How do you make your bases?

[rsf77]

What is the most efficient way to make your bases?

Currently I am going with 4 bases all relatively similar, one thing is that I have only one of either a workshop or lab in any given base. A base is either a lab base or a workshop base, I was hoping this would cut down on my upkeep costs by not needing the extra living space and being able to have more bases to cover the globe better. Also, all bases only have one radar, as unfortunately the radars upkeep cost is HUGE compared to other buildings.

Currently they are:

Cuba: Lab base, 2 foxtrots, 2 condors, 8 troops, 1 tank and a charlie

Middle East: The only workshop base, 2 foxtrots, 2 condors, 8 troops, 1 tank and a charlie

Indonesia: Lab base, 2 condors, 8 troops, 1 tank and a charlie

Northeast Russia: 2 condors, 8 troops, 1 tank and a charlie

I am making money, though not very much of it but my funding is increasing by a decent amount every month thanks to the air coverage. However, I don't feel that 4 bases is enough... I want more lol. In hindsight, is it really necessary to have a full compliment of troops and a dropship at every base? Maybe if I had, say, one or two main bases and maybe 4-5+ minimalist air defense bases with fighters and a few missile batteries?

If you have 3 main bases, full compliment of troops and sufficient fighters, etc in the "standard" positions across the map, saving as much money and cutting corners as much as possibly how many small defense bases can you effectively make across the map?

Just wondering about all this, how do you cover the geomap (geoscale? something like that) effectively and still allow enough extra money to have lots of building space and extra war toys?

Edited August 2, 2014 by rsf77

[BULIGO]

I have 3 bases, middle east, cuba nad indochina. Only the middle east one has troops. The other have only interceptors. The UFO's they tear dow, I just Airstrike the site. Ground missions only in middle east covered area. So far so good. Just 2 months in game and researched Corsair. None built yet, the condors and Foxtrots are good enough for now. No base attack yet, may change later when the big ships start to spawn. Central base is for production, one of the other ones I plan to develop as research base. The base setup/building spots are known and boring.

I am not experienced enough to challenge the 'best' base setup/position/build order yet.

[ShadowDragon8685]

I put my first base somewhere in the middle east, on the Mediterranean coastline somewhere, like northern Egypt/Libya/Ageria or maybe Crete, Malta, Tunisia, or Sicily. The second goes somewhere in China, and the third I like to put in the Florida Keys because I don't imagine the U.S. of A tolerating a Xenonauts base in Cuba but none in the U.S.

I like to name the bases (and I wish I could REname the bases!) after their locations. Most of them are XRAY {SOMETHING}, except the ones on United States territorial soil, where they're {SOMETHING} AFB because 'Murican Exceptionalism.

My fourth base goes down in Africa, on the coast of Lake Victoria, so its radar will cover Madagascar and the southern portions of Africa which my main base radar doesn't cover. The fifth goes in Australia, of course. Then I put one up in Baffin Bay to cover northeastern Canada, Greenland, and the half of Iceland that wasn't being covered by XRAY COMMAND down on the Barbary Coast, and one in Dillingham, AK, to cover Alaska, Northwestern Canada, and Northeastern Russia that wasn't being covered by my Indochina base. The last one went in Leningrad, to cover the small wedge of Siberia that was left unattended. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you cover every last scrap of land on the planet Earth*. Level 3 radars for most, but the Austrailia and Lake Victoria only need level 1. I made them level 3, though, to have better track of those at sea.

*Except for the Pacific and Atlantic islands which are not modeled in the Xenonauts geoscape: Bermuda and the Galapagos Islands might be covered by a Florida Keys/Cuba base; the Azores the Canary Islands, and Madeira might be covered by a command center on the Mediterranean coast, and the Ring of Fire islands and Oceana islands are probably covered by your Austrailian base. Hawaii's on its own, though, and so is Antarctica. The poor bastards at McMurdo station were probably some of the first victims.

