🚀 go-pugleaf

Detonate wrote:
> 
> I've been playing TFTD for awhile now, but after reading the posts for UFO,
> I thought I'd have another crack at it.  It's been retrieved from the loft,
> dusted down and installed.
> 
>     It's a bit basic, but the principles are essentially the same,
> naturally.  However, my biggest annoyance is the Skyranger and deployment.
> As you are not on the ground, the troops can't see the damned hostiles even
> though they sometimes wait outside the bloody door!  I had my first terror
> mission... what a disaster!  I couldn't get my troops out of the transport,
> as they were being picked off by aliens left, right and centre.
>     Anyway, as this was my first continued attempt at UFO since I bought it
> 3yrs ago, or so, I just kept reloading the mission, to see how things were
> different from TFTD.
>     The aliens were more aggressive, in my opinion, in that they move in and
> try to pin you down, not like TFTD, where they wander around aimlessly at
> times.  There appears to be more co-ordination in this behaviour - I had
> four cyberdisks lurking around the back of the transport, as well as some
> sectoids taking pot shots and retreating to cover.  When they started
> popping off my men, they started moving in on the transport - one cheeky
> bugger threw a damned grenade into the Skyranger waxing the whole squad!
>     I'm sure many of you are sniggering away at this tale, but it was
> certainly an interesting incident.  I was expecting things to be really
> easy, from what people have said about UFO being easy, but I was surprised
> at the difference in alien behaviour compared to TFTD.  Also, I set up the
> game on the beginner setting, to have a wander round and familiarise myself
> with the game.
>     Anyway, I aborted the whole terror mission and carried on the game.  By
> the end of the second month, I was told my performance was poor, although I
> had only 8 interceptions and 2 terror missions.  * I've noticed a bug in
> both UFO and TFTD concerning terror missions.  If you get the terror screen
> come up, telling you an attack is underway, and immediately after, you have
> a research completed window pop up, the terror site has gone.  I think this
> contributed to my poor status, which I can live with, but it's still
> annoying to have this happen.
> 
>     Overall, I've enjoyed the experience and I'm going to keep cracking away
> at UFO now, since more than anything, the land based missions are really
> refreshing from the TFTD sea based affairs.
>     I just hope the advanced craft can let me deploy on the ground instead
> of trying to hide beneath the undercarriage of the Skyranger - visions of
> that terror mission keep coming back... absolute carnage [sigh]
> 
> Detonate
	You do know that soldiers can look out the windows of the skyranger,
don't you?
	I ALWAYS load my 1st 2 soldiers with smoke bombs and have one of them
throw one before anyone leaves the craft. It seems to work.

Detonate <deto...@detonate.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
<906919663.2204.0...@news.demon.co.uk>...
> I've been playing TFTD for awhile now, but after reading the posts for UFO,
> I thought I'd have another crack at it.  It's been retrieved from the loft,
> dusted down and installed.
> 
>     It's a bit basic, but the principles are essentially the same,
> naturally.  However, my biggest annoyance is the Skyranger and deployment.
> As you are not on the ground, the troops can't see the damned hostiles even
> though they sometimes wait outside the bloody door! 

What I do often is have 4 snipers ready looking down the ramp out the back,
then I pass the turn.
Any alien silly enough to pass behind the plane gets shot. If things get too
exiting back there I dump a demo charge and/or a small pile of genades and go
prone. 

>     The aliens were more aggressive, in my opinion, in that they move in and
> try to pin you down, not like TFTD, where they wander around aimlessly at
> times.  There appears to be more co-ordination in this behaviour - I had
> four cyberdisks lurking around the back of the transport, as well as some
> sectoids taking pot shots and retreating to cover.  When they started
> popping off my men, they started moving in on the transport - one cheeky
> bugger threw a damned grenade into the Skyranger waxing the whole squad!

Yes they're more aggressive, in UFO they basically try to converge on the squad
unless they are scared or in great cover. In TFTD the aliens stay away mostly
and try to flank and pick you off. At the end of the day though they're fairly
stupid and often just wander aimlessly.
 
>     I'm sure many of you are sniggering away at this tale, but it was
> certainly an interesting incident.  I was expecting things to be really
> easy, from what people have said about UFO being easy, but I was surprised
> at the difference in alien behaviour compared to TFTD.  Also, I set up the
> game on the beginner setting, to have a wander round and familiarise myself
> with the game.

Taking it easy at first always a good plan with an X-com game. UFO is easy
compared to TFTD but Cryssalids can thow you off even if you have played for
years-  I guess they're like hyper Tenticulats in a crowded terror site. You
can end up pressing the abort button with 20 zombies and bugs running around in
the city.
    
>.  * I've noticed a bug in
> both UFO and TFTD concerning terror missions.  If you get the terror screen
> come up, telling you an attack is underway, and immediately after, you have
> a research completed window pop up, the terror site has gone.  I think this
> contributed to my poor status, which I can live with, but it's still
> annoying to have this happen.

If you have to, you can reload a game from just before and put less scientists
on the job  so you get the window after the mission. You can sort of tell when
a terror will occur, generally around a month after the last one unless you've
kicked a lot of alien booty then it might be sooner. An alien base raid or
taking a big ship is a good way to get them to make a housecall. If you hit
them in your region, expect a visit at your base. If you hit them outside your
base region, plan for early terror.  

> 
>     Overall, I've enjoyed the experience and I'm going to keep cracking away
> at UFO now, since more than anything, the land based missions are really
> refreshing from the TFTD sea based affairs.

I'm fairly taken with the nautical theme too, but sometimes get the urge  to
enjoy the countryside before burning it down.
 
>     I just hope the advanced craft can let me deploy on the ground instead
> of trying to hide beneath the undercarriage of the Skyranger - visions of
> that terror mission keep coming back... absolute carnage [sigh]

No, but but you do get more doors to jump out of and more legs to hide behind.

Morgane

Actually, I was finding it kind of odd that the landscape was revealed from
the Skyranger, but I didn't see any aliens beyond...

Guess I should RTFM, or in this case RTFU !? :-)

Detonate

Metacom1 wrote ...

> You do know that soldiers can look out the windows of the skyranger,
>don't you?
> I ALWAYS load my 1st 2 soldiers with smoke bombs and have one of them
>throw one before anyone leaves the craft. It seems to work.