I didn't see any discussion for this so I figure I'd be the first. I'm pretty inexperienced to the TBS genre and have never played an XCOM game so I was wondering what veterans of the game and the series would recommend for base placement to a new player. I was thinking Africa but I'm totally fucking clueless if that would be the best choice in the long run.

The NA one is good for getting aircraft in the sky quickly after deploying new satellites. SA I find kind of useless as it's rather easy to get those in the first place so the buff becomes rather pointless rather quickly. Africa is a nice bonus that I think I will use my next game as 30% more income would be rather handy. I can't recall what Asia/Europe get but I seem to recall not being that excited for them when I read them over.

Europe gives you faster research on alien tech, I think. It SEEMS useful, but it's kind of hard to tell exactly when it is in use.

Africa is easily the obvious choice. None of the others really matter early in the game, it's by far the best bonus to have late-game and it's the continent with the worst countries to hold (which you don't need to if you start there). Both Europe and N.America have pretty insignificant bonuses compared to Africa. Start in Africa then grab Russia or USA asap and then maybe grab Asia (although again, not that significant) but most probably S.America as it's really easy to get and it gives you a nice progression boost if used correctly.

As a reference, although my game went sorta long, by the time I finished my first playthrough the Africa bonus had given me 2,5k cash overall.

Good post topic. The only consistent advice I've seen is that since you get the Continent Bonus when you put a satellite over every country on the continent, you should not base in South America since there are only two countries. So, it's the easiest continent to cover, and therefore eventually get the bonus. I actually like the 'We Have Ways' bonus, but am glad I didn't base there, since it's a little limited.

I put my base in Asia, and I don't know how I'd be playing if I did any of the others. Getting earlier access to the Training School Perks and cutting foundry costs has been a great long-term investment for helping my team ramp up. Though, as I'm passing through what feels like the midgame, and have almost exhausted the OTS, I wonder if I might regret that choice. That said, i can reap the benefits of the Foundry much more easily.

For reference, here are the continent bonuses:

North America:

"Air and Space": All aircraft and aircraft weapons cost 50% less to purchase, build and maintain.

South America:

"We Have Ways": Autopsies and Interrogations are completed instantly.

Europe:

"Expert Knowledge": Labs and workshops cost 50% less to build and maintain.

Africa:

"All In": Monthly XCOM funding increased by 30%.

Asia:

"Future Combat" - All projects in the foundry and the Officer Training school cost 50% less.

NA and Africa are the only choices, in my mind. NA gives you 300 starting cash and 200 base income, so your first two months are a bit easier. And on classic you can't really afford to place satellites in the best counties if you're trying not to lose any, so its harder to get that continental bonus in the first place.

I based in Africa for the money.

I've found the progress you can make each month is directly tied to how much money you have at your disposal. Being able to expand your base and outfit your troops as quickly as possible is pretty important early in the game. You don't want to be scrambling to build additional satellite uplinks while council cities burn.

I took the US using my first (free) satellite as it offers the most monthly income (+$180) then took Canada and Mexico with the next 2 so I could collect the NA continent bonus ASAP.

The Asia bonus seems cool. I'm not too far in, but it seems like it would be cool if you plan on using the SHIVs and what not.

@Forderz said:

NA and Africa are the only choices, in my mind. NA gives you 300 starting cash and 200 base income, so your first two months are a bit easier. And on classic you can't really afford to place satellites in the best counties if you're trying not to lose any, so its harder to get that continental bonus in the first place.

Absolutely. I'm a little annoyed that I've been shoving all these satalites into Asia when, by the time I get my 4th up there, I'll have already purchased everything important that they give discounts on.

Now I feel bad for brushing off Zimbabwe.

Hmmm. When I started my game, I think I could only choose between Europe and NA. Is that because I had the tutorial on?

Hmmm. When I started my game, I think I could only choose between Europe and NA. Is that because I had the tutorial on?

@MariachiMacabre: Thanks!

I haven't played yet, but i heard someone talking that if you get a satellite in every country of a continent, you get their bonus. So Africa seems like the best advantage, since you won't need many discounts when you have more money. So yeah, i think that getting Africa, than covering South America(Since it's the one with less countries) is the way to start!
Also, one little off-topic question: SHOULD I TRY THE TUTORIAL? I'm new to the game, and i only see people criticizing, saying it's too long and linear.

@MikeGosot: If you've been following pre-release media and don't mind a little experimenting in your games, you should probably skip it. Or do as me, play through as much of it as you can tolerate, then start over.

@MikeGosot: If you've been following pre-release media and don't mind a little experimenting in your games, you should probably skip it. Or do as me, play through as much of it as you can tolerate, then start over.

I haven't played yet, but i heard someone talking that if you get a satellite in every country of a continent, you get their bonus. So Africa seems like the best advantage, since you won't need many discounts when you have more money. So yeah, i think that getting Africa, than covering South America(Since it's the one with less countries) is the way to start!
Also, one little off-topic question: SHOULD I TRY THE TUTORIAL? I'm new to the game, and i only see people criticizing, saying it's too long and linear.

@MariachiMacabre: The straight up "this is how you move your soliders" etc part of the tutorial isn't too long, but the game is forcing choices on you for quite a while. Those choices also leads you down a poor path in my opinion.

Considering the expenses in this game & needing money all the time, seems Africa is the way to go.

I took the asia bonus and am quite happy with it since half the cowardly punks bailed from Xcom as soon as they could. Literally, Australia bailed on me before month two was even over ;p.