Edited August 3, 2014 by ShadowDragon8685

[Kiel]

Keeping a fully-equipped squad of 8 or more ppl on each base is the biggest mistake newbs do in this game. So terrible and so common.

[ntalas]

@rsf77: Unfortunately the game does not work like this - so I am afraid Kiel is right. Although it seems realistic to have troops in every base to defend them agains extraterrestials, you will soon reach a dead-end. Instead of the troops, try 4-6 base defences.

Regarding my set-up, I have my many base in middle east, with 8 troops, 15 engineers, 4 Foxes, 1 Condor, 1 charlie, No tanks yet.

In central america I have 30 scientists, 4 foxes, 1 condor, 4 base defenses.

Somewhere around Malaysia, I have 4 foxes, 1 condor, 4 base defenses. I will soon build my 4th base, which be exactly like the Malaysian one.

[Larchus]

Jesus, why so many Foxtrots?

[Max_Caine]

One word: torpedoes. Foxes for the longest time are the only aircraft able to carry anti-cap ship weapons. While it's possible to take down a cap ship with Corsairs, it's far and away so much easier with a brace of Foxes.

[StellarRat]

One word: torpedoes. Foxes for the longest time are the only aircraft able to carry anti-cap ship weapons. While it's possible to take down a cap ship with Corsairs, it's far and away so much easier with a brace of Foxes.

Yeah, and with upgraded explosives they can take down any ship in the game for the entire game. They really never become obsolete.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Yeah, and with upgraded explosives they can take down any ship in the game for the entire game. They really never become obsolete.

That's arguable. I would say that Marauders obsolete Foxtrots - not because the Foxtrots can't still perform, but because the Marauders can do everything the Foxtrots do, and everything Condors can do, but they're faster, more agile, more durable and they can do the roll.

Ideally, maximum marauders is the best imaginable squadron set-up, six on each base so you can launch 2x3 or 3x2 depending on the situation. But to get that many Marauders, you would basically had had to import a significant fraction of the Alien fleet to the surface of Earth in flaming scraps. So chances are you're gonna make do with a handful of Marauders at the equator in the Americas, Europe-Africa, and Indochina, and have Foxtrots nearer to the poles.

[ntalas]

That's arguable. I would say that Marauders obsolete Foxtrots -

Sure, the faster you can have a Marauder-only fleet, the better. However, this normally takes quite some time to accomplish and until that happens, Foxtrots are the best option. They are cheap, they get produced from very early in the game (so you can build plenty), and they are useful until the late game. Typically, after having 2-3 Marauders, instead of replacing a Foxtrot with yet another one Marauder, I give priority to my ground team equipment (Wolf armour etc.)

[Kiel]

Sometimes I think I could have beaten the entire game with Condors and Foxtrots IF there was some kind of alenium accelerator/engine research to match the speed of end-game UFOs.

[Larchus]

I know that keeping a fully equipped squad at every base is not financially viable, but what about having a garisson of regular troops, for in-base security?

I mean, you are generally going to rely on turret emplacements to do the bulk of the damage, but maybe 10 - 15 so Barneys to mop up any xenos that get through?

[aplomado]

I think soliders are paid $10,000 a month- that could be expensive.

[Nasty]

So I originally built 2 bases straight away on my 1st game. 1 in USA and the other in Europe and by the 5th month I was broke and the other continents/countries dropped the funding.

I started a new game and built only 1 base in Cuba because it gives me coverage of North Central and South America.

I also built a 2nd Radar to extend the reach and get more money from these continents.

I will build my 2nd Base in Egypt since I can get coverage of North Africa Europe and some of Asia and Russia, with another Radar I should have no problem covering all these nations for the monthly meeting.

I have also been firing all my Scientist and Eng right before the month is over as to avoid paying maintenance.

I also go through my soldiers and fire all the ones I don't want.

This is all in theory at this moment, lets see how well it plays out!

[Larchus]

But wouldn't firing/rehiring just cost more? It costs more to hire a scientist than to pay his wage for a month.

[Nasty]

yup when you hire them at the beginning of the month you pay them for the month.

