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XCOM: Enemy Unknown (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter flysack
- Start date
Insein
Footballguy
Reverted and got a better map. Had an elevated capture zone and systematically picked off the Exalt as the filed in. Only lost one guy so much better result.
LW really gets into a grind waiting for research and foundry projects to complete. So many ground missions that time is hardly passing.
LW really gets into a grind waiting for research and foundry projects to complete. So many ground missions that time is hardly passing.
madshot31
Footballguy
Yep, got wiped. Started over. 
In month one engineers were taken as rewards the XCOM crew started off in Japan. A small UFO was shot down after the interceptor got RNG'd and almost failed falling one hit away from destruction. Month one achieved a grade A with zero countries lost. Only a single satellite was put online above the Untied States($$) but the initiative managed to build a alien containment and capture a sectoid and thin man early on. One med kit and arc thrower have been utilized as research focuses toward Carapace Armor. No members have fallen yet in this play through but many have been gravely injured.
Rrandom character stats and level ups are on so I have cycled through a few derpy individuals to manage better overall soldiers to focus on. So far Ming "Checkmate" Li (sniper-Chinese) has the most kills with 9 on four missions as she has an absurd 97 aim through one month. Elsa "Black Widow" Benitez (sniper-Mexican) and FBG Chaka (heavy-British) have the next highest with 4 kills. FBG Insein (assault-Egyptian) has 3 kills and been in the hospital all but 4 days when on assignment twice. His counterpart, Stella Maxwell (assault-Irish) was thanked for that as her great aim(90) and panic attacks(39 will) took her partner out of action both times. At the start of month two it looks like either European or North American countries will be lost this month as the risk level is moderate to high already.
I have no clue what i am doing.
In month one engineers were taken as rewards the XCOM crew started off in Japan. A small UFO was shot down after the interceptor got RNG'd and almost failed falling one hit away from destruction. Month one achieved a grade A with zero countries lost. Only a single satellite was put online above the Untied States($$) but the initiative managed to build a alien containment and capture a sectoid and thin man early on. One med kit and arc thrower have been utilized as research focuses toward Carapace Armor. No members have fallen yet in this play through but many have been gravely injured.
Rrandom character stats and level ups are on so I have cycled through a few derpy individuals to manage better overall soldiers to focus on. So far Ming "Checkmate" Li (sniper-Chinese) has the most kills with 9 on four missions as she has an absurd 97 aim through one month. Elsa "Black Widow" Benitez (sniper-Mexican) and FBG Chaka (heavy-British) have the next highest with 4 kills. FBG Insein (assault-Egyptian) has 3 kills and been in the hospital all but 4 days when on assignment twice. His counterpart, Stella Maxwell (assault-Irish) was thanked for that as her great aim(90) and panic attacks(39 will) took her partner out of action both times. At the start of month two it looks like either European or North American countries will be lost this month as the risk level is moderate to high already.
I have no clue what i am doing.
Chaka
Footballguy
madshot31 said:Yep, got wiped. Started over.
In month one engineers were taken as rewards the XCOM crew started off in Japan. A small UFO was shot down after the interceptor got RNG'd and almost failed falling one hit away from destruction. Month one achieved a grade A with zero countries lost. Only a single satellite was put online above the Untied States($$) but the initiative managed to build a alien containment and capture a sectoid and thin man early on. One med kit and arc thrower have been utilized as research focuses toward Carapace Armor. No members have fallen yet in this play through but many have been gravely injured.
Rrandom character stats and level ups are on so I have cycled through a few derpy individuals to manage better overall soldiers to focus on. So far Ming "Checkmate" Li (sniper-Chinese) has the most kills with 9 on four missions as she has an absurd 97 aim through one month. Elsa "Black Widow" Benitez (sniper-Mexican) and FBG Chaka (heavy-British) have the next highest with 4 kills. FBG Insein (assault-Egyptian) has 3 kills and been in the hospital all but 4 days when on assignment twice. His counterpart, Stella Maxwell (assault-Irish) was thanked for that as her great aim(90) and panic attacks(39 will) took her partner out of action both times. At the start of month two it looks like either European or North American countries will be lost this month as the risk level is moderate to high already.
I have no clue what i am doing.
Love it.
Strive to keep America, it's far more valuable than Europe. Get it full satellite coverage and your life will get much easier.
And for my heavy may I suggest holo targeting*, shredder, heat, danger zone & rocketeer.
