Fenn Vs. Terror From the Deep

[Fenn]

Here we go again! This will be an Ironman playthrough of Terror From the Deep on Superhuman difficulty, similar to my previous one of X-COM: UFO Defense. You can find the thread for that game here. I go over the game basics in that thread, and TFTD is mechanically much like its predecessor, so if you need a quick review the first few pages should get you up to speed. I'll only be covering mechanics that are new or different in TFTD.
Part 1:

Speaking of differences, this time I'll be adding on some simple mods and options to make things a little tougher. Pictured are the mods being used:
Aliens Pick up Weapons: If a gun-wielding alien becomes disarmed for any reason, they may pick up a new one from the ground. They'll even pick up human weapons and use them against you - careful not to leave any torpedo launchers lying around.
Alien Subs Add-on: As shown, this mod adds several variants for alien USO interiors, so you can't rely on memory each time.
Always Nighttime: All battles will take place at night, limiting X-COM's visibility.
And a couple of cosmetic mods - Statstrings appends some text to a soldier's name depending on their most notable stats, while Poet's Colored Armor lets you color-code your troops; it's handy when you have ten or more of them to manage.

I will also be running the option setting of Alien weapon self-destruction. This means that if an alien is killed, anything in their inventory will disappear; only knocking them unconscious will drop their stuff on the ground. Without easy access to alien weapons and ammo, researching them takes longer, keeping your own alien weapons supplied is more expensive, and assaulting USOs becomes a lot less profitable. It should make for an interesting change of pace. Finally, I'll attempt to avoid manufacturing items for profit. In this game as in the first, the best way to make money is to constantly build craft weapons and sell them; your monthly income and even sales of alien items quickly pales in comparison. Combined with alien weapons disappearing on death, the money situation will be a lot tighter than usual.


Have I mentioned that I've never beaten TFTD at all before? This might end up being a short game.


TFTD's first change comes immediately: your bases must be placed at sea, not on land. Not only that, but intercepting USOs over land is impossible. Your subs can (incredibly) fly into the air, but firing their weapons is a no-go.


For that reason, my first base will go in the Pacific Ocean, far from any continents. Next to Midway is as good a spot as any.


This time I'm running the default base layout. The starting facilities and loadout is identical to what you'd get in UFO Defense, though the names and details have been modified slightly to fit the nautical setting.

After ordering an Alien Containment and additional storage space, the first order of business is to do something about that horribly insecure Sub Pen (Hangar equivalent) arrangement. Two new ones are penciled in on the north side of the base; once they're done we can transfer the two Barracuda interceptors over and demolish the Sub Pens at the bottom.


Available technologies are just like in X-COM. Gauss Technology is going to be the first goal, since it may be a while before alien weapons are readily available.

Storage starts out almost filled to the brim, so it'll be a few weeks before much can be purchased.


So we'll be spending on a second base with Wide Array Sonar, instead.


After the first week, we spot our first USO. Both Barracudas are scrambled to intercept, but the sub evades them after a brief tussle and touches down near our base. After taking a minute to sort everyone's equipment, it's time to sortie.


In contrast to the Skyranger, the Triton of TFTD incorporates highly advanced door technology. X-COM starts out at the northeast corner of the map and there's not much to see here, so Seaman Fenn takes the first bold step into the unknown.


Sadly, that first step is his last - an unseen assailant shoots him dead from afar. Better perhaps to just toss out a flare and a dye grenade and sit tight.

Turn 2:

The crew (very carefully) peeks out of the Triton, but the coast seems clear now. Everybody files out and throws some dye grenades to provide cover, while one of the torpedo-carriers takes position on top of the Triton.

Turn 3:

Nothing much happens on the alien turn, but on X-COM's turn aquanaut Ed Dodge lives up to his name and avoids a shot from this Sectoid-like creature.


Daniel Fitzgerald has a good angle here, and kills the alien with one burst from his Jet Harpoon. By the way, X-COM starts out with harpoon launchers and dart pistols and torpedo cannons. Unlike UFO Defense, the starter pistol and rifle are really quite bad in general, which is why I'm looking to replace them with Gauss weapons straightaway.


