<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Zwischy @ Jun 5 2006, 08:06 PM) [snapback]234536[/snapback]</div>
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Actually, yes. Obviously, given the Blaster's explosive range, spreading out doesn't help a lot, but it still isn't a bad policy. Myself, I tend to pair off my soldiers and have them move together as much as possible. On the initial entry into their base from the hangar elevators, I will set a pair of soldiers at each entrance (assuming the random troop placement allows me to do so - sometimes one soldier at an entrance will have to do).
The idea here is twofold: one soldier moves, the other one can take a shot if aliens are spotted. Having the troops paired like this generally leaves the corps less vulnerable to a single blaster bomb, but eventually your troops will overlap as you converge on the control center.
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Aliens don't generally fire blaster bombs unless one of them has a line of sight to your troops, so often it's better to try to take out an alien rather than hide around a corner in the hopes of nailing it with reaction shots as it advances to you.
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It pays to bring your own blaster launcher if possible, to kill groups or particularly hard aliens (any terror weapon, or Chrysallids), or to create your own entrances and smoke where it can give you an advantage (most often, I would use this to blow a hole in the wall directly across from the innermost doors of the control center).
Lastly, I like laser pistols. A lot. Sure, they don't do a lot of damage, but they take tiny amounts of TUs to fire on auto, are very lightweight, and don't require ammo. They're especially useful if you constantly run yourself short on TUs because you tend to move your troops just a liiiittle too far, too often. A few heavy plasmas aren't a bad idea, either, if you need some punch.
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Thanks for all this good advice. I too like laser pistols for their flexibility and rate of fire. I don't quite use the pairing procedure - I use small teams with one man out on 'point' to draw/spot aliens, and I do try and do the firing from the rear. Haven't quite settled down to a system with this yet, maybe I'll try the 'pairing' idea.
As my guys are all in Power Suits, even a little bit of spreading out can save lives.
Part of the problem in the alien base is that, with its tricky layout, often only the guy at the front has line of sight on the alien. You can maybe bring one or two guys up for a shot but they end up being exposed and congested in a vulnerable chokepoint. As you say, maybe I'm moving too fast and I need to slow down and have more TUs available.
But generally, I'm not having a problem reacting to alien fire. I think the basic problem is that the base is so dark that aliens are sniping me and I can't see them even if I'm looking straight at them. Of course, I should have brought flares with me, and some AC-IC (plus some AC-HE for clearing out the 'gardens'). In the absence of these, I guess I should try and make sure all my guys finish turns behind cover. Not a bad idea in any case.
At the moment I don't have my own Blaster Launchers - working on it. The newest thing out of the labs is the Stun Launcher. I brought 2 along as a combination of capture weapon and support weapon. With only 5 rounds of ammo though it wasn't great as a support weapon. Probably would have been better off trading one small launcher and 2 rounds for an AC with AC-HE and AC-IC.
If, when I came under unseen fire, I'd been able to return fire toward the enemy with area weapons - say AC-HE or Rocket Launchers, or even grenades - the combination of smoke and area-effect casualties might have stopped some of the aliens' Blaster Bomb attacks.
It's funny about the initial placement. I'd forgotten that last time I did an Alien Base my men were split across the 2 hangar lifts. This time around everyone was in the same hangar lift - the one furthest from the control room. Of course, advancing from one position is going to make me more bunched up and make it harder to outflank enemy strongpoints.
One thing I just have a really hard time with in this game is that you are not in a rush. Unlike many games there is no deadline to complete the level. There isn't even really a sense of needing to take the aliens off-balance, before they organise an effective defence (which is so true in games like Panzer Leader). This is counter-intuitive for me. But I really need to slow down, take it very slow and carefully. To be honest the main difference between my 23-KIA mission and my 10-KIA mission was patience. With more patience I'm sure I could get the KIAs down to just one or two.
I don't have the game saved before my Lightning took off so I can't re-equip my squad, but all Heavy Plasma was definitely wrong, given the lack of other equipment it gave me. I would have been better to have brought a couple of Rocket Launchers, and brought Large Rockets instead of grenades. I could have scavenged for personal weapons - Heavy Plasmas were littering the battlefield. In fact I could have brought some men in as unarmed - reserves, or medics. Not as motion scanner operators, they need to get to up close and personal with the aliens to be unarmed. An AC-IC would have been the best option for illumination, as it gives me 14 flares for an item count of only 2. And, as mentioned, on a 28-man squad it would not have hurt to give half the guys Laser Rifles. Though they would not thank me for that if it had turned out to be a Muton base instead of a Floater base.
UFO Defence is really such a great squad game. You really have to think about the combinations of weapons and tactics, "combined arms" almost, and you actually have to practice your tactics to get good at them. No wonder it's the #1 game on Abandonia!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(another_guest @ Jun 6 2006, 11:28 AM) [snapback]234716[/snapback]</div>
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Never tried this, but how about equipping your soldiers with decent armour, then first flushing most of the alien base with smoke grenades, add a few stun bombs? Might work well for some races, if you ask me. Of course visibility would be terrible... So maybe blaster bomb your way to the control center :P
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The low visibility would actually help because it would create even visibility with the aliens and deny them the advantage. But unfortunately you can't even come close to saturating the map with smoke. There is a built in limit that only supports a small number of smoke hexes - about 3 smoke grenades worth.
That's not to say there might not be 'invisible' smoke on the map. It's hard to tell. I guess the only way would be to stand in the hex in no armour and see if you start taking stun damage.