UFO assaulting

During the game (insane no iron man) I found two situations, in which I constantly fail. I won't mention air combats, it's another topic and I can deal with them with just auto-resolve. But I just can't avoid clearing UFO.

The problem starts when I am starting my preparations to get inside, especially if it is impossible to leave heavy or sniper on a safe distance and blow the door, while your guys get closer with their shotguns (due to reaction modifiers heavy and snipers just can't shoot before enemy and die). When I move my soldiers to the door with enough points to fire with shotguns, some clever alien just open a door (I just wonder if there can be reaction fire on opening the door, because I like never had) and starts shooting aiming my heavy weapons guy and someone else, only after that reaction fire follows, and then his mates from behind add some more damage. Then inside there are more doors to screw my plans. Shield doesn't work, if you are scouting inside UFO - when you move into another room, some sneaky bastard shoot him from the side and you just can't prevent it anyhow.

So, guys, I would like to hear some piece of advice from you. What I do wrong? How do I clear UFO from those cheating campers?

Went would be your man for that. Went plays exclusively on insane and knows the systems inside and out. Went, any tips?

OP, thank you for this topic. I too am struggling with UFO break-ins. Gone are the days when in X-com you could punch a downed UFO with the blaster bomb anywhere you wanted and wreak havoc inside.

The most 'clever' little trick I was able to uh..apply was to use the C4 pack to blow the door open. But now my guys are staring into a dark and menacing corridor with more doors. Like you said, I manage to get in with my most-Tu guy, open a door and maybe kill a bad guy, only to get killed from behind from another bad guy that popped one of the other doors open.

I did watch quite a bit of UFO-break in flicks on YT, but those aliens seemed kinda high on grass, barely reacting to that person's actions, meek and passive. Mine are tough, clever and deadly er..mofo's.

OP, Sorry for the little thread hijacking but: how does the reaction formula work? Why my guys cannot get the drop on the bad guys? low reflexes or something more than that?

Thanks.

Reactions are based on your reflex stat and the percentage of remaining TU's you have left, then modified by the weapon in the soldier's hands. A soldier with most or all his Tu's is a lot more likley to react than a soldier with only just enough to fire his gun.

Also, opening doors does not cause reaction fire.

Have you tried using flash and smoke grenades?

My guys were slaughtered because I was extra-clever and made a fire platoon of snipers in front of the UFO doors. Had no idea that a line of shotgunners would work much better

Thanks for the tips, keep em coming.

@ OP: you still here?

At first I used to struggle with the same thing -- get inside ufos. But here are some tips:

1- Aliens do not draw reaction fire from opening doors: well, the same work for you! After I learned this, I always had someone on my team who had the "door opener" job -- usually a shotgun soldier. The soldier would stay in front, open the door for the snipers (who are much farther away) to fire inside, then close the door after they all took their shots.

2- It is usually a single alien who stays near the door and opens it -- the other aliens usually stay on the back of the ufo and do not move to the front to open the door (although they do move inside the room they are assigned to). So don't stay right in front of the door until you kill the door opener alien - keep your troops to the side, so that they can reaction fire the door-opener, but not be shot by the aliens in the back. (C4 also usually kills the door-opener alien)

3- When moving inside rooms with aliens to the sides (such as corvettes), stun grenades will help you (as long as those damn soldiers don't drop the grenades at their feet).

Also, opening doors does not cause reaction fire.

That's weird But whatever, I'll keep this in mind.

Have you tried using flash and smoke grenades?

I can't flash through closed door. And smoke doesn't help against Sebilians, since they are immune to smoke penalty.

At first I used to struggle with the same thing -- get inside ufos. But here are some tips:

1- Aliens do not draw reaction fire from opening doors: well, the same work for you! After I learned this, I always had someone on my team who had the "door opener" job -- usually a shotgun soldier. The soldier would stay in front, open the door for the snipers (who are much farther away) to fire inside, then close the door after they all took their shots.

