UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

TFTD ground stacking

2010-08-19T19:58:37Z

L0b0: /* Step 1 */

If you're bringing a lot of equipment to missions, or pick up a lot of stuff in two-part missions to avoid losing it, you may end up filling the 3x20 ground slots before getting rid of all the unnecessary baggage. The trick to getting a second page boils down to putting single-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) horizontally on the ground, and having the stacking algorithm put them vertically so they take up an entire column. Here's an example how to do this:

=== Step 1 ===
Place eight six-square items (like [[Sonic Cannon]]s), two four-square (or four two-square) items (like [[Thermal Shok Launcher|Thermal Shock Cannon]]s), and four one-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) on the ground. The equipment screen should look like this:
[[Image:Ground_stacking_before_clicking_right_arrow.png]]

=== Step 2 ===
Click the right arrow. The equipment screen should look like this:
[[Image:Ground_stacking_after_clicking_right_arrow.png]]

=== Step 3 ===
At this point you should be able to click the right arrow again to access the second page. You'll also see a copy of one of the items from the first page on the second page.

TFTD ground stacking

2010-05-19T12:37:22Z

L0b0:

If you're bringing a lot of equipment to missions, or pick up a lot of stuff in two-part missions to avoid losing it, you may end up filling the 3x20 ground slots before getting rid of all the unnecessary baggage. The trick to getting a second page boils down to putting single-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) horizontally on the ground, and having the stacking algorithm put them vertically so they take up an entire column. Here's an example how to do this:

=== Step 1 ===
Place eight six-square items (like [[Sonic Cannon]]s), two four-square items (like [[Thermal Shok Launcher|Thermal Shock Cannon]]s), and four one-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) on the ground. The equipment screen should look like this:
[[Image:Ground_stacking_before_clicking_right_arrow.png]]

=== Step 2 ===
Click the right arrow. The equipment screen should look like this:
[[Image:Ground_stacking_after_clicking_right_arrow.png]]

=== Step 3 ===
At this point you should be able to click the right arrow again to access the second page. You'll also see a copy of one of the items from the first page on the second page.

File:Ground stacking after clicking right arrow.png

2010-05-19T12:33:24Z

L0b0:

File:Ground stacking before clicking right arrow.png

2010-05-19T12:32:31Z

L0b0:

Item Stacking Bug

2010-05-19T12:30:30Z

L0b0: TFTD ground stacking link

The item stacking bug occurs when several items are stacked in the same location in a unit's inventory. It can happen naturally, via the alien AI, or by using the item stacking trick.

The most common occurances of stacked items happen when accessing an alien's inventory, as they always stack their equipment in the third slot (offset [2]). Oddly enough, that's one of the small right leg "pockets".

Because we were never meant to access alien inventories, the AI manages them internally and doesn't care about object placement rules. <i>Dunno if they even spend TUs in there. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 16:49, 25 October 2007 (PDT)</i>

A stacked item can happen to X-Com units if they're mind controlled and the AI briefly switches their weapons. Depending on whether they get changed back before you regain control, you may just find your huge rocket launcher taped to your right leg slot, stacked on top of whatever else was in there.

= Item Stacking Trick =
The item stacking trick allows players to stack two items in the same inventory slot at the same time.

To perform the item stacking trick:

;Step 1
[[Image:Stack_1.png]]

* Go to the inventory screen.
* Pick up an item - any item - by clicking on it.
* With the item on your cursor, click on the arrow that scrolls and consolidates the floor inventory items.

;Step 2
[[Image:Stack_2.png]]

* Place the item where you want it. You'll hear it get placed, but it will look empty. At this point in time, do not click on the arrow button or it'll refresh the inventory screen and you'll have to start over.

;Step 3
[[Image:Stack_3.png]]

* Pick up another item and place it over the item you just placed.

;Step 4
[[Image:Stack_4.png]]

* Leave the inventory screen and come back in, switch to another soldier and come back, or just hit the ground item tab button to refresh the screen to see the result.

Because of the way this trick works, you can only have a maximum of two items in any given inventory location. For example, you can have a pistol on the left side of your belt, plus two grenades there as well (one in each of the two inventory locations that the pistol occupies).