*Bullet swarm is also very nice but with a holo targeting unit you always should open with their shot and the whole team benefits for that turn. It's particularly useful when the sectopods and ethereals show up and every shot really counts. I find bullet swarm very seldom grants you two hits, it's really just a CYA in case you miss your first shot.
Insein
Footballguy
Nice. Make sure when I get one, my nickname is the magician then. I make #####es disappear. Love the assault class.madshot31 said:Yep, got wiped. Started over.
In month one engineers were taken as rewards the XCOM crew started off in Japan. A small UFO was shot down after the interceptor got RNG'd and almost failed falling one hit away from destruction. Month one achieved a grade A with zero countries lost. Only a single satellite was put online above the Untied States($$) but the initiative managed to build a alien containment and capture a sectoid and thin man early on. One med kit and arc thrower have been utilized as research focuses toward Carapace Armor. No members have fallen yet in this play through but many have been gravely injured.
Rrandom character stats and level ups are on so I have cycled through a few derpy individuals to manage better overall soldiers to focus on. So far Ming "Checkmate" Li (sniper-Chinese) has the most kills with 9 on four missions as she has an absurd 97 aim through one month. Elsa "Black Widow" Benitez (sniper-Mexican) and FBG Chaka (heavy-British) have the next highest with 4 kills. FBG Insein (assault-Egyptian) has 3 kills and been in the hospital all but 4 days when on assignment twice. His counterpart, Stella Maxwell (assault-Irish) was thanked for that as her great aim(90) and panic attacks(39 will) took her partner out of action both times. At the start of month two it looks like either European or North American countries will be lost this month as the risk level is moderate to high already.
I have no clue what i am doing.
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madshot31
Footballguy
Month 2-
A request of 3 arc throwers for cash saved my ### in the process of building a satellite uplink with $12 to spare by day 8.
Operation Devil’s Prophet in Paris is very difficult due to a need for scientists, as all of Europe is at 4 bars. Flysack is captain two piece as he injures everything but never kills much while TLEF316 swoops in for the last shot. Every member takes small to moderate damage as a lucky break with the first encounter of floaters is taken out by three overwatches.
Next up, a UFO landing site in a massive forested area of North America, Operation Crimson Grave…not a good sign. We turtle it up and play it very slow. I camp Flysack in back and just pop away in overwatch. Everything goes surprising smooth as the one time the fight was slightly out of favor the enemy missed a few shots. Very little damage done to the team and a successful mission.
On X360, has anyone noticed the bug involving the eyes of players when they swap between male and female? For a frame it seems their eyes go Mars Attack’s on them.
The first rescue mission is a total #####. Basically one giant two story building. I bring Chaka, Flysack, TLEF316, and Kate "The Dougie" Upton. Kate and Flysack use the pistols a ton as a mob spawn occurs right when they hit low ammo and I need to scramble to kill chrysalids. Thankfully carapace armor was bought all around before the mission. Saving citizens sort of became a afterthought during the mission as survival was in question for quite a while as RNG helped and hurt me at times. TLEF was a boss on this mission as he was the lone support/assault and literally ran around dodging, rescuing people, and killing things alone. Also wtf!? Zombies? Glitched zombies that mess with me after I kill them at that. They stand back up and look alive but don’t move or act, well some turn into chrysalids. Overall 12 rescued and med kits all around. Chaka came up huge with a rocket triple kill to save the day.
Shot down a medium space craft just barely with two interceptors. On Operation Devil's Hymn I played like a total ##### as it seemed like I was playing ring around the spacecraft with roaming scouting parties. So I hunkered down and actually captured a sectoid and the big guy(never seen before-hits like a brick) for its first appearance. The mission went well and gained a ton of materials/cash(broken materias). It was a full FBg team with Flysack, Chaka, TLEF, and Insein. TLEF became my first Lt. and Insein was sent to the hospital again. You always attract the sneak attacks or panicked people. After cashing in and getting a arc thrower for cash offer I have enough money to buy a thermal plant and get my power supply in check at the start of next month. Things were looking iffy, well they still are on the research front as my choices have prevented me from getting scientists due to wanting to save the world and all.
Last mission of the month is a alien abduction called Operation Devil's Throne with Flysack, Chaka, Insein and Toni Garrn(backup support). All what I can say is Flysack up high on a big rig with his sniper and Chaka with his rockets. Probably 10 combined easy kills slowly advancing through the map. Insein did manage to taze a sectod for a pistol.
After the mission Russia is freaking out in the end of month review. Putin was promptly ignored and he rode off shirtless on a floater. Afric’s countries were expanded to with satellites at the end of the month and income increased dramatically. An issue is going to crop up next month as the timeline for sat uplinks may be in jeopardy.
