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Slashrat posted:I think what you gain in extra loot doesn't make up for the fact that you'd no longer be able to set up an extra satellite uplink and 3-4 satellites in month one. The deadlines for getting those productions started are very tight, and if you're unlucky, even the first UFO won't show up before you have to start constructing the uplink itself. To get my first classic win, I restarted four or five times in order to get the second UFO before the satellite deadlines. Passing on the first UFO is very much the optimum opening strategy, but to actually work, it requires a pretty high level of luck/savescumming.
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May 4, 2013 15:28
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Phobophilia posted:Does anyone have good experiences ignoring the first UFO, in hopes of luring a larger UFO later so you can get extra loot? No. I've never ignored a ufo and I've always gotten a battleship by at least the 4th month, fastest being right after the overseer ship. I honestly don't think there is any validity to the "ignore a small ufo, get bigger one", or as a post on the first page said, coffeetable posted:Getting this in on page one: Also the picture in the op is apparently down. Brainamp fucked around with this message at 16:50 on May 4, 2013 |
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May 4, 2013 16:47
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The only battleship I've seen was when I was still using Ravens. Even with plasma cannons I got completely owned and haven't encountered another since I splashed the Overseer.
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May 4, 2013 16:50
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Brainamp posted:Also the picture in the op is apparently down.
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May 4, 2013 17:01
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Brainamp posted:No. I've never ignored a ufo and I've always gotten a battleship by at least the 4th month, fastest being right after the overseer ship. I honestly don't think there is any validity to the "ignore a small ufo, get bigger one", or as a post on the first page said, Err... I don't know what you're associating it with, but the idea is to ignore the very first UFO you spot (small scout); a few days later a Medium Scout will show up, carrying much more loot while still being within what your missile ravens can handle.
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May 4, 2013 18:07
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straw man posted:To get my first classic win, I restarted four or five times in order to get the second UFO before the satellite deadlines. Passing on the first UFO is very much the optimum opening strategy, but to actually work, it requires a pretty high level of luck/savescumming. Anything that requires savescumming to work cannot be the optimal strategy, by definition.
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May 4, 2013 19:10
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greedy algorithm is provably optimal on I/I, don't make me type that out on a forum plz, QED
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May 4, 2013 20:35
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Shumagorath posted:The only battleship I've seen was when I was still using Ravens. Even with plasma cannons I got completely owned and haven't encountered another since I splashed the Overseer. I had one show up immediately after completing the slingshot battleship mission. Fusion cores galore.
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May 4, 2013 21:20
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I get battleships late in the game (October, perhaps November) even when I've got EMP Cannons across a worldwide cover of Firestorms. Not sure why people are having problems getting them. If you're not destroying missions left and right by around September regardless of the difficulty setting you're on, you should get a battleship even then.
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May 4, 2013 21:53
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I get Battleships within the first two months.
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May 5, 2013 00:03
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Brainamp posted:No. I've never ignored a ufo and I've always gotten a battleship by at least the 4th month, fastest being right after the overseer ship. I honestly don't think there is any validity to the "ignore a small ufo, get bigger one", or as a post on the first page said, This is not RNG stuff, it's a game mechanic. It's also easier to notice later on once you can get more details about UFOs and their mission. If you fail to shoot down a UFO that has a scouting mission, a larger UFO will appear over the same area soon afterwards and shoot down your satellite (or get shot down by you). This is the best way to get a battleship to appear whenever you're ready for fusion launchers, by the way.
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May 5, 2013 02:52
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Just finished a classic ironman game with all the second wave options turned on. Things were a LOT more intense on the world map, first satellite was $420, my monthly income was $23. Had to rush the alien base to help me out with panic, ended up with 5 satellites in total, and that was because I managed to save up and buy two at once for $600ish, 5th cost $1020 and 6th would have been $1600. Ended up with 6 countries lost, my only psychic ended up being my crappiest sniper, with 95 aim at colonel and 50 will. Can highly recommend, although the tactical missions still end up easy in the mid/late game, there is definitely a lot more pressure to rush for the game ending tech's asap before you lose. I spent a lot more time using light plasma rifles then I normally would, focusing my research on the game ending tech's asap instead of plasma rifles and ghost. Money is always at a premium, I ended up capturing all of my light and regular plasma rifles, and got very few foundry techs complete, just ammo conservation and advanced medkit.
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May 5, 2013 10:48
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Is there any point to continuing to psi-test? It seems like the first round is guaranteed to give you a psionic, but I've tested about 70 other soldiers across multiple playthroughs and never had anyone turn up positive after that first one.