As you can see, this effectively doubles your equipment space. But be careful! The weight of all the items you're carrying still applies.

Be sure to read the rest of this document, particularly the word of caution at the end, before you proceed to try this trick in an actual game.

'''Note''': This only works in versions of UFO with the inventory ground item tab button (the arrow). Early versions of UFO, such as v1.2, do not have the arrow.

This trick does not work in TFTD. While you can hack a TFTD save game in order to stack items, there is no known way to do this from within the game. However, there is a [[TFTD ground stacking|similar trick]] which can be used to get a second page to place equipment on the ground.

= Effects of stacked items in hand slots =

When placed in the hand slots, strange things can happen when you start to use these items. It's up to the player to experiment and see what does what, and what causes the game to crash, if any. The safest items to try are ranged weapons and grenades. Observe the following two screenshots for an example of a mind probe combined with a laser rifle:

[[Image:Stack example 1.png]] [[Image:Stack example 2.png]]

The strangest but most useful effect is when you stack a stun rod and a ranged weapon into a hand slot.

If you stacked the stun rod and gun, you will find that in addition to your normal firing commands, you'll have the [[stun]] command as well. Also take note that your weapon will look like a stun-rod and your ammo counter will be missing. Rest assured, your weapon will continue to fire normally.

'''NOTE!''' The order that you stack the item is important. Pile the weapon on first, then put the stun rod over it.

What's more interesting is the stun command. A stun rod only uses 30% of your total TUs for an attack. The stun command listed will instead cost 50% of your total TUs. If you use it on an enemy target, you will not stun it. Instead, you will kill it.

This has, in effect, re-enabled the game's disabled [[Melee Accuracy|melee]] attack. Or the elusive 'hit' command seen in the illustrations used in the game's manual.

Apart from the previously mentioned problems, the biggest problem is finding out what weapons do what damage. The stun rod obviously does stun damage, but the other weapons do not seem to conform to the melee damage types and values listed in the game's battlescape object file. So, again, you'll need to experiment to find what's best for you.

Although expensive in TU, a melee attack with the right stun rod and weapon combo can sometimes kill a sectopod in one hit.

= Danger: Moving Stacked Items =
In the initial equipment screen prior to the start of the battle, you can stack and unstack items all you want as no TUs are spent.

However, be very careful when picking up items from an item stack after the battle has commenced and you are using [[Time Units]] to manage your inventory.

If you pick up an item from a stack and don't have the time units to drop it, put it down in an empty spot within the same object slot area. This costs nothing.

If there is no space and you've run out of time units, you will have put the game into the state of an infinite loop where you can never put the item back down again. This is especially true when fiddling with alien inventories, as they like to put items as large as [[Heavy Plasma]]s in their right leg slot. You simply cannot place the heavy plasma back onto the stack, or into the adjoining empty slot.

At least for aliens, there seems to be a "magic" TU value indicating when it is safe to unstack items: 20. Since the aliens never carry more than 3 items stacked on the leg slot, you need to conserve 18 TU to drop these items to the ground (3 items * 6 TU/item), plus 2 TU to drop the customary weapon in the hand. If you intend to shift items around instead of dropping them to the ground, beware. Twenty time units will not be enough.

The best time to stack items, or fiddle with stacked items, is when you have a sufficiently full [[Time Units|TU]] bar. If you get it beneath the 50% or 25% threshold, then you may want to continue stacking items on the next turn.

If you do get into an infinte loop, the only way to stop the game is to force the game to shut down via your operating system. Switch to your desktop, then have your operating system forcibly shut down the console or emulator you're running the game in, or use your task manager if your operating system comes with one. If you're in Pure Dos Mode, you must manually reset your computer from the mains.

TFTD ground stacking

2010-05-19T12:29:56Z

L0b0: /* Step 1 */

If you're bringing a lot of equipment to missions, or pick up a lot of stuff in two-part missions to avoid losing it, you may end up filling the 3x20 ground slots before getting rid of all the unnecessary baggage. The trick to getting a second page boils down to putting single-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) horizontally on the ground, and having the stacking algorithm put them vertically so they take up an entire column. Here's an example how to do this:

=== Step 1 ===
Place eight six-square items (like [[Sonic Cannon]]s), two four-square items (like [[Thermal Shok Launcher|Thermal Shock Cannon]]s), and four one-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) on the ground.

