Matrix Games Forums

Bought it when it first came out but haven't played since last summer. Well the mood has struck me and i am out to give the game another go.

The forum is dead. I've been eyeing the game, but based on forum activity I'm thinking it's a goner.

Still enjoying this, very much like the original XCOM if you download and apply the BMan mod. Good stuff!

 Well another year gone by,anyone active in this still?

I played it recently and added another mod that fixes an issue with the Bman mod causing CTD in terror missions. Check out the below url.

http://www.ufo-scene.com/plugins/forum/ ... c.php?8467

I just purchased a copy yesterday. From what I've seen so far I prefer the old DOS version. I haven't been able to find a way to recruit more Soldiers of hire researchers or people who bulid thing (name escapes me at the moment). How/can you do that?

ORIGINAL: soglejr

I just purchased a copy yesterday. From what I've seen so far I prefer the old DOS version. I haven't been able to find a way to recruit more Soldiers of hire researchers or people who bulid thing (name escapes me at the moment). How/can you do that?

If you're using an un-modded game, then soldiers will show up whenever the game decides to give them to you (if I remember correctly, it's been a while since I've played an unmodded game). You don't need to hire researches or engineers, you just need to build the facilities.

If I would have had a little more patience I would have figured it out. I played for about two hours and had a few guys show up and when I built another lab more Scientists showed up as well.

In the old game you could pick up a stunned/dead alien and haul him away instead of waiting to finish the mission. Haven't figured that one out yet. I don't think you can in this version.

Is there an overhead map anywhere on the mission screen?

Thanks for the assist.

Actually I prefer this to the old DoS version (and yes, this forum appears dead). And yes I still play it occasionally also. Its one of them games that you play for a bit, and then it sits for about 6 months. Then you play it again.

No overhead map function that I know of, and yes, you have to finish the mission. I dont remember a way to move aliens in the old DoS version, but then I dont think I have looked at it in 15-20 years [:D]

ORIGINAL: Marty A

Actually I prefer this to the old DoS version (and yes, this forum appears dead). And yes I still play it occasionally also. Its one of them games that you play for a bit, and then it sits for about 6 months. Then you play it again.

No overhead map function that I know of, and yes, you have to finish the mission. I dont remember a way to move aliens in the old DoS version, but then I dont think I have looked at it in 15-20 years [:D]

I picked this up during the Paradox 50% off sale...not bad at all (after I installed some mods).

You could move aliens in X-Com IF you had a soldier with a high enough psionic ability to use those spheres and 'take over' an alien briefly.

I was referring to the ability to pickup a dead/stunned alien to take back to the base for research purposes. In the old DOS version you could stand over the alien, pick it up and carry it back to the ship.

In the new version you can pick up weapons from the ground but not the aliens.

One of the mods adds the mini map function and I always play with this.
 
If you do give it a go I recommend the later versions of BMans and the mods that built on his. They give huge extra customisation and improve the game. They also allow you to play it more like XCOM if you like.
 
So if you don't like the fact that in the base game your guys don't die (they get wounded for a variable number of days and as recruitment is restricted you can run out of fit soldiers quickly) you can change that. And how easily they die. And how quickly they heal. And how much they cost. And how far they can see in the day or at night and the same for the aliens. There are also options boosts to how many aliens you fight, how common their leaders are, whether you meet any of the old style XCOM aliens (these have been added as options), and how sophisticated their tactics are etc. Plus options on the economy to make money easier or harder to come by. So you could make the aliens numerous and tough but cash easy to help balance this.
 
I like this game a lot. But it is certainly a 'bigger is better' game. A bit like Civ 2 compared to Civ 1. To me that was a great sequel as it gave you the same game but much more of it. But at the end of the day you do the same thing, it just takes much longer. It's the same here compared to XCOM. You will go on a lot more missions and go through many different upgrades of weapons, armours, ship upgrades and weapons etc as you fight the ever escalating power and types of aliens. But the missions and fights don't really change much in nature. Land at crash site, hunt down aliens and kill them. Rinse repeat, rinse repeat.
 
Sadly this copies only XCOM. There is no underwater (or those great ship terror missions) of Terror From the Deep. Nor the factions/minor diplomacy of Apocolypse. It's just XCOM writ large and long.
 
And if I had one main criticism it is that despite all the different researches and weapons (and there is not just one all purpose weapon at each level - different types hurt different aliens better or worse) and many aliens, the missions themselves (and there are very many of them) are quite similar. The terror towns change the building set ups but they are all fairly similar. No mixed in ship missions, port missions or beach appartment ones. The crash sites have variety but there are only a few tile sets used. As there are so many missions this similarity begins to fatigue you after a while. Likewise the base missions. There are different base layouts but you soon know them all.