UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

User:WakkaDakka

2015-05-20T00:02:41Z

WakkaDakka:

XCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOM

Making the Game Harder

2015-05-19T23:56:28Z

WakkaDakka:

This page is intended for players who finish the game frequently on the highest difficulty and would like to keep the challenge alive.

Naturally it is quite easy to handicap yourself while playing the game: using only conventional weaponry, no armor, fighting only on night missions, etc. Some of these situations are detailed here, in addition to exploits/cheats/tactics that make the game easier, which you might want to refrain from using.

Feel free to try any of these ideas (or all of them!). Some may make the game very hard or even impossible to win.

== Psionics ==

=== No Offensive Psionics ===

Psionics and [[Psi-Amp]]s can completely imbalance the game in favor of the human player. Even one Psi-Amp is bad news for aliens, and with training and screening, a squad full of psionic troops can eventually mind-control all the aliens during the first turn (even [[Cyberdisc]]s and [[Sectopod]]s). This turns combat into a cakewalk, which is not nearly as much fun as sweating your way around every single corner. Therefore, one of the most important things you can do to make the game more challenging is to avoid using Psi-Amps.

=== No Psionic Screening ===

Significantly less unbalancing is the use of [[Psionic Laboratory|Psi Labs]] to screen troops (and perhaps also increase their [[Psionics#Psionic_Formulas|Psionic Defense]]). However, for an even greater challenge, you can avoid using Psi Labs altogether, which forces you to rely on combat trauma to find out which of your troops are psi weaklings.

===No Mind Probes===

Much less powerful than Psionics is the advantage from using [[Mind Probe]]s since those devices can be used to screen aliens for their rank (for capture or to identify the threat they pose), or to check if they are able to reaction fire. Mind control can also provide most of this information, so restricting use of Mind Probes is most significant when combined with a ban on Psi-Amps.

=== No Alien Psionics ===

There comes a point when your troops and tactics are so Psi-resistant that disabling Alien Psionics actually makes the game harder, because all the the Aliens are at least trying to kill you with a Heavy Plasma or a Blaster Launcher instead of wasting their time with futile Psi attacks. If you have reached this point, even in relation to Ethereals, disable all Psionics. This can be done via XcomUtil.

=== Weaker Human Psionics ===

As the XCOM franchise evolved into X-COM:Apocalypse, it was revealed that humans are intrinsically weaker than aliens, particularly Sectoids, at Psionics. Humans in Apocalypse can never become more than weak to mediocre Psi operators. Perhaps design and play experience with EU and TFTD suggested this idea to the Apocalypse designers. In EU and TFTD, Psionics / MC is yet another example of something that humans almost instantly learn to do much better than the aliens, even though the aliens have been doing it for millions of years and built their culture around it. (Other examples: UFOs/USOs, craft plasma/sonic weapons, Psi/MC tactics, wearing body armour, picking things up after being panicked/stunned... the list goes on.)

It would perhaps be more 'realistic', and certainly scary and challenging, if human Psi/MC Strength and Skill were capped much lower than aliens, for example, capped at 50 each. Various mods allow changes to skill caps. You could simply sack anyone with Psi/MC Strength higher than 50. What would be cleverer would be a mod that either generates human Psi/MC Strength in a lower range (0=50 instead of 0-100), or that applies a 50% penalty to Psi/MC success calculations for any XCOM-controlled units (humans, or human-controlled aliens).

==Don't Use Game Exploits==
Plenty of [[Exploits]] have been identified for UFO: Enemy Unknown. Their influence on [[Battlescape]]/[[Geoscape]] varies, here's a list of those that you should particularly avoid and their consequences.

===Alien Inventory Screen===

Although you are not supposed to be able to access an alien's inventory screen when you mind control it, there is a [[ExploitsB#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|way]] to do so. This allows for nasty things like priming grenades and dropping them at the feet of the alien.
Another thing to consider is to stop using [[Psionics]] all together (see above).

===Faulty Collision Detection===

A full description can be found [[Exploiting_Collison_Detection|here]]. These exploits allow you to attack through walls or other solid objects, and bypass map chokepoints (such as UFO doors) which can be used by the aliens to ambush your soldiers.

===Free Wages/Manufacturing/Fuel===

These exploits are commonly used to prevent your finances from going negative at the end of the month or to keep your planes flying for free. The [[ExploitsA#Free_Wages|Free Wages]] avoids having to pay your scientists/engineers/soldiers' salaries. Most of your monthly expenses are made of those, so having to pay for your 250 scientists makes financial matters more hard to deal with. If you have never played the game without using these exploits, you've never really played the strategic game - it is MUCH harder to succeed when you have to pay your way.

===UFO Redux===

Increases your loot, income, score and experience up to two or even three times normal, and in turn boosts your technology progress. If you haven't been using this [[ExploitsA#UFO Redux|exploit]], don't start now!

===Scared Of The Dark?===

If you regularly avoid all night missions using [[ExploitsD|these exploits]], shame on you! Grab the flares and IC rounds, and be afraid, be '''very''' afraid!

==Don't Use Beneficial XComUtil Options==

Many XComUtil options (or similar options from other 'game enhancers' or variant games) make the game easier to win. As XComUtil was designed to make the game harder, it's a shame that the options that make the game easier are not flagged up more conspicuously.

=== Improved Starting Base ===

This actually hands you $4.5 million on a plate. In fact, it's far better than $4.5 million in cash, because the stuff you would buy with the $4.5 million is already built and/or in situ in your base. This option gives you a 1-2 month head start on the aliens, who don't get any advantages. So while the intent is to alleviate boring and repetitive play for experienced players, the net effect is to reduce the challenge.

=== Alternate Starting Base ===

This option is much less of a boon, but it still in effect hands you the $800K it would cost to reorganise your normal (badly layed out) starting base. And you get to do useful things with your base instead, during the month it would've take to reorganise it. Still, this is only a minor buff, and not a big deal compared to the Improved Starting Base. And the initial base layout ''is'' infuriating.

=== Improved Tanks ===

Players often forget that they routinely take this option to give human-technology tank chassis the same armour level as the hybrid, alien-alloy-armoured tank chassis. This has a big difference on the viability of the starting tanks (Cannon Tank, Rocket Tank, Laser Tank). Scott Jones believed that these HWPs were not viable without this mod. Perhaps he was right. Nonetheless, if you use this option, you are making the early game significantly easier. Assuming you believe an HWP is better than 4 soldiers - and if you don't believe that, you shouldn't care about using this option anyway.

=== Improved Weapons ===

This option improves the Pistol, Heavy Laser, and High Explosive. The Heavy Laser mod is fairly subtle and is intended to make "an otherwise useless item, useful". It does not create an uber-weapon. The Pistol improvement is [[Talk:XcomUtil#Improved_Pistol_Modification|arguably unnecessary]] as the Pistol is [[Rifle vs Pistol|arguably already]] the most powerful starting weapon, something that was not appreciated when XComUtil was written. The High Explosive buff is downright unbalancing since it allows UFO outer hulls to be penetrated at the very start of the game, totally changing the tactics of the Battlescape in a way that the Alien AI is not prepared for, and can't respond to. If you do select this option, use it only for the Heavy Laser mod, and refrain from using Pistol autofire, and definitely refrain from using HE as an entry charge to blast holes in UFOs.

In TFTD this option gives Gauss weapons unlimited ammunition. There is still a running argument about whether Gauss weapons are worth bothering with ([[Skipping Gauss Weapons]]). So using this option might be justified. But clearly it still gives an advantage to XCom, at least until weapons better than Gauss are available. So if you want the game to be harder, don't use it.

=== Other Options To Avoid ===

* Automatically Screen for Psi Ability
* Fight All Battles In Daylight
* Fighter aircraft can carry troops / HWPs
* Skyranger can mount air to air weapons
* Troops have all-round visibility from inside transports

Actually these last three aren't even options, prior to XComUtil 9.6, they are defaults. Turning them off is hard - just don't use weapons on transports or troops/HWPs on fighters. The all round visibility is not such a big deal, but if you turn it off, you will make the game harder again.

==Firepower Adjustment==

Despites what it feels like in the early game, X-COM eventually gets access to extremely powerful weaponry that make both ground and air battles too easy.

===Avoid Heavy Plasmas===

Don't equip the majority of your squad with [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]]. If that sounds too easy, then don't use alien weapons at all.

Alternatively using UFO Extender the weight of the heavy plasma can be increased to 21 and the clip to 6. This naturally restricts the usage without affecting the aliens.

===Avoid Blaster Launchers===

To put it simply: the weapons are too powerful and thus the temptation to overuse them too great. Completely destroying a map is fun at start but butchering the aliens gets boring after a while. Either do not use the weapons, only bring 1 on each mission or restrict yourself to a low number of waypoints (e.g. a single course alteration).

===Rank-based equipment===

Only give the best stuff to officers. For example Squaddies have to use personal armors and laser rifles; rookies don't get armor at all. Advancing in ranks earns the privilege to use newest equipment. So Sergeants can use Power Suit, but not Flying Suit. Even better, only give Flying suit to your Commander. Of course, you never want to commit your most experienced troops to hazardous front line duties, so this creates extra challenge.

===Tech levels===
Limit yourself to certain "tech levels". Here's an example:
*Level 1: Coverall, genuine Earth equipment
*Level 2: Personal Armor, Laser weapons
*Level 3: Power Suit, light alien weaponry
*Level 4: Flying Suit, heavy alien weaponry
How does it work? Simply limit yourself to stopping at a certain level. Or limit yourself in the speed of advancement, i.e. one level per a half year, etc. The latter example would mean you won't get to use the best equipment for two years!!!

Alternatively, allow yourself access to only a few high-power research topics, under the grounds that they're so complex that understanding them fully takes years. (Exceptions are made for end-game requirements, of course). Research topics that are high-power (AKA game-breaking) would include anything associated with Psionics, Plasma Rifle, Heavy Plasma, Blaster Bomb, the advanced aircraft (in particular the Avenger), the Plasma Beam/FBL, Hovertanks, and the Power and Flying Suits.

===Use Unfamiliar Weapons===

Use weapons that you are not generally fond of using or are not comfortable using. Use them in greater quantities or outfit your entire team with them. This has the potential to not only make the game harder, but it may get you accustomed to how these weapons are best handled. Combine it with restrictions on plasma weapons for best results.

One excellent example is the standard [[Heavy Laser]] - not the XCOMUtil variant. It's a weapon that is often branded "useless" because it's not an ammo-less parallel of the Heavy Plasma.

Other examples include [[Heavy Cannon]]s and tanks. In particular, unmodified tanks.

===Ranged Base Accuracy===

If you are using the Collectors Edition of the game, consider making use of Seb76's loader and activate the ranged base accuracy settings. This adds new rules to shooting so that weapons will only work as advertised under a certain range, depending on the class of the weapon. Beyond these ranges, the shots start to get wilder. So while they can still hit, the odds of them hitting are reduced.

For those with other editions and can not make use of the loader, you can artificially set the ranges yourself and pick the type of shots based on the distance between you and the target.

===Extreme Weapon Scenarios===

Test your machismo by going to ridiculous lengths and see how far you can get before combat is no longer viable with a uniform weapon set whereby you limit yourself to only one type or class of weapon. In addition to making the game harder, it you may find yourself appreciating the benefits and understanding the limitations of these weapons.

Some ideas to get you started: [[Heavy Cannon]], [[Autocannon]] or a combination of both. Basic [[Rifle]]s only. Pistol sized weapons only. [[Rocket Launcher]]s only. Grenade type weapons only (note, may need an emergency ranged weapons for flyers). Consider also a pistol and grenade scenario.

A Rocket Launcher or Grenade campaign for example will have several effects. While it does make defeating enemies easy, it introduces several management twists to combat that you would not normally subject yourself to in great frequency. Like collateral damage management will be needed for each and every shot taken. Ammunition has to be strictly managed, from the item limit to its actual expenditure and portage. Loot recovery is more difficult. Some blast zone management is required to prevent loot destruction. Mind control and reaction fire become extremely hazardous.

If combined with several other challenges such as no-psi and no alien weapons, you may even have to abandon some battle if all ammunition is depleted. Even if it was going entirely in your favour.

If you plan to play through to the final mission, allow yourself the use of stun weapons for capture of all the necessary aliens.

===Human Fighter Craft Adjustments===

====Fire-mode restrictions====

'Cautious'-mode only available with long range ship weapons ([[Avalanche|Avalanche Missiles]] and the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]]). 'Aggressive'-mode with everything else, never 'standard'-mode.

Otherwise plasma beam is too powerful. Most alien ships have low range and are very fast. That they never return fire does not make any sense.

====Avenger unarmed====

The [[Avenger]] as a fighter is simply too powerful. Without the [[Avenger]], taking down a [[Battleship]] is tough! As it should be, it requires many fighters and is still difficult to pull off. This also creates a niche for base defenses.

Alternatively the [[Avenger]] can be restricted to the [[Cydonia]] mission.

====Single Plasma beam on interceptors====

If a [[Plasma Beam]] is mounted on an [[Interceptor]] the other weapon slot must carry a less powerful canon ([[Cannon]] & [[Laser Cannon]]) or remain empty.

This creates a large niche for the [[Firestorm]] and the [[Lightning]].

====Only interceptors====

To fully experience the helplessness of seeing [[Battleship]]s flying unopposed through Earth's atmosphere, don't build any [[Firestorm|Firestorms]] or [[Lightning|Lightnings]].

== Squad Management ==

===Avoid Large Squads===

Restrict your squad regarding soldiers and tanks. Never use more than 14 plane slots to bring units into a battlefield (the capacity of a Skyranger).
The logic behind this is that you can easily outnumber the aliens, especially if you are facing small UFOs thus assuring victory.
Also, smaller squads allow for quicker play (you don't have to move 26 units each turn) and they make your soldiers more memorable, since you'll remember more their heroic achievements (or stupid deaths).

===Load up your Skyrangers with maximum HWPs===

A variant of the preceding scenario, not quite so hard. Instead of bringing 14 units into a battle you'll get just 5 (3 HWPs + 2 Soldiers) or 8 (2 HWPs + 6 soldiers).

===Commando Missions===

Use as few men to complete ground missions as possible-without HWPs, of course. Stealth, patience, care and caution become the priority. Even two or three-man teams can be effective if used properly. The logic behind this is that either way, aliens are probably too busy carrying out their mission or repairing the UFO to notice the dropship approaching (as evidenced by the fact that if you go against psionic aliens, you are safe from psionic attacks as long as none of them sees you, adding an extra difficulty: you have to kill every alien from behind and with one shot so they won't turn around and see you). Plus, micromanaging a three-man team is easier than managing a fully loaded Avenger. You have the advantage of surprise, use it! Just make sure you try to get at least most of the aliens before Turn 20 comes around (when they automatically spot you).

===Solo Missions===
; Iron Man
If you are confident in yourself, use only one soldier. Knowing when to retreat and switch weapons at the dropship is essential, but try not to get wounded. Without friends with medkits around, fatal wounds are truly fatal. Get your popcorn out people and enjoy the show!

;Chuck Norris
Your best man, a rocket launcher, grenades, and an automatic rifle. Nothing invented before about 1970. A stun rod to simulate the devastating karate attack - watch out Aliens!

;Bruce Lee
One man, one stun rod. (You might want to cheat and max out your stats first.) They won't stand a chance!

;Bozo the Clown
One man, no weapons. And pray that either some aliens died during the crash or that they are stupid enough to hit one another with their weapons.

===Large Squads===

For those that are content with small squads between 4 - 8 soldiers, break the habit and take the opposite approach. Start using large squads. Hire a large quantity of soldiers and fill the all available spaces on the transport. Rotate the entire team regularly so that there are no outstanding individuals or superstars amongst the tea.

During the battle, keep the slogan ''"There's no I in Team"'' in mind all the time. Make every effort to send out the whole squad into the battlefield and that everyone gets some piece of the action. No more than 1 rear commanders if at all possible.

The difficulties introduced here include longer turns due to the increased coordination of the larger squad. Larger squads make bigger targets and increases the danger of friendly fire. When things do go wrong, the level of severity tends to be great, with the possibility of mass hysteria. Weapon by stat assignment may also be a problem with so many troops to handle and if you are in the regular habit of rotating the team.

If you find that this makes it too easy, consider dropping your weapon technology down a few notches.

==Limited Military==

Limit X-COM to a set number of soldiers per game. Not at one time, per game. So every soldier killed or sacked is an irreplaceable resource. The easiest version of this could be 250 soldiers, maybe rolling down to as few as fifty, depends on the masochism of the player. Optionally, to help a bit, start with maximum hires by editing the starting base, or allow those who want to can increase the physical stats of soldiers up to their caps in SOLDIER.DAT if wanted and can start with maximum hires. (Leave Psi alone!) This game is winnable, but increasingly hard as you decrease troops as every man lost is a critical resource you never get back.

The very hard version of this is to try and complete the game with just the 8 soldiers you start with. It is
possible to complete the game with just one soldier if you really want to make the game harder. You better hope that he has good Psi skills as you will not find out for a few months. At least you'll have room for a 3 tanks on your Skyranger.

==Tour of Duty==

All soldiers sign up for only 15 missions in the beginning. After the soldier goes through 15 missions, they end their tour and quit X-COM for
good (are sacked) unless they have a solid ranking (sargeant or higher) . This forces purchase of new troops.
A useful challenge for savescummers to take away the edge of troops with good stats. For added difficulty try reducing the mission count or having all units be sacked after 15 missions.

==Battlescape Time Limits==

If you are used to playing the 'waiting game', pick up the pace. The Aliens aren't stupid. After 20 Turns in a UFO Ground Assault, they will take off again, leaving you empty handed (simulate this with a march back to the Transport, and Abort). After 20 Turns in a UFO Crash Recovery, the Engineers blow the reactor and destroy everything. Simulate this with a forced Abort on Turn 20, regardless of where everyone is at the time. Those who don't get airborne in the Transport are all missing or dead. Anything not hauled back to the Transport is lost.

==Harder Economics==

First of all, don't use any of the economics-related Exploits (see above). That really is cheating. For greater challenge in the strategic aspect of the game, try these scenarios:

===Funding Council Income===

Rely entirely on the Funding Nations to run your war. Details [[User:Tequilachef#Rules|here]].

Do not sell any alien equipment, corpses or UFO components. Do not sell manufactured items. Only genuine starting Earth technology (like Rifles or Avalanche Launchers) or researched aircraft (since they don't bring in money) may be sold. This makes it significantly harder. In February for example you have around $6,000,000 to cover base maintenance, wages, crafts, manufacturing and losses on the battlefield. This leaves not very much! Building new bases, hiring more engineers or just building a second laboratory is almost impossible. But it is definitely more fun than having worldwide radar coverage and 16 interceptors by the end of march.

====Funding Council Counterintelligence====

Expanding the Funding Council Income Only scenario, don't let even a single Infiltration mission succeed! If one country defects, it will start a series of events that result in X-COM being disbanded (ie. you have to start over the game). Confirmed (?) to be actually ''impossible'' on Superhuman.

===Self-raised Funds Only===

An inversion of the above. When starting a new game, use a game editor (or hex edit [[DIPLOM.DAT]]) to hack all funding countries into NOT providing ANY money. That is, all countries set to successfully infiltrated so you receive your starting funds, your starting base - and that's all the monetary support you can look forward to! You can still hire personnel, requisition equipment, build bases or base facilities, etc. but from where you get the money for it is up to you.

This way, you will be forced to live off of what you can scavenge from the battlefield and as it can barely (if even) cover your expenses, building another base or expanding your research division into even one fully staffed lab will be nigh impossible. You'll ''really'' need to watch your losses in the early months. Eventually you will probably make up for the missing money by selling Laser Cannons but setting up a large-scale manufacturing operation will still remain impossible and losing even one base will deal a near-crippling blow to your operations.

===No Commercial Manufacturing===

Slightly less strict than Funding Council Income Only: don't manufacture anything for profit, as it's too easy to become largely independent of both the Funding Nations and the need to capture alien loot for cash. If you have any surplus manufactured material you don't want laying around, you have to build a warehouse for it somewhere.

===No Laser Cannon Sales===

An easier option than the previous scenario, but still quite a challenge if you are used to relying on Laser Cannon income. This will cut your income signficantly. Alternatively, play the XComUtil variant (see below) that makes Laser Cannons unprofitable (then you don't have to resist the temptation to cheat).

===Limited Elerium===

Elerium is incredibly valuable, probably the most important strategic material ever encountered by mankind. Much too valuable for the CFN to leave it in the hands of those crazy commandos who run X-Com! The CFN governments insist on keeping most or all of the Elerium for their own use. You goet to see what it's like defending civilisation without it.

''50 Elerium Limit''

You are limited to only 50 units of Elerium for the whole game. Any surplus must be "sold" - i.e. returned to the CFN for a fraction of its real value. Keep in mind you need at least 12 units to build your Avenger, otherwise you can't win the game.

''Avenger Elerium Only''

You are only allowed to keep enough Elerium to fuel one mission of your Avenger (12 units). Everything else must be handed back to the CFN. This means you can't build anything that requires Elerium. It also means you must scavenge all the parts for your Avenger from UFOs.

''Mandatory Recycling''

As above, plus you are required to immediately hand over to the CFN ("sell") any captured items containing Elerium (except for the specific parts you need to build your ''one'' Avenger). This is so the CFN can send them to a top-secret Elerium Reprocessing plant for extraction of the precious Elerium. You are allowed to start Research projects on them when you first return them to Base, but then you must immediately hand them over to the CFN. You are not allowed to use these items (except during the actual Battlescape mission when you capture them - and even then your troops have to lie about the ammo counts and pretend the aliens fired them).

This means you can never hold any Plasma or Fusion/Blaster weapons or tanks, no Psi Amps or Mind Probes, no Stun bombs, alien grenades, Power/Flying suits. You can build a Firestorm or Lightning, but there's no point, since you can't operate it (since that expends Elerium). You can't arm your craft with Plasma Beams or Fusion Balls. Lasers are your best weapons: in the air, on your tanks, and in the hands of your troops.

As a quirk, you can still build Plasma or Fusion defences for your Bases, since those don't appear to require any Elerium. As mentioned elsewhere, perhaps these are powered by a regular power station instead of Elerium.

(If playing TFTD, you are allowed to hold one copy of an item in Stores, if it is needed to be present for a Technology advancement, but then you must sell it as soon as it is no longer needed, and you must never use it in combat.)

==Base Limitations==

===Base Defense===

Don't play base defense missions. If your Base Defence weapons can't stop the Battleship, you have to abandon the base. This is because, actually, Base Defence is too easy and just an excuse to take lots of valuables off the Aliens, and maybe capture yourself a high ranking Alien to interrogate.

===One Base===

Build only a single base. This severely limits your efficiency, as you can only build a maximum of 35 base modules. Aircraft and radar coverage will be quite limited. Particularly challenging if combined with the scenario above!

====For a real challenge...====

Build that single base in Hawaii. See below under Scott Jones' scenarios.

===Limit Base Size===

You can build as many bases as you like but each base can only be 4x4 (or for the hard version 3x3, yes it is do able just very hard) instead of the normal 6x6. This version you will have to start a game and then edit you save game to make you first base smaller. Feel free to refund the cost of any modules and crafts you don’t have room for also if you don’t have room for a lab or workshop you might want to remove your Scientist or Engineer and refund there cost as well.

