X-Com Alien Diplomacy Cheats (PC)

The best thing to do is to sell everything except avalanche missiles and launchers.
Although avalanche missiles will destroy very small UFOs it's no great loss. When you have
researched Plasma Beams, use them instead, to save having to re-order avalanche misslies.

This stuff is found in large quantities when large undamaged UFO's land onto the Earth,
marked with a green cross.

There is a file within each of the games directories called LIGLOB.DAT This holds the
amount of cash that you have. Thus, make a copy of it and when you are low on cash, copy
it back.

Have one base for Research, and dismantle the workshop. And have a second base for making
things. This way you have a lot of room to both research and making stuff. Aliens will
throw grenades if your soldiers are clumped together. When on the ground, split them
apart. When in the air clump together and laugh when the grenade explodes without causing
any damage.
  When making new ships such as Firestorms and Avengers, the first time they fly, for some
reason they have infinite fuel, hence you can keep them patrolling a specific area
forever.
  If an alien takes over one of your soldiers, if you ever regain control of him, make
sure he drops all of his weapons in his hands (not belt and backpack). The chances are
that the alien will try to re-gain control of the same soldier. Mutons are hardest to
kill, but easiest to mind control.
  Sectoids and Floaters almost aways die when coming into contact with area effect weapons
hence always fire an Auto-fire High Explosive shot from an Auto-Cannon whenever possible.
Drop the Auto-Cannon if fighting Mutons to gain extra accuracy with the other weapon and
extra time units.
  When landing down beside an intact very large UFO, set up a cross-fire and wait it out.
This is an especially good tactic with Mutons as they will not try to mind control your
soldiers. The exit to the very large UFO is at the centre of the UFO on the ground level.
Position your soldiers such that they will over-watch shoot as soon as an alien pops it's
head out.
  Some UFO's land with the top piece of their UFO destroyed. Rather than entering the UFO
through the doors below, send a few grenades or blaster bombs down the top of the UFO and
then go down with a tank.
  If you have a top level psycher in your team then use him to constantly control an
alien. Use the alien to do the exploring. This way, none of your soldiers will risk
getting shot from an over-watch shot.
  A shot from a blaster bomb or several shots from a heavy plasma will dent a hole in the
side of a UFO wall. This can be useful if an alien traps itself in a room and is waiting
for one of your soldiers to come through.
  When mind controlling alien tanks, you need to mind control all four sections of the
tank to control it properly. Otherwise it will just shoot itself after you move or fire
it.
  In a multi-level UFO with Snake-men, fire a blaster bomb into the ceiling of the ground
level and send your soldiers in. The reason for this is that to be on the safe side it is
best to have your troops constantly flying. The black aliens (can't remember their names)
can turn you into aliens, but not if you are flying at least two squares away.

The best weapon to start off with is the Auto-Cannon with High Explosive ammo. When
starting a game I usually sell everything except for the rifles and Proximity Grenades and
then buy Auto-Cannons. The reason for this is that Auto-Cannons aren't very accurate but
they are area effect weapons which means that they explode and hiteverything within a
couple of squares. This is useful when targetting enemies clumped together at short range
or enemies standing next to the UFO. When your troops get more experienced, ie more time
units and higher shooting accuracy, it is best to go into combat with one hand holding an
Auto-Cannon and the other holding a Rifle. If by then you have researched Laser Rifles,
use them instead of the normal Rifles. (Don't use Heavy Lasers as they can't Auto-fire.)
It is also best to research Plasma weapons, although I don't recommend taking them into
combat. They are far more powerful and accurate than laser weapons but ammunition has to
be made for it every mission. A point to note here is that ALL ammo taken into a mission
gets used no matter what. It is therefore pointless taking excess ammo into missions when
you know that you are not going to use it. What I usually do is to arm my soldiers as
above, and change the Laser Rifle for the Heavy Plasma when an alien has been killed by
stealing the alien's weapon; sort of like a power-up. It is best to keep about 10 Heavy
Plasmas and sufficient ammo back at base in case the base is attacked; then you really do
need the best, most accurate weapons. Proximity Granades are very useful. There are times
when you know there's an alien round the corner of the UFO with fast reactions and you
know that it will kill you if you walk into its line of sight and it will also kill you if
you put yourself on over watch mode because your soldier's reactions aren't fast enough.
By throwing a proximity grenade, you can ensure that the alien will get hit when it comes
round the corner. Hand-held Rocket Launchers are crap. You don't really have that many
time units and your soldier ends up doing nothing. You are best off using tanks.

It is best to take two tanks and fill the rest of the space with soldiers. The two tanks
should be armed with Rocket
  Launchers as these are the most effective. (Four tanks when equipping Avengers).

On the last mission when you visit Mars you want your troops equipped as follows :- 4 x
Plasma Beam Tanks Soldiers :- Fly suit Left Hand - Heavy Plasma Right Hand - Blaster
Bomber - Psi Amp (if you have sufficient Psychic strength/skill) Belt/Backpack - 2 -4
Blaster Bombs 2 recommended, but you may want to have a few men just sittingdown firing
blaster bombs and thus not moving at all. Then fill the floor with blaster bombs. The
first mission on Mars is in total darkness, where the Sectoids can see you long before you
them and so it is best to just spend your time smashing blaster bombs everywhere until
you've killed most of them. The rule of thumb here is that if you see an enemy and you are
a fair distance away, then fire a blaster bomb.

You are given all sorts of weapons at the start of the game and the best thing to do is
sell it all except for the one or two varieties of weapon that you like using the most.
The first thing to do is usually to select a base and name it eg 'Base USA' in North
America.
  The second thing to do is to select a second base at the opposite side of the globe eg
'Base China' in Asia. I always build an extra couple of General Stores as one is never
enough.