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Let's get horribly raped in TFTD! Orgasm now running things!

oscar

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NZ
Re-enlisting for duty. Time to show you Northen Hempisherers how it's done.
 

DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
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Jun 18, 2002
Messages
28,344
skyway said:
(btw in my game DU rapes aliens like crazy - so after a few battles he is a colonel already - he kills at least 3 aliens per encounter - on the other hand Volourn has only one kill - and it's a friendlyfir'd team-mate - karma?)
The X-Com skills of my pixellated compatriots is clearly unsurpassed. Obviously except when I died in the first round against a single alien and a tiny sub...

GarfunkeL said:
You need one of those alive in order to research the best armour (Magnetic Ion Armour) in TFTD. Capture one ASAP as after that getting them to show up can be hard. A dead one nets you the second best armour (Ion Armour).

I also have to say you leave a lot of grenade opportunities open. As in, groups of X-Com guys standing around together is screaming for a sonic boom boom getting chucked in the middle of them.

It's probably a good idea to always leave one recruit behind in the sub to evacuate should the mission go to hell. Cycle it around so it's not always the same person but that way, you'll less likely lose a Triton. Otherwise if you lose more than half your team on the field, consider getting someone back to the sub just in case.

Don't be afraid to use grenades either. Sometimes, I spend the first few rounds on the sub priming every grenade they have and putting them in their shoulder pockets (so I know those are armed grenades). That way, whenever someone sees an alien, someone else can chuck a grenade at the alien (never use the guy who can see the alien as throwing a grenade can bring reaction fire).

The only down-side with that is if one of your guys gets shot and goes down. All his grenades explode on the next turn so anyone too close to them also gets taken out. Getting stunned is also a guarantee of death too as explosions occur, rather than just a stim option. Still, for the opening salvo right out of the ship in a terror mission it can work wonders to clear the area. Even if you just throw them around randomly and grenade the entire fucking map.

I'd also like to sign up Saint_Proverbius, Calis, Deathy, baby arm, Shagnak and Cleveland Mark Blakemore of course.

I also think the rules should be that you can only use one person's name per game. EG: DarkUnderlord has died during this play-through so you can't use that name again until you fail and start another game. Means you'll be cycling through a lot of Codexer names.
 

MetalCraze

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X-Com is such an awesome game when you understand how things work (though I'm still a noob). Basically you start raeping when you get lasers and heavy plasma, a few Firestorms and a pair of hyper-wave radio intercepting facilities (at two bases) which have a 100% chance of detecting a UFO - I'm currently reached Cydonia (at one mission I was lucky enough to rush into the alien base command center with 3 guys armed with stun weapons and stun the only 2 aliens remaining there - and luckily they were leader and commander) - though haven't started it yet.
Cyberdiscs didn't end up as terrible as they were described - as long as you shoot them from a distance at least - if anything they can be quite useful as your own weapons when fighting in an alien space - as when they blow they usually take one or two aliens nearby with them.
Mutons however can be quite a bitches. Sometimes it takes only one laser shot to take them out and sometimes even 6 direct hits from a laser are not enough.
Taking down and clearing a battleship was fun too - though I've lost two of my better officers there (but thankfully ~half of aliens died during the crash).
I like AI - it isn't stupid. Most of the time (apart from an alien in a command center trying to kill my squad on a level below with a rocket but instead hitting the floor on his own level). F.e. aliens with high resistance to laser were brave enough to go at my men (armed with lasers) but as soon as I brought in my rocket tank they started to hide and manoeuver making it impossible for my tank to even see them. Aliens also try to sneak behind my forces in tight spaces and end them from there so proximity grenades do a nice job.

I'm also surprised how a tactical game from 1994 has more features and depth (I absolutely love how aliens have their own targets in the game and their own missions - as well as a score like that of a player) than any so called "tactical" bullshit from the past 5 years (and some even earlier).
 

Seboss

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Messages
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DarkUnderlord said:
Sometimes, I spend the first few rounds on the sub priming every grenade they have and putting them in their shoulder pockets (so I know those are armed grenades).
I thought a primed grenade's timer begins to tick as soon as the soldier doesn't hold it in his hand. So it's possible to prime a grenade and put it back into inventory, and it will only go off if it's thrown or the soldier dies?
 

MetalCraze

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No it will go off as soon as its time will come. When you are priming it the timer starts ticking - regardless of where the grenade is.
 

Seboss

Liturgist
Joined
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Messages
947
Ok, I supposed as much.
So DU suggestion only applies to the very first turn of the mission I guess.
 

