Noob help for Caesans.

Fighting them in close quarters isn't much of an issue but on open ground they kick my ass because they can shoot from beyond my line of sight. I just lost my best soldier when I positioned him to guard a window, then suddenly from the darkness a shot hit him in the face and he died. It's pretty lame how they are accurate from so far and how my soldiers can't respond to the fire because they can't see the bastard.

The alternative seems to be just rush forward but that never ends well does it.

The tactics that worked for me in open:

Overall using 1-3men/tank frontline recon with rest of squad with lmgs/sniper rifles

1- Use 1 tank as front recon squad, rest a bit behind. Tanks got decent survivability in begining, and good line of sight. When he uncovers enemy, he can move as to not block los and rest of squad can kill the alien

2-Use some soldiers with shields as front scout.Thats what im doing atm with so far good results. IF there is no cover to go around , i just do kind of a roman formation lol : 3 guys with dobule shields in front, rest of squad kneeling behind them.

Also smoke grenades seem very effective against caesans, if you are sure they might fire next turn, poping one and kneeling the squad inside should keep them pretty safe.

You have a lot more visibility during daytime. Perhaps it means I'm a noob, but I avoid night missions to the greatest extent possible. They are indeed terrifying, by design.

As for how to handle the night missions, well... you have to learn to be careful at all times about where your units end their turns, and during night missions, you have to be super careful and deliberate with unit positioning.

Smoke grenades. Try to make sure you have 1 soldier prior to the end of your turn with enough turn units to throw 1 smoke grenade a bit ahead of your vanguard forces. Smoke grenades will reduce enemy accuracy by nearly 50% (or your own) if they fire into or through it.

It's best to use them as "throwable cover" (or concealment really, but think of it like cover for visualization). You can throw it on your forces as well and it will still work, but I find throwing it ahead of my team works better since the aliens will try to navigate around the smoke, often positioning themselves into a vulnerable spot on my next turn as they try to get around the smoke.

Also, you can bring 2 or more soldiers with shields to lead the charge, though the shields will break after about 2 direct hits from a plasma rifle.

I also sometimes bring a hunter scout car along as a giant moveable wall. It is expendable and can take a reasonable amount of punishment early in the game.

But honestly, smoke grenades are tremendous life savers, just bring enough of them and throw 1 ahead of the team or between the team and where you suspect aliens might be hiding every turn. Doing this has drastically cut down my casualty rates (except vs sebillans, they are immune to smoke. You'll need to use shields or a vehicle as cover vs them. Though thankfully sebillans have shorter engagement range and worse accuracy).

Shields sound like the best option for me. Smokes sound good for when I know there's someone out there but I see myself wasting far too much smoke going to places where there are no aliens. It seems to be more about luck than anything else to see Caesans before they see me.

In the mission I'm in I have 1 shield so it's up to him then.

Now I love this game and all that but enemies that fire from beyond my soldiers' LOS is something that I'd like to see nerfed in this game. Nights are obviously the exception but during day it's just unfair.

have you considered their squad sight?

It appears the enemy can also shoot through walls.

I'm not one for savescumming but I sure as hell am reloading when an enemy shoots one of my guys through a 100% block wall.

have you considered their squad sight?

Pardon my noobdom but what do you mean by that?

Smoke grenades do not work against Caeseans. Well not against the elite ones for sure. And yes, Caeseans can see and snipe your guys from a greater range even during the daytime. Caesians elite see 5~6 tiles further than my soldiers. You can think your safe until you pass the turn and your soldiers catch 3 bursts + 3 snap shots from assault plasma rifles.

And they do have high accuracy indeed. It's like you pass the turn and SUDDENLY, out of nowhere, a shot! Trough the building (two windows and all the props between them) right into the right eye of your unlucky soldier, who crouches 5 tiles away from said building. It should be 5% chance or something and yet they hit and hit hard.

These are the reasons I hate Caesian terror missions: superior vision + superior accuracy + nowhere to hide 'cuz lots of windows all around.

It appears the enemy can also shoot through walls.

I'm not one for savescumming but I sure as hell am reloading when an enemy shoots one of my guys through a 100% block wall.

Pardon my noobdom but what do you mean by that?

Yes, sometimes they hit you even if there's a 100% block in the way. Go figure. Cheaters!

Squadsight - one soldier runs ahead and highlights the enemies, while other soldiers shoot them.

Cant say about elites, but against regulars Caesans on veteran diff. smoke works great, i have tested it in action many many times.

Pardon my noobdom but what do you mean by that?

Squadsight: If an alien sees you, his friend with a clear shot, who can very well be sitting across the atlantic, can and will shoot you... and he will hit you.

You can use the same tactics, although your damage and accuracy wastes with distance, while theirs is "almost" as deadly across the ocean.

Trough the building (two windows and all the props between them) right into the right eye of your unlucky soldier, who crouches 5 tiles away from said building.