At any rate, up north the aquanauts spot a suspicious structure in the deeps. This must be the USO.

Turn 4:

Moving forward to throw a flare, Fitzgerald stumbles upon another alien. Rather than try and shoot it one-handed, an aquanaut further back throws a grenade under its feet. Otherwise it seems safe enough for the rest to move in closer, though a few agents keep circling west to check for any more aliens wandering around outside.


The grenade explodes right under the alien's feet...but it's somehow only knocked out, not slain outright. At least we can take its equipment this way.


The alien turn sees another creature walking about south of the USO...

Turn 5:

...And agent Sungur finds another just outside the doors.


Let's get to work. Two agents in the south team combine to take down the first enemy, with Pawel Kaminski's incendiary bolts dealing the final blow.


Efforts in the north are...less than successful. Mr. Vilfort here misses horribly with his explosive shell, killing one of his fellow agents. One of the torpedo-ers has better aim, and blows up the alien nicely.

That done, everyone else moves up. The alien phase passes without incident and it's on to Turn 6.


We've run out of dye grenades at this point, so hopefully there's nobody else waiting for us outside. Checking the entryway to the USO reveals nothing moving, and the squad creeps closer...


Nope - there's two more aliens out there, one of whom guns down Pawel Kaminski.

Turn 7:

Henry Sutherland exchanges fire with the nearby alien. He lands one hit, but so does his opponent, and that's the end of Henry. Further east, this alien shrugs off an exploding(!) bolt to the back - adding a harpoon produces the desired results.

After Henry's death, there's only Ed Dodge near the western foe. Can he handle this on his own?


At the same time, the USO team checks out almost the entire ship...until this aquanaut finds an alien lurking in the very last corner, right as they run out of Time Units.


Oops.
Turn 8:

On the bright side, Ed Dodge managed to avoid a second point-blank shot in one night, and has no trouble dispatching his target.


The USO alien is easy to find as well, and goes down to a taser jab, bringing the mission to a close. That could have gone better, but rookie aquanauts are easy come, easy go, and we did manage to recover the weapons of two aliens.


OpenXCOM recently added a feature to view soldiers' stat gains after each mission. It makes for more relevant reading than the promotions screen, if I'm being honest.

Like last time, if you want an Aquanaut named after you, let me know. Same thing goes for any comments or suggestions about the reports - I'm trying out 800x600 screenshots this time to make the text more readable. I can't guarantee quite as fast or regular an update pace as the previous playthrough, but we'll see how busy I find myself.

Index:

Part 1 - This post
Part 2 - Small USO and Base Management
Part 3 - Small USO
Part 4 - Port Attack
Part 5 - Small USO
Part 6 - Small USO
Part 7 - Port Attack

[David Corperial]

I'll take an Aquanaut.

[haphazard1]

It is great to see you taking on TFTD, Fenn. Good luck! I enjoyed the original series of posts a lot, so I will be following with interest, and would be glad to have an aquanaut named for me. Probably won't survive very long, the game being what it is but it could be fun anyway.

Limited alien equipment capture and no manufacturing for profit is going to make money very tight indeed. Council funding by itself will rapidly not even be enough to cover your fixed costs per month. Will be interesting to see how you handle this aspect.

The default base design is quite horrible. Was the "paying for dirt" bug ever fixed? Or are you still stuck paying maintenance on the dismantled sub pens as you reconfigure the base? Lack of initial storage is also a major problem.

The first encounter begins...and TFTD lives up to its reputation as the very first step out of the craft leads to instant death! Poor Fenn avatar did not last long, did he? I can just picture the organization's recruiting posters: "Join XCOM! Trravel the world's ocenas! Die instantly!"

And in classic TFTD fashion, we also get a friendly-fire casualty on the first mission. Plus several more deaths from the aliens' terrifying weapons, while they often shrug off hits from the puny human weapons XCOM is equipped with at the start of the game. Gauss tech is certainly an urgent priority.

