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[_Bro]

I didn't realize how hard this game was in comparison to the original X-Com.

Glad to see I'm not the only one getting shit rained down on them.

I think my new tactic will involve spending all of my money on smoke (dye?) grenades an taking the idea of Gorillas In The Mist to a whole new level.

 

[Mindlog]

There are a lot of X-Com operative corpses floating in the Atlantic.

 

[TUSR]

I didn't realize how hard this game was in comparison to the original X-Com.

Glad to see I'm not the only one getting shit rained down on them.

I think my new tactic will involve spending all of my money on smoke (dye?) grenades an taking the idea of Gorillas In The Mist to a whole new level.

terror from the deep on easy is harder then ufo on superhuman haha

 

[Servbot #42]

Last year thread was pretty good so maybe'll give TFTD another chance because i never managed to get into it, i guess i'll start with easy because everyone says that this game is hardcore lol

 

[_Bro]

Last year thread was pretty good so maybe'll give TFTD another chance because i never managed to get into it, i guess i'll start with easy because everyone says that this game is hardcore lol

Dude, first time playing Terror From The Deep here. Did I go easy? Hell no, I went straight to veteran.

 

[Servbot #42]

Dude, first time playing Terror From The Deep here. Did I go easy? Hell no, I went straight to veteran.

Okay fine i'll go veteran and do an ironman run, if i end up in a corner crying it's gonna be your fault.

Also i'm wondering if the Steam version has fixed the research bugs that i keep hearing about? It would suck to screw my game up because i researched a thing before you are suppossed to.

 

[Jubbly]

I predict a lot of this:

No, I refuse to play this evil game again. It's the equivalent of a modern day FIFA xx, just with a few new things and a hellacious difficulty level. Of course, that's because it developed in 6 months, let alone 12, and not by the original devs, but by the publisher, MicroProse. I finished this brutal game back in the day and repurchased it on Steam, but no, I will resist. I will not play it again, no matter how much cool stuff you post in this thread.

 

[archnemesis]

Also i'm wondering if the Steam version has fixed the research bugs that i keep hearing about? It would suck to screw my game up because i researched a thing before you are suppossed to.

The bugs are still there. I tested it a few days ago.

Last night I finally ran into some Lobstermen. Those bastards were even worse than I remembered. Nine hits with a Gauss Rifle for each enemy almost forced me to abandon the mission because I was running dangerously low on ammo. And this was when facing a wrecked small alien craft with only four survivors.

 

[Servbot #42]

Damn so the bugs are still present? I'll guess i'll have to be really careful when doing research.

So i started a new game on veteran, my first two missions were a bloodbath in which i lost a bunch of operatives. To make everything worse the aliens invaded my one base on the first month causing me to restart the game because i was broke. This time i decided to start a new game using some of the changes only possible by using XcomUtil, i went with an improved starting base (better design versus invasions, extra scientist and engineers)and i enabled some of the stuff for organizing soldiers before missions. I guess this could be considering cheating in a way since it allows you to get into the game faster but is nothing game breaking so i'm just gonna go with it.
Also this game is fucking hard :/

 

[PKrockin]

Argh, I'm spending so much time on campus without anything really to play... I might start TFTD on my netbook to pass the time. I bought the 5-pack on Steam for like $5 a long time ago and never touched anything but UFO Defense.

Maybe I'll go with Easy since I'm not so hot at TBS games to begin with. Is Easy really harder than UFO Defense's Superhuman?

Also, I know this is like the buggiest game in existence, but are there any gamebreaking glitches besides the research bug?

Edit: You know what, screw Easy, I have to play at least one difficulty level above it if I'm going to do this thing.

 

[archnemesis]

I think the research bug is the only game breaking one.

• List of known bugs.
• Bug Avoidance Guide.

 

[archnemesis]

I don't know if I'm doing well or not. I have $16+ million to spend on stuff, but on the other hand I'm having trouble keeping up with the alien menace. Most of the UFOs are too large and heavily armed for my Barracudas and during the past week I chose to ignore two nocturnal terror sites. In order to compensate for this I decided to finally deal with the nearby alien base that I discovered almost two months ago. I'm almost through the first half and my newly researched sonic weapons are doing a nice job dealing with the wide selection of new alien life forms.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Well, you're doing much better than me. Had two "poor" months in a row and lost quite a bit of funding. Had to ignore a couple of shipping raid missions and all I've been getting are low scoring small UFO recoveries.

