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archnemesis · Mar 26, 2011

Seeking to take advantage of a weakened Earth, X-COM's deep space foes unexpectedly change strategy and launch a powerful second front against planet Earth. In the dark depths of vast oceans, long sleeping forces are awakened by reanimation signals sent out across the galactic silence by their interstellar brothers and sisters. Slowly but surely, an army of hibernating alien sea creatures awakens. Your combat now extends to the strange new worlds of the deep where superior alien technologies threaten the very survival of this planet - your planet - Earth.

Title: X-COM: Terror from the Deep
Developer: MicroProse Ltd.
Publisher: MicroProse Ltd.
Release date: 1995
Platforms: DOS, PlayStation, Windows
Genre: Strategy
System Requirements:

Minimum
386 (33MHz minimum)
4MB RAM
Hard drive (60MB free, game only)
MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
VGA Graphics

Recommended
486 (50MHz) or better
8MB RAM
Hard drive (63MB free, game + manuals)
SVGA Graphics

Steam: $4.99 (4.99) for Terror from the Deep or $14.99 (14.99) for the Complete Pack with four other X-Com titles.
Direct2Drive: $4.95 for Terror from the Deep or $4.99 for the Complete Pack with four other X-Com titles.
GamersGate: $4.99 for Terror from the Deep or $14.99 for the Complete Pack with four other X-Com titles.

If you're looking for the Playstation version your best bet is eBay.

Prohibited

No reloading when you mess up. If a soldier gets killed, or a base is lost then you just have to deal with it and continue without going back to an earlier save game.

Allowed

Playing on easy mode. It doesn't matter which of the five difficulty levels you choose.

If you prefer to play the game in any other way that's perfectly fine. Feel free to post in this thread anyway.

Q: Is Terror from the Deep playable on modern computers?
A: Yes, the Steam version uses DOSBox and it's compatible with both 32 and 64-bit Windows systems.

Q: How do I play in full screen mode?
A: Press Alt+Enter to toggle between full or window mode.

Q: I want to change the resolution. Where can I find the config file for DOSBox?
A: "../Steam/steamapps/common/x-com terror from the deep"

Q: Is there a way to change the game speed?
A: Yes, you can decrease/increase cycles with Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12.

Q: How to I take a screenshot?
A: If you're running DOSBox you can use Ctrl+F5. The images will end up in your "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\x-com terror from the deep\capture" folder.

Q: Is there an easy way to avoid all the game breaking bugs?
A: Get version 9.7 of XcomUtil. Put the files into the TFD folder. Run XcuSetup.bat and the program will go through each mod one by one, explaining it and then asking if you want to install it. Running XcuSetup again will restore the game to its old, unmodded state. (credit goes to PKrockin)

Visit UFOpaedia.org for more detailed information about strategy and tactics. Here's a beginner's guide for Enemy Unknown to get you started.

You can find last year's thread here. If you're missing anything from the OP, please let me know.

epmode · Mar 26, 2011

You are a good person for making this thread. It almost balances out the threads about the new game!

archnemesis · Mar 26, 2011

I decided to post it a few weeks early because of the Direct2Drive sale. For some strange reason I'm still hyped about Bioshock: 1950s Edition.

Sectus · Mar 26, 2011

archnemesis said:
I decided to post it a few weeks early because of the Direct2Drive sale. For some strange reason I'm still hyped about Bioshock: 1950s Edition.

You're a terrible person

TUSR · Mar 26, 2011

X-Com Util still works on both the Steam and D2D copies of the game.

We should get some games going, Aliens vs. X-COM. Have guest appearances and put them up on youtube or something.

Air Zombie Meat · Mar 26, 2011

Cool, think I'm going to be up for this, the last thread was fun. TFTD is a cruel bitch though, this is going to be one salty thread.

StuKen · Mar 26, 2011

I predict a lot of this:

NinajHeartless · Mar 26, 2011

Looking forward to participating this year ^_^

Let's go, X-Com!

archnemesis · Mar 26, 2011

I immediately changed the layout of my base to make it less vulnerable from alien attacks.

