UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Engaging the Enemy (Apocalypse)

2012-11-12T19:23:31Z

EagleEye: /* Mid game: aliens */

When entering the battlescape, it is always best to use real time, except when going for a capture. The tactics you employ may vary widely depending on who you face, but are vastly different from those employed in the first two games. This is divided into early, middle, and late game vs. both aliens and other humans.

==The Difference==
The main difference is in the availability of armor in the early game. Megapol and even Marsec armor is nearly immune to early-game weaponry, a far cry from the instant death plasma of the first game. Only hyperworms can easily penetrate this armor until the boomeroid is deployed.

==Early Game: Aliens==
At first, your only real worries are multiworms/hyperworms and brainsuckers, though spitters are dangerous in large numbers. Multiworms themselves are not dangerous outside of very short range (their acid spit can take chunks out of an unlucky stun squadder's health though), but it's hard to kill them at range and hyperworms are death in melee. Use autocannons and machine guns, preferably two weapons per trooper, then upgrade to plasma guns as soon as you can. Grenades are only slightly effective, as they are often unable to kill in a single hit or noticeably weaken enemies, though a well-timed [[Megapol AP Grenade]] can kill the Hyperworms as they burst from their deceased parent. Stun gas, however, is pretty useful for captures and beating multiworms. Missile launchers have a large blast radius, making it easy to hit your troops at times and often inflicting a fair amount of collateral damage, so it's best to not rely on them.

==Early Game: Humans==
This varies widely, as the different groups are armed differently, but what you really have to worry about are cultists, gang members, Marsec troops, and Megapol, as these are the most dangerous.

Cultists wear Megapol armor, and have autocannons, grenades, plasma guns, rocket launchers, and basically everything Megapol sells.

Gang members are equipped with a wide array of guns, though plasma guns are somewhat rare. Diablo members are equipped with incendiary grenades on occasion.

Marsec troops have Marsec gear.

Megapol troops have Megapol's inventory of lethal weaponry.

In all cases your main advantage is that you can employ grenades frequently. Explosive autocannon fire is also of great value, as your enemies tend to clump. Target rocket launchers first, then shoot whoever is shooting at you. Inflict maximum collateral damage, as a bankrupted foe can't counterattack.

==Mid Game: Aliens==
When you pass 1000 points, things take a change for the lethal. The arthropods are now the prime target, behind only charging brainsuckers and poppers in threat. Claiming disruptor guns slightly evens the odds, but your armor advantage is long gone. Skeletoids start to appear, and the nightmare of storming UFOs is not much changed from the other two games; if anything, it is now even more dangerous. When boomeroids appear, things get even worse, though the non-armed aliens are now easy meat for disruptor guns. Eventually the devastator cannon is deployed, proving lethal to even armored androids in as few as two shots at times. Begin phasing out human weaponry as fast as possible and keep your troops far apart when you can.

==Mid Game: Humans==

This is much easier, as you are now equipped with the most lethal weaponry. In almost any battle, X-COM troops should shred any resistance, though you must still be wary of rocket launchers and plasma guns.

==Late Game: Humans==

By this point, humans will usually be complete pushovers. Protected by X-Com disruptor armor and personal shields, even taking direct hits from rocket launchers will do little to slow your agents down, and with devastator cannons and dimension missile launchers, you'll make short work of whatever human enemies try to take you out.

==Storming UFOs==
This can be tough, even early on. Early in the game, you'll start facing your first manned alien craft: transports and fast attack ships. Most of these follow the same basic design, a central gravity lift with the ship's control center on the upper floor. Ship entrances can vary significantly; transports have two exits on opposite sides of the craft for example, whilst others have only a single exit. Agent positioning at the start of the battle can mean the difference between a turkey shoot and a chaotic fight on open terrain.

A good - though slow - tactic is to position your agents in a rough half-circle or quarter-circle around the exit door(s) at around a dozen squares away as terrain permits and wait for the aliens to come to you, rather than wading into a deathtrap. Snipers can be further; less accurate troops or those using grenades should be closer. ''Do not bunch up'' - grenades ruin your day as much as they ruin the alien's', and the monstrous [[Megaspawn (Apocalypse)|Megaspawn]] has a very powerful missile launcher you do not want to be hit by.

