture live aliens, and the shoot-down site is a
minor craft (non-battleship) I send the TRAFAC team, each one equipped with
a tazer (in exception to my earlier statement).  In my games, it's not
unusual to have a TRAFAC team travelling halfway around the world to secure
a shoot-down site that a DETFAC far away intercepted!

In short, TRAFAC Nauts are expendable.  If they survive, you end up with
better qualified replacements than simply hiring em brand new.  Of
interesting note, I also station a HIGHLY qualified naut at each TRAFAC to
act as a Training Officer.  I do this for the morale benefit; a veteran naut
on-the-scene with the rookies will help keep them from fleeing in fear the
first time one gets a potshot fired at it.

My other special facility is a MOLFAC, or MOLecular FACility.  Aside from
maybe keeping a few Nauts around for security, or a sub pen so that the
facility can perform intercepts, the only thing I build there is Molecular
Control Training Facilities.  Then, each month, I rotate nauts out of other
facilities to the MOLFAC for training.

It's certainly more advantageous to simply have a molecular facility built
directly at your primary bases; the Nauts there can be trained/evaluated
while still "on duty".  But with facility space-available being at a premium
on your front-line bases, having a dedicated facility allows you to mass
train/evaluate your Nauts at higher volume and without the risk of wasting
your time, should one be KIA'd early in the "training month" (and thereby
wasting the slot he held in the training.)  As a minimum, I use the MOLFAC
for evaluating candidates, then send them back to their regular assignment.
If they show promise as Molecular Warriors, they get top dibs on further
education at their parent base.


There is a lot more that I could add, but for now, I'll end here; this
message is already way too long for reader comfort.

Cosmo