UFO: Enemy Unknown, remake by Firaxis

[sherbz]

The Overwatch freeze bug is exactly as follows:

If an alien feels it is in an untenable position from which it must fall back, it will not consider any actions other than moving. If they see one of your guys in Overwatch, they will not move. The two combined mean if you put an alien in what it sees as a "hopeless" situation, they just lock up and do nothing. Once you've got them frozen, you can safely keep overwatching with one guy and taking a shot with the others until you get lucky, even if it takes you a hundred turns to do so.

The easiest way to do this is to have one soldier sprint to a flanking position on the alien, and another soldier enter overwatch. It's ridiculously powerful and rather silly, which is why players tend to view it as an exploit rather than smart tactics.

Aliens do this when suppressed too. I think they ought to tweak the AI slightly so at the very least the pop an over watch when suppressed. Just sitting there and doing nothing is pretty dumb.

 

[PhilBowles]

Aliens do this when suppressed too. I think they ought to tweak the AI slightly so at the very least the pop an over watch when suppressed. Just sitting there and doing nothing is pretty dumb.

They often will go on overwatch when suppressed in my experience, but the inaction described is exactly how a suppressed target should behave a lot of the time (that's why they're suppressed) - suppressed targets rarely move, and the reaction shot when they move rarely actually hits, so it's really the only value of suppression that it stops the alien doing anything while you get into a better position with other soldiers. Going onto overwatch won't help an alien against a stationary target - aliens should be programmed to hunker down, but in my experience never do (in any situation).

It sounds as though the freeze bug is a case of other actions triggering suppressed behaviour when they shouldn't, not a problem with suppression.

 

[sherbz]

OH MY GOD! Just had the most insane sequence of events. Bear in mind that the following screens were taken AFTER i had killed 3 mutons, a cyber disk and 2 sectoid commanders. Ive never come across something like this. Does anyone know whether I can abort this mission, and if i can, where the hell the extraction point is?

Spoiler :

 

[Gzz]

Near the Skyranger, so you will need to return to your starting position.

Tip : use a previous save: you won't save all your guys if one of them is suppressed, or, if in Ironman, well, good luck

 

[sherbz]

Near the Skyranger, so you will need to return to your starting position.

Tip : use a previous save: you won't save all your guys if one of them is suppressed, or, if in Ironman, well, good luck

1 Guy is suppressed, but under the circumstances im prepared to sacrifice him. Usually there is a box or something for when you want to abort. And im playing on classic ironman mode . As you can see, my troops are fairly well levelled up and losing them all would make me cry

 

[sherbz]

Sorted! Its a bug, apparently. You need to reload, so when i went back to the game, the box was there and I could abort. I ran all of my troops into it and got the hell out of there. That sort of nonsense is enough to ruin anyones day. I think in all, in total, I faced 2 cyberdisks, 4 drones, 6 heavy floaters, 3 floaters, 4 mutons and 2 berserkers. That is almost certainly the entire crew (i might have been missing 1 or 2). It was strange, they just kept on coming. Over 3 rounds I had all of them on me at once. Well chuffed I managed to evacuate. Didnt even lose a soldier

 

[coanda]

Sorted! Its a bug, apparently. You need to reload, so when i went back to the game, the box was there and I could abort. I ran all of my troops into it and got the hell out of there. That sort of nonsense is enough to ruin anyones day. I think in all, in total, I faced 2 cyberdisks, 4 drones, 6 heavy floaters, 3 floaters, 4 mutons and 2 berserkers. That is almost certainly the entire crew (i might have been missing 1 or 2). It was strange, they just kept on coming. Over 3 rounds I had all of them on me at once. Well chuffed I managed to evacuate. Didnt even lose a soldier

7 squads of aliens there. So you had the commander group somewhere else, and maybe one other group of aliens that hadn't joined the party (yet!). Supply Ship seems to give some scary moments to lots of people. Only map on which I've triggered five groups of aliens all with one move (not one turn - one move, and not even a dash).