Still, despite the cost in lives the first mission is a success and useful alien technology and meterials are recovered. Good work!

[sunrise089]

I'll take an Aquanaut too!

[Whosit]

Sign me up! I was tired of living, anyway.

And taking on TFtD with mods to make it harder? You're nuts! I hear it's way harder than the first game to begin with!

[RefSteel]

The aliens' stuff all blows up, you say? And we're not even allowed to profit from the egg-heads' R&D?

We are sooooooooooo dead!

(Yeah, "we" as in "sign me up for a bunk, a cloning vat, and a bucket to hold my remains like all the others," obviously.)

[Bobchillingworth]

Yes!



Sign me up, good sir!

[Fenn]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys   This challenge might indeed prove too difficult for me, but what's life without a little risk? Stunning weapons will likely see a lot of use, since each alien weapon is quite valuable and it's cheaper to capture ammo than to manufacture it once I'm using Sonic weapons. It may not be economical to have multiple fully-fledged bases, either - I may stick with one main base, plus a radar outpost in each region. Even those are expensive to replace if the aliens launch a retaliation strike.

The 'paying for dirt' bug was fixed in OpenXCOM, so those sub pens won't cost anything after they're gone. Good thing too given how tight I expect finances to become.

Part 2: Small USO

Before we begin, I'd like to go over the basic equipment in TFTD and how they differ from its UFO Defense counterparts. The comparisons sadly tend to come up short.


Much unlike the Pistol of X-COM, the Dart Gun is almost totally worthless. Not only have the TU costs of firing gone way up, damage has fallen from 24 to 16, meaning it often can't penetrate the armor of even the most basic aliens. This gun won't be seeing any further action.


The Jet Harpoon carries less ammo and is less accurate than the old Rifle, and since alien armor scales up faster in TFTD, it won't be useful for long. It's still helpful for Aquanauts too weak to lift heavier weapons, but once Gauss weapons come online the Jet Harpoon will be sent to the dustbin.


Gas Cannons are much better than the competition, or the Heavy Cannon they derive from. Their shots are more powerful than the Jet Harpoon's and just as accurate; the only downsides are the weight and lack of a burst fire. The High Explosive shells are particularly effective. This weapon will be the bread and butter for most Aquanauts strong enough to use it.


The Hydro-Jet Cannon brings autofire to the table with all the advantages that brings, but as the description says, it can only be used underwater. Several mission types take place on land, and in those cases the Hydro-Jet Cannon is unusable. For that reason, we won't be seeing as much of this weapon as we otherwise might. It is the most effective way of spreading fires when we can use it.


Like the Hydro-Jet, the Torpedo Launcher is a powerful weapon that can't be used on the surface. It's slow and the ammunition is very heavy, but its accuracy and firepower are worth it.

You'll notice that because these two weapons are underwater-only, the Gas Cannon is the only way to use phosphor rounds on the surface, where fires can linger and spread for more than a turn. We might make use of those, once we get a surface mission to fight.


Moving on, here's the haul from the first mission. Acquiring those two Sonic weapons was a lucky break, but apart from the Aquatoid corpses there's nothing we can afford to sell right now. Those corpses at least raise enough funds to finance some purchases once the second General Stores complete; Gas Cannons and various types grenades are the most important purchases.

After doing some shopping and recruiting some more Aquanauts to replace those lost, we're left with just over a hundred thousand in cash. Normally you'd have at least half a dozen sonic guns with their ammo to sell, but with alien gear going away on death we'll have to make do with less.


Perhaps this next USO can help with our money troubles? After a brief chase, both Barracudas are able to disable it. We have only eleven Aquanauts to handle this mission, and their replacements (or the tank I've ordered) haven't arrived yet. This mission will have to be done with an undersized crew. Let's take a look:


David Corperial, nee Ed Dodge, is strong with good reflexes but otherwise unimpressive. He does seem to be pretty good at dodging bullets, if the first mission is any indication. Next up is haphazard, who sports a very nice 67 Firing Accuracy and acceptable stats elsewhere. He's a good Gas Cannon candidate.


