Warning: Before you continue, if you feel that you are the sort that frustrates easily, you may want to avoid taking this challenge.
Primary Objectives
Secondary Objectives (these are purely optional)
* An exception to the pistol-sized weapon only rule would be when there are only a few aliens left, but you've run out of ammo and have no other alternative available to you. If that happens, and you don't want to waste your all your work, then you may temporarily pick up and use a heavy plasma or plasma rifle. However, use this only as a last resort.
** An exception to the no psi-amp rule would be if you were to send the soldier in with no weapons but the psi-amp. But this is best left for a different challenge entirely.
There are no prizes for taking this challenge. However, if you manage to actually succeed in performing this ridiculous mission, then that in itself is the prize. Feel free to make the challenge harder any way you want. Such as using no armour, only using reaction fire, no grenades, etc. Just make sure the mission can be completed, one way or another.
You may use your own savegame for this challenge, but if you don't have one with the right conditions, you can download a copy of the campaign I used. Unzip the files into one of your UFO save game slots.
They're both from the same campaign, only I've changed their difficulty levels.
If you want to play my campaign but use your own soldiers, move all the soldiers you want to your first base. Make sure none are assigned to any ships. Next save your game. Copy the soldier.dat file in your savegame directory into the folder you stored my campaign. When you next load my campaign, your soldiers will be in my base. Assign your soldier of choice to Lightning-1 and you're on your way.
If you want to use your own savegame, make sure that at least one floater base is available and that laser pistols have been researched and that you've built some of them. Also purchase some high explosives, some proximity mines and a standard pistol with a generous helping of clips. If you plan to use any alien technology, such as the plasma pistols and mind probes, research them as well. I also recommend having armour.
Load the game and follow these instructions:
Just as a reminder:
During Tactical combat do :-
This actually started out as an experiment on using small squads with comparitively pathetic gear to take out enemy ships, bases, etc.
On day, I was bored. So I sent two soldier into a floater base, one veteran, the other a rookie. It was practically a suicide mission and I had every intention of reloading the game afterwards. I wanted to see how long I could make them last. They were armed with plenty of grenades, the rookie with a laser pistol, and the Commander with a standard pistol with 2 - 3 clips. Almost immediately the rookie was killed by a blaster bomb. The previously armed grenade that the rookie had been carrying destroyed the laser pistol - at that point, my most powerful weapon. Resisting the urge to abort and relaunch the mission, I let my commander continue the fight. He did incredibly well, which actually surprised me quite a bit. 13 dead alien later, it suddenly struck me that I'd almost beaten an entire floater base, with a pistol and a handful of grenades in one sitting, no saving, no reloading, and not one scratch on the soldier. So I took a picture for posteriety. (See screenshot)
Then the quote on the top of this webpage came to mind. Okay, for those who've read the book, it's probably not right for this situation, but think about it. One soldier and rather pathetic weapons winning against a horde of aliens with blasters and plasma guns. And if you win, boy won't they look stupid.
Two days prior to creating this 'challenge', I kept attacking the same floater base with either of the three weapon sets mentioned in the Equipment Sets. Yes, I did win some missions with each respective weapon set, or else I wouldn't have suggested them.
I chose to fight the floaters for obvious reasons. The first being that they were the most accessable one in my campaign at the time. Second, even though Floaters are practically gun fodder, your perspective about them will change very quickly if all you have is a pistol. Remember that you can choose to use any alien species that you want. Just make sure that they and their terrorist units can be killed with whatever weapons you bring. For example, the ethereals. While they can be killed with a standard pistol (eventually), their Sectopods are impossible to kill with the same gun. If you're playing on superhuman difficulty, you may not be able to kill them at all with any of the pistols. So make sure you scale your weapons to the enemies you are fighting. Finally, regarding aliens with psi, make sure your soldier is 100% uncontrollable or else the mission will be over before it's even started. Most of the soldiers in my campaign are psi-fodder, so you'd best use one of your own savegames for this.
- Norm (NKF)Need to contact me? Have any nasty comments? Send me an e-mail at normankf@xtra.co.nz.red_herring. Since it's my private e-mail address, it has been munged. Please delete '.red_herring' from the address.
The following weapons sets are merely suggestions. Although I would recommend you stick to them, feel free to make slight variations here and there.
For example, you can add a motion scanner or a mind probe to any of the sets if you have any. Or, if you want the variety, consider bringing two pistols: a standard pistol and a laser pistol. One an accurate gun, the other a more powerful one with higher stopping power. A nice mix if I do say so myself. It's entirely up to you though. Just don't add any weapons larger than a pistol class weapon from any of the gun technologies.
