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    XCOM: Enemy Unknown

    Game » consists of 19 releases. Released Oct 09, 2012

    The classic tactical turn-based combat returns in this modern re-imagining of X-COM: UFO Defense.

    Should I build satellites if panic is not a problem? (but $ is)

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    evophile

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    #1  Edited By evophile

    Hey duders! Need some advice please. Playing on normal.

    I'm currently up to July and I've done the alien base. I'm aware of the strategy to launch satellites at the end of the month to help quell panic. I was in a pretty bad state almost losing 2 nations and a few others pretty close. However doing the alien base cleared all that up. At this point I still only have 2 satellites up. However I went through two more months and my worst nation is only at 3 bars.

    I've been saving my satellites just in case but I kind of would like to have the extra funds and perks but Id rather not screw myself. Part of me thinks shit will hit the fan soon. I noticed after the alien base there was a lot less alien occurrences in the past 2 months also.

    Anyways just curious, what is the advisable strategy here?

    Thanks!

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    Fuzzypanther

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    #2  Edited By Fuzzypanther

    @evophile: Yes, the more satellites up the more money you rake in, and the easier it will be to manage both panic and expenses. I tried to raise about two satellites a month, and by the end I had a surplus of around 5000, and every country still apart of the xcom project with the lowest possible panic level.

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    CoverlessTech

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    #3  Edited By CoverlessTech

    Having a satellite in a country will stop alien abductions there, so basically panic won't go up there unless you ignore an abduction in the same continent. Basically if you get full coverage then panic just stops raising, make sure to get the stealth upgrade from the foundry as well.

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    rollingzeppelin

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    #4  Edited By rollingzeppelin

    Always be launching satellites. Get them as fast as you possibly can.

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    MikkaQ

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    #5  Edited By MikkaQ

    By that point in the game I had most of the world covered, so yeah. You should always be working towards satellites in some way or another whether it's excavating, building satellite buildings, building power stations or building the sats themselves, every step takes a while, so you should always be trying to move forward in that regard.

    Also the reason money is a problem is because you aren't launching sats. You gotta spend money to make it. By that point in the game I was earning like 1000 a month and alloys became my only real limitation.

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    Terramagi

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    #6  Edited By Terramagi

    @CoverlessTech said:

    Having a satellite in a country will stop alien abductions there, so basically panic won't go up there unless you ignore an abduction in the same continent. Basically if you get full coverage then panic just stops raising, make sure to get the stealth upgrade from the foundry as well.

    Does it? I'm almost positive I had an abduction in South America, even though I covered that place completely.

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    Tennmuerti

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    #7  Edited By Tennmuerti

    @Terramagi said:

    @CoverlessTech said:

    Having a satellite in a country will stop alien abductions there, so basically panic won't go up there unless you ignore an abduction in the same continent. Basically if you get full coverage then panic just stops raising, make sure to get the stealth upgrade from the foundry as well.

    Does it? I'm almost positive I had an abduction in South America, even though I covered that place completely.

    Abductions can not occur on countries protected by satellites unless you fail to shoot down the abductor UFO. Panic can raise on a continent if you forget to cover one of the countries and an abduction occurs there.

    When you have 3 countries left without satellites for example, abductions are then guaranteed to happen there. When you cover the entire world abductions stop altogether. (again assuming you don't let UFOs through)

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    evophile

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    #8  Edited By evophile

    Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm pretty much a XCOM noob (despite 2 of my fave games ever being Jagged Alliance 2 and FF Tactics). Seems I should have been launching all this time haha.

    I have 4 satellites in storage right now. Do you guys think I should just go cover one whole continent or spread them out? I started in Europe and think I should probably go after one of the continent bonuses? Thanks again!

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    Terramagi

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    #9  Edited By Terramagi

    @evophile said:

    Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm pretty much a XCOM noob (despite 2 of my fave games ever being Jagged Alliance 2 and FF Tactics). Seems I should have been launching all this time haha.

    I have 4 satellites in storage right now. Do you guys think I should just go cover one whole continent or spread them out? I started in Europe and think I should probably go after one of the continent bonuses? Thanks again!

