GROUND COMBAT STRATEGIES
There is much debate over which area of the game is most important, I think
that personally it is Air Combat, but being skilled in Ground Combat is
also an attribute that every UFO player needs if he is going to defeat the
aliens. So here are a few basic hints on how to beat the crap out of them.
BASIC EQUIPMENT CONSIDERATIONS
Since you only get 80 items per craft, you have to plan carefully.
Lasers are useful since they do not need ammo, saving you a lot of
items. They also cause a nice amount of damage (though not as much
as plasma weapons, thus the trade-off).
Carry Blaster Launchers and Bombs as soon as you obtain them. They
are incredibly useful, and can punch holes in UFO walls! Note that
Blaster Launchers start out UNLOADED so don't forget to load them
during the initial equip squad screen!
BASIC CRAFT LOADS
Skyranger: 2 HWPs and 6 soldiers. Divide them up to 1 HWP / 3
person fire teams, with HWP as scouts. If necessary you
can split each team up further into pairs.
Lightning: Only soldiers. HWPs cannot be carried on Lightning.
Avenger : 4 HWPs and 10 soldiers is good. Use 2 teams of 1 HWP and
2 soldiers, and 2 teams of 1 HWP and 3 soldiers, or you can
make them all 1 HWP and 2 soldiers, with two soldier as the
special weapons team with blaster bombs and/or psi attacks.
ROOKIE TRAINING
You start off with a squad of Rookies. As your squad builds up, you will
need to train your rookies. Do this by taking them into the heat of
battle. You gain experience by doing things. If you need more accuracy
on your firing, take more shots. Simple as that!
TAKE A MIXED SET OF WEAPONS
If you take a variety of weapons, you can be prepared for all threats.
It is no good just taking auto cannons, because some aliens are more
resistant to them. Take a selection, like Laser Rifle, Heavy Plasma and
Auto Cannon. By the way, Heavy Plasma is the best rifle in the game!
MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT IS IMPORTANT! USE THEM ALL THE TIME!
* Medikits are important. In addition to healing fatal wounds they can
raise morale if used on panicking troops as well as revive unconscious
soldiers which have been stunned/inhaled too much smoke.
* Motion detectors are only useful if you have a vague idea where an
alien could be, because they only have a 9square range. Also, the
alien must move, otherwise it won't be detected.
* Mind Probes are useful for identifying alien leaders and commanders, or
any specific type of alien you want to capture. Make sure you have an
arsenal of stun weapons.
* Proximity grenades are great for blockading large UFO doors. Just drop
one next to the door and wait for them to come out. Do it like this
though!
------+ D=Door, A=Alien, P=Prox. Grenade
|
AD P If you plonk the P right next to the door, the sensors will
| activate when the door is closed, so the alien won't be
------+ hurt. If you put it there, he has to step outside for it to
go off!
DEPLOYING UNITS FROM YOUR CRAFT
When moving the soldiers out of the craft, make sure that you only move
two at a time, next to the landing stanchions are good. If you do more
than two, you may be targetted by a grenade, or in the worst case, a
Blaster Bomb.
SPREAD OUT AND COVER EACH OTHER
Here's a simple demonstration with a four person fire team:
X X
X X
===>>
X X
X X
The two in front did not move, while the two in the back moved up beyond
them for about that much distance. The recommended separation between
team members is between four to six squares, and the normal leap frog
distance is about that much as well. That way, when one person spots a
target, most likely every one will be able to see and fire at the target.
The two who stayed in place should turn around and face out and/or back
to prevent rear attacks. Keep plenty of TUs handy for opportunity fire.
USE THE TERRAIN!
The trees that are usually plastered over ground missions make great
cubbyholes. All you do is stand behind a tree, and pray that the
aliens weapon isn't powerful enough to take it down. This next idea
may sound crazy, but it works just as well!
