UFO: Extra Terrestials

[txa1265]

You can get it through GamersGate for $30 ... but that is download.

 

[bjon045]

In x-com you could throw and a stun grenade and then shoot and the alien would often still be taken alive (provided you didn't do enough damage to kill that alien outright). As long as the damage done isn't 100% lethal damage you get it alive.

 

[Lucky Day]

I hadn't noticed that with X-Com. I have noticed with UFO:ET when hit them with the burst in the stun gas that if the first shot "kills" them and the second and third shot, if they hit, don't seem to do anything.

There have been times I know I stunned them but they weren't able to be captured. If I had to guess then there was some sort of "overkill" going on where their HP are so low after the first shot it destroys them. Sort of like getting -40 in NWN when the limit is -11 if you use the bleeding options.

I have yet to see an Alien recover from being stunned the way they can in X-Com.

The upcoming patch notes say that quite a number of hot keys will be added as well as an auto-save.

I have yet to try any mods, out of the box the game is fine for me. Some people are complaining that its not playable without them but I disagree completely. It seems that the biggest complaint is the soldier's visibility. Aliens get better vision than the player but I think that's necessary for the game balance. It can also be justified by they're Aliens for crying out loud!

 

[Cormac]

I bought online via Amazon last week for $40. Pretty sure you'll only pay a little extra shipping due to being in the Great White North.

Amazon.com doesn't ship games outside the U.S., and Amazon.ca still doesn't have it, though they might someday.

 

[Ubbax]

Amazon.com doesn't ship games outside the U.S., and Amazon.ca still doesn't have it, though they might someday.

Sorry all I forgot to include the link where Canadians can actually get the game aside from digital distribution. It's been available via Interact CD since about the beginning of the week.

For those who have never dealt with InteractCD I'll vouch for them. They have shipped things to me in Canada as well as on the European Continent. They even special order items not available in US/Canada, just email them and ask. If I'm not mistaken they will even ship Down-under quite reasonably.

Interact offers the option of shipping US Mail with a box or without, offers discounts for shipping more than 1 product, and takes 5-10 days (7-8 is about average in my experience). They asked $5.00 USD to ship in a box to Canada.

Anytime I've had them ship one or two items to me in Canada I've never been assessed Provential Tax or Duty, the package has always been deposited directly into my mailbox by the postman. I'm talking games in DvD Cases here.

They list UFO: ET at $39.95 US, considering the Canadian dollar is sitting at .94
and rising, that's roughly an extra $2.43.

InteractCD Shipping Info

UFO: Extraterrestrials

Of course having posted all that info be aware that EBGames in the States has it listed. Canadians usually receive games 3-4 days after they hit the shelf in the States. I've spoken with the Canadian Regional Manager, a big Xcom fan, for my area as of late afternoon June 1, 2007 and was informed it is not currently showing up on their shipping lists at all, not even as upcoming.
Ubbax
"it's easier to beg for forgiveness sometimes than ask the wife for permission." - A friend

edited for bad grammer...

 

[Ubbax]

The patch is available for download!
Read the thread, make sure to grab the correct version, and game on.

UFO: Extraterrestrials Patch

Ubbax

"Liberalism: Logic's Retarded Cousin" -- Arclight poster Mad Cow's Steakhouse forum

 

[dteowner]

Thanks again, ubbax. Updated I is!

 

[Cormac]

Thanks for the link, dte. I also found the game at NWS Online. It's $5 cheaper! It's a place that specialises in strategy and wargames but it's also where I got my copy of Arcanum.

 

[Ubbax]

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
So far it doesn't tell me the loss of civilians is bad but I suspect it is by the ratings it gives at the end.

It doesn't appear the Ratings mean much. They may mean something to the countries they land in, but XP is garnered strictly by kill. Being involved in the shot is meaningless. I think you get 6 XP just for being on a mission.

Yes it's bad here's how it's scored:
Points Tally
Alien Killed 2
Civilian Saved 2
Soldier Killed -3
Vehicle Killed -4
Civilian Killed -5

Rating Score
0 to -15 => Horrible (I think, I never got one of these)
1 to -10 => Very Bad
2 to -5 ==> Bad
3 to 0 ===> OK
4 to 15 ==> Good
5 to 21 ==> Very Good
6 to 30 ==> Excellent

The ratings are important to the 9 Regions, there are point tallies for both sides. To increase the funding a Country provides shoot down an Alien Craft in that Country and/or have successful missions.

Easiest way to see this in action is at the beginning of a game when Funding is equal for all Regions. Let an Alien fly over or land in a Region unopposed and then cross into another. Then shoot down the Alien Craft. Make a note what Region you let them pass over/land and which you shot them down in. At the end of the month look at the Funding change for each of those Regions.

