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[The Fifth Horseman]

Bring in some Auto Cannons and Heavy Cannons.

My general strategy is based on three four-man squads dividing into two pairs each. One man in each pair carries a rifle (or, later, an equivalent), the other carries the heavy weapon.
The thirteenth and fourteenth soldiers usually carry Heavy Plasmas.

DONT RUSH.
In Terror missions it may be important to get the aliens fast to protect the civilians, but you always need to make sure that your men are ready to take on the aliens, and that your pointmen are well-covered by accurate shooters.

Sometimes it might be worth considering to take some HE ammo (altough not into terror missions, obviously).

[Eagle of Fire]

Originally Posted by Ares

So I have to change my strategy - any suggestions? I have laser rifles and Flying suits.

I don't see why you should change your strategy only because you got attacked in one of your bases. The whole thing is, how come you got wiped out?

You should always have extra squaddies lingering in your base in case you get attacked. And at your point in the game, you should also be able to build plasma hover tanks... Build a few of them for base defense too!

Maybe you should study a little on base defense. Back in the days, the good base layout with 2 squaddies armed to the teeth with proximity and normal grenades could defend a single base all alone...

[gregor]

[quote=The Fifth Horseman;
Sometimes it might be worth considering to take some HE ammo (altough not into terror missions, obviously).[/quote]

i ues it at terror too and sometimes shoot randomly at hidden movement. helps a lot. As well as phosphorus ammos (to light up the area and maybe burn an alien or two). In fact in begining of game i use HE exclusively. that is because their aim is low and they get kills fast like that (one shot two or three kills).

Also aliens tend to likie certain areas so what i do is shoot a few explosive rouds in those areas. it usually causes alien massacre.

the next good thing is that sometimes you see an alie but they are not in the line of fire. well with HE ammo there is nothing more simple. you just shoot next to them and send them into alien hell.

Another plus is that you can afford to have a little lower aim %, and as a result you can have a primed grenade in the other hand.

sure there is "collateral damage" on terror mission, but afterall this is about survival of all man kind not some shop owners or tourists...

i do it even better in TFTD, because i know the maps and their "hiding" places better, so collateral damage there is much smaller. and i finish missions faster.

[Ares]

Tehy attacked me with sectoids (those little men) and cyberdiscs. A lot of both of them. I'll try again later

[The Fifth Horseman]

Sectoids?! YOU... LOST... TO... SECTOIDS?!?!?!

Seriously, they're freaking wimps!

Cyberdiscs are another problem, but pack enough AP rounds there (Heavy Cannon/Auto Cannon), and they become a useful weapon themselves (the explosion on their death, see).

[Japo]

Strategically, one thing people usually do wrong (in my opinion) is enlisting as few soldiers as possible to get UFO raids done surgically. Myself, I fly 14 soldiers for every mission. There are other 6 at the base, basically as replacements, but if my base is attacked they'll help to defend (unless recovering from wonds). Defending a base with few soldiers is bad idea, far more so than in terror attacks, because you start so scattered and until you link your soldiers they're vulnerable and can be easily overwhelmed separately.

As for equipment, laser rifles are very good weapons, only second to heavy plasma--and you shouldn't equip all your soldiers with heavy plasma. Regarding armour, you're actually overdoing it. Equipping all your men with flying suits is a complete waste of resources. Equip only the best ones who can make the difference because of their accuracy, for the rest power suits is enough, and if there's someone who's worthless don't even waste a power suit and use him as cannon fodder up front--that is if you don't want to dismiss and hire a new one.

As for tactics, you must learn to be cautious. Don't try to advance as much as possible in each single turn making the most of TUs, rather play a greater number of shorter turns, move only from a safe position to another, never end a turn with your soldiers exposed. Think in terms of lines of sight for them and for the aliens. If you let them see you before you see them you'll be killed.

[Ares]

Thanks all for all of these tips. But what I don't do is sacrafice my own soldiers - each soldier killed will decrease morale.

Could you tell me what to buy/build at the very begining? Couse I'm always short on cash. (50 researchers, general store, living space (or sth like that), laboratory, large radar) and of course avalanche launcher/missiles + equipment (and soldiers). It all is very expensive if you want to buy everything.

And onother question - what level in UFO is the "beginer" level in TFTD?

[Eagle of Fire]

My own default team consist of 10 soldiers and 1 tank. The tank is basicaly the fodder. I use it mainly to scout, and it will seldomly fire at Aliens to kill them (I let my soldiers do that: I want them to improve their stats, what the tanks can't do). They are well armored (and the first basic AP tank is your most armored unit until you field power suits), thus able to get a few hits before going Kaput, and serve their first function very well: die and take shots instead of my real strenght, the squaddies themselves.

