# UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM: UFO Defense)



## Brian G Turner (Oct 25, 2015)

Can't concentrate today, so am playing ye olde 1994 Xcom-1. 




 

Downloaded it from here, to run on Windows 7:
http://www.old-games.com/getfree/15534


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## Foxbat (Oct 26, 2015)

Still one of the best


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## thaddeus6th (Oct 26, 2015)

I never played, or was even aware of, this and related games back in the day. Very glad XCOM: Enemy Unknown (originally conceived as some FPS nonsense) got shifted to a tactical game due to fan pressure.

Just hope XCOM 2 comes to consoles...


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## Vladd67 (Oct 26, 2015)

Anyone remember laser squad?


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## Foxbat (Oct 26, 2015)

Vladd67 said:


> Anyone remember laser squad?


The daddy of XCOM - superb fun as a multiplayer game (hotseat) on my Atari ST


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## Nick B (Oct 26, 2015)

I loved the old and the new x-com games. Turn based tactical combat is where its at for me. Anyone else like chaos gate? Best warhammer 40k game ever. Though final liberation was also good fun.


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## thaddeus6th (Oct 26, 2015)

Incidentally, it's not for me (PC-only, I think) but Hard West, if I've remembered the name rightly, sounds like a Western sort of XCOM, albeit one that's even less forgiving.


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## SilentRoamer (Oct 26, 2015)

Oh so awesome.

I am a big fan of this game. I actually spent about 6 months playing this very, very hardcore a few years ago to try and "keep" all nations on a perfect game.

Its not actually possible to prevent infiltration missions so you always end up losing funding from at least one country. I never managed a perfect game - I had a game where I defeated the Mars Base on Superhuman without losing funding and I had a game where I had all 10 bases setup and all were making money (laser cannon/heavy laser manufacturing) but I never managed to get all 10 bases up and completely built and defeating the last base before losing at least one countries funding.


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## Brian G Turner (Oct 28, 2015)

Uh-oh! I made the mistake of simply killing everything, thinking I only needed to stun a commander late in the game to get the Mars research projects.

But that means I've missed out on psionics, meaning I now have to storm a large ship full of sectiods and stun the lot, just to get that psionic warrior so that I can get psionics as a research topic...


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## Foxbat (Nov 1, 2015)

Found this and thought I'd give it a try (you need to own a copy of the game to use it)

http://openxcom.org/about/


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## Brian G Turner (Nov 1, 2015)

Hate those Ethereals - always panic or possess my crew as soon as I land near them. Always bad to encounter before psionics have been developed.

However...I realised that when you possess another creature, you can't access their inventory. Same with the aliens. Therefore a way to defeat the Ethereals I've found is for the XCOM units to drop their weapon at the end of each turn. 

That way, if that XCOM unit is possessed, the aliens can't do anything with them, except perhaps make them wander about a bit. And if any unit goes beserk, they can't harm their comrades. This is really useful against Ethereals, because they rely on mental attacks more than weapon attacks, so you can get away with it more easily than if you meet Sectoids. The only thing is, to use that strategy, you need to remember to pick up the weapons before moving again.


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## Foxbat (Nov 1, 2015)

Brian Turner said:


> Hate those Ethereals - always panic or possess my crew as soon as I land near them. Always bad to encounter before psionics have been developed.
> 
> However...I realised that when you possess another creature, you can't access their inventory. Same with the aliens. Therefore a way to defeat the Ethereals I've found is for the XCOM units to drop their weapon at the end of each turn.
> 
> That way, if that XCOM unit is possessed, the aliens can't do anything with them, except perhaps make them wander about a bit. And if any unit goes beserk, they can't harm their comrades. This is really useful against Ethereals, because they rely on mental attacks more than weapon attacks, so you can get away with it more easily than if you meet Sectoids. The only thing is, to use that strategy, you need to remember to pick up the weapons before moving again.



It's an interesting strategy but it means that you use precious action points dropping and picking. Me? I always load up with HE auto cannon and rockets. Then I blast every bit of cover in sight.


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## Fried Egg (Nov 2, 2015)

Has anyone here tried a recent (but retro) attempt at this game called *Xenonauts*?


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## Brian G Turner (Nov 2, 2015)

Brian Turner said:


> just to get that psionic warrior so that I can get psionics as a research topic...



Sectoid Medic.
Or any live Ethereal, by the looks.


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## SilentRoamer (Nov 2, 2015)

Fried Egg said:


> Has anyone here tried a recent (but retro) attempt at this game called *Xenonauts*?



That actually looks pretty decent - is it any good?

Brian:

Yeah Sectoid Medics give Psi research but not always (All race medics give the same research which is normally a random creature analysis but can be Psi). Sectoid Commenders also give Psi research (live).