3x3 notes: No using XcomUtil to let you place troops in an intercepter, just because you dont have room for 2 hangers in any one base is no reson for making it easyer, This is ment to be hard if you want 2 crafts make 2 bases you start with more money then normal you should be able to build a second base right a way only 25 days till your hanger is built.

===Earth Tech Modules Only===

Don't build modules requiring alien tech, ie. Psi Lab, Hyperwave Decoder, Plasma/Fusion Defence, Grav Shield, Mind Shield. Laser Defence is OK.

===Starting from Scratch - the No-Base Start===

This scenario starts you off with no base, but with an ample amount of starting funds to get a minimal intercept/recovery base up and running. The goal is to obviously get the organization up and running from scratch with your starting funds and then attaining self sufficiency through selling captured equipment until you're back to playing to what you may consider to be a normal game.

To create this scenario, start a brand new game and sell everything, sack all staff and remove all base modules right down to the access lift. This will [[Starting Base (EU)#Sale Value of Starting Base|net only $300K - $350K]] . You will no longer have a base on the Geoscape, but the game will not think you've lost. From here, save the game. You will then need to edit your funds accordingly to how difficult you would like to make the scenario.

The initial starting base, inclusive of all facilities, personnel and equipment, has a [[Starting Base (EU)#Replacement Cost of Starting Base|replacement cost of $7.345 to $7.795 million]], typically $7.795 million. In addition, starting cash is typically around $4 million. So anything less than $12 million in starting cash will make for a tougher than normal game.

For a player looking to play this type of scenario, a starting kitty of $5 million, or even less, should be sufficient to build XCom up from nothing. It won't be easy but it's possible. You could even play with just the roughly $4.4 million in funds that are left after fully dismantling the starting base.

Assuming you want a bigger kitty, once you've edited your funds, the scenario is ready to play. Before you start playing, consider making a backup of the save so that you can start a new no-base scenario again in the future. Or you can download this Superhuman savegame with $4.45M starting funds: [[Image:NoBaseSuperH.zip]].

The only slight downside to the No Base scenario is that your ''first'' Skyranger and Interceptor will be numbered 2 and 3 respectively.

As an added challenge, you can also chose to combine this with the no-funding-country scenario by editing all the countries so that they've all withdrawn from funding X-COM. With this, you'll truly have to live off the spoils of war to survive.

==One Mission X-COM==

A more hardline version of Funding Council Income Only, detailed [[User_talk:Arrow_Quivershaft#1_Mission_X-COM|here]]. In short, one Battleship mission, properly executed, can provide all the research needed to complete the game. The focus is on intercepting that Battleship and completing the game with only the spoils from that mission.

==No Detection==

Similar in concept to 1 Mission X-COM. No detection, and therefore no interception, of UFOs. Radar, airborne and hyperwave detection are ruled out. Almost as if the UFOs had some kind of ''stealth'' technology. This means no UFO Assault or UFO Crash Recovery missions. You are restricted to responding to Terror missions, Alien Base Assaults (when Alien Bases are detected by Agents only), and (possibly) Base Defence missions. This is quite hard as you get very little combat experience, artefacts or loot (and therefore very little cash). The Aliens also get a high score so many countries will defect. In fact, you cannot win this game, as there is no way to get UFO Navigations to build the Avenger. (Seb76's loader has 2 patches that do permit you to win: the "Roswell" UFO crashes option and an option where Base Control Tables don't explode.) More information here: [[Talk:UFO_Detection#Playing_With_No_Detection]]

==Use XComUtil Features==

[[XcomUtil]] is a game enhancer that was actually designed to make the game harder, although many of its features can be used the other way around.

===XcuSetup configuration===

When you run XcuSetup to install XComUtil a number of queries will be asked regarding which features you'll want to implement. The responses to the prompts given below will make the game harder.

*''Do you want to use the improved starting base?'' (No)

With the improved starting base you start with an [[Alien Containment]] already built, your radar is upgraded and you'll start with additional scientists and engineers. It will also be designed to maximize defense. Mainly this is just to avoid boredom and frustration, but it is also an advantage.

*''Do you want to use the alternate starting base?'' (No)

This retains the optimal defensive layout but doesn't add the extra facilities/personnel. Again, mainly to avoid frustration but if you say No you reduce your advantage and increase the challenge. At the very least you have the headache and expense of reorganising your base layout through construction and demolition.

*''Do you want to use the improved Tanks/Weapons?'' (No to both)

You forgo having tracked tanks with the armour levels of advanced hover tanks, and slightly improved Pistols and Heavy Lasers. You also forgo a crucial advantage which is the ability to crack open UFO external hulls with High Explosive - you definitely don't want that if you are looking for a harder game!

*''Do you want to use the new laser weapons?'' (Yes)

With this option chosen your lasers will require Elerium to be built (supposedly to act as power cells). This also prevents you from building plasma weapons (but not clips), thus preventing you from selling [[Plasma Pistol|Plasma Pistols]] and [[Plasma Rifle|Plasma Rifles]] since the aliens will stop using those.
It also makes [[Laser Cannon|Laser Cannons]] and [[Fusion Ball Launcher|Fusion Launchers]] a lot less attractive to sell because of the time required to build them and the [[Elerium-115|Elerium]]/[[Alien Alloys]] necessary for their construction. Be prepared for the blow on your finances...

*''Do you want research help from captured aliens?'' (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To make the game REALLY hard try this feature.
First, it will increase the research times of most items tenfold or more, especially regarding the alien technologies. Instead of having to wait days or a week for a certain technology the time will increase to months. With a little bad luck you will be stuck to lasers and no armor when the [[Muton|Mutons]] and [[Ethereal|Ethereals]] start showing up.
Second, the only way to speed research (other than having 250 scientists on all bases) is to capture live aliens, forcing you to bring a few [[Stun Rod|Stun Rods]] for all missions. It is not required to have an Alien Containment present to receive the research help but remember it only reduces the time of the research being done at your starting base.

==Scott Jones' Scenarios==
Scott T Jones, the original maker of XcomUtil, placed some interesting scenarios on the XcomUtil site. You do not need XcomUtil to follow these scenarios, you just need self-discipline to stick to the rules. Here they are:

===Xenophobe===
Don't try to capture or interrogate any aliens, and sell all alien artifacts immediately. Don't build Alien Containment. You can not win this scenario in the normal sense, since you can never discover how go to Mars (or even that you need to go there). You simply play it until you don't want to play it any more.

===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 cannot 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===
Limit yourself to only explosive weapons. This scenario forces you to learn tactics that protect you from your own weapons. It is virtually the opposite of the Bean Counter scenario.

===Photophobe===
You must not fight any battle in full daylight. If you land at a battle and an aura of light isn't 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===
Sack all of your scientists and engineers at the start of the game. You must sell all alien artifacts immediately. If you cannot buy the item, you cannot 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.

===Neo-Pacifist===
You are a Pacifist and cannot directly take the life of any living thing, even an alien. You cannot shoot down any UFO, because aliens might be killed. You cannot 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.

===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 [[UFO_Detection#UFO_Activity_Graph|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). Ground operations are conducted only with the small numbers of Soldiers that XComUtil allows you to place on board Interceptors (6 troops or 1 HWP + 2 troops) or Firestorms (10 troops or 1 HWP + 6 troops). 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.

==Aliens Own Earth==
In this [[Aliens Own Earth|scenario]] you start the game as normal, but the Aliens are in a very dominant position with over 20 bases already established on Earth. Survival is extremely difficult! This scenario takes a bit of work to setup before you can play, but definitely poses a serious challenge.

==The Kiryu-Kai Scenario==
This scenario will be based on the Kiryu Kai project which eventually was disbanded due to the failure to stop the invasion and lack of funding in 1998. Although the game starts in 1999 it really doesn't matter. So start the game in Superhuman difficulty and only have one base centred in Japan. Only use the Skyranger and Interceptor, don't use the Lightning, Firestorm or Avenger. Only use Earth Standard weaponry and don't research anything except the medikit, the motion scanner, alien lifeforms, alien origins and the Hyper-Wave Decoder. Sell all alien artefacts and weaponry and strive to play on until the Kiryu Kai (XCOM) is defeated or the Council has cut all funding. The Kiryu Kai Scenario is fun and challenging but remember, you are basically screwed from the beginning so just try to keep the Kiryu Kai existing as long as possible. - [[User:WakkaDakka]] Updated 20th May, 2015

==Speed Run==
See how fast you can complete the game! For a very strict challenge, the clock starts when you choose a difficulty, and ends when you shoot the Brain on Cydonia.

The current record seems to be 62:21 minutes, not including save/load time, by tbgox. Yes, that's JUST over an hour of playing. He's got the videos up on youtube showing how he did it too. Good lord. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wo71zOr5aU

==Limited save/Reload==
Depending on how strict you want to be with yourself, you can ban in-battle saves, save only when you want to quit the game and get on with real life, or for the really hard core, no save/reload at all: finish the game in one sitting, possibly combining this with a [[#Speed Run|Speed Run]]. For a smaller challenge, try to keep a tally of how many times you save and reload, and see if you can minimise this number.

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Base Defence

2015-05-19T05:50:22Z

WakkaDakka:

:''For the [[Enemy Unknown (EU2012)|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]] (2012) version, see [[Base Defense (EU2012)]]''
==Briefing==
An Alien vessel has landed nearby. Our base is in severe danger. As per standard procedure all non-combat personnel and X-COM craft have been evacuated. Alien units will enter the base via hangar doors or the access lift. Defend the base and its vital installations at all costs - this is a fight to the death.

"this is a fight to the death" - implies that when you hit Abandon Mission, X-COM forces decide it is better to die and take the enemy with them, rather than admit defeat, and blow the base up.

== Battleships ==

An inbound [[Battleship]] on a "[[Alien Retaliation|Retaliation]]" mission means there is a high chance that a Base Defense mission is in the offing for you. These ships will come in at a very low altitude and at their top speed. They obviously do not care about the well being of the craft, to run it that hard in a full atmosphere!

You can bring down these battleships with sufficient [[Base Defence Systems]], but the game is programmed to just send another on the exact same mission. (To be precise, the game does not check/remove the "X-COM Base detected, send in the battleship" flag).
It has been proven that about 6 or 7 [[Fusion Ball Defences]] with [[Grav Shield]] (total defensive strength 6000) can hold off incoming battleships (hull strength 3000) indefinitely, but since you get no bonus for blowing a battleship out of the sky, not even to monthly score, it is better to let them land eventually and just run the mission. Once you've run the mission, win or lose, the attacks stop coming. The aliens are content that they've done sufficient damage.

Blowing the battleship out of the sky with Aircraft Interception ALSO seems to uncheck the Battleship assault flag, so keep that in mind.

Only battleships actually assault your base. Don't worry too much about other alien craft on "Retaliation" missions, they're just scouts. Shooting these down far away from your base may confuse the aliens as to where your base actually is. Shooting them down will also ruin their base finding mission, saving your base until the next scout is sent to replace the first.

If you decide to dismantle the base while there is a battleship enroute to attack it, the battle ship will head for that base's ex-location anyhow. It will then realise it's been duped, BUT, after consulting its alien masters, will simply head to the next closest base. In a straight line, top speed. HOWEVER, once it arrives there, it will realise that they only have the lift access codes to your old base, and will then simply hang there hovering over your base for ages and ages. In fact, this is due to the nature of the code which sends out the scouts. If successful, it sets the "aliens know where base is" flag, and applies it to the next battleship launched on a retaliation mission. This flag is only removed after a battleship actually manages to land and send troops inside your base. This flag is not removed by base defence blowing up battleships, craft blowing up battleships (I think), or, as I just mentioned, by removing that base entirely. Nor is this flag restricted to that base in particular.

== Battle Tips ==

A good [[Base Layout Strategy]] is of paramount importance here. Make sure your base is designed to make it easy to defend.

You really want everybody at home for a base defense mission. If you're caught with your Skyranger off at some UFO crash site, you'll have to defend the base with a rookie, two guys on crutches that were in med-bay, and the antique [[Tank/Cannon]] you hadn't got around to selling yet. And in Collector's Edition, you don't get to use the injured guys in med-bay. Even worse, if you don't have a single soldier who is fit for duty, you lose the base automatically. Yes, even if you have 10 Ace soldiers who only have 1 day of recovery remaining, 10 Hovertank Launchers and 5 Hovertank Plasma, and you managed to *almost* destroy the incoming battleship with your 6000 defence strength... you still automatically lose.

Losing or abandoning the battle means losing the base, and everything in it. Although sometimes you can still come out with a positive score for your trouble.
Any aircraft which are assigned to this base will be lost... even if they are outside the base at the time. Your Interceptor enroute for shootdown will abruptly self destruct. Your Skyranger with your best soldiers returning from a successful Alien Base Assault will crash and burn.

In battle, the odds are in your favor. You know the layout, it's fully lit (even the Hangars give 20 tiles of vision, despite visual effects to the contrary), and you (should have) designed in choke points.

Equipment assigned to your craft is available for base defense missions, unless the craft is out of the base. Equipment loaded on craft in the base becomes part of the general 80-item pool. If it were otherwise, your psionic troopers would likely be useless for want of Psi-amps.

Battleships will unload both regular aliens and their associated [[Terror Units]]. You won't ever see the battleship, but you will get to see all those nifty modules you've been constructing in the Base Planner view, close-up! Base modules have two levels. Soldiers will normally spawn/start in Living Quarters and Storage modules. Aliens spawn/start in Hangars and the Access Lift.

A soldier with a [[Motion Scanner]] in an upstairs closet near the access lift combined with a [[Tank/Rocket_Launcher|rocket tank]] at standoff range will keep the aliens at bay until the rockets run out. ''-see also [Stewart's] strategy on xcomufo.com forums.''

[[Blaster Bomb]]s can clear your base in just a few turns, if you launch a few into the hangars and access lift. ''The problem is getting the program to supply your soldiers with blaster bombs before hitting the 80-item limit.''

Hovertank/Launchers are almost as good at clearing out your base, except for the fact that their missiles are more prone to inaccuracy and often veer off and blow up against the wrong walls. ''Since the game has a "free ammo for HWP in base defence" bug, I don't see HOW you can lose as long as you keep 3-4 of these things in every base.''

Doing too much damage to a room can also [[#Destruction Of Base Facilities|collapse it]], and you will lose that room permanently. Any rooms that can only be accessed by going through the collapsed room will also be lost. Spawn-point rooms such as Living Quarters, Stores, Access Lift, and Hangars (plus the Alien Containment chamber) can't be collapsed.

You can recover lots of alien weapons from a successful base defense. In at least one version of the game, there is a bug where you can collect an extraordinary amount of Elerium, enough to start <i>selling</i> it.

It might be best to disarm all your psi-weak soldiers at this base if there are Ethereals or Sectoids attacking.

If you built a General Stores near the Access Lift, the double doors are a great place for ambushing aliens as they leave the Access Lift. Each chamber will hold two soldiers. Eight soldiers stepping out and firing one or two bursts of laser or plasma shots will almost guarantee that no alien penetrates further into your base. Also, so long as no soldiers or tanks are visible during the aliens' turn, they will not make psi attacks (visible to any alien, not just the psionic alien). The [[Destroying Terrain#Terrain structures|doors]] have a damage rating of 75, which means they will withstand an alien grenade detonated right beside them. This tactic has one downside against Sectoids: Cyberdisks will explode when killed at the chokepoint and destroy a large proportion of the loot.

Alien Weaponry that has been researched can be used for Base Defense even if it's ammunition has NOT been researched. In other Missions you simply cannot load the ammo in your transport, but when defending a base this is not necessary. The clips will be labeled as alien artifacts, but can be used as if research was finished (except that it cannot be thrown).

''[A somewhat unorthodox strategy, forced by necessity, paid off for Zombie: "I armed my best soldiers with the stun rods, hid them in the General Stores next to the Access Lift, and went to work. Every round a Snakeman would appear from the Access Lift, and every round one of my soldiers would stun the alien while another veteran grabbed the body and hauled the poor alien upstairs for observation. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!" - as copied from strategycore. Mental picture of a Snakeman with a pillowcase over his head, zipcuffed arms behind his back, old army sock stuffed in the mouth, being heaved into a darkened storeroom on top of his buddies. "We get $20K for each, alive or dead, right?" --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 08:34, 14 Oct 2005 (PDT) ]''

== To Surrender or Not To Surrender ==

There are only two costs incurred when you lose a base:
# You lose the base and everything in it;
# You lose points for the soldiers and tanks that died defending the base.

The loss of the base is presumably erased from the annals of history. It's all kept very hush-hush from the public. The non-combat staff and all ships that were at the base are disbanded and are not lost in the battle. X-COM ships vanish without a trace, probably stolen by wretched engineers. The deaths of the soldiers on the other hand are a lot harder to explain, and friends and families are bound to make inquiries.

Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where you are defending a base against an enemy that you have no hope of winning against, should you surrender without a fight, or fight it out? You will need to base this on who you are fighting with and what you have to fight them with.

For example, a fresh batch of recruits in jumpsuits armed with regulation standard pistols and rifles against an elite squad of [[Ethereal]]s and [[Sectopod]]s. This can be classed as a hopeless battle should you not be able to utilise the weapons used by the attackers. In a situation like this, you should cut your losses and surrender without a fight.
This will incur a 0 point penalty along with the loss of the base.

On the other hand, should it be against [[Floater]]s, you could push on and try your luck.

Alternately, you could also try to kill as many raiders as you can before surrendering.
As long as you did not lose any soldiers in the process, you will get a positive score for losing the base. If this is an option, go for it. If not, don't.

It is understandable that some commanders may be too proud to go down without a fight. There is nothing wrong with that, but do try to consider the consequences of any actions before taking them.

'''Note:''' All of the above relates to raids on bases when you have more than one base. If you are put into a situation where you cannot save your very last base, then you should consider restarting the game.

''If you have have advance warning about a base raid that you're going to surrender-- i.e., a hyperwave decoder, or you can see that battleship making a beeline for your base on a normal radar-- take the time to transfer as much as you can out of that base to other bases before the raid hits.
If you've got free hangars in other bases, transfer the craft, save any elerium there, and transfer out all the personnel you can.
An obvious thing, but can be quickly forgotten in the shadow of a battleship. --[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 17:36, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)''
:You should always transfer pretty much EVERYTHING out of a base even if you expect to win easily. In base defense missions you WILL hit the 80 item cap. You need to thin out your extra gear before the aliens get there by selling the stuff you don't really need and transferring the stuff you want to keep. You don't want to defend with just smoke grenades and electro-flares. My tiny radar bases always have a general stores for that purpose.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 01:06, 11 August 2008 (PDT)

''As stated earlier, the aliens can attack your base pretty early (especially on superhuman; For example, I got my first raid before laser pistol research was done!)There can sometimes even be Base Defense mission on Veteran on the first month (I got mine on January 8th against Sectoids and i had to quit because they had psi abilties and all I had were rifles and pistols with only 4 people with laser rifles but everyone was going berserk) - pistols and grenades may work well against sectoids, but are pretty worthless against cyberdiscs - still, even in this case, the answer should be clearly "not to surrender!" - In the early stage of the game, there are two ways of winning against cyberdiscs: first: get a soldier to stand near it and provoke a reaction shot by a different alien and hope it hits the disc, leads to its death and doesnt let it explode. Or just stun it - 2-3 soldiers with stun rods do a great job there, especially in a base with its plenty of cover.. '' [[User: Player11]] 23:47, 23 oct 2006

"If you're going to play a base defence in the early months (I had mine on January 12th on Begginer Mode) make sure to stay out of sight in corridors to ambush any alien stragglers. This tactic will be especially useful against any psionically capable aliens (Sectoids and Ethreals) also it would be useful to throw proximity grenades next to the access lift doors. These tactics ensured the survival of XCOM in the first month of the invasion. It's also recommended that commanders level the acces lift so soldiers cannot be blasted apart as soon as they discover an ambush behind the lift doors. Even though you may severely damage the access lift you won't lose it like the other facilities. - [[User:WakkaDakka]] 14:03, 19th May 2015

==Alien Deployment==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Rank</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Soldiers</td><td>4-8</td><td>6-10</td><td>8-12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Navigators*</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics* ** ***</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers*</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders***</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders***</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0-2</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-6</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>9-15</td><td>14-20</td><td>22-28</td></tr>
</table><br />

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Ethereals use Ethereal Leaders in place of Navigators, Medics, and Engineers.<br>
<nowiki>**</nowiki>Snakemen use Snakeman Soldiers in place of Medics.<br>
<nowiki>***</nowiki>Mutons use Muton Soldiers in place of Medics, Leaders and Commanders.

== Destruction Of Base Facilities ==

Excessive damage to the structure of your base can result in some [[Base Facilities (EU)|modules]] being completely destroyed, ''even if'' you win the overall battle.

Certain modules have "special" tiles in them, and if ''all'' of these are visibly damaged (or completely obliterated), then that module will be considered lost. Furthermore, if any other modules used the destroyed areas for passage to the access lift, they'll be forfeit as well!

Fortunately, these tiles only exist on the upper floors of your base, and the aliens make no attempt to target them once they encounter your troops (... if they ''don't'' encounter your troops, they'll spend the first few dozen turns beelining these tiles - and if they're allowed to reach one under the CE version of the game, when they fire it'll crash). While explosions on the lower floors may damage the upper flooring, they leave the ''furnishings'' unscathed - ''even if'' the floor gives way completely, they'll still hang safely in midair. Presumably the builders had the foresight to attach them to the ceiling with wires.

For example, the [[Fusion Ball Defences]] contain eight gun arrays made up of four tiles each. All 32 of these must be destroyed in order to take out the module.

<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Module</th><th>Targets</th><th>Module</th><th>Targets</th></tr>
<tr><td>[[Grav Shield]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-gravshield.gif]]</td><td>[[Small Radar System]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-smallradar.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Hyper-wave Decoder]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-hyperwave.gif]]</td><td>[[Workshop]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-workshop.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Laboratory]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-laboratory.gif]]</td><td>[[Missile Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-missile.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Large Radar System]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-largeradar.gif]]</td><td>[[Laser Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-laser.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Mind Shield]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-mindshield.gif]]</td><td>[[Plasma Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-plasma.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Psionic Laboratory]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-psilab.gif]]</td><td>[[Fusion Ball Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-fusion.gif]]</td></tr>
</table><br />

The remaining modules - the [[Access Lift]], [[Alien Containment]], [[General Stores]], [[Hangar]] and [[Living Quarters]] - are completely indestructible, and can take any amount of damage without danger of collapse.

Note that squares that have been emptied due to battle damage fall victim to the "paying for dirt" bug. See [[Known Bugs]] for more info.

== Bugs ==
Base defenses can be DEADLY.

But not for the reason you think.

*When you have more than 80 items present at a base, the game will only make available the first 80 items on the stores list (See '80-item Limit' in [[Known Bugs]].) . This will result in conventional weapons/stun rods/electroflares/etc. being available instead of lasers/plasmas. To prevent this there are 3 possible solutions before that Battleship strikes the base:
1) Transfer the unwanted items to another base.<br>
2) Load your transports (if there's any) with the unwanted items and launch them before the UFO lands. This saves the work of having to transfer those items back but if the base gets destroyed the transport will disappear and the waypoint to which it was headed will remain visible for the rest of the game. <br>
3) [[Spring_Cleaning_Tips|Sell unnecessary stuff]]. ''"Imminent Alien Invasion Yard Sale! Everything Must Go!"''

