Aliens Dark Decent

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

Caporegime
Joined
9 May 2005
Posts
32,055
Location
Cambridge
Started playing this on gamepass and love it despite being utterly terrible at it and panicking more than my marines! Anyone have any tips for combat because I don't seem to be able to easily see who I have set up commands for. I set a marine up for suppressing fire but how do I select the other marines to carry out actions? I started on normal and regretting not going easy for a play through.

Only beef so far is they didn't allow you to move your squad around individually and set positions like a game such as Gears tactics or Commandos2.
 
Best tip I can say is don’t rush to objective, take it slow. Try set up areas you can seal doors on and then potentially set it up so it’s aliens only path to you

Unseal doors and thin them down if you get hunted etc

Tbh I did find game quite a challenge but loved it
 
Oh yeah it's a fantastic game, the spawn amounts though are totally random. I'm up to the first queen and killing her but the onslaught that sometimes happens straight away, sometimes happens when I'm back at the lift is kicking my arse. I may have to back track my load as I should've bought 4 sentries with me but I messed up. I'm finding I need two to hold off the flood. I'm almost done the first mission but debating starting again on easy until I get the hang of it.
 
I played it on pc a while back, but I assume is largely unchanged on console. I echo above, really fun and there were times when my heart was racing as I didn't want my squad to get wiped out. The boss fights were pretty hard though and I'm sure at some points I ran out of ammo.
 
theone8181 said:
I played it on pc a while back, but I assume is largely unchanged on console. I echo above, really fun and there were times when my heart was racing as I didn't want my squad to get wiped out. The boss fights were pretty hard though and I'm sure at some points I ran out of ammo.
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Absolutely, I had to reload the first queen a dozen times. I'm starting to get the hang of giving multiple commands out. It's a bit more clunky on Console but still hugely enjoyable. I'm playing in bursts, like marines my stress levels go through the roof. The 2nd level with the big fight in the command centre I had to get to the extract point with a hobbling marine, it was frantic. Getting within sight of the APC was a huge relief. I've kind of had to break the habit of trying to do it all at once, extract and go again! Once I had two sentries damaged I couldn't pick up as I had no tools left. I came back for them later, couldn't bear to leave them behind!

I've started to hear motion tracker beeps even when I'm not playing the game!

If you could split your team up and set up better firing positions/flanking etc I think this would be my fav of this game type. Unsure how I feel about stress/trauma but it does add to the Alien atmosphere!
 
I think when you've got the command bar up, you can cycle through the marines with left and right on the D-pad. There is definitely a way to do it but I can't quite recall. You can also set the game to pause so you can take your time issuing commands.
 
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ic1male said:
I think when you've got the command bar up, you can cycle through the marines with left and right on the D-pad. There is definitely a way to do it but I can't quite recall. You can also set the game to pause so you can take your time issuing commands.
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Will give the D pad a try after I rest up from another hour trying to extract hostages to trigger an onslaught :D I've just realised spamming mines works to not trigger hunts.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Absolutely, I had to reload the first queen a dozen times. I'm starting to get the hang of giving multiple commands out. It's a bit more clunky on Console but still hugely enjoyable. I'm playing in bursts, like marines my stress levels go through the roof. The 2nd level with the big fight in the command centre I had to get to the extract point with a hobbling marine, it was frantic. Getting within sight of the APC was a huge relief. I've kind of had to break the habit of trying to do it all at once, extract and go again! Once I had two sentries damaged I couldn't pick up as I had no tools left. I came back for them later, couldn't bear to leave them behind!

I've started to hear motion tracker beeps even when I'm not playing the game!

If you could split your team up and set up better firing positions/flanking etc I think this would be my fav of this game type. Unsure how I feel about stress/trauma but it does add to the Alien atmosphere!
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I wasn't sure how far you were, but on some of the levels you can move the APC around and it has massive firepower. Bit cheesy, but I'll take any advantage I can get.
 
theone8181 said:
I wasn't sure how far you were, but on some of the levels you can move the APC around and it has massive firepower. Bit cheesy, but I'll take any advantage I can get.
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Just about to enter the warehouse for the last part of Mission 2 Berkley Docks. I did use the APC moving between two points to clear out a particularly annoying part. I keep getting offered command office missions to lower the infestation rating, I figure that's a waste of time and resources because it will eventually get to 5 and top out anyway?