 

[TUSR]

I think the research bug is the only game breaking one.

• List of known bugs.
• Bug Avoidance Guide.

Just patch TFTD with XCOM Util and it will solve all these issues...

http://xcomutil.scotttjones.com/

 

[iirate]

I fell in love with Enemy Unknown after last years thread. The problem? My system (which can handle maxed out Crysis) was slowing to a crawl inside the alien ships, and I didn't have the patience to deal with it. I'm was using Vista 32 back then; does Win7 64 handle things better? How would my netbook running XP fare?

I really want to give this fantastic series another go, but those ships were PAINFUL.

 

[Sinatar]

I fell in love with Enemy Unknown after last years thread. The problem? My system (which can handle maxed out Crysis) was slowing to a crawl inside the alien ships, and I didn't have the patience to deal with it. I'm was using Vista 32 back then; does Win7 64 handle things better? How would my netbook running XP fare?

I really want to give this fantastic series another go, but those ships were PAINFUL.

If you're playing through DOSBox then you probably just need to up the CPU cycles in your conf file.

 

[PKrockin]

Just patch TFTD with XCOM Util and it will solve all these issues...

http://xcomutil.scotttjones.com/

I did, but version 9.6 on that site didn't say anything about research tree bug fixes so I was still worried. Then I found 9.7 beta on some site that claims to have fixed them, so hopefully this will work out.

I fell in love with Enemy Unknown after last years thread. The problem? My system (which can handle maxed out Crysis) was slowing to a crawl inside the alien ships, and I didn't have the patience to deal with it. I'm was using Vista 32 back then; does Win7 64 handle things better? How would my netbook running XP fare?

I really want to give this fantastic series another go, but those ships were PAINFUL.

I run it perfectly on my Windows 7 Starter netbook... 1.66GHz, 1GB RAM. Have you tried using DOSBox?

---

Well, I started a new game on Veteran with nothing but bug fixes added via xcomutil. I planted my base between China and Japan in order to cover Australia, China, India, and Japan... in hindsight I'm not sure that was the best placement.

First USO was a Very Small that got vaprized instantly when I engaged it. After that I detected a Small landed USO right next to my base and went to work. My Gas Cannons took out the Aquatoids without much trouble, I even managed to sneak into the sub and stun everyone inside. Among my spoils: Magnetic Navigation. January's almost over, so I'm sure the first terror mission is coming up very soon...

lol horrible quality gifs

 

[archnemesis]

I had the same problem with slowdown last year and eventually ended up installing the Gold Edition instead. I'll try messing around with the cycle settings and see if that solves anything.

@PKrockin: You can use Ctrl+F5 for screenshots. The images will end up in your "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\x-com terror from the deep\capture" folder.

 

[PKrockin]

Thanks, I'll do that.

 

[archnemesis]

My first alien base mission was a lot easier than expected, mostly because of the enemies' poor AI. Unless they had me in their line of sight, most enemies were content standing around doing nothing at all. Even though I got 2500+ points for that mission I still only had a total of 658 points for May. The next months was very uneventful. After I took out the base I had no extraterrestrial activity for over two weeks which allowed me to catch up on research. With 100 scientists and 176 technicians doing my bidding I feel like I finally have the economy portion under control. I can now instead focus on screening soldiers for mental capabilities.

 

[TUSR]

I had the same problem with slowdown last year and eventually ended up installing the Gold Edition instead. I'll try messing around with the cycle settings and see if that solves anything.

@PKrockin: You can use Ctrl+F5 for screenshots. The images will end up in your "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\x-com terror from the deep\capture" folder.

Exactly this, you need to change around a few settings. Best bet is to go to the Steam forums for XCOM and there is some helpful threads on optimizing settings. I changed a few of mine around because TFTD was making my laptop run at 70˚C.

 

[Atilac]

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

One dude is working on it

 

[PKrockin]

Well, my first terror mission didn't go so well. I won, but the Gillmen kinda killed my entire squad except Max Tarantino... who then had to run around for ages looking for that last alien. The aliens in TFTD really are a bunch of camping whores.

Recovered another small alien sub and that was January. Currently researching what I guess is the equivalent of the Hyper-Wave Decoder, after that I'll probably go for Sonic Pistols to replace my Gas Cannons.