Plus, they are very usefull against bigger units like Reapers and Cyberdisk as their AP ammo is powerfull enough to soften them enough for the squaddies to get the kill with riffles.

I always designate 4 squaddies as "UFO Busters". Those squaddies have the best TU and Reaction combo of all my soldiers (accuracy is not that important in closed spaces) and their main purpose is to get inside the ufo and clean it out. They do help en route, but the other 6 squaddies are there to mop the rest of the map.

This combinaison usualy make a great, specialised result.

Edit: Ah yes... But you probably already know: Never leave the base without as many flares in your SkyRanger than you have squaddies. Look where your craft land, and if it's dark or night time then give one flare in the second hand of all your squadies. And don't forget to throw them to see the Aliens! Sectoids in particular see way better than your soldiers in night time. You need those flares to fight back and cut the advantage to your side...

[The Fifth Horseman]

But what I don't do is sacrafice my own soldiers - each soldier killed will decrease morale.

Who says anything about sacrificing them? Yes, you may have to risk them. Yes, every now and then your pointman goes behind a corner only to fave a Chryssalid. The risk is unavoidable.
But it's preferable to risk a single soldier than your entire team.

Could you tell me what to buy/build at the very begining? Couse I'm always short on cash. (50 researchers, general store, living space (or sth like that), laboratory, large radar) and of course avalanche launcher/missiles + equipment (and soldiers). It all is very expensive if you want to buy everything.

You don't need to have 50 scientists at the beginning of the game.
You don't need any engineers at the beginning either.
Wait with more expensive purchases till you get some UFO salvage - there will be a large surplus of alien weapons for you to sell (of course, never sell the clips).

And onother question - what level in UFO is the "beginer" level in TFTD?

The one on the top of the list. Unfortunately, TFTD is much harder than regular UFO (woe if you don't capture a live Deep One...)

My own default team consist of 10 soldiers and 1 tank. The tank is basicaly the fodder. I use it mainly to scout, and it will seldomly fire at Aliens to kill them (I let my soldiers do that: I want them to improve their stats, what the tanks can't do). They are well armored (and the first basic AP tank is your most armored unit until you field power suits), thus able to get a few hits before going Kaput, and serve their first function very well: die and take shots instead of my real strenght, the squaddies themselves.

Personally, if I take tanks (on the beginning, I usually do) it's the type armed with Rocket Launcher. Their accuracy sucks, but rockets are very handy at blowing away alien snipers.

I always designate 4 squaddies as "UFO Busters". Those squaddies have the best TU and Reaction combo of all my soldiers (accuracy is not that important in closed spaces) and their main purpose is to get inside the ufo and clean it out. They do help en route, but the other 6 squaddies are there to mop the rest of the map.

Personally, I do it a bit differently. That is, I secure entry points for the UFO and clear the rest of the map. Then all soldiers (switching to AP ammo to not destroy any artifacts) move into positions to flank anything that comes out the door. Kneel + reserve for aimed shot.
The aliens will keep coming for a while, so I just wait till there's about 10 turns without any alien sticking out their head. Motion Scanners are very handy in determining where the remaining few aliens (there usually are some) are holed up inside the craft. THEN I storm the craft itself.
Might not be the quickest way to do it, but it's mostly safe.

[Eagle of Fire]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

Personally, if I take tanks (on the beginning, I usually do) it's the type armed with Rocket Launcher. Their accuracy sucks, but rockets are very handy at blowing away alien snipers.

Snipers? There is no such things as "Alien Snipers"... They all can shoot your guys from the other side of the map, given the chance. And they usualy do (try to).

I don't like explosives in general. I only carry grenades on all my squaddies, but I seldomly use them. The only time a grenade is really usefull is when there is a whole bunch of Sectoids one next to the other (right... This happen so often. :laugh or at the beginning of the game to soften up a big ennemy unit like a Reaper or a Cyberdisk. Yeah, the Cyberdisk have too much armor to really hurt it much, but since the unit cover 4 spaces then the damage is x4... For the other situation, I've never met a situation in UFO where you could not put an Alien down with normal concentrated fire.

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

Personally, I do it a bit differently. That is, I secure entry points for the UFO and clear the rest of the map. Then all soldiers (switching to AP ammo to not destroy any artifacts) move into positions to flank anything that comes out the door. Kneel + reserve for aimed shot.
The aliens will keep coming for a while, so I just wait till there's about 10 turns without any alien sticking out their head. Motion Scanners are very handy in determining where the remaining few aliens (there usually are some) are holed up inside the craft. THEN I storm the craft itself.
Might not be the quickest way to do it, but it's mostly safe.

Ugh... That must be the most boring and time consiming method I've ever heard... I'd go crazy and stop playing after the first month if I was ever to do that. Plus, I barely have any casualties with my method either...