=== Step 2 ===
Click the right arrow.

=== Step 3 ===
At this point you should be able to click the right arrow again to access the second page. You'll also see a copy of one of the items from the first page on the second page.

TFTD ground stacking

2010-05-19T12:27:49Z

L0b0: New page: If you're bringing a lot of equipment to missions, or pick up a lot of stuff in two-part missions to avoid losing it, you may end up filling the 3x20 ground slots before getting rid of all...

If you're bringing a lot of equipment to missions, or pick up a lot of stuff in two-part missions to avoid losing it, you may end up filling the 3x20 ground slots before getting rid of all the unnecessary baggage. The trick to getting a second page boils down to putting single-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) horizontally on the ground, and having the stacking algorithm put them vertically so they take up an entire column. Here's an example how to do this:

=== Step 1 ===
Place eight six-square items (like [[Sonic Cannon]]s), two four-square items (like [[Thermal Shock Cannon]]s), and four one-square items (like [[Sonic Pulser]]s) on the ground.

=== Step 2 ===
Click the right arrow.

=== Step 3 ===
At this point you should be able to click the right arrow again to access the second page. You'll also see a copy of one of the items from the first page on the second page.

Wish List (TFTD)

2010-04-17T10:21:03Z

L0b0: /* Battlescape */

Suggestions for fixes or improvements that would be nice to have for X-COM: Terror From The Deep (TFTD). ''Since TFTD shares its game engine with X-COM: Enemy Unknown (EU), there are many problems that are common to both games. Please make any shared/common wishes under the EU Wish List (link at the bottom of this page).''

= Fixes =

== Geoscape ==

* Research Tree bugs
* The really annoying "Cannot intercept over land" message that pops up continually (more than once a second) during some pursuits along coastlines.
* Coelacanth\Gauss reload issues. [[User:Tifi|Tifi]] 16:31, 16 December 2009 (EST)