I hate it when that happens.

Smoke is unreliable, but if shit happens the %s can help. I can use the cover fairly against them, watch for windows n shit, recognize the general direction they might be and cover accordingly,... then theres the psionics.

I give up. I lost my squad to first terror mission, I just suck at this game I'll try again later on Easy or something. I followed the advice in this thread and got a few missions but always I lost one or two of my best guys, I can't keep up with the aliens.

Funny how I beat XCOM 2012 on Classic/Ironman but here I can't get even past the first few missions on Veteran. I didn't think I'd be that daft but I guess I am.

Firaxis xcom is a very different game, despite how similar the setting feels . If you want your vets to survive, keep em in the back lines. Heroes die just as fast as cowards on the front line. And terror mission can get real nasty, with the alien numbers reaching over 20, consider shooting the escorted UFO down instead.

I give up. I lost my squad to first terror mission, I just suck at this game I'll try again later on Easy or something. I followed the advice in this thread and got a few missions but always I lost one or two of my best guys, I can't keep up with the aliens.

Funny how I beat XCOM 2012 on Classic/Ironman but here I can't get even past the first few missions on Veteran. I didn't think I'd be that daft but I guess I am.

I also am a Xcom 2012 veteran, and i played ok on veteran diff Xenonauts. Fact is i had at some point to stop and try to get rid of my XCOM EU habits, think fresh.

For example: Yuo can move from behind full cover, shoot , and retreat behind it.Even lmg and sniper in fact can move a tiny bit and shoot. Depending on strengh, nearly all yuor soliders can carry a secondary wepaon in backpack so they can be very effective long and close range.

LMGs (1-2 per squad) and shotguns are really my preffered weapons in begining , being in big part immune to low aim.

The weapons do have a big modifier towards aim, as do aiming stances you use. Sniper rifle has much better aim then assualt one , and with aimed stance you can soon reach 95 %

Maybe the game isnt for you, just saying its doable. Imho it even isnt harder then XCOM EU, just different, and having different types of difficulty.

Firaxis xcom is a very different game, despite how similar the setting feels . If you want your vets to survive, keep em in the back lines. Heroes die just as fast as cowards on the front line. And terror mission can get real nasty, with the alien numbers reaching over 20, consider shooting the escorted UFO down instead.

How important is it to complete terror missions? Can I abort a mission halfway through and expect to not get kicked out from the target country (poor relations).

I also am a Xcom 2012 veteran, and i played ok on veteran diff Xenonauts. Fact is i had at some point to stop and try to get rid of my XCOM EU habits, think fresh.

For example: Yuo can move from behind full cover, shoot , and retreat behind it.Even lmg and sniper in fact can move a tiny bit and shoot. Depending on strengh, nearly all yuor soliders can carry a secondary wepaon in backpack so they can be very effective long and close range.

LMGs (1-2 per squad) and shotguns are really my preffered weapons in begining , being in big part immune to low aim.

Despite being bad at Xenonauts I insist on playing Veteran since I just can't bring myself to go Normal - it makes me feel bad inside that I'm not playing the game the way it was clearly meant to be played.

But I'll learn I suppose.

I understand basic tactics but I suppose my biggest issue is being unable to salvage botched situations. For example I had one lizardman spawn in front of the dropship in one mission, despite being so close every single one of my 8 soldiers missed their shots, some of them as little as 3 times away from the thing. It promptly killed one of my favorite dudes before finally dying the next round.

Maybe the game isnt for you, just saying its doable. Imho it even isnt harder then XCOM EU, just different, and having different types of difficulty.

Xenonauts is for me, I'm just bad at it - I'm not saying it's the game's fault that I'm doing bad, other than the "shoot from beyond LoS" thing, but that's a small detail.

I want to learn this game.

Very important, once the red face shows, its hundreds of thousands funding thats at stake(both ways). What I meant was, shoot the UFO before it starts the terror. Once the mission appears, you gotta do it. If you abort mid-way I think the nation nukes the place? Killing lots of civies. And while its them, who nuke it, they blame you.

props cover don't accumulate,the bigger bonus is used...

I understand basic tactics but I suppose my biggest issue is being unable to salvage botched situations. For example I had one lizardman spawn in front of the dropship in one mission, despite being so close every single one of my 8 soldiers missed their shots, some of them as little as 3 times away from the thing. It promptly killed one of my favorite dudes before finally dying the next round.

Xenonauts is for me, I'm just bad at it - I'm not saying it's the game's fault that I'm doing bad, other than the "shoot from beyond LoS" thing, but that's a small detail.

I want to learn this game.

i see cool:).

In the situation you described, with the lizardman being so near, what i woudl prolly do is equip most of my guys with shotguns(nearly all of my guys got shotguns in backpack ) and run with each of them to shoot him in face point blank.Changinf wepaons from backpack is only 16 tus, it shoudl work.