Cover outside tends to be sparse so make the most of dips or rises in the terrain for height advantage/hard cover, and use trees/bushes as 'soft' cover. Only if the aliens refuse to leave their camping spots should you risk venturing inside - if the aliens haven't left the craft yet, you'll run into a few of them as soon as you enter the ship's hallway. Be careful not to get bunched up entering or a well-placed boomeroid can cause some serious harm to your troops.

Eventually, you'll want to secure the bottom of the lift, then move upward to the control center. One useful technique, if you can pull off the throw, is to lob a smoke or gas grenade up onto the upper floor from below. Smoke will help you move your agents into position without coming under fire, while gas grenades will ensure that there are no aliens (especially brainsuckers) lying in wait right at the top of the lift.

Once you enter the control room, be prepared for a real fight. Unless you were met by a large number of alien attackers in the entryway, the bulk of the ship's crew is likely to be up on this level, and most of the time they're entrenched behind barricades or up on elevated catwalks, giving them a tactical advantage. Making use of gas grenades here to flush aliens out of their cover can greatly improve your odds of coming away without casualties.

It's important not to get complacent. Even late in the game, when you're wearing the best armor and toting devistators and shields, alien incursions in buildings can seem like cake, but UFO crews will almost always be as well-armed as you are and will have the tactical advantage in many cases.

==Tactics for human buildings==

===X-COM Base===
See [[Base Defense (Apocalypse)]] for more info.

The layout is of course dependent on how you've designed your base, so make sure you use [[Security Station (Apocalypse)|Security Station]]s! Pull your civilian personnel into a safer part of the installation with a squad to guard them, then start sweeping for any intruders that might have escaped your security net.

===Temples of Sirius===
All indoors, with fairly large open rooms split apart by thin walls with double doors at the corners, and small, tunnel-filled basements or small offices on the lowest level. Unpleasant to fight in but far from the worst terrain. Rows of pews and low walls offer plenty of 'soft' cover from small arms fire, while many pillars and the occasional altar present harder full cover that can absorb one or more Devastator shots.

Walls are thin and easily breached if you want to make your own doors.

===Corporate Headquarters===
The corporate headquarters are almost the closest thing you'll get to an open-field battle in any of the maps in Mega-Primus. Be glad, because they're also the alien's preferred target. There are three major layouts.

First and most common is a single solid building with a large lobby, with a gravlift and a horde of aliens in it. Enter the lobby with all your troops at once and gun down the aliens inside. Other aliens will swarm down the gravlift and out the nearby doors, so most aliens will be involved.

After that, hunt the rest down with squads of troops; they prefer hiding upstairs.

Second, there's a pathway with small towers lining it. Most aliens will emerge onto the pathway and can be cut down by mass fire. Again, hunt down the survivors in the towers afterwards.

Last but not least there is a sprawling building with numerous entry points. Sadly, there is no area that the aliens will reliably swarm towards when you open fire.

===Slum===

The slum is either an obstructed field, a brutal room to room hunt for aliens in some large buildings, another obstructed field with small buildings, or a building wrapped around a clear area, which you need to get cleared of enemies while dealing with enemies on the balconies. The building missions tend to have some mostly empty levels and some levels filled with enemies. The field missions... you remember the farm and forest terrain from X-com1? kinda like that, with more trees.

Be on the lookout for supported structures like the water tanks. They are fairly lightly supported and stray fire could easily bring them down on top of your men.

===Apartments===

These are all small rooms with open common areas and fairly long hallways, ideal for being ambushed and separated... in other words, these suck. On the other hand they offer decent flanking opportunities to offset their many bottlenecks; if an enemy has you pinned down in a corridor (or vice versa) there is generally a good way to flank them nearby, and smoke grenades can be used to make things a little easier.

Cover is pretty sparse, but columns here and there offer fairly good protection from small arms and you only ever need to cover a single floor. Agents can also duck into the apartments if you're setting up an ambush, or to recover from their injuries using a Medi-Kit. Eggs and Chrysalis' may often be found tucked in bathrooms.

===Megapol Stations===

If you thought Apartments were bad, these are a hundred times worse. Extremely tight corridors with many small rooms and an abundance of doorways. ''Do not'' go into battle in one of these unless you are ''exceptionally'' well-prepared and armed with end-game tier equipment like shields, alien weapons, and manufactured armour, unless it is the early game and aliens are not packing lethal ranged weapons. Motion sensors are useful.

[[Category: Apocalypse]]

Engaging the Enemy (Apocalypse)

2012-11-12T19:21:46Z

EagleEye: /* Early Game: Humans */

When entering the battlescape, it is always best to use real time, except when going for a capture. The tactics you employ may vary widely depending on who you face, but are vastly different from those employed in the first two games. This is divided into early, middle, and late game vs. both aliens and other humans.