A request of 3 arc throwers for cash saved my ### in the process of building a satellite uplink with $12 to spare by day 8.
Operation Devil’s Prophet in Paris is very difficult due to a need for scientists, as all of Europe is at 4 bars. Flysack is captain two piece as he injures everything but never kills much while TLEF316 swoops in for the last shot. Every member takes small to moderate damage as a lucky break with the first encounter of floaters is taken out by three overwatches.
Next up, a UFO landing site in a massive forested area of North America, Operation Crimson Grave…not a good sign. We turtle it up and play it very slow. I camp Flysack in back and just pop away in overwatch. Everything goes surprising smooth as the one time the fight was slightly out of favor the enemy missed a few shots. Very little damage done to the team and a successful mission.
On X360, has anyone noticed the bug involving the eyes of players when they swap between male and female? For a frame it seems their eyes go Mars Attack’s on them.
The first rescue mission is a total #####. Basically one giant two story building. I bring Chaka, Flysack, TLEF316, and Kate "The Dougie" Upton. Kate and Flysack use the pistols a ton as a mob spawn occurs right when they hit low ammo and I need to scramble to kill chrysalids. Thankfully carapace armor was bought all around before the mission. Saving citizens sort of became a afterthought during the mission as survival was in question for quite a while as RNG helped and hurt me at times. TLEF was a boss on this mission as he was the lone support/assault and literally ran around dodging, rescuing people, and killing things alone. Also wtf!? Zombies? Glitched zombies that mess with me after I kill them at that. They stand back up and look alive but don’t move or act, well some turn into chrysalids. Overall 12 rescued and med kits all around. Chaka came up huge with a rocket triple kill to save the day.
Shot down a medium space craft just barely with two interceptors. On Operation Devil's Hymn I played like a total ##### as it seemed like I was playing ring around the spacecraft with roaming scouting parties. So I hunkered down and actually captured a sectoid and the big guy(never seen before-hits like a brick) for its first appearance. The mission went well and gained a ton of materials/cash(broken materias). It was a full FBg team with Flysack, Chaka, TLEF, and Insein. TLEF became my first Lt. and Insein was sent to the hospital again. You always attract the sneak attacks or panicked people. After cashing in and getting a arc thrower for cash offer I have enough money to buy a thermal plant and get my power supply in check at the start of next month. Things were looking iffy, well they still are on the research front as my choices have prevented me from getting scientists due to wanting to save the world and all.
Last mission of the month is a alien abduction called Operation Devil's Throne with Flysack, Chaka, Insein and Toni Garrn(backup support). All what I can say is Flysack up high on a big rig with his sniper and Chaka with his rockets. Probably 10 combined easy kills slowly advancing through the map. Insein did manage to taze a sectod for a pistol.
After the mission Russia is freaking out in the end of month review. Putin was promptly ignored and he rode off shirtless on a floater. Afric’s countries were expanded to with satellites at the end of the month and income increased dramatically. An issue is going to crop up next month as the timeline for sat uplinks may be in jeopardy.
Insein
Footballguy
Nice update. I've been in a slow grind to get weapons armor. The long war is so long because there is basically 10-15 encounters a week it seems. Some of them back to back to back.
I did have the Whale pop up and knowing what's in store, I made my team as light as possible and brought tons of explosives. When it came time to run into the ship, I held everyone back except my scout who was light enough to run 19 spaces. Got in, hit the switch, ran out. Made it back within 2 turns. Blew the place sky high.
Assault with close encounters reflex is invaluable especially in Exalt missions where you're usually outnumbered 5 to 1.
Just now got my gene lab up but I'm afraid to spend anything because I feel like it'll be a waste of meld.
But I'll be putting XCom on hold for a bit now since its FO4 time. I'll be back in 2-3 months.
I did have the Whale pop up and knowing what's in store, I made my team as light as possible and brought tons of explosives. When it came time to run into the ship, I held everyone back except my scout who was light enough to run 19 spaces. Got in, hit the switch, ran out. Made it back within 2 turns. Blew the place sky high.
Assault with close encounters reflex is invaluable especially in Exalt missions where you're usually outnumbered 5 to 1.
Just now got my gene lab up but I'm afraid to spend anything because I feel like it'll be a waste of meld.
But I'll be putting XCom on hold for a bit now since its FO4 time. I'll be back in 2-3 months.