Jasede

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Patron
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Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
?

If you prime a grenade you can carry it around forever. The timer starts ticking when you throw it.

You can then pick it up again and it'll keep ticking.


So to recap: if you prime all grenades on your soldiers to "0" so they explode next turn they /will not explode/ until thrown.

This explains why some X-Com players like to prime grenades when the Chrysalids/Tentaculats start showing up, because when a soldier is turned into a zombie he'll drop the 'nade, the timer starts ticking, and he'll explode the zombie.

Just got Terror From the Deep on Steam; can't get X-Com Util to work; but don't really want/need it.

skyway's wrong (unless he's using X-Com Util. and it changed this? But I do not remember it doing as much.)


I always prime all grenades at 0 the first turn too, so you can throw them at your leisure without wasting time to prime 'em.
 

Seboss

Liturgist
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Messages
947
Now you really got me confused. I understand the timer doesn't start ticking as long as your holding a grenade.

But does placing it back on shoulder/belt/whatever once primed still count as 'holding it'? If that's the case, it never occured to me before.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
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Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
Also signing up Twinfalls for duty. Bravery 60 minimum!

And remember, you can throw a primed grenade, have another soldier pick it up, throw it again, and so on.

Wait until you get the Blaster Bombs...
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
I am fairly certain it doesn't matter where you "hold" the grenade; its timer doesn't start ticking until you throw it from what I remember... I played this game a lot.
 

MetalCraze

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Hmm huh? Well the manual for X-Com (1 at least) says literally the following:

[when you click on a three moves when priming the grenade] "You now have three turns to throw the grenade and get away from the blast area."
Did I miss something or did they change that in X-Com 2?
 
Joined
May 29, 2006
Messages
5,364
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Astrology
AAARFFGGGGHHH! I got blown up, is it possible to still win the game?

I would definately would have reloaded at that point, I cant handle Ironman
 

Zhuangzi

Scholar
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
307
skyway said:
X-Com is such an awesome game when you understand how things work (though I'm still a noob). Basically you start raeping when you get lasers and heavy plasma, a few Firestorms and a pair of hyper-wave radio intercepting facilities (at two bases) which have a 100% chance of detecting a UFO - I'm currently reached Cydonia (at one mission I was lucky enough to rush into the alien base command center with 3 guys armed with stun weapons and stun the only 2 aliens remaining there - and luckily they were leader and commander) - though haven't started it yet.
Cyberdiscs didn't end up as terrible as they were described - as long as you shoot them from a distance at least - if anything they can be quite useful as your own weapons when fighting in an alien space - as when they blow they usually take one or two aliens nearby with them.
Mutons however can be quite a bitches. Sometimes it takes only one laser shot to take them out and sometimes even 6 direct hits from a laser are not enough.
Taking down and clearing a battleship was fun too - though I've lost two of my better officers there (but thankfully ~half of aliens died during the crash).
I like AI - it isn't stupid. Most of the time (apart from an alien in a command center trying to kill my squad on a level below with a rocket but instead hitting the floor on his own level). F.e. aliens with high resistance to laser were brave enough to go at my men (armed with lasers) but as soon as I brought in my rocket tank they started to hide and manoeuver making it impossible for my tank to even see them. Aliens also try to sneak behind my forces in tight spaces and end them from there so proximity grenades do a nice job.

I'm also surprised how a tactical game from 1994 has more features and depth (I absolutely love how aliens have their own targets in the game and their own missions - as well as a score like that of a player) than any so called "tactical" bullshit from the past 5 years (and some even earlier).

Skyway this is the first entirely positive post of yours I've read. And you're right of course. XCOM remains the granddaddy of squad based TBS. Only JA2 is better, IMO, and that's only because of the unique mercs.

XCOM - 15 years old and still going strong. :cool:
 

Darth Roxor

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Mutons however can be quite a bitches. Sometimes it takes only one laser shot to take them out and sometimes even 6 direct hits from a laser are not enough.

Wait 'till you play TFTD and encounter the lobstermen...
 

Seboss

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
947
I think I read somewhere that Lobstermen are considered the nastiest sons of bitches ever implemented in a video game.
 

Makagor

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
103
Bravo, GarfunkeL! This LP is quite entertaining.

May I suggest a couple of things? Five-meter intervals. Cover and concealment. Explosives...lots.

Please enlist my name. It'll look good on the war memorial back home in the town square.
 