* If you had 40 heavy plasmas in your base and forgot to get rid of those 40 smoke grenades, all your troopers would be lacking the clips for the heavy plasma. Good luck defending a base with nothing but 40 smoke grenades. ''[Darksun: Lucky for my stupid self, I had a couple of laser tanks to convince the aliens to lend me some ammo.]''

* A relatively easy way to counter this problem is to keep your stores of "conventional" weapons low and keep 20 or more [[Laser Rifle]]s in base inventories. Laser Rifles are high on the inventory list and are distributed before most other items. As they do not require ammo, any laser is immediately combat-ready.

*Another ANNOYING bug I find is the disappearing bodies and booty from aliens. This is related to the 80 item bug problem.

*Also much feared is the dreaded "walled off section" or [[Known_Bugs#Base_Disjoint_Bug|Base Disjoint Bug]]. Sections of your base along the extreme south and east edges will often be separated from each other by dirt walls. Heavy plasma and blaster launchers are needed in this scenario to excavate the dirt. Soldiers spawning in Stores or Living Quarters here may be trapped for the duration.

*A much nicer bug is that [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s automatically get a free load of ammo (which is added to your stores if unused). Note you still need at least one soldier as aliens landing at an unguarded base - or a base defended only by HWP's - take it without a fight.

*If you have a combination of many soldiers and few spawn points, soldiers will start taking alien spawn points. Which usually means less aliens (unless you built a lot of hangars).

*The last point also applies to aliens: if the aliens don't have enough spawn points they will start using the X-COM ones, which can turn base defense into a nightmare!

Masochists: at superhuman, you get the same quantity of aliens as in the battleship, e.g. +25 aliens, +8 terror units. To get the full compliment to attack your base, you need AT MINIMUM 2 hangars. (Unless you want aliens to spawn in general stores downstairs corridor). Four hangars guarantee maximum alien load if you use 15 soldiers and conservative loadouts. ''I usually defend with 10 guys, 2 tanks VS four hangars. LasR ''

* On a related note, X-COM can only have a maximum of 40 soldiers on base defence. HWPs are prioritized and will be spawned before any soldiers. Each HWP counts as 4 soldiers. Therefore a base with 9 HWPs will only spawn 4 soldiers. Having 10 HWPs in base might cause your game to crash. (it will attempt to create the Equip Soldier screen but will face problems).

*Elerium collection from a base defence mission can only happen if elerium pods are generated in the battlescape. If you have 10 units in storage, the game will generate 10 pods in the base, given sufficient space in the object table. But because the way the game automatically converts 1 pod into 50 units at the end of the mission, you're basically getting 5000% more elerium from your own pods (those that don't get destroyed, anyway). None of them come from the aliens! This will only happen in earlier versions of the game.

==See Also==

*[[X-Com Base Terrain]]
*[[Base Layout Strategy]]
*[[Alien Retaliation]]

{{Mission Types Navbar}}
[[Category:Missions]]
[[Category: Tactics]]
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Known Bugs

2015-05-18T23:19:36Z

WakkaDakka: /* Battlescape Bugs */

== Base Construction Bugs ==

=== Base Disjoint Bug ===
Base facilities built along the right or bottom edges of the base building area may end up being cut off from each other by dirt walls, a bug in the routine meant to keep soldiers from accidentally exiting the map edges during [[Base Defence]] missions. The dirt walls can be knocked down by Blaster Bombs or excessive amount of heavy plasma fire during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

[[image:bdb.gif|center|Base Disjoint Bug]]

The walls marked in white are removed if there is an adjacent module. All green modules are not affected while the yellow modules are. The red module will be sealed off completely if anything smaller than a hangar is placed here at any given time.

[[XcomUtil]] works around this problem by stripping out the walls entirely in all the base modules.

The bug can be profitable if the hangars and the lift are accessible only through in these areas - you can gather and supply all your soldiers heavily without aliens interfering, then knock a hole in the wall and cover the area with explosives and blaster launcher fire.

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

===Paying For Dirt===
If you take down any facility in any base that you own and leave bare dirt, then you will continue to pay maintenance on it. But not at the old rate of whatever the facility cost per month, filling the hole back with dirt means it needs special attention at all times by specialists. In fact for every square of dirt you have that used to be a facility you will pay 80k per month. Thats 320k per hangar you take down. There are only two known ways to stop paying this premium - if you completely dismantle the base you stop paying any money for it, or if you build over all the spaces that you have vacated. In fact as soon as you start building the new facility you stop paying the premium, as well as not having to pay the cost of the new facility until it is complete.

It is also possible to stop the 80k per month charge by hex editing the base.dat file in the save game. If you change the byte that indicates the number of days until the destroyed module from 00 to ff, you no longer pay for the dirt.

If you start a facility and change your mind before it is complete, after the time when it would have completed you will start paying this 80k premium on that land as well.

Note that this also applies to facilities that have been destroyed due to battle damage in [[Base Defence]] missions. If you have lost a facility in a base defence mission and you cannot afford to replace the original facility, consider building something cheap here to keep down this bug.

===Base Facility Dismantle-Construction Crash===
In the Collectors Edition version, dismantling a facility while its construction is in progress can cause a crash when a second facility on another base square completes its construction. To work around this, dismantle a facility only after its construction is complete. If you have already dismantled such a facility, build something like a general stores on the same square to avoid the crash. It is not known if this crash happens intermittently or always, or if it happens on most versions of the game or just the Collectors Edition.

===Radar Stacking===
Despite the "Short Range" and "Long Range" detection bars displayed on each base's Information screen, only one radar of each type will be used at each base. Building additional radars of the same type will have no effect. One short and one long are useful until the [[Hyper-wave Decoder|Hyper-Wave Decoder]] makes both of them obsolete.

===Phantom Radar===
When you dismantle detection equipment such as a radar or hyperwave detector, the related detection ability of the base does not decrease until a new facility of some kind is built in that base. Until a new facility is completes building at that base, the base continues to use this "phantom radar".

This bug allows you to "upgrade in place", for example building a new Hyper-Wave Decoder over the top of an existing Large Radar, and retaining the detection capability of the Large Radar until the Hyper-Wave Decoder completes building. (Unless something else completes building first).

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

As mentioned above, [[XcomUtil]] prevents the Base Disjoint bug (crudely). The [[User:Spike#Base_Fixer|BaseFixer]] utility corrects the Paying for Dirt, Phantom Radar, and Radar Stacking bugs. BaseFixer can be used manually on saved game files, or automatically via XcomUtil's hook mechanism.

All these issues are also fixed by [[UFOextender]].

==Geoscape Bugs==

===First Radar Detection Data bug===
When a UFO is detected by a radar, you get certain data on it depending on the type of radar that detected it. If the UFO later enters the range of another radar while staying in the range of the first, you will continue to get the initial data given, even if the new radar is more powerful than the first! So if you detect a craft with a [[Small Radar System]], then the UFO moves into the range of a [[Hyper-wave Decoder]], clicking on the UFO will only give you the data as if the Small Radar detected it, so long as it remains in the Small Radar range! In effect, the data you get about a UFO is determined when you first detect it, and not changed after that until you lose detection on the craft with the radar that first detected it.

This bug most commonly shows up when a UFO is first detected by a patrolling aircraft and then remains in the range of the aircraft while also entering the range of a Hyper-Wave Decoder.

=== Minimized Interceptor Bug ===
One fairly consistent cause of crashes is saving the geoscape game during a UFO standoff, with a [[UFO Interception]] window minimized to an icon. The next mission after that point will likely dump you to the green text screen, and perhaps an earlier battlescape mission instead of the proper one. What it seems to do is zoom back out of the combat too far when the fight is over, eventually causing the crash once it has gone a couple of steps further than it normally allows you.

'''Solution:''' Open up [[UIGLOB.DAT]] in a hex editor. Change hex offset 0x06 to 00. This will reset the number of minimized interceptor windows to zero. Your interceptor unit can be selected to either return to base or continue on to complete its ground assault mission. ''NOTE: Make sure to back up your save game before editing it.''

''-- I was able to recover from this state by quickly sending in another interceptor ([[Firestorm]]) to take over, which allowed my first interceptor ([[Avenger]]) to break off and go home without crashing the game again. After the shootdown I overwrote the buggy savegame. --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 03:11, 22 Aug 2005 (PDT)''

''This happened to me also. I fixed it by replacing "[[UIGLOB.DAT]]" in the save folder with the same file from another saved game (from the same campaign a month earlier) [[User:bylund|bylund]] 00:15, January 12, 2007 (GMT+01)''

=== Interceptions: Last Shot Always Misses ===
When using Cautious attack when [[UFO Interception|intercepting a UFO]], your craft will stay at the maximum range of your longest-range weapon. When using Standard attack, your craft will stay at the maximum range of your shortest-range weapon. (Usually players use two weapons of the same type, so Cautious and Standard attack will behave the same in this regard.)

As soon as the craft fires its last shot (expending all its ammo), it will drop back to "Standoff" range (70km). This will make it appear that the UFO has backed away while the last missile(s) are in-flight, causing them to miss.

In order to hit a UFO with your last salvo of missiles (Stingrays, Avalanches, or Fusion Balls), you must switch to "Aggressive" attack before the last salvo reaches the UFO. This will cause your craft to close in with the UFO, allowing the missiles to be in range when they reach the UFO. However, Aggressive attacks will also bring you within range of the UFO's weapons, so you should hit the "Disengage" button as soon as the last salvo hits.

===Elerium-fueled Craft Bug===
A [[Skyranger]] or [[Interceptor]], once dispatched, will return to base when its fuel supply has dropped to a level that it will only have just enough fuel to return to base. Craft fueled by Elerium-115, however, will always report the "Low Fuel" message as soon at the fuel supply is 50% depleted, no matter where they are on the globe. This significantly shortens the already minute time that a [[Firestorm]], [[Lightning]], or [[Avenger]] can be dispatched to patrol.

===Medic Research Bug===

The array holding live alien and autopsy data to randomly provide when an alien Medic is researched is four bytes too short. What this means in practice is that if you interrogate an alien Medic before you have at least two of these topics unlocked, the game will crash. To avoid this bug, do not research any alien Medics until you have performed either: a) two alien autopsies, b) an alien autopsy and an alien interrogation, or c) two alien interrogations of different species.

===Never-ending Retaliation Bug===
Some times the aliens will send a [[battleship]] on a [[Alien_Retaliation|retaliation mission]] to the "wrong" base. F.ex: the [[Hyper-wave_Decoder|hyper-wave decoder]] may report its destination as South East Asia, but the ship will actually fly to your base in North America and attack it.

Even if the battleship succeeds in getting past the base defences and its crew is subsequently defeated, the aliens won't "forget" the base's location as they normally do and instead keep sending another battleship every week or so. If your base is constructed with [[Base_Layout_Strategy|defendability]] in mind and crewed by experienced operatives this will net you heaps and heaps of alien weapons, corpses and prisoners very quickly. The downsides are, of course, playing the same base defence mission over and over again and having to maintain a garrison there at all times.

More research is needed to find out what causes this bug, but it ''could'' have something to do with [[Mind_Shield|mind shields]] being finished between the scouting and assault parts of the aliens' retaliation mission.

=== Early Base Defence bug ===

XBASE.DAT has 12 entries for each valid mission zone. However, the initialization routine for a new game only resets the first 8 entries. If some of these entries have leftover data from a previous game, this may spawn an alien [[Battleship]] attacking the location specified, usually your first base. This results in an unprovoked [[Base Defence]] mission, within the first two weeks of the new game! (Normally, the aliens don't try to attack your bases unless you intercept UFOs, and they have to [[Alien Retaliation|search for a base]] before a Battleship can be deployed to assault it.)

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

''When the game was written, the largest unit that a programmer had available was a DWORD. The programmers did not make this unsigned (if that was possible back in the early '90s) so the largest amount that could be stored is 7FFFFFFh, which is 2147483647.''[[User:Morgan525|Tycho]] ([[User talk:Morgan525|talk]])

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Load bug after successful mission ===
After you finish a game you have saved and load the same game file again - the alien side goes first! I think it may be caused when you succesfully complete the mission and you get a notification like that the alien has died beacuse of no alien containment. The game still thinks that it is the aliens' turn. So when I load the mission again- the aliens move first. If you load the same saved game again it will be OK. [[User:ElfKaa|ElfKaa]]

===Time Units Missing===
Very rarely when you end your first turn and all your units are inside the Skyranger in the next turn they all only have 4 time units remaining.

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

Another, potentially annoying bug occurs when a large unit's graphics become messed up. During a base defence mission, a rocket tank may end up looking like 4 silacoids bunched together.

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in its right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into its magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

<s>There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for</s> The cause of this bug is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers the "Smoke and Fire" routine: applying fire damage, applying stun damage from smoke, calculating fire and smoke spreading, and "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

===Tanks have full ammo during Base Defence===
HWPs in Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense and SWS in Terror From the Deep will always have full ammunition during a Base Defence mission even if there is not enough ammunition in storage to have them fully armed.

This occurs because tanks are always initialised with full ammunition when they are spawned in the battlescape. However, the game does not make the necessary adjustments to their ammunition supplies and leaves them fully armed. Any ammunition that was in storage will be consumed normally.

After the battle, any left over ammunition will be recovered and added to stores. If a base is regularly attacked, this can be [[http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=ExploitsA#Free_Ammo_for_Tanks|exploited]] to create large amounts of ammo for free by sending away all of the ammunition to another base after each battle (particularly for Hovertanks/Launcher and Displacers/P.W.T., since their ammunition must otherwise be manufactured from alien materials).

Note that this bug will arm a [[Coelacanth/Gauss]] in Terror From the Deep, but you will not recover any ammunition from it due to its own specific arming bug.

=== Collectors Edition Blaster Bomb Bug ===

Also known as Vertical Waypoint Blaster Bomb Bug.

In the Collectors Edition of UFO, the [[Blaster Launcher]] has a bug that prevents it from going up or down on the same tile. Or in other words, you cannot change the elevation of the missile vertically on the same tile.

Instead of flying down (or up) to the next waypoint, it will instead fly directly to the south at the pivot waypoint. Relative to the screen, this would be the lower left side of the screen.

This does not happen if you plot the waypoints at an angle. Or, if the blaster bomb flies right off the map, it will reappear at the proper waypoint as long as there are additional waypoints placed after the vertical move. The bug makes it impossible to fire Blaster Bombs up or down elevator shafts. Aliens are also affected by this bug.

The Blaster Bomb bug in turn permits the [[Tactical Exploits#Milking Alien Bases|Elevator Shielding - Base Milking Exploit]], which provides unlimited risk-free experience and ultra-low-risk booty, so fixing it is a Good Thing. Base Milking in general is a legitimate tactic, but doing Base Milking risk-free via the Elevator Shielding is just an exploit.

This bug also applies to the [[Disruptor Pulse Launcher]] in TFTD.

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

=== The trouble with Mines in General ===

Proximity mines are strangely implemented in UFO and TFTD. While they behave as you would expect them to half of the time, the mines do not behave like conventional weapons.

First, experience attribution is awarded to the person that sets off the mine.

Secondly, the armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in save games. If a proximity grenade is primed, then the game is saved and reloaded, the grenade will not only not go off as it should, but the "Prime Grenade" action will still be absent, so it's impossible to re-arm it.

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

A primed explosive (Grenade, High Explosive, Alien Grenade) will not explode if it's still in your inventory (hand, belt etc) when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the primed explosive will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member.

For a more a detailed explanation on detonation conditions, see [[Understanding Grenades]].

=== Mountain Map ===
Due to a bug in the way this tileset was created, when you shoot the ground, it doesn't burn up - it turns into a tree stump.

Because the stump is on object, as opposed to actual ground, any objects that were in the tile already (for example, UFO hulls or the landing gear of your craft) get replaced by these stumps, making it seem as if they were destroyed.

Tree stumps don't take much damage, so they often get burnt up immediately if an explosive goes off, leaving nothing but burnt ground behind. It is easier to view the effects of this bug by shooting the ground instead.

For more details, see [[Explosions#Mile-High_Madness|Mountain Madness]].

=== What just exploded? ===
In some versions of the game, a bug allows an armed proximity mine to transfer its properties to some other item in the next mission, which then may explode unexpectedly. (If the item is left on the floor of the XCOM craft, it will explode as you walk past it.) This problem can be rectified by reloading the game -- as a precaution, save before you move your first soldier.

=== Door jam ===
If a door is open when a game is saved on the Battlescape and that game is subsequently restored, the door will remain open for the remainder of that mission.

=== MIA Bugs ===

The routine which checks whether units are "Missing in Action" or not has several bugs in it. Specifically:

* Soldiers that have been [[Psionics|mind-controlled]] and not yet returned to X-Com control (whether by mind-control on the final turn, or because they were stunned while mind-controlled and haven't woken up yet) will be listed as MIA and permanently lost.

* If you abort a mission while aliens are under X-COM mind-control, you will be penalised for any mind-controlled aliens outside the exit area as though they were MIA (-20 points each). In PlayStation versions of the game, this does not occur as all mind-controlled aliens at mission end are considered captured.

* The only action which resets the location of unconscious soldiers, for the purposes of the MIA algorithm, is '''dropping'''. As such, soldiers carried or thrown back into the dropship and not subsequently dropped inside will be listed as MIA and permanently lost, while soldiers stunned or dropped inside the dropship and carried or thrown outside will be recovered safely.

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

The array used to denote armed [[Proximity Grenade]]s is limited to 20 entries, meaning you are limited to 20 active mines at a time. The 21st and subsequent Proximity grenades can be primed like normal and will give appropriate messages, but they will not detonate even when the normal trigger conditions are met. Note that Proximity Mines that have detonated or otherwise been destroyed are removed from the array, freeing up positions; the limit is 20 ACTIVE Proximity Grenades at one time. In normal gameplay, this is probably not a restriction, in light of the [[Known_Bugs#80-Item_Limit|80 Item Limit]], since you'd need to have more than 1/4th of the cargo space in the dropship filled with Proximity Grenades.

===Base Defence Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defence bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

''The part about HWPs only losing morale by blue-on-blue isn't true: I had a rocket tank go berserk on me in a terror mission when a floater blew up my whole force with a single grenade in the first alien turn. The game crashed alright; I have the CE version with UFOextender.--[[User:Amitakartok|amitakartok]] 08:24, 11 January 2012 (EST)''
:''Unless my memory is playing tricks on me, I clearly remember an very bizarre incident like yours but where the rocket HWP panicked (all other X-COM units had just been killed) but the game didn't crash (I play the DOS version) and the tank shot all its rockets randomly until it ran out of ammo. I remember that its TU numbers being while firing showed 255 TUs or some other impossible value (I hadn't done any manual edits). I don't remember if it crashed at the end but it did fire!'' [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 10:47, 11 January 2012 (EST)
::''And this reminds me of yet another panicked HWP incident but involving a Cannon HWP. I was expecting it to waste all its ammo (based on my previous experience) but it only fired a few shots and the TU level didn't went up crazy.'' [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 10:47, 11 January 2012 (EST)

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

===Left arm fatal wound instead of torso (energy penalty)===

According to UFO Defence [http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/7760/x-com%20ufo%20defense%20manual.pdf manual], torso fatal wounds affect energy replenish rate, which is logical. But in the game fatal wounds of the '''left arm''' affect energy replenish rate, '''not the torso'''. Which is an obvious coding bug (though not a fatal one).

===Invisible Chryssalids===

After reloading a saved game with a mission where zombies are present, the resulting Chryssalids might be invisible. This only happens when zombies are present but all Chryssalids are either dead or KO. This issues occurs because the load-game routine only loads graphics files for active units. When the chryssalids' files are loaded, the game also loads the files for zombies but this is not true in reverse. [[User:Morgan525|Tycho]] ([[User talk:Morgan525|talk]])

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== Item-stacking Bug ===
It is possible to put more than one item in a given spot. When an item is stacked with a [[Stun Rod]], this can make it possible for X-COM soldiers to perform "melee" attacks. See [[Item Stacking Bug]] for more details.

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

===Disappearing Ammo===
Partially-used clips in alien or X-COM weapons disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. However, in DOS versions of the game, you can unload used clips to recover them as full clips with the tradeoff of all loaded clips (used or otherwise) will count as spent and disappear (this shouldn't seem to be a problem, until you start using blasters and will find that you're running out of ammo fast). You can also use [[XcomUtil]] to recover partially used clips. Even when used clips are discarded, you will still get credit ([[Scoring|score]]) at the end of missions for recovering them.

When aborting a mission, any full clips loaded in any alien weapons brought back to the transport/access lift will not be recovered unless the clips are unloaded first. This includes [[Blaster Bomb]]s and [[Stun Bomb]]s.

=== Ammo Weight Bugs ===

In general, the game engine handles the weight allocation of ammo/clips '''loaded into weapons''' very badly. There was a good design to handle ammo weight, but it was not properly implemented. As a result there is a set of bugs relating to ammo/clip weight and encumbrance that share overlapping causes and effects.

==== Equip Phase Ammo Load Error ====

The game routine for placing ammo into weapons at the beginning of the equip phase does not correctly set all object and unit values. It should set the ammo as loaded into the weapon, the weapon as being held by the soldier, and the map position of the weapon and the ammo as the same as the soldier. Looks like it does not do one or more of these things. Whatever values the game doesn't set, do get set if you manually load or reload the weapon, either during the equip phase, or during the game.

Specifically, the game's auto-equip functions at the beginning of the equip phase fail to set offset 0x04 of the [[OBPOS.DAT]] record to point to the soldier who owns the ammo. These functions leave the value = 0xff, which implies "on the ground". They also leave the ammo location as being the equipment pile, rather than the location of the soldier. The other values are set correctly. Manually loading ammo into a weapon, during the equip phase or during combat, correctly sets all values. The ownership points to the soldier and the location to the soldier's location.

This bug is the cause of [[Known_Bugs#Weightless_Loaded_Ammo|Weightless Loaded Ammo]]. Probably the only other impact of this bug is that XComUtil can't detect the fact that the ammo is loaded into the weapon, for the purpose of AutoCombat. It might have other subtle effects on any utilities that deal with equipping soldiers.

====Weightless Loaded Ammo====

Ammo that is automatically pre-loaded into a weapon at the start of the Equip Phase of a mission does not initially count towards any soldier's carried weight (Encumbrance). If the weapon is subsequently unloaded during the Equip Phase or later in the mission, the soldier's encumbrance will ''increase''. This will probably only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's original weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

The Weightless Loaded Ammo bug slightly advantages X-Com. It leads to a set of relatively minor exploits. Using this bug, you can get weak soldiers to carry heavy weapons with (usually) a single clip and no TU penalty. For weapons that use multiple ammo types (which auto-equip with AP by preference), by manipulating the overall supply of ammo of different types you can to some extent persuade the auto equip algorithm to load your preferred ammo type for these weaker soldiers.

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 22:51, 6 September 2012 (EDT)

==== Displaced Ammo Weight ====

'''Guidance: Apart from weapons pre-loaded by the game, be sure to unload any weapons before dropping them. Drop, pick up and transfer ammo only when it is not loaded into a weapon.'''

Dropped ammo clips that are still loaded into dropped weapons are not un-assigned from the unit carrying them. The weight of the ammo / clips continues to count against the unit's [[Time Units#Encumbrance|Encumbrance]] as 'displaced weight' that can't be removed by ordinary means. This is an original game bug that only becomes apparent when using mods that display the unit's current encumbrance. The effect continues until the ammo is unloaded (either by the original holder picking up the weapon again and unloading it, or someone else picking it up and unloading it). Once the ammo is unloaded, its weight is applied to the actual current holder, only, and is released from the original holder.