GreenNGold
Footballguy
Bump for XCOM 2! Game looks great can't wait to try it out.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Looks fantastic. Really hoping for a console release.
TLEF316
Footballguy
Insein
Footballguy
I meant the late 90's and early 2000's XCom bounced from game company to game company with so many crap versions put out that didn't even come close to the first 2 games from 1994 and 1995. The Firaxis guys obviously played the game when they were young because EU feels so much like the original game with Better graphics and mechanics. But the spirit of the original had never been captured till EU.
That's what I meant. Check out the slop on this list after Terror from the Deep till EU. I bought all of them unfortunately.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM
Drifter
Footballguy
Early impressions on XCOM 2:
- The colors seem over saturated and cartoony. XCOM had a darker feel to the graphics. I'm not liking what they have done here.
- Gameplay on "normal" is MUCH more difficult than in XCOM. This is a good thing and is more true to the original.
- So far every mission I've done has been timed. Don't like that. I like to be careful and strategic and it makes me behave more recklessly than my typical game play. I'm sure this is intentional but so far not a fan.
- I like the concealment aspect quite a bit
- The colors seem over saturated and cartoony. XCOM had a darker feel to the graphics. I'm not liking what they have done here.
- Gameplay on "normal" is MUCH more difficult than in XCOM. This is a good thing and is more true to the original.
- So far every mission I've done has been timed. Don't like that. I like to be careful and strategic and it makes me behave more recklessly than my typical game play. I'm sure this is intentional but so far not a fan.
- I like the concealment aspect quite a bit
DallasDMac
Footballguy
Wow. This could be a game killer for me. If I want to play an RTS game, I will. But that certainly isn't what I look for in XCOM.
TheAristocrat
Footballguy
Oh crap. Looks like I need to make time for yet another video game.
TLEF316
Footballguy
The actual turns aren't timed. You just get a limited amount of turns to complete the objective.
Liking it so far but having a lot of "oh well, that's xcom" moments. The guys with the cattle prods are the bane of my existence so far. Their running range is absurd
TLEF316
Footballguy
The big goofy blob things? Nah, they don't bother me at all. I got ambushed by one the first time I did a retaliation mission, but now that I know they disguise themselves as civilians, its easy to take precautions.
The cattle prod guys are basically an automatic soldier death/knocked unconscious if you don't kill them in 1 turn. They run 1/2 way across the map (usually right for my sniper) and drop him in 1 shot. Just awful.
TLEF316
Footballguy
So I finally managed to make it past the no-equipment, no skills, only 4 soldiers early game struggles. Took me a handful of re-starts and some trial and error. Finally starting to branch out a bit (although I probably let the aliens get a little too far on the avatar project while I researched tech and now I'm playing catchup) and get onto a couple of other continents. I got the point where I had developed enough tech that I had a distinct advantage over them in the battles. That lasted all of 3 or 4 missions until some major bad guys started showing up. Now facing groups of Mutons, Muton Elites (the ones you get by downloading the official mod), Berzerkers and the new version of the Floaters from Enemy Unknown. These guys are freaking unreal. Also facing this crazy enemy that clones itself every time you damage but dont kill it.
Definitely loving the game. I've had to re-start a handful of missions after some bad luck/bad decisions but not too many. Really just trying to learn the game on my first play through so I can move onto ironman and hopefully some 2nd wave options on the next run (although I can't see them mentioned anywhere).
Definitely loving the game. I've had to re-start a handful of missions after some bad luck/bad decisions but not too many. Really just trying to learn the game on my first play through so I can move onto ironman and hopefully some 2nd wave options on the next run (although I can't see them mentioned anywhere).
madshot31
Footballguy
That is a game killer for me sadly.
TLEF316
Footballguy
madshot31
Footballguy
Still terrible imo.
TLEF316
Footballguy
Not sure I get the outrage. Lots of the geeks on the Xcom boards are all upset as well.
They're trying to avoid the situation that they got into in the last game. It basically got to the point where the go-to strategy was creeping up with one guy, moving everyone else up right behind him and sitting in Overwatch until a patrolling pod stumbled onto you. And at that point, the game's not really tactical anymore. You're just at the mercy of whether your overwatch shots (which came with a 15% aim penalty) hit the target.
With the way the concealment mechanic works in this one, you can almost always (unless you catch really bad luck with enemy/tower/civilian placement) basically sprint towards the objective for your first 2 or 3 turns if you want to. Or, you can set up an ambush for the first pod you spot. IMO, all the timer mechanic does is A) prevent excessive overwatch creeping and B) incentivize you to avoid long, drawn out fights where you just trade shots from cover (which again, is just turning the game into a dice roll contest rather than a strategy game.