Here's something which seems to apply in UFO:ET just as it did in XCOM of old; try not to shoot down Alien Craft too close to your bases as it appears Scouts will search/fly around the area craft were downed. As I mentioned in UFO: ET I'm not positive on this but I track things in a spreadsheet and this pattern seems to be emerging.

In Tactical Combat different Aliens give different experience amounts
(unless some asks I'll not posting experience per alien)
Every shot that hits an Alien gains the Soldier who fired it 1/5 of the Total Experience you get for Killing said Alien.
As an Example: Vipon Commander is worth 10 exp points.
Soldier 1 shoots and hits but no kill = 2 exp
Soldier 2 shoots and hits but no kill = 2 exp
Soldier 1 shoots and hits but no kill = 2 exp
Soldier 2 shoots and hits but no kill = 2 exp
Soldier 1 shoots and hits, gets a kill = 10 exp
Totals for each Soldier
Soldier 1 => 2 + 2 + 10 = 14
Soldier 2 => 2 + 2 = 4

Now given how the above works I think most will see that older weapons are not useless as many people believe. It was done this way intentionally. Older, weaker weapons can be used to serve a purpose especially when applied to New Recruits and getting them up to speed with higher ranked troops. Remember you select which attributes to raise when a Recruit levels. So combine older/weak weapons with selected initial attribute increases and ... well I think you'll get the picture...

Lucky DayOriginally Posted by
Research Plasma ASAP by capturing a leader for it. It will save you cash on manu'g your own Lasers.

Be aware that there are certain triggers in the game for advancing the difficulty of Aliens and progressing/moving the game forward. Plasma Technology is one of those. If you're not ready rushing it can get you in hot water. -- my poor team

All in all nice list. You can think of more Lucky Day, you're able to top that...

Thanks for the link, dte. I also found the game at NWS Online. It's $5 cheaper! It's a place that specialises in strategy and wargames but it's also where I got my copy of Arcanum.

Woot thanks Cormac another Store to go into my Favourites list. I like the forums there as well. Can't believe I never ran across these guys before.

Ubbax
"To me FRAPs is the sound I make when I have double bean chili." - Tom "WKLINK" Cofield

 

[Cormac]

Woot thanks Cormac another Store to go into my Favourites list. I like the forums there as well. Can't believe I never ran across these guys before.

The owner/manager of the store is very helpful and friendly, he once sent me a free game when an order of mine was delayed. So if you have questions about their products just drop them an email.

 

[dteowner]

I've hit 2 alien bases now. With the $400k bonus, it's almost worth it to let them build the base and then smash it. The region's funding level seems to bounce back quite well. The experience boost to the troops is nice, too.

 

[Lucky Day]

That's some nice research Ubbax. I'm on Earth now so I'll have to apply some of that next game.

Here's some more tips

As I've stated on the news thread Be very careful which patch you install. The one currently released only works with the boxed copy.

Gamer's Gate has acknowledged to a forum member that they are in discussion with Chaos Concept on trying to remedy their patch woes. The download versions, including the Russian version, do not come with a Serial Number.

Even if they did installing the Matrix Games patch (Boxed Version) will cause these versions to crash constantly.

Carry plenty of Ammo going to Earth

I've discovered the hard way that the game refills whole ammunition cartridges by replacing them outright and throwing the old ones away. This is a severe waste and an inventory management problem. I'm used to having all my guys carry medkits.

I'm experimenting with unloading a used cartridge and filling your gun with a new one just before the mission is complete. So far it appears to work (the base refills the cartridge after returning) but I'll keep an eye on it to confirm.

Triggers
The first 6 months you fight Scouts and Fighters
Plasma Cannons trigger Tier 2 Aliens and Cruisers available after 6 months
AKEW Cannons trigger the next Era which I believe is Battlecruisers after another 6 months
EEEW Shields are the final trigger for Battleships 6 months after that.

or as one person put it

Cruisers will appear between April(2108) and June.
Battlecruisers between August and the following Febuary(2109!)
Battleships between June (2109) and April (2110!)

There is considerable debate whether ships are triggered by time or not. This still hasn't been determined exactly with the only consensus being Battleships take a long, long time to show. Eras are definitely triggered by technology which appear to be Alien types.

So getting plasma technology is fine but if you are concerned about getting enemies that are too tough don't research the Plasma Cannon (ship weapon) right away.

Also, I highly recommend you start manufacturing Particle Rifles as soon as you are able. Enemies will drop EEEW rifles (with not a lot of ammo) but the Particle Weapons are the best in the game and blow anything else away!