Then you fire them save on the maintenance cost per month and then re hire them

just to save the maintenance cost. I believe soldiers are 10K each.

I could be wrong

[Calc]

How many Scientists is a good number? I've been using 15 for the first 3 months and things seem to come along at an OK speed, but when should I ramp them up, and to what number?

I would generally aim for 100 in Xcom and TFTD, but it's probably less here?

Say 30 - 45?

[kabill]

@Calc: I've found 30 to be sufficient to keep pace. 45 will put you a bit ahead, but you'll still be choked by manufacturing so unless you're using extra research speed to cherry-pick/skip techs I don't think there's a huge advantage and extra manufacturing speed might actually be more useful for you in terms of getting equipment up and running.

[Max_Caine]

Tbh, for vanilla you don't need more than 30, especially if you allow an alien base to be built then assault it for those juicy base upgrades. More scientists become important when you start adding content-heavy mods, or a series of mods which add up to a lot of content.

[Calc]

Thank you kindly.

[ntalas]

How many Scientists is a good number? I've been using 15 for the first 3 months and things seem to come along at an OK speed, but when should I ramp them up, and to what number?

Depends on your difficulty settings, but I would say 30 is enough. Try to assault an alien base as soon as possible, and then research the "base upgrades". This will make your scientists work 50% more effectively.

Regarding the engineers, 30 will be also be needed when you start producing Marauders "en masse".

[Chris]

yup when you hire them at the beginning of the month you pay them for the month.

Then you fire them save on the maintenance cost per month and then re hire them

just to save the maintenance cost. I believe soldiers are 10K each.

I could be wrong

This doesn't actually give you any saving, but it won't cause you a loss either. You pay people at the end of the month, but the hire cost is the same as the monthly wage and is paid as soon as you hire them - so not firing them and paying their salary costs the same overall and is less work!

[Larchus]

I didn't realize how important Foxtrots were until I started getting the hang of the air combat mini-game. Yeah, they are important.

Even when there are fighter escorts, you get the Foxtrots in range, fire your payload at the primary target and immediately retreat. They may get eaten up a bit by fighters, but they will be too fast to risk getting destroyed.

[BULIGO]

I would suggest to sit down and examine the aircraftweapons.xml file. There, it is possible to examine each aircraft weapon's damage separately, see how many shots the XYZ cannon has, how many damage each shot deals, same with rockets and torpedoes.Another file contains data about all UFO hitpoints. This way it is posible to avoid to evaporate the UFO (by inflicting +30% un-necessary damage) instead of make it crash, and to save on aircraft ammunition, not because it costs less money, but because they will re-arm themself much faster and be ready for action sooner. The time needed to mount that one torpedo you could saved on your Foxtrot-3 may make the difference about being able to intercept that base attack for example.

I have no idea how Marauders work, being able to use 'only' Foxtrots and Corsairs at the moment. It seems, you and your AI opponent can field up to 3 crafts each per battle. Bringing bigger UFOS on the battlefield does not mean they are smater, just have more HP and make a bigger BOOM when they blow off. Keeping the pace with the research, a skilled player would probably be able to keep total air superiority with just foxtrots and Corsairs. The only limiting factor is maybe the total destructive power of your interceptor's weapons.

Am I wrong on that?

Edited August 6, 2014 by BULIGO

[BULIGO]

This doesn't actually give you any saving, but it won't cause you a loss either. You pay people at the end of the month, but the hire cost is the same as the monthly wage and is paid as soon as you hire them - so not firing them and paying their salary costs the same overall and is less work!

Chris, the way it is now, is a bit illogical and..cheezy. The player sould be encouraged to stick with his personnel, and penalized for sacking present personnel and hiring new one. You know, you get dismissed, and your employer must pay you your wage plus the 'liquidation bonus'. Something like that. I remember how we cheated the system back in UFO-EU by sacking scientists/engineers before month's end and re-hiring them, just trying to imagine a solution to bring the feature a step forward