I also think it fits the theme well, as Xcom is now supposed to be a guerrilla fighting force focused on quick special-ops style missions (extracting a VIP, bombing a facility, etc). It makes sense that you'd have to get in and out quickly before reinforcements show up (even though they often do anyway)
And at the end of the day, most of the mission timers are more than long enough. You generally get like 12 turns on extraction missions or 8 on missions where you just have to make it some place and hack something. And if you really get to the point where you feel you're rushing and its making the game less fun for you, people have already posted tutorials on how to mod the game to increase the timer.
They're trying to avoid the situation that they got into in the last game. It basically got to the point where the go-to strategy was creeping up with one guy, moving everyone else up right behind him and sitting in Overwatch until a patrolling pod stumbled onto you. And at that point, the game's not really tactical anymore. You're just at the mercy of whether your overwatch shots (which came with a 15% aim penalty) hit the target.
With the way the concealment mechanic works in this one, you can almost always (unless you catch really bad luck with enemy/tower/civilian placement) basically sprint towards the objective for your first 2 or 3 turns if you want to. Or, you can set up an ambush for the first pod you spot. IMO, all the timer mechanic does is A) prevent excessive overwatch creeping and B) incentivize you to avoid long, drawn out fights where you just trade shots from cover (which again, is just turning the game into a dice roll contest rather than a strategy game.
I also think it fits the theme well, as Xcom is now supposed to be a guerrilla fighting force focused on quick special-ops style missions (extracting a VIP, bombing a facility, etc). It makes sense that you'd have to get in and out quickly before reinforcements show up (even though they often do anyway)
And at the end of the day, most of the mission timers are more than long enough. You generally get like 12 turns on extraction missions or 8 on missions where you just have to make it some place and hack something. And if you really get to the point where you feel you're rushing and its making the game less fun for you, people have already posted tutorials on how to mod the game to increase the timer.
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TLEF316
Footballguy
This game is absurdly difficult.
Can't seem to get past the first couple 2nd of 3rd month. Its really really tough to do all the stuff you want to do (contacting new regions, hitting supply pickups, getting additional scientists and engys, etc). There's just not enough time.
I had a playthrough going where I was save scumming, but I didn't get my psyionics quickly enough and now its too late to catch up.
Can't seem to get past the first couple 2nd of 3rd month. Its really really tough to do all the stuff you want to do (contacting new regions, hitting supply pickups, getting additional scientists and engys, etc). There's just not enough time.
I had a playthrough going where I was save scumming, but I didn't get my psyionics quickly enough and now its too late to catch up.
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Drifter
Footballguy
Just finished my first playthrough. As with past versions, you reach an inflection point where the endgame becomes a walk in the park. Even the last mission, which was challenging, didn't result in me having to reload a single time and I didn't lose any soldiers. This endgame does feel exactly like the last one as well which was a bummer. Give me something original in there. Anyway, I liked the game but would have liked to see some more "new" mixed in. It's the same game with a few tweaks - XCOM 1.5 rather than 2.0, IMO.
I also would like to see them provide mission replays. Make a cinematic, flowing, replay of the mission I just did and let me upload it. Let me watch other people's amazing missions where they have that one sole survivor who beats the odds. Seems like a pretty big miss from a marketing and social media standpoint.
I also would like to see them provide mission replays. Make a cinematic, flowing, replay of the mission I just did and let me upload it. Let me watch other people's amazing missions where they have that one sole survivor who beats the odds. Seems like a pretty big miss from a marketing and social media standpoint.
TheAristocrat
Footballguy
Thanks, Drifter. Jumping back into this one tonight.
I've started two playthroughs and seem to get to a point that I'm either in a terrible position or in an unforgiving mission. Going to fire up a new one tonight and actually try to make it work instead of just effing around to see what it looks like.
Very cool idea on the mission replays. Too good of an idea to the point of being too obvious.
DallasDMac
Footballguy
I long ago gave up on XCOM with the teleporting aliens on the PS3. But even given that, I would love to see the replay feature. I'd watch those even though I no longer have the game!
TLEF316
Footballguy
Yeah, I actually finished up my first playthrough on Saturday. Did commander Ironman. I took a ton of re-starts (like 30) but most of them ended after the first or 2nd mission (Its basically a crap shoot at that point because of how bad your soldiers shoot). Once I figured out the right build orders and soldier builds, I was able to cruise.
