Am I screwed?

[TobyOne]

My complaint with this game is that it seems you have to do things in the exact right order or you can't recover. I.E You have to buy a Corsair instead of buying armor or you need to buy laser batteries on this date instead of buying a corsair etc. etc.

IOW, it seems like there's a set victory script and if you don't follow it you can't win. I'm playing at normal difficulty. Does anyone else get this impression?

Anywho, I'm at the end of December, I have 3 bases, a corsair, some Foxtrots etc. I have a decent squad equipped with laser weapons, almost done researching plasma. My funding after expensed is around 200-300k.

Am I screwed? Should I abandon and start over? What did i do wrong? Why god why?

[StellarRat]

My complaint with this game is that it seems you have to do things in the exact right order or you can't recover. I.E You have to buy a Corsair instead of buying armor or you need to buy laser batteries on this date instead of buying a corsair etc. etc.

IOW, it seems like there's a set victory script and if you don't follow it you can't win. I'm playing at normal difficulty. Does anyone else get this impression?

Anywho, I'm at the end of December, I have 3 bases, a corsair, some Foxtrots etc. I have a decent squad equipped with laser weapons, almost done researching plasma. My funding after expensed is around 200-300k.

Am I screwed? Should I abandon and start over? What did i do wrong? Why god why?

That seems like fairly decent income. Why are you worried?

[TobyOne]

It fell from around 600k. I don't see how I can keep up. I need a Corsair or two and some plasma weapons. Or do you think laser weapons would work at this point in the game?

That seems like fairly decent income. Why are you worried?

[Fumbles]

You need to be taking UFOs for income in the late-game. They're your money-source. You won't ever get back that juicy one million funding from the start of the game, that's to get you going and get you building up stuff for your main squad(s). If you're ever floundering, take a moment and try to come ahead on the Air Game. Sell some equipment and build a new Marauder, or do a mission with as few Explosive kills as possible. Decomission an older aircraft to make room for a newer one. The easiest way to get ahead in this game is to outpace the aliens on the air game because that's where you not only get all your immediate funding but where you also boost monthly funding by stopping alien missions.

[BULIGO]

You will be fine. Ground combat with laser at that time is okay. Yes, plasma would be better, but it doesn't mean you are doomed with lasers. It will just take some more time/shots/cat'n-mousing with aliens down there. Plasma research will give you plasma guns for your soldiers, and heavy plasma research will give you the plasma Blaster interceptor cannon.All your interceptors will be automatically equipped with it.Corsairs+Foxtrots will be more than enough. Keep in mind that producing ~8 plasma guns will cost a substantial lump of money. Prioritize Corsairs. Try to master aerial combat, watch some videos on Youtube if you lack the skill. Sometimes if your autocombat chance shows 14% chance of victory, if you do the combat manually you can win easily. Autocombat is just a bunch of formulas, no skill. You can do better. Last night I did 3 grounded UFO's back-to-back. It netted me 230.000. thats more than monthly upkeep for 2 interceptors. Try to bring down UFO's as fast as possible. Keep an keen eye on those well-paying states. If you have 2 UFOS, one over central America, one over Northern America, intercept the one over N. America. Same in Europe: keep happ the better paying regions.

[crusherven]

I think I was in negative funding around that point. It's not that big of a deal. Just make sure you win the air game, and don't get complacent. There's probably a couple optimal ways to play, but it's not a victory script. I never built laser batteries. From where you are you can either build some more corsairs, or you can use the funding from each ground mission to build another plasma weapon or armor. Unless you're struggling in ground combat, I'd do a couple corsairs first. You can abort ground combat, but if you get a wave of UFOs that you can't deal with, that can really hurt your funding.

[BULIGO]

Each wave the game will spawn 7 UFO's. Each of my 3 bases must be able to take down 2 UFO's, with or without escort. If it is a capital ship without escort, Foxtrots are enough. If there is escort, I send a mix Corsair/Foxtrot. Hopefully there will be at least one small/medium ufo all alone, so one corsair is enough. I have plasma weapons.The seventh UFO is free game, if I get it, I get it, if not, no big deal. Once I am able to build Marauders, the total air supermacy will be mine.In my current game, I've left Australia to die.

I think Australia can not cover the expenses for a well-supplied base, so, too bad for them. Indochina+Soviet Union fully covered is more important to me.

North-Central-South America can support 2 bases. I wish I cold demolish an unoperative base. I cannot. It sucks. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Allow me to get rid of my own ruins.