Stand behind an alien! Other aliens don't check who is in the line of
fire before shooting at you, and if one of the bullets can hit the
alien, you are saved! Just make sure the alien you're standing next to
is unarmed, and if it's a Chryssalid, either mind-control it or bugger
off before you get zombified!
THE ALIEN VERSION OF A TRAFFIC ISLAND.
Aliens usually move forward, take a shot, then turn 180 and move back.
So, if you see them in their movement phase and don't see
them in yours, move forward a little, and you may see them. For example,
they move like this...
visible
range
|
S -----/-->S
| | YOU
S<-\---+
|
CATER FOR OPPORTUNITY FIRE!
To use the Opportunity Fire functions, you need enough TU's to take a
shot, and the soldier ideally needs a reaction level of 50+. If none of
the soldiers qualify, try moving them in front of the UFO door and
making them kneel. This is great against Mutons and Snakemen because
they leave the UFO a lot.
USE HWPs AS SCOUTS
Hovertanks are the best units in the game to act as scouts, as are the
other HWP's. They are immune to psi-attacks and have tons of TU's.
Just make sure that the HWP does just scouting. If you want the
soldiers to gain experience, look for aliens using the HWP, and shoot at
it using a regular unit.
DON'T LET ALIENS USE THE TERRAIN!
This is especially important on Terror missions. Hovertank/Fusion
Launcher is ideal for this, but if not, just use Rocket Launchers and
grenades. Even lasers can be used.
Just blow apart a building or forest, and any aliens hiding in it will
either be killed, spotted or peeved. You see, you've just destroyed it's
hiding place. And remember, there is no penalty for destroying civilian
PROPERTY, just civilians! So go ahead and destroy the city just to get
that last alien, if you have to!
LISTEN TO AURAL CLUES IN THE ALIEN MOVEMENT PHASE
The sounds in alien movement phase can reveal important clues to alien
locations. Normal door sounds means the aliens are near a regular
building (farm house, etc.) Hydraulic door sounds means the automatic
doors were used. Two sounds close together means someone just went in
and immediately came back out (or vice versa).
The length of the alien movement phase is also proportional to the number
of aliens left on the map. (Remember that stunned aliens or civilians
can wake up!)
ALIENS ARE ALWAYS WARM.
Aliens obviously don't feel draughts, because they leave all the doors
open when they go through farmhouses. That little snippet is useful to
know if you see an open door, and you're certain that none of your
soldiers have been near it.
WEAPON TACTICS
Different weapons should be used differently and in different
circumstances. Here are some suggestions on how to best employ the
different weapons.
Pistols and Rifles
Use them only when you have to, sniper style. Dump them for lasers
as fast as possible. They use clips and doesn't do much damage.
they may be enough to use against Sectoids, who have little armour,
but not against tougher enemies.
Heavy Cannon
Even though it is more accurate than the auto-cannon, it is a lot
heavier, and only has 6 rounds loaded. It also has no auto-shot mode!
Auto-Cannon
Probably the most effective weapon in the early game, with auto
mode, three types of ammo, and 14 shot magazine. Still, 14 shots
is not much in auto-mode, and three magazines can run out on you
pretty quick. It is also HEAVY. Of course, auto-fired HE rounds
can clear a forest REAL quick.
Rocket Launcher
Rocket Launcher packs your biggest punch in the early game, and
being an area weapon makes it invaluable in dealing with nasty
Reapers and other loathsome creatures. On the other hand, you can
only carry three of them, and they only fly in straight lines.
Have another member carry reloads for you.
Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, and Heavy Laser
Forget the Heavy Laser. The 35% more damage that it does is offset
by having no auto mode and decreased accuracy. You can probably
forget the pistol also, but you need to research it to get laser
rifle. Laser Rifles are arguably the best squad weapon in the game,
needing no ammo, with decent accuracy and damage.
Grenades and High Explosive
Get alien grenades when you can, but regular grenades would do.
Use them to flatten small buildings and take down walls so aliens
have nowhere to hide.