I thought I only lost like 5 soldiers but the end game stats had me at 7. Pretty sure all of them were in timed missions or retaliation missions (which are essentially timed).
There were a few key skills and items that really tipped the scales in the player's favor. AP/blue screen rounds were a godsend in taking out Mecs or other enemies with armor. And once I got a psionic soldier with Stasis and a few other good skills, the game became a cakewalk as long as i played smart. And the final nail in the coffin was the EMP bomb. It basically made Sectopods useless. Lots of raving about the mimic beacons online saying they're OP, but I never even built one.
A fully maxed out hacker is incredibly valuable. (again, mostly for shutting down robots) Didn't really utilize the ranger's sword attacks much in the late game. Shotgun with the class-specific bonus from the GT school and some crit-boosting skills and attachments made short work of just about everything.
Totally agree that the late game was too easy. I almost got into a little trouble on the final mission (took too long to kill the 2nd Avatar and they just kept spawning more guys to rush you) but I backed out of the main chamber and played super defensive and eventually got some good shots. The 2nd to last mission (where you only get 4 guys and have to rush the Advant Tower) was a joke. I literally just hugged the side of where they spawned me and made it right to the objective only having to fight 2 enemies (there were supposedly 9 on the map but I never saw them
Probably gonna shift most of my video gaming to The Division when it comes out next week, but I'm sure I'll play through this game a few more times with the DLC. Hopefully some more mods will come out that re-create some of the 2nd wave options. I saw one that randomizes soldier stats and growth, which will definitely help.
I thought I only lost like 5 soldiers but the end game stats had me at 7. Pretty sure all of them were in timed missions or retaliation missions (which are essentially timed).
There were a few key skills and items that really tipped the scales in the player's favor. AP/blue screen rounds were a godsend in taking out Mecs or other enemies with armor. And once I got a psionic soldier with Stasis and a few other good skills, the game became a cakewalk as long as i played smart. And the final nail in the coffin was the EMP bomb. It basically made Sectopods useless. Lots of raving about the mimic beacons online saying they're OP, but I never even built one.
A fully maxed out hacker is incredibly valuable. (again, mostly for shutting down robots) Didn't really utilize the ranger's sword attacks much in the late game. Shotgun with the class-specific bonus from the GT school and some crit-boosting skills and attachments made short work of just about everything.
Totally agree that the late game was too easy. I almost got into a little trouble on the final mission (took too long to kill the 2nd Avatar and they just kept spawning more guys to rush you) but I backed out of the main chamber and played super defensive and eventually got some good shots. The 2nd to last mission (where you only get 4 guys and have to rush the Advant Tower) was a joke. I literally just hugged the side of where they spawned me and made it right to the objective only having to fight 2 enemies (there were supposedly 9 on the map but I never saw them
Probably gonna shift most of my video gaming to The Division when it comes out next week, but I'm sure I'll play through this game a few more times with the DLC. Hopefully some more mods will come out that re-create some of the 2nd wave options. I saw one that randomizes soldier stats and growth, which will definitely help.
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TheAristocrat
Footballguy
XCom 2 is very hard and unforgiving. I like it.
Restarted on Thursday and played through Saturday afternoon until I realized that I had ignored Advent for too long and now when I needed to back them off, I wasn't prepared and ended up playing myself into a corner. I prioritized all weapon/armor techs and upgrades which made combat much easier. However, I wasn't paying any attention to everything I had to do to derail Advent and focused WAY, WAY too much on side missions and cache goodies. Not smart.
But I learned some stuff and will begin anew tonight. I know that there is buzz around the Internet that XCom2 is too hard but I like the difficulty and it keeps me guessing.
This time I will be prioritizing the main story missions a lot heavier than I was. They were essentially priority zero until I screwed myself over.
Restarted on Thursday and played through Saturday afternoon until I realized that I had ignored Advent for too long and now when I needed to back them off, I wasn't prepared and ended up playing myself into a corner. I prioritized all weapon/armor techs and upgrades which made combat much easier. However, I wasn't paying any attention to everything I had to do to derail Advent and focused WAY, WAY too much on side missions and cache goodies. Not smart.
But I learned some stuff and will begin anew tonight. I know that there is buzz around the Internet that XCom2 is too hard but I like the difficulty and it keeps me guessing.
This time I will be prioritizing the main story missions a lot heavier than I was. They were essentially priority zero until I screwed myself over.
