X-Com ... Finished my first playthrough : tips

[Maitre]

Satelites, Satelites, Satellites ...

Get coverages asap screw everything else buy satellites. They need 20 days to build so plan ahead, and you can have satellites in storage.

Also satellites appear to prevent abductions in a country so when you complete coverage over a continent panic shouldn't rise if you manage to protect those satellites. So if you can complete a continent quickly (South america as 2 countries) you'll get the bonus and be able to concentrate on abductions in other continents.

Also be noted that satellites removes panic from covered countries so keeping 1 or 2 satellites in reserve for a last minutes decision before council can help prevent a country from leaving.

Also make sure to protect your satellites with interceptors that can be purchased in the hangar.

Offense is the best defense AKA One shot Kill

Aliens in X-com always travel in groups of 2-3 so if so you need 4 shots to kill an enemy, it means you still have 2 aliens shooting at you on their turn and most often then not you'll multiple groups of 2-3 aliens on screen so the less shots they take at you the better.

So ... get those weapons roling ASAP. research weapon fragments then laser.

Don't be afraid to blow stuff up with rockets. You'll get less items, but a dead squad gets no items.

Train for additionnal squad members. More activations = more shots.

Squad Composition

Sniper

Those will be your bread and buttler. Their the most acurate and dish out the most damage. They can one-shot most enemies with plasma weapon head-shot crit. in a squad of 6 i had 3 most of the time ... 1 with squad sight with flight armor (). 2 other on an advance/overwatch rotation.

Support

As the name indicates. their role is mostly support, smoke shots grants defense aka decreases enemy accuracy. and they get 3 uses out of medipacks and later add some health restore on the same medipacks. Basically they are glorified ambulances. equip they with ghost armor, use stealth then run to injured X-Com injured Op. have 2 of those handy for though missions.

Striker

They have a hit and run skill early on. But they mostly shine end game with they skill that provides 100% dmg vs mechs. the rocket is a nice add-on sadly you can't fire it if you move, and area effect proves to be annoying 50% of the time on terror missions with civilians, or while attacking an alien craft because you,ll break useful components, or it'll prevent weapon fragment drops from enemies, or the enemies are close to your squad members.

Assault

This basically a scout unit. Lightning reflexes and double tap/snuff out skill combined with their ability to sprint and gun makes them useful to pincer manoeuver the enemy and remove their cover for snipers to do their job efficiently. You have to be EXTRA carefull on scouting/pincer because most of the time you'll agro/unveil more enemy groups then you can handle.

Thats all the rest is mostly random luck and good judgement. Have Fun!!!

Edited October 25, 2012 by Maitre

[CasaDeBen]

I was going to write up something very similar. Well worded and couldnt agree more. Im on my third play. Lost the other two, but so far no injuries and obviously no death. I think everyone needs to fail first to really grasp the game but I am happy with this one. Might I add, start on the easiest, you need to win with all 5 countries anyways so you might as well get accustomed. America is good to start with as well because youll want all that sky coverage for cheap!

[Maitre]

i switched the early impossible game tips to a separate post

Early Impossible Game

Make sure to use auto-save

First 2 month always have the same mission setups so plan ahead :

Month 1

Starting Mission : It is almost vital to not get hit AND to get 2 kills with each X-com Op to have 4 operationnal squadies for the next mission. Restart/reload as much as needed.

Start research : (alien weaponry then lasers, you'll be a happy camper when you get to the terror mission on month 2 with lasers )

Abduction : choose country with engeneers (required for laser production and sat uplink building ... also cuts costs on some items )

Build setup:

• sell all unnecessary items (never ever sell alien alloy , only sell elerium and weapon parts if you need a VITAL item building/satellite item )
  
• build at least 3 satellites (You need to start with satellites first because they take 20 days to complete. if you're pasts the 10th day keep your money for your satellite uplink )
  
• Build satellite uplink (Satellite uplink needs 14 days to complete and 10 engineers So once your satellites are in the pipeline focus on your satellite uplink. It might be necessary to build a workshop which provide 5 additionnal engeneers. ) Keep the 2 rows on the left side of the base for your uplinks
  

Alien UFO small scout : interceptor will make short work of it ... as much as possible try to get 2-3 kills with your sniper so he'll get squad sight for the next missions. Also bullet storm is very effective on heavy Ops early on. Lightning reflex and double shots is great for a finishing move on entrenched enemies.

Abduction #2 : choose country with engeneers ( mostly to match additionnal satellite uplinks demand in engeneers which grows according to this patern 10/15/20/30/40/55)

Concil mission : This is where you'll pray to get lucky, sometimes these missions happen in a country with a 5 lvl panic and it usually decreases the panic level it will also provide you with the money to buy interceptors in the countries in which you'll place your satellites and/or some power sources.

