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New player, got quite a few questions...


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I discovered Xenonauts a few days ago, and having a blast (literally, thanks to my rocketeers). I've advanced only a bit in game so far, just started encountering corvettes. There's a few questions on my mind though, becasue I think I need to plan quite ahead and don't wanna screw up something that'll force me to go months of ingame time back.

Let's start with air power. Planning my progress ahead, I decided to go with six bases-HQ (research, dropship, interceptors) two secondary (workshops, interceptors, dropship) and three radar/interceptor only. I might cut it to 5 if I leave Alaska, parts of Canada, US West Coast and east Russia to their own. After couple months in game, I'm not sure if this will be viable due to funding.

Interceptors. How many per base is ideal? I thought about 3 (full wing). But so far, I have two bases, and getting occassionally quite swamped by alien craft. And...is it just me, or are starting Condors just useless after you can replace them with Foxtrots? The only two UFOs I've met so far capable of dodging Avalanches are light scout and fighter, and those can still be dealt with by hitting the burners and planting those torpedoes in their face point blank. And Foxtrot has greatly superior speed and range.

Moving on to base design...I dunno if I should leave some room for buildings that I'll unlock later.

And on normal difficulty (first run, after all), how long-roughly-do I have until I start to lose nations due to unchecked alien activity? So far, there's far too much going on at Americas, and I don't have radar/interceptor coverage there (still on second month).

Tactical...so far, only one thing. Can stunned aliens spontaneously wake up, like in old UFO/X-COM?

And final (so far). Who pays for all the collateral damage during missions? :D

Edited by Sar1n
typos, typos....
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A base for per month enought at normal.. 3 planes for base is enough too.. After getting foxtrots you can handle them easily. At unmodded game play, nearly everything new is better then older.

If you didnt go far, i advise you to play with community editions, and after finished game dont forget to check mods!..

Stunned aliens dont wake up..

And welcome :)

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Ah, thanks. Gas rockets and grenades pulled me out of few tight spots so far when usual WMD (weapons of map destruction) couldn't be used. I was wondering if that tactic might backfire this way...

Speaking about that, I just captured that damn Sebillian officer. Tough bugger, even though he made it easy for me...he kindly opened the door of his corvette, and got seriously wounded by reaction fire. But then, he survived several rounds of continuous stun grenade+flashbang bombardment. I don't like going close, so I didn't bring shock batons. Eventually, he succumbed after taking more than dozen various grenades.

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Let's start with air power. Planning my progress ahead, I decided to go with six bases-HQ (research, dropship, interceptors) two secondary (workshops, interceptors, dropship) and three radar/interceptor only. I might cut it to 5 if I leave Alaska, parts of Canada, US West Coast and east Russia to their own. After couple months in game, I'm not sure if this will be viable due to funding.

I'd say that three bases are optimal: 1 main base and two radar/interception bases. Anything more is expensive and doesn't really add to your capabilities. It can be useful to build a lab or two in one of the other bases later in the game (since research projects are shared across all bases and so you'll save some space in your main strike base). But in the main I'd plan for three and build more in the late game if you need them.

Interceptors. How many per base is ideal? I thought about 3 (full wing). But so far, I have two bases, and getting occassionally quite swamped by alien craft. And...is it just me, or are starting Condors just useless after you can replace them with Foxtrots? The only two UFOs I've met so far capable of dodging Avalanches are light scout and fighter, and those can still be dealt with by hitting the burners and planting those torpedoes in their face point blank. And Foxtrot has greatly superior speed and range.

Depending on how good you are at the air combat game, I would say three at a minimum and more if you need them. I usually have 2 Foxtrots in each base and on Condor (upgrades to a Corsair when they become available) which is enough to deal with most UFOs. You won't necessarily drop them all with that few due to reload/rearm times but it's a good baseline on which you can build more if funds/resources are available.

Moving on to base design...I dunno if I should leave some room for buildings that I'll unlock later.

There are very few new building unlocks - most building improvements upgrade existing facilities instead. So I wouldn't worry about saving space.

And on normal difficulty (first run, after all), how long-roughly-do I have until I start to lose nations due to unchecked alien activity? So far, there's far too much going on at Americas, and I don't have radar/interceptor coverage there (still on second month).

Luck depending, I'd expect to lose a country at the end of the third month and if not then definitely at the end of the forth. That's on Veteran difficulty though; not sure about Normal. It also supposes you have three bases up and running by the end of the third month too.

And final (so far). Who pays for all the collateral damage during missions? :D

The only answer you need to know is: not you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agreed on the post above. Six bases will bleed you dry very quickly. And you really only need one assault team; for me, every crash that's not in the main base's radar range gets airstriked for cash until I get the Shrike, at which point I *might* consider sending them long-distance if there's a good reason to go.

I usually put the main base in Egypt or near the Med, then put one fighter/radar base in Florida and another in Taiwan. That placement doesn't cover everything but it's good enough. I usually offload the science labs to one of those two bases and throw some turrets up to protect them, then increase the number of engineers stationed at the main base.

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