Another thing to remember is that Sectoids and Ethereals often target the same squad member - even targeting the same one on different missions. They target someone based on morale and bravery (I think) so often they target the same individuals over and over again.

Decent tip is to use grenades with these squad members . (They never throw grenades with MC units).


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## Bugg (Nov 2, 2015)

Fried Egg said:


> Has anyone here tried a recent (but retro) attempt at this game called *Xenonauts*?



Yes!  I played it earlier this year, got completely addicted to it.  It's rock hard, which was fine by me.  I was also completely addicted to the original *X-COM* games back in the day, and this is the closest I've come to it since *Terror from the Deep*.  Really wish they'd make a sequel to Xenonauts but apparently their next project is something completely different.


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## Foxbat (Nov 2, 2015)

Bugg said:


> Yes!  I played it earlier this year, got completely addicted to it.  It's rock hard, which was fine by me.  I was also completely addicted to the original *X-COM* games back in the day, and this is the closest I've come to it since *Terror from the Deep*.  Really wish they'd make a sequel to Xenonauts but apparently their next project is something completely different.


 I agree. Xenonauts is excellent but very difficult. My computer has received unprecedented levels of verbal abuse since I bought this game.


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## Bugg (Nov 2, 2015)

Foxbat said:


> I agree. Xenonauts is excellent but very difficult. My computer has received unprecedented levels of verbal abuse since I bought this game.



Only verbal abuse?  Mine nearly flew through the (closed) window on several occasions


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## Temaran (Jan 21, 2016)

The old XCOM's and Jagged Alliance 2 have in my opinion the most compelling tactical gameplay mechanics of any computer games to date.
Amazing stuff.
Making something on par with them has been a goal of mine since I first played them


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## Bugg (Feb 2, 2016)

I may have pre-ordered *XCOM 2*, coming out on Friday


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## thaddeus6th (Feb 2, 2016)

I wish it were coming out for PS4. I know it still might, in months/years down the line, but it looks great.


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## Temaran (Feb 2, 2016)

Hehe. I might also be guilty of that :3


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## Bugg (Feb 5, 2016)

Having some major performance issues with XCOM 2, and looks like I'm not the only one going by the reaction on Steam.  My pc makes the recommended spec easily.  Think I might put it to one side and wait for them to patch it.  Pretty poor considering it's a pc exclusive!


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## Bugg (Feb 16, 2016)

^^  Okay, so having experimented with the settings I managed to get *XCOM 2* running pretty smoothly. 

How they've managed to make a turn-based strategy game this exciting is incredible.  I know a lot of people have complained about the turn limit on some missions but, for me, it adds a level of urgency that was almost completely missing in all the previous games of this type that I've played.  And in all those games I've never encountered anything quite like the thrill of setting up and executing an ambush, or getting knee-deep in enemies and fooling them into chasing after a decoy whilst my squad outflanks them, and the cinematic sweep of the camera as it plays out (this is all made possible by the stealth mechanic at the start of most missions).

I also love the premise, in that we lost the war and the aliens now rule Earth, so you're basically fighting guerilla warfare, trying to connect with resistance cells across the planet etc.  The re-jigged classes are brilliant, too.

Still some silly holdovers from the previous game, mostly to do with the action cam showing characters shooting through walls and such, but that can be turned off - if I wanted to - anyway.  Apart from that, I think it's fabulous (and terribly, terribly addictive).  I think this is already verging on 'best game I've ever played' status, and that's _with_ the performance issues.


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## thaddeus6th (Feb 16, 2016)

Special tip: when flying back from a mission, press caps lock and, it seems, the loading time becomes much shorter. (According to Eurogamer, obviously do at your own risk).

Still miffed this isn't out on PS4.


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## Bugg (Feb 16, 2016)

thaddeus6th said:


> Special tip: when flying back from a mission, press caps lock and, it seems, the loading time becomes much shorter. (According to Eurogamer, obviously do at your own risk).



Yes, I've been doing this.  Totally bonkers and it works.


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## thaddeus6th (Feb 16, 2016)

Not a PC gamer, but that baffles me. Read one theory that it's to do with smooth pre-loading, whereas pressing caps lock makes it faster but a bit hang-y.

Still hopeful it'll come to consoles. Seems bizarre not to and I'm not a fan of platform exclusivity (think it'd be great if The Last of Us were available for Xbox/PC).


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## Bugg (Feb 16, 2016)

thaddeus6th said:


> Not a PC gamer, but that baffles me. Read one theory that it's to do with smooth pre-loading, whereas pressing caps lock makes it faster but a bit hang-y.



TBH, I wasn't having much of a wait during the flights back from missions anyway, 20 - 30 seconds (from SSD), and I quite like those scenes because they add to the atmosphere (no doubt I wouldn't be so easygoing about it if I was having 1 - 2 minute waits, though).  I tried it anyway and - as you say - the screen freezes for a second and then the 'press any key' highlight comes up.  You can see it in action here:






I suspect, in a week or two, there'll be a patch to deal with some of the performance issues.  I've managed to get around them by turning down anti-aliasing and shadow detail but it will still be good to have it fixed.


