Some quick tips for a noob?

[Sadius]

Can someone give me tips on this game, I have been told I should probably install OpenXCOM because it makes the controls easier, I played Enemy Unknown and loved the hell out of it, Now I want to try this but I have concerns about it, I'm someone who is not very good at Stratergy games but I got very good at Enemy Unknown but then again it is far easier from what I have heard, Any tips, tricks and suggestions would be awesome as I do want to try it soon, Thanks

[Jeff Kaos]

Fist off don't let the graphics keep you from enjoting this classic game, I grew up with video games and these are far from the worst I've experienced but some younger players might get completely turned off by the old, pixelated graphics and miss out on a great game.
There's like 5 or 6 difficulty settings so if you're new I suggest playing on the easiest setting first. Also hire as many scientists as you can early on because research is much more key in this than the newer game, build an extra barracks right away to acommodate this; there's a lot more to research in this game. Early on you can pretty much skip researching laser weapons and go straight for plasma and I'd do the medic kit right away before anything else. Another thing I ALWAYS do as soon as i start is swap out the autocannon on your first interceptor and put the long range missles on it ( I think they're the "Avalanche" missles) so that you have both short and long range missles.
As you progress in the game keep in mind that you can have multiple bases scattared all over the globe. A popular strategy is to make a bunch of small bases with a radar station and an interceptor and shoot down as many alien ships as you can and have your ground crew at your major base fly out to each wreckage to clean it up. Some people also make specialty bases: a base for research, a base for manufactoring and maybe one for storage. If you do this keep a squad at every base because bases can and will get attacked by aliens, especially if they're unprotected.
And my last piece of advise is to sell as much as you can, Unlike Enemy Unknown this game has ton more stuff to buy and sell and you'll find a lot more alien tech which can be sold; just keep all you're Elerium and "alien alloys" and one or two of each ship componant/alen body and sell all the rest. You'll always find more alien tech.

[jasper949]

Good answer Jeff, I might add that you should always try and do terror missions even in the dark as leaving them is a pretty quick way to losing a country's funding which is vital early in the game. Grenades are very useful. Autocannon and heavy cannon are useless unless used for terrain clearance (Mutons love to hide in the green stuff). Good luck and enjoy.

[Auron]

If I remember well, the difference between easy and hard setting is almostly that on hard there are more aliens in the missions (ufo crash, bases etc.) and on hard ufos flying, landing more often so it makes in consequenses the game easier, because you can get more alien stuff and corpses to use for both science or economy(selling them) very early.

[Pope Urban II]

baron Hnida a écrit :

If I remember well, the difference between easy and hard setting is almostly that on hard there are more aliens in the missions (ufo crash, bases etc.) and on hard ufos flying, landing more often so it makes in consequenses the game easier, because you can get more alien stuff and corpses to use for both science or economy(selling them) very early.

Harder difficulties also have a lot more base attacks.

Anyway, I usually go for laser weapons first. Getting rid of the ammo is great with getting extra room on the Skyranger for bombs and stuff, and if you mass manufacture and then sell the laser pistols you make a decent profit.

[Garberi]

Autocannons useless? I always liked using HE ammo in those and just wildly shoot everywhere I think an alien might be hiding ;)

[jasper949]

Personal opinion banksie, I do take them if I am doing a jungle mission as they are great for clearing paths for troops to get through, but not to everyones taste.

[Der Rinderanzug]

I have to second going for laser weapons first. Manufacturing and selling laser pistols is how I make money early game. They have a low build time, require no elerium or alien alloys, and have a stupid-high profit margin.

[Pope Urban II]

Der Rinderanzug a écrit :

I have to second going for laser weapons first. Manufacturing and selling laser pistols is how I make money early game. They have a low build time, require no elerium or alien alloys, and have a stupid-high profit margin.

They're how I make money basically until my factory is busy building my Avenger.

[Bob of Mage]

I'd say play your first game (or even the first few) just to learn the ropes and not to win. After you understand what's going on then you should restart and you'll have a better time. There's nothing worse then loseing because you didn't know what you were doing very well and lost all your guys on the first mission.... while trying to leave the dropship.... to a small one-man scout...... that you shoot down. Coming back from that on your first game is not fun to say the least.