Month 2 :

Research :

• laser canon in preparation for bigger UFOs (alternatively interrogations and autopsies will unlock dodge, aim and a bigger gun )
  
• precision laser for your sniper
  

Build setup:

• build at least 4 satellites (Again You need to start with satellites first because they take 20 days to complete. if you're pasts the 10th day keep your money for your satellite uplink )
  
• Build satellite uplink (Satellite uplink needs 14 days to complete and 10 engineers So once your satellites are in the pipeline focus on your satellite uplink. It might be necessary to build a workshop which provide 5 additionnal engeneers. ) Keep the 2 rows on the left side of the base for your uplinks.
  
• time to dig for an elevator
  
• get those laser riffles rolling but don't go over board, 2 is good and keeps in mind to get sniper laser riffle if possible.
  
• Additionnal power units if you're 'lucky you'll have a steam source excavated nearby otherwise keep em grouped
  

Optional

• Officer training facilty ... add some space on that shuttle
  
• Forge ... Aim for the taser upgrade to help capture aliens on month 3
  
• alien containment
  
• workshop to augment your engeneer count
  

Alien UFO Medium scout : Usually the basic interceptors can splash it on a 75% chance with some heavy damage, if you're destroyed ... reload. You 'll all the alien alloy you can get ... sell

Abduction #3 : again choose country with engeneers ( mostly to match additionnal satellite uplinks demand in engeneers which grows according to this patern 10/15/20/30/40/55)

Abduction #4 : again country with engeneers unless you have plenty already with your worshops in which case money or experrienced soldat is 2nd 3rd best choice. Usually you should have 4 satellites by the end of the month and should have enough satellites to cover all the red zones.

Terror Mission : Save before the mission so if the mission setup is not good you can get another mission stage. Best course of action is to find the chrysalids before they zombify half the map. This is the kind of mission where you can't be too careful you need to scout quickly and nuke if necessary ... better you kill 1 civilian then letting them kill 3 civilians.

And remember have fun!!!

[eburkulosis]

A lot of good info here. I am gonna bookmark it for reading later. I just picked up this gem and hated it the 1st hour until I learned how to play. Now I'm quickly getting attached to it.

[AlteredFormula]

Another small tip for people that may help when learning the game, colour code your troops.

For Example, I usually put my Medics in white so I know exactly where they are at any time.

[antithesis]

This is all you need to know about the game - http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Survival_Guide_(EU2012)

Follow the Satellite Rush strategy. Lasers are extremely important for survivability, you don't even need armour until mid/late game. Squad Sight is king. On Classic, quit to XMB if you die. The rest is cake.

Edited January 25, 2013 by ant1th3s1s

[eburkulosis]

I'm curious if anyone makes a concerted effort to capture live aliens on Impossible or Classic/Ironman. The benefits of capturing live aliens are that you get (correct me if I am wrong) deep discounts on various items depending on the alien you capture as well as you can pick up intact laser and plasma weapons extremely early which could allow you to concentrate research and funds in other areas. Just wondering if that approach could be beneficial. It's a fairly large risk/reward but with save scumming anything is possible. (Yes, I'm a save scumbag, I can't handle when even 1 soldier dies, my soldier named Sly 'Romeo' Ripper always is getting destroyed

I was experimenting on my 3rd playthrough (I've done Easy, Classic now Easy again) with equipping all front line soldiers with Arc Throwers and sacrificing a little damage to get some live captures. Everything is extremely inexpensive to purchase now. I wish I had some players with the Suppression perk so I could use this in conjunction with getting close to an enemy for a live capture with a much reduced risk of taking damage.

On a side note to expand on what I wrote earlier. Most trophy guides and forums suggest the 5 playthroughs should go (Easy, Classic, Impossible, Classic Ironman, Easy) BUT I have found that I have learned a lot of in-game nuances I didn't know by doing my 3rd playthrough on Easy. I recommend Easy, Classic*, Easy, Impossible, Classic Ironman) In that 2nd Classic playthrough you really get a gauge for what's expected on your 4th and 5th playthroughs. You can get all the Classic related trophies except for beating the game on Classic (which you will get later on Classic Ironman) and then change the difficulty to Easy if you want. It doesn't really cost you any trophies in the road to platinum. I prefer this method because by the time I am done with this 3rd playthrough there is nothing else for me to concentrate on except the two tough playthroughs and I have gained a little bit of extra knowledge by doing 3 plays instead of 2 before tackling Impossible. Doing your Easy playthough on your 5th playthrough is somewhat of a waste in my opinion.