I went with Asia and its been starting to pay off

I'm pissed because I didn't know that I could skip the tutorial. I picked Europe because my only other option was NA and based on my knowledge of the game (none) that seemed like the best choice. I'm about 6 hours in and I seemed to be doing alright. Am I gonna be fucked by the tutorial in the late game?

Is there any way to choose a country, or is the location fixed based on your continent choice. I've started twice in Germany, so I can only guess that it is fixed.

I'm pissed because I didn't know that I could skip the tutorial. I picked Europe because my only other option was NA and based on my knowledge of the game (none) that seemed like the best choice. I'm about 6 hours in and I seemed to be doing alright. Am I gonna be fucked by the tutorial in the late game?

Asia's bonus is quite beastly if you want to use S.H.I.V.s and more importantly, to get through the Officer's training school quicker. Getting all the upgrades fast is amazing and it frees you up to go for money making missions more often. Also, there is nothing stopping you from getting Africa next once you get your satellite fleet up and running. I would highly recommend going for one or the other and then immediately pursuing the one you didn't choose.

But really, the only bad choice/hard mode choice is south america. What a lame bonus when compared to everyone else.

@Keystone_Yinzer said:

Asia's bonus is quite beastly if you want to use S.H.I.V.s and more importantly, to get through the Officer's training school quicker. Getting all the upgrades fast is amazing and it frees you up to go for money making missions more often. Also, there is nothing stopping you from getting Africa next once you get your satellite fleet up and running. I would highly recommend going for one or the other and then immediately pursuing the one you didn't choose.

But really, the only bad choice/hard mode choice is south america. What a lame bonus when compared to everyone else.

Here's the thing, if you do some math you will realize that the Africa bonus is basically -25% reduction on ALL expendatures, however it doesn't take effect before the first month has passed. For any of the other bonuses to be comparable you need to spend at least half (actually a bit more) of your money on that specific thing. There is ofc a case to be made that being able to buy a ton of Officer training stuff early could create a cascading effect, but at higher levels of difficutly you won't have access to it from the start of the game anyways.

I went with Europe so I can always see Norway, makes me feel a bit safer.

South America: is the most useless, research is fast anyway even without many labs, and autopsies and interrogation are some of the fastest of these anyway. A tiny bit of some of the research time is a complete non issue.

North America: is insignificant imo. Aircraft support and expenditure is such a tiny tiny factor that cutting it in half is pointless.

Europe: very worthwhile, engineers are a key factor to expanding your base, an as such you will be building and maintaining a LOT of workshops, especially if you want to fast track your uplink/satellite pipeline.

Africa: useful early game, tho not as useful as Europe imo, simply because the council funding should only be a portion of your total income anyway. Mid game however it's easily the most useful continent bar none. As your funding grows as do your expenses.

Asia: worthwhile on Normal, if you want to get your full squad very fast and cheap, as well as fast track your rookies. Less useful on Classic and above because you don't get officer training. Still foundry savings are alright for those limited resources.

@Ares42 said:

@Keystone_Yinzer said:

Asia's bonus is quite beastly if you want to use S.H.I.V.s and more importantly, to get through the Officer's training school quicker. Getting all the upgrades fast is amazing and it frees you up to go for money making missions more often. Also, there is nothing stopping you from getting Africa next once you get your satellite fleet up and running. I would highly recommend going for one or the other and then immediately pursuing the one you didn't choose.

But really, the only bad choice/hard mode choice is south america. What a lame bonus when compared to everyone else.

Here's the thing, if you do some math you will realize that the Africa bonus is basically -25% reduction on ALL expendatures, however it doesn't take effect before the first month has passed. For any of the other bonuses to be comparable you need to spend at least half (actually a bit more) of your money on that specific thing. There is ofc a case to be made that being able to buy a ton of Officer training stuff early could create a cascading effect, but at higher levels of difficutly you won't have access to it from the start of the game anyways.

Not quite true. You can get a lot of your funding from selling off stuff from alien craft and excess corpses. As well as some from missions too. In my game the monthly income for the first 1/3rd of the game was only an equal part of all income at best (if not the lesser half now that I think about it). A single early mission can net you 200, which is as much as the base starting monthly funding. And Africa bonus affects only the council funding. By mid game yes the Africa bonus can become significant and a major factor, it's great in fact. Late game you can be swimming in money anyway.

@BananaHammock: No, I'm doing Europe and I seem to be fine right now. i've actually done as much research as I can possibly do right now, so it won't cripple you.

Europe is okay

North America is trash

South America is trash-ier

Asia is pretty sweet

Africa is fucking god-tier late game.

After some reconsideration and several playthroughs, getting Asia as your first country is the best way to go, for me.

One huge thing to consider that has been neglected here is the amount of satellites needed for a bonus. Asia needs the most (5), so getting it and then ignoring the other asian countries will still get you the bonus, and those upgrades get really expensive and make the most out of your soldiers, which in higher difficulties are the backbone of your success. You can easily get any other bonus after Asia.

Africa is pretty sweet, but not worth it at the start of the game. Europe is the worst, I thought it was good, but in higher difficulties I ended up not even getting labs, and just one workshop. Ive seen other people finish classic-ironman this way too.

So basically go for Asia, then roll with the punches and aim to get Africa as well if possible.

I'm using Africa this go and am doing pretty well, but I mainly picked them so I could name my squad leader Afrika Bambaataa and feel authentic (I am aware that I could do this regardless, and that he is actually from the Bronx, but I don't even care)

Nothing feels better than blowing some fool Muton's head off and roaring 'AFFFF-RIIII-KAAAA... BAMBAATAAAAAAAAA!"