==The Difference==
The main difference is in the availability of armor in the early game. Megapol and even Marsec armor is nearly immune to early-game weaponry, a far cry from the instant death plasma of the first game. Only hyperworms can easily penetrate this armor until the boomeroid is deployed.

==Early Game: Aliens==
At first, your only real worries are multiworms/hyperworms and brainsuckers, though spitters are dangerous in large numbers. Multiworms themselves are not dangerous outside of very short range (their acid spit can take chunks out of an unlucky stun squadder's health though), but it's hard to kill them at range and hyperworms are death in melee. Use autocannons and machine guns, preferably two weapons per trooper, then upgrade to plasma guns as soon as you can. Grenades are only slightly effective, as they are often unable to kill in a single hit or noticeably weaken enemies, though a well-timed [[Megapol AP Grenade]] can kill the Hyperworms as they burst from their deceased parent. Stun gas, however, is pretty useful for captures and beating multiworms. Missile launchers have a large blast radius, making it easy to hit your troops at times and often inflicting a fair amount of collateral damage, so it's best to not rely on them.

==Early Game: Humans==
This varies widely, as the different groups are armed differently, but what you really have to worry about are cultists, gang members, Marsec troops, and Megapol, as these are the most dangerous.

Cultists wear Megapol armor, and have autocannons, grenades, plasma guns, rocket launchers, and basically everything Megapol sells.

Gang members are equipped with a wide array of guns, though plasma guns are somewhat rare. Diablo members are equipped with incendiary grenades on occasion.

Marsec troops have Marsec gear.

Megapol troops have Megapol's inventory of lethal weaponry.

In all cases your main advantage is that you can employ grenades frequently. Explosive autocannon fire is also of great value, as your enemies tend to clump. Target rocket launchers first, then shoot whoever is shooting at you. Inflict maximum collateral damage, as a bankrupted foe can't counterattack.

==Mid game: aliens==
When you pass 1000 points, things take a change for the lethal. The arthropods are now the prime target, behind only charging brainsuckers and poppers in threat. Claiming disruptor guns slightly evens the odds, but your armor advantage is long gone. Skeletoids start to appear, and the nightmare of storming UFOs is not much changed from the other two games; if anything, it is now even more dangerous. When boomeroids appear, things get even worse, though the non-armed aliens are now easy meat for disruptor guns. Eventually the devastator cannon is deployed, proving lethal to even armored androids in as few as two shots at times. Begin phasing out human weaponry as fast as possible and keep your troops far apart when you can.

==Mid Game: Humans==

This is much easier, as you are now equipped with the most lethal weaponry. In almost any battle, X-COM troops should shred any resistance, though you must still be wary of rocket launchers and plasma guns.

==Late Game: Humans==

By this point, humans will usually be complete pushovers. Protected by X-Com disruptor armor and personal shields, even taking direct hits from rocket launchers will do little to slow your agents down, and with devastator cannons and dimension missile launchers, you'll make short work of whatever human enemies try to take you out.

==Storming UFOs==
This can be tough, even early on. Early in the game, you'll start facing your first manned alien craft: transports and fast attack ships. Most of these follow the same basic design, a central gravity lift with the ship's control center on the upper floor. Ship entrances can vary significantly; transports have two exits on opposite sides of the craft for example, whilst others have only a single exit. Agent positioning at the start of the battle can mean the difference between a turkey shoot and a chaotic fight on open terrain.

A good - though slow - tactic is to position your agents in a rough half-circle or quarter-circle around the exit door(s) at around a dozen squares away as terrain permits and wait for the aliens to come to you, rather than wading into a deathtrap. Snipers can be further; less accurate troops or those using grenades should be closer. ''Do not bunch up'' - grenades ruin your day as much as they ruin the alien's', and the monstrous [[Megaspawn (Apocalypse)|Megaspawn]] has a very powerful missile launcher you do not want to be hit by.

Cover outside tends to be sparse so make the most of dips or rises in the terrain for height advantage/hard cover, and use trees/bushes as 'soft' cover. Only if the aliens refuse to leave their camping spots should you risk venturing inside - if the aliens haven't left the craft yet, you'll run into a few of them as soon as you enter the ship's hallway. Be careful not to get bunched up entering or a well-placed boomeroid can cause some serious harm to your troops.