Glad it's a new month. My score is good but I was basically bankrupt after starting to move my hangars, buying some 40 scientists, and replacing tons of Aquanauts.

 

[TUSR]

My god, I usually play on the middle difficulties, and for this I tried super human. Aquatoids killing my 10 member squads...

 

[archnemesis]

Wait, it's august already? I'm losing a lot less men now that my aquanauts are equipped with magnetic ion armor and medi-kits. However, they are still prone to panic and during my last mission two aquanauts got mindjacked for the first time this playthrough. Fortunately both were staring into walls at the time so my other men weren't harmed by their feeble resistance. In preparation for the final mission I decided to demote the weakest two-thirds of my squad and replace them with fresh recruits. I can't risk losing someone's mind when they're equipped with a disruptor pulse launcher.

I was originally planning to expand my influence across the globe with two new bases, but seeming that my relations with the funding nations has improved I think I'll spend my $60 million on MC training and defenses instead.

 

[PKrockin]

February was pretty boring, but at least I finished research on the Transmission Resolver and am close to finished building one in my base. I'm also just about done moving my hangars.

I only found one small USO this month; it landed just outside my base again. The terror mission that came after it was too dangerous. I had no choice but to arrive at night, I had lost a number of Aquanauts to the camping aliens in the sub I had just assaulted, I was taking MC attacks like crazy, and the terror units were taking 2+ Gas Cannon shots, conventional grenades, or even Thermal Lance hits. Since a Calcinite spawned right next to my Triton's entrance I managed to stun it and drag it inside before dusting off. It ruined my score for the month but I didn't want to lose my good units and possibly Triton playing hide-and-seek with mind-controlling Aquatoids in the dark, even if it did offer the possibility of capturing one alive. There'll be more chances.

So far, this game isn't as hard as I thought. I'm sure I'll be eating those words as soon as the game stops throwing these warm-up races at me and brings out the big guns. Another reason I'm rushing to get Sonic weapons researched ASAP... I don't know when Lobstermen will start appearing and I have basically nothing capable of dealing with them at the moment.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

So I got game over about half way through the year from low score :/ Talk about going out with a whimper. I started a new game though, put my base in a better location (which I think messed me up before) and went to work on sonic weapons as quickly as I could. Still early days but things seem to be going better.

I still can't deal with the shipping attacks though, so ridiculously hard. How do you guys approach them? Thought I'd done one recently but I forgot you also have to do another battle straight after on the lower decks which wiped me out. Argh! Would just ignore them but the massive hit to your monthly score makes that hard to do.

 

[archnemesis]

What difficulty are you playing on, Air Zombie Meat?

I've only had a shipping line mission in the middle of the night and I don't do night missions, period. I'm currently in August and so far I've had four port attacks (skipped one), one shipping lane mission (skipped it) and two artefact sites.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Veteran, which is the middle difficulty. I probably should have gone lower for this game after the last one admittedly. In both this game and the last I get as many if not more shipping missions than terror sites. Including one where I landed to a ship full of lobstermen. That one was fun. :/ Terror sites haven't given me any problems so far, it's just these damn shipping lane ones.

 

[PKrockin]

Uh, oops. That's what happens when you forget who's carrying the high-explosive ammunition. Sorry about that, cannon fodder Aquanauts #2 and #3. Another thing I learned: don't hide behind those pipe-looking structures. They explode.

This sub just flew around Australia for a few hours and left without terrorizing anything. Maybe it had to do with my Triton chasing it around. Anyway, that means I had no terror mission this month, which I think is actually a bad thing because I'm still short on funds.

I noticed a lot of activity in the New Mexico area near the end of the month but I didn't send my Triton since it's on the other side of the world and I was expecting a terror mission very soon.

I still can't deal with the shipping attacks though, so ridiculously hard. How do you guys approach them? Thought I'd done one recently but I forgot you also have to do another battle straight after on the lower decks which wiped me out. Argh! Would just ignore them but the massive hit to your monthly score makes that hard to do.

Here's the recommended method of dealing with them.

 

[PKrockin]

This type of double posting is okay, right?

April's terror mission was easy. Sniped the Calcinites from rooftops and wiped out the Aquatoids pretty easily. MC attacks stopped very, very early. I must have taken out the Leader with that HE bomb I threw just behind the sub.