Proximity Grenades are similar, but they detonate when a unit moves
within it's sensing radius. Remember that a unit can be an alien,
an XCom soldier, or a civilian. Also, because they have a 1-square
sensing radius, don't chuck them next to a UFO door, like this:
----+ Because when the alien steps out, the grenade will go off
| and just come in contact with the now-closed UFO door,
ADP allowing the alien to survive.
| If you want to use Proximity Grenades properly, you do it
----+ like this:
----+ Because the alien steps out, into the grenades sensing
| radius, and hey presto! the alien cannot retreat behind a
AD P closed door, so he becomes fried Sectoid/Muton/whatever!
|
----+ A=Alien D=UFO Door P=Proximity Grenade
Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, and Heavy Plasma
Forget the plasma pistols. Plasma Rifle and Heavy Plasma are good
weapons, and the Heavy Plasma is the only heavy weapon in the game
with auto mode. On the other hand, Heavy Plasma is "heavy" and
normal soldiers can't carry it very well.
Heavy Plasma should only carried by a few select members, due to
possible shortages in clips. Also, with only 80 items per craft,
having so many clips around can be a problem.
Heavy Plasma can punch through inner walls of UFOs when auto-fired
a couple times, useful for pincer attacks.
I'd just like to say this: HEAVY PLASMA IS KING! GET IT AS SOON AS
YOU CAN! IT WILL BE WELL WORTH THE WAIT! IT IS SUPERB-DUPERB!
Aah, glad to get that off my chest!
Blaster Launcher
Blaster launcher is probably one of the greatest weapons in the
game. It is expensive, its ammo is expensive, but it is VERY
useful. You can blow up things in ANY direction, turn around
corners, go up and down stairs, flatten entire barns, even punch a
hole in UFO's outer hull! With a bit of management one soldier can
carry up to 5 reloads (2 on belt and 3 in backpack).
Leave some Blaster Bombs on the floor and get the weapon carrier
to kneel on the reloads, making more available!
If you are attacking a Battleship, blow open one of the engine legs
using the Blaster Launcher to save you going up the central
grav-lift. Alternatively, blow a hole in the roof of a UFO and go in
top to bottom. I have had more success against battleships this way!
A Blaster Bomb can also be useful when using HWP's. Blow a hole in
the space next to a UFO door and then move the HWP in through the
enlarged entrance. Nice!
Small Launcher
This is the only weapon (apart from Stun Rod) which is designed for
stunning creatures. Although my favourite tactic is to mind-control
an alien, position a stun-rod soldier next to it, and on the next
turn, stun it until it drops, the Small Launcher can make the process
a lot easier. Watch out for Floaters, they use these a LOT!
ASSAULT TACTICS
* Your first priority is to make sure no aliens can ambush you as you
deploy. This makes HWP invaluable as they are often the first ones to
exit the craft, saving your soldiers from getting shot. They also take
several hits, even from heavy plasma, before being destroyed.
* Your second priority is to scout and clear out the map of any stray
aliens, while locating your primary objective. When boarding UFOs, the
objective is the UFO itself. When attacking alien base, the objective
is the alien command center. Spread out into fire teams of two
soldiers or one soldier and one HWP and search. One team should guard
the entrances to the objective when found.
* Your third priority is to secure the objective. Leave a team guarding
the entrance to the objective in case the perimeter sweep missed
somebody.
DON'T FORGET YOUR WOGGLE!
There should be one person (scout) whose specialty is open doors so that
other people can shoot through the open door. The person with the best
reactions and most TU's should get this role.
HAVING A REVERSED MIND IS COOL!
On some missions, you may notice that the UFO's roof is blown open.
This is caused by the Power Source exploding on impact with the turf.
You can use this hole to your advantage. If you get four soldiers to
stand on each of the corners, you can peek inside and kill any aliens
left inside. You need flying suits for this though!