IF you got lmgs, they also should hit the tango with many shells at such close range and kill him.

Even my not-preffered assulat rifles shoudl work with burst fire.(You know about right clicking and selecting fire types?)

(Not trying to soudn smart here, just hoping to help:))

For example: Yuo can move from behind full cover, shoot , and retreat behind it.Even lmg and sniper in fact can move a tiny bit and shoot.

Yeah, this. Really.

Of all places, this is something I picked up from playing XCom 2012. On Impossible difficulty, leaving your units out in the open (even in full cover) is just asking for them to be shot and killed. So a lot of the time - at least early on the game - you end up either hunkering down (which there's no equivalent for in Xenonauts) or hiding out of LoS.

So my advice, then, would be to avoid leaving your units out in the open where possible. Ideally, place your soldiers near a corner. Then, on their turn, bring them out, take the best shot they can while keeping TUs to move back into cover, then move them back.

Where possible, you should begin this action with high-suppression attacks (e.g. from a Rifle burst or Machinegun) to ensure the alien is suppressed. If that's not the case, the alien will have enough freedom of movement to move to a position where it can shoot your concealed soldiers. Once they're suppressed, however, they won't have enough TUs to both move and shoot, so they'll typically hold their ground and do nothing or retreat. Either way, you've now won that fight, as you can easily suppress them again next turn and keep shooting 'til their down.

I don't want to suggest that this is some kind of master tactic. But I wonder if you're losing a lot of soldiers whether it's not because you're relying on cover props to stop shots rather than avoiding being shot at altogether. If so, keeping your soldiers concealed might be a helpful approach.

(Also, as a general rule place your soldiers one tile away from the edge of a corner rather than right on the corner if there's a chance of an alien moving to shoot you. Being right on a corner doesn't provide very reliable protection as it's fairly easy to get an angle on a shot. It's fine if aliens are pinned down as they won't be able to move far enough, but when you're exploring the map, keeping soldiers further back will help avoid nasty surprises.)

Very important, once the red face shows, its hundreds of thousands funding thats at stake(both ways). What I meant was, shoot the UFO before it starts the terror. Once the mission appears, you gotta do it. If you abort mid-way I think the nation nukes the place? Killing lots of civies. And while its them, who nuke it, they blame you.

Bloody hell. I guess I'll have to take the hard way out then

i see cool:).

In the situation you described, with the lizardman being so near, what i woudl prolly do is equip most of my guys with shotguns(nearly all of my guys got shotguns in backpack ) and run with each of them to shoot him in face point blank.Changinf wepaons from backpack is only 16 tus, it shoudl work.

IF you got lmgs, they also should hit the tango with many shells at such close range and kill him.

Even my not-preffered assulat rifles shoudl work with burst fire.(You know about right clicking and selecting fire types?)

(Not trying to soudn smart here, just hoping to help:))

Shotguns sound dangerous. I always have 2 for breaching UFOs (which I think is the easiest part of any battle) but just having them closing in and shooting point-blank during the main battle sounds like a quick way to get them killed. Never know if the bad guy has friends around the corner?

But I'll take a moment to thank for the advice. I lost bit of my temper up there but I've always been the impatient sort, a trait which I would shake off at the first chance if I could.

Smoke grenades do not work against Caeseans. Well not against the elite ones for sure. And yes, Caeseans can see and snipe your guys from a greater range even during the daytime. Caesians elite see 5~6 tiles further than my soldiers. You can think your safe until you pass the turn and your soldiers catch 3 bursts + 3 snap shots from assault plasma rifles.

And they do have high accuracy indeed. It's like you pass the turn and SUDDENLY, out of nowhere, a shot! Trough the building (two windows and all the props between them) right into the right eye of your unlucky soldier, who crouches 5 tiles away from said building. It should be 5% chance or something and yet they hit and hit hard.

These are the reasons I hate Caesian terror missions: superior vision + superior accuracy + nowhere to hide 'cuz lots of windows all around.

Smoke grenades work just fine vs. caesian elites, it is still giving them a 45% accuracy penalty when they shoot through smoke. However, elites, especially caesians, have a pretty high base accuracy so even through smoke they stand a somewhat reasonable chance of hitting their target with some luck.

Again, sebillans are the only alien immune to smoke. You can see this clearly in aiprops.xml as they are the only species given the special ability to see through smoke. Caesian elites DO NOT have it. They're just accurate.

Multiple smoke layers are extremely useful, don't hesitate to drop more than one. It even works against harridans and Androns(though i personally think it shouldn't)

Just don't care that much for a few dead soldiers, even if you liked them. Sure you need experienced people around, but they're still expendable.

Just don't care that much for a few dead soldiers, even if you liked them. Sure you need experienced people around, but they're still expendable.

Yeah, sending waves of laser rifle guys with t-shirts against aliens was my favourite part of original x-com.