    Get Asia. If the abduction thing is true, it's best to focus regardless of the bonus. But Asia's bonus is 100% the best bonus in the game.

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    Tennmuerti

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    #10  Edited By Tennmuerti

    @Terramagi said:

    @evophile said:

    Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm pretty much a XCOM noob (despite 2 of my fave games ever being Jagged Alliance 2 and FF Tactics). Seems I should have been launching all this time haha.

    I have 4 satellites in storage right now. Do you guys think I should just go cover one whole continent or spread them out? I started in Europe and think I should probably go after one of the continent bonuses? Thanks again!

    Get Asia. If the abduction thing is true, it's best to focus regardless of the bonus. But Asia's bonus is 100% the best bonus in the game.

    Have to disagree. Europe is quite on par with Asia for the best early game bonus, if not better.

    @evophile: But yeah if you started in Europe get Asia and Africa asap. If panic is not an issue in any particular continent/country then it's best to cover a whole continent fully before moving on to the next.

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    evophile

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    #11  Edited By evophile

    Cool! Yeah I'll go get Asia asap. Russia is the only one close to panic with a 3 rating so it works out. Thanks guys

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    JasonR86

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    #12  Edited By JasonR86

    @evophile:

    I took the tactic of getting everything set up to launch a satellite but waited to launch a satellite until the panic in a country was at a 3 or 4 because satellites immediately drop a country's panic down two or three points.

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    MikeGosot

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    #13  Edited By MikeGosot
    @Tennmuerti said:

    @Terramagi said:

    @evophile said:

    Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm pretty much a XCOM noob (despite 2 of my fave games ever being Jagged Alliance 2 and FF Tactics). Seems I should have been launching all this time haha.

    I have 4 satellites in storage right now. Do you guys think I should just go cover one whole continent or spread them out? I started in Europe and think I should probably go after one of the continent bonuses? Thanks again!

    Get Asia. If the abduction thing is true, it's best to focus regardless of the bonus. But Asia's bonus is 100% the best bonus in the game.

    Have to disagree. Europe is quite on par with Asia for the best early game bonus, if not better.

    @evophile: But yeah if you started in Europe get Asia and Egypt asap. If panic is not an issue in any particular continent/country then it's best to cover a whole continent fully before moving on to the next.

    Africa bonus, dudes, that's the best one.
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    Tennmuerti

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    #14  Edited By Tennmuerti

    @MikeGosot said:

    @Tennmuerti said:

    @Terramagi said:

    @evophile said:

    Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm pretty much a XCOM noob (despite 2 of my fave games ever being Jagged Alliance 2 and FF Tactics). Seems I should have been launching all this time haha.

    I have 4 satellites in storage right now. Do you guys think I should just go cover one whole continent or spread them out? I started in Europe and think I should probably go after one of the continent bonuses? Thanks again!

    Get Asia. If the abduction thing is true, it's best to focus regardless of the bonus. But Asia's bonus is 100% the best bonus in the game.

    Have to disagree. Europe is quite on par with Asia for the best early game bonus, if not better.

    @evophile: But yeah if you started in Europe get Asia and Africa asap. If panic is not an issue in any particular continent/country then it's best to cover a whole continent fully before moving on to the next.

    Africa bonus, dudes, that's the best one.

    Starting bonus? No, not by a longshot.

    Africa bonus is only useful from mid game onwards. Early on the extra cash it gives is insignificant, because first 2 month you don't have many satellites up yet anyway and the income from the council is so small. Even a single $200 mission reward is more then the monthly income early on. The savings of Europe and Asia, amount to much more in the early game.

    Africa bonus only starts to edge ahead when you have around 6+ countries covered. And by that time you can easily cover Africa with satellites and get it's bonus that way.

    The only time continent choice really matters is for starting base, because on classic difficulty and below it's easy to get all continent bonuses anyway as the game goes on. (impossible is another matter)

    EDIT: also i typed in Egypt instead of Africa in that quote, now corrected.