Eventually, you'll want to secure the bottom of the lift, then move upward to the control center. One useful technique, if you can pull off the throw, is to lob a smoke or gas grenade up onto the upper floor from below. Smoke will help you move your agents into position without coming under fire, while gas grenades will ensure that there are no aliens (especially brainsuckers) lying in wait right at the top of the lift.

Once you enter the control room, be prepared for a real fight. Unless you were met by a large number of alien attackers in the entryway, the bulk of the ship's crew is likely to be up on this level, and most of the time they're entrenched behind barricades or up on elevated catwalks, giving them a tactical advantage. Making use of gas grenades here to flush aliens out of their cover can greatly improve your odds of coming away without casualties.

It's important not to get complacent. Even late in the game, when you're wearing the best armor and toting devistators and shields, alien incursions in buildings can seem like cake, but UFO crews will almost always be as well-armed as you are and will have the tactical advantage in many cases.

==Tactics for human buildings==

===X-COM Base===
See [[Base Defense (Apocalypse)]] for more info.

The layout is of course dependent on how you've designed your base, so make sure you use [[Security Station (Apocalypse)|Security Station]]s! Pull your civilian personnel into a safer part of the installation with a squad to guard them, then start sweeping for any intruders that might have escaped your security net.

===Temples of Sirius===
All indoors, with fairly large open rooms split apart by thin walls with double doors at the corners, and small, tunnel-filled basements or small offices on the lowest level. Unpleasant to fight in but far from the worst terrain. Rows of pews and low walls offer plenty of 'soft' cover from small arms fire, while many pillars and the occasional altar present harder full cover that can absorb one or more Devastator shots.

Walls are thin and easily breached if you want to make your own doors.

===Corporate Headquarters===
The corporate headquarters are almost the closest thing you'll get to an open-field battle in any of the maps in Mega-Primus. Be glad, because they're also the alien's preferred target. There are three major layouts.

First and most common is a single solid building with a large lobby, with a gravlift and a horde of aliens in it. Enter the lobby with all your troops at once and gun down the aliens inside. Other aliens will swarm down the gravlift and out the nearby doors, so most aliens will be involved.

After that, hunt the rest down with squads of troops; they prefer hiding upstairs.

Second, there's a pathway with small towers lining it. Most aliens will emerge onto the pathway and can be cut down by mass fire. Again, hunt down the survivors in the towers afterwards.

Last but not least there is a sprawling building with numerous entry points. Sadly, there is no area that the aliens will reliably swarm towards when you open fire.

===Slum===

The slum is either an obstructed field, a brutal room to room hunt for aliens in some large buildings, another obstructed field with small buildings, or a building wrapped around a clear area, which you need to get cleared of enemies while dealing with enemies on the balconies. The building missions tend to have some mostly empty levels and some levels filled with enemies. The field missions... you remember the farm and forest terrain from X-com1? kinda like that, with more trees.

Be on the lookout for supported structures like the water tanks. They are fairly lightly supported and stray fire could easily bring them down on top of your men.

===Apartments===

These are all small rooms with open common areas and fairly long hallways, ideal for being ambushed and separated... in other words, these suck. On the other hand they offer decent flanking opportunities to offset their many bottlenecks; if an enemy has you pinned down in a corridor (or vice versa) there is generally a good way to flank them nearby, and smoke grenades can be used to make things a little easier.

Cover is pretty sparse, but columns here and there offer fairly good protection from small arms and you only ever need to cover a single floor. Agents can also duck into the apartments if you're setting up an ambush, or to recover from their injuries using a Medi-Kit. Eggs and Chrysalis' may often be found tucked in bathrooms.

===Megapol Stations===

If you thought Apartments were bad, these are a hundred times worse. Extremely tight corridors with many small rooms and an abundance of doorways. ''Do not'' go into battle in one of these unless you are ''exceptionally'' well-prepared and armed with end-game tier equipment like shields, alien weapons, and manufactured armour, unless it is the early game and aliens are not packing lethal ranged weapons. Motion sensors are useful.

[[Category: Apocalypse]]

Aqua Plastics

2012-11-08T19:05:53Z

EagleEye: /* Additional Information */ Alien Alloys -> Aqua Plastics

==General Information==
[[Image:AquaPlastics.gif|right]]
[[Alien Subs|Alien submarines]] and structures utilise an incredibly strong, flexible and durable material for the majority of their construction. Aqua plastics are complex multi-bonded and Zrbite catalysed materials. Dense, yet light, the substance has strength above even Titanium or Kevlar.