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## Bugg (Mar 16, 2016)

On my second play-through of *XCOM 2* now, this time on 'Legend' difficulty.  Still completely addicted.

The game received its first major patch last week, to sort out performance issues and tweak some aspects of gameplay.  There's also a new 'zip' option, which speeds up certain animation and removes some of the annoying pauses.  Graphically it's running very smoothly for me now on 'high' settings but, ironically, the game has crashed on me three times since the patch, when it hadn't crashed at all in the five or six weeks since I solved my initial problems mentioned up-thread.  Bah!  On the plus side, now when it crashes it immediately sends off a report to Firaxis, so maybe these things will get sorted eventually.


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## Bugg (Apr 24, 2017)

Just in case anyone's interested, there's a demo of a skirmish mission from the upcoming Xenonauts sequel, cunningly titled Xenonauts 2, available on GOG: Xenonauts 2 Demo

It's a very early, pre-alpha version.


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## Bugg (Apr 15, 2020)

There's a new XCOM game coming out next week:


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## Foxbat (May 7, 2020)

I looked XCOM 2 and thought about buying it. Then I looked at the filesize. 32.5Gb. That’s just ridiculous.  Even with super fast broadband it would take quite a bit of time to download (7 hours by my calculations) so it’s a ‘no sale’. 

I wonder how much of that filesize is unnecessary bells and whistles?


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## Bugg (May 7, 2020)

Download it overnight?  For under a tenner, well worth it.  Compare it to the file size of Red Dead Redemption 2 . . .


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## Luiglin (May 7, 2020)

I worked with the Gollops on Laser Squad Nemesis, a two player online game email turn version, many years back. From creating a range of maps for the two player game to doing the Grey's campaign for the single player.









						Laser Squad: Nemesis for Windows (2002) - MobyGames
					

The sequel to the original Laser Squad focuses entirely on 1vs1 tactical combat. Units from four different races can be selected: The Human Marines, the artificial Machina, the mysterious Grays and the aggressive Spawn. At the beginning of a game, units are deployed, each with a different cost...




					www.mobygames.com


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## Foxbat (May 7, 2020)

Bugg said:


> Download it overnight?  For under a tenner, well worth it.  Compare it to the file size of Red Dead Redemption 2 . . .


Sorry. No. I’d rather do without than buy something I think is padded with unnecessary fluff because, ultimately, it’s still just a 3D isometric game. Giving the developers money for big files only encourages them to create even bigger files. In case you haven’t guessed, I don’t own (and never will) Red Dead Redemption 2.


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## Bugg (May 7, 2020)

Luiglin said:


> I worked with the Gollops on Laser Squad Nemesis, a two player online game email turn version, many years back. From creating a range of maps for the two player game to doing the Grey's campaign for the single player.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I seem to remember playing that, or something very similar, at least. I remember the original Laser Squad very well. It's a shame Julian Gollop's latest, Phoenix Point, doesn't seem to have fared very well.


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## Luiglin (May 7, 2020)

Bugg said:


> I seem to remember playing that, or something very similar, at least. I remember the original Laser Squad very well. It's a shame Julian Gollop's latest, Phoenix Point, doesn't seem to have fared very well.


If you played it, my Chrons forum name is the same as I used in game.


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## thaddeus6th (May 8, 2020)

If the file size is too big, fair enough, but I'd say XCOM 2 is one of the stand out games of this generation (for me).


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## Narkalui (May 14, 2020)

UFO was the absolute nuts! I never managed to finish it because I could never get to grips with the resource management side. Then my friend worked out how to hack the game's hex files and make all of my soldiers have infinite action, stamina and health. I lost interest a bit after that...


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## Foxbat (May 14, 2020)

I finished the very first UFO but none of the others. I got to the very last bit of Xenonauts but then you’re just overwhelmed with aliens and it became nothing more than a boring, frustrating grind fest. A very poor conclusion to what was until that point, a very good game. The next closest I came to finishing one was XCOM Apocalypse but in the end I found even the easiest difficulty level too much for me. I’m tempted to play Xenonauts again and then just give up at the end level on the mothership.


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## Bugg (May 14, 2020)

I finished the original UFO and Terror from the Deep a couple of times each.  I can't remember how far I got with Apocalypse, just that I didn't like it very much.  I've finished XCOM Enemy Unknown three times, the last time on Iron Man, and XCOM 2 three times, the last time again on Iron Man.  I haven't finished War of the Chosen yet, though.  Same for the Long War mod for Enemy Unknown.  I really enjoyed Xenonauts - don't remember the end being particularly frustrating, though.