Drifter
Footballguy
I'm on a second play-through upping the difficulty. I'm going after magnetic weapons early as your early weapons are way too underpowered. In 1 your early weapons could deal with early enemies. In 2, you definitely start underpowered. Also built the Guerrila Tactics school early. Squad size, training rookies into a chosen class and Wet Work are all keys for the early game IMO.
Arsenal of Doom
Footballguy
Has anyone beat this on Commander Iron Man with the Alien Rulers in game? I've gotten a couple of runs fairly deep but the Archon ruler is a ####### ##### on Commander.
TLEF316
Footballguy
I've done it twice since the ruler dlc came out. Once with vanilla settings and once with the mod that adds the additional classes.(I had an 8 man squad for that one so I could use all the classes at once but balanced it out with a mod that added extra enemies to each pod)
Long story short, you basically need to get as many superior repeaters as possible load up your squad with them. This gives you a 15 percent chance of an instakill. Taking him down straight up is all but impossible in my experience.
The freeze grenade and axe help (since they give you a chance to stun) as does the late game specialist perk that revives/heals your entire squad with one move but the archon king is a beast either way. You can also use stasis to freeze him and regroup
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Arsenal of Doom
Footballguy
Yeah, that's the basic strategy I've employed along with trying to scatter the team to stay away from that devastation attack. Just so little margin for error. I think I've lacked a fully perked up healer every time I've faced him also, which is probably my biggest problem. My next run I'll focus more on getting deeper class development. Usually on Iron Man I try to get a really deep bench of soldiers since they are wounded so often but it's also kept me from getting to enough fully perked units.
TLEF316
Footballguy
I shoot to develop 2 deep at every position. once I get closer to the end game and I have the resources, I basically buy every soldier that is generated at the main base every month to fill out the bench. easy to do once you have a lot of income and don't really need any more engineers
TLEF316
Footballguy
Special ammo also helps. I always put armor piercing on my snipers, talon on my Ranger and blue screen on my heavy (once gatekeepers, sectopods and the huge mecs start showing up. flame or poison before that)
I believe the archons are especially vulnerable to poison but fire would help as well.
Love this game so much. may fire up another playthrough soon (although probably without the larger squad mod, as it slowed my pc to a crawl for some reason)
I believe the archons are especially vulnerable to poison but fire would help as well.
Love this game so much. may fire up another playthrough soon (although probably without the larger squad mod, as it slowed my pc to a crawl for some reason)
Arsenal of Doom
Footballguy
I finally got my Commander Iron Man win. I think the big issue was that I had been taking the ruler mission too early in the game, as soon as I had appropriate gear to handle the rulers they all fell in a couple of encounters and I didn't take any serious hits. Mostly cruised through, though the final mission crazy:
- Missed 3 domination attempts at 70%+
- Had my Magus somehow get stuck inside a barrier after being dropped by a Viper so I couldn't move it
- Was down 2 positions and had a 3rd mind controlled (because I couldn't move the Magus to free)
- On the last round my Commander was at 2 health bars, on fire (no mental abilities), and with no ammo from a void attack
- My last move was a 40% shot with the Plasma Caster, if I missed I almost certainly would have lost with the next alien round
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TLEF316
Footballguy
Will respond in more detail later but yes, very different game.
Had a good play through ruined by a bug (I play iron Man, so no restart) on Sunday night so I'm a little salty at the moment. Cliff's notes version: one of my soldiers got stunned by the bezerker king and instead of lasting like 2 turns, it was permanent (I could move but couldn't fire or use any abilities)
That guy happened to be my medic, so the rest of my squad died after a tough fight where I kinda got screwed by a bad luck squad reveal.
Had a good play through ruined by a bug (I play iron Man, so no restart) on Sunday night so I'm a little salty at the moment. Cliff's notes version: one of my soldiers got stunned by the bezerker king and instead of lasting like 2 turns, it was permanent (I could move but couldn't fire or use any abilities)
That guy happened to be my medic, so the rest of my squad died after a tough fight where I kinda got screwed by a bad luck squad reveal.
TLEF316
Footballguy
So I finally got a chance to finish up a playthrough with the new DLC. Some good stuff in it and it definitely changes up the gameplay, (mostly on the worldwide strategy level) but just like the vanilla game, the late game becomes a victory lap once you have a maxed out squad and a few certain skills/items. (especially once you've defeated the chosen and the alien rulers)The DLC provides even more help in that regard.....
- Squad member bonds give you the ability to grant extra actions at key moments.
-When you finally kill the Chosen, you get their weapons, which are insanely overpowered
- The new perk system allows you to load up your best soldiers with tons of extra perks (you can give your snipers all the pistol skills AND rifle skills and make your specialist a medic AND hacker) This is extremely unbalanced.