I've got the start of a Tech, Sniper, Gunner and Sargent now.

Game is a bit buggy at times, meaning I have to reload when a menu feature stops working or they walk over a mine and it doesn't go off. I play in small bursts these days, this game might take me months!
 
No idea if the console version is the same, but on PC, the game figures out which member of your squad is best suited to carry out the task you just selected via selecting an item/object to be interacted with or via the command bar.

The trick to combat in this game is to avoid it whenever possible. Not triggering a Hunt keeps squad stress low and Hive aggression low.

The only way to kill enemies without ramping up stress and aggression is to move the ARC/APC between the call points on the map once you know the routes it will take and make it travel routes full of enemies.
 
I need to get back into this. Got as far as one mission with (I think) a sudden, unskippable Praetorian attack in a small hive... and everyone just gets decimated. :D
 
Finished it, what a fun game that is. Right mix of tension and difficulty for me on medium. Going in I wish I'd known about the death clock, I can see why they have it but for my harder runs I will turn it off. Not knowing how long each mission would take me on a first run through the death clock gave me anxiety to the point I would try and do each level in one run. So I finished the game with 17 or so day remaining :D

Didn't use a tech or medic. Gave up on datapads when you get to the mission you cannot revisit and I missed one.

Shame the game wasn't more popular, some DLC or player made maps would have been superb for this.
 
Finished the hard run with death clock off which disabled the achievement and tbh I would've finished it with the clock on ok. Started nightmare with death clock on. Ripped through hard reasonably fine due to knowing whats coming next and mechanics but can already see how much more reloading I will be doing on nightmare!
 
Two levels to go and I've finished nightmare! I have 16 days left on the death clock after doing every mission since the clock kicked in with one deployment. So I have plenty of time to spare.

Sadly too late but I have discovered an exploit to level up the full team to 15 in very quick time that I can't find anyone else on youtube using as a farm method. Sadly it has to be done before the death clock kicks in so I will tough it out. Will do it for my new game plus on easy to collect all the datapads and do the limited save 'no one can hear you scream' run. Love it so much I want to 100% it!
 
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5th and final (for now) play through done to finish Nightmare and No one can hear you scream mode. Every achievement done for the first time in years. I will try a play through in a few months with one hit death.

If anyone wants to play this game and finish it easily I can offer the following after doing it the long way!

Have one play through on easy or normal to start. Concentrate on data pads and learning the mechanics with the death clock off. Or if you like the pressure and want the achievements for difficulty leave it on. (They stack so you can get them on a harder run anyway).

Play the first couple of levels as normal and then just sit there skipping days and gathering resources. (You can do this even with death clock on up to the end of level 5). Once you have done level 4 you unlock air strike. Skipping days will have gathered you every resource you will ever need and a ton of marines. Put the marines into Auto training to level 4.

When you have a ton of level 4 marines you can choose your keepers, then load up dead hills (first mission) and load in at the top left of the map. Send in 4 marines, only one that can lay mines. Send him off to lay a mine and drop and airstrike on your other 3 marines to kill them. Extract back to the base ship. Come back with 4 marines you want to level up and pick up the dogtags, giving you 4 xp for every marine. You will max level (10) in half an hour every marine you want to keep. The game is then a formality on the easy level you are playing and when you go in for a harder level you can use New game + and keep those starting level 10 marines that can now go up to level 15.

Knowing that would have saved me 2 of my 5 play throughs but I loved the game anyway!

There's also an ammo exploit where if you weld the door on a safe room and rest you gain ammo. If you then reload the last check point again it lets you rest again and add more ammo. You can do this over and over.
 
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