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## Foxbat (May 15, 2020)

I quite liked the idea in Apocalypse of human groups sympathetic to the aliens, and that you could raid them but wasn’t keen on the graphics or the fact it was all located in one city.

As for Xenonauts in the end sequence, you are on a timer and  end up with wave after wave of aliens appearing at the rear as you advanced in the mothership. If I recall correctly, there were side rooms where you could destroy equipment that would allow your squad to escape once the leader was killed. I could never get the job done and fight off all the newly appearing aliens at the same time.


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## Toby Frost (Jun 2, 2020)

I've been playing the remake of XCOM recently and enjoying it very much. It's nice to be back in the call centre with Green Jumper Man and the Cherman lady. The missions are very good. Every time an alien makes a noise and one of the soldiers says "What was that?" I think "It's aliens, you idiot. Aliens made that noise."


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## Bugg (Jun 2, 2020)

Toby Frost said:


> I've been playing the remake of XCOM recently and enjoying it very much. It's nice to be back in the call centre with Green Jumper Man and the Cherman lady. The missions are very good. Every time an alien makes a noise and one of the soldiers says "What was that?" I think "It's aliens, you idiot. Aliens made that noise."



These'll be the same soldiers who have a 99.9% chance to hit and still miss


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## Narkalui (Jun 2, 2020)

Toby Frost said:


> I've been playing the remake of XCOM recently and enjoying it very much. It's nice to be back in the call centre with Green Jumper Man and the Cherman lady. The missions are very good. Every time an alien makes a noise and one of the soldiers says "What was that?" I think "It's aliens, you idiot. Aliens made that noise."


I'm not saying it's aliens...





















It's aliens.


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## Toby Frost (Jun 2, 2020)

Bugg said:


> These'll be the same soldiers who have a 99.9% chance to hit and still miss



And then say "I can't believe that happened!"

I also like how excited they sound whenever they reload their weapons. It's as if they left that bit out of training and suddenly they've realised that they can shoot their gun again.


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## .matthew. (Jun 2, 2020)

I hate the RNG so much in XCOM. I got XCOM 2 as part of the humble monthly choice but haven't even considered playing it. The Gears of War tactical game that was released recently seemed to go in the other direction though, where you'd hit more often than it said you would


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## Toby Frost (Jun 3, 2020)

Is RNG reloading?


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## .matthew. (Jun 3, 2020)

Random Number Generator, so the odds you get to hit etc, and how in XCOMs case you miss a disproportionate amount of really high chance to hit shots. You could say it's confirmational bias, but it definetely feels like the odds it gives you are a lie


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## Toby Frost (Jun 3, 2020)

Certainly the sniper rifles and shotgun variants feel very inaccurate unless you're a long way off or pushing the barrel up a monster's nose, respectively.


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## .matthew. (Jun 3, 2020)

Toby Frost said:


> Certainly the sniper rifles and shotgun variants feel very inaccurate unless you're a long way off or pushing the barrel up a monster's nose, respectively.



Yea, it's not just me who feels that the game lies to you. I still recall missing with a shotgun from like 2 metres away against a 7 foot alien... it's a shotgun man, and you're a trained soldier, you shouldn't be missing that 99%...

I might give the second one a go at some point now I've got it, but from what I've heard it's the same sort of thing. Probably put it in to ratchet up the anxiety to be fair.


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## Bugg (Dec 6, 2020)

I finally picked up Julian Gollop's Phoenix Point.  The Year One Edition was released on Steam and GOG this week and is 50% off until, I think, 22nd December.  I'm only about 5 or 6 hours in but I have to say I am quite impressed.  I'm glad I waited because it seems a lot of the early issues have been ironed out.  It's running very smoothly on my pc - which is getting on a bit - and it feels very polished so far.  The combat feels very good.  I've heard people saying it gets quite repetitive so time will tell on that.


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## thaddeus6th (Dec 6, 2020)

I remember hearing about that a year or two ago. Has evolutionary enemies, whilst player advances are from tech, right?


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## Bugg (Dec 7, 2020)

Yeah, apparently so.  Player gets access to tech through research, reverse engineering and diplomacy with three other human factions, I believe.  You can also recruit soldiers from the other factions, which I did last night for the first time.  The combat uses an action point system, like original X-COM (even though it _looks _more like new XCOM at first glance), so a soldier can move, shoot, move again etc within the same turn providing enough points are available. I like that your soldiers will pause during movement if they spot an enemy, so you can shoot there and then if you have the action points. It also has a free aiming system so you can target specific body parts of an enemy to disable them, and there's none of the '99% chance to hit (and still miss)' rubbish. The soldiers also level up, which looks interesting as they can multi-class.

This intro video explains it better than I can:






It comes with all the DLC to date included, so I'm not actually sure what - if any - of what I've seen so far was added by those packs, as I'm trying not to look up anything.


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