This bug also applies during the Equip Phase, if one soldier loads a weapon, drops it, and another soldier picks it up.

In some senses this bug is the opposite of the Weightless Ammo Bug, and each bug has probably tended to obscure the effects of the other. For example, clips affected by the Weightless Ammo Bug (clips automatically loaded by the game) are not so obviously affected by this bug, since their displaced weight is 'carried' by the Equipment Pile rather than any specific Soldier. (In another sense, this is the same bug, with the weight displaced to the Equipment Pile rather than to another soldier.)

See [[User_talk:Seb76#Inventory_screen_ammo_weight_bug|this discussion]] for more information on this bug.

==== Ammo Weight Exploits ====

As noted above, Weightless Ammo is, in itself, a minor exploit, since it provides some extra penalty-free carrying capacity in combat.

On the face of it, the Displaced Weight Bug is not an exploit, since for every decrease in weight on one soldier there is a corresponding increase in weight on another soldier. However the Displaced Weight bug could potentially be exploited by having one soldier first load and then drop a lot of weapons, and then move away from the resulting pile to allow others to pick up. This would create a reserve of weapons where all the ammo weight was being 'carried' by this "weight sink" soldier, freeing up encumbrance for other soldiers. For example, all recon and front line soldiers required to be mobile could get reduced weight, at the expense of a single soldier having extremely reduced mobility/TUs. However, as the game's auto equip routines already load all initial weapons with weightless ammo, this would only be useful after combat had been progressing for some time, for reloads rather than initial loads, and it would require the squad to regroup around this "sink", or ferry weapons to/from the "sink". It might be most useful with Rocket Launchers (high weight, high ammo weight, one round before reload).

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

===Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch===
As pointed out by [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] and [[User:Danial|Danial]], transferring any craft causes '''''all subsequent transfers to have that cost added to it''''', for as long as the craft is in transit. Additional craft in transit will add additional fees. (This has also been called the Exponential Transfer Fee bug, although it's actually additive, not exponential.)

Example (all numbers are only approximations):
<u>Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)</U>
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

<u>Cost of craft transfer</U>
EU ↔ USA 1600 ''Notice how transfer fees always work as relative percents,
EU ↔ Asia 2000 ''probably on a distance-based formula
USA ↔ Asia 2400

<u>Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000</U>
EU ↔ USA 1680 (80+1600)
EU ↔ Asia 2100 (100+2000)
USA ↔ Asia 2520 (120+2400)

The cost of the craft transfer "sticks" to '''all''' subsequent transfers, until the craft arrives - although it acts on a proportionate basis, which is probably distance related.

Unfortunately, this cost is '''additive'''. That is to say, if you transferred a second craft from EU to Asia while the first was still in transit, it would cost $4000 ($2000 plus $2000 - it too suffers from the glitch!), it would then cost e.g. $4100 to transfer a pistol from EU to Asia. Having even more craft in transit would add even more fees.

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

A related problem is that, if you are in the Transfer screen, start to transfer a craft, and then cancel because you remembered you wanted to send something else first - if you then try to Transfer something on that same screen, ''it will still get the sticky craft fee added''. Try it and see. You have to back up out to the main Base screen and hit Transfer again, to get rid of the sticky fee from a canceled craft transfer.

===Fuel dump on transfer===
Transferring a craft with 100% fuel will dump it somewhere along the way.
When it arrives at its destination, its fuel gauge will read empty (ie: 0% FUEL), but it will be listed as ready. If you launch your craft for a mission (any mission will do) its fuel gauge will still read empty.
<br>
This can be [[ExploitsA#Infinite_Fuel|exploited]], but it is very annoying if you want to quickly turn around a troop transport for another mission.
<br>
You can force a refuel by sending out the craft and immediately recalling it back to base.

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

{| {{stdTable}} width = "80%" align = "center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| Tip
|-
| To Clarify what constitutes an item in the transfer screen, think of them as batches of X amount. For example, if you transfer 200 alien alloys now, and then decide to transfer another 50 alloys later, this will count as two items in transit. Now, when you look at your transfers, you'll now have two items. Two batches of alien alloys, one with 200 units and the other with 50 units.
|}

=== Transfer crash ===
If you transfer something to another base the game crashes right after acknowledging the transfer price.

Solution: Start UFO, select English language, finish your transfer, save game, restart with your normal language settings (http://www.xcomufo.com/x1faq.html)

===Storage Limit===
You can not store more than 9,999 of any one item in the general stores at a specific base at one time. However, this will likely only happen with [[Alien Alloys]] or [[Elerium-115]].
Still, consider yourself warned. If you're coming close to the limit, consider transferring the extra to other bases or even selling it, as any extra collected beyond the limit will 'disappear' and be wasted.

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

===Exceeding Storage Limits when Transferring Craft===

Usually you can't transfer crafts to bases without capacity for them as you'll get an error when you press the Up arrow. However, if you press the Down arrow when the craft quantity is already at 0, the game will still think you're removing crafts from the destination base and "add capacity", so you can then press the Up arrow again to transfer the crafts without error. This doesn't work with other transferable items.

Once you've broken the limit once, you don't need to do this trick anymore as the error won't show up again (the game probably doesn't check for negative capacity). You can also exceed storage and personnel capacity this way, as Transport Crafts will carry their contents over. For example, if you press the Down arrow on a Skyranger with 14 soldiers, the game will "add capacity" for 1 craft and 14 personnel on the destination base.

You can also orphan crafts this way by removing a base with crafts but no hangars, which can cause all sorts of weird behavior.

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

If you start a manufacturing project with zero items to build, close the screen, and then go back to assign staff and a non-zero build amount later, the first item is built for free. If you only build one item at a time, you can build them all for free. Obviously, this is cheating. It's also a bit tedious. It might be excusable if you're really short of money.

=== Research Rollover ===

At midnight, research projects are checked for completion in the order shown on your Projects screen (which is the same order as for picking new Projects, for [[RESEARCH.DAT]], etc.). But X-COM does not track the effort of individual scientists, so when a project ends, its scientists can be re-assigned before the game checks the next project.

The upshot is that you can re-use scientists from completed projects as long as you put them on projects (existing or new) that are [[RESEARCH.DAT|farther down the list]] than the one that just finished. And if you assign more scientists than projects need, you can finish multiple projects immediately!

To best use this exploit:
*If projects (new or existing) have equal priority to you, start new scientists at the top of your list (the [[RESEARCH.DAT|lowest-numbered]] project) and work them "down" from there. This minimizes the number of times that scientists wind up at the end of the project list (where you can't exploit them).
*It works especially well later in the game if you have a full complement of scientists (practical limit of 250 at a base) and apply them to the many "fluff" alien, corpse, and alien-room projects that [[Research_Technical_Details#Research_Time|average less than 250 research days]]. You might finish a lot at once.
*If using it, you don't have to worry about "wasted" research effort due to allocating too many scientists to a project on its last day. Unless you're at the end of the project list, wasted scientists can be re-used, too - sometimes many times.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them.
This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.
<br>
NOTE: you need to make sure that not all of their projects finish at the same time.
Otherwise, you would be stuck with 0 'available' workers/scientists, i.e. unable to assign them to a new project.

===Manufacturing Limit Bug===
The number of hours remaining on a [[Manufacturing_Profitability#Profit_tables|manufacturing project]] is stored in a two-byte integer. If you build enough items that the total number of Engineer Hours required for construction is above 65535 hours, it will wrap around to 0 hours and display from there. Typically this drastically understates the amount of time that will be spent working on the items, but strictly speaking, it only subtracts 65k hours (so a huge project like 120k hours would still show ~55k hours' worth of Engineer time needed).

This bug is not dependent on the number of engineers assigned to the project; it is a function of the number of engineer hours needed. You will most likely run into it when trying to build 2 Avengers at the same time or when queuing up large orders of items in bulk, such as armor or Laser Cannons. As a practical example, the number of Avengers needed to trigger the bug is 2. The number of Laser Cannons is 219. Toggle back and forth between 218 and 219 laser cannons at the beginning of a project to see the effects.

It is known with certainty that this exists as a display issue - the screen will say you need less time than you should when you go over 65536 Engineer hours. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] is also sure he's seen it eat an Avenger... he ordered two but only got one, even though it took the time, and cost the money, for two. He's tried to replicate this and hasn't been able to, however. So it clearly is at least a superficial display issue, and may be more than that ... possibly dependent on even something else. In any event, keep an eye on projects with more than 65k Engineer hours (and report back here!)... or just avoid going that high.

== UFOPaedia Errors ==

=== Craft Weapon hit probabilities ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

In the CE version, this is the problem piece of code:
.text 45B2CC: 0F BF 4E 06

Change the 06 to 04. The offset may not be correct for everyone but it should be close. I don't know the offset in the DOS version.
[[User:Morgan525|Tycho]] 06:27, 1 April 2012 (EDT)

=== Craft Weapon reload rates ===

From empirical research it looks like the reload rates of craft weapons are not stated correctly in the UFOPaedia. For example, the rates of fire of the Laser Cannon and Plasma Cannon are actually the same as each other, and they are both about six times slower than the regular Cannon (so about 12s) - whereas the UFOPaedia entry gives the reload times (inverse of the rate of fire) as being:

Cannon 2s
Laser Cannon 4s
Plasma Beam 6s

Similarly the UFOPaedia shows the Fusion Ball as having 3/5 the rate of fire of a Stingray missile, with the Fusion Ball being slower than an Avalanche missile; but empirically the Fusion Ball and Stingray have the same rate of fire, and so the Fusion Ball is faster than the Avalanche. See the discussion in [[Craft_Combat_Mechanics#Observed_Rates_of_Fire|Craft Combat Mechanics - Observed Rates of Fire]] for more details, but keep in mind recent code digs have clarified the picture from this initial rough approximation. It seems reasonable to assume the actual reload rates are coming from a different part of the executable, different to the locations used populate these values that are displayed in the UFOPaedia. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 23:25, 6 September 2012 (EDT)

===Alien Containment size===

The UFOpaedia in-game claims that each [[Alien Containment]] module can hold 10 live aliens. This is not in fact the case; the true limit is 50 aliens in containment among all bases, regardless of how many Alien Containment modules exist (though live aliens can only be stored at bases with Alien Containment). As such, building more Alien Containment modules, or shuffling aliens around between bases, will '''not''' free up space; the only way to free up space is to research some of the captured aliens (which removes them from containment).

===Radar detection chances===

The UFOpaedia in-game claims that both Small Radar and Large Radar facilities have a 5% chance of detecting UFOs every 10 minutes. In fact, this is not the case; Small Radar has a 10% chance of detecting UFOs per 30 minutes (less than advertised), while Large Radar has a 20% chance of detecting UFOs per 30 minutes (more than advertised). Note also the [[Known_Bugs#Radar_Stacking|Radar Stacking]] bug.

== Other Bugs ==

=== Difficulty Bug ===
The DOS version has a problem where no matter what difficulty level you choose, it will revert to "Beginner" level after the first mission. This is caused by one incorrectly set bit in all DOS versions of the game (1.0 through to 1.4). The Collectors Edition Windows port (also commonly known as UFO Gold or CE) does not have this problem. To check your [[Difficulty Levels|Difficulty Level]]:
*Look at offset 60 in [[IGLOB.DAT]]. (If this file is only 60 bytes long, you've got the bug!)
*Look at [[Alien Stats|statistics for aliens]] in your game with a [[Mind Probe]] or [[Psi-Amp]]

To fix the Difficulty Bug, you can install [[XcomUtil]] and it will repair this bug. Alternately for those familiar with hex editing, you can fix this bug by referring to the appropriate section on the [[GEOSCAPE.EXE#XCOM: UFO Defense DOS Versions, difficulty setting bug | GEOSCAPE.EXE]] article and manually setting the incorrect byte to its proper value.

:[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/X-COM This TVTropes page] has been known to state that due to the bug, players asked the developers to increase game difficulty. The rumour goes that a new bug was supposedly introduced as a result, where TFTD's difficulty would reset to Superhuman instead of Beginner. The facts of the matter are that, while the overall difficulty of the game ''was'' increased, TFTD does manage to correctly keep track of which specific mode you're supposed to be playing in.

=== Chrysallid / Tentaculat Difficulty Bug ===

Stats of Chrysallids or Tentaculats that emerge from Zombies during combat have stats that ignore the difficulty level.

=== Big Text Bug ===
There are a few bugs in XCOM, especially early versions, that can build up and make the game unstable enough that it crashes and prints out a screen full of green 40-column text, essentially debug or memory dump information useless to you.

You can also forced a crash by pressing CTRL-C at the start of a new game (DOS only). If you don't have any missions automatically saved within the [[Game_Files#Missdat_Files|MISSDAT]] folder, you will get this big text to appear. Typically it is green for Enemy Unknown, and blue for Terror From The Deep. Other colours have been observed such as pink, purple, brown and yellow.

In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resolution) and the text colour is based off the changes to the palette that the game made. The batch file coordinating the two main programs [[Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape]] often succeeds in soldiering on after a crash. In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant (which uses a batchfile).

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Losing My Favourite Game ===

There is a check whether the "Has X-com received a financial warning?" flag has been raised. If no, a warning is issued and the flag is raised. If yes, then the game ends, and the flag is lowered. HOWEVER, this flag is erronously not connected to any particular savegame, it is global across all savegames. This allows strange results when saving and loading games.

=== Celatid aim bug ===

The Celatid typically misses. User Tycho has identified this is due to a bug that causes the Celatid to aim at the ground, rather than the middle of the target. The bug is being fixed in UFO Extender. The same bug may apply to the same grenade-like weapon routine used in TFTD.

==Utility bugs==

These are not bugs in X-Com itself, but in utilities often used with it. They are included for completeness.

* [[Small window bug]]

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Heavy Plasma

2015-05-18T23:09:00Z

WakkaDakka: /* Tips */

{{EU2012Version}}
The larger cousin of the [[Plasma Rifle]], the '''Heavy Plasma Gun''' is a powerful squad support weapon which is nonetheless light enough to be usable by any soldier. It is the most powerful weapon available to X-Com agents short of the [[Blaster Launcher]], plus it has a fast rate of fire and high accuracy.

Researching the Heavy Plasma and Heavy Plasma Clip allows you to begin the Plasma Cannon project, which allows manufacture of [[Plasma Beam]]s and [[Hovertank/Plasma|Hovertanks/Plasma]].

'''Pros:''' Automatic fire. Great accuracy, second only to the [[Plasma Rifle]] (in Auto and Snap modes) and the [[Rocket Launcher]] (in Aimed mode). Incredible power; only [[Sectopod]]s can survive a point-blank burst, and it can [[Destroying Terrain|cut through]] most terrain including some inner bulkheads of UFOs. Guns and clips can be recovered from missions, and become plentiful from April onward.

'''Cons:''' Requires two hands, although its accuracy one-handed is still better than [[Plasma Pistol|most]] pistols. Requires ammunition; while it has the largest clip size in the game, this can occasionally become a strategic concern in DOS versions of the game due to clips' tendency to [[Known_Bugs#Disappearing_Ammo|disappear]] and the prohibitive Elerium cost of manufacturing clips yourself.

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

== Stats ==
<b>Heavy Plasma:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS30.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 8
*TUs:
**Auto: 35% (Accuracy 50%)
**Snap: 30% (Accuracy 75%)
**Aimed: 60% (Accuracy 110%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $122,000 for parts, 1,000 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $171,600</td></tr></table>

<b>Heavy Plasma Clip:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS25.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 115 Plasma
*Ammo: 35
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $6,000 for parts, 80 Engineer Hours, 3 Elerium
*Sell Price: $9,590</td></tr></table>

== Recommendations ==
The Heavy Plasma Gun is essentially the ultimate weapon available. It is the most effective assault weapon in the game, and also the most effective sniper rifle. The main caveats on its use are these: a) its clip size, though large, is not infinite like the [[Laser Rifle]]'s, and the supply of clips is limited, so while autofire is perfectly feasible and recommended, gratuitous wastes of ammunition such as attempts to literally level maps may strain your supply line; b) its ability to penetrate the front armour of [[Sectopod]]s is limited, so it is recommended to either flank Sectopods and shoot their weaker back plate, or bring more specialised weapons such as [[Heavy Laser]]s, [[Small Launcher]]s and [[Blaster Launcher]]s; c) the incredible power of Heavy Plasma fire can be a double-edged sword if you face [[Psionics|alien mind control]], so it may be worth bringing a less-superlative weapon such as the Laser Rifle if you expect to face psionic aliens and you have not psi-screened your troops.

It is also worth noting that due to the weapon's ubiquitous use after the first few months, X-Com will quickly accumulate large stockpiles of Heavy Plasma Guns. The excess guns (though not their precious clips) can and probably should be sold; this avoids the risk of the item table being clogged during a [[Base Defence]], and also provides a significant cash injection.

== Usage notes ==
The following lists how many times a soldier can fire the gun by shot type continuously in any given round, and the remaining percentage of any left over TUs that cannot be spent as a shot.

* Aimed: 1 Shot, 40% Remaining TUs (enough for 1 Snap shot or 1 Auto burst)
* Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
* Auto: 2 Bursts (6 Shots), 30% Remaining TUs (enough for 1 Snap shot)

Note: Soldiers with 51, 54, or 57 maximum TU will be able to fire 3 bursts with 0 TU remaining. While these TU values are unlikely among veteran soldiers, ''rookies'' will quite frequently achieve this criterion, as the range of TU values among recruits is 50-60 inclusive. While you'll probably be arming your entire squad with Heavy Plasma Guns anyway, it's worth noting that this can make some rookies better at providing fire support than their more experienced brethren.

== Tips ==
* Do you desire to wield inhuman power against the invading aliens? This is the weapon for you. It's often able to drop a Muton in a single shot.
* This weapon also comes into its own destroying the internal bulkheads, doors, and floors of UFOs. Want a door somewhere that there isn't one? Bring in a Heavy Plasma and make one.
* Weighs the same as a standard [[Rifle]]. Unless you're weighing them down with tons of gear, any soldier should be able to use this effectively.
* Aliens increasingly prefer this weapon as the game goes on; by September, they will issue it to all troops except a small number wielding [[Small Launcher]]s and [[Blaster Launcher]]s.
* Sells quite well on the market. You'll literally have PILES of them in storage, just waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.
* Note that the Heavy Plasma Gun does take slightly more time to fire than the [[Laser Rifle]]. In particular, the Laser Rifle can potentially fire two Aimed Shots in a single turn, giving a minor advantage when picking off large numbers of weak targets intermingled closely with things you don't want to hit (civilians, your own troops, explosive terrain features). Of course, this is counterbalanced by the even-higher accuracy of Aimed Heavy Plasma fire.
* Bringing reloads to a mission is usually superfluous; 35 shots will see most soldiers through an entire mission, and in the rare event you do run out, you can just loot clips or nearly-full weapons from dead alien fingers. There are better uses of your 80-item limit. In particularly tight cases such as Cydonia, it may even be better to initially arm your troops with [[Laser Rifle]]s (which don't need clips at all) and pick up Heavy Plasma Guns as you go.
*Excercise caution!!! The Heavy Plasma Gun can very rarely destroy an Earth Standard HWP in one shot.
*A lucky plasma shot can kill a Flying-Suit wearing soldier so be sure to move your soldiers into cover before the alien turn.

==See also==
{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Equipment (EU)]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

User:WakkaDakka

2015-05-18T06:58:44Z

WakkaDakka: Blanked the page

Making the Game Harder

2015-05-18T06:58:17Z

WakkaDakka:

This page is intended for players who finish the game frequently on the highest difficulty and would like to keep the challenge alive.

Naturally it is quite easy to handicap yourself while playing the game: using only conventional weaponry, no armor, fighting only on night missions, etc. Some of these situations are detailed here, in addition to exploits/cheats/tactics that make the game easier, which you might want to refrain from using.

Feel free to try any of these ideas (or all of them!). Some may make the game very hard or even impossible to win.

== Psionics ==

=== No Offensive Psionics ===

Psionics and [[Psi-Amp]]s can completely imbalance the game in favor of the human player. Even one Psi-Amp is bad news for aliens, and with training and screening, a squad full of psionic troops can eventually mind-control all the aliens during the first turn (even [[Cyberdisc]]s and [[Sectopod]]s). This turns combat into a cakewalk, which is not nearly as much fun as sweating your way around every single corner. Therefore, one of the most important things you can do to make the game more challenging is to avoid using Psi-Amps.

=== No Psionic Screening ===

Significantly less unbalancing is the use of [[Psionic Laboratory|Psi Labs]] to screen troops (and perhaps also increase their [[Psionics#Psionic_Formulas|Psionic Defense]]). However, for an even greater challenge, you can avoid using Psi Labs altogether, which forces you to rely on combat trauma to find out which of your troops are psi weaklings.

===No Mind Probes===

Much less powerful than Psionics is the advantage from using [[Mind Probe]]s since those devices can be used to screen aliens for their rank (for capture or to identify the threat they pose), or to check if they are able to reaction fire. Mind control can also provide most of this information, so restricting use of Mind Probes is most significant when combined with a ban on Psi-Amps.

=== No Alien Psionics ===

There comes a point when your troops and tactics are so Psi-resistant that disabling Alien Psionics actually makes the game harder, because all the the Aliens are at least trying to kill you with a Heavy Plasma or a Blaster Launcher instead of wasting their time with futile Psi attacks. If you have reached this point, even in relation to Ethereals, disable all Psionics. This can be done via XcomUtil.

=== Weaker Human Psionics ===

As the XCOM franchise evolved into X-COM:Apocalypse, it was revealed that humans are intrinsically weaker than aliens, particularly Sectoids, at Psionics. Humans in Apocalypse can never become more than weak to mediocre Psi operators. Perhaps design and play experience with EU and TFTD suggested this idea to the Apocalypse designers. In EU and TFTD, Psionics / MC is yet another example of something that humans almost instantly learn to do much better than the aliens, even though the aliens have been doing it for millions of years and built their culture around it. (Other examples: UFOs/USOs, craft plasma/sonic weapons, Psi/MC tactics, wearing body armour, picking things up after being panicked/stunned... the list goes on.)

It would perhaps be more 'realistic', and certainly scary and challenging, if human Psi/MC Strength and Skill were capped much lower than aliens, for example, capped at 50 each. Various mods allow changes to skill caps. You could simply sack anyone with Psi/MC Strength higher than 50. What would be cleverer would be a mod that either generates human Psi/MC Strength in a lower range (0=50 instead of 0-100), or that applies a 50% penalty to Psi/MC success calculations for any XCOM-controlled units (humans, or human-controlled aliens).

==Don't Use Game Exploits==
Plenty of [[Exploits]] have been identified for UFO: Enemy Unknown. Their influence on [[Battlescape]]/[[Geoscape]] varies, here's a list of those that you should particularly avoid and their consequences.

===Alien Inventory Screen===

Although you are not supposed to be able to access an alien's inventory screen when you mind control it, there is a [[ExploitsB#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|way]] to do so. This allows for nasty things like priming grenades and dropping them at the feet of the alien.
Another thing to consider is to stop using [[Psionics]] all together (see above).