First mission went alright, but 7 points isn't going to impress the funding nations. The second mission was a disaster. My team got hit by two grenades.

Now it's the 18th of January 2040 and aliens are attacking Bangkok. How am I supposed to do anything about it when all my weapons only work under water? Am I forgetting something?

Castor Krieg · Mar 26, 2011

archnemesis said:
How am I supposed to do anything about it when all my weapons only work under water? Am I forgetting something?

You should be able to buy weapons that work above water as well. Later when you research plasma cannons they will work both underwater and in towns.

atbigelow · Mar 26, 2011

archnemesis said:
Now it's the 18th of January 2040 and aliens are attacking Bangkok. How am I supposed to do anything about it when all my weapons only work under water? Am I forgetting something?

What a flashback to some very hard videogame lessons of my youth. Found out about that in very painful manners.

tiff · Mar 26, 2011

Don't the standard rifle and pistol work above water, at least?

_Bro · Mar 26, 2011

This thread would pop up the day I have two essays I really don't want to write due.

I will be participating in this. I feel like building my own nation on the sea and letting the rest of the world burn due to the alien invaders.

Strummerjones · Mar 26, 2011

Had great fun with the original ironman challenge (actually started playing that game again a few weeks ago!) but I personally found Terror From The Deep far too frustrating to be that fun, and I can only imagine how much more aggravating an iron man run would be. That said I shall eagerly watch from the sidelines, and will raise a toast to the first person to completely mess their game up by researching stuff in the wrong order!

archnemesis · Mar 26, 2011

tiff said:
Don't the standard rifle and pistol work above water, at least?

The standard weapons' projectiles are powered by gas propulsion ~~and won't work out of water.~~ The Gauss weapons work fine though and you research them right at the beginning.

;_;

ixix · Mar 26, 2011

The Jet Harpoon gun works out of the water, as does the Gas Cannon. The only starting weapons that don't work out of water, as far as I remember, are the Hydro Jet Cannon and the Torpedo Launcher. That includes the Torpedo Launcher on the Coelacanth, which is why the Gas Cannon Coelacanth is way better.

Air Zombie Meat · Mar 26, 2011

Strummerjones said:
Had great fun with the original ironman challenge (actually started playing that game again a few weeks ago!) but I personally found Terror From The Deep far too frustrating to be that fun, and I can only imagine how much more aggravating an iron man run would be. That said I shall eagerly watch from the sidelines, and will raise a toast to the first person to completely mess their game up by researching stuff in the wrong order!

Yeah, just remembered about the research bug. Just did a quick search and found this info on how to avoid it:

Research BOTH Ion Beam Accelerators AND Plastic Aqua Armour BEFORE researching a live Deep One Terrorist. Researching the Deep One Terrorist first will put the game in an unwinnable state, because certain research trees won't open up, and you need those trees to unlock the final stage of the game.

Do NOT research the M.C. Lab UNLESS you have an M.C. Reader in storage at the same facility where the research is conducted. If you do this, you won't get M.C. abilities, and while that's not necessarily a game-breaker, M.C. abilities are darned handy.

Do NOT research the Tasoth Commander until you have completed research on the Leviathan. Doing otherwise will prevent you from being able to research the Leviathan, and you can't start the final mission without a Leviathan.

You MUST research a Live Deep One Terrorist in order to unlock the squaddie armor (Ion Armor). This is a problem only because the aliens you encounter are keyed to your level of research (mainly weapon research, IIRC). So if you start seeing Deep Ones and you keep researching weapons, eventually you'll stop seeing them. Which is a problem if you haven't researched a Live Deep One Terrorist yet. So once you start seeing Deep One terror missions, stop researching weapons until you snag a live Terrorist.

jim-jam bongs · Mar 26, 2011

Don't know if I've really got the time to devote to doing it properly this time but I will also be eagerly awaiting the battle-report posts =D

TUSR · Mar 27, 2011

You should immediately begin to start work on Gauss technology because you can blow walls up easily with the rifle. They also rock up until lobstermen.