[Pope Urban II]

Bob of Mage a écrit :

I'd say play your first game (or even the first few) just to learn the ropes and not to win. After you understand what's going on then you should restart and you'll have a better time. There's nothing worse then loseing because you didn't know what you were doing very well and lost all your guys on the first mission.... while trying to leave the dropship.... to a small one-man scout...... that you shoot down. Coming back from that on your first game is not fun to say the least.

That sounds almost as bad as losing my entire squad of experienced people to one blaster bomb shot while attacking an alien base.

[SKull]

Start playing on slow speeds and take your time at first. You`ll need to expand living quarters, lab space and manufacturing in the base, and get the alien containment going at the start of the game so you can research/interrogate live aliens. After that you need more general stores as well as a large radar system and some missiles, although there`s no rush with the last two.
As for the aliens, the first few UFOs are easy since they just have sectoids in them and you can clear them with just rifles. But as soon as alien terror events start there will be hoverdiscs too, which are hard to kill with the starting weaponry, and the sectoids will begin throwing grenades. So you need to start researching either laser or plasma weapons as soon as you can, med kits and the earliest body armor. To deal with grenades spread your team out, especially when you exit the ship, since a single grenade can take out your entire team if you`re unlucky and have everyone on the ramp..
The most important thing to remember, because it`s easy to forget at first, is that you need to recruit both scientists, engineers and soldiers to fill up your labs/manufactories/landing vehicle. And also that you absolutely need to remember to either buy or manufacture ammo and gear for your soldiers. If you forget this you could end up landing at a UFO crash with soldiers without ammo or half using handguns. The interceptors need to have more ammo made for them as well, and should be upgraded as soon as possible. Always spend some time between missions to stock up on everything you need, make sure you have all the people you need in the ship before the next mission and that they have all the gear loaded in the ship, and not just lying in the stores.
Take some time to look closely at everything in the base and you should find all the info you need about research, manifacturing, base information and everything else. It can be a little much at first, but just go through it one tab at a time, and repat that a few times after each mission until you get a feel for where everything is in the base. X-Com is a lot more free than Enemy Unknown and you have a lot more control of both your base and your team. This is of course why all the old farts like me love X-Com and aren`t quite so impressed by Enemy Unknown. Handholding sucks!

Anyway, once you get these beginner`s hassles sorted you should be fine. Don`t worry if you have trouble with it. It`s a pretty hard game, and that`s what the save games are for:)

[branes51]

I just to want to add a few points and tips. Save scumming (I hate that term, it's so pretentious) isn't a cheat in this game, it's a necessity. It's very easy while outfitting your troops for a mission to accidentally right click and start the thing before you're ready. I usuially have 3 or 4 saves..one for the geoscapes. and a couple for missions.
Laser pistols make a decent profit, but the motion detectors I think have the hightest porfit level.
Early on when you have morney and some techs not making anything, make a bunch of medkits and sell them. Then as he said above, laser pistols.

On terror missions, especially, you need to pop smoke greanade on the ramp of the skyranger and then to both sides by the rear wheels.. Your first two squaddies will drop off the sides of the ramp and hide behind the wheels in smoke cover.. Alternatively, you could have a tank in the ship and use it to recon the area before disembarking. Never, every hurry in this game. It will get you killed. Move slowly and methodically, in cover if at all possible and save enough time units for a smapshot, which is similar to overwatch in EU. Try not to use all your TU's in movement, but if you have to, make sure you have a squaddie or two near you for a snapshot for when the alien pops up announced right near you.You notice I said when, no if. Because it will happen.

Unlike Eneny Unknown which warns you that you discovered some aliens, and gives you a turn to prepare for them, you usually dson't see them in this game until they've taken a potshot at you. And in the first missions before better armor, that usually means a dead squaddie, which is why you have up to 14 of them. Like Enemy Unknown, you'll have to use grenades a lot for your first couple of missions because your soldiers usually can't hit squat, and the weapons are weak anyway.

I guarantee after the first hour of so of playing the real Xcom, you'll see that we oldsters have been saying about Xcom Enemy Unknown is on the money. It's nowhere near the same quality game.