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May 5, 2013 11:20
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duralict posted:Is there any point to continuing to psi-test? It seems like the first round is guaranteed to give you a psionic, but I've tested about 70 other soldiers across multiple playthroughs and never had anyone turn up positive after that first one. The chance of getting a psi-soldier is based on their will. Testing rookies and squaddies is very unlikely to get you a psi-soldier, just because they have much less will than your colonels. I think the game is also rigged a little (to guarantee you one in the first batch, and make them less likely as you get more of them), but you can still put together a squad of six psis with only a little luck needed if you make sure to rank people up before testing them.
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May 5, 2013 11:44
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Jabor posted:The chance of getting a psi-soldier is based on their will. Testing rookies and squaddies is very unlikely to get you a psi-soldier, just because they have much less will than your colonels. In my first game I didn't get a psionic in my first batch
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May 5, 2013 14:52
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Jabor posted:I think the game is also rigged a little (to guarantee you one in the first batch, and make them less likely as you get more of them), but you can still put together a squad of six psis with only a little luck needed if you make sure to rank people up before testing them. You're not guaranteed a psionic in the first batch, but its fairly likely. The probability is scaled based on the number of psionics you already have, so as you get more, new ones become increasingly unlikely. With infinite time and patience, you can still get a full squad if you want. On the other hand, at this point your squad is already an unstoppable group of murder machines, so there's not that much use other than personal amusement. One of the second wave options increases this scaling by a significant amount, making it so that you probably only get one, and maybe two if you're persistent.
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May 5, 2013 15:13
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Muscle Tracer posted:This is not RNG stuff, it's a game mechanic. It's also easier to notice later on once you can get more details about UFOs and their mission. If you fail to shoot down a UFO that has a scouting mission, a larger UFO will appear over the same area soon afterwards and shoot down your satellite (or get shot down by you). This is the best way to get a battleship to appear whenever you're ready for fusion launchers, by the way. This. Look for the word scout. Letting the scout escape means that soon after you'll get an abductor or battle ship class ship coming after you.
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May 5, 2013 20:31
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duralict posted:Is there any point to continuing to psi-test? It seems like the first round is guaranteed to give you a psionic, but I've tested about 70 other soldiers across multiple playthroughs and never had anyone turn up positive after that first one. Soldier hires, on the other hand, are given their details on arrival. This is more useful once you get Rookie->Squaddie training so you can reload if you get yet another sniper. TheSpiritFox posted:This. Look for the word scout. Letting the scout escape means that soon after you'll get an abductor or battle ship class ship coming after you. Shumagorath fucked around with this message at 21:53 on May 5, 2013 |
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May 5, 2013 21:50
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I'm in November having finally downed my first battleship and got my fusion weapon tech. At this point I'm just teching up for the final battle / getting my Valkyrie achievement, but China quit the project without even giving me a courtesy terror mission right as I got satellites over every last country. Fuckers.
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May 6, 2013 03:11
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I wish I got Support Psionics. Heavies and Assaults and Snipers get cool toys to use in the middle of combat, but a Support is a super-rookie. I'd rather day lay down mindfrays and inspires and mindcontrols. Maybe I'll send in my best supports in my first batch this game. Then again, a HEAT heavy can like one-shot the Sectopods in the penultimate room with Rift.
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May 6, 2013 03:19
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I'm actually kind of partial to Heavy Psionics, since they have a number of situations where they'll be out of range to use their LMG, but can still pull out a Mind Control or something to make themsleves useful during a turn. And if you position them well, you can even fire off a shot on their first move, and then use Mindfray or something on the second turn to save ammo! On the other hand, I usually have my Supports positioned very specifically so they can heal/smoke/cover my guys in combat situations. It really kinda sucks having to decide if I want to risk a Mind Control on some rear end in a top hat Muton behind full cover, or if I want to give my Assault guy a medpack before his guts fall out of his plasma hole. But in all honesty they both work well enough that it doesn't matter THAT much at the end of the day, hell even an Assault Psionic is pretty drat handy considering that he'll probably be in range of everyone he wants to mind zap. gently caress Psionic Snipers though. Seriously. Hace fucked around with this message at 03:41 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 03:35
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I love psi heavies, having Mindfray really helps to make up for the fact that they don't get a real sidearm.
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May 6, 2013 03:40
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I'm a bit dubious about the game's claim that this area was "empty"  This is on I/I too, so that was a lot of hp to shoot through. Almost didn't manage to save anybody because all the civvies decided that the aliens just really wanted some hugs. All chrysallids, most civilians became zombies, and a cyberdisc for good measure. Two assaults and two heavies can bring the pain, though 
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May 6, 2013 03:51
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Shumagorath posted:Soldier hires, on the other hand, are given their details on arrival. This is more useful once you get Rookie->Squaddie training so you can reload if you get yet another sniper. Ha, I love extra snipers. My third game I actually wound up with four high-level snipers from abduction mission rewards and just went with it. A squad of five double-tap snipers abusing the ghost armor for positioning is pretty much unstoppable in the final mission, I don't think any of the enemies even managed to fire. That squad did really suck at terror missions, though.