Or play the real way and just do sonic weapons.

Ceebs · Mar 27, 2011

It has been ages, but this one was hard as balls compared to the original right?

RyanDG · Mar 27, 2011

I haven't played an X-Com game in years, so I figure this will be the best chance of any to pick it up again. I haven't gotten to any missions yet, but I do have a few research paths started and am now deciding on which direction I want to go in game...

As for my starting squad of 8 guys - I already have them named and ready to go...

Jed Eckert
Matt Eckert
Robert Morris
Erica Mason
Toni Mason
Danny
Daryl Bates
Arturo Mondragon

PKrockin · Mar 27, 2011

Aw hell no. I enjoy a challenge but I'm not crazy. Knowing my luck I'll get a Lobsterman Cruise Ship mission first month or something.

I laughed at how the "Iron Man Challenge" is playing through the game without abusing saves. Testament to the game's difficulty.

So I'll just be subscribing to read the horror stories of braver GAFers than I.

RyanDG · Mar 27, 2011

So I just completed my first mission and though it wasn't horrible, a incredibly bad tactical decision ended up costing the lives of Matt Eckert, Danny, and Erica Mason. Matt's brother Jed and Eric's sister Toni have vowed revenge. Aardvark (Arturo Mondragon) nearly died as well, but was fortunate to be able to get out of the blast radius in the turn previous. I completely forgot just how methodical you have to be in this game to clean out areas before moving on. The NORPAC commander has decided that from this point forward, he'll remember that you'll get no second chances in this one.

EmSeta · Mar 27, 2011

Whyyyy can't they release Xcom for the iPad? ;-(

Sinatar · Mar 27, 2011

Ceebs said:
It has been ages, but this one was hard as balls compared to the original right?

Yes. Terror from the Deep is crazy hard, but oh so satisfying. It's also a sort of Cthulu game which makes it even cooler.

But yea the crazy difficulty will make the iron man runs of this fairly short I would imagine.

Dennis · Mar 27, 2011

I remember last year when private DennisK4 heroically defended Earth from the invaders before giving his life.

Truly the X-Com games stand the test of time. Still great gameplay to this day.

K.Sabot · Mar 27, 2011

I believe it is time I have partaken of this.

archnemesis · Mar 27, 2011

After losing my entire team of aquanauts and their submarine in the first month, I decided to restart. This time I'm playing on the Experienced difficulty level and everything is going extremely smoothly, almost too smoothly. I made some minor changes in my build and research order, and most importantly I'm only doing missions in broad daylight with a fully loaded sub. I'm also extra careful to never approach enemies head on and to spread out to avoid multiple deaths from the same grenade. Right now I'm almost through the first month without any casualties.

This new layout for my base will hopefully trap all invading enemies in the hangar and access lift area.

When landing in Jamaica my transport was completely surrounded by Deep Ones and a few Gillmen.

Results from Terror Site-1.

jonnyp · Mar 27, 2011

DennisK4 said:
I remember last year when private DennisK4 heroically defended Earth from the invaders before giving his life.

Truly the X-Com games stand the test of time. Still great gameplay to this day.

Yeah, I replay TFTD once a year. Usually a month of my life is lost but it's worth it!

Wish we could have a true upgraded sequel but that'll never happen I guess.

Gorgon · Mar 27, 2011

Still my favorite game in the series. I'd love a remake.

archnemesis · Mar 27, 2011

Made it through the first month. Now I have $2.6 million, and probably loads of alien technology I can sell. I'm thinking about spending most of it building a secondary base near Africa (cheapest) and making it a dedicated factory.

Acosta · Mar 27, 2011

There will be tears in this thread...

burgomeister · Mar 27, 2011

Loved Terror from the Deep when I was a kid so I decided to install my steam copy and give an ironman play through a try. Lost four aquanauts during the alien's first turn at the first crash site. I don't think ironman mode is for me. Though it doesn't help not remembering what most of the buttons during combat do.