One more word: I don't recommend using only a stun-rod. If you're stuck in an elevator and there's a Reaper waiting at the base of the lift, there'll be no way of getting rid of it. Bring a grenade, a gun, or anything that'll shoot down the grav-lift. Although don't let my opinion stop you if that's what you really want to do.
| Default Set | |
| Item | Quantity. |
| Pistol | × 1 |
| Pistol clip | × 2 |
| Alien Grenade | × 8 |
| Proximity Mine | × 2 |
| High Explosive | × 2 |
|
Notes:
Minimum strength requirement: 53 For those using the campaign I prepared, this set is loaded on Lightning-1. Please note that if you play a superhuman campaign, the alien grenades may not be enough, so feel free to grab any grenades that you can scrounge off of the floaters. You might be thinking, why alien grenades and high explosives? Well, why not? They're not as direct as a heavy plasma cannon, and in the high explosives case, you need a really strong soldier to be able to toss it about like a standard grenade. Of course, if you want even more of a challenge, swap the alien grenades with standard grenades. It might not look it, but trying to win with this is actually quite tricky. You don't have enough bullets to go around, and grenades take a lot of time to arm. If you find this one too hard, try the next one. |
|
| Alternate Set #1 | |
| Item | Quantity. |
| Laser Pistol | × 1 |
|
Notes:
Minimum strength requirement: 7 Depending on how you look at it, using just a laser pistol will either make the mission incredibly easy, or incredibly hard. One good thing is that you can be a lot more wasteful with your shots. |
|
| Alternate Set #2 | |
| Item | Quantity. |
| Pistol | × 1 |
| Pistol clip | × As many as you like |
|
Notes:
Minimum strength requirement: 5 + (3 × n clips) Sound impossible? Not quite. Hard? Yes. Die hard players will simply love this one. Superhuman floaters take at least three or more bullets on average before they crumble; it takes almost two or three full clips to kill a Reaper. That's why you should take as much ammunition as you can. I highly recommend taking more than 10 clips. I haven't officially won a superhuman mission with just a pistol. I almost did, but I ran out of bullets near the end (10 clips wasn't enough), so I had to complete the job with a plasma gun. The beginner campaign was a lot easier, but only because it had less aliens to deal with. I find this to be, by far, the most challenging of the lot. |
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If you're playing the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO, please note that there are a few bugs that it introduces in tactical combat. Specifically for the proximity mines and the blaster launcher.
Proximity MinesIf you arm a proximity mine, it must be used before tactical combat ends. If any armed mines are left before the mission ends, a random item in the next mission will take on the qualities of a proximity mine. Any item left on the ground might explode for no reason. What sort of damage caused by this random exploding item will depend entirely on what type of item was turned into a mine. A flare would be harmless, but a blaster bomb would be devastating. The best solution is to not leave any of your own equipment on the floor, and be extra careful when stepping on enemy corpses.
If you hear a mysterious 'pop', then the mystery mine has blown up. So worry no more.
An alternate method of getting around it is to save your game, launch a new mission, step on all sorts of equipment until something blows up, then reload your game. Works like a charm.
Blaster LaunchersYou won't be using them in the challenge, but the aliens will. Read on anyway. It's rather informative.
Blaster bombs, in the collectors edition, have a problem with moving vertically on the same tile. Instead, it'll change course and might just as well hit a nearby wall and blow up. This is not nice, not nice at all.
Luckily, the bombs don't have a problem navigating between elevations at angles. It's just when they're on the same X, Y co-ordinate when they have a problem. So, if you're planning to send a blaster ball through a one-tile wide hole, such as up a thin grav-lift or a hole in a UFO's hull, send the bomb to a waypoint just one tile before and above/below the hole, then place the new waypoint inside the hole. (See the picture below for an example.)
Alternately, if you're in wide open spaces, there is another possibility. See, if you place the first waypoint(I'll call it the pivot waypoint) directly above the hole, then straight down into the hole, and finally setting a third waypoint inside the target room, the bomb will fly to the pivot point, then go off in another direction (usually south). Once it hits the edge of the map, it'll mysteriously appear at the second waypoint and fire off to the third, thus working as you intended. You just need a lot of wide open space to pull it off. The highest elevation level (3) works best since there are no obstructions up there, so consider placing the 'pivot' waypoint just there.
What does this mean for UFO CEd players? It means the aliens will have a lot of trouble sending bombs UP grav-lifts. This makes attacking an alien base a lot easier if you make good use of the lifts.
Fear. Your best weapon is fear. The more aliens you kill, the more their morale will drop. When they start panicking, your enemies will lose time units, go berserk or even drop their weapon and run away. However, just because you can do this, it does not mean you should let overconfidence beat you. Let the panic happen, but continue to play cautiously as if they never panicked. If you have some means of identifying your enemies, to make the aliens panic faster, prioritise your targets and go for high ranking aliens first. The higher the rank, the more morale is lost - and overall morale lost from that point onwards will be worse. It's downhill all the way. Aliens with blaster launchers are generally of moderate rank, which makes them good targets to go for.
Aliens with blaster bombs or grenades will not use them if you're standing right next to them. Therefore, if you cannot deal with the alien, save yourself by standing right next to it. This works well against blaster launchers, but not if the alien is carrying a heavy plasma.
Kneel. Kneel whenever you can. On the ground. In the air. On lifts. This will add an additional 15% to overall accuracy. For example, for a soldier with 100 accuracy, the pistol snapshots for that soldier will be improved from 60% to 69% (i.e 100 * 1.15 * 0.60 = 69). However, do not kneel if you need to get away.