Also, unlike EU, you have to determine yourself what function each squaddie is suited for.
I usually make the ones with the highest tu's, typically 65 or better at the start, my scouts. I equip them with a standard rifle, two extra clips and some frags and smoke, along with a flare or two and of course, a medkit. In this game, everyone can use a medkit.
You should have your heavy weapons to you strongest people. The guy with the best throw stat shoud be a grenadier. Give him a rifle and a half dozen frags with a couple of smoke and flares. The others, I give autocannons. Now this is just your starting loadout. I'ts going to change with better weapons obviously. Oh and you gane your heavies pistols for when they can't fire the launher or run out of ammo .
You can however, have other soldiers carry additional ammo for them if you feel you'll need to use them on a particular mission, like a battleship for example.
Of course by then you usually have plasma anyway.
Oh, and high explosives are good for blowing a hole in the side of a ufo,if you think the aliens have an ambush by the door, which they probably will.

This isn't part of the game necessarily, but I find it very helpful
I usually bring 10 squaddies and a tank with me broken up into two, five man squads.
A scouit, a sniper, a grenadier. a heavy and someone with an autocannon.
After the name I usually add Sc for Scout, Sn for sniper, G for grenadier Hvy for Heavy and AC for autocannon. And then the squad number. So a typical solidier's name might be
John Doe-Sc-1 That''s the scouit in squad 1.
This is just my way of doing things, it's not exactly at tip.

Here's a time honored Xcom trick. Drop one or two proximity grenades by the door of a ufo, stand out of range, but in the open to draw the alien out of the ship..when he steps out...boom.
Have a couple of squaddies behind you ready to shoot, just in case he survives the grenade(s).

On terror missions, don't bunch up. Aliens use rocket launchers a lot on them.

[Raumelch]

don't grow to quickly.
you can ruin your game by making to much bases in the beginning.

100 scintists is all you need to win.
of course it is quicker when you have more.

you never can have to much technicians.
because when you don't need their products anymore you can sell this with good profit.

you should have double that much soldiers in base then your transporter need.
it takes time to replace the dead soliders and aliens can attack your base while your soldiers are on a mission so you must have more then you need.

All you need is 3 strong bases.
Use the other 5 as radar stations with ~10 soldiers as defenders.

do not shoot down alien ships.
the only execption is when they're on a terrorcamp mission or want to set a base or want to infiltrate a country.

follow the others with your transporter and allow them to land.
now beat them in the ground fight.
you get MUCH more loot when you do this.

never forget that you make alot more money with loot then with other incomings.

you should avoid nightbattles.
I suggest xcomutility patch.
it allow you to disable the nightbattles because they're unfair.
the amiga version of xcom: ufo defence had no nightbattles anyway..
the aliens can see on full distance at night but your soldiers have a ~60 % reduced sight.

don't move all your soldiers in a line.
use the bad soldiers to scout and the good to back em up.

do not enter alien ships with good soldiers.
there is a high chance to lose soldiers in there.

never have more then 3 soldiers on one spot.
they're grenade food when you do that.

whenever possible :
TRY TO CAPTURE ALIENS ALIFE !
you need them for science progress later.
that is REALY important !

don't rush on terrorcamp missions.
it is normal that they shoot the civilians.
don't waste your troops rushing forward.
even when the aliens shoot all civilians you will get a positiv result .

[Red Bat]

Enemy Unknown is actually a lot harder than this game, which is quite an accomplishment. I actually beat this game without ever encountering Mutons during my first run through. In fact, I also managed to do it without ever losing a soldier to a Chrysalid either (someone is going to accuse me of lying, I know it). Terror From the Deep on the other hand...

All I can say that hasn't already been said is that you can get an absurd advantage over the aliens early on if a sectoid terror mission pops up. If you can figure out which sectoid is the sectoid leader, you can capture him and get psionics early, which basically kills most of the game's difficulty.

Night battles aren't that big of a deal despite what the guy above me says. Flares are cheap and reusuable so you only have a very slight disadvantage.

hmmm... Been ages since I last played this. Maybe I'll do another playthrough.

[Red Bat]

Ser Christoph a écrit :

This game is the forefather to these cartoony graphics and cheesy cutscenes in enemy unknown - those don't exist here in old Xcom.

You are complaining about cartoony graphics in Enemy Unknown, while praising the realism of a game where the soldiers look like this:
http://pocketgeekjr.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/xcom_screen1.png
And the Mutons wear goofy looking muscle suits.

I love this game, but please take the nostalgia filter off when replying. The original XCOM is very silly in a retro-futuristic sort of way, not the hardcore super realistic experience you seem to be making it out to be. When the original XCOM came out, it was considered quite gritty, but by today's standards its almost cartoonish at times. Even the opening to the game looks like something you'd expect from a saturday morning cartoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX0Cm3N_n6k