===Faulty Collision Detection===

A full description can be found [[Exploiting_Collison_Detection|here]]. These exploits allow you to attack through walls or other solid objects, and bypass map chokepoints (such as UFO doors) which can be used by the aliens to ambush your soldiers.

===Free Wages/Manufacturing/Fuel===

These exploits are commonly used to prevent your finances from going negative at the end of the month or to keep your planes flying for free. The [[ExploitsA#Free_Wages|Free Wages]] avoids having to pay your scientists/engineers/soldiers' salaries. Most of your monthly expenses are made of those, so having to pay for your 250 scientists makes financial matters more hard to deal with. If you have never played the game without using these exploits, you've never really played the strategic game - it is MUCH harder to succeed when you have to pay your way.

===UFO Redux===

Increases your loot, income, score and experience up to two or even three times normal, and in turn boosts your technology progress. If you haven't been using this [[ExploitsA#UFO Redux|exploit]], don't start now!

===Scared Of The Dark?===

If you regularly avoid all night missions using [[ExploitsD|these exploits]], shame on you! Grab the flares and IC rounds, and be afraid, be '''very''' afraid!

==Don't Use Beneficial XComUtil Options==

Many XComUtil options (or similar options from other 'game enhancers' or variant games) make the game easier to win. As XComUtil was designed to make the game harder, it's a shame that the options that make the game easier are not flagged up more conspicuously.

=== Improved Starting Base ===

This actually hands you $4.5 million on a plate. In fact, it's far better than $4.5 million in cash, because the stuff you would buy with the $4.5 million is already built and/or in situ in your base. This option gives you a 1-2 month head start on the aliens, who don't get any advantages. So while the intent is to alleviate boring and repetitive play for experienced players, the net effect is to reduce the challenge.

=== Alternate Starting Base ===

This option is much less of a boon, but it still in effect hands you the $800K it would cost to reorganise your normal (badly layed out) starting base. And you get to do useful things with your base instead, during the month it would've take to reorganise it. Still, this is only a minor buff, and not a big deal compared to the Improved Starting Base. And the initial base layout ''is'' infuriating.

=== Improved Tanks ===

Players often forget that they routinely take this option to give human-technology tank chassis the same armour level as the hybrid, alien-alloy-armoured tank chassis. This has a big difference on the viability of the starting tanks (Cannon Tank, Rocket Tank, Laser Tank). Scott Jones believed that these HWPs were not viable without this mod. Perhaps he was right. Nonetheless, if you use this option, you are making the early game significantly easier. Assuming you believe an HWP is better than 4 soldiers - and if you don't believe that, you shouldn't care about using this option anyway.

=== Improved Weapons ===

This option improves the Pistol, Heavy Laser, and High Explosive. The Heavy Laser mod is fairly subtle and is intended to make "an otherwise useless item, useful". It does not create an uber-weapon. The Pistol improvement is [[Talk:XcomUtil#Improved_Pistol_Modification|arguably unnecessary]] as the Pistol is [[Rifle vs Pistol|arguably already]] the most powerful starting weapon, something that was not appreciated when XComUtil was written. The High Explosive buff is downright unbalancing since it allows UFO outer hulls to be penetrated at the very start of the game, totally changing the tactics of the Battlescape in a way that the Alien AI is not prepared for, and can't respond to. If you do select this option, use it only for the Heavy Laser mod, and refrain from using Pistol autofire, and definitely refrain from using HE as an entry charge to blast holes in UFOs.

In TFTD this option gives Gauss weapons unlimited ammunition. There is still a running argument about whether Gauss weapons are worth bothering with ([[Skipping Gauss Weapons]]). So using this option might be justified. But clearly it still gives an advantage to XCom, at least until weapons better than Gauss are available. So if you want the game to be harder, don't use it.

=== Other Options To Avoid ===

* Automatically Screen for Psi Ability
* Fight All Battles In Daylight
* Fighter aircraft can carry troops / HWPs
* Skyranger can mount air to air weapons
* Troops have all-round visibility from inside transports

Actually these last three aren't even options, prior to XComUtil 9.6, they are defaults. Turning them off is hard - just don't use weapons on transports or troops/HWPs on fighters. The all round visibility is not such a big deal, but if you turn it off, you will make the game harder again.

==Firepower Adjustment==

Despites what it feels like in the early game, X-COM eventually gets access to extremely powerful weaponry that make both ground and air battles too easy.

===Avoid Heavy Plasmas===

Don't equip the majority of your squad with [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]]. If that sounds too easy, then don't use alien weapons at all.

Alternatively using UFO Extender the weight of the heavy plasma can be increased to 21 and the clip to 6. This naturally restricts the usage without affecting the aliens.

===Avoid Blaster Launchers===

To put it simply: the weapons are too powerful and thus the temptation to overuse them too great. Completely destroying a map is fun at start but butchering the aliens gets boring after a while. Either do not use the weapons, only bring 1 on each mission or restrict yourself to a low number of waypoints (e.g. a single course alteration).

===Rank-based equipment===

Only give the best stuff to officers. For example Squaddies have to use personal armors and laser rifles; rookies don't get armor at all. Advancing in ranks earns the privilege to use newest equipment. So Sergeants can use Power Suit, but not Flying Suit. Even better, only give Flying suit to your Commander. Of course, you never want to commit your most experienced troops to hazardous front line duties, so this creates extra challenge.

===Tech levels===
Limit yourself to certain "tech levels". Here's an example:
*Level 1: Coverall, genuine Earth equipment
*Level 2: Personal Armor, Laser weapons
*Level 3: Power Suit, light alien weaponry
*Level 4: Flying Suit, heavy alien weaponry
How does it work? Simply limit yourself to stopping at a certain level. Or limit yourself in the speed of advancement, i.e. one level per a half year, etc. The latter example would mean you won't get to use the best equipment for two years!!!

Alternatively, allow yourself access to only a few high-power research topics, under the grounds that they're so complex that understanding them fully takes years. (Exceptions are made for end-game requirements, of course). Research topics that are high-power (AKA game-breaking) would include anything associated with Psionics, Plasma Rifle, Heavy Plasma, Blaster Bomb, the advanced aircraft (in particular the Avenger), the Plasma Beam/FBL, Hovertanks, and the Power and Flying Suits.

===Use Unfamiliar Weapons===

Use weapons that you are not generally fond of using or are not comfortable using. Use them in greater quantities or outfit your entire team with them. This has the potential to not only make the game harder, but it may get you accustomed to how these weapons are best handled. Combine it with restrictions on plasma weapons for best results.

One excellent example is the standard [[Heavy Laser]] - not the XCOMUtil variant. It's a weapon that is often branded "useless" because it's not an ammo-less parallel of the Heavy Plasma.

Other examples include [[Heavy Cannon]]s and tanks. In particular, unmodified tanks.

===Ranged Base Accuracy===

If you are using the Collectors Edition of the game, consider making use of Seb76's loader and activate the ranged base accuracy settings. This adds new rules to shooting so that weapons will only work as advertised under a certain range, depending on the class of the weapon. Beyond these ranges, the shots start to get wilder. So while they can still hit, the odds of them hitting are reduced.

For those with other editions and can not make use of the loader, you can artificially set the ranges yourself and pick the type of shots based on the distance between you and the target.

===Extreme Weapon Scenarios===

Test your machismo by going to ridiculous lengths and see how far you can get before combat is no longer viable with a uniform weapon set whereby you limit yourself to only one type or class of weapon. In addition to making the game harder, it you may find yourself appreciating the benefits and understanding the limitations of these weapons.

Some ideas to get you started: [[Heavy Cannon]], [[Autocannon]] or a combination of both. Basic [[Rifle]]s only. Pistol sized weapons only. [[Rocket Launcher]]s only. Grenade type weapons only (note, may need an emergency ranged weapons for flyers). Consider also a pistol and grenade scenario.

A Rocket Launcher or Grenade campaign for example will have several effects. While it does make defeating enemies easy, it introduces several management twists to combat that you would not normally subject yourself to in great frequency. Like collateral damage management will be needed for each and every shot taken. Ammunition has to be strictly managed, from the item limit to its actual expenditure and portage. Loot recovery is more difficult. Some blast zone management is required to prevent loot destruction. Mind control and reaction fire become extremely hazardous.

If combined with several other challenges such as no-psi and no alien weapons, you may even have to abandon some battle if all ammunition is depleted. Even if it was going entirely in your favour.

If you plan to play through to the final mission, allow yourself the use of stun weapons for capture of all the necessary aliens.

===Human Fighter Craft Adjustments===

====Fire-mode restrictions====

'Cautious'-mode only available with long range ship weapons ([[Avalanche|Avalanche Missiles]] and the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]]). 'Aggressive'-mode with everything else, never 'standard'-mode.

Otherwise plasma beam is too powerful. Most alien ships have low range and are very fast. That they never return fire does not make any sense.

====Avenger unarmed====

The [[Avenger]] as a fighter is simply too powerful. Without the [[Avenger]], taking down a [[Battleship]] is tough! As it should be, it requires many fighters and is still difficult to pull off. This also creates a niche for base defenses.

Alternatively the [[Avenger]] can be restricted to the [[Cydonia]] mission.

====Single Plasma beam on interceptors====

If a [[Plasma Beam]] is mounted on an [[Interceptor]] the other weapon slot must carry a less powerful canon ([[Cannon]] & [[Laser Cannon]]) or remain empty.

This creates a large niche for the [[Firestorm]] and the [[Lightning]].

====Only interceptors====

To fully experience the helplessness of seeing [[Battleship]]s flying unopposed through Earth's atmosphere, don't build any [[Firestorm|Firestorms]] or [[Lightning|Lightnings]].

== Squad Management ==

===Avoid Large Squads===

Restrict your squad regarding soldiers and tanks. Never use more than 14 plane slots to bring units into a battlefield (the capacity of a Skyranger).
The logic behind this is that you can easily outnumber the aliens, especially if you are facing small UFOs thus assuring victory.
Also, smaller squads allow for quicker play (you don't have to move 26 units each turn) and they make your soldiers more memorable, since you'll remember more their heroic achievements (or stupid deaths).

===Load up your Skyrangers with maximum HWPs===

A variant of the preceding scenario, not quite so hard. Instead of bringing 14 units into a battle you'll get just 5 (3 HWPs + 2 Soldiers) or 8 (2 HWPs + 6 soldiers).

===Commando Missions===

Use as few men to complete ground missions as possible-without HWPs, of course. Stealth, patience, care and caution become the priority. Even two or three-man teams can be effective if used properly. The logic behind this is that either way, aliens are probably too busy carrying out their mission or repairing the UFO to notice the dropship approaching (as evidenced by the fact that if you go against psionic aliens, you are safe from psionic attacks as long as none of them sees you, adding an extra difficulty: you have to kill every alien from behind and with one shot so they won't turn around and see you). Plus, micromanaging a three-man team is easier than managing a fully loaded Avenger. You have the advantage of surprise, use it! Just make sure you try to get at least most of the aliens before Turn 20 comes around (when they automatically spot you).

===Solo Missions===
; Iron Man
If you are confident in yourself, use only one soldier. Knowing when to retreat and switch weapons at the dropship is essential, but try not to get wounded. Without friends with medkits around, fatal wounds are truly fatal. Get your popcorn out people and enjoy the show!

;Chuck Norris
Your best man, a rocket launcher, grenades, and an automatic rifle. Nothing invented before about 1970. A stun rod to simulate the devastating karate attack - watch out Aliens!

;Bruce Lee
One man, one stun rod. (You might want to cheat and max out your stats first.) They won't stand a chance!

;Bozo the Clown
One man, no weapons. And pray that either some aliens died during the crash or that they are stupid enough to hit one another with their weapons.

===Large Squads===

For those that are content with small squads between 4 - 8 soldiers, break the habit and take the opposite approach. Start using large squads. Hire a large quantity of soldiers and fill the all available spaces on the transport. Rotate the entire team regularly so that there are no outstanding individuals or superstars amongst the tea.

During the battle, keep the slogan ''"There's no I in Team"'' in mind all the time. Make every effort to send out the whole squad into the battlefield and that everyone gets some piece of the action. No more than 1 rear commanders if at all possible.

The difficulties introduced here include longer turns due to the increased coordination of the larger squad. Larger squads make bigger targets and increases the danger of friendly fire. When things do go wrong, the level of severity tends to be great, with the possibility of mass hysteria. Weapon by stat assignment may also be a problem with so many troops to handle and if you are in the regular habit of rotating the team.

If you find that this makes it too easy, consider dropping your weapon technology down a few notches.

==Limited Military==

Limit X-COM to a set number of soldiers per game. Not at one time, per game. So every soldier killed or sacked is an irreplaceable resource. The easiest version of this could be 250 soldiers, maybe rolling down to as few as fifty, depends on the masochism of the player. Optionally, to help a bit, start with maximum hires by editing the starting base, or allow those who want to can increase the physical stats of soldiers up to their caps in SOLDIER.DAT if wanted and can start with maximum hires. (Leave Psi alone!) This game is winnable, but increasingly hard as you decrease troops as every man lost is a critical resource you never get back.

The very hard version of this is to try and complete the game with just the 8 soldiers you start with. It is
possible to complete the game with just one soldier if you really want to make the game harder. You better hope that he has good Psi skills as you will not find out for a few months. At least you'll have room for a 3 tanks on your Skyranger.

==Tour of Duty==

All soldiers sign up for only 15 missions in the beginning. After the soldier goes through 15 missions, they end their tour and quit X-COM for
good (are sacked) unless they have a solid ranking (sargeant or higher) . This forces purchase of new troops.
A useful challenge for savescummers to take away the edge of troops with good stats. For added difficulty try reducing the mission count or having all units be sacked after 15 missions.

==Battlescape Time Limits==

If you are used to playing the 'waiting game', pick up the pace. The Aliens aren't stupid. After 20 Turns in a UFO Ground Assault, they will take off again, leaving you empty handed (simulate this with a march back to the Transport, and Abort). After 20 Turns in a UFO Crash Recovery, the Engineers blow the reactor and destroy everything. Simulate this with a forced Abort on Turn 20, regardless of where everyone is at the time. Those who don't get airborne in the Transport are all missing or dead. Anything not hauled back to the Transport is lost.

==Harder Economics==

First of all, don't use any of the economics-related Exploits (see above). That really is cheating. For greater challenge in the strategic aspect of the game, try these scenarios:

===Funding Council Income===

Rely entirely on the Funding Nations to run your war. Details [[User:Tequilachef#Rules|here]].

Do not sell any alien equipment, corpses or UFO components. Do not sell manufactured items. Only genuine starting Earth technology (like Rifles or Avalanche Launchers) or researched aircraft (since they don't bring in money) may be sold. This makes it significantly harder. In February for example you have around $6,000,000 to cover base maintenance, wages, crafts, manufacturing and losses on the battlefield. This leaves not very much! Building new bases, hiring more engineers or just building a second laboratory is almost impossible. But it is definitely more fun than having worldwide radar coverage and 16 interceptors by the end of march.

====Funding Council Counterintelligence====

Expanding the Funding Council Income Only scenario, don't let even a single Infiltration mission succeed! If one country defects, it will start a series of events that result in X-COM being disbanded (ie. you have to start over the game). Confirmed (?) to be actually ''impossible'' on Superhuman.

===Self-raised Funds Only===

An inversion of the above. When starting a new game, use a game editor (or hex edit [[DIPLOM.DAT]]) to hack all funding countries into NOT providing ANY money. That is, all countries set to successfully infiltrated so you receive your starting funds, your starting base - and that's all the monetary support you can look forward to! You can still hire personnel, requisition equipment, build bases or base facilities, etc. but from where you get the money for it is up to you.

This way, you will be forced to live off of what you can scavenge from the battlefield and as it can barely (if even) cover your expenses, building another base or expanding your research division into even one fully staffed lab will be nigh impossible. You'll ''really'' need to watch your losses in the early months. Eventually you will probably make up for the missing money by selling Laser Cannons but setting up a large-scale manufacturing operation will still remain impossible and losing even one base will deal a near-crippling blow to your operations.

===No Commercial Manufacturing===

Slightly less strict than Funding Council Income Only: don't manufacture anything for profit, as it's too easy to become largely independent of both the Funding Nations and the need to capture alien loot for cash. If you have any surplus manufactured material you don't want laying around, you have to build a warehouse for it somewhere.

===No Laser Cannon Sales===

An easier option than the previous scenario, but still quite a challenge if you are used to relying on Laser Cannon income. This will cut your income signficantly. Alternatively, play the XComUtil variant (see below) that makes Laser Cannons unprofitable (then you don't have to resist the temptation to cheat).

===Limited Elerium===

Elerium is incredibly valuable, probably the most important strategic material ever encountered by mankind. Much too valuable for the CFN to leave it in the hands of those crazy commandos who run X-Com! The CFN governments insist on keeping most or all of the Elerium for their own use. You goet to see what it's like defending civilisation without it.

''50 Elerium Limit''

You are limited to only 50 units of Elerium for the whole game. Any surplus must be "sold" - i.e. returned to the CFN for a fraction of its real value. Keep in mind you need at least 12 units to build your Avenger, otherwise you can't win the game.

''Avenger Elerium Only''

You are only allowed to keep enough Elerium to fuel one mission of your Avenger (12 units). Everything else must be handed back to the CFN. This means you can't build anything that requires Elerium. It also means you must scavenge all the parts for your Avenger from UFOs.

''Mandatory Recycling''

As above, plus you are required to immediately hand over to the CFN ("sell") any captured items containing Elerium (except for the specific parts you need to build your ''one'' Avenger). This is so the CFN can send them to a top-secret Elerium Reprocessing plant for extraction of the precious Elerium. You are allowed to start Research projects on them when you first return them to Base, but then you must immediately hand them over to the CFN. You are not allowed to use these items (except during the actual Battlescape mission when you capture them - and even then your troops have to lie about the ammo counts and pretend the aliens fired them).

This means you can never hold any Plasma or Fusion/Blaster weapons or tanks, no Psi Amps or Mind Probes, no Stun bombs, alien grenades, Power/Flying suits. You can build a Firestorm or Lightning, but there's no point, since you can't operate it (since that expends Elerium). You can't arm your craft with Plasma Beams or Fusion Balls. Lasers are your best weapons: in the air, on your tanks, and in the hands of your troops.

As a quirk, you can still build Plasma or Fusion defences for your Bases, since those don't appear to require any Elerium. As mentioned elsewhere, perhaps these are powered by a regular power station instead of Elerium.

(If playing TFTD, you are allowed to hold one copy of an item in Stores, if it is needed to be present for a Technology advancement, but then you must sell it as soon as it is no longer needed, and you must never use it in combat.)

==Base Limitations==

===Base Defense===

Don't play base defense missions. If your Base Defence weapons can't stop the Battleship, you have to abandon the base. This is because, actually, Base Defence is too easy and just an excuse to take lots of valuables off the Aliens, and maybe capture yourself a high ranking Alien to interrogate.

===One Base===

Build only a single base. This severely limits your efficiency, as you can only build a maximum of 35 base modules. Aircraft and radar coverage will be quite limited. Particularly challenging if combined with the scenario above!

====For a real challenge...====

Build that single base in Hawaii. See below under Scott Jones' scenarios.

===Limit Base Size===

You can build as many bases as you like but each base can only be 4x4 (or for the hard version 3x3, yes it is do able just very hard) instead of the normal 6x6. This version you will have to start a game and then edit you save game to make you first base smaller. Feel free to refund the cost of any modules and crafts you don’t have room for also if you don’t have room for a lab or workshop you might want to remove your Scientist or Engineer and refund there cost as well.

3x3 notes: No using XcomUtil to let you place troops in an intercepter, just because you dont have room for 2 hangers in any one base is no reson for making it easyer, This is ment to be hard if you want 2 crafts make 2 bases you start with more money then normal you should be able to build a second base right a way only 25 days till your hanger is built.

===Earth Tech Modules Only===

Don't build modules requiring alien tech, ie. Psi Lab, Hyperwave Decoder, Plasma/Fusion Defence, Grav Shield, Mind Shield. Laser Defence is OK.

===Starting from Scratch - the No-Base Start===

This scenario starts you off with no base, but with an ample amount of starting funds to get a minimal intercept/recovery base up and running. The goal is to obviously get the organization up and running from scratch with your starting funds and then attaining self sufficiency through selling captured equipment until you're back to playing to what you may consider to be a normal game.

To create this scenario, start a brand new game and sell everything, sack all staff and remove all base modules right down to the access lift. This will [[Starting Base (EU)#Sale Value of Starting Base|net only $300K - $350K]] . You will no longer have a base on the Geoscape, but the game will not think you've lost. From here, save the game. You will then need to edit your funds accordingly to how difficult you would like to make the scenario.

The initial starting base, inclusive of all facilities, personnel and equipment, has a [[Starting Base (EU)#Replacement Cost of Starting Base|replacement cost of $7.345 to $7.795 million]], typically $7.795 million. In addition, starting cash is typically around $4 million. So anything less than $12 million in starting cash will make for a tougher than normal game.

For a player looking to play this type of scenario, a starting kitty of $5 million, or even less, should be sufficient to build XCom up from nothing. It won't be easy but it's possible. You could even play with just the roughly $4.4 million in funds that are left after fully dismantling the starting base.

Assuming you want a bigger kitty, once you've edited your funds, the scenario is ready to play. Before you start playing, consider making a backup of the save so that you can start a new no-base scenario again in the future. Or you can download this Superhuman savegame with $4.45M starting funds: [[Image:NoBaseSuperH.zip]].

The only slight downside to the No Base scenario is that your ''first'' Skyranger and Interceptor will be numbered 2 and 3 respectively.

As an added challenge, you can also chose to combine this with the no-funding-country scenario by editing all the countries so that they've all withdrawn from funding X-COM. With this, you'll truly have to live off the spoils of war to survive.

==One Mission X-COM==

A more hardline version of Funding Council Income Only, detailed [[User_talk:Arrow_Quivershaft#1_Mission_X-COM|here]]. In short, one Battleship mission, properly executed, can provide all the research needed to complete the game. The focus is on intercepting that Battleship and completing the game with only the spoils from that mission.

==No Detection==

Similar in concept to 1 Mission X-COM. No detection, and therefore no interception, of UFOs. Radar, airborne and hyperwave detection are ruled out. Almost as if the UFOs had some kind of ''stealth'' technology. This means no UFO Assault or UFO Crash Recovery missions. You are restricted to responding to Terror missions, Alien Base Assaults (when Alien Bases are detected by Agents only), and (possibly) Base Defence missions. This is quite hard as you get very little combat experience, artefacts or loot (and therefore very little cash). The Aliens also get a high score so many countries will defect. In fact, you cannot win this game, as there is no way to get UFO Navigations to build the Avenger. (Seb76's loader has 2 patches that do permit you to win: the "Roswell" UFO crashes option and an option where Base Control Tables don't explode.) More information here: [[Talk:UFO_Detection#Playing_With_No_Detection]]

==Use XComUtil Features==

[[XcomUtil]] is a game enhancer that was actually designed to make the game harder, although many of its features can be used the other way around.

===XcuSetup configuration===

When you run XcuSetup to install XComUtil a number of queries will be asked regarding which features you'll want to implement. The responses to the prompts given below will make the game harder.

*''Do you want to use the improved starting base?'' (No)

With the improved starting base you start with an [[Alien Containment]] already built, your radar is upgraded and you'll start with additional scientists and engineers. It will also be designed to maximize defense. Mainly this is just to avoid boredom and frustration, but it is also an advantage.