TUSR · Mar 27, 2011

We need to get a damn iPad or iPhone remake for this.

methane47 · Mar 27, 2011

MY BROTHERS IN ARMS!!!

IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG....

I will not be taking part of the Terror from the Deep yearly X-COM challenge.. because when ever I play TFTD i get scared and have nightmares for days...

Soo i will enjoy reading of your demises.

Burger · Mar 27, 2011

Squire Felix said:
We need to get a damn iPad or iPhone remake for this.

Can you imagine how awesome that would be? The iPad would be oh so perfect. If I had a game studio it would be my first work, and if I couldn't get the rights I'd make a rip off.

TUSR · Mar 28, 2011

Burger said:
Can you imagine how awesome that would be? The iPad would be oh so perfect. If I had a game studio it would be my first work, and if I couldn't get the rights I'd make a rip off.

Yeah the iPad is the perfect medium for these games.

I can't start my ironman until I finish classes in April

archnemesis · Mar 28, 2011

February was a breeze. As long as I'm only dealing with Gill Men and Aquatoids it's not that bad. Every now and then I lose an aquanaut in a mission, but now that I have my squad equipped with Gauss Rifles and Plastic Aqua-Armor it should become easier. I'm still dreading the day I'll encounter a Lobster Man. Right now I'm researching the Gauss Cannon and that'll hopefully lead me to not having to worry about money so much.

I also found a few interesting links browsing the internet.

Image of tech tree (contains spoilers)
Discussion about the differences between Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep. There are more than you might think.

Minsc · Mar 28, 2011

Squire Felix said:
Yeah the iPad is the perfect medium for these games.

I can't start my ironman until I finish classes in April

I played PocketUFO on my Windows Mobile handheld a long time ago, had no problems (though that used a stylus). Shame no one brought that over, it's a near 100% perfect port of the game.

TUSR · Mar 29, 2011

Minsc said:
I played PocketUFO on my Windows Mobile handheld a long time ago, had no problems (though that used a stylus). Shame no one brought that over, it's a near 100% perfect port of the game.

I never heard of that before, I just did a bit of googling and it looked pretty decent.

put that on the iPad and we are in business

Air Zombie Meat · Mar 29, 2011

Started my game today, went with veteran difficulty. Nothing that interesting happened the first month. Did two UFO recoveries and a terror site. Managed one of them with zero casualties and the terror site went surprisingly well despite the fact my men are still armed with peashooters. I have lost about 15 recruits already though. Moved the subpens to help with base defence and finished researching medkits and motion scanners. Gauss weapons next.

Decent start but it probably won't last for long.

Seems I recruited John Dudebros russian cousin:

Sadly he was killed at the first terror site. Straight up dead time.

TUSR · Mar 29, 2011

Air Zombie Meat said:
Started my game today, went with veteran difficulty. Nothing that interesting happened the first month. Did two UFO recoveries and a terror site. Managed one of them with zero casualties and the terror site went surprisingly well despite the fact my men are still armed with peashooters. I have lost about 15 recruits already though. Moved the subpens to help with base defence and finished researching medkits and motion scanners. Gauss weapons next.

Decent start but it probably won't last for long.

Seems I recruited John Dudebros russian cousin:

Sadly he was killed at the first terror site. Straight up dead time.

Nooooooo! Don't do Gauss weapons, research alien weapons and move through the
Sonic trees first. They're found on the battle field and cost no additional extra.

Air Zombie Meat · Mar 29, 2011

Damn, bit late for that now. Kitted out my squad with gauss rifles and pistols already :/ Couldn't remember if that was the best way to go. Always liked getting the laser weapons asap in Enemy Unknown.

Just hit the end of february and managed to a land a squad next to a landed very large UFO. Also discovered an alien base next to it. Not sure if I should go through with the assault though. I forgot to load my Gas Cannon Coelceanth and only have ten men. Tempted to just pussy out and takeoff.