Sunrise is also very accurate, but his waifish strength will leave him stuck with a Jet Harpoon for a while yet. Whosit has very good reactions and no real flaws. Consequently he'll be on the vanguard and will most likely die horribly due to sloppy play on my part.


The last of our volunteers, RefSteel brings high Strength and Reactions to the table. Not very good with guns, but he should do just fine with some grenades.


The remainder of the squad is rounded out with volunteers from the previous campaign - Bobchillingworth, Old Harry, El Grillo, AdrienIer and REM - and we're off!


This time the Triton touched down facing the edge of the map, but even so the first Aquanaut out doesn't live very long. Farewell David Corperial.

I have got to stop running people out on the first turn - it just ends in tears.

Turn 2:

Rather than rush out to die, the squad waits a turn for the aliens to move around. As luck would have it, the door opens to reveal an Aquatoid standing just outside! Whosit pulls out his Thermal Tazer and stuns the alien.


The rest of the team exits the Triton, and huh, there's the USO already. The squad throws some dye grenades around and sits tight for the moment.


The alien phase passes with the sounds of doors opening and closing, but no sightings.


Turn 3 is a quiet one. Dp101 can't spot any aliens from atop the Triton, so everyone else approaches the USO. With only ten Aquanauts, I can't afford to split them up.


Rounding this corner on Turn 4, Whosit comes face to face with an Aquatoid.


RefSteel, if you would be so kind..?


Let's try this again. X-COM moves up, with Whosit taking the lead. Unfortunately, I neglected to lay down a dye grenade in front of him, leading to:


This long-range shot from down south during the alien phase. Sorry, Whosit.


On the next turn, RefSteel comes across what's probably a different Aquatoid outside the craft. He fires a burst from his Jet Harpoon but misses badly, so instead Haphazard tosses a grenade over.


Bobchillingworth meanwhile finds another Aquatoid sneaking up on us from the west. AdrienIer scores a direct hit...with a phosphor torpedo, which is far from fatal. Luckily haphazard follows it up with a direct hit from his Gas Cannon, which seals the deal, and the other Aquatoid perishes from the grenade under its feet. Next turn...


RefSteel rounds the corner again, and again finds some loathsome aliens. Sounds like job for more grenades, but haphazard's throw lands on the roof of the USO, and Old Harry's grenade veers wildly off target. Finally, El Grillo passes a third grenade to haphazard, who manages to land it on target. Yet another Sectoid shows up in the west while this is going on, but thankfully Dp101 can fire torpedoes better than his comrades can throw grenades.


The Aquatoid parade doesn't stop there! Here's another out of the doors. By this point the squad's run out of ordinary grenades, so instead haphazard throws a proximity mine.


At last the Aquatoids seem to have stopped coming, and we can begin clearing out the USO. A Motion Scanner would be really handy right about now...


Outside the USO, haphazard uncovers a wandering Aquatoid and wastes it with a cannon shell. The USO team checks the entire craft and finds not a soul. Could this be the end?


Nope. Time to spread out and comb the western half of the map.


Disaster strikes a couple turns later, when a sudden sonic blast from afar renders Bobchillingworth unconscious. A long flare throw from RefSteel reveals the culprit, and El Grillo takes revenge with his Jet Harpoon, downing the Aquatoid in a single shot.


That was the last of 'em; Bobchillingworth will live to fight another day, after he spends 18 of them in the infirmary.


Selling off the spare corpses and USO parts raises $239,400, enough to restock on ammo and hire replacements for Whosit and David Corperial. Normally I'd be sitting on a pile of sonic weapons to sell for a million or so, enough to hire plenty of scientists, but with this ruleset I have to hold on to what few can be scavenged.

[Dp101]

I vote that you keep trying to move out on the first turn, if only because I want to see how many consecutive missions have the first guy out die on the first step.

[Whosit]

Of course I get offed. At least I stunned a guy? I'm sure Ref will be happy that he gets to handle explosives. Here's hoping my next incarnation has decent stats... or bad stats? Will I live longer if I suck?