*''Do you want to use the alternate starting base?'' (No)

This retains the optimal defensive layout but doesn't add the extra facilities/personnel. Again, mainly to avoid frustration but if you say No you reduce your advantage and increase the challenge. At the very least you have the headache and expense of reorganising your base layout through construction and demolition.

*''Do you want to use the improved Tanks/Weapons?'' (No to both)

You forgo having tracked tanks with the armour levels of advanced hover tanks, and slightly improved Pistols and Heavy Lasers. You also forgo a crucial advantage which is the ability to crack open UFO external hulls with High Explosive - you definitely don't want that if you are looking for a harder game!

*''Do you want to use the new laser weapons?'' (Yes)

With this option chosen your lasers will require Elerium to be built (supposedly to act as power cells). This also prevents you from building plasma weapons (but not clips), thus preventing you from selling [[Plasma Pistol|Plasma Pistols]] and [[Plasma Rifle|Plasma Rifles]] since the aliens will stop using those.
It also makes [[Laser Cannon|Laser Cannons]] and [[Fusion Ball Launcher|Fusion Launchers]] a lot less attractive to sell because of the time required to build them and the [[Elerium-115|Elerium]]/[[Alien Alloys]] necessary for their construction. Be prepared for the blow on your finances...

*''Do you want research help from captured aliens?'' (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To make the game REALLY hard try this feature.
First, it will increase the research times of most items tenfold or more, especially regarding the alien technologies. Instead of having to wait days or a week for a certain technology the time will increase to months. With a little bad luck you will be stuck to lasers and no armor when the [[Muton|Mutons]] and [[Ethereal|Ethereals]] start showing up.
Second, the only way to speed research (other than having 250 scientists on all bases) is to capture live aliens, forcing you to bring a few [[Stun Rod|Stun Rods]] for all missions. It is not required to have an Alien Containment present to receive the research help but remember it only reduces the time of the research being done at your starting base.

==Scott Jones' Scenarios==
Scott T Jones, the original maker of XcomUtil, placed some interesting scenarios on the XcomUtil site. You do not need XcomUtil to follow these scenarios, you just need self-discipline to stick to the rules. Here they are:

===Xenophobe===
Don't try to capture or interrogate any aliens, and sell all alien artifacts immediately. Don't build Alien Containment. You can not win this scenario in the normal sense, since you can never discover how go to Mars (or even that you need to go there). You simply play it until you don't want to play it any more.

===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 cannot 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===
Limit yourself to only explosive weapons. This scenario forces you to learn tactics that protect you from your own weapons. It is virtually the opposite of the Bean Counter scenario.

===Photophobe===
You must not fight any battle in full daylight. If you land at a battle and an aura of light isn't 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===
Sack all of your scientists and engineers at the start of the game. You must sell all alien artifacts immediately. If you cannot buy the item, you cannot 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.

===Neo-Pacifist===
You are a Pacifist and cannot directly take the life of any living thing, even an alien. You cannot shoot down any UFO, because aliens might be killed. You cannot 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.

===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 [[UFO_Detection#UFO_Activity_Graph|how to use the graphs]] to gather information about areas in which you have no radar.

===The Kiryu-Kai Scenario===
This scenario will be based on the Kiryu Kai project which eventually was disbanded due to the failure to stop the invasion and lack of funding in 1998. Although the game starts in 1999 it really doesn't matter. So start the game in Superhuman difficulty and only have one base centred in Japan. Only use the Skyranger and Interceptor, don't use the Lightning, Firestorm or Avenger. Only use Earth Standard weaponry and don't research anything except the medikit, the motion scanner, alien lifeforms, alien origins and the Hyper-Wave Decoder. Sell all alien artefacts and weaponry and strive to play on until the Kiryu Kai (XCOM) is defeated or the Council has cut all funding. The Kiryu Kai Scenario is fun and challenging but remember, you are basically screwed from the beginning so just try to keep the Kiryu Kai existing as long as possible. - WakkaDakka

===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). Ground operations are conducted only with the small numbers of Soldiers that XComUtil allows you to place on board Interceptors (6 troops or 1 HWP + 2 troops) or Firestorms (10 troops or 1 HWP + 6 troops). 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.

==Aliens Own Earth==
In this [[Aliens Own Earth|scenario]] you start the game as normal, but the Aliens are in a very dominant position with over 20 bases already established on Earth. Survival is extremely difficult! This scenario takes a bit of work to setup before you can play, but definitely poses a serious challenge.

==Speed Run==
See how fast you can complete the game! For a very strict challenge, the clock starts when you choose a difficulty, and ends when you shoot the Brain on Cydonia.

The current record seems to be 62:21 minutes, not including save/load time, by tbgox. Yes, that's JUST over an hour of playing. He's got the videos up on youtube showing how he did it too. Good lord. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wo71zOr5aU

==Limited save/Reload==
Depending on how strict you want to be with yourself, you can ban in-battle saves, save only when you want to quit the game and get on with real life, or for the really hard core, no save/reload at all: finish the game in one sitting, possibly combining this with a [[#Speed Run|Speed Run]]. For a smaller challenge, try to keep a tally of how many times you save and reload, and see if you can minimise this number.

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

User:WakkaDakka

2015-05-18T04:57:18Z

WakkaDakka: Created page with "===WakkaDakka Information= WakkaDakka (Warhammer 40,000 Reference) is a keen XCOM Enemy Unknown player who has completed and restarted the game 1000000000000000times. WakkaDak..."

===WakkaDakka Information=
WakkaDakka (Warhammer 40,000 Reference) is a keen XCOM Enemy Unknown player who has completed and restarted the game 1000000000000000times. WakkaDakka still loves the game and has contributed to UFOPedia and is keen to help out fellow gamers. He wants everyone to at least try the Kiryu Kai Scenario because it's fun and challenging. WalkaDakka will continue to aid the UFOPedia community as much as he can and he is keen for more doses of XCOM!!!

Making the Game Harder

2015-05-18T04:46:31Z

WakkaDakka:

This page is intended for players who finish the game frequently on the highest difficulty and would like to keep the challenge alive.

Naturally it is quite easy to handicap yourself while playing the game: using only conventional weaponry, no armor, fighting only on night missions, etc. Some of these situations are detailed here, in addition to exploits/cheats/tactics that make the game easier, which you might want to refrain from using.

Feel free to try any of these ideas (or all of them!). Some may make the game very hard or even impossible to win.

== Psionics ==

=== No Offensive Psionics ===

Psionics and [[Psi-Amp]]s can completely imbalance the game in favor of the human player. Even one Psi-Amp is bad news for aliens, and with training and screening, a squad full of psionic troops can eventually mind-control all the aliens during the first turn (even [[Cyberdisc]]s and [[Sectopod]]s). This turns combat into a cakewalk, which is not nearly as much fun as sweating your way around every single corner. Therefore, one of the most important things you can do to make the game more challenging is to avoid using Psi-Amps.

=== No Psionic Screening ===

Significantly less unbalancing is the use of [[Psionic Laboratory|Psi Labs]] to screen troops (and perhaps also increase their [[Psionics#Psionic_Formulas|Psionic Defense]]). However, for an even greater challenge, you can avoid using Psi Labs altogether, which forces you to rely on combat trauma to find out which of your troops are psi weaklings.

===No Mind Probes===

Much less powerful than Psionics is the advantage from using [[Mind Probe]]s since those devices can be used to screen aliens for their rank (for capture or to identify the threat they pose), or to check if they are able to reaction fire. Mind control can also provide most of this information, so restricting use of Mind Probes is most significant when combined with a ban on Psi-Amps.

=== No Alien Psionics ===

There comes a point when your troops and tactics are so Psi-resistant that disabling Alien Psionics actually makes the game harder, because all the the Aliens are at least trying to kill you with a Heavy Plasma or a Blaster Launcher instead of wasting their time with futile Psi attacks. If you have reached this point, even in relation to Ethereals, disable all Psionics. This can be done via XcomUtil.

=== Weaker Human Psionics ===

As the XCOM franchise evolved into X-COM:Apocalypse, it was revealed that humans are intrinsically weaker than aliens, particularly Sectoids, at Psionics. Humans in Apocalypse can never become more than weak to mediocre Psi operators. Perhaps design and play experience with EU and TFTD suggested this idea to the Apocalypse designers. In EU and TFTD, Psionics / MC is yet another example of something that humans almost instantly learn to do much better than the aliens, even though the aliens have been doing it for millions of years and built their culture around it. (Other examples: UFOs/USOs, craft plasma/sonic weapons, Psi/MC tactics, wearing body armour, picking things up after being panicked/stunned... the list goes on.)

It would perhaps be more 'realistic', and certainly scary and challenging, if human Psi/MC Strength and Skill were capped much lower than aliens, for example, capped at 50 each. Various mods allow changes to skill caps. You could simply sack anyone with Psi/MC Strength higher than 50. What would be cleverer would be a mod that either generates human Psi/MC Strength in a lower range (0=50 instead of 0-100), or that applies a 50% penalty to Psi/MC success calculations for any XCOM-controlled units (humans, or human-controlled aliens).

==Don't Use Game Exploits==
Plenty of [[Exploits]] have been identified for UFO: Enemy Unknown. Their influence on [[Battlescape]]/[[Geoscape]] varies, here's a list of those that you should particularly avoid and their consequences.

===Alien Inventory Screen===

Although you are not supposed to be able to access an alien's inventory screen when you mind control it, there is a [[ExploitsB#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|way]] to do so. This allows for nasty things like priming grenades and dropping them at the feet of the alien.
Another thing to consider is to stop using [[Psionics]] all together (see above).

===Faulty Collision Detection===

A full description can be found [[Exploiting_Collison_Detection|here]]. These exploits allow you to attack through walls or other solid objects, and bypass map chokepoints (such as UFO doors) which can be used by the aliens to ambush your soldiers.

===Free Wages/Manufacturing/Fuel===

These exploits are commonly used to prevent your finances from going negative at the end of the month or to keep your planes flying for free. The [[ExploitsA#Free_Wages|Free Wages]] avoids having to pay your scientists/engineers/soldiers' salaries. Most of your monthly expenses are made of those, so having to pay for your 250 scientists makes financial matters more hard to deal with. If you have never played the game without using these exploits, you've never really played the strategic game - it is MUCH harder to succeed when you have to pay your way.

===UFO Redux===

Increases your loot, income, score and experience up to two or even three times normal, and in turn boosts your technology progress. If you haven't been using this [[ExploitsA#UFO Redux|exploit]], don't start now!

===Scared Of The Dark?===

If you regularly avoid all night missions using [[ExploitsD|these exploits]], shame on you! Grab the flares and IC rounds, and be afraid, be '''very''' afraid!

==Don't Use Beneficial XComUtil Options==

Many XComUtil options (or similar options from other 'game enhancers' or variant games) make the game easier to win. As XComUtil was designed to make the game harder, it's a shame that the options that make the game easier are not flagged up more conspicuously.

=== Improved Starting Base ===

This actually hands you $4.5 million on a plate. In fact, it's far better than $4.5 million in cash, because the stuff you would buy with the $4.5 million is already built and/or in situ in your base. This option gives you a 1-2 month head start on the aliens, who don't get any advantages. So while the intent is to alleviate boring and repetitive play for experienced players, the net effect is to reduce the challenge.

=== Alternate Starting Base ===

This option is much less of a boon, but it still in effect hands you the $800K it would cost to reorganise your normal (badly layed out) starting base. And you get to do useful things with your base instead, during the month it would've take to reorganise it. Still, this is only a minor buff, and not a big deal compared to the Improved Starting Base. And the initial base layout ''is'' infuriating.

=== Improved Tanks ===

Players often forget that they routinely take this option to give human-technology tank chassis the same armour level as the hybrid, alien-alloy-armoured tank chassis. This has a big difference on the viability of the starting tanks (Cannon Tank, Rocket Tank, Laser Tank). Scott Jones believed that these HWPs were not viable without this mod. Perhaps he was right. Nonetheless, if you use this option, you are making the early game significantly easier. Assuming you believe an HWP is better than 4 soldiers - and if you don't believe that, you shouldn't care about using this option anyway.

=== Improved Weapons ===

This option improves the Pistol, Heavy Laser, and High Explosive. The Heavy Laser mod is fairly subtle and is intended to make "an otherwise useless item, useful". It does not create an uber-weapon. The Pistol improvement is [[Talk:XcomUtil#Improved_Pistol_Modification|arguably unnecessary]] as the Pistol is [[Rifle vs Pistol|arguably already]] the most powerful starting weapon, something that was not appreciated when XComUtil was written. The High Explosive buff is downright unbalancing since it allows UFO outer hulls to be penetrated at the very start of the game, totally changing the tactics of the Battlescape in a way that the Alien AI is not prepared for, and can't respond to. If you do select this option, use it only for the Heavy Laser mod, and refrain from using Pistol autofire, and definitely refrain from using HE as an entry charge to blast holes in UFOs.

In TFTD this option gives Gauss weapons unlimited ammunition. There is still a running argument about whether Gauss weapons are worth bothering with ([[Skipping Gauss Weapons]]). So using this option might be justified. But clearly it still gives an advantage to XCom, at least until weapons better than Gauss are available. So if you want the game to be harder, don't use it.

=== Other Options To Avoid ===

* Automatically Screen for Psi Ability
* Fight All Battles In Daylight
* Fighter aircraft can carry troops / HWPs
* Skyranger can mount air to air weapons
* Troops have all-round visibility from inside transports

Actually these last three aren't even options, prior to XComUtil 9.6, they are defaults. Turning them off is hard - just don't use weapons on transports or troops/HWPs on fighters. The all round visibility is not such a big deal, but if you turn it off, you will make the game harder again.

==Firepower Adjustment==

Despites what it feels like in the early game, X-COM eventually gets access to extremely powerful weaponry that make both ground and air battles too easy.

===Avoid Heavy Plasmas===

Don't equip the majority of your squad with [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]]. If that sounds too easy, then don't use alien weapons at all.

Alternatively using UFO Extender the weight of the heavy plasma can be increased to 21 and the clip to 6. This naturally restricts the usage without affecting the aliens.

===Avoid Blaster Launchers===

To put it simply: the weapons are too powerful and thus the temptation to overuse them too great. Completely destroying a map is fun at start but butchering the aliens gets boring after a while. Either do not use the weapons, only bring 1 on each mission or restrict yourself to a low number of waypoints (e.g. a single course alteration).

===Rank-based equipment===

Only give the best stuff to officers. For example Squaddies have to use personal armors and laser rifles; rookies don't get armor at all. Advancing in ranks earns the privilege to use newest equipment. So Sergeants can use Power Suit, but not Flying Suit. Even better, only give Flying suit to your Commander. Of course, you never want to commit your most experienced troops to hazardous front line duties, so this creates extra challenge.

===Tech levels===
Limit yourself to certain "tech levels". Here's an example:
*Level 1: Coverall, genuine Earth equipment
*Level 2: Personal Armor, Laser weapons
*Level 3: Power Suit, light alien weaponry
*Level 4: Flying Suit, heavy alien weaponry
How does it work? Simply limit yourself to stopping at a certain level. Or limit yourself in the speed of advancement, i.e. one level per a half year, etc. The latter example would mean you won't get to use the best equipment for two years!!!

Alternatively, allow yourself access to only a few high-power research topics, under the grounds that they're so complex that understanding them fully takes years. (Exceptions are made for end-game requirements, of course). Research topics that are high-power (AKA game-breaking) would include anything associated with Psionics, Plasma Rifle, Heavy Plasma, Blaster Bomb, the advanced aircraft (in particular the Avenger), the Plasma Beam/FBL, Hovertanks, and the Power and Flying Suits.

===Use Unfamiliar Weapons===

Use weapons that you are not generally fond of using or are not comfortable using. Use them in greater quantities or outfit your entire team with them. This has the potential to not only make the game harder, but it may get you accustomed to how these weapons are best handled. Combine it with restrictions on plasma weapons for best results.

One excellent example is the standard [[Heavy Laser]] - not the XCOMUtil variant. It's a weapon that is often branded "useless" because it's not an ammo-less parallel of the Heavy Plasma.

Other examples include [[Heavy Cannon]]s and tanks. In particular, unmodified tanks.

===Ranged Base Accuracy===

If you are using the Collectors Edition of the game, consider making use of Seb76's loader and activate the ranged base accuracy settings. This adds new rules to shooting so that weapons will only work as advertised under a certain range, depending on the class of the weapon. Beyond these ranges, the shots start to get wilder. So while they can still hit, the odds of them hitting are reduced.

For those with other editions and can not make use of the loader, you can artificially set the ranges yourself and pick the type of shots based on the distance between you and the target.

===Extreme Weapon Scenarios===

Test your machismo by going to ridiculous lengths and see how far you can get before combat is no longer viable with a uniform weapon set whereby you limit yourself to only one type or class of weapon. In addition to making the game harder, it you may find yourself appreciating the benefits and understanding the limitations of these weapons.

Some ideas to get you started: [[Heavy Cannon]], [[Autocannon]] or a combination of both. Basic [[Rifle]]s only. Pistol sized weapons only. [[Rocket Launcher]]s only. Grenade type weapons only (note, may need an emergency ranged weapons for flyers). Consider also a pistol and grenade scenario.

A Rocket Launcher or Grenade campaign for example will have several effects. While it does make defeating enemies easy, it introduces several management twists to combat that you would not normally subject yourself to in great frequency. Like collateral damage management will be needed for each and every shot taken. Ammunition has to be strictly managed, from the item limit to its actual expenditure and portage. Loot recovery is more difficult. Some blast zone management is required to prevent loot destruction. Mind control and reaction fire become extremely hazardous.

If combined with several other challenges such as no-psi and no alien weapons, you may even have to abandon some battle if all ammunition is depleted. Even if it was going entirely in your favour.

If you plan to play through to the final mission, allow yourself the use of stun weapons for capture of all the necessary aliens.

===Human Fighter Craft Adjustments===

====Fire-mode restrictions====

'Cautious'-mode only available with long range ship weapons ([[Avalanche|Avalanche Missiles]] and the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]]). 'Aggressive'-mode with everything else, never 'standard'-mode.

Otherwise plasma beam is too powerful. Most alien ships have low range and are very fast. That they never return fire does not make any sense.

====Avenger unarmed====

The [[Avenger]] as a fighter is simply too powerful. Without the [[Avenger]], taking down a [[Battleship]] is tough! As it should be, it requires many fighters and is still difficult to pull off. This also creates a niche for base defenses.

Alternatively the [[Avenger]] can be restricted to the [[Cydonia]] mission.

====Single Plasma beam on interceptors====

If a [[Plasma Beam]] is mounted on an [[Interceptor]] the other weapon slot must carry a less powerful canon ([[Cannon]] & [[Laser Cannon]]) or remain empty.

This creates a large niche for the [[Firestorm]] and the [[Lightning]].

====Only interceptors====

To fully experience the helplessness of seeing [[Battleship]]s flying unopposed through Earth's atmosphere, don't build any [[Firestorm|Firestorms]] or [[Lightning|Lightnings]].

== Squad Management ==

===Avoid Large Squads===

Restrict your squad regarding soldiers and tanks. Never use more than 14 plane slots to bring units into a battlefield (the capacity of a Skyranger).
The logic behind this is that you can easily outnumber the aliens, especially if you are facing small UFOs thus assuring victory.
Also, smaller squads allow for quicker play (you don't have to move 26 units each turn) and they make your soldiers more memorable, since you'll remember more their heroic achievements (or stupid deaths).

===Load up your Skyrangers with maximum HWPs===

A variant of the preceding scenario, not quite so hard. Instead of bringing 14 units into a battle you'll get just 5 (3 HWPs + 2 Soldiers) or 8 (2 HWPs + 6 soldiers).

===Commando Missions===

Use as few men to complete ground missions as possible-without HWPs, of course. Stealth, patience, care and caution become the priority. Even two or three-man teams can be effective if used properly. The logic behind this is that either way, aliens are probably too busy carrying out their mission or repairing the UFO to notice the dropship approaching (as evidenced by the fact that if you go against psionic aliens, you are safe from psionic attacks as long as none of them sees you, adding an extra difficulty: you have to kill every alien from behind and with one shot so they won't turn around and see you). Plus, micromanaging a three-man team is easier than managing a fully loaded Avenger. You have the advantage of surprise, use it! Just make sure you try to get at least most of the aliens before Turn 20 comes around (when they automatically spot you).

===Solo Missions===
; Iron Man
If you are confident in yourself, use only one soldier. Knowing when to retreat and switch weapons at the dropship is essential, but try not to get wounded. Without friends with medkits around, fatal wounds are truly fatal. Get your popcorn out people and enjoy the show!

;Chuck Norris
Your best man, a rocket launcher, grenades, and an automatic rifle. Nothing invented before about 1970. A stun rod to simulate the devastating karate attack - watch out Aliens!

;Bruce Lee
One man, one stun rod. (You might want to cheat and max out your stats first.) They won't stand a chance!

;Bozo the Clown
One man, no weapons. And pray that either some aliens died during the crash or that they are stupid enough to hit one another with their weapons.

===Large Squads===

For those that are content with small squads between 4 - 8 soldiers, break the habit and take the opposite approach. Start using large squads. Hire a large quantity of soldiers and fill the all available spaces on the transport. Rotate the entire team regularly so that there are no outstanding individuals or superstars amongst the tea.

During the battle, keep the slogan ''"There's no I in Team"'' in mind all the time. Make every effort to send out the whole squad into the battlefield and that everyone gets some piece of the action. No more than 1 rear commanders if at all possible.

The difficulties introduced here include longer turns due to the increased coordination of the larger squad. Larger squads make bigger targets and increases the danger of friendly fire. When things do go wrong, the level of severity tends to be great, with the possibility of mass hysteria. Weapon by stat assignment may also be a problem with so many troops to handle and if you are in the regular habit of rotating the team.

If you find that this makes it too easy, consider dropping your weapon technology down a few notches.

==Limited Military==

Limit X-COM to a set number of soldiers per game. Not at one time, per game. So every soldier killed or sacked is an irreplaceable resource. The easiest version of this could be 250 soldiers, maybe rolling down to as few as fifty, depends on the masochism of the player. Optionally, to help a bit, start with maximum hires by editing the starting base, or allow those who want to can increase the physical stats of soldiers up to their caps in SOLDIER.DAT if wanted and can start with maximum hires. (Leave Psi alone!) This game is winnable, but increasingly hard as you decrease troops as every man lost is a critical resource you never get back.

The very hard version of this is to try and complete the game with just the 8 soldiers you start with. It is
possible to complete the game with just one soldier if you really want to make the game harder. You better hope that he has good Psi skills as you will not find out for a few months. At least you'll have room for a 3 tanks on your Skyranger.

==Tour of Duty==

All soldiers sign up for only 15 missions in the beginning. After the soldier goes through 15 missions, they end their tour and quit X-COM for
good (are sacked) unless they have a solid ranking (sargeant or higher) . This forces purchase of new troops.
A useful challenge for savescummers to take away the edge of troops with good stats. For added difficulty try reducing the mission count or having all units be sacked after 15 missions.