 

[Gzz]

Well, i dare you do it with only ballistics weapons because you were so silly to launch missels or granades at every opportunity.
Really, i lost two maxed assaults and a SHIV, and all i get was....
5 BROKEN BROKEN ENGERGY SOURCES
1 ELERIUM

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Supply Ship seems to give some scary moments to lots of people.

Am I the only one who has first contact with Sectopods in multiples on those ships?

 

[Gzz]

Am I the only one who has first contact with Sectopods in multiples on those ships?

Nope, even in normal i found 3 sectopods in a Terror mission as first contact.

 

[sherbz]

7 squads of aliens there. So you had the commander group somewhere else, and maybe one other group of aliens that hadn't joined the party (yet!). Supply Ship seems to give some scary moments to lots of people. Only map on which I've triggered five groups of aliens all with one move (not one turn - one move, and not even a dash).

Yes, the sectoid commanders were in the main hanger thing right at the beginning (they were actually the first aliens i encountered). There were more aliens off screen, because i only took those screenshots after I had run away the previous turn.

 

[PhilBowles]

Am I the only one who has first contact with Sectopods in multiples on those ships?

Only multiple Sectopod missions I've faced are the final one (two Sectopods on Normal) and the Overseer (two Sectopods on Classic - haven't started the final mission on Classic yet, just shut down after activating the Gollop Chamber).

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm finally playing again.

I tried classic, but it's just too damn annoying, and yes I'll admit, I must not be good enough for classic. I was doing okay on the combat part. But how is it fun missing like 8 shots in a row? Yes I realized most of my guys were rookies and squaddies, but it's lame. I missed 6 shots in a row at 48% chance to hit. Ridiculous. The combat I can handle (except one bomb mission, I didn't have my guys properly spaced right when I finally deactivated the bomb), but I struggled at base management. Specifically money management. I didn't have money for anything, nor alien alloys. I needed a down ship (where presumably I could find some alloys), but all I got were abduction missions.

I had to change the difficulty to normal. It just wasn't fun on classic. But I'm still recovering from that terrible start, and lost like 5 countries from the program. Hopefully I can recover and win this game. I'm finally starting to get my money situation under control. Although I still have no money for foundry or officer school upgrades. In the beginning, I just wasn't getting the missions I needed. I'm not playing Ironman, but maybe next game I'll play normal iron man. Classic is just not fun for me. One sequence my guys missed 12 shots in a row. Yeah, real excitement there. *yawn*.

 

[PhilBowles]

I'm finally playing again.

I tried classic, but it's just too damn annoying, and yes I'll admit, I must not be good enough for classic. I was doing okay on the combat part. But how is it fun missing like 8 shots in a row? Yes I realized most of my guys were rookies and squaddies, but it's lame. I missed 6 shots in a row at 48% chance to hit. Ridiculous. The combat I can handle (except one bomb mission, I didn't have my guys properly spaced right when I finally deactivated the bomb), but I struggled at base management. Specifically money management. I didn't have money for anything, nor alien alloys. I needed a down ship (where presumably I could find some alloys), but all I got were abduction missions.

Unless you really need to take the chance, it's not a great idea to try shots at less tan at least 60% chance to hit - if you were making 8 shots in a row at that chance, it suggests you weren't moving enough. XCOM is a game of positioning; get close to or above your enemy, and where possible flank them to get the best chance to both hit and score critical hits, and also make use of the differences in weapon type (some are more accurate at different ranges).

If you have a 48% chance to hit the alien is probably in cover, so use overwatch. That triggers when an alien moves out of cover, so they'll never get a cover bonus against overwatch fire and you will usually have a better chance to hit them (just make sure the alien can't see you when you go onto overwatch - otherwise it will usually just fire without moving, and you won't get to take an overwatch shot).

As far as money goes, you need to focus on getting engineers (which reduce the cost of items and satellites), and you need to sell alien artefacts when you can. UFOs are good for loot, but you get alloys from any mission, and can get money rewards from abductions and Council missions.