== Battlescape ==

* Underwater-only weapons reaction-firing on land
* Bio-Drone melee attack has no effect. This is a serious flaw in the Bio-Drone, as it always uses this attack when Aquanauts are adjacent.
* Bugs with MC at the end of one stage of a multi-stage mission. (Does this also affect EU, e.g. the 2-stage Cydonia mission?)
* Permit aliens to use carried melee weapons. (This is a game engine bug that applies to EU as well, but is moot since EU aliens don't have carried melee weapons.) This fix could inadvertently make the game easier, as aliens would use Sonic Pulsers (their default option since they can't use melee weapons) less often. So it is essential to ensure the AI chooses sensibly between drills and Pulsers.
* Make ship terror missions less annoying, especially the passenger ship. Aliens hide in labyrinthine structures and every single spot needs to be revisited if a single alien is left out, otherwise the mission is failed. Often over 100 turns are needed to win, as aquanauts quickly run out of energy and finding the last cowardly tasoth is a pain.
* The above also applies to other missions, namely the 2nd stages of alien colony assaults and artifact sites, but both can, fortunately, be won without killing all the aliens.
: Specific suggestion as to how to do this please? For example, reveal last 1-2 alien positions after XX turns, or (EU style), force all aliens to go on the offensive after XX turns (probably not as this is too easy). [[User:Spike|Spike]]
:: Easiest method would be to edit the map modules ("lock" some doors) and route node tables to remove the hidey holes. Heck, just messing with the nodes might be enough to do it - for example, at least one actually allows for large units to spawn in a tiny cabin where they can't move ''at all''. Assuming you find it, you've then got to deal with reaction fire from a critter that will always have maximum TUs on your turn... Stupid Xarquids... [[User:Bomb_Bloke|Bomb Bloke]]
::: In my view, the problems lies in the fact that the last terrified alien simply picks a hiding spot and remains there until you find it. Aliens should be more active, more aggressive. It's not a matter of game balance or difficulty, but playability. [[User:mingos|mingos]]
:::: Good point, there are at least 2 cases: aliens with failed morale, and aliens stuck in the map. For aliens with failed morale, the game should just end with them as prisoners (if they have no built in weapons and no chance of regaining morale). But for aliens stuck in the map by walls or waypoints or whatever, as Bomb Bloke said above, more measures are called for. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 20:42, 12 December 2009 (EST)
::::: I'm not sure it has anything to do with morale. After a few turns they'd've recovered from any "frights" they had (assuming they didn't drop their guns, but seeing as it's often [[Tentaculat]]s which go "missing" I doubt that has much affect on matters). I think the route nodes just send them on one way trips into certain out-of-the-way areas. The aggression stat ([[UNITREF.DAT|unitref(44 / 2C)]]) might actually be the way to go - the theory is that pumping this higher makes a creature more likely to leave cover and attack your agents head on. [[Alien Stats (TFTD)|By default]] most aliens already have it "maxed out", but for all I know the value can be cranked higher then the observed cap of 2. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 00:59, 13 December 2009 (EST)
:::::: Same happens to me with other races too. Bio Drones and Tasoths seem to do the same quite often. While Tasoths are probably shaken up and disarmed, entaculats and Bio Drones have their weapons inbuilt, plus, they rarely panic. Not long ago I saw a Bio Drone fire from cover each turn, then hide again, and after I started looking for it, it simply picked a hiding spot and stayed there for ~20 turns until I found it and zapped it. The funny thing was that it was the beginning of the mission and there were only 2 or 3 aliens killed so far. [[User:mingos|mingos]]
::::::: OK the aggression stat sounds a good option for all this hidey behaviour. A 100 turns to finish a game is incredibly frustrating. In EU, you could Seb76's UFO Extender to make the remaining aliens visible. With TFTD, you have the option of using the '''xcomutil dis''' command to get the coordinates of the remaining aliens. There might also be an xcomutil command to make all units visible. And if all else fails you can use the '''xcomutil win''' command to kill the last aliens off. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:31, 13 December 2009 (EST)
* Aquanaut strength overflow often prevents highly skilled soldiers from throwing items, as they become strong enough to arc an object above the highest battlescape level (and 'out of bounds') thus generating a 'Cannot Throw Here' message. [[User:Tifi|Tifi]] 16:29, 16 December 2009 (EST)
:I think there might be 2 issues here involved: first one is the fact that when the stats overcome their limit they are reset to 0 by the game; second is that due to height limits the game will not allow for objects to be thrown at some distances because the throwing arc would go over the height limit. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 12:01, 17 December 2009 (EST)
* Synchronized attacks. Like the waypoint setting for launchers, several aquanauts could target different enemies, and all of them would shoot at the same time. It would not be possible to follow all the trajectories on screen simultaneously, so it should probably focus on one target at a time, or show each shot individually. This would give beginners a chance against e.g. [[Bio-Drone]].

