Continental Bonuses

[DBladedPantz]

Perhaps I've missed something along the way, but since we start the game in a country and get their associated bonuses...is there any reason to get upset if one of the countries in your continent leaves the XCOM project?

Case in point, my second game on Classic is taking place in Asia as my starting continent and I get the Future Combat bonus. I've dedicated as much time and effort in the first three months here towards getting as many satellites up and running around the world as possible, but just lost Australia here at the start of May. Do I lose out on the Future Tech bonus, or am I right to just shrug and concentrate now on the other continents and their bonuses? As far as I think I understand the game mechanics, even if all the countries in my starting continent were to go rogue, I still maintain that starting continental bonus.

In which case, the real benefit is just to be able to shoot down the UFOs nearby my base and focus on getting more lucrative countries covered for their monetary gains and continental bonuses.

[Barawin]

You're right and understood correctly. In my classical-ironman won with Europe, I made the choice to lose France and UK and concentrated my sat coverage over North America and Africa.

[Jatekos]

Yup, the only thing you lose out on when a country in your starting point leaves is the funding they provide.

[Mikawo]

I remember someone on these forums said they lost their entire starting continent but still had the bonus. Seems kind of weird though because if they aren't supporting you, then who is giving you the bonus.

[Jatekos]

Origineel geplaatst door Mikawo:

I remember someone on these forums said they lost their entire starting continent but still had the bonus. Seems kind of weird though because if they aren't supporting you, then who is giving you the bonus.

God.

[DBladedPantz]

Thanks, its good to know others have interpreted the game's chief economic factor the same as I have. That being said, what I find interesting (foolish?) is that each month you generate a randomized council request around the world. As I said before, focusing entirely on satellites in the first three or so months of the game has made decisions for terror attacks usually real easy since I need engineers like crazy to jump the number of satellites at my disposal. The end result is that I can make a save and just reload the request until it does one of two things: A) Gives me a country that I need to get terror reduced in or B) Gives me a mission that rewards engineers (usually an escort or bomb disposal mission on average). Which in some respects defeats the purpose of SCUM saving. Instead of replaying the battlefield tactics, now I just reload the tactical side of things...

The real consequence has been my Alien Containment and Officer's School facilities have been on hold until roughly June and my weaponry is becoming more and more dated against the mutons that just showed up. But again...the fact that I can save and reload the "randomized" events until I get what I want/need demonstrates a bit of silliness in the coding for tactical decisions.

[Barawin]

That's because the game was developed with classical-ironman in mind. No way to reload until you get the missions you want.

[DBladedPantz]

Ah, that might just provide a bit more of a challenge then. I'll be sure to give that version a try down the road. Actually makes a bit more sense too....

[NzFox]

The only real advantage of holding all of the starting continent is the income bonus. The more countries you have in one continent the more bonus income they give. (no idea how much more, just that its more)

[DBladedPantz]

I don't think that effect applies until you get the All In bonus associated with Africa. Otherwise that increased income feature has slipped past me.

[Barawin]

The income bonus is only true once you cover all african countries. otherwise, the income is just the sum off all countries covered. Covering whole Africa adds 30% to this total.

[PrinsKurt]

I don't get it; You need satellite coverage in all countries on a continent to get the bonus and regular missions don't appear in covered countries. So how do you lose funding of one of those? You ignore ufo crashes and terror missions or something?

[Barawin]

You receive funding from a country as soon as you cover it with a satellite. If you didn't cover the whole continent yet, further abductions in the other countries of that continent can still increase the panic of the covered country and have it finally leave the XCOM project, effectively depriving you of the cash it gave you every month (and wasting your sat coverage in the process).

[Barawin]

The continental bonus is another process: you get it once the whole continent is covered (except the bonus from your starting continent, which is automatically granted whatever the number of countries you cover on that continent).

Africa grants a 30% budget boost
North America grants a reduction in interceptor purchases and maintenance
South America grants the ability to "research" all autopsies and interrogations instantaneously (ahem...)
Europe grants a reduction in workshops and science labs purchase and maintenance
Asia grants a reduction fee for all projects of the fundry and training room.

[PrinsKurt]

hmm, I never noticed that the bonus of the starting continent applies, even without full coverage. Must have missed that one.
Well, in that case I do get it ;)

[DarkMyau]

That is funny really. You will loose the scientist/engineer you would have gotten from the country you lost though.

What is making me laugh in my current game is that I've lost the USA, but my Firestorm is still based there and deploys to protect Canada and Mexico.