This item appears in ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]''. For the ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]'' equivalent, refer to [[Alien Alloys]].

 
==Additional Information==
Aqua Plastics require 100 man hours to build, and $3,000. You can also obtain them from [[Colony Assault|Alien Colonies]] and Alien Subs. They can be sold for $6,500.

== Tips & Tricks ==
* This stuff is the scrap-metal resource of TFTD. Even a moderately successful commander should have heaps after recovering a few crashed Alien Subs, so don't bother making any. Concentrate more on turning it into [[Plastic Aqua Armor]].
* When you accumulate a lot from missions, don't hesitate to sell chunks of it off.

==See Also==
{{Alien Sub Navbar}}

[[Category:New Submersible Technologies]][[Category:Research (TFTD)]]

TRTBAG

2012-11-03T02:20:57Z

EagleEye:

__NOTOC__
= The TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide =
<div align = "right" style = "font-size:80%;">A needlessly wordy article by [[User:NKF|NKF]]</div>

__TOC__

 

==Foreword==

The designers of X-Com Terror From The Deep seem to have attempted to make the research process in TFTD much more complicated than its very straightforward predecessor's research tree. They have succeeded in doing this, but have also introduced many glaringly unacceptable errors in the process that can prevent you from completing the game.

Some players may have had the luck of not bumping into any of these errors by picking all the right research at the right time, or have a game that doesn't seem to have these problems. Unfortunately, as the research order in TFTD is non-linear, that is to say you can research anything you've got in any order you want, a lot of us are less fortunate. This guide should help to assist and point out some of the stickier bits.



Also note that ''this is not a reproduction of the research tree''.
There are many documents in a variety of formats describing the complete research tree on the Internet that you can peruse. This document is merely a supplement.

===Definitions===
The word 'prerequisite' is used quite frequently
throughout this document. As prerequisite is not
an everyday word, here is its definition.

:;Pre-Requisite: Pre- means 'before', Requisite means something that is required in order to achieve something. In Layman terms and in context with the game: to get this thingy, you need to research or have these other thingies first.
 
=== Spoiler Warning ===
While this may spoil the game if you are new to
it, it is better to be informed than to make a
mistake that is irreversible. The game IS hard,
even for X-Com UFO veterans.

With the exception of MC technology, this
document discusses a branch of the research tree
that will take you from the very start of the
game all the way to the final chamber in T'Leth. (Well, not exactly, but it'll give you everything you need!)

== Glitches in the System ==

There are two major occasions where research can grind to a halt:

* An alien is required to further research AFTER certain projects are completed
* An object is needed in storage before research is completed

== Interrogations ==

A large portion of the research can be cut off by researching an alien in the incorrect sequence.

For example, in order to open a new research branch, you need to have researched project A and B and then interrogate alien C in order to get new technology D.
If you were to interrogate alien C before completing research on A and B, technology D will not appear for research once you've completed research on A and B.
In order to get D to appear, you must capture another alien and interrogate it again.

So, as a rule of thumb, if an alien is a prerequisite for any particular tech item,
it is highly recommended that you hold off the completion of the interrogation until
all the prerequisites have been researched.

== The Deep One Dilemma==

The primary research path at an abstract level looks roughly like so:
  
<center>
{| cellspacing="3"
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Subs
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | T'Leth
|}
</center>
 
The path for Armour looks roughly like:
  
<center>
{| cellspacing="3"
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Deep One Corpse
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Aqua Plastics
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Plastic Aqua Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Ion Beam Accelerators
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Live Deep One Terrorist
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Ion Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Magnetic Navigation
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Mag. Ion Armour
|}
</center>
 
Not all of the technologies need to be reseached in the exact order - with the exception of the live [[Deep One]], which should only be reseached after you have met the other prerequisites for Ion Armour.

Without Armours you won't get to research advanced subs; without advanced subs you can't reach T'leth and defeat the aliens once and for all.

You will need a living specimen and a
corpse. In older versions of the game, where you
need a lobsterman navigator to get magnetic
navigation, getting a live Deep One Terrorist is
not that important. However, in TFTD versions
with the v2 update, success hinges on getting a
living Deep One terrorist.

Deep One Terrorists can be found in most Gill-man
land missions. They do not appear underwater (1),
and are replaced with Xarquids if you shoot down
Gill-Men terror ships.