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May 6, 2013 04:39
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Quick question, is the final mission an overseer UFO? Because i'm having trouble taking that piece of poo poo down, and i got four interceptors with plasma cannons.
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May 6, 2013 04:43
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You don't have to shoot anything down for the final mission, no. Also research the flight tech, you really need the second-tier fighters if you want to shoot anything down past a certain point.
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May 6, 2013 04:49
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Fargin Icehole posted:Quick question, is the final mission an overseer UFO? Because i'm having trouble taking that piece of poo poo down, and i got four interceptors with plasma cannons. No, the final mission tells you it's the final mission.
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May 6, 2013 04:50
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Fargin Icehole posted:Quick question, is the final mission an overseer UFO? Because i'm having trouble taking that piece of poo poo down, and i got four interceptors with plasma cannons. Use up a bunch of the consumables or research Fusion Lances/Firestorms and laugh at any UFO.
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May 6, 2013 04:51
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I think there's another weird bug. I had a Thin Man put a rookie into a critical state, and then spit poison on him. Fair enough, but luckily I had a Revive/Savior/Improved Medkit Support nearby that put him into max health. Strangely enough, next turn, he started panicking, and the turn after, he just died. Poison having some kind of internal timer that doesn't cut out a few turns later, and putting you into negative HP that exceeds your actual HP? God knows, I ragequited afterwards. Thin Men are total dicks that will loving murder you through Full Cover.
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May 6, 2013 13:22
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Shumagorath posted:greedy algorithm is provably optimal on I/I, don't make me type that out on a forum plz, QED I am interested to see this proof for academic purposes. Can you link me to it? In particular, I'm curious what metric(s) or decision behaviors are used to define "greedy".
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May 6, 2013 18:32
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I am going to find the person who designed Thin Men and strangle them to death.
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May 6, 2013 18:43
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duralict posted:Ha, I love extra snipers. My third game I actually wound up with four high-level snipers from abduction mission rewards and just went with it. A squad of five double-tap snipers abusing the ghost armor for positioning is pretty much unstoppable in the final mission, I don't think any of the enemies even managed to fire. That squad did really suck at terror missions, though. Double Tap actually saved my lead sniper's rear end in a terror mission yesterday. First shot missed despite an 85% chance to hit, but I hadn't moved so the next one killed the Chrysalid that was charging me. Hard to take In The Zone on the others after that. Zore posted:Use up a bunch of the consumables or research Fusion Lances/Firestorms and laugh at any UFO. Shumagorath fucked around with this message at 19:35 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 19:32
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I thought In The Zone was the ultimate chryssalid killer? Get a plasma rifle and just never ever stop shooting as long as there are more chryssalids in sight? Disclaimer: I have never, ever taken In The Zone. VVV Yes, it can only be used every other turn. VVV Muscle Tracer fucked around with this message at 19:40 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 19:37
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Does double tap have a cool down? It seems to only work every other turn for me.
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May 6, 2013 19:38
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Orgophlax posted:Does double tap have a cool down? It seems to only work every other turn for me. Yep - as designed, though not documented.
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May 6, 2013 19:40
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Muscle Tracer posted:I thought In The Zone was the ultimate chryssalid killer? Get a plasma rifle and just never ever stop shooting as long as there are more chryssalids in sight? Disclaimer: I have never, ever taken In The Zone. Pretty much, I cleared a terror mission in two turns when I threw a battle scanner with my first sniper and then proceeded to murder every chrysalid in sight and two mutons with my other sniper, the second round was just cleanup. I have since stopped taking ITZ though, I find Double Tap much more reliable while ITZ is still quite situational.
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May 6, 2013 19:42
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Muscle Tracer posted:I thought In The Zone was the ultimate chryssalid killer? Get a plasma rifle and just never ever stop shooting as long as there are more chryssalids in sight? Disclaimer: I have never, ever taken In The Zone. ITZ is pretty good combined with ghost armor and good positioning, but it's a lot more situational than Double Tap. Basically they are both awesome, but one gets more general use and one gets more tactical use.
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May 6, 2013 19:42
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Double Tap is better, In the Zone is cooler. Also, I'm pretty sure you can hit F1 when you have your sniper selected to see if they have Double Tap available.
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May 6, 2013 19:44
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The right answer is of course to bring two Snipers, one with ITZ and the other with DT. Still, it's nice that X-COM makes all the classes useful.
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May 6, 2013 19:45
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If In the Zone is really only worth it against cryssalids, You can make a DT sniper for normal missions, and an ITZ sniper for terror missions.
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May 6, 2013 19:49
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