It was what I was always doing, but when there is a wall or the edge of the map near the UFO entrance, there is no way to place heavy or sniper at safe distance. And AI is too clever not to shoot these guys first

2- It is usually a single alien who stays near the door and opens it -- the other aliens usually stay on the back of the ufo and do not move to the front to open the door (although they do move inside the room they are assigned to). So don't stay right in front of the door until you kill the door opener alien - keep your troops to the side, so that they can reaction fire the door-opener, but not be shot by the aliens in the back. (C4 also usually kills the door-opener alien)

I'll take this in mind. I was using C4's but it takes so damn much TUs, so it's hard sometimes to place it and stay in safety.

3- When moving inside rooms with aliens to the sides (such as corvettes), stun grenades will help you (as long as those damn soldiers don't drop the grenades at their feet).

Sorry, how does stun grenades help in these situations?

@ OP: you still here?

I am not from US. I can't answer, when I am sleeping, sorry

Get some people with lmgs in front of the door, get somebody to approach it from side and open it, mow everything inside down, close the door. Repeat.

Then move some shotgunners in and finish some hiding aliens off.

Also, shields work, and too well for my liking.

I'll take this in mind. I was using C4's but it takes so damn much TUs, so it's hard sometimes to place it and stay in safety.

Setting the timer for longer than one turn can help, as can throwing it from as far away as possible.

Sorry, how does stun grenades help in these situations?

Stand back in the corridor leading to the room, and throw stun grenades into it (as far to the side as you can get them). The gas spreads out far enough that you can pretty much fill the whole room, so it's entirely possible to knock out aliens without ever walking into line-of-sight.

Stun grenades and other methods of suppression are vital when breaching a UFO - suppressed units can't reaction fire at you.

Stun grenades and other methods of suppression are vital when breaching a UFO - suppressed units can't reaction fire at you.

Does this apply to flashbangs early in game too? Apparently, I am not very adept at flashbangs, looks like they aren't much, so I prefer regular frag grenades. Maybe I should use more flashbangs instead of waiting for stun grenades?

Does this apply to flashbangs early in game too? Apparently, I am not very adept at flashbangs, looks like they aren't much, so I prefer regular frag grenades. Maybe I should use more flashbangs instead of waiting for stun grenades?

Yes. Flash bangs are a godsend. They're way more useful than frags in the early game.

Get some people with lmgs in front of the door, get somebody to approach it from side and open it, mow everything inside down, close the door. Repeat.

Then move some shotgunners in and finish some hiding aliens off.

Also, shields work, and too well for my liking.

Not good enough against shotgunner Sebillian. Two shots - two kills.

Setting the timer for longer than one turn can help, as can throwing it from as far away as possible.

The problem is not with timer. The problem is to get out of cover, set the bomb and run back.

>Not good enough against shotgunner Sebillian. Two shots - two kills.

I never said you're going to have zero casualties. Sacrifices need to be made. Xenonauts are expendable.

You could just toss a C4 charge in front of the door with a two or three turn fuse sitting then back away and take up covered firing positions. The door will be eliminated and you can just massacre any aliens you see near the door with longer range fire. This technique works for me and gets rid of the "surprise" alien attack coming through the door. Also, with the door gone you can use your LMG and sniper effectively from the outside.

G'day folks,

I have just acquainted myself with the release build of Xenonauts (lets call it returning to the fold..), after spending some time here a year or two ago (then getting distracted by XCOM EU, Dead State and boardgames).

Everyone seems to talk about using C4 to breach, but I've happily been using my LMG to destroy the door, which removes the need for the extra equipment/exposure of team members/etc. Then lob in some stun grenades. Why is C4 favoured? Solely to ensure elimination of any lurkers near the door (my sniper/rifleman always look after this after the LMG door shoot)?

Note: The LMG method can of course be problematic when there is little cover for the squad outside the door, I'll admit.

Edited July 31, 2014 by gnarly
Corrected timeframe based on my profile Join date...

I believe some people prefer it so the LMG is available to fire the turn the doors open, but I generally just go with shooting it too when I need to destroy something.

