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18.3 How to find alien bases, how to prevent the loss of a funding member


stx

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How can I prevent alien pacts with founding members?

I mean, in geoscape I can see that funding is slowly decreasing each time I mouse over the continent.

But it is not clear to me which are the factors that increase or decrease the possibility of an alien pact.

In the last 2 game playthroughs, I went on for a couple of months without problems, then I lost a continent on the beginning of the third month.

The strange thing is that in both cases I was building a base on those continents; but the bases were still not operational. I was building hangars for the chinhook and the interceptors; while there was living room space, no soldiers were yet in the base. Also no operational radars, but 2 were being built.

If I'm building a base on a continent, shouldn't be that continent more eager to increase its funding? Instead they left the alliance.

I think that either

1)there there is something that is not working quite right,

2) or something that I have not fully understood.

Moreover, how can I find alien bases? I've patrolled a lot on these continents (using dropships and/or interceptors), but I could not find alien bases.

Am I doing something wrong?

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Step 1 is to find which funding block is being affected. This is easily done, as the funding block slowly drains funding each time you move your mouse. Simply move the mouse over the various funding blocks until you find one where the funidng goes down as you move your mouse.

Step 2 is more difficult. You then have to patrol every damn square inch of that funding block with aircraft, sometime twice, somstimes thrice to find the hidden alien base. A spare Charlie is actually very good for this, because they have the most fuel and speed isn't an issue.

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good call on the second charlie. Now with the global range, this should be a lot easier.

I think that there will be some finance graphs and related thingies along before release. If they are anything like EU1994,then they will show all sorts of activity. That should make it easier than hovering over regions etc.

It just occurred to me that if your Charlie is just patrolling for a base and is shot down, then you wouldn't lose two guys piloting it. Thus putting a nail in the "Chinooks are piloted by Xenonauts" argument. Unrelated tangent Bah!

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Step 2 is more difficult. You then have to patrol every damn square inch of that funding block with aircraft, sometime twice, sometimes thrice to find the hidden alien base. A spare Charlie is actually very good for this, because they have the most fuel and speed isn't an issue.

I agree, but it is very boring. I spent more than an hour searching for that base, and I was not able to find it.

In the original UFO EU hovering a bit over a zone would reveal a base beneath it. It should not be necessary to patrol every square inch of terrain.

Moreover, the presence of a Xenonaut base on the continent should IMHO help avoid alien pacts.

Now I have a base in an alien continent!

alien pact mini.jpg

alien pact mini.jpg

577e7cad7dcf0_alienpactmini.jpg.046b19d9

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Maybe the "build a base, lose area to aliens" is actually quite logical. If you are building a base in an area that is being taken over, wouldnt the aliens want to force a quick pact before it goes operational and starts screwing up their evil plans?

Now if you could bring the area back from aliens that would make for interesting campaigns inside enemy territory. Maybe even human alien-lovers assaulting your base so you do fight something thats not always alien. Xcom apocalypse style anyone?:D

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  • 5 weeks later...

Quick follow-up. Is there yet a better way to find an alien base? I have seen it appear in Russia several times in pretty much the same location but for whatever reason I did not get there to clear it. Now it is invisible again. I drive all around trying to find it with no joy.

Any NEW suggestions? Thanks!

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There's a bug in the game where the alien bases will cost you relations score with a nation at the same rate whatever speed the Geoscape is going at. This makes the drain far too fast, and at present there's no real way to avoid losing a nation when a base is built there.

That is not how it is intended to work. As it is, just accept you'll lose the territory and wait for your agents to detect it automatically.

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My main method of finding alien bases is to just follow the big saucers around. a UFO over a region with a base might be going for a supply run, usually following it will lead you right to the alien base. The best way is to have a map-wide radar cover... but that's a late-game solution

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  • 1 year later...

I spent a lot of hours watching the various alien spawns from december to february, and for me, the only ones that would create a new base were the medium landing ships escorted by two fighters.

so, if you're a gambler, when you see that combo: medium plus two fighters in a single squadron, try letting it do its thing without interference.

first one I didn't shoot down immediately made a base (shows up a few days later on the radar). none of the other ships i tested actually made a base.

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I spent a lot of hours watching the various alien spawns from december to february, and for me, the only ones that would create a new base were the medium landing ships escorted by two fighters.

so, if you're a gambler, when you see that combo: medium plus two fighters in a single squadron, try letting it do its thing without interference.

first one I didn't shoot down immediately made a base (shows up a few days later on the radar). none of the other ships i tested actually made a base.

thanks for sharing! i am so thirst to assault an alien base.

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landing ships don't usually build bases by themselves, but I can confirm after repeated testing that they WILL build a base if they come with fighter escorts, and you give them a chance to land.

give it a day after that, then do a flyover.. presto, one base.

I've done this each of the last 3 months, and consistently the medium landing ship with fighter escort will build a base.

the others did not even try.

but, could just be my "seed". thing to look for is medium or larger ship that is NOT attacking the general populace, shooting down airplanes, strafing shopping malls, etc. they will wander around a bit, then look for a place to set up base instead.

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Alien bases are automatically revealed after 5 days. Ships that can build bases (off the top of my head) are Corvettes, Landing Ships, and Carriers.

not true at all. they are revealed randomly after five days by "agents", but otherwise you can go a while without noticing one, even if it's in territory covered by your radar. Again, I just tested this. second base was quite close to one of mine, and didn't show up even after 7 days, until I flew over it with interceptor.

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not true at all. they are revealed randomly after five days by "agents", but otherwise you can go a while without noticing one, even if it's in territory covered by your radar. Again, I just tested this. second base was quite close to one of mine, and didn't show up even after 7 days, until I flew over it with interceptor.

Dranak's right regarding vanilla. I suspect you're playing with XCE though, which changed this a bit so it's less than certain but you get some pointers about where a base might be.

As regards alien base building, Landing Ships will build bases for most of the game and are only replaced by Carriers around mid-February/early-March (depending on difficulty level).

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