In April I finished research on the Sonic Pistol, Rifle, Cannon and Pulser. I also got a MC Lab, but no actual MC abilities yet. I'm feeling pretty good until a cruise ship terror mission appears only a few hours into May. May Day indeed.

"Oh well, I should at least see what race it is. Maybe I can capture a new alien for some research."

Reaction fire stunned five members of my team? It could only be...

After plugging that alien full of about 5 Sonic Pistol/Cannon rounds he finally fell down, stunned. Repeat on another Lobsterman trying to sneak up on my sub. After kidnapping the offenders and looting their new weaponry (a Heavy Thermic Lance and a Stun Launcher), and dragging my sleeping pals back to the sub, I took off.

 

[archnemesis]

This type of double posting is okay, right?

Of course it is. Double posting is only frowned upon when it's done in a spammy way. Congratulations on reaching a positive monthly result! How bad do you have to do for getting a game over screen? IIRC, having negative funds two months in a row is enough for getting one.

 

[PKrockin]

Hey, I had a good month in January too! I can do fine on score if I don't bail out of the terror attacks like I did in February and March. The more pressing problem for me is money. Even though I have a Transmission Resolver there hasn't been as much alien activity in my area as I'd like. A fair bit of them are Battleships I can't shoot down, too. If I could find an alien base and assault it successfully it would really help my funds. Then I could get started on a second base.

I'm pretty sure you need two "terrible" months in a row, though I don't know how bad "terrible" is. -500? They warn you in the Monthly Report text that they'll terminate the project, so I'm fine.

 

[archnemesis]

Are you using your technicians as a source of income? I have three full workshops working 24/7 manufacturing gauss cannons available for sale to whomever. You can't run a war without a steady supply of money. I figured that once I had my logistics set up I could win against the alien threat by sheer economic force.

 

[Jay Sosa]

Sorry for the OT but

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..

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!! I can't really tell how much of a relief this is..I played that game on my PSX for countless hours without ever getting to the end, now I at least know why.

Anyway: Good luck everyone!

 

[PKrockin]

Gauss Cannons? Of course... Laser Cannons were incredibly profitable in UFO. I've only finished up to the Pistol in Gauss Research, as I got Magnetic Navigation right away and kind of got caught up with Transmission Resolver -> Aqua Plastic Armor -> Sonic Weapons line. I'd been basically manufacturing armor and medi-kits/motion scanners equivalent. In UFO I never had much of a problem with money because there always seemed to be more aliens flying around for me to shoot down and scavenge.

Now that I have like 95 scientists it shouldn't take long to finish the Gauss line, come to think of it. Guess I'll do that.

Just realized I researched the MC Lab without an MC Reader in store. Hopefully xcomutil fixed that bug or I'll be playing without MC powers.

 

[archnemesis]

There are other alternatives if you haven't researched gauss cannons yet. If your technicians are idle you could make them manufacture some particle disturbance sensor or medi-kits for sale instead.

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!!

[laughing smilie] I must have been incredibly lucky to have beaten the game back when it was first released, long before I was aware of any of the bugs.

 

[fanboi]

So, when using this Xutility thing, what should I answer Yes and No to get the best experience?

 

[PKrockin]

Yeah, I've been making Medi-kits recently, and before that it was Particle-Disturbance Sensors.

I think what's most unbelievable about the research bugs in this game isn't that you have about a 50% chance to stumble into them unknowingly, but rather that they've gone completely unaddressed for some FIFTEEN YEARS.

So, when using this Xutility thing, what should I answer Yes and No to get the best experience?

I haven't tried the mods that aren't just bug fixes. I lean towards playing the original game first and then trying mods but it's up to you really.

 

[fanboi]

Yeah, I've been making Medi-kits recently, and before that it was Particle-Disturbance Sensors.

I think what's most unbelievable about the research bugs in this game isn't that you have about a 50% chance to stumble into them unknowingly, but rather that they've gone completely unaddressed for some FIFTEEN YEARS.



I haven't tried the mods that aren't just bug fixes. I lean towards playing the original game first and then trying mods but it's up to you really.

Hmm... what should I download then to fix bugs? Or is it this Xutiliy but dont apply the mods?

 

[PKrockin]

Get version 9.7, as that one seems to have the research bug fixes. 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.

 

[Sullen]

edit: nevermind

 

[PKrockin]

edit: ok

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Here's the recommended method of dealing with them.