If you see an alien carrying a blaster, drop whatever it was you were doing and concentrate all your efforts on defeating it. Blasters are practically insta-kill devices and will put an end to your lone soldier's crusade instantly if it's fired. Again, remember that they won't fire it if you're standing right next to them. CE players can take advantage of the missile's vertical movement bug and ride up a small grav-lift. If fired, the bomb will go to the lift, but instead of flying up, it will fly to the south (your lower-left of your screen). This may even work to your advantage. Do not do this with the larger lifts.
If you find yourself constantly running out of time units, use the reserve TUs buttons. Remember that pistols use very small amounts of TUs to fire, so reserving TUs for a snapshot may not be enough sometimes.
Use the small lifts to your advantage. Aliens cannot go up or down a lift when you are at the other end. In the Collectors Edition, since blaster bombs cannot move vertically, small lifts that lead to rooms with no other entry points will be your safe havens. You can shoot up and down the lifts. You may have to be at a certain angle to perform some shots. You will be able to throw objects up lifts. Throwing objects down the grav lift may require you stand at an angle. Aliens won't normally do this for the smaller lifts, but they will for the larger ones such as the in the command centre and the entry zones. If you kneel on a lift, you can also go up and down the lift without changing stance. Finally, before going down a lift to investiage the area, try to turn in the direction you wish to look first (the direction you feel that the enemy is most likely approaching from). It's slightly safer than dropping down and spinning around.
If you wait long enough, some of the aliens will come to you. If you have a safe haven, you can easily deal with most of the aliens in this manner.
Remember that pistols are one-handed weapons. The other hand should never be left empty. Arm another pistol, carry an armed grenade or use a tool of some sort, such as a mind probe or motion scanner.
Pistols, when not used, are best stored in the most obvious place. The side belt pockets.
When weilding dual pistols: There is no need to dual two weapons of the same type. Pistols are fast and accurate, but weak. Laser pistols lack accuracy, but make up for it with moderate firepower and an insane rate of fire. Plasma pistols are powerful and accurate, but they are very slow. With this in mind, mix and match pistols that compliment each other.
Clips. Bring plenty of clips. You're only one person, and there are only so many aliens to deal with. If you cannot carry the extra clips, leave them in the entrance zone.
Clip storage. Store them in your backpack, or in any slots you aren't planning to use. The floor even. It doesn't matter where you get the clips since all reload actions cost a flat rate of 15 time units.
Consider using your shoulder slots. These are very expensive slots to move equipment into, but for moving between the shoulders to the hands, the action only costs you 3 time units. The next best are your hip (i.e. the slots on your legs) and belt slots. They make great locations for quick access to armed grenades
Pre-prepare your grenades. Face it, this is a solo mission. If the soldier gets knocked out, the whole mission is over anyway. So you may as well prepare a few grenades at the start of the mission. You don't have to arm all of them, as you don't want to have to go through the entire rigmarole again and again every time you reload.
Drop your grenades rather than throw them. Dropping a grenade is slower, but it won't cause the alien to use reaction fire. Best used with flying suits or lifts, so you can place the grenade and then fly up to avoid the blast. The game, in all its wisdom, sometimes does not attribute experience for the kills from a dropped grenade to the person that dropped it. Keep this in mind for your regular campaigns. But for this challenge, since the experience the soldier gains after the mission is irrelevant, go ahead and drop primed grenades if it can save you a few time units.
Listed are the item weights for the equipment you may want to use in this challenge. The values aren't in any particular weight system. They're just values used by the game itself.
| Pistol | 5 |
| Pistol clip | 3 |
| Grenade | 3 |
| Proximity grenade | 3 |
| Smoke Grenade | 3 |
| High Explosive | 6 |
| Laser pistol | 7 |
| Stun Rod | 6 |
| Motion Scanner | 3 |
| Plasma Pistol | 3 |
| Plasma Pistol Clip | 3 |
| Alien Grenade | 3 |
| Mind Probe | 5 |
So how are these numbers used? For every point of strength a soldier has, the soldier will be able to carry that many weight units before having to suffer the encumberance penalty.
Example: Using the default equipment set as seen a few sections up (8 alien grenades, 2 high explosives, 2 proximity mines, 2 pistol clips and one pistol), the soldier must have a minimum of 53 strength to carry it all without suffering from encumberance.
The encumberance penalty is calculated with the following formula:
Penalty = soldier's strength / total weight
If the penalty is greater than one, then there is no penalty. If it's less than one, multiply the resulting value with your maximum time units to determine your total time units for the start of the turn.
Notes:
A clip is always counted as 3 weight units, even if it's partially empty. Also, if it's loaded in a gun in your inventory, its weight is added to your total weight. However, when determining the distance your soldier can throw the gun, the clip weight is ignored. So a loaded pistol in your inventory will count as 8 weight units, but when throwing the pistol, it's thrown as an item of 5 weight units.
X-Com, XCom, Enemy Unknown, UFO Defence, et. al, belong(ed) to Microprose, then to Hasbro Interactive, then Infogrames. X-Com rumoured to be with Firaxis. Infogrames have now been renamed to Atari. Who knows who owns the title anymore.