You may prefer to blast the roof open using a Blaster Launcher. This
is especially useful when attacking Battleships. Whenever I need to
capture a Commander, I always let the Battleship get shot down, and then
I attack from the top-down, Mind Probing the aliens until I find him.
Then I stun him, and get him back to base. I usually don't finish the
mission unless there are only a couple left.
USE THE WINDOWS IN YOUR CRAFT!
Your craft have windows, so turn your rearmost soldiers or HWPs around
and take a look. This will let you know the general terrain layout
before you even get out of the transport.
FIND THE CENTRAL COMMAND IN AN ALIEN BASE!
The command centre in an alien base is very distinctive, it looks a bit
like this (not drawn to scale)
+---------W---------+
| |
| +---------------+ | D= Door (3 space doors!)
| | | |
| | | | W= Window (watch out for passing aliens!)
| | | |
| | | | G= Central grav-lift
D | GGG D |
D | GGG D |
D | GGG D | The gravlift takes you up to the second level
| | | | of the command centre, where the base commander
| | | | normally lives. He usually never comes out of
| | | | this two-level command centre. Fire a blaster
| | | | bomb in through the two walls and march right
| +---------------+ | up into the gravlift. Aliens will come at you
| | from all directions, so watch out!
+---------W---------+
CAPTURING ALIENS
Successful capture of live aliens is a very important aspect of UFO.
Without it, you would never progress, because to progress, you must
research! The table that follows shows the information that aliens
yield when researched:
Commander Cydonia or Bust *
Leader The Martian Solution **
Medic Species Information (not just their own)
Engineer Specifications of UFOs
Navigators Hyper Wave Decoder
Soldiers Mission Information.
All aliens give you Alien Origins, and species information (their own)
* Cydonia or Bust is the research needed to complete the game.
** The Martian Solution must be researched to advance to Cydonia or Bust.
BUILD ALIEN CONTAINMENT FIRST!
The very first improvement you should make to ALL your strike bases is
an Alien Containment facility. If you don't, any live aliens brought
back will die on arrival at the base. Remember that aliens are only
returned to the base of the craft which captured the alien!
HOW DO I CAPTURE ALIENS?
There are three ways:
1: Shoot them and pray that they don't die (ie, they don't scream)
2: Use a Stun Rod to stun the alien.
3: Use the Small Launcher and Stun Bomb to stun an alien from a
distance.
Bizarrely, I seem to have more success using Number 2 than Number 3?
WHAT ALIENS DO I CAPTURE?
It depends on what information you want. Check the information table
above for information on what rank gives what information. If you want
PSI-Powers (PSI-Lab, PSI-Amp etc) you need to capture either an
Ethereal (any rank) or a Sectoid Leader/Commander. Terrorists are
exactly the same as soldiers.
You cannot capture Cyberdiscs or Sectopods, these just blow up when
their health bar reaches stun level.
If you have Flying Suits, and you want to capture a live Chryssalid
(it can be done!) simply stun it and if you run out of TU's before it
drops, simply hover above it. As it only has Hand-To-Hand Combat
capabilites, it cannot attack you!
KEEP A BACKUP AVAILABLE!
Always have another soldier ready to back you up should a stun attempt
fail. Make him stand in front of the alien to keep it's attention,
whilst you sneak up behind and stun it. This way, if the first attempt
fails, the second soldier can have a crack at it.
USING STUN RODS
The only disadvantage against Stun Rods is that you must be adjacent to
the alien to be able to stun it. Click on the Stun Rod and then select
Stun from the Popup menu. If it's successful, the alien will collapse
(without screaming), if not, prepare for retaliation!
USING STUN BOMBS
The main advantage a Stun Bomb possesses over a Rod is their ability to
stun more than one alien at a time. Unfortunately, most aliens need more
hits from a Bomb than they would need from a Rod. Even so, Bombs are
useful when attacking groups of aliens, particularly Sectoids!