= New Features =

* Airborne Interception - what's the point of flying subs without air to-air weapons anyway?(Avalanches anyone?) Surely it's better to 'splash' the USO ''before'' it makes it to the safety of water?
*Alternatively, get rid of the pretense that subs can fly. How does sonar track a USO over land, anyway?
:Both sonar and radar use the same principle (radio or sound waves being emitted and reflected back to a receiver) so it isn't unconceivable to have equipment that can use both detection methods. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 22:35, 12 December 2009 (EST)
::Hmm. Steam engines and internal combustion engines are pretty similar too but you rarely see both on the same vehicle! The sensors in TFTD are called sonars, not sonar/radar combinations. I would be quite happy if the names were just changed from Sonar to Sonar/Radar or to Sensor, that would be fine. It is possible to use something very similar to passive sonar to track bearings to aircraft, similar things were used in WWII before the development of radar. Without triangulation, it would be very difficult to get the actual range to the target, and almost impossible to get the target's heading and speed. It is very normal for modern subs and surface ships to have both sonar and radar, but they are totally separate systems aboard the vessel, with different capabilities. I would be fine if the name was changed to Sensor or Sonar/Radar, and the UFOPaedia description changed to say that it used both technologies. Mainly I just object to the flying subs not being able to intercept over land. You can see why though, since it would pose the question of why there were no land USO recovery missions. But you could just take the same approach as EU. Just as UFOs disintegrate if shot down over water, USOs could disintegrate if shot down over land. Or even better, the land/sea game below, allowing land recovery vs USOs and underwater recovery vs UFOs. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)
::: UFOs didn't disintegrate in water - it was just the Elerium (and presumably the crew!). After the aliens were beaten, X-COM's new job essentially boiled down to finding those drowned ships and scavenging whatever was left. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 21:09, 13 December 2009 (EST)
:::: Game-wise, they did disintegrate. The whole story about SORESO and elerium recovery was made up later in order to give a meaning to the subsequent games. [[User:mingos|mingos]]
* Combined land/sea game, with subs and aircraft, USOs and UFOs, Aquanauts and Soldiers, land and sea bases. Now that would be cool!
**A slightly less dramatic change: on any land mission, automatically swap Dart Guns, Jet Harpoons, HydroJet Cannons and Torpedo Launchers for (respectively) Pistols, Rifles, AutoCannon and Rocket Launchers "from stores" (including their ammo of course). Purchase price of the weapons would be doubled (or just add the cost of the XCOM-EU equivalent) to reflect this versatility.
:Essentially the game would switch icons and elements of OBJECT.DAT for a land mission. Could also switch Grenade types perhaps? But it's best to keep some underwater weapons (eg Gas Cannon), especially for land missions where there is some water present. Conceivably, in recognition of the progress made by X-COM, and the increasing threat, the authorities might even make available some of the scarce (?) stocks of laser weapons, to exchange for Gauss weapons during land missions. (But this is not really necessary, as Gauss weapons are quite adequate on land.) Working plasma weapons of course have long since vanished due to lack of Elerium. (Although by the same argument, 1st Alien War-era Personal Armour should be issued to any unarmoured troops on land missions. Maybe it takes 200% damage from Sonic weapons.)
*Variant on this - allow 1st Alien War equipment to be purchased or leased by X-COM, for a quite high price, to be used on land missions only. Mainly laser weapons and armour. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)
:The direction that this suggestion is heading seems to point to merge the systems of both games. One idea to do so could be that both types of modules (Sonar and Radar) could be built at X-COM bases. Each of them would only detect USOs/UFOs either underwater or airborne. That would represent a strain on X-COM resources since the player would have to choose which ones to build at each base. Just having one type of system at a base would limit detection and tracking, which would also add another challenge.
:Concerning Subs intercepting USOs over land another interesting change could be that the subs' armaments could also be of limited use while on air, just like the ground battles. Torpedo weapons would be impossible to use on the air (Ajax, DUP and PWT) which would limit the weapons to Gas and Gauss Cannons. Based on the criteria of the ground weapons the Sonic Oscillator could also be used but I'd drop the power of it to 50 so that the TFTD Battleships (equivalent to Terror Ships) could have also a change to strike back at X-COM craft. Another possibility would be prevent the Oscillator from being used on air (the logic would that the sound waves dissipate as the range goes higher) which would present another challenge to the player since he/she would have to make choices concerning how to equip the subs, since it would only be possible to hit airborne USOs with Gas and Gauss Cannons. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 13:09, 13 December 2009 (EST)
::I like these ideas. I wonder if we should split off a different section or page on combined land/sea EU/TFTD? It would make an awesome game. If a game company was working on a remake of X-COM, it would be great to make an EU/TFTD hybrid from the start. It would be reminiscent of the UFO TV series that was probably one of the inspirations for X-COM.
::In the realm of possibility for player mods might be a game that combines sea and land bases on the same geoscape map, with USOs and UFOs flying around, crash sites on land or underwater depending on the location of the crash, and land (EU) or sea (TFTD) loadouts depending on the crash location. Terror sites and other land sites would probably use EU loadouts? MC and Psi would need to be merged into the same phenomenon, probably. That wouldn't be too hard since under the skin it's the same thing. This could be as simple as calling the EU battlescape for land missions and the TFTD battlescape for undersea missions. Of course the Geoscape changes would be trickier. Only one political map could be used at one time. But possibly you could play first with an EU geoscape, EU political map, and EU victory conditions, and then play again with TFTD geoscape/map/victory conditions. The only difference in the geoscape .exe would be to permit bases and interceptions over sea (in EU) and land (in TFTD). Opening the base screen of a land base in TFTD might requiring calling a patched module from EU, and vice versa. Tech research would need to follow the geoscape (EU or TFTD), unless a way was found to combine the research trees of both games. But I doubt that is possible in a player mod because there is only room for one set of technologies in things like the object table. So basically researching lasers would give you gauss, and vice versa, across the board. Researching each EU technology would give its TFTD equivalent and vice versa. This would be OK I think. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 18:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)
:::I was thinking more of the TFTD plotline rather than EU's when making this suggestion. USO's don't appear on EU nor could their appearance be explained by the plotline. But the opposite would fit TFTD rather nicely. TFTD's political map could be expanded to land and additional cities would have to be placed. Terror attacks on inland cities would be different than the Port attacks on costal cities. Alien land colonies could also be a possibility but plot like they wouldn't make much sense (unless the aliens were preparing to flood the colonies areas. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 18:53, 13 December 2009 (EST)
::::I did actually [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/UFO-TFTD-Combo-Mod-t7367.html make a start] towards such a game, but sorta lost interest due to the usual lack of testers and the limitations the TFTD engine enforces. If/when I get around to resuming work on it I'll probably be restarting under the UFO engine instead. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 21:09, 13 December 2009 (EST)
:::::IIRC the UFO engine has even more limitations than the TFTD one. I've read the post and although a full merger of both games sounds better, why not stick to making TFTD the way I described above? [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 10:39, 14 December 2009 (EST)
::::::Granted, TFTD allows for larger maps, has native support for things like underwater palettes, lets you open doors without going through them, plus a few other minor features. But other then that? Certain weapons/HWPs don't work in certain missions, nor do your flying suits. USOs have a habit of going "airbourne" (even when over a valid geoscape polygon!), preventing you from intercepting them, and seldom fly over "land" even if you have bases there. The tech tree has more constraints slapped on it then I care to count, and running the CE version of the game with a split executable makes it crash all the time.