:(1) ''you may find some Deep One Terrorists in the second level of T'Leth; however, you may only get there after when you already have the tech they provide.''


Don't worry if you missed them, Gill-Man terror
sites do still appear when it's late in the game,
although they are abundant early in game.


Deep One Terrorists also appear in 'mixed' alien
crew land missions. A mixed crew is made up of a
variety of species, and in terror sites and base
attacks, will be supported by a variety of
land-based terror units, which includes the Deep
One Terrorist as well as the odd Xarquid (which
normally replaces the Deep One Terrorist for
underwater missions).


Just promote a terror site by leaving any ships
on terror missions alone, or encourage the
Gill-Men or 'mixed' crews to attack your base by
shooting some of their USOs down near your base.
You might also want to dismantle your M.C
generator to improve the likelihood of an attack.


Before starting research on the Deep One
Terrorist, refer to the Ion Armour section.


Finally, researching an alien medic and getting
information on the Deep One Terrorist or its
corpse is not the same as researching the real
thing. You will not get any research benefits
from the alien medic's report. Keep this in mind.


== The Tasoth Commander Trap==

Note that it is unfortunately difficult to double check the validity of this bug at the present time, so this section has been intentionally left vague for now, but is left for the benefit of the that may experience it.

Most copies of the game do not recognise the Tasoth Commander as a legal alien (Although the alien/rank combination can still exist) and cannot be researched. If for whatever reason one does somehow appear on your research list, do not complete the research on it until after obtaining a Leviathan and the final mission launch button. Researching it will prevent these topics from being researched through normal means.

If you're unsure whether you'll face this bug or otherwise, update your game with the v2 patch if you are using the Dos version. The Collectors edition of TFTD is already updated to v2.

==Required Objects ==
=== The MC Reader and Sub Construction samples===

These two items, the MC Reader and the Sub
Construction store item, are special in that they
will only become available for research if and
only if a sample is available in your general
stores before completing research for their
prerequisite technologies.


If you do not have any when completing research
on the last of their required technologies, they
will NOT appear later even after acquiring a few
samples.


For example: If you've done Zrbite and are about
to finish research on the Transmission Resolver,
make sure that you have the 'sub construction'
item in stores before the research on the
Transmission Resolver hits 100%, or vice-versa.


Between the MC Reader and the Sub Construction
store item, the 'sub construction' store item is
required to win the game. The MC Reader is
optional.


Note: This does not apply to Aqua Plastics. You
can research it even without any samples.


Note: If this happens to you and you don't have a suitable save game to revert, you can still rescue your game using a hex editor. Open the file RESEARCH.DAT that resides in the appropriate save game folder and set the byte at the hexadecimal offset 0x1B4 to 1. This will allow you to research Alien Sub Construction. (It will allow you to research it even if you don't have the prerequisite technologies, in fact, but you wouldn't cheat that way, would you?) 


Note: Another way to combat the research tree bug for Alien Sub Construction is to modify
[http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=PROJECT.DAT_%28TFTD%29 PROJECT.DAT]. Open the file with a hex editor and set the byte at the hexadecimal offset 0x26 to 01. This will make Alien Sub Construction appear in your research, then all you have to do is assign some scientists and complete it. Note that this bypasses all prerequisites. (tested on TFTD v2 but should also work on other versions)
 


'''Modify save games at your own risk. You should always create a backup first.'''


 

== Version differences==

There are two versions of TFTD. The original
unpatched version of TFTD and the one with the v2
update.


Players with the Collectors Edition of TFTD have
the version with the v2 patch.


The known changes in the research tree are as
follows:


====Unpatched====


A Lobsterman Navigator is needed to research
Magnetic Navigation


Ion Armour is not required for Magnetic Ion
Armour. All the technologies you need for
Magnetic Ion Armour are Plastic Aqua Armour, Ion
Beam Accelerators and Magnetic Navigation.


====v2====


Magnetic Navigation can be researched as soon as
one is in storage. The lobsterman navigator is
NOT required.


Ion Armour is required for Magnetic Ion Armour.
Magnetic Ion Armour now just requires Magnetic
Navigation and Ion Armour.


Yes, in other words, the v2 patch makes it easier
to get Mag. Ion Armour. However, it also means
that winning the game hinges on your ability to
obtain a live Deep One terrorist AND researching
it in the right order.