_Bro · Mar 30, 2011

I looked at the darkness surrounding us. Flicked the wall, the sound echoed throughout the bay. They said we were to have the best.

A tin can is still a tin can, not much I can do until I set foot on the seabed.

This was our first mission, deployed only a couple days after arrival. I guess we didn't need training. Half the guys were looking at their guns like they were foreign; hell, the tip of a spear sticking out of the end of my gun wasn't as comforting as they suggested.

Touchdown in 5.

So we're almost there.

Touchdown in 4.

I don't know the name of a single person here.

Touchdown in 3.

Cabins starting to pressurize.

Touchdown in 2.

Up to waste in water. Almost there.

Bay doors opening.

We rush into the deep. I guess that was our first mistake, not sure I can claim there where any others, though. I made it only four steps out before there was an explosion. Catapulted backwards, crumpled against the wall.

Couldn't tell who was screaming. Was it me? Can't see anything, darkness. Are my eyes shut? They won't stop yelling.

In a moment they are cut off. Another explosion? The vessel begins to roll. The screams are distant now, muffled. Where are they?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How do you feel?
Horrible.

Tough. Doctors said you're fine, get on your feet.
Give me a day.

We don't have a day, there are recruits here who need to train.
We didn't train.

Well now you can. Get up.

Get out of bed, get dressed, leave the medical bay. Easy, hope he's happy now.

I stop by my bed, guess I got a present. A welcome mat. "Welcome Home."

Home in a tin can.

_Bro · Mar 30, 2011

ew, why did i write that... fan fiction

TUSR · Mar 30, 2011

Air Zombie Meat said:
Damn, bit late for that now. Kitted out my squad with gauss rifles and pistols already :/ Couldn't remember if that was the best way to go. Always liked getting the laser weapons asap in Enemy Unknown.

Just hit the end of february and managed to a land a squad next to a landed very large UFO. Also discovered an alien base next to it. Not sure if I should go through with the assault though. I forgot to load my Gas Cannon Coelceanth and only have ten men. Tempted to just pussy out and takeoff.

Gauss rifles make bitches of walls in missions haha. Just start blasting through walls and flanking in missions.

Just play smart and you can win.

Chopper Dave · Mar 30, 2011

I was looking forward to this thread since the beginning of the Enemy Unknown Ironman challenge. My first X-Com experience was an Enemy Unknown demo from one of those shareware/demo disc compilations back in the good ol' days of DOS. I remember it started you out with about 8 squad members in a city attack with snakemen and chrysalids. It only let you play for about 10 minutes before going to a "please buy this" screen but I was so hooked on that demo. Anyway, Terror from the Deep was my first full fledged X-Com game and I have to say I really prefer it to the original.

Like the last time I tried playing the original X-Com again, I find myself lacking the free time this game demands and deserves. I am making swift progress though as I already have two bases and a aquanaut squad fully armed with sonic weaponry. I scoffed at the likes of the aquatoids and gillmen, alien peasants of my beautiful planet's blue oceans. I wanted a real hunt and surprisingly encountered the Lobstermen so much sooner than any of my other games.

I still remember the first time I ever encountered Lobster back in the day. A full squad of experienced aquanauts armed with nothing but harpoon and dart guns. Those poor poor bastards had no idea and neither did I. I never did figure out how many harpoons it would take to kill a single lobsterman. I could have loaded from the beginning of that mission a thousand times and still would not have been able to beat those tanks with what I was throwing at them. I had no choice but to tuck my tail firmly between my legs and run until my sonic gear was complete.

I am much more experienced now and despite seeing lobstermen unusually early in the game, my team was already very familiar with their sonic rifles/cannons. My tank rolls off the ship only a couple units to find one mean looking piece of seafood with his back turned to the ship. First shot with a sonic cannon PEW!!...direct hit, he's still standing! Second shot with sonic rifle PEW!!...direct hit, dear sweet Jesus he's still alive! Third shot with the same sonic rifle PEW!!...direct hit, the groan of a dying giant lobster alien could not be mistaken and the body of our feared enemy lay in the clear for all to see. It was time to mop up the rest with just as much ease and we did just that for the most part. None of them were even able to counter fire as we took out about 5 of them in relatively close proximity. Bodies of many enemy lay motionless on the sea floor to say good job the mission is almost over. It was not over, not that easy.