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    MikeGosot

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    #15  Edited By MikeGosot
    @Tennmuerti: Oh, starting bonus, sorry. In my first game i started on Africa because of the bonus and was disappointed, so you're right in what you said, my bad.
    To be fair, as starting bonuses, i kinda like South America and really like Asia. Yes. South America.
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    ArtisanBreads

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    #16  Edited By ArtisanBreads

    @RollingZeppelin said:

    Always be launching satellites. Get them as fast as you possibly can.

    If you're playing on harder difficulties, sometimes it's actually better to keep the satellites in reserve. Since launching one reduced panic instantly, you can save them for the countries where you really need to bring panic down to avoid losing them.

    Satellite coverage is always a plus don't get me wrong but that's just something to keep in mind.

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    rollingzeppelin

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    #17  Edited By rollingzeppelin

    @ArtisanBreads said:

    @RollingZeppelin said:

    Always be launching satellites. Get them as fast as you possibly can.

    If you're playing on harder difficulties, sometimes it's actually better to keep the satellites in reserve. Since launching one reduced panic instantly, you can save them for the countries where you really need to bring panic down to avoid losing them.

    Satellite coverage is always a plus don't get me wrong but that's just something to keep in mind.

    Yeah, you don't really need them until the council report so it's ok to save them until then. But if you have enough sats to get a continent bonus you should not hesitate to launch as the benefits from the increased cash flow plus the continental bonus are a huge incentive and resource boon. You should always have more coming in the pipeline too, whether it's building facilities to get more satellites, power plants for the facilities, or constructing the satellites themselves.

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    EddyGamerLP

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    #18  Edited By EddyGamerLP

    @RollingZeppelin: @RollingZeppelin said:

    @ArtisanBreads said:

    @RollingZeppelin said:

    Always be launching satellites. Get them as fast as you possibly can.

    If you're playing on harder difficulties, sometimes it's actually better to keep the satellites in reserve. Since launching one reduced panic instantly, you can save them for the countries where you really need to bring panic down to avoid losing them.

    Satellite coverage is always a plus don't get me wrong but that's just something to keep in mind.

    Yeah, you don't really need them until the council report so it's ok to save them until then. But if you have enough sats to get a continent bonus you should not hesitate to launch as the benefits from the increased cash flow plus the continental bonus are a huge incentive and resource boon. You should always have more coming in the pipeline too, whether it's building facilities to get more satellites, power plants for the facilities, or constructing the satellites themselves.

    Actually, buying satellites and keeping them in reserve is a big waste of money. At the start of the game, and even during the mid game, money is a very precious resource and you should only buy thing that you know you will use as soon as you get them.

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    ArtisanBreads

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    #19  Edited By ArtisanBreads

    @EddyGamerLP said:

    @RollingZeppelin: @RollingZeppelin said:

    @ArtisanBreads said:

    @RollingZeppelin said:

    Always be launching satellites. Get them as fast as you possibly can.

    If you're playing on harder difficulties, sometimes it's actually better to keep the satellites in reserve. Since launching one reduced panic instantly, you can save them for the countries where you really need to bring panic down to avoid losing them.

    Satellite coverage is always a plus don't get me wrong but that's just something to keep in mind.

    Yeah, you don't really need them until the council report so it's ok to save them until then. But if you have enough sats to get a continent bonus you should not hesitate to launch as the benefits from the increased cash flow plus the continental bonus are a huge incentive and resource boon. You should always have more coming in the pipeline too, whether it's building facilities to get more satellites, power plants for the facilities, or constructing the satellites themselves.

    Actually, buying satellites and keeping them in reserve is a big waste of money. At the start of the game, and even during the mid game, money is a very precious resource and you should only buy thing that you know you will use as soon as you get them.

    I suppose. I choose Africa and get a nice bonus to income and then I can usually make do with lesser tech for a while. Going through a second play through I've practically skipped almost all laser weapons besides the basic rifle and sniper rifle for example. There's a lot of choices to be made and the satellites in reserve to immediately reduce panic is worth it to me.

    It's saved me from losing countries so it works. Keeping countries in XCOM is more important than spending money on early game tech if you know you can do without.

    To each his own though. Any strategy is valid if you survive.

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