X-com: Ufo Defense
<div class="IPBDescription">aka UFO: Enemy Unkown</div> Ok so I just cant seem to get away from this game, every other year I just *have* to play it, but superhuman is just too easy nowadays, I was hoping someone knew how to make it harder than the 5th difficulty setting?
Comments
Equip ya interceptors with only close range weapons no missles allowed..lasers permitted. Max 2 interceptors per base. No limit on avengers.
No bases in USA/Japan/Uk/Russia not much money then...<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> max of 4 bases. Max of 2 base defences. No shiled allowed at a base.
Max of 50 scis per base/Max of 50 engs per base.
Try doing the game following these rules and say its to easy <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
How to make it harder........... well you could always nerf yourself, by using only certain weapons or technologies - ie only "human" research. That'd be virtually impossible to win, I think.
Second, you could open the game up with an editor and play around to artificially increase difficulty (make UFO attacks more common, base destructions more common, etc) since I presume its a nice predictable scale of probabilities.
Finally, there's always Terror From The Deep, which IMHO seemed a good bit tougher.
*why is there no chryssalid model for the Fade eh?.... would chill my bones.....*
<a href='http://www.xcomufo.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.xcomufo.com/</a>
They're also doing a remake of it: Xenocide. at first it's only going to be a remake, but later they'll add other stuff.
Seconded.
Anyway if you want to make it really really hard, don't use non-starting tech at all (avenger exception as its nessesary to complete the game).
Theres always these as well:
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->XCOM Scenario Suggestions
If you find XCOM just too easy, even after using XcomUtil to increase the difficulty, let me suggest a few scenarios that you can play. You use these scenarios by forcing yourself to follow the rules described. If any soldier violates the rules of the scenario, even accidentally, he must immediately be sacked. If you play by these rules, you may discover tactics that you never knew existed.
Not all of these scenarios can be won in the normal way by destroying the brain on Mars. In those cases, I suggest that you eliminate all known alien bases after your game has reached a steady state. I have played entire games of each of these scenarios, except where noted, and have tried to list them by increasing difficulty.
Xenophobe
You have a morbid fear of all aliens and all alien technology. You never try to capture or interrogate any aliens and you sell all alien artifacts immediately. You can not win this scenario in the normal sense, since you can never go to Mars. You simply play it until you don't want to play it any more. I stopped playing at the end of the year 2000, after I had eliminated all 17 alien bases in 25 attempts. I had already made nearly $1 billion by having 255 engineers build and sell laser cannons at all 8 of my bases.
Bean Counter
This scenario takes its name from the beaurocratic "bean counters" who drive us crazy with their constant cost cutting measures. You are not allowed to destroy anything, since that wastes profits. You are not allowed to shoot down any UFOs, since that destroys valuable artifacts that can be sold. You can not use any explosives or any weapon that uses a clip or ammunition, since those would have to be replaced. You are only allowed to use reusable items, like lasers, flares, stun rods, and psi-amps.
Explosive
You must limit yourself to only explosive weapons. This scenario forces you to learn tactics that protect you from your own weapons. It was rather frustrating at times, because you were constantly destroying things that you wanted to keep. It is virtually the opposite of the Bean Counter scenario. I stopped playing this game shortly after I researched Stun Launchers, since I already knew I could beat the Neo-Pacifist scenario.
Photophobe
You can not tolerate sunlight and must not fight any battle in full daylight. If you land at a battle and an aura of light is visible around your soldiers, you must leave immediately. This scenario is very interesting and teaches you how to fight at night. It is much harder to win, but it can still be won because it is dark on Mars.
Technophobe
You have a morbid fear of all technology. You must sack all of your scientists and engineers at the start of the game. You must sell all alien artifacts immediately. If you can not buy the item, you can not use it.
This scenario forces you to learn how to use conventional weapons against the aliens. You can not win this scenario in the normal sense, since you can never go to Mars. You simply play it until you don't want to play it any more. I stopped after about one game year, having destroyed all of the alien bases on the planet.