If the alien is hit by a Stun Bomb, take a Snap Shot at it, and if it
hits, it might drop unconscious. However, in the majority of cases, it
will die instead.
DO NOT STUN MIND-CONTROLLED ALIENS [?]
Another UFO Strategy Guide says that you should NOT stun Mind-Controlled
aliens because technically they are on your side. They ask for
verification on the matter. Here it is:
Stun Rod
You cannot Stun your own units using a Stun Rod.
Stun Bomb
It is much harder to Stun your own units using a Bomb than when
stunning an alien, so most soldiers can withstand a LOT more hits!
It is still possible though, and if it happens, wait until it is
no longer under your control, and then stun it!
ANTI-REAPER CAMPAIGN
To protect yourself against Reapers during missions, simply hide in a
building which has only got a one-space door. Reapers, being 4-space
creatures, cannot fit through. You can now torture it as much as you
want! Just don't shoot the wall down!
PSI / ANTI-PSI TACTICS
If you want PSI powers, you must capture an Ethereal or a Sectoid Leader
or Commander. Then you must build a PSI-Lab to train your soldiers. Here
are some tactics for causing and absorbing PSI attacks from aliens.
CAUSE PANIC
If you successfully make an alien panic, the chances are that the alien
will drop his weapons, and as thet never pick them up again (?) you
have made this alien safe (except PSI-aware aliens)
Panic can also cause an alien to go Berserk and fire his weapons
in random directions. This is great for wiping out nearby aliens,
especially if there are fuel drums nearby!
Remember that aliens can also make your soldiers panic/berserk!
ACCESS MIND-CONTROLLED ENEMY INVENTORY [CHEAT / BUG]
When you mind control and alien, you may notice that the Equip Unit
button doesn't function, preventing you from taking it's weapons. There
is a way round this though. Select one of your own soldiers, then click
on the Equip Unit button. Now scroll through your soldiers until you
reach the alien. It will show up as a soldier without Armour, and the
name will be the aliens race and rank, eg "Sectoid Medic". Now you can
remove his weapons without using up all it's TU's.
MARTIAN SCOUT HUT
Mind-controlled aliens make great scouts. If you don't want to take your
units into a place, then just send an alien! And, as a bonus, if another
alien spots it and has some TU's left, it will take a shot at it. This
means that if it hits, the Alien has just helped you finish the
mission, as well as giving away the position of another alien.
CHECK FOR SIGNS OF MIND CONTROL
If an alien attempts to take over one of your units, you will notice.
If the mind-control didn't work, make him drop all his weapons.
This way, if he does get mind-controlled, no harm can be done, as
panicked aliens and mind-controlled units never pick up dropped weapons!
DIFFERENT SHOTS AND DIFFERENT WEAPONS
Which shot to take from which weapons depends a lot on the tactical
situation involved. Any shot, no matter hit or not, can alert the enemy
who may turn around and let loose some shots (if alien is still alive
after the shot) by opportunity fire. Here's some general guidelines.
Auto Shot
Auto shot is the least accurate of the three available, but if you
use the laws of probability, you actually have more chance of getting
a hit with the three shots than with a Snap Shot. For this reason,
you should use Auto Shot when you definitely want a kill. If the
first shot doesn't kill it, there's a chance the secnd and third
shots will finish the job.
Snap Shot/Aimed Shot
Snap Shot is my personal favourite. Low TU usage and decent accuracy.
I only use Aimed Shot if I am in a lot of danger and need to kill an
alien. It still may miss, but accuracy is vastly improved.
MISC. GROUND COMBAT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
You always get 'em don't you? The annoying little bugs that cause so
many questions to be raised. Here I will try to answer them.
* Why do I lose ammo that I never use?
After combat all clips loaded in weapons are lost, whether or not
they have been used (not a great piece of design!). Thus you should
unload any weapons that uses valuable ammo before the battle ends.