::::::Sure, most - if not all - of this stuff could be dealt with by messing with the executable, but with my current skills ("basic understanding of how machine code is read with no practical knowledge of opcodes at all") it's easier for me to just do it in UFO using external code (executable hacks can only realistically be applied to one version of the game anyway). Ditto for the concepts you described. Heck, even porting TFTD's plot to UFO's engine wouldn't be much of a challenge in comparison; other then the drills, cruise ships and artifact sites it'd be fairly straightforward to do, because everything else is the same thing under a different name!

::::::On the other hand, if anyone ever comes out with a suitably hacked TFTD executable, I'd be happy to help provide whatever else was needed to make a playable game out of it. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 19:39, 14 December 2009 (EST)

:::::::Fair enough :) [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 20:17, 14 December 2009 (EST)

* Bind equipment set to Aquanaut, so not to pick it every single time.
:This can already be done using XcomUtil.
* Add mortar (acting both on land and underwater).
: A mortar would be very advantageous to X-Com, since a lot of the tactical difficulty in the map is aliens hiding behind obstacles to direct fire. This is what grenades and Pulsers are for of course. An indirect fire weapon seems kind of 'realistic' but I'm not sure helping X-Com kill aliens is good for the game balance. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)
* Make Gauss useful?
: Explain? Gauss weapons are pretty useful. A big improvement on the starting weapons. Make them "more" useful? The XComUtil variant of Heavy Gauss is more useful, it packs quite a punch. Specific proposals please? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)
:: I agree. Gauss weapons are useful against most aliens, at least on an easy difficulty level. My aquanauts all use Gauss Rifles and the shots needed to down aliens are:
Alien Gauss Rifle hits
Aquatoid 1
Gill Man 1-2
Tasoth 3-5
Lobster Man ~10
Deep One 1
Calcinite 2
Xarquid ?
Hallucinoid 2-4
Tentaculat 2-3
Bio-Drone 2-4
Triscene immune
::As you can see, Gauss Rifles are useful and quite powerful. Plus, they offer autofire. The only pain in the butt are Lobster Men, which are near immune, and Triscenes which appear to be totally immune. But these are resistant to pretty much anything anyway, save for grenades in case of Triscenes, and drills in case of Lobster Men. So, uh... what's wrong with Gauss? [[User:mingos|mingos]]
:::Agreed - well demonstrated. Hmm, maybe the point is to make Craft Gauss weapons (Gauss Cannons) more useful? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 18:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)
* Add Ion weapons (They have Ion Beam Accelerators, right?). So why not make them smaller, more compact, and fire faster (if not weaker) shots?
: From the description of Gauss weapons, they sound similar to an Ion weapon of some kind. But yes in general maybe the discovery of IBAs could help the humans develop some weapon and not just armour/mobility technology. But then, the aliens don't seem to have a weapon based on Ions. Though some of the creatures (BioDrone, Xarquid) do have particle-type weapons. Maybe X-COM could design a new weapon based on these principles. Does the game really need new weapons though? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:22, 13 December 2009 (EST)