Neo-Pacifist
You are a Pacifist and can not directly take the life of any living thing, even an alien. You can not shoot down any UFO, because aliens might be killed. You can not use any weapon that can kill an alien, even via reaction fire. Aliens who die during interrogation or because of lack of space in the alien containment facility are someone else's problem, so your conscience is clear.
The only lethal weapons that you can use are grenades, but you must still give the aliens a chance to escape. In this way, the alien causes its own death. For example, an alien next to an armed explosive with a long fuse can save it self by moving away, while an alien next to an armed Proximity Grenade can save itself by not moving away.
Even with these restrictions, the game can still be won by mind controlling an alien on Mars and having him stand next to an armed Proximity Grenade which was placed next to the master brain. Once this is ready, you release your control and wait for the alien to move, ending the game.
This scenario was very hard in the early stages, with very heavy casualties until the Stun Launcher was researched. This was my favorite scenario, because the logic was so perverse and because of the new tactics I learned.
Single-Base Hawaiian
Games where you only have one base are not that different from normal games, unless that base is located in Hawaii. This scenario is very difficult and requires a different strategy. The challenge is that you have almost no radar coverage over any significant land mass. You must keep Skyrangers constantly on patrol over areas that are likely to have alien activity. Since combat is rare, you can not afford to skip any battles. This scenario teaches you how to use the graphs to gather information about areas in which you have no radar.
No Skyrangers
This scenario takes away your large, long range troop carrier, the Skyranger. Ideally, you should also eliminate the Lightning and the Avenger (except for the assault on Mars). This is quite difficult because you do not have enough men to allow for mistakes and the short range of your ships forces you to miss some terror sites. This requires at least version 6.0 of XcomUtil.
Shootdown
This scenario is an even harder variation of the No Skyrangers scenario. It not only takes away your large, long range troop carrier, but it also demands that you shoot down every ship you assault. This is extremely difficult, because you almost never capture any Elerium from ships that have been shot down. The lack of Elerium forces you to attack UFOs with Interceptors armed with Laser Cannons to minimize the damage, but this maximizes your chances of losing the Interceptors. This requires at least version 6.0 of XcomUtil. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Xcom is such an amazingly good game (Possibly greates game of all time IMO). I don't think anyone really gives it the credit it deserves.
--taken from <a href='http://members.aol.com/stjones/xcomutil/' target='_blank'>XCOM Util page.</a>
But at least its not X Com Apocalypse. Urg.
Doing a total conversion? Hurry up and release a chryssalid model so I can turn it into a Fade <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
And TFTD? I liked it very much, as I did Apocalypse. All great games in my opinion. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
As for the total conversion, if anyone's interested... <a href='http://207.99.63.216/' target='_blank'>Here's the link</a> (only temporary, we're getting a new address).
edit: Ill always remember the first time I played it on superhuman, I couldnt move without getting shot at the door so the only solution was to spam fire at all suspect locations <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Edit-
Speaking of first encounters, I remember my first Chryssalid. Afterwards, SOP became fill the building with AC Hi Ex and rapid fire anything that twitched. Mm, collateral damage.
And the little victory of returning my first "live" chryssalid to base for research..... as opposed to my first chryssalid capture, which resulted in it waking up as a teammember carried it. Not nice.
Edit-
Speaking of first encounters, I remember my first Chryssalid. Afterwards, SOP became fill the building with AC Hi Ex and rapid fire anything that twitched. Mm, collateral damage.
And the little victory of returning my first "live" chryssalid to base for research..... as opposed to my first chryssalid capture, which resulted in it waking up as a teammember carried it. Not nice. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Most annoying enemy ever.... except maybe for ethereals... always mind controlling your poor rookies. SOP vs Cryssalid == empty eveything in its direction until its dead. They move way too fast to let them live more than a turn after they've been spotted.
Also conveniently cleared nice LOS for the other guns.
Ethereals taught me a valuable lesson - never give a blaster launcher to a low PSI marine.......... ouch....