If you patch your game and reload a campaign
created before the patch, you might face a few
research problems. It's not that common, but you
might find that you'll have some trouble with
researching the more advanced armour via the V2
method. There should be no problems if you
haven't even started on the Ion Armour or Mag Ion
Armour yet. It's mostly for campaigns where
you're already half-way through researching the
armour.

====v2.1====
Only difference from v2 (per [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/index.php?dlid=192 StrategyCore]) is that the MC Reader bug is fixed: it can be research even if you didn't have a sample when MC Lab was complete. Note that TFTD CE is v2 and does not include this fix.

= The Good Bit=
The all important good bit gets down to the brass tacks. It's probably why you're here, so dig in!
 

=== Alien Sub Components ===

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|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Zrbite || None || style="text-align: left" | A clump of Zrbite can be found underneath an Ion Beam Accelerator unit. If any explosive detonations occur near the IBA unit, it will be destroyed as it is very brittle (or rather, the IBA will blow up).

You can pick up these clumps, but finding a clump only occurs in unusual circumstances. For example, throwing an unconscious soldier into an IBA and waiting for him or her to wake up. Falling down onto one or walking into one with the walk-through-walls bug.

Xcomutil users will often find Zrbite clumps lying about when selecting a USO floor map that is not the same as the type of USO you're actually attacking.
|-
| Aqua Plastics || Deep One corpse || style="text-align: left" | You don't need any aqua plastics to research it. You just need the Deep One corpse.
|-
| Ion Beam Accelerators || None || style="text-align: left" | Ion Beam Accelerator units are found in intact alien USOs. Most smaller enemy subs will lose their IBA units if shot down, although some of the IBA units may survive if they're in larger ships.
|-
| Magnetic Navigation || None (TFTD v2) or Lobsterman Navigator (TFTD pre-v2) || style="text-align: left" | In older versions of the game, a Lobsterman Navigator is required to get Magnetic Navigation. Otherwise, it should appear immediately on the research list once one is in storage.
|-
| Transmission Resolver || Magnetic Navigation || style="text-align: left" |  
|-
| Sub Construction || Sub Construction (item), Zrbite, Transmission Resolver || style="text-align: left" | Keep at least one 'sub construction' component in storage before completing either of the two prerequisites. If you don't have one when both the prerequisites have been met, you will not get the 'sub construction' tech item, which is required for the advanced submarines
|}
 

=== Armour ===
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|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
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|-
| Plastic Aqua Armor || Aqua Plastics || style="text-align: left" | Aqua Plastics are obtained from a Deep One corpse. You need not have any actual aqua-plastics in storage to get the Aqua Plastics research item.
|-
| Ion Armour || Ion Beam Accelerators, Plastic Aqua Armour and a Deep One Terrorist || style="text-align: left" | Research the first two prerequisites in any order you wish. However, you MUST research the live Deep One Terrorist LAST. If you researched this alien earlier, you won't get Ion Armour. Capturing another Deep One Terrorist is possible, but there is a small chance that you will not be able to research any more of them.

This is especially important in versions of TFTD patched with the v2 update, as without Ion Armour, you cannot get Magnetic Ion Armour, which in turn is needed to get the advanced submarines.
|-
| Magnetic Ion Armour (TFTD v2) || Ion Armour, Magnetic Navigation || style="text-align: left" | If you don't know what version of the game you have, the method in which you obtain Mag. Ion Armour will tell you which one it is.

For versions v2 and up, Magnetic Navigation becomes available the moment you have a sample in storage. Also keep in mind that Ion Armour is compulsory.
|-
| Magnetic Ion Armour (TFTD pre-v2) || Magnetic Navigation, Ion Beam Accelerators || style="text-align: left" | In older versions of TFTD, to get Magnetic Navigation, you need a Lobsterman Navigator. Keep in mind, Ion Armour is not compulsory.
|}
 

=== Submarines ===
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|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Manta || Magnetic Ion Armour, Sub Construction || style="text-align: left" | Refer to the sub component section for notes on Sub Construction. This submarine allows construction of the more advanced SWS.
|-
| Hammerhead || Manta ||  
|-
| Leviathan || Hammerhead, Lobsterman Commander || style="text-align: left" | The Lobsterman Commander should be researched after the Hammerhead. Also, for your convenience, don't forget to research 'alien origins' first so that you don't have to capture a third lobsterman commander to win the game.

If you did not research the commander and the hammerhead in the right order, don't worry, just research another Lobsterman Commander.