Circuitbreaker

Liturgist
Joined
Sep 23, 2004
Messages
114
Location
Netherlands
Seboss said:
I think I read somewhere that Lobstermen are considered the nastiest sons of bitches ever implemented in a video game.
I rarely used regular weapons against them, as they have a lot of hit points and very good armour, it's mostly a waste of ammo. Lobsterman are the main reason you get melee weapons in your arsenal in TFTD. Getting your soldiers in the necessary close range for drilling some big holes in them, is tricky though. On the other hand on maps with lots of cover, melee weapons rock since they take few time units to use and do huge damage.

In general the XCOM-1 monsters seem like pussies compared to the enemies from TFTD.
 

Darth Roxor

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Yesterday I was playing a terror mission with lobstermen. One of my d00dz with a heavy gauss needed to unload a full mag into one alien bastard to get it down...
 

GarfunkeL

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Insert clever insult here
"An' here we go again on our own
Goin' down the only road we've ever known
Like a drifter we were born to die alone"

Sung to the tune of Whitesnake, of course. Thanks for all the replies and no worries, I'm sure there will be openings for all the new hopeful recruits in the (near) future! :D
Considering difficulty and alien-races: I've only encountered Aquatoids and Gillmen (and their terror-mates) and you've all seen how badly I've been raped. And this is still only 3) Veteran - there's TWO harder difficulty levels to explore.

Re: guys close together - I do it so that when I spot an alien, I can take it down. Since they require several hits. On the other hand, it does cause bad casualties. So, now that I have sonic blasters, no more tight groups!

Finally: the night missions are completely insane. Aliens can see perfectly well during either night or day so they have an enormous advantage over humans. Oh well, hopefully I can stick to daylight missions from now.

Enough excuses, let the battle continue!

Machine Spirit is sent to scout ahead since he's so good at it.



Moving south, he spots an Gillman but misses the snapshot. DUH! Alien just parade around, so he moves bit closer until second alien is spotted, as well as the spit. And when Machine Spirit misses the aimed shot, the obvious happens.




Yeah. One hit from that sonic cannon or whatever it is that the Gillman carries. Lovely. Time for grunts to earn their pay.

Hory takes instant revenge for Machine Spirit.



InsanePsychic tries to shoot too but misses the Gillman who gets pissy and shoots back, though in a strange twist of fate, it hits Hory instead! Whoa, talk about a short service. Thanks anyway Hory, atleast you took one of the nasty buggers with you.



Brave Sovy Kurosei steps over Horys still warm corpse and with steady hands pops the bastard away:



Team spreads around and starts to flank the USO. Four turns pass in exciting silence. Then a Gillman pops out of shadows, takes a potshot at TheVeryBigSlayer, misses, TVBS shoots back but unfortunately misses too. Alien steps back into shadows but our hero won't give up so easily! He takes a step forward, sees the hostile AND POPS ITS DISGUSTING HEAD OPEN! FUCK YEAH! Gotta love these new guns!



Sovy Kurosei and Mahdi take a peek through the broken hull and see two corpses. With the three other aliens killed, it means that there's probably only one left.



And the foolish soon-to-be-fish-food reveals itself! It's hiding inside the USO.

Sovy Kurosei is pointman, so he lobs a 'nade inside and YES it's exactly next to the Gillman. Hopefully there'll be an awfully nice explosion soon.


(Pulsar grenade is at cursor location. Alien is next to it, most likely)

Oh bollocks. The grenade goes off but the frigging bastard is STILL walking inside. Oh well, Hanoverf will repeat the trick.

Yeah, take it and weep, bugface! Second pulsar did the trick:




I order replacement for Hory and 10 more scientists. Now we just need more successful USO-missions to offset Port Said and all would be good. I decide not to use tanks anymore since they are pretty expensive, take the space of four troopers and obviously are no longer a match for the gooks.

More research, soon we'll get sonic cannons into use!



Our new recruits arrive:






And last but not least, one surprising recruit, who will hopefully give us good information about the aliens and their intentions:



I must be doing pretty good if Aquatoid switches sides! :cool:

More research:



Yes, I got 3 of these babies. They are instantly transferred to Triton. 11 guys with Blastas and 3 with Cannons. No more Mr.Nice Guy!

Finally a sonar contact!



I send both Barracuda's to hunt it, which turns out to be a good call since Barracuda-1 can't down it even after expending all of its missiles and rockets. Barracuda-2 does the job though.

And here we go again!

 

MetalCraze

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Messages
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Urkanistan
X-Com is a good game but damn - it's so full of bugs.
I've made a bunch of savegames on Cydonia and after I fired a blaster bomb the game crashed - and now when I load the map is totally messed up and I can't move anywhere :(
 

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