Terror from the Deep (repurposed).

[shadowheart]

Your experience is exactly the same as mine. One way to make it harder is to skip MC, or just ignore control (stick to panic attacks/jam implant).

For the record - after 1 year, I have yet to see a single Calcinite. So no Vibro Blade this time *sob*.

[Bakhtosh]

The research bug in TFTD always killed the game for me. I don't recall if I ever finished the game or not. I'm sure I slugged through it once when it was new, but I've blocked it.

[The Rocketman]

Yes, some stuff is randomised quite bad, like the varation of enemies. I Only once encounterd calcinites, bio-drones and xarquids (those squid thingies), and not even once those dinosaurguys with frickin laser beams. Also some levels (like Atlantis, or the drilling platform) should also more often appear.

If in a couple of years I'm starting a new session, I think I'll use an editor to spice those things up a bit.

[Noctilucus]

It's been an excellent read - great job in bringing the story alive and having us experience what you went through while playing the game.

And yes, congratulations on finishing it! I must admit I've never played TFTD as it felt too much like Enemy Unknown with different names... though when reading your story it seems I might have missed out on something.

[GreenGoo]

For the record - after 1 year, I have yet to see a single Calcinite. So no Vibro Blade this time *sob*.

Ditto, although only 1/2 a year for me.

No calcinite = no vibroblade = no way to reach the higher melee weapons. Sucks.

[GreenGoo]

It's been an excellent read - great job in bringing the story alive and having us experience what you went through while playing the game.

+1.

Thanks for picking up the ball and running with it too, Rocketman. I knew at the beginning there was about a 50/50 chance of me taking my game all the way home, which is why I didn't do a full AAR like Bakhtosh did, with forum members names and such.

Yours was a great read, and thanks for sharing it with us.

[shadowheart]

Aww, GreenGoo, you're not going to continue your TFTD game?

As a side note, I finished my veteran ironman game of TFTD recently (YAY!), and have moved on to a veteran ironman game of the original instead. So far, I actually find the beginning of the original more difficult than the beginning of TFTD. The aliens seems to be a lot more accurate, so I find myself losing a lot more soldiers early on. But I will prevail!

[GreenGoo]

Aww, GreenGoo, you're not going to continue your TFTD game?

I almost loaded it up last night, so chances are good I'm tiring a little of Torchlight, so we'll see some TFTD in the near future.

I'm surprised anyone cared, since both Bakhtosh and Rocketman do it better than I was. I really only started it to write down some thoughts I was having while playing, rather than a full blown AAR.

In any case, when I do play again, I'll be sure to return to this thread and post. I have never finished a game of TFTD and would like to, finally.

[shadowheart]

Well, both Baktosh and Rocketman does/did a a good job with their AAR, but you have an entirely different style of writing that I enjoy reading

[The Rocketman]

Yeah, I'll mimic what Shadowheart said. I would like to see how your experiences with the game end, Greengoo, you have a more personal writing style I thoroughly enjoyed.

Also Shadowheart, congratulations on finishing TFTD! I'm taking a rest from X-COM right now (trying out some old adventure games, and a bit of Battlefield Bad Company 2), but I'm sure I'll try X-COM 1 or X-COM 3 in the near future. Both are games I have never played before.

[shadowheart]

Thank you, thank you! I believe it was my 3rd time through - completed it once on beginner, once on superhuman (not ironman style, thank god!) and now once on veteran

[GreenGoo]

Bad news. At least I think.

Steam client got corrupted, and the repair option of the install prog wouldn't work. Something about a missing file (in the .msi file, not the steam client already on my box).

So, in my infinite wisdom, I uninstalled Steam. Without backing up my Steamapps directory. I was just clicking on things and it was already happening before I realized.

So, reinstalling a bunch of stuff. It's possible some of the games put their save files elsewhere (such as the user account's docs and settings directories). I'll know in a little while.

X-com (et al) are probably too old to do that sort of thing. I'm fairly certain I've lost all my save games for my terror game.

So this is (probably) the second time I've made it fairly deep into Terror only to fail to reach the end.

While I haven't been active in this thread in months, I did intend to return to this game and continue to post.

My apologies to those of you who were interested. Chances are good I'll do it again at some part in the not too soon but not too distant future.

