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[Antioch]

I always rate my recruits:

F - gets fired immediatly
C - cannon fodder
B - front line soldiers
A - elite sniper team

When a mission starts the C's run out of the landing craft shooting any alien they see (and get shot), after which the B's go out and take position behind the C's, covering the remaining C's who now advance to scout for aliens. After a few turns the main line advances allowing the A's to come out, they pick of aliens at long range (after a while they get 90% accuracy).

casualty rates:
C - 60%
B - 20%
A - 5%

[Puzzlemaker]

That's horrible, and you are horrible, and I might use that strategy.

[Dbuhos]

You know what's funny ?
That technique is actually effective.

[Soulwynd]

Xcomutils automatically rates and tags your recruits based on their abilities, both when hiring and after each mission.

>.>

[Robsoie]

I remember running into a very nasty bug during an alien attack on my own primary base : the limit in amount of items. Basically there was (or always is, i don't know if someone fixed unofficially that) a limit on the amount of item carried by both aliens+XCOM troops in a battle map.

Meaning that during this attack, half my XCOM soldiers had none of their weapons and lot of them had just no ammo.
Horrible bug that took the life of many very good squaddies, so as a hint, do not stockpile too much more weapons and ammo than what is usually necessary for a mission, if your base is attacked at some point, you may be very sorry.

edit : found this page to help you managing this item limit :
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Managing_the_Item_Limit

You should not encounter this problem on a regular mission, but when your own bases are attacked it usually involve everyone you have and all their equipment, meaning that the limit can be reached more easily than you think, leading into this very annoying problem.

[Thexor]

Well, you won't encounter this problem on most missions...


(Warning: actually a spoiler. Don't read if you haven't beaten the game!)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The last mission is a two-part mission. And, given that it's a do-or-die thing, you may very well take the maximum of 26 soldiers. 26 soldier + 1 Plasma gun each + 2 clips each = 78 items, out of a maximum of 80. It's also a dark level, so electroflares might be useful. Oh yeah, and psy amps, and healing kits, and all the other various items you want to bring. In short, you're kitting out a full team with the best equipment available, with enough ammo to last through two back-to-back missions, and you'll almost certainly hit the item limit. 

Base defense is also a pain - several people recommend you keep a few laser rifles around, lest you find yourself with a dozen plasma rifles and no clips. 

(Oh, and the sequel 'improves' on this cap... by raising it to 100. At least the last mission is a little more tolerable, but you're still SOL during base defense.)

[Ivefan]

I never got around to play 1&2 but I have played Apoc a few times during the years.
I gather that there is only turn based play in 1&2?(sucks for me)
How are the strategic & tactical play in comparison?

[Robsoie]

It seems there is a workaround for the 80 item limits when using xcomutils :
http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=242029040

As this board needs to register account to view most of the content, i copy paste the post in question there :

This limitations (80 items) should be definitively lifted in case of base attacks. I see it as very annoying that I can't have large enought store of munnitions and weapons. Having 60 flares, for example, leave my guys with grenades only. And grenades are painfully inefficient against Mutons... for example.

Agreed. There is a way.

XCOMUTIL can modify a battlescape save on turn 0 and outfit your squad with a set kit. It's a bit complex to make work, but it allows you to work around the need to "spring clean" all the time and can be used to get around the 80 item limit.

Code: [Select]

EQP:n = Equip the current squad of soldiers/aquanauts from base n according to
the equipment type specified at the end of each name.  Since equipment
is taken from the base and not the ship, use of this flag eliminates the
80-item limit during combat.
Steps. (Don't do this in dosbox. Works with Windows versions for this purpose)

1. Install XCOMUTIL. Annoyingling it won't run until XCUSETUP.bat is run.
2. Create a file called XCOMUTIL.EQP in your xcom folder with the following text. This assumes you have enough Heavy Plasma's to go around. See XCOMUTIL docs for more options.