Note (to Hexedit): Open the file RESEARCH.DAT that resides in the appropriate save game folder and set the byte at the hexadecimal offset 0x27A to 1. This will allow you to research The Latest Flying Sub aka Leviathan
|}
 

=== Techs to Win the Game ===
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|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
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|-
| Alien Origins || Any live alien ||
|-
| The Ultimate Threat || Alien Origins and a Lobsterman Commander || style="text-align: left" | Research the commander last. If you researched the commander before alien origins, don't worry. Just research another commander.
'''* A lobsterman Navigator can also substitute for the commander'''
|-
| T'Leth, the Alien's City || The Ultimate Threat and a Lobsterman Commander (another one) || style="text-align: left" | You need to research another lobsterman commander.

If you researched the Tasoth commander any time in the past, then there's a possibility that this very
important tech item will not appear, which means your current campaign has been scuttled and has already sunk all the way to the bottom of the ocean floor. Period.

If you don't have any saves made before completing research on the Tasoth commander, then your only recourse is to start a new game.
|}
 

=== Disruptor Pulse Launcher (optional) ===

Optional as you do not need the DPL torpedoes to win the game. It's not a serious problem, but is mentioned anyway to ally any concerns about the launchers not appearing for research.

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Disruptor Pulse Launcher || Zrbite || style="text-align: left" | As soon as you've researched Zrbite, you can start research on the DPL launcher and its ammo - assuming you had a sample in storage upon completion of the project.

However, unlike Sub Construction and the Mind Probe, the DPL Launcher has a failsafe. If you did not have any samples upon completion of Zrbite, you will be able to make them appear for research the moment the '''next''' research project is completed.
|}
 

=== Molecular Control Technology (optional) ===

Optional because you don't need MC tech to win the game. But as its research branch has a notable bug, is included as well.

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|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
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|-
| M.C.-LAB || Any Live Terrorist || style="text-align: left" | Either of the two terrorist units will give you the M.C.-Lab.

Deep One Terrorists generally follow Gill-men and Calcinites associate themselves with Aquatoids. Both aliens can be found in 'mixed' crew land missions.
|-
| MC Reader || MC Reader (item), M.C.-Lab || style="text-align: left" | The MC Reader research item will only become available if research on the M.C.-Lab is completed while an MC Reader is in storage.

If you miss out on this, you will NOT get the MC Disruptor or the MC Generator for the rest of the campaign.
|-
| MC Disruptor || MC Reader and any live Tasoth || style="text-align: left" | Excluding the Tasoth Commander, of course.

While the Ufopaedia says it only works underwater, this item will work on land. I believe the text was meant to say that only aquanauts with 'MC implants' can use it, the word 'underwater' seems like a typo that was never removed.

Again, if you research the live Tasoth before completing the research on M.C. Reader, you will be forced to capture and interrogate another live Tasoth in order to get the M.C. Disruptor technology.
|-
| MC Generator || MC Disruptor || style="text-align: left" | This item will protect your base from being found, but it does not work 100% of the time. Aliens can still attack shielded bases if their scouts are lucky. The magnitude of USOs successfully spotting your base is reduced.
|}
 

=== Melee Weapons (optional, but handy) ===

Vibro Blade research comes from the Calcinite corpse. Once that research is done, if you've autopsied a Gillman corpse by that point (more than likely) you also get to research Thermic Lance. Once Thermic Lance is researched, Heavy Thermic Lance, last in this line, can be researched

=== Obligatory Disclaimer Claptrap ===

This document will not always be 100% accurate, as the game tends to behave differently for
different players with different computer systems and game editions.


These notes are derived through many controlled tests and observations with the MS-DOS
edition of Terror From The Deep with the TFTDv2 patch. Any noticeable difference between the
patched game and the older versions are noted. Otherwise, these notes are valid for practically
any version of TFTD available on the PC, with the possible exception of TFTD for the Sony Playstation.


TFTD, Terror From The Deep, X-Com, XCOM, et. al.
originally developed by some very fine people. Originally distributed by Microprose. Now? Who knows.


As the purpose of this document is to inform, feel free to distribute any information in this
document as you see fit.


Many thanks for the input and feedback from the
regular posters on the Xcommand and X-Com
Tactical Command forums for assisting in the
preparation of this document. Some indirect
thanks to the fine folks on the alt.games.x-com
Usenet newsgroup as well. Extra bits and pieces here and there picked up from the xcomufo.com forums as well.


[[Category:Research (TFTD)]]