The whole combat field had been searched, all but the ship. I knew there had to be at least one in the ship and he is eager to ruin what would be a perfect lobsterman first encounter. I position a few of my men around the door and send one lone cowboy in to scout the area. Dun dun duuuuuun!, I'll be damned if that sadistic bastard wasn't just laying back and waiting to fuck up the first living thing that walked through that door. Did he shoot my subordinate as he came in? Where is the sick evil sport in that? He was facing only but 3 units away pointed directly at my man and the door. He didn't say anything but he didn't really need to as the scene spoke well enough for itself. "Well it looks like you found me, good for you. Please feel free to shoot me first, I'll take my turn right after you. If you prefer to get shot in the back, the door is right behind you." The lone cowboy takes this challenge and fires his cannon with determination if not more out of desperation. The lobsterman slowly claps his steel cutting claws together to congratulate the proud soldier for his courage just before he takes his rifle and splatters my man's brains unto the bottom of the Atlantic. The rest of the team sent to raid the ship hold back the tears for the fallen gunslinger long enough to barrage the murderous scum and his dimwitted friend who has his back turned in righteous sonic fury. My perfect lobstermen encounter ruined.

Calavera520 · Mar 30, 2011

Squire Felix said:
We need to get a damn iPad or iPhone remake for this.

Would immediately buy an iPad if there was a direct port of the original x-com games. I did manage to get x-com running on that iDos application on my iphone that has since been taken down from the app store. It was not an ideal set up but i could technically play the game.

archnemesis · Mar 30, 2011

It's April. Even though I'm still destroying the opposition in the tactical missions, I'm starting to have trouble dealing with large and very large UFOs. I'm still only facing Aquatoids and Gillmen, most likely because I haven't started reasearching sonic weapons yet. My second base is in full production supplying the earth with Gauss Cannons and pretty soon I'll have more money than I know what to do with. I'm currently researching the Magnetic Ion Armor and next up are Mantas and eventually Sonic Oscillators. What kind of defense are you guys using to protect your bases? It's only a matter of time until the aliens are starting to fight back for real.

Air Zombie Meat · Mar 30, 2011

I knew it would probably end in tears but I decided to at least try to attack the very large UFO.

The map view on landing:

This things huge! The squad very slowly moved out, I wanted to make sure they could retreat if need be. Nothing spotted for several turns, it seemed too quiet. Then I came across this:

A giant enemy jellyfish?

I don't remember these things. To my relief it went down after a few barrages of gauss rifle fire. But that seemed to be the trigger for the real attack.

Suddenly, grenades started raining down around my squad from unseen assailants along with the dreaded psi attacks. I'd forgotten to bring flares as well so the aliens had a huge sight advantage. There was no way I was going to win this one.

Any illusions of being able to capture a very large ufo this early in the game now shattered, I decided to retreat back to the ship and get out of here.

It was looking like a successful retreat. Managed to get nearly everyone back on board without incident until:

Why is it always the ones with the explosive weaponry that go berserk? Torpedo launcher in this case, leaving me with only one survivor in the ship, one outside and a tough decision to make.

Needless to say, their sacrifice will be remembered. But on the bright side, I didn't lose the ship and recovered most of my equipment. The newly discovered alien base has been buzzing with ufo activity so my focus now is to get to the point where I can bring down and raid large supply ships. Ended up with a poor rating for march though, going to have to improve things fast.

archnemesis said:
What kind of defense are you guys using to protect your bases? It's only a matter of time until the aliens are starting to fight back for real.

Nothing right now apart from rearranging the base. I'm more worried about losing due to negative score than a base attack at the moment.

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