When you enter the main entrance of a UFO, and you see three more doors,

Long Range Explosive Weapons are always my solution to them death corridors.

Other than that, I always have a nifty trick,

- positioning a few grenadiers close to the entrance to be in throwing range, but placed on the side not too close to draw reactionary fire.

- Have a scout open the door from the side(not from the front, although some UFOs disallow units on the sides of entrance for some funny reason).

- Move the scout away from the entrance out of reaction range so as not to trigger the reaction fire. (The idea is to move away from range before the aliens could even trigger fire)

- Get the grenadiers to lob grenades that causes enough suppression to prevent reactionary fire.

- Lob some Damage Grenades

- Lob even more grenades

- Move scout back to close door since most/all aliens are suppressed

- Rinse and Repeat

Considering that the entrances are always conventional I'd say this is a legit level playing field.

...Why is C4 favoured? Solely to ensure elimination of any lurkers near the door (my sniper/rifleman always look after this after the LMG door shoot)?

Three reasons: 1. Kills anyone standing near the door. 2. After the door is blown up you have full TUs to fire your LMG at anyone that newly visible with the door gone. If you use the LMG to eliminate the door then it's done for that turn instead of slaughtering aliens or being ready to reaction fire (if you're close enough.) 3. It's fun to blow stuff up!

3. It's fun to blow stuff up!

Reading between the lines, methinks that's your #1 rationale... ;P

Reading between the lines, methinks that's your #1 rationale... ;P

Possibly...but there are sound tactical reasons for blowing up the door vs. just opening it. Basically, you can open up a firing lane that will allow you to kill any aliens down the middle of the UFO without a lot of trouble due to superior firepower THEN you can move your assault guys in to finish off the stragglers. Of course, this doesn't work nearly as well in upper floors of large UFOs, but it works real well on the initial entry.

Tank, Tank, Tank. Really. I try to never start a mission without one. It destroys the door and bombard/kill everyone inside. Soldiers go inside when there's one or two aliens left. Of course for bigger ufos you have more to do as tank can't get to upper levels.

Tank, Tank, Tank. Really. I try to never start a mission without one. It destroys the door and bombard/kill everyone inside. Soldiers go inside when there's one or two aliens left. Of course for bigger ufos you have more to do as tank can't get to upper levels.

Yes, other weapons work too, but why waste precious tank rounds or rockets on a door? C4 is a smarter choice.

Yes, other weapons work too, but why waste precious tank rounds or rockets on a door? C4 is a smarter choice.

You have to linger near the door for a few turns with a demolitions guy, giving them the chance to ambush him. Also tank can kill aliens deeper inside the first room instead of right around the door, and sometimes there is another door... behind the door. Though you could always just use both, set c4 and have a tank with full TUs waiting just outside the blast radius aimed at the door ready to fire, vaporizing whatever unfortunate sob is in that first room, much fun.

I usually breach the exterior door with a tank, then once im inside I use stuns/flashbangs from crouching shield guys followed up with machine gunners standing directly one tile behind them (so machine guns never hit the crouched shield guys), working my way through dangerous areas a few tiles at a time. In places where there are multiple passages/routes I give one a nice coat of stun gas and then work on the opposite side until I'm sure I can't be flanked, actually sometimes I just fill entire rooms with stun gas, close the door and take a smoke break while the gas does its thing.

I use specialized shield guys specifically for assaulting UFOs, keeping them unharmed until I get to the UFO. Heaviest armor and dual wielding two shields if possible packing lots of grenades of various types, TUs aren't important because they move very slowly through the UFO. Stick a healthy machine gunner behind them and then another soldier packing a decent weapon, flashbangs and smoke a few tiles off in case both of them get suppressed. I never move farther than the machine gunner can reaction fire. Only the manliest, highest health of my soldiers dare become a shield or machine gun specialist.

My squads are usually something like two of these teams and a tank, any more might be backup or additional heavy shield guys because they tend to absorb most of the hate. Tank takes the brunt of the scouting and work on open map.

Edited August 2, 2014 by rsf77