==Battlescape Time Limits==

If you are used to playing the 'waiting game', pick up the pace. The Aliens aren't stupid. After 20 Turns in a UFO Ground Assault, they will take off again, leaving you empty handed (simulate this with a march back to the Transport, and Abort). After 20 Turns in a UFO Crash Recovery, the Engineers blow the reactor and destroy everything. Simulate this with a forced Abort on Turn 20, regardless of where everyone is at the time. Those who don't get airborne in the Transport are all missing or dead. Anything not hauled back to the Transport is lost.

==Harder Economics==

First of all, don't use any of the economics-related Exploits (see above). That really is cheating. For greater challenge in the strategic aspect of the game, try these scenarios:

===Funding Council Income===

Rely entirely on the Funding Nations to run your war. Details [[User:Tequilachef#Rules|here]].

Do not sell any alien equipment, corpses or UFO components. Do not sell manufactured items. Only genuine starting Earth technology (like Rifles or Avalanche Launchers) or researched aircraft (since they don't bring in money) may be sold. This makes it significantly harder. In February for example you have around $6,000,000 to cover base maintenance, wages, crafts, manufacturing and losses on the battlefield. This leaves not very much! Building new bases, hiring more engineers or just building a second laboratory is almost impossible. But it is definitely more fun than having worldwide radar coverage and 16 interceptors by the end of march.

====Funding Council Counterintelligence====

Expanding the Funding Council Income Only scenario, don't let even a single Infiltration mission succeed! If one country defects, it will start a series of events that result in X-COM being disbanded (ie. you have to start over the game). Confirmed (?) to be actually ''impossible'' on Superhuman.

===Self-raised Funds Only===

An inversion of the above. When starting a new game, use a game editor (or hex edit [[DIPLOM.DAT]]) to hack all funding countries into NOT providing ANY money. That is, all countries set to successfully infiltrated so you receive your starting funds, your starting base - and that's all the monetary support you can look forward to! You can still hire personnel, requisition equipment, build bases or base facilities, etc. but from where you get the money for it is up to you.

This way, you will be forced to live off of what you can scavenge from the battlefield and as it can barely (if even) cover your expenses, building another base or expanding your research division into even one fully staffed lab will be nigh impossible. You'll ''really'' need to watch your losses in the early months. Eventually you will probably make up for the missing money by selling Laser Cannons but setting up a large-scale manufacturing operation will still remain impossible and losing even one base will deal a near-crippling blow to your operations.

===No Commercial Manufacturing===

Slightly less strict than Funding Council Income Only: don't manufacture anything for profit, as it's too easy to become largely independent of both the Funding Nations and the need to capture alien loot for cash. If you have any surplus manufactured material you don't want laying around, you have to build a warehouse for it somewhere.

===No Laser Cannon Sales===

An easier option than the previous scenario, but still quite a challenge if you are used to relying on Laser Cannon income. This will cut your income signficantly. Alternatively, play the XComUtil variant (see below) that makes Laser Cannons unprofitable (then you don't have to resist the temptation to cheat).

===Limited Elerium===

Elerium is incredibly valuable, probably the most important strategic material ever encountered by mankind. Much too valuable for the CFN to leave it in the hands of those crazy commandos who run X-Com! The CFN governments insist on keeping most or all of the Elerium for their own use. You goet to see what it's like defending civilisation without it.

''50 Elerium Limit''

You are limited to only 50 units of Elerium for the whole game. Any surplus must be "sold" - i.e. returned to the CFN for a fraction of its real value. Keep in mind you need at least 12 units to build your Avenger, otherwise you can't win the game.

''Avenger Elerium Only''

You are only allowed to keep enough Elerium to fuel one mission of your Avenger (12 units). Everything else must be handed back to the CFN. This means you can't build anything that requires Elerium. It also means you must scavenge all the parts for your Avenger from UFOs.

''Mandatory Recycling''

As above, plus you are required to immediately hand over to the CFN ("sell") any captured items containing Elerium (except for the specific parts you need to build your ''one'' Avenger). This is so the CFN can send them to a top-secret Elerium Reprocessing plant for extraction of the precious Elerium. You are allowed to start Research projects on them when you first return them to Base, but then you must immediately hand them over to the CFN. You are not allowed to use these items (except during the actual Battlescape mission when you capture them - and even then your troops have to lie about the ammo counts and pretend the aliens fired them).

This means you can never hold any Plasma or Fusion/Blaster weapons or tanks, no Psi Amps or Mind Probes, no Stun bombs, alien grenades, Power/Flying suits. You can build a Firestorm or Lightning, but there's no point, since you can't operate it (since that expends Elerium). You can't arm your craft with Plasma Beams or Fusion Balls. Lasers are your best weapons: in the air, on your tanks, and in the hands of your troops.

As a quirk, you can still build Plasma or Fusion defences for your Bases, since those don't appear to require any Elerium. As mentioned elsewhere, perhaps these are powered by a regular power station instead of Elerium.

(If playing TFTD, you are allowed to hold one copy of an item in Stores, if it is needed to be present for a Technology advancement, but then you must sell it as soon as it is no longer needed, and you must never use it in combat.)

==Base Limitations==

===Base Defense===

Don't play base defense missions. If your Base Defence weapons can't stop the Battleship, you have to abandon the base. This is because, actually, Base Defence is too easy and just an excuse to take lots of valuables off the Aliens, and maybe capture yourself a high ranking Alien to interrogate.

===One Base===

Build only a single base. This severely limits your efficiency, as you can only build a maximum of 35 base modules. Aircraft and radar coverage will be quite limited. Particularly challenging if combined with the scenario above!

====For a real challenge...====

Build that single base in Hawaii. See below under Scott Jones' scenarios.

===Limit Base Size===

You can build as many bases as you like but each base can only be 4x4 (or for the hard version 3x3, yes it is do able just very hard) instead of the normal 6x6. This version you will have to start a game and then edit you save game to make you first base smaller. Feel free to refund the cost of any modules and crafts you don’t have room for also if you don’t have room for a lab or workshop you might want to remove your Scientist or Engineer and refund there cost as well.

3x3 notes: No using XcomUtil to let you place troops in an intercepter, just because you dont have room for 2 hangers in any one base is no reson for making it easyer, This is ment to be hard if you want 2 crafts make 2 bases you start with more money then normal you should be able to build a second base right a way only 25 days till your hanger is built.

===Earth Tech Modules Only===

Don't build modules requiring alien tech, ie. Psi Lab, Hyperwave Decoder, Plasma/Fusion Defence, Grav Shield, Mind Shield. Laser Defence is OK.

===Starting from Scratch - the No-Base Start===

This scenario starts you off with no base, but with an ample amount of starting funds to get a minimal intercept/recovery base up and running. The goal is to obviously get the organization up and running from scratch with your starting funds and then attaining self sufficiency through selling captured equipment until you're back to playing to what you may consider to be a normal game.

To create this scenario, start a brand new game and sell everything, sack all staff and remove all base modules right down to the access lift. This will [[Starting Base (EU)#Sale Value of Starting Base|net only $300K - $350K]] . You will no longer have a base on the Geoscape, but the game will not think you've lost. From here, save the game. You will then need to edit your funds accordingly to how difficult you would like to make the scenario.

The initial starting base, inclusive of all facilities, personnel and equipment, has a [[Starting Base (EU)#Replacement Cost of Starting Base|replacement cost of $7.345 to $7.795 million]], typically $7.795 million. In addition, starting cash is typically around $4 million. So anything less than $12 million in starting cash will make for a tougher than normal game.

For a player looking to play this type of scenario, a starting kitty of $5 million, or even less, should be sufficient to build XCom up from nothing. It won't be easy but it's possible. You could even play with just the roughly $4.4 million in funds that are left after fully dismantling the starting base.

Assuming you want a bigger kitty, once you've edited your funds, the scenario is ready to play. Before you start playing, consider making a backup of the save so that you can start a new no-base scenario again in the future. Or you can download this Superhuman savegame with $4.45M starting funds: [[Image:NoBaseSuperH.zip]].

The only slight downside to the No Base scenario is that your ''first'' Skyranger and Interceptor will be numbered 2 and 3 respectively.

As an added challenge, you can also chose to combine this with the no-funding-country scenario by editing all the countries so that they've all withdrawn from funding X-COM. With this, you'll truly have to live off the spoils of war to survive.

==One Mission X-COM==

A more hardline version of Funding Council Income Only, detailed [[User_talk:Arrow_Quivershaft#1_Mission_X-COM|here]]. In short, one Battleship mission, properly executed, can provide all the research needed to complete the game. The focus is on intercepting that Battleship and completing the game with only the spoils from that mission.

==No Detection==

Similar in concept to 1 Mission X-COM. No detection, and therefore no interception, of UFOs. Radar, airborne and hyperwave detection are ruled out. Almost as if the UFOs had some kind of ''stealth'' technology. This means no UFO Assault or UFO Crash Recovery missions. You are restricted to responding to Terror missions, Alien Base Assaults (when Alien Bases are detected by Agents only), and (possibly) Base Defence missions. This is quite hard as you get very little combat experience, artefacts or loot (and therefore very little cash). The Aliens also get a high score so many countries will defect. In fact, you cannot win this game, as there is no way to get UFO Navigations to build the Avenger. (Seb76's loader has 2 patches that do permit you to win: the "Roswell" UFO crashes option and an option where Base Control Tables don't explode.) More information here: [[Talk:UFO_Detection#Playing_With_No_Detection]]

==Use XComUtil Features==

[[XcomUtil]] is a game enhancer that was actually designed to make the game harder, although many of its features can be used the other way around.

===XcuSetup configuration===

When you run XcuSetup to install XComUtil a number of queries will be asked regarding which features you'll want to implement. The responses to the prompts given below will make the game harder.

*''Do you want to use the improved starting base?'' (No)

With the improved starting base you start with an [[Alien Containment]] already built, your radar is upgraded and you'll start with additional scientists and engineers. It will also be designed to maximize defense. Mainly this is just to avoid boredom and frustration, but it is also an advantage.

*''Do you want to use the alternate starting base?'' (No)

This retains the optimal defensive layout but doesn't add the extra facilities/personnel. Again, mainly to avoid frustration but if you say No you reduce your advantage and increase the challenge. At the very least you have the headache and expense of reorganising your base layout through construction and demolition.

*''Do you want to use the improved Tanks/Weapons?'' (No to both)

You forgo having tracked tanks with the armour levels of advanced hover tanks, and slightly improved Pistols and Heavy Lasers. You also forgo a crucial advantage which is the ability to crack open UFO external hulls with High Explosive - you definitely don't want that if you are looking for a harder game!

*''Do you want to use the new laser weapons?'' (Yes)

With this option chosen your lasers will require Elerium to be built (supposedly to act as power cells). This also prevents you from building plasma weapons (but not clips), thus preventing you from selling [[Plasma Pistol|Plasma Pistols]] and [[Plasma Rifle|Plasma Rifles]] since the aliens will stop using those.
It also makes [[Laser Cannon|Laser Cannons]] and [[Fusion Ball Launcher|Fusion Launchers]] a lot less attractive to sell because of the time required to build them and the [[Elerium-115|Elerium]]/[[Alien Alloys]] necessary for their construction. Be prepared for the blow on your finances...

*''Do you want research help from captured aliens?'' (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To make the game REALLY hard try this feature.
First, it will increase the research times of most items tenfold or more, especially regarding the alien technologies. Instead of having to wait days or a week for a certain technology the time will increase to months. With a little bad luck you will be stuck to lasers and no armor when the [[Muton|Mutons]] and [[Ethereal|Ethereals]] start showing up.
Second, the only way to speed research (other than having 250 scientists on all bases) is to capture live aliens, forcing you to bring a few [[Stun Rod|Stun Rods]] for all missions. It is not required to have an Alien Containment present to receive the research help but remember it only reduces the time of the research being done at your starting base.

==Scott Jones' Scenarios==
Scott T Jones, the original maker of XcomUtil, placed some interesting scenarios on the XcomUtil site. You do not need XcomUtil to follow these scenarios, you just need self-discipline to stick to the rules. Here they are:

===Xenophobe===
Don't try to capture or interrogate any aliens, and sell all alien artifacts immediately. Don't build Alien Containment. You can not win this scenario in the normal sense, since you can never discover how go to Mars (or even that you need to go there). You simply play it until you don't want to play it any more.

===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 cannot 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===
Limit yourself to only explosive weapons. This scenario forces you to learn tactics that protect you from your own weapons. It is virtually the opposite of the Bean Counter scenario.

===Photophobe===
You must not fight any battle in full daylight. If you land at a battle and an aura of light isn't 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===
Sack all of your scientists and engineers at the start of the game. You must sell all alien artifacts immediately. If you cannot buy the item, you cannot 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.

===Neo-Pacifist===
You are a Pacifist and cannot directly take the life of any living thing, even an alien. You cannot shoot down any UFO, because aliens might be killed. You cannot 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.

===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 [[UFO_Detection#UFO_Activity_Graph|how to use the graphs]] to gather information about areas in which you have no radar.

===The Kiryu-Kai===
This scenario will be based on the Kiryu Kai project which eventually was disbanded due to the failure to stop the invasion and lack of funding in 1998. Although the game starts in 1999 it really doesn't matter. So start the game in Superhuman difficulty and only have one base centred in Japan. Only use the Skyranger and Interceptor, don't use the Lightning, Firestorm or Avenger. Only use Earth Standard weaponry and don't research anything except the medikit, the motion scanner, alien lifeforms and alien origins. Sell all alien artefacts and weaponry and strive to play on until the Kiryu Kai (XCOM) is defeated or the Council has cut all funding. This scenario will basically lead to the defeat of the Kiryu Kai and their attempts to take out as many of the alien foe as they can.

===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). Ground operations are conducted only with the small numbers of Soldiers that XComUtil allows you to place on board Interceptors (6 troops or 1 HWP + 2 troops) or Firestorms (10 troops or 1 HWP + 6 troops). 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.

==Aliens Own Earth==
In this [[Aliens Own Earth|scenario]] you start the game as normal, but the Aliens are in a very dominant position with over 20 bases already established on Earth. Survival is extremely difficult! This scenario takes a bit of work to setup before you can play, but definitely poses a serious challenge.

==Speed Run==
See how fast you can complete the game! For a very strict challenge, the clock starts when you choose a difficulty, and ends when you shoot the Brain on Cydonia.

The current record seems to be 62:21 minutes, not including save/load time, by tbgox. Yes, that's JUST over an hour of playing. He's got the videos up on youtube showing how he did it too. Good lord. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wo71zOr5aU

==Limited save/Reload==
Depending on how strict you want to be with yourself, you can ban in-battle saves, save only when you want to quit the game and get on with real life, or for the really hard core, no save/reload at all: finish the game in one sitting, possibly combining this with a [[#Speed Run|Speed Run]]. For a smaller challenge, try to keep a tally of how many times you save and reload, and see if you can minimise this number.

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Making the Game Harder

2015-05-18T04:42:12Z

WakkaDakka: Kiryu Kai Scenario Add-On

This page is intended for players who finish the game frequently on the highest difficulty and would like to keep the challenge alive.

Naturally it is quite easy to handicap yourself while playing the game: using only conventional weaponry, no armor, fighting only on night missions, etc. Some of these situations are detailed here, in addition to exploits/cheats/tactics that make the game easier, which you might want to refrain from using.

Feel free to try any of these ideas (or all of them!). Some may make the game very hard or even impossible to win.

== Psionics ==

=== No Offensive Psionics ===

Psionics and [[Psi-Amp]]s can completely imbalance the game in favor of the human player. Even one Psi-Amp is bad news for aliens, and with training and screening, a squad full of psionic troops can eventually mind-control all the aliens during the first turn (even [[Cyberdisc]]s and [[Sectopod]]s). This turns combat into a cakewalk, which is not nearly as much fun as sweating your way around every single corner. Therefore, one of the most important things you can do to make the game more challenging is to avoid using Psi-Amps.

=== No Psionic Screening ===

Significantly less unbalancing is the use of [[Psionic Laboratory|Psi Labs]] to screen troops (and perhaps also increase their [[Psionics#Psionic_Formulas|Psionic Defense]]). However, for an even greater challenge, you can avoid using Psi Labs altogether, which forces you to rely on combat trauma to find out which of your troops are psi weaklings.

===No Mind Probes===

Much less powerful than Psionics is the advantage from using [[Mind Probe]]s since those devices can be used to screen aliens for their rank (for capture or to identify the threat they pose), or to check if they are able to reaction fire. Mind control can also provide most of this information, so restricting use of Mind Probes is most significant when combined with a ban on Psi-Amps.

=== No Alien Psionics ===

There comes a point when your troops and tactics are so Psi-resistant that disabling Alien Psionics actually makes the game harder, because all the the Aliens are at least trying to kill you with a Heavy Plasma or a Blaster Launcher instead of wasting their time with futile Psi attacks. If you have reached this point, even in relation to Ethereals, disable all Psionics. This can be done via XcomUtil.

=== Weaker Human Psionics ===

As the XCOM franchise evolved into X-COM:Apocalypse, it was revealed that humans are intrinsically weaker than aliens, particularly Sectoids, at Psionics. Humans in Apocalypse can never become more than weak to mediocre Psi operators. Perhaps design and play experience with EU and TFTD suggested this idea to the Apocalypse designers. In EU and TFTD, Psionics / MC is yet another example of something that humans almost instantly learn to do much better than the aliens, even though the aliens have been doing it for millions of years and built their culture around it. (Other examples: UFOs/USOs, craft plasma/sonic weapons, Psi/MC tactics, wearing body armour, picking things up after being panicked/stunned... the list goes on.)

It would perhaps be more 'realistic', and certainly scary and challenging, if human Psi/MC Strength and Skill were capped much lower than aliens, for example, capped at 50 each. Various mods allow changes to skill caps. You could simply sack anyone with Psi/MC Strength higher than 50. What would be cleverer would be a mod that either generates human Psi/MC Strength in a lower range (0=50 instead of 0-100), or that applies a 50% penalty to Psi/MC success calculations for any XCOM-controlled units (humans, or human-controlled aliens).

==Don't Use Game Exploits==
Plenty of [[Exploits]] have been identified for UFO: Enemy Unknown. Their influence on [[Battlescape]]/[[Geoscape]] varies, here's a list of those that you should particularly avoid and their consequences.

===Alien Inventory Screen===

Although you are not supposed to be able to access an alien's inventory screen when you mind control it, there is a [[ExploitsB#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|way]] to do so. This allows for nasty things like priming grenades and dropping them at the feet of the alien.
Another thing to consider is to stop using [[Psionics]] all together (see above).

===Faulty Collision Detection===

A full description can be found [[Exploiting_Collison_Detection|here]]. These exploits allow you to attack through walls or other solid objects, and bypass map chokepoints (such as UFO doors) which can be used by the aliens to ambush your soldiers.

===Free Wages/Manufacturing/Fuel===

These exploits are commonly used to prevent your finances from going negative at the end of the month or to keep your planes flying for free. The [[ExploitsA#Free_Wages|Free Wages]] avoids having to pay your scientists/engineers/soldiers' salaries. Most of your monthly expenses are made of those, so having to pay for your 250 scientists makes financial matters more hard to deal with. If you have never played the game without using these exploits, you've never really played the strategic game - it is MUCH harder to succeed when you have to pay your way.

===UFO Redux===

Increases your loot, income, score and experience up to two or even three times normal, and in turn boosts your technology progress. If you haven't been using this [[ExploitsA#UFO Redux|exploit]], don't start now!

===Scared Of The Dark?===

If you regularly avoid all night missions using [[ExploitsD|these exploits]], shame on you! Grab the flares and IC rounds, and be afraid, be '''very''' afraid!

==Don't Use Beneficial XComUtil Options==

Many XComUtil options (or similar options from other 'game enhancers' or variant games) make the game easier to win. As XComUtil was designed to make the game harder, it's a shame that the options that make the game easier are not flagged up more conspicuously.

=== Improved Starting Base ===

This actually hands you $4.5 million on a plate. In fact, it's far better than $4.5 million in cash, because the stuff you would buy with the $4.5 million is already built and/or in situ in your base. This option gives you a 1-2 month head start on the aliens, who don't get any advantages. So while the intent is to alleviate boring and repetitive play for experienced players, the net effect is to reduce the challenge.

=== Alternate Starting Base ===

This option is much less of a boon, but it still in effect hands you the $800K it would cost to reorganise your normal (badly layed out) starting base. And you get to do useful things with your base instead, during the month it would've take to reorganise it. Still, this is only a minor buff, and not a big deal compared to the Improved Starting Base. And the initial base layout ''is'' infuriating.

=== Improved Tanks ===

Players often forget that they routinely take this option to give human-technology tank chassis the same armour level as the hybrid, alien-alloy-armoured tank chassis. This has a big difference on the viability of the starting tanks (Cannon Tank, Rocket Tank, Laser Tank). Scott Jones believed that these HWPs were not viable without this mod. Perhaps he was right. Nonetheless, if you use this option, you are making the early game significantly easier. Assuming you believe an HWP is better than 4 soldiers - and if you don't believe that, you shouldn't care about using this option anyway.

=== Improved Weapons ===

This option improves the Pistol, Heavy Laser, and High Explosive. The Heavy Laser mod is fairly subtle and is intended to make "an otherwise useless item, useful". It does not create an uber-weapon. The Pistol improvement is [[Talk:XcomUtil#Improved_Pistol_Modification|arguably unnecessary]] as the Pistol is [[Rifle vs Pistol|arguably already]] the most powerful starting weapon, something that was not appreciated when XComUtil was written. The High Explosive buff is downright unbalancing since it allows UFO outer hulls to be penetrated at the very start of the game, totally changing the tactics of the Battlescape in a way that the Alien AI is not prepared for, and can't respond to. If you do select this option, use it only for the Heavy Laser mod, and refrain from using Pistol autofire, and definitely refrain from using HE as an entry charge to blast holes in UFOs.

In TFTD this option gives Gauss weapons unlimited ammunition. There is still a running argument about whether Gauss weapons are worth bothering with ([[Skipping Gauss Weapons]]). So using this option might be justified. But clearly it still gives an advantage to XCom, at least until weapons better than Gauss are available. So if you want the game to be harder, don't use it.

=== Other Options To Avoid ===

* Automatically Screen for Psi Ability
* Fight All Battles In Daylight
* Fighter aircraft can carry troops / HWPs
* Skyranger can mount air to air weapons
* Troops have all-round visibility from inside transports

Actually these last three aren't even options, prior to XComUtil 9.6, they are defaults. Turning them off is hard - just don't use weapons on transports or troops/HWPs on fighters. The all round visibility is not such a big deal, but if you turn it off, you will make the game harder again.

==Firepower Adjustment==

Despites what it feels like in the early game, X-COM eventually gets access to extremely powerful weaponry that make both ground and air battles too easy.

===Avoid Heavy Plasmas===

Don't equip the majority of your squad with [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]]. If that sounds too easy, then don't use alien weapons at all.

Alternatively using UFO Extender the weight of the heavy plasma can be increased to 21 and the clip to 6. This naturally restricts the usage without affecting the aliens.

===Avoid Blaster Launchers===

To put it simply: the weapons are too powerful and thus the temptation to overuse them too great. Completely destroying a map is fun at start but butchering the aliens gets boring after a while. Either do not use the weapons, only bring 1 on each mission or restrict yourself to a low number of waypoints (e.g. a single course alteration).

===Rank-based equipment===

Only give the best stuff to officers. For example Squaddies have to use personal armors and laser rifles; rookies don't get armor at all. Advancing in ranks earns the privilege to use newest equipment. So Sergeants can use Power Suit, but not Flying Suit. Even better, only give Flying suit to your Commander. Of course, you never want to commit your most experienced troops to hazardous front line duties, so this creates extra challenge.