See "How do I UNLOAD ammo from a weapon?" Check the length of the
alien movement phase for hints on how many aliens are left.
* How do I reload weapons?
You don't need the other hand free, that's just for UNLOADING.
Simply select the Ammo Clip and move it over to the weapon.
Now click the mouse button again and you should hear a ker-chunk.
If you select the weapon, you will see the cartridge in place.
* How do I UNLOAD ammo from a weapon?
You need an empty hand for this. Select the weapon and move it over
the UNLOAD icon (the one with a rifle depicted on it) and click the
mouse button. The weapon should return to the hand it was in
before, and the ammo clip will be in the other hand.
* Some of my units have less TU's than they should have. Why?
Your soldiers strength rating decides how much they can carry.
When the soldier's load goes over this limit, they start to lose
manoeuvrability, just like real life. The effect of that is reduced
TU's. You have to give your unit a lighter load.
* Why carry grenades when there is the Auto Cannon with HE ammo?
That's a good question. Auto Cannon's are heavy, a strength rating
of 40 or more is recommended to carry one, whereas a normal soldier
can carry a Laser Rifle and two grenades. The grenades are just as
good as HE (High Explosive) ammo, and are lighter to boot!
* How can I fire on aliens in their movement phase?
You need Opportunity fire. If you still have enough time units left
and you don't want your soldier to be a sitting duck, click on one
of the opportunity fire buttons in the bottom left of the panel.
Clockwise, from left to right these are:
Nothing, Snap Shot, Auto Shot, Aimed Shot
Then, if your soldier sees an alien during it's movement phase, and
the soldier's reactions are high enough, he will fire! Always leave
rookies with over half of their TU's left, otherwise they probably
won't fire.
* What's with the MIA's
If some of your soldier's is still outside the transport when you
click on the Abort Mission icon, then those units will be classed
as MIA, or Missing In Action. You will lose the soldiers forever.
Also, if some of your units are under alien control, and you
kill all the aliens whilst the unit is still under their control,
you will lose that unit (This is a bug).
Try not to lose all your units, as there will be no-one to fly
the transport back to base, so you will lose that as well. This
also happens if the last unit is unconscious.
* Can I wake up unconscious soldiers?
Of course you can, simply get a person carrying a MediKit to stand
over the unconscious soldier's body (ie on the same square) and use
the MediKit. Apply one shot of Stimulant, and then exit. Go to the
Equip Unit screen and if the soldier's body is still on the ground,
then apply another shot of Stimulant. Repeat this until his body is
no longer on the ground, and on the next turn, he will be standing
next to you.
* How do I use a MediKit?
Walk up to the soldier to be healed (unless he is unconscious, see
above) and select Use Medikit from the medikit menu. Painkillers
increase soldier morale, Stimulant is used to revive unconscious
soldiers. HEAL FATAL WOUNDS STRAIGHT AWAY, or the unit will die.
Click on the red body part and then apply doses until the body
part turns green. Each dose (of anything) costs 10 TU's. See the
UFOpaedia for more information on how to use the MediKit.
* How do you open doors?
Move your soldier to one square behind the door, and he will
automatically open it. Or you could shoot your way through walls.
* How do I use the Mind Probe?
Simple. As soon as one unit sees an alien, move to the unit holding
the Mind Probe. Now Use the mind probe and click on the alien (make
sure the cursor is blinking) Now you will see that aliens stats
screen (similar to your own) showing TU's, armour, bravery, and
also race and rank.
* How do I make my soldiers better?
By giving them experience. You don't learn things by sitting on
your arse all day letting someone else do all the work. The same
applies in UFO. If you want a stronger soldier, pack him full of
heavy stuff and run him back and forth through the transport.
If you want more accuracy, shoot more things. Theoretically, you
could just spend an entire mission shooting bushes (one unit
anyway) and when you return, he should be improved.
-= RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURE STRATEGIES =-
-= TABLE OF CONTENTS =-
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