There are also strategies that limit the rate at which panic grows. Focus your missions in areas where you don't immediately want to build satellites, particularly Europe and Asia (the continents with 4 funding nations each). You can allow panic to rise in Africa or South America on the assumption that you'll want to put satellites up there ASAP (for the bonuses) - as long as you can finish a satellite (and uplink) before the end of the month comes, you'll be able to keep those countries. The way I play, I can typically afford to lose North America if necessary.

I had to change the difficulty to normal. It just wasn't fun on classic. But I'm still recovering from that terrible start, and lost like 5 countries from the program. Hopefully I can recover and win this game. I'm finally starting to get my money situation under control. Although I still have no money for foundry or officer school upgrades. In the beginning, I just wasn't getting the missions I needed. I'm not playing Ironman, but maybe next game I'll play normal iron man. Classic is just not fun for me.

The fun in Classic is the dynamism of tactical play, and the fact that you do need to make use of the surprisingly wide range of options your soldiers can call on to succeed (you'll never truly appreciate the value of, say, grapples on Normal). Straight-up firefights tend not to be fun after a while on any difficulty. Someone on the 2k forums had a nice summary:

Normal = both sides are equal in a straight firefight
Classic = the aliens have the advantage in a straight firefight and you need to play to tip the odds in your favour
Impossible = you have to play dirty.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I just tried try Not Created Equal and Hidden Potential. Two of my soldiers had less than 30 willpower.
I think the assigned classes are enough randomness for me.

 

[Disgustipated]

Anyone have a problem with the game freezing? I never had a problem until recently. Did a recent patch "break" the game?

Also did a recent patch increase the number of sectoid commanders? I am facing 3 now instead of the 1 I was facing on normal before. It's quite the challenge. Although doable if I'm in decent position.

edit: The game freezing is occurring during the alien turn. I seen it on the base assault mission, and now again on a large spacecraft mission. I'm thinking the aliens cannot figure out how to get to my position, so the game freezes.

It pisses me off when Firaxis takes a game that was working fine, and breaks it so it's unplayable now. 2 freezes right in a row. That's it for me tonight.

 

[PhilBowles]

Anyone have a problem with the game freezing? I never had a problem until recently. Did a recent patch "break" the game?

Also did a recent patch increase the number of sectoid commanders? I am facing 3 now instead of the 1 I was facing on normal before. It's quite the challenge. Although doable if I'm in decent position.

edit: The game freezing is occurring during the alien turn. I seen it on the base assault mission, and now again on a large spacecraft mission. I'm thinking the aliens cannot figure out how to get to my position, so the game freezes.

It pisses me off when Firaxis takes a game that was working fine, and breaks it so it's unplayable now. 2 freezes right in a row. That's it for me tonight.

I heard a lot about the alien activity freeze bug when the game first came out, and had a lot of delays on alien activity, but no permanent freezes. I haven't had that issue since I think the second patch, or noticed it in the current one.

There are reports of other known bugs having become more frequent with the new patch, including line of sight issues and a bug that can cause aliens to 'teleport' close to your squad (mostly on higher difficulties), but I don't think that's one of them.

Sectoid commanders normally come in pairs, sometimes trios in larger spacecraft; the two campaigns I completed on Normal were both before the patch, and I had two commanders in the alien base in at least one of them.

 

[Disgustipated]

That's strange, I've been playing classic difficulty the whole time? I could have swore I changed it to normal. Or maybe it's on classic for combat but normal for base operations? I don't understand.

I'm kind of stuck right now trying to take out a behemoth. These things weren't bad on normal, but my chances to hit are so low on classic. Why would it be so hard to hit something that big? He gets 2 attacks a turn? I can't figure out a way to defend against this thing.

It also won't let me change the difficulty level during combat, even though I did it before (it's a terror mission, maybe that's why).

edit: I finally got this thing down (had to reload, yeah no ironman classic for me) without losing half my team. I'm still curious why my difficulty jumped up though.

