V19.6 Air Combat Discussion

[Ishantil]

So back when I was playing X-COM 1994, if I lost an Interceptor, it was bad times. I had to buy a new one, and new Avalanche missiles and such. But it wasn't a deal breaker if a UFO blew it away. I could buy a new one in two days, and the Avalanche missiles were quite good. But I kept playing.

In this game, I load my save.

[Max_Caine]

*picks microphone up off floor*

So why's that then?

[WalrusJones]

Costs are higher in this game, presumably because every expense is either base maintenance, or a permanent upgrade.

[Ishantil]

As WalrusJones said, the costs are very high for losing even one combat. You lose 4-5 days of aircraft being able to engage UFOs. Which in this game is a 3-7 UFO wave. All of those missions complete, your funding goes down, and you lose more money.

Since the penalty is so severe, what motivation do I have for "letting it play out?"

To be fair, the "invincible interceptors" becomes useful is when only one of your aircraft is shot down.

[maackey]

I probably need to test this out some more, but I'm pretty sure the game is easier on veteran than normal difficulty, as far as the strategic game goes. I see a lot more things to intercept, which means I get a lot more missions, which means I get a lot more money, which allows me to buy a lot more planes, so I can shoot down a lot more UFO's which leads to a lot more missions which... well you get the point.

Really I've noticed that the air combat is all about staggering your missile fire. Let one fly out to force the roll, then hammer them with everything you've got left. And alenium missiles make a world of difference in the early game. You can kill light scouts... unscathed... with a single ship: Condor or Foxtrot. (although dodging the lasers for the Condor you have to be super spot on the timing of the dodge/missile launch since the gun triggers the roll -- Foxtrots are much easier, just stagger its two missiles)

I still haven't tried the auto-resolve, mainly because I'm scared it will damage one of my ships and I have gotten to the point where I know how to kill most things without taking too much damage. Because you are right, when you lose a ship it is a serious setback. Not only are they prohibitively expensive for new ones (which I suppose is the result of immortal planes), but they take forever to repair (which is also a result of immortal planes -- otherwise there would be no downside to losing them). But I wouldn't reload the save if it were just one. You can only take a maximum of three planes regardless and I try to keep at least 4 at each base.