[Noctilucus]

Damn, very sorry to hear that! I hope you'll still be able to retrieve your savegames (never played any of the UFO games through Steam so I wouldn't know whether it is possible)

[The Rocketman]

Damn GreenGoo, that's bad news!

I hope you start (or continue) one of your games, because I sure liked reading your posts.

I myself tried (very briefly) to start a game of X-COM 3: Apocalypse right after ending TFTD, but something felt off there, and I started on other games... The creepy alien theme seems to have been lost somewhere unfortunately. But maybe the raw gameplay is still there, and (if you're tired of TFTD by now) this could be a game you could try out? Maybe you'll inspire me make an AAR about it as well then!

[Noctilucus]

... I myself tried (very briefly) to start a game of X-COM 3: Apocalypse right after ending TFTD, but something felt off there, and I started on other games... The creepy alien theme seems to have been lost somewhere unfortunately. But maybe the raw gameplay is still there, and (if you're tired of TFTD by now) this could be a game you could try out? Maybe you'll inspire me make an AAR about it as well then!

I had the same feeling when I tried Apocalypse, plus the fact that I didn't feel comfortable with the interface or what to do (I'm one of those people who will dive into a game and only read the manual after a while to see what I've missed - if I can't play some part of the game without having to consult a manual at every step I will usually not try much further)
Plenty of people still seem to like it though.

Personally I quite liked UFO: Aftermath as a decent alternative to the original UFO - Enemy Unknown / TFTD games (even if you don't have base building, managing funds or aircraft), you might want to try that if you're fed up with TFTD.

[GreenGoo]

Hey, look at this thread from 2010! What a handsome and intelligent fellow this Goo person must have been.

Going to use this thread to write down random musings as I struggle through another game of TFTD, although this time with OpenXCom and a zillion included mods all running. I wouldn't say it's easier, but it does remove some of the frustrations, like lobsters hiding in the washroom of the second part of cruise liner mission or having to unload all your clips before mission ends or lose the entire thing if even a single shot was fired from it.

I just finished my first Terror mission, in a harbour port. Lost 7 of 14 people. Sucks, but good enough. The real challenge isn't the crap weapons I'm using (everything standard except for gauss pistols), it's the fact that I have no armour yet and I don't know a way to search out and identify aliens without taking enemy reaction shots that almost never miss, and are almost always fatal.

To make matters worse, I think they killed 100% of the civilian population by turn 2. Maybe turn 3 at most. I didn't even manage to step off the Triton until turn 2. Hilariously, there was a deep one facing the triton door, and opening it and just chucking a grenade (dye, explosive, whatever) resulted in reaction fire that always killed someone. I re-ran that turn multiple times, just because it was so ridiculous, but even when I managed to land an HE explosive cannon round on his head, he always managed to live and immediately kill someone. I eventually just ate the loss and moved on with the battle.

[dbt1949]

I played the first one a lot but nothing compared to this one. And this one is the only one I've played using the Open Xcom mod.
I may have to give it a try again after my current bout with Enemy Within.

[GreenGoo]

In the new versions, due to the "pods" nature of the ai, it's possible to kill all aggro'd aliens on the first turn of contact. i.e. you spot them and kill them before they "activate" so they never get a turn, resulting in very little threat to your troops.

I don't know how to handle engagement in the older versions. I would say that at least *5* of my 7 soldier deaths were due to reaction fire on first contact/sighting. I think I just need to accept a turnstile of new soldiers in, dead soldiers out until they can survive a single hit (at least). That means armour. I only recently encountered deep ones, so the armour is still aways off.

Soldiers are not cheap, even if their lives are at this stage.

[GreenGoo]

Zero UFO missions for all of February. I could feel me falling behind with every day that passed without event. No new money coming in, base expansion slow but steady, research slow but steady, but no new resources or researchable gear.

End of Feb there is a Terror mission halfway around the world. I'm all gauss rifles/pistols plus gas cannon heavy weapons. No armour yet.

It goes ok, for the most part. I have 2 stunned aliens for the containment unit, and 7 of 14 soldiers still on their feet, only 1 alien left. I know because of the amount of map being covered and scouted and lit, and how short the alien turn is.