Haha, thats some good advice. Getting destroyed every now and then in TFTD is part of the fun but those missions just seem impossible every time.

Also I'm sure the aliens are more grenade happy in this than the first game. I've decided to play them at their own game though. Grenades have become my first choice in every encounter. Each mission starts out like a game of hot potato with multiple primed grenades being passed down the line.

 

[PKrockin]

That bug where you lose like half your equipment when you start the second part certainly doesn't help either. I'll pass on taking on another dozen Lobstermen with five loaded Sonic Cannons, two Thermal Tazers, and three grenades.

Also I'm sure the aliens are more grenade happy in this than the first game.

Really? I haven't had one single alien throw a grenade at me so far, but I have noticed them carrying a lot more grenades than UFO. I'm practically swimming in Sonic Pulsers.

I've decided to play them at their own game though. Grenades have become my first choice in every encounter. Each mission starts out like a game of hot potato with multiple primed grenades being passed down the line.

Yeah, that's a good strategy. That way your good soldiers get the experience while your 10 Bravery rookies make themselves useful by priming and passing grenades.

 

[TUSR]

Here's the recommended method of dealing with them.

Haha, I love Guava. I followed his TFTD play through on SA forums and it was brilliant.

 

[PKrockin]

I've never really been to SA but someone recommended his TFTD videos to me so I watched a couple of them. They're funny even though he's kind of a jerk.

Well, time to start June-

The heck? Not even an hour into the month?

Tasoths, huh? ... wait, 89 reactions?? That's just unfair. Your rookies start with like 40 reactions and it's so hard to train.

I'm not going to have a bad month again. I just checked out the Caribbean, where there was so much activity, and found a colony. Now I have Molecular Control and some MC-strong guys. Let's do this.

Other people I've seen get rid of their PSI-weak troops immediately. I favor keeping them around, armed only with flares, tazers, and maybe mind probes. This guy was MC'd the entire battle, which is fine with me because it spares my other Aquanauts the risk of being unexpectedly panic attacked near the commander.

Tasoths, Tentaculats, and Hallucinoids, oh my!

Well that was unexpected. I didn't even kill that many aliens before like three-fourths of the Tasoths went nuts. Which is a relief, because like 8-10 of them were carrying either DPLs or Thermal Shok Launchers (mostly DPLs). That can't be normal.

Of course, Tentaculats are apparently immune to psychological warfare. They just pop out of windows/doors, cross half the map and proceed to OHKO your psychic troops... what a pain.

Anyway, I wiped everyone out, and moved on to the next stage.

Oh crap, Lobstermen. I'm not prepared for this. I only have one taser and a few Sonic Cannons left, and there are Tentaculats all over the place. I'm going to take the score bonus and let them be for now... that first stage took forever anyway.

Where is your god now, you fish-faced freaks?

On another note, the aliens seem intent on building another colony around my first base. Wonder if I should let them so I can raid supply ships... Gillmen are easy targets. And speaking of raiding supply ships, I built another base in the Caribbean with the money from that last mission for exactly that purpose.

 

[AlimNassor]

God, within the 2nd month I encountered Lobster Men. I had to cry because my entire squad was instantly wiped out and right after my base is attacked by Gillmen. I lost :/

 

[PKrockin]

Lobstermen and a base attack in the second month? Wow, that's unlucky... unless you're playing on Superhuman anyway.

Unrelated: Plastic Aqua-Armor is a joke. It has saved a grand total of one of my men from one-hit kills. I don't know what the point is when by the time you get it, aliens are likely in the middle of transitioning to Sonic Cannons.

 

[PKrockin]

The rest of the June consisted of letting Gill Man Colony Expansion subs land, then shooting them down and using them for MC practice as soon as they took off. I've been really lucky with MC stats this run; about five men have over 80 MC Strength and the rest have around 40-60 (except one guy who has served as my PSI-bait most of the game). One of my best men has 96!

Well, today it's a new month... if you've read my posts you know what that means.

Like clockwork. And it's Lobstermen, too. I don't think a few hundred points are worth the lives of most of my squad. Especially when it's Bio-Drones and their 100 Firing Accuracy reaction firing me in tight quarters. But maybe I'll use some Lobsterman for some more quick MC practice; my troops are almost at that point where MC becomes extremely useful.