===Tech levels===
Limit yourself to certain "tech levels". Here's an example:
*Level 1: Coverall, genuine Earth equipment
*Level 2: Personal Armor, Laser weapons
*Level 3: Power Suit, light alien weaponry
*Level 4: Flying Suit, heavy alien weaponry
How does it work? Simply limit yourself to stopping at a certain level. Or limit yourself in the speed of advancement, i.e. one level per a half year, etc. The latter example would mean you won't get to use the best equipment for two years!!!

Alternatively, allow yourself access to only a few high-power research topics, under the grounds that they're so complex that understanding them fully takes years. (Exceptions are made for end-game requirements, of course). Research topics that are high-power (AKA game-breaking) would include anything associated with Psionics, Plasma Rifle, Heavy Plasma, Blaster Bomb, the advanced aircraft (in particular the Avenger), the Plasma Beam/FBL, Hovertanks, and the Power and Flying Suits.

===Use Unfamiliar Weapons===

Use weapons that you are not generally fond of using or are not comfortable using. Use them in greater quantities or outfit your entire team with them. This has the potential to not only make the game harder, but it may get you accustomed to how these weapons are best handled. Combine it with restrictions on plasma weapons for best results.

One excellent example is the standard [[Heavy Laser]] - not the XCOMUtil variant. It's a weapon that is often branded "useless" because it's not an ammo-less parallel of the Heavy Plasma.

Other examples include [[Heavy Cannon]]s and tanks. In particular, unmodified tanks.

===Ranged Base Accuracy===

If you are using the Collectors Edition of the game, consider making use of Seb76's loader and activate the ranged base accuracy settings. This adds new rules to shooting so that weapons will only work as advertised under a certain range, depending on the class of the weapon. Beyond these ranges, the shots start to get wilder. So while they can still hit, the odds of them hitting are reduced.

For those with other editions and can not make use of the loader, you can artificially set the ranges yourself and pick the type of shots based on the distance between you and the target.

===Extreme Weapon Scenarios===

Test your machismo by going to ridiculous lengths and see how far you can get before combat is no longer viable with a uniform weapon set whereby you limit yourself to only one type or class of weapon. In addition to making the game harder, it you may find yourself appreciating the benefits and understanding the limitations of these weapons.

Some ideas to get you started: [[Heavy Cannon]], [[Autocannon]] or a combination of both. Basic [[Rifle]]s only. Pistol sized weapons only. [[Rocket Launcher]]s only. Grenade type weapons only (note, may need an emergency ranged weapons for flyers). Consider also a pistol and grenade scenario.

A Rocket Launcher or Grenade campaign for example will have several effects. While it does make defeating enemies easy, it introduces several management twists to combat that you would not normally subject yourself to in great frequency. Like collateral damage management will be needed for each and every shot taken. Ammunition has to be strictly managed, from the item limit to its actual expenditure and portage. Loot recovery is more difficult. Some blast zone management is required to prevent loot destruction. Mind control and reaction fire become extremely hazardous.

If combined with several other challenges such as no-psi and no alien weapons, you may even have to abandon some battle if all ammunition is depleted. Even if it was going entirely in your favour.

If you plan to play through to the final mission, allow yourself the use of stun weapons for capture of all the necessary aliens.

===Human Fighter Craft Adjustments===

====Fire-mode restrictions====

'Cautious'-mode only available with long range ship weapons ([[Avalanche|Avalanche Missiles]] and the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]]). 'Aggressive'-mode with everything else, never 'standard'-mode.

Otherwise plasma beam is too powerful. Most alien ships have low range and are very fast. That they never return fire does not make any sense.

====Avenger unarmed====

The [[Avenger]] as a fighter is simply too powerful. Without the [[Avenger]], taking down a [[Battleship]] is tough! As it should be, it requires many fighters and is still difficult to pull off. This also creates a niche for base defenses.

Alternatively the [[Avenger]] can be restricted to the [[Cydonia]] mission.

====Single Plasma beam on interceptors====

If a [[Plasma Beam]] is mounted on an [[Interceptor]] the other weapon slot must carry a less powerful canon ([[Cannon]] & [[Laser Cannon]]) or remain empty.

This creates a large niche for the [[Firestorm]] and the [[Lightning]].

====Only interceptors====

To fully experience the helplessness of seeing [[Battleship]]s flying unopposed through Earth's atmosphere, don't build any [[Firestorm|Firestorms]] or [[Lightning|Lightnings]].

== Squad Management ==

===Avoid Large Squads===

Restrict your squad regarding soldiers and tanks. Never use more than 14 plane slots to bring units into a battlefield (the capacity of a Skyranger).
The logic behind this is that you can easily outnumber the aliens, especially if you are facing small UFOs thus assuring victory.
Also, smaller squads allow for quicker play (you don't have to move 26 units each turn) and they make your soldiers more memorable, since you'll remember more their heroic achievements (or stupid deaths).

===Load up your Skyrangers with maximum HWPs===

A variant of the preceding scenario, not quite so hard. Instead of bringing 14 units into a battle you'll get just 5 (3 HWPs + 2 Soldiers) or 8 (2 HWPs + 6 soldiers).

===Commando Missions===

Use as few men to complete ground missions as possible-without HWPs, of course. Stealth, patience, care and caution become the priority. Even two or three-man teams can be effective if used properly. The logic behind this is that either way, aliens are probably too busy carrying out their mission or repairing the UFO to notice the dropship approaching (as evidenced by the fact that if you go against psionic aliens, you are safe from psionic attacks as long as none of them sees you, adding an extra difficulty: you have to kill every alien from behind and with one shot so they won't turn around and see you). Plus, micromanaging a three-man team is easier than managing a fully loaded Avenger. You have the advantage of surprise, use it! Just make sure you try to get at least most of the aliens before Turn 20 comes around (when they automatically spot you).

===Solo Missions===
; Iron Man
If you are confident in yourself, use only one soldier. Knowing when to retreat and switch weapons at the dropship is essential, but try not to get wounded. Without friends with medkits around, fatal wounds are truly fatal. Get your popcorn out people and enjoy the show!

;Chuck Norris
Your best man, a rocket launcher, grenades, and an automatic rifle. Nothing invented before about 1970. A stun rod to simulate the devastating karate attack - watch out Aliens!

;Bruce Lee
One man, one stun rod. (You might want to cheat and max out your stats first.) They won't stand a chance!

;Bozo the Clown
One man, no weapons. And pray that either some aliens died during the crash or that they are stupid enough to hit one another with their weapons.

===Large Squads===

For those that are content with small squads between 4 - 8 soldiers, break the habit and take the opposite approach. Start using large squads. Hire a large quantity of soldiers and fill the all available spaces on the transport. Rotate the entire team regularly so that there are no outstanding individuals or superstars amongst the tea.

During the battle, keep the slogan ''"There's no I in Team"'' in mind all the time. Make every effort to send out the whole squad into the battlefield and that everyone gets some piece of the action. No more than 1 rear commanders if at all possible.

The difficulties introduced here include longer turns due to the increased coordination of the larger squad. Larger squads make bigger targets and increases the danger of friendly fire. When things do go wrong, the level of severity tends to be great, with the possibility of mass hysteria. Weapon by stat assignment may also be a problem with so many troops to handle and if you are in the regular habit of rotating the team.

If you find that this makes it too easy, consider dropping your weapon technology down a few notches.

==Limited Military==

Limit X-COM to a set number of soldiers per game. Not at one time, per game. So every soldier killed or sacked is an irreplaceable resource. The easiest version of this could be 250 soldiers, maybe rolling down to as few as fifty, depends on the masochism of the player. Optionally, to help a bit, start with maximum hires by editing the starting base, or allow those who want to can increase the physical stats of soldiers up to their caps in SOLDIER.DAT if wanted and can start with maximum hires. (Leave Psi alone!) This game is winnable, but increasingly hard as you decrease troops as every man lost is a critical resource you never get back.

The very hard version of this is to try and complete the game with just the 8 soldiers you start with. It is
possible to complete the game with just one soldier if you really want to make the game harder. You better hope that he has good Psi skills as you will not find out for a few months. At least you'll have room for a 3 tanks on your Skyranger.

==Tour of Duty==

All soldiers sign up for only 15 missions in the beginning. After the soldier goes through 15 missions, they end their tour and quit X-COM for
good (are sacked) unless they have a solid ranking (sargeant or higher) . This forces purchase of new troops.
A useful challenge for savescummers to take away the edge of troops with good stats. For added difficulty try reducing the mission count or having all units be sacked after 15 missions.

==Battlescape Time Limits==

If you are used to playing the 'waiting game', pick up the pace. The Aliens aren't stupid. After 20 Turns in a UFO Ground Assault, they will take off again, leaving you empty handed (simulate this with a march back to the Transport, and Abort). After 20 Turns in a UFO Crash Recovery, the Engineers blow the reactor and destroy everything. Simulate this with a forced Abort on Turn 20, regardless of where everyone is at the time. Those who don't get airborne in the Transport are all missing or dead. Anything not hauled back to the Transport is lost.

==Harder Economics==

First of all, don't use any of the economics-related Exploits (see above). That really is cheating. For greater challenge in the strategic aspect of the game, try these scenarios:

===Funding Council Income===

Rely entirely on the Funding Nations to run your war. Details [[User:Tequilachef#Rules|here]].

Do not sell any alien equipment, corpses or UFO components. Do not sell manufactured items. Only genuine starting Earth technology (like Rifles or Avalanche Launchers) or researched aircraft (since they don't bring in money) may be sold. This makes it significantly harder. In February for example you have around $6,000,000 to cover base maintenance, wages, crafts, manufacturing and losses on the battlefield. This leaves not very much! Building new bases, hiring more engineers or just building a second laboratory is almost impossible. But it is definitely more fun than having worldwide radar coverage and 16 interceptors by the end of march.

====Funding Council Counterintelligence====

Expanding the Funding Council Income Only scenario, don't let even a single Infiltration mission succeed! If one country defects, it will start a series of events that result in X-COM being disbanded (ie. you have to start over the game). Confirmed (?) to be actually ''impossible'' on Superhuman.

===Self-raised Funds Only===

An inversion of the above. When starting a new game, use a game editor (or hex edit [[DIPLOM.DAT]]) to hack all funding countries into NOT providing ANY money. That is, all countries set to successfully infiltrated so you receive your starting funds, your starting base - and that's all the monetary support you can look forward to! You can still hire personnel, requisition equipment, build bases or base facilities, etc. but from where you get the money for it is up to you.

This way, you will be forced to live off of what you can scavenge from the battlefield and as it can barely (if even) cover your expenses, building another base or expanding your research division into even one fully staffed lab will be nigh impossible. You'll ''really'' need to watch your losses in the early months. Eventually you will probably make up for the missing money by selling Laser Cannons but setting up a large-scale manufacturing operation will still remain impossible and losing even one base will deal a near-crippling blow to your operations.

===No Commercial Manufacturing===

Slightly less strict than Funding Council Income Only: don't manufacture anything for profit, as it's too easy to become largely independent of both the Funding Nations and the need to capture alien loot for cash. If you have any surplus manufactured material you don't want laying around, you have to build a warehouse for it somewhere.

===No Laser Cannon Sales===

An easier option than the previous scenario, but still quite a challenge if you are used to relying on Laser Cannon income. This will cut your income signficantly. Alternatively, play the XComUtil variant (see below) that makes Laser Cannons unprofitable (then you don't have to resist the temptation to cheat).

===Limited Elerium===

Elerium is incredibly valuable, probably the most important strategic material ever encountered by mankind. Much too valuable for the CFN to leave it in the hands of those crazy commandos who run X-Com! The CFN governments insist on keeping most or all of the Elerium for their own use. You goet to see what it's like defending civilisation without it.

''50 Elerium Limit''

You are limited to only 50 units of Elerium for the whole game. Any surplus must be "sold" - i.e. returned to the CFN for a fraction of its real value. Keep in mind you need at least 12 units to build your Avenger, otherwise you can't win the game.

''Avenger Elerium Only''

You are only allowed to keep enough Elerium to fuel one mission of your Avenger (12 units). Everything else must be handed back to the CFN. This means you can't build anything that requires Elerium. It also means you must scavenge all the parts for your Avenger from UFOs.

''Mandatory Recycling''

As above, plus you are required to immediately hand over to the CFN ("sell") any captured items containing Elerium (except for the specific parts you need to build your ''one'' Avenger). This is so the CFN can send them to a top-secret Elerium Reprocessing plant for extraction of the precious Elerium. You are allowed to start Research projects on them when you first return them to Base, but then you must immediately hand them over to the CFN. You are not allowed to use these items (except during the actual Battlescape mission when you capture them - and even then your troops have to lie about the ammo counts and pretend the aliens fired them).

This means you can never hold any Plasma or Fusion/Blaster weapons or tanks, no Psi Amps or Mind Probes, no Stun bombs, alien grenades, Power/Flying suits. You can build a Firestorm or Lightning, but there's no point, since you can't operate it (since that expends Elerium). You can't arm your craft with Plasma Beams or Fusion Balls. Lasers are your best weapons: in the air, on your tanks, and in the hands of your troops.

As a quirk, you can still build Plasma or Fusion defences for your Bases, since those don't appear to require any Elerium. As mentioned elsewhere, perhaps these are powered by a regular power station instead of Elerium.

(If playing TFTD, you are allowed to hold one copy of an item in Stores, if it is needed to be present for a Technology advancement, but then you must sell it as soon as it is no longer needed, and you must never use it in combat.)

==Base Limitations==

===Base Defense===

Don't play base defense missions. If your Base Defence weapons can't stop the Battleship, you have to abandon the base. This is because, actually, Base Defence is too easy and just an excuse to take lots of valuables off the Aliens, and maybe capture yourself a high ranking Alien to interrogate.

===One Base===

Build only a single base. This severely limits your efficiency, as you can only build a maximum of 35 base modules. Aircraft and radar coverage will be quite limited. Particularly challenging if combined with the scenario above!

====For a real challenge...====

Build that single base in Hawaii. See below under Scott Jones' scenarios.

===Limit Base Size===

You can build as many bases as you like but each base can only be 4x4 (or for the hard version 3x3, yes it is do able just very hard) instead of the normal 6x6. This version you will have to start a game and then edit you save game to make you first base smaller. Feel free to refund the cost of any modules and crafts you don’t have room for also if you don’t have room for a lab or workshop you might want to remove your Scientist or Engineer and refund there cost as well.

3x3 notes: No using XcomUtil to let you place troops in an intercepter, just because you dont have room for 2 hangers in any one base is no reson for making it easyer, This is ment to be hard if you want 2 crafts make 2 bases you start with more money then normal you should be able to build a second base right a way only 25 days till your hanger is built.

===Earth Tech Modules Only===

Don't build modules requiring alien tech, ie. Psi Lab, Hyperwave Decoder, Plasma/Fusion Defence, Grav Shield, Mind Shield. Laser Defence is OK.

===Starting from Scratch - the No-Base Start===

This scenario starts you off with no base, but with an ample amount of starting funds to get a minimal intercept/recovery base up and running. The goal is to obviously get the organization up and running from scratch with your starting funds and then attaining self sufficiency through selling captured equipment until you're back to playing to what you may consider to be a normal game.

To create this scenario, start a brand new game and sell everything, sack all staff and remove all base modules right down to the access lift. This will [[Starting Base (EU)#Sale Value of Starting Base|net only $300K - $350K]] . You will no longer have a base on the Geoscape, but the game will not think you've lost. From here, save the game. You will then need to edit your funds accordingly to how difficult you would like to make the scenario.

The initial starting base, inclusive of all facilities, personnel and equipment, has a [[Starting Base (EU)#Replacement Cost of Starting Base|replacement cost of $7.345 to $7.795 million]], typically $7.795 million. In addition, starting cash is typically around $4 million. So anything less than $12 million in starting cash will make for a tougher than normal game.

For a player looking to play this type of scenario, a starting kitty of $5 million, or even less, should be sufficient to build XCom up from nothing. It won't be easy but it's possible. You could even play with just the roughly $4.4 million in funds that are left after fully dismantling the starting base.

Assuming you want a bigger kitty, once you've edited your funds, the scenario is ready to play. Before you start playing, consider making a backup of the save so that you can start a new no-base scenario again in the future. Or you can download this Superhuman savegame with $4.45M starting funds: [[Image:NoBaseSuperH.zip]].

The only slight downside to the No Base scenario is that your ''first'' Skyranger and Interceptor will be numbered 2 and 3 respectively.

As an added challenge, you can also chose to combine this with the no-funding-country scenario by editing all the countries so that they've all withdrawn from funding X-COM. With this, you'll truly have to live off the spoils of war to survive.

==One Mission X-COM==

A more hardline version of Funding Council Income Only, detailed [[User_talk:Arrow_Quivershaft#1_Mission_X-COM|here]]. In short, one Battleship mission, properly executed, can provide all the research needed to complete the game. The focus is on intercepting that Battleship and completing the game with only the spoils from that mission.

==No Detection==

Similar in concept to 1 Mission X-COM. No detection, and therefore no interception, of UFOs. Radar, airborne and hyperwave detection are ruled out. Almost as if the UFOs had some kind of ''stealth'' technology. This means no UFO Assault or UFO Crash Recovery missions. You are restricted to responding to Terror missions, Alien Base Assaults (when Alien Bases are detected by Agents only), and (possibly) Base Defence missions. This is quite hard as you get very little combat experience, artefacts or loot (and therefore very little cash). The Aliens also get a high score so many countries will defect. In fact, you cannot win this game, as there is no way to get UFO Navigations to build the Avenger. (Seb76's loader has 2 patches that do permit you to win: the "Roswell" UFO crashes option and an option where Base Control Tables don't explode.) More information here: [[Talk:UFO_Detection#Playing_With_No_Detection]]

==Use XComUtil Features==

[[XcomUtil]] is a game enhancer that was actually designed to make the game harder, although many of its features can be used the other way around.

===XcuSetup configuration===

When you run XcuSetup to install XComUtil a number of queries will be asked regarding which features you'll want to implement. The responses to the prompts given below will make the game harder.

*''Do you want to use the improved starting base?'' (No)

With the improved starting base you start with an [[Alien Containment]] already built, your radar is upgraded and you'll start with additional scientists and engineers. It will also be designed to maximize defense. Mainly this is just to avoid boredom and frustration, but it is also an advantage.

*''Do you want to use the alternate starting base?'' (No)

This retains the optimal defensive layout but doesn't add the extra facilities/personnel. Again, mainly to avoid frustration but if you say No you reduce your advantage and increase the challenge. At the very least you have the headache and expense of reorganising your base layout through construction and demolition.

*''Do you want to use the improved Tanks/Weapons?'' (No to both)

You forgo having tracked tanks with the armour levels of advanced hover tanks, and slightly improved Pistols and Heavy Lasers. You also forgo a crucial advantage which is the ability to crack open UFO external hulls with High Explosive - you definitely don't want that if you are looking for a harder game!

*''Do you want to use the new laser weapons?'' (Yes)

With this option chosen your lasers will require Elerium to be built (supposedly to act as power cells). This also prevents you from building plasma weapons (but not clips), thus preventing you from selling [[Plasma Pistol|Plasma Pistols]] and [[Plasma Rifle|Plasma Rifles]] since the aliens will stop using those.
It also makes [[Laser Cannon|Laser Cannons]] and [[Fusion Ball Launcher|Fusion Launchers]] a lot less attractive to sell because of the time required to build them and the [[Elerium-115|Elerium]]/[[Alien Alloys]] necessary for their construction. Be prepared for the blow on your finances...

*''Do you want research help from captured aliens?'' (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To make the game REALLY hard try this feature.
First, it will increase the research times of most items tenfold or more, especially regarding the alien technologies. Instead of having to wait days or a week for a certain technology the time will increase to months. With a little bad luck you will be stuck to lasers and no armor when the [[Muton|Mutons]] and [[Ethereal|Ethereals]] start showing up.
Second, the only way to speed research (other than having 250 scientists on all bases) is to capture live aliens, forcing you to bring a few [[Stun Rod|Stun Rods]] for all missions. It is not required to have an Alien Containment present to receive the research help but remember it only reduces the time of the research being done at your starting base.

==Scott Jones' Scenarios==
Scott T Jones, the original maker of XcomUtil, placed some interesting scenarios on the XcomUtil site. You do not need XcomUtil to follow these scenarios, you just need self-discipline to stick to the rules. Here they are:

===Xenophobe===
Don't try to capture or interrogate any aliens, and sell all alien artifacts immediately. Don't build Alien Containment. You can not win this scenario in the normal sense, since you can never discover how go to Mars (or even that you need to go there). You simply play it until you don't want to play it any more.

===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 cannot 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===
Limit yourself to only explosive weapons. This scenario forces you to learn tactics that protect you from your own weapons. It is virtually the opposite of the Bean Counter scenario.

===Photophobe===
You must not fight any battle in full daylight. If you land at a battle and an aura of light isn't 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===
Sack all of your scientists and engineers at the start of the game. You must sell all alien artifacts immediately. If you cannot buy the item, you cannot 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.

===Neo-Pacifist===
You are a Pacifist and cannot directly take the life of any living thing, even an alien. You cannot shoot down any UFO, because aliens might be killed. You cannot 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.

===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 [[UFO_Detection#UFO_Activity_Graph|how to use the graphs]] to gather information about areas in which you have no radar.

===The Kiryu-Kai===
This scenario will be based on the Kiryu Kai project which eventually was disbanded due to the failure to stop the invasion and lack of funding in 1993. Although the game starts in 1999 it really doesn't matter. So start the game in Superhuman difficulty and only have one base centred in Japan. Only use the Skyranger and Interceptor, don't use the Lightning, Firestorm or Avenger. Only use Earth Standard weaponry and don't research anything except the medikit, the motion scanner, alien lifeforms and alien origins. Sell all alien artefacts and weaponry and strive to play on until the Kiryu Kai (XCOM) is defeated or the Council has cut all funding. This scenario will basically lead to the defeat of the Kiryu Kai and their attempts to take out as many of the alien foe as they can.

===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). Ground operations are conducted only with the small numbers of Soldiers that XComUtil allows you to place on board Interceptors (6 troops or 1 HWP + 2 troops) or Firestorms (10 troops or 1 HWP + 6 troops). 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.

==Aliens Own Earth==
In this [[Aliens Own Earth|scenario]] you start the game as normal, but the Aliens are in a very dominant position with over 20 bases already established on Earth. Survival is extremely difficult! This scenario takes a bit of work to setup before you can play, but definitely poses a serious challenge.

==Speed Run==
See how fast you can complete the game! For a very strict challenge, the clock starts when you choose a difficulty, and ends when you shoot the Brain on Cydonia.

The current record seems to be 62:21 minutes, not including save/load time, by tbgox. Yes, that's JUST over an hour of playing. He's got the videos up on youtube showing how he did it too. Good lord. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wo71zOr5aU

==Limited save/Reload==
Depending on how strict you want to be with yourself, you can ban in-battle saves, save only when you want to quit the game and get on with real life, or for the really hard core, no save/reload at all: finish the game in one sitting, possibly combining this with a [[#Speed Run|Speed Run]]. For a smaller challenge, try to keep a tally of how many times you save and reload, and see if you can minimise this number.

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]