I guess I have been playing classic the whole time it appears. It explains why I still have so many money problems. I lost 4 countries, but am in danger of losing no more. I finally got plasma weaponry. But I still need a few more foundry projects. I'm running only one firestorm right now. Is it worth it to have all firestorms? And is it worth it to split your team up into groups of 3? I find I need the extra fire power, and 3 of my guys can't bring down 3 aliens. I really need 6 guys. I just try to keep them spread enough to avoid grenades (although occasionally they'll hit 2 of my guys).

 

[PhilBowles]

That's strange, I've been playing classic difficulty the whole time? I could have swore I changed it to normal. Or maybe it's on classic for combat but normal for base operations? I don't understand.

That is odd...

I'm kind of stuck right now trying to take out a behemoth.

Berserker? Yes, they're tough enough on Classic that on two occasions they've actually survived long enough to attack...

These things weren't bad on normal, but my chances to hit are so low on classic. Why would it be so hard to hit something that big? He gets 2 attacks a turn? I can't figure out a way to defend against this thing.

Not sure what the issue would be here - Berserkers never get a cover bonus, so your chance to hit should be the same as your base Aim (I don't think Berserkers have much defence). The highest-level shotgun you have plus Rapid Fire should work well, and Berserkers are their own worst enemy -they'll invariably move closer to the attacking unit when shot, usually into the line of fire of the rest of your squad.

I guess I have been playing classic the whole time it appears. It explains why I still have so many money problems. I lost 4 countries, but am in danger of losing no more. I finally got plasma weaponry. But I still need a few more foundry projects. I'm running only one firestorm right now. Is it worth it to have all firestorms?

Not really. You only need the Firestorm to deal with the Overseer UFO, and battleships. Battleships are rare and losing a satellite's not a big deal late in the game anyway, so you only need to engage them if you want to do a battleship mission and get fusion cores etc.

And is it worth it to split your team up into groups of 3? I find I need the extra fire power, and 3 of my guys can't bring down 3 aliens. I really need 6 guys. I just try to keep them spread enough to avoid grenades (although occasionally they'll hit 2 of my guys).

Ideally you want to deal with alien groups one at a time - if you have two teams going in different directions, you're more likely to activate more aliens at once, which makes them harder to bring down. I tend to keep my soldiers only close enough to support each other - as long as my support's close enough to get to anyone who needs medical attention, or throw smoke where it's needed, for instance, that's close enough. The actual squad configuration will vary with where the best surviving cover is.

 

[Disgustipated]

Sectopods is what they are called. I looked it up. It was just easier to call them behemoths as in Fallout 3.

On my last mission before the final one, I had a lot of fun trying to get the sectopod. I kind of found out you can't hide behind walls (although the outside wall of the alien spaceship seemed to work). And the multiple shots is when you get close to him. He has some short range ability. And I don't know how he can launch some aerial attack halfway across the map without even seeing me. Whatever. But I was able to lure him into the alien spacecraft, circle around and keep my close in fighters against the outside wall of the spacecraft out of sight. 2 long range gunners engaged him, and my close in fighters circled around the wall. Although it turned out I didn't need them, my long range guys got him.

I'm still trying to figure out the best make up of my squad. I like all the guys. I usually bring 2 support guys, 2 snipers, 1 assault, and 1 heavy. But lately I've been running 1 sniper. My other 2 snipers had squad sight ability, which I don't think is worth it. The opposing choice on that rank is the better choice imho- allowing you to move and overwatch or fire in the same turn. I don't seem to get much benefit out of squad sight.

For the final mission I'm bringing 3 support. My support guys seem to do pretty good. I like the critical hit power of assault, but I don't like getting in close. Although I love that free shot assault guys get when an enemy closes within 4 tiles. That has bailed me out a few times. Main reason I'm bringing 3 support is last time I did it, I was running low on med pack uses. Is it possible to bring 2 med packs? I just realized I never tried that.

As for the difficulty, I think what I did was moved it to normal, then back to classic. I wanted to do normal for base operations, and classic for combat. And just forgot I had it on classic the whole time.

And as for bezerkers, they are pretty easy (long as I can get them during my turn). I prefer to fight them rather than other enemies.