-The 3 resistance factions heroes you get are VERY good once you get them maxed out.
-The game comes with some new items that I didn't even really try out, but I imagine they would have helped as well.
The Chosen show up on a lot of random missions (and pick up new skills as the game goes on) but they usually hang back, so you can clear most of the map before you fight them (so you dont get caught fighting them AND a pod all that often). But they are fun to fight.
Other stuff they added that was pretty good....
-a handful of new enemies that are mostly pretty tough. Nothing crazy though.
-several new mission types
-the 3 resistance factions comes with special bonuses and you get to do covert ops (you just send guys out on missions and they come back a few days later. You dont actually do the missions unless you are "ambushed" (which is random) for additional rewards. The downside to this is you can do missions that stall the Avatar Project (I basically had it at like 2 bars for the whole game)
-They added soldiers getting "tired" or "shaken" which makes you develop a deeper group of soldiers. Certain soldiers develop negative traits (forced reloads, more likely to panic against certain enemy types, etc) if bad things happen to them on missions.
Plus I'm sure there's plenty of other I missed. In terms of additional content, its definitely worth the $$. They also add some additional cinematics at the end of the game which hint at the next game.
Overall, it was fun and definitely made the game feel fresh. But just like before, you basically need a lot of luck early (good RNG and avoiding activating pods you aren't ready for) and then the late game is too easy. On the last mission (Commander difficulty, Ironman), not only did I not lose any soldiers or even take any damage, I didn't even have the enemy take a single shot at me. (even without using a single grenade, a lot of my more powerful skills or the heavy weapons on my 2 WAR suits) I may have to try IMPOSSIBLE the next time I fire things up.
- Squad member bonds give you the ability to grant extra actions at key moments.
-When you finally kill the Chosen, you get their weapons, which are insanely overpowered
- The new perk system allows you to load up your best soldiers with tons of extra perks (you can give your snipers all the pistol skills AND rifle skills and make your specialist a medic AND hacker) This is extremely unbalanced.
-The 3 resistance factions heroes you get are VERY good once you get them maxed out.
-The game comes with some new items that I didn't even really try out, but I imagine they would have helped as well.
The Chosen show up on a lot of random missions (and pick up new skills as the game goes on) but they usually hang back, so you can clear most of the map before you fight them (so you dont get caught fighting them AND a pod all that often). But they are fun to fight.
Other stuff they added that was pretty good....
-a handful of new enemies that are mostly pretty tough. Nothing crazy though.
-several new mission types
-the 3 resistance factions comes with special bonuses and you get to do covert ops (you just send guys out on missions and they come back a few days later. You dont actually do the missions unless you are "ambushed" (which is random) for additional rewards. The downside to this is you can do missions that stall the Avatar Project (I basically had it at like 2 bars for the whole game)
-They added soldiers getting "tired" or "shaken" which makes you develop a deeper group of soldiers. Certain soldiers develop negative traits (forced reloads, more likely to panic against certain enemy types, etc) if bad things happen to them on missions.
Plus I'm sure there's plenty of other I missed. In terms of additional content, its definitely worth the $$. They also add some additional cinematics at the end of the game which hint at the next game.
Overall, it was fun and definitely made the game feel fresh. But just like before, you basically need a lot of luck early (good RNG and avoiding activating pods you aren't ready for) and then the late game is too easy. On the last mission (Commander difficulty, Ironman), not only did I not lose any soldiers or even take any damage, I didn't even have the enemy take a single shot at me. (even without using a single grenade, a lot of my more powerful skills or the heavy weapons on my 2 WAR suits) I may have to try IMPOSSIBLE the next time I fire things up.
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boots11234
Footballguy
This is such a good strategy game. Can you think of any other that comes close with regards to gameplay that is a strategy game?
Insein
Footballguy
Started playing this mod for the original Xcom. It's called Xcom files. Basically starts the game earlier with just 2 agents and 5 scientists driving around to unexplained monster sightings. You literally build Xcom from nothing as you unravel the alien conspiracy. Then it grows into the game we know but with more advanced features and tech abilities. It's pretty damn fun so far. If you're a fan of the 1994 game give it a try. It's basically Xfiles the game.
https://openxcom.mod.io/the-x-com-files
https://openxcom.mod.io/the-x-com-files
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DallasDMac
Footballguy
So you have to have the original game? Does that even exist anymore?Insein said:
Insein
Footballguy
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