Unfortunately he's fallen back to a complex area of buildings, support struts and other LOS destroying terrain. No LOS/LOF. Digging that f**ker out of there cost me 4 more soldiers. That's right, 3 soldiers made it out. Insane. I rage quit in disgust. He even killed 2 *after* I lit him on fire. Sigh.

I'll go back to it when I have a cooler head.

[TheMix]

You guys have way more tolerance than I do. Intellectually I recognize how much more satisfying it must be to eke out a win when the situation is so dire, but I just can't do it. I can't find the fun. So I save scum. And play on easier difficulty. I wish I could play that way. But I'm just not wired right. I am always amazed at the people who do though. Well done.

[dbt1949]

Is there any other way to play. I've been playing PC games since 1993 and I'm still a lousy player. I've tried harder difficulties but they're just not fun for me. I know GreenGoo is one of the better players around but I like following his exploits around.
Of course if he was a more average player I'd like him better.

[GreenGoo]

You guys have way more tolerance than I do. Intellectually I recognize how much more satisfying it must be to eke out a win when the situation is so dire, but I just can't do it.

I rage quit. So I didn't save that result. Right now I use a single save that I've named "quick save" for whenever I've had some success or made major changes to my base management etc. The OpenXCom does have autosave if you want it and I do have it on, but it's only every 5 turns in battle and I don't know how long on the geoscape map. I try and mostly succeed in not using it. That gets harder to avoid the deeper into the game you get.

I was willing to lose 7 soldiers, but 11 is asking too much.

It helps if you think of everyone as expendable before you get your first armour. It's a good chance to do things that you normally wouldn't do. Take chances. Huck explosives literally everywhere. Practice melee stun attacks. In fact thermal tazers are extremely powerful compared to everything else you start with, early on. I use them constantly.

Is there any other way to play. I've been playing PC games since 1993 and I'm still a lousy player. I've tried harder difficulties but they're just not fun for me. I know GreenGoo is one of the better players around but I like following his exploits around.
Of course if he was a more average player I'd like him better.

Coop is the real Xcom veteran around here. I either learned from him or from sources he shared. The new XCom games are a bit less random than the older ones, and in my opinion, that makes them easier to tactically win fights. Once you know what to expect, you know how to exploit their weaknesses. I don't mean cheat obviously, just...do things that the AI can't handle well.

Early game TFTD is just a huge cluster f**k in my opinion. It's a gamble for me every fight. I also don't claim to understand the old AI, so I don't know if you can outmaneuver it like you can the new games.

I've learned not to get too attached to my soldiers, but it still hurts. And it is very hard to come back from losing all your soldiers and starting with an all rookie squad again in the mid or late game.

edit: Lastly, I've forgotten pretty much everything about the new games. I could probably relearn it quickly but I couldn't write out anything from memory that would be very useful. Except the pods(groups of enemies) activating on contact, I guess.

[TheMix]

Anyone familiar with:


They are saying it's Terror from the Deep meets Lovecraft. I'm not sure I'm ready to start another tactical TBS. I've played a bunch lately. But it's going on my list for a possible future.

[GreenGoo]

I still want to try Phoenix Point in the near future. Picked it up finally on a monthly humble bundle. If a game has a fun strategic layer, especially if there are skill trees or research, I'm willing to add it to the collection. I don't have high hopes for a game in the 17 dollar range though. Still, Lovecraft and Xcom sounds good.

The few reviews look good, and I liked the art style. Added to wishlist.

[TheMix]

I just finished a play through of Phoenix Point before tackling XCOM 2 Long War of the Chosen. Some things I really like about it. I love the targeting. Some things aren't as good. Which is fine. It makes it different enough from XCOM to enjoy. I did mod it up a bit though. I think I ended up going a bit overboard on some settings, so it wasn't very difficult. But it was satisfying.

[GreenGoo]

So when I rage quit my last save was several days (maybe as much as 5) before the battle. I reloaded and continued to play. OpenXCom has a mod that changes the random number seed every time you reload, which is supposed to avoid save scumming and knowing what the AI is going to do from watching it before you reloaded. However, nothing happened again until the end of the month, and the mission seemed to be the same, or very close to it, as my rage quit mission.