Here's the thread I found this info in: http://www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1795&highlight=era+akew+plasma

here's a an image of the research tree

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2093/masterv11rm8.jpg

Soldier Ranks, as taken from system file

0 15 //Private 15
1 35 //Private first class 37
2 65 // Corporal 49
3 110 //Corporal first class 66
4 171 //Sergeant 91
5 260 //Sergeant first class 129
6 530 //Staff Sergeant 196
7 1100 //Warrant officer 271
8 1880 //Lieutenant 399
9 3060 //Captain 592
10 5200 //Colonel 880

Obviously the XP is the second number. No one is sure what the commented number is. Perhaps the old XP before rebalancing?

 

[dteowner]

Yep, probably rebalancing. My other thought was losing ranks for lost XP from hospital time, but that doesn't hold water due to the PFC number being higher.

Re: ammo
I've already seen this being a problem. I saw that there's a mod out there that reduces your inventory based on shots fired rather than a whole clip at a time. I generally get too nervous about tanking the program to install user mods, but some of you smart folks might feel comfortable doing that. Saw it over at Chaos Concepts' boards.

 

[dteowner]

I've got 3 soldiers up to Sergeant level now. One's actually closing in on SFC. The game gets a fair bit easier once you boost accuracy up into the 70's and 80's. Of course, I expect all bets will be off once I start seeing new critter types, but right now my good soldiers with laser rifles are money in the bank.

Saw my first cruiser on 11JUN, 2108. It kicked the crap out of my fighters. My research is nearly done on better shields and better craft weapons, but my workshop has been booked building a shiny new Thunder transport, so we're a little behind on the production schedule. I've got a third workshop nearly built which should help out.

Back in my X-Com days, I never took tanks with me, preferring the flexibility of extra troops. Since my combat approach has always been a linear sweep (rather than roving strike teams), the extra troops made it easier to fill out my "fence". That's changed with the Desert Spirit. I'm finding that tank to be pretty useful, even though it steals XP from the troops.

 

[Lucky Day]

I finished this last night. I wasn't quite what to do to finish it for 5 minutes but I figured it out.

Bit of a disappointing ending. It shows one video then ends with a short explanation.

 

[dteowner]

I've put off researching plasma tech about as long as I can. The biggest problem I have right now is that I don't have anything that can take down a cruiser. I've built a Lightning, outfitted it with laser shields, a laser cannon, and fire hammer missles, and still can't put much of a dent in a cruiser. Am I missing something?

 

[Lucky Day]

multiple ships. build as many as you can.

by putting off researching plasma I hope you mean plasma cannons right?

plasma (ship) cannons are the trigger not just plasma tech

oh,, and I found this gem http://sourceforge.net/projects/ufoai/

there's another one called UFO2000 but it doesn't seem as well developed.

 

[dteowner]

I meant plasma tech. Now you tell me...

 

[dteowner]

Moving along, we is.

I have a datapoint on the trigger/time debate. I've been sandbagging my research to stay ahead of the curve. For a while there, I actually had nothing to research. When firing up the game one day, I checked my research and manufacturing and was surprised to discover I could research battlecruisers. Not only had I never shot one down, but I had never even seen one at that point. I figure that I must have hit some point on the calendar that got the ball rolling since I had purposely avoided getting to any triggers. I haven't even researched AKEW Tech yet (although I could just recently), let alone the AKEW cannon.

I've got a couple guys approaching Staff Sargeant and over half my army is sargeant or better. I have several soldiers that have maxxed their accuracy. There must be some random ability cap for each solider as well. One maxxed at 80 and another could march on until 92.

Still having a blast with this game.

Oh, almost forgot: Destroyers suck.

 

[Ubbax]

Moving along, we is.
I've got a couple guys approaching Staff Sargeant and over half my army is sargeant or better. I have several soldiers that have maxxed their accuracy. There must be some random ability cap for each solider as well. One maxxed at 80 and another could march on until 92.

Still having a blast with this game.

Oh, almost forgot: Destroyers suck.

Glaring enviously at Dteowner...
I headed up to the cottage, its been raining a few days with no end in sight. Of course I forgot to bring the game along

There is indeed a cap to Stats, if memory serves I believe they go like this:
Starting Agility + 48
Starting Vitality + 48
Starting Bravery + 52
Starting Strength + 52
Starting Reactions + 52
Starting Throwing + 52
Starting Shooting + 52

I believe you're correct and Battlecrusiers will eventually show up no matter what but I thought you had to be fairly far into the game, many years at least. Interesting discovery though; jotted down for future reference. Maybe Lucky Day has some insight concerning this.

Hmm thanks to my nephews I do have Titan Quest and the Expansion here maybe, as long as I'm stuck up here, I'll wander over to Mikes review thread and see what Magerette recommends...

Ubbax
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." -Walter Wriston