Code: [Select]

/
RH1:Heavy_Plasma:Heavy_Plasma_Clip
RS1:High_Explosive
LS1:Alien_Grenade3. Save your game as soon as the base battle starts, for this example I saved in slot 10 (which I reserve for this use). Don't do anything else and don't end turn. You get one chance at this!
4. run XCOMUTIL.EXE EQP WRT GAME_10
6. Load the game and your people should be outfit how you like.

If you use the dosbox version of the game, you can make this a seemless part of the game.

I never got around to play 1&2 but I have played Apoc a few times during the years.
I gather that there is only turn based play in 1&2?(sucks for me)
How are the strategic & tactical play in comparison?

For me what put XCOM 1 above all the other is mostly the ambiance and atmosphere, i was not interested in the aquatic atmosphere of the 2nd one and the closed city of the 3rd didn't managed to get to me.

On a tactical level the XCOM are all very similar, though there are a few features in further games that were not in XCOM1 (Xcom2 allowed to open a door without moving in by example, something not possible on the PC version of Xcom1, Apoc introduced the choice between real time and turn based etc...).

[Funk]

guy xcom multiplayer is best done by UFO2000
http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Info_%28UFO2000%29

[MrWiggles]

Well, one thing I dislike about XSGCom is that it's aready been done (as a webnovel). The other thing is that said webnovel highlights exactly why the Stargate universe is better off not meeting X-Com personnel. Or the non-human part of the universe, at least. HWP-mounted gatling plasma staff cannon, anyone?

I keep meaning to read the X-Com novel by Diane Duane. I'll have to see if I can find that web novel. Do you have the link to the web novel?

Spoiler: Reply about XSG-Com (click to show/hide)

I haven't gone into designing the tactical squad section yet. So, I haven't given much thought about integration of SG weapons and X-com like weapons. On first thought, I probably wouldn't do much with the Staff weapon.

There was a great episode with the beginning of the Jaffa rebellion. SG1 team were discussing the difference between a P90 and a Staff Weapon. P90 is a weapon of war, and the Staff Weapon is a weapon of terror ect.

On first thought, Naqueda weapons would probably be the flavored Plasma weapon for this hybrid game. So, a Naqueda (Plasma) HWP, doesn't sound so bad. As the Plasma HWP wasn't so bad.

Overall though, Naqueda would probably be handle differently then from what was presented on the show. As for Stargate it was both E-115 and Alien Allow. I prefer if they were separate. Perhaps something like different isotopes or just liquid Nequeda and solid Nequeda being neighbor on the Periodic Tables. I like this solution, as it would require two different mining operations, and give a reason for having multiple bases. There could be an in universe excuse that liquid and solid Nequeda are just very rare to be on the same planet.

Truthfully, I'm looking for all reasons to have more off planet assets. 

[Sean Mirrsen]

In the novel, E-115 and Naquadah are the same element, at different stages of refinement or something. Even better, the Sectoids and the Asgard are related as well. It's really fun how the two universes managed to meld together.

Here's the link to the start of the story. It's called "XSGCOM: Goa'uld Defence".

[Shadowlord]

There was a great episode with the beginning of the Jaffa rebellion. SG1 team were discussing the difference between a P90 and a Staff Weapon. P90 is a weapon of war, and the Staff Weapon is a weapon of terror ect.

It's a nice theory, but TVTropes is of the opinion that it's rather unlikely that you could shoot a rope like that. You can't use your P90 in melee combat, and the staves don't appear to run out of ammo. Of course, they're much slower to fire as well.

Also, it's Naquadah, not Naqueda. Wouldn't want to make a mistake like that.

Trinium anyone?

[Karl Marx]

The rookie misses the Floater Navigator.
The rookie misses the Floater Navigator.
The rookie misses the Floater Navigator.
The rookie misses the Floater Navigator.
The rookie misses the Floater Navigator.
The rookie misses the Floater Navigator.
The Floater Navigator shoots the rookie in the leg, the severed part sails off in an arc.
The rookie has been shot and killed.

[Soulwynd]

The rookie should have had two primed grenades instead.

[breadbocks]

I wonder if making a suicide squad who just holds primed HE would be a viable tactic...