How to make XCOM Rich fast? (EW)

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Hi! I'm always a little short on money around XCOM HQ, even more so in my current playthrough. I want the shiny spacecraft, glossy plasma weapons, killer gene mods, expensive sunglasses, gold chains, and spinning hubcaps for the skyranger. What are the best ways to make $$$ and otherwise advance quickly so I can stomp on the aliens with top tier gear faster?

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

You could just chase after 200 dollar rewards in abductions, though that may mess with your panic management.

Early in the game, don't be afraid to sell stuff off. Corpses are a really good source of income- hang on to the bare minimum you need for research, but sell the excess. Same thing with UFO components. You probably won't be researching power sources/nav computers for a few months, and you'll always end up getting more. Build as efficiently as possible is also good general advice, I think.

Obviously, getting satellites out as quickly as possible is the easiest way to increase income.

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Can getting out satellites too quickly backfire?

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

Only in the sense that you may be giving up other things in order to push satellites out as quickly as possible. It's not too punishing, though, pound for pound it is the best strategy you can pursue. To do it, it's best to start in North America for Interceptor discounts. You might be able to push out laser weapons before your first terror mission and definitely push them out before you encounter Mutons, so you won't be hamstringing yourself in that department. It just might be a litle slow getting gene mods/MECs out.

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Is "air and space" better than "all in" then?

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

For a satellite rush, yea, because it takes the economic sting out of putting Interceptors everywhere in the eary game.

I remember seeing some math somewhere that showed that Air and Space was better than All In in terms of money gained (If you count the money saved from Air and Space as money gained), but I don't recall if that was for vanilla or Long War. I prefer Future Combat myself, though.

[abaris]

Use your stunner to collect enemy plasma weapons, those things are like 200$ each to produce and that adds up quick.

[Rodso]

go to your xcm file find the config file go to game data file open it set starting money to what ever you want then start new game and have lots of cash

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Originally posted by Rodso:

go to your xcm file find the config file go to game data file open it set starting money to what ever you want then start new game and have lots of cash

That's cheating :(

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Originally posted by abaris:

Use your stunner to collect enemy plasma weapons, those things are like 200$ each to produce and that adds up quick.

I initially thought about doing this, but after trying for several missions the enemies seem really hard to get captures on.

[hippiewizard]

Originally posted by Rodso:

go to your xcm file find the config file go to game data file open it set starting money to what ever you want then start new game and have lots of cash

I have gone under the Default Game Data for XCOM Enemy Within, but as you listed "starting money" I could not find this topic/ category. Please finish your post or apply more details for the subject.

[kebabsoup]

Originally posted by RyanInk:

Is "air and space" better than "all in" then?

For me this really depends the difficulty level. In normal I would say go with north america. It's not so much about the "air and space" bonus because you don't actually build or maintain so many interceptors in the first month. But it's more because you get that fat paycheck from USA.

In classic mode, I like to start with Africa, because you can basically sacrifice egypt and south africa, while still keeping the awesome 30% bonus from the continent. So first month, you can let the panic rise in Africa and North america. In africa because sadly, you don't care. and in north america because you are going to secure it anyway at the end of the first month with three satelites.

If you start in North america in classic mode, you still need to secure canada on your own continent because it's paying good money, and to get the african continent bonus, you need to waste 2 satelites on low revenue egypt and south africa. (Nigeria pays well, it's ok)

So for me, starting in Africa always yielded the best compromise in terms of revenue, continent bonuses, and panic management.

[Stardustfire]

Another thing u can try is getting the EMP Cannon fast (well as fast as u can research that thing at least :) ) That thing is only rivaled by the Fusion Lance in power and shootdown time and it leaves the UFO nearly complete Intact, what means u can loot more intact Engines and Computers, and more Alloy, means u can make more cash in the grey marked if needed. only negative point is u must "negotiate" with more alive aliens about the "owning rights" of this ufos...

For the Income per Nation thing: since i unlocked the SW Option for Random Nation income i ever played with it, also the Option that payment depends on panic. So i cant say the above strategie is wrong or right, because i ever try to save all nations and i start mostly with SA or Africa or Asia (SA is the most important Bonus in the 2 highest difficultys) , Asia start gives u the opportunity to cheap use the Foundry and OTS as soon as u build them and with the one preinstalled Satelite u can secure the complete continent at once with one more sat uplink. and Asia gives u 4 Engeniers when full covered, what means u construction cost will be dumped by a big degree at the start of each month.

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

only negative point is u must "negotiate" with more alive aliens about the "owning rights" of this ufos...

LOL!

[Gertjan]

captures: the live aliens can be requested for good rewards (non-rookie soldiers, a set of engineers/scientists or a dose of $$), and the weapons can be sold as well.

yes, yes, you need the alien weapons for your own plasmas, but not all of them, especially pistols.

I take an arcthrower on every mission, gotta love repair+packmaster on the engineers: 4 charges

[ScarletUni7 🌹🦄🍑🌈🌕]

Originally posted by B.A. Barrackus:

captures: the live aliens can be requested for good rewards (non-rookie soldiers, a set of engineers/scientists or a dose of $$), and the weapons can be sold as well.

yes, yes, you need the alien weapons for your own plasmas, but not all of them, especially pistols.

I take an arcthrower on every mission, gotta love repair+packmaster on the engineers: 4 charges

I am not playing longwar.