= See Also =

[[Wish List (EU)|Wish List (Enemy Unknown)]]

[[Category:Oddities and bugs]]
[[Category:TFTD]]

Ship Rescue Mission

2010-04-15T06:35:33Z

L0b0: Links to weapons / aliens

== Ship Rescue Mission ==

Though the opening slideshow or cinematic portrays the aliens to be aggressive against ships, they do not scuttle them. Instead, like common pirates, they board and take the ship and its crew hostage.

The shipping lane terror mission will be one of the most common 2-parter missions in TFTD. From the ship's heli-pad, your team must secure the deck of the ship by defeating or knocking out all alien forces, and attempt to keep civilian losses to a minimum. After that, the team must head below and secure the lower deck.

There are two distinct flavors of maps: '''Pleasure Liner''' and '''Cargo Ship'''.

The pleasure liner is your typical Love Boat - it has a casino, a well stocked kitchen, a theater and pleasant accommodation with all the accoutrements.

The cargo ship is a typical boat that transports goods containers and other bulk goods. Strangely enough, all of the containers that you can get into are empty. It also has sufficient accommodation for the crew. The inside of the ship is primarily a container storage area.

In both below deck maps, you will find the engine room towards the rear (North) end of the ship.

Shipping lane missions have a tendency to be very long. The maps are claustrophobic with many narrow hallways with lots of stairwells and grav-lifts scattered throughout the ship that will keep you on your toes. There are many rooms where any number of aliens can hide in ambush. When not fighting in narrow hallways, you will find yourself fighting in wide open areas with inadequate cover.

== Mission Text ==

This mission is a bug hunt, eliminate all Alien units on the ship, and preserve the lives of any civilians onboard. The Aliens are dispersed above and below decks, secure the upper decks before entering the lower ones.

== Tips ==

Always thoroughly check the rooms. Because of the tight spaces, you can easily overlook aliens that might just be standing behind a door or partition.

Like the top-side portion of an alien colony, the above deck ''and'' below deck maps for shipping lane missions will always have the same layout so you can use this to your advantage to identify the most common spots where you encounter any aliens.

Due to the close proximity of the combat in general, [[Weapons_(TFTD)#Melee|drills]] and the [[Thermal Tazer]] are in their element. Auto-fire weapons like the [[Gauss Pistol]] and [[Gauss Rifle]] can be used effectively in close proximity.

Be especially vigilant of the terror units that will appear in battle. The alien's general purpose terror unit for use on land, the [[Bio-Drone]], is easy to spot if you notice any burn trails in the deck. The [[Xarquid]], a terror unit usually employed for underwater sorties, can also appear on the below-deck map on occasion.

== Recovering Items ==

Items and bodies littering the above-deck portion of the battle are not recovered. If you wish to recover anything, you must carry everything you want to save before heading to the next section. Items inside the Triton are not lost.

Live aliens cannot be carried into the next map this way. If you find a research critical alien on the first level, you can only recover it by bringing it to the Triton and dusting off from the site.

==See Also==
{{Mission Types Navbar (TFTD)}}
[[Category: TFTD]]