I managed to get through it with only 3 losses (still no armour, researching plastics right now). All civilians dead. Just like last time, 90% of the civilians were dead by turn 3. I don't even leave the transport until turn 2, and I *might* have 4 guys on the battlemap by turn 3. It's a little ridiculous.

That said, I had managed to protect a civilian sailor throughout the entire fight. As I was pushing and trying to rout out the last surviving gillman, the sailor decided to beeline (I'm not kidding) from the upper right corner of the map to the lower left corner (where the gillman was). On the turn right before I finished the mission, the gillman shot him.

So all aliens dead, 3 soldiers dead, all civilians dead, score: -198 Poor.

Hah.

And this was with the easiest terror aliens possible. It only gets worse.

[TheMix]

There is no way. No way. At least you only lost 3. Still...

[GreenGoo]

3 suits of armour and climbing. Engineers are geting paid overtime. Working (researching) on alien grenades now, which I should have done earlier. I have no idea if the armour will have any effect statistically, but I hope some people are able to live through a single shot, finally.

[GreenGoo]

Just a heads up, for the original game in the early stages without armour, there is a small chance that soldiers will live even if hit by something heavy. In TFTD, this is not true and a single hit to an unarmoured soldier is likely to result in immediate death, no matter how weak the weapon.

This is because Xcom damage ranges from 0-200%, but TFTD ranges from 50-150%. So TFTD has a higher minimum damage, but lower maximum damage.

[GreenGoo]

February went by without a single contact, and then a terror mission. March was the same, although I did see 1 small USO but lost it before I could intercept.

March Terror mission: I hear 8 civilians die on turn 1. Eight. Geezus.

Turn 2: 3 civilians die.

Total civilians on mission: 14.

I killed 1 civilian with a grenade that was hidden from my LOS.

Aliens killed:14
live aliens captured: 1
x-com operatives dead: 5
score: -253 Lol

Geezus. On the plus side, I captured a live deep one which I need for next tech gate.

[GreenGoo]

I think I'm going to start a new game. I've had 2 early months with no opportunities to earn points besides 2 nighttime terror missions. Even if I were willing to continue this game, I feel like I'm behind the eightball in a way that has nothing to do with my play, just the RNG screwing me.

I'm torn. I finally have some armour (I lost 4 suits in that fight. I thought OpenXCom fixed that somehow ), gauss and am researching Sonic Cannon. I also have a live deep one, so more advanced armour is within reach.

I'm a sucker for doing the same thing over and over again, trying to do better each time. That's why souls-likes appeal to me, I think.

Anyway, we'll see.

[GreenGoo]

Pure coincidence that my last 5 terror missions have all been at night.

[NickAragua]

You can run down the clock on those by sending out an interceptor. Then another prior to the first one running out of gas. Then send the skyranger. I mean, whatever the TFTD terms are.

The main point is that a terror site will always remain active as long as there is an aircraft en route to it, so you should be able to delay your arrival at the terror site as long as you have some aircraft you can send towards it.

[GreenGoo]

Yeah, I know, but it's the principle.

[El Guapo]

You can run down the clock on those by sending out an interceptor. Then another prior to the first one running out of gas. Then send the skyranger. I mean, whatever the TFTD terms are.

The main point is that a terror site will always remain active as long as there is an aircraft en route to it, so you should be able to delay your arrival at the terror site as long as you have some aircraft you can send towards it.

You also have to hire a world class PR guy. "Everyone should know that the X-Com team is absolutely getting to the terror incident...eventually."

[GreenGoo]

I think I've saved 1 civilian. Total. Across all terror missions. They are brutal and most civilians are dead by turn 3.

[NickAragua]

You also have to hire a world class PR guy. "Everyone should know that the X-Com team is absolutely getting to the terror incident...eventually."

"Upon further consideration, we have decided to dispatch a ground team to eliminate the aliens, rather than having our interceptor aircraft launch multiple missiles to flatten several city blocks."

I think I've saved 1 civilian. Total. Across all terror missions. They are brutal and most civilians are dead by turn 3.

At least they don't have Chrysalids in this one, otherwise instead of dead civilians it'd be dead civilians + zombies + extra Chrysalids. I guess they do have "Tentaculats", but those aren't really as terrifying and I don't even think they show up above water.

But yeah, those civilians aren't too bright, they just kind of run around randomly.