Support NeoGAF

[slash3584]

A question about the guerrilla missions.

I got warned about two effects: the ufo chasing the avenger and something about reinforcements.

Later I got a message saying that I should do this guerrilla mission to counter the reinforcement's effect. If I do this mission does that mean that I won't be able to counter the UFO effect?

 

[Maledict]

I haven't gotten a single random ability from the AWC. Granted I built it late and I already had a few Majors. But every single mission is rated 'very difficult' with nasty enemies at this point, I've been scared to bring anyone but the A team. Leveling a rookie right now sounds suicidal. Hell you know what, maybe I should get shot down again...that was a great mission for training my reserves.

Also, no matter how much the black market is paying for them, DON'T SELL ELERIUM CORES. You'll need them someday if you want some very important items. Acid grenades alone have turned the tide in my game.

I think the AWC is retrospective. After building it, I inspected my squad and a number of them instantly gained additional skills.

 

[TheTrain]

http://steamspy.com/app/268500

Almost 500k copies sold in less than a week (3 days ), great!

 

[patapuf]

GAF-COM pool has reached 20 members, which seems a good time to release the first wave of recruits so you can start sacrificing fellow Gaffers for the greater good. You can download them from here.



Those who haven't joined our ranks yet, what the hell are you waiting for? Go and check posts two and three for all the info you need.

We may also have an alternative GAF-COM pool file by Sober with all the names blank for those who prefer them that way.

Great. I think i'm close to the end of my first playthrough.

 

[Najaf]

I really miss the 360 pad controller support. I played Xcom while riding my stationary bike relentlessly. Its a shame as I don't want to drop 50 bucks on a steam controller for this one game and I don't see anything in the UI that would prevent traditional controller support. The old IGN article said controller support would be coming post launch, but that article has since been modified to remove that quote from the devs.

Suspect....

 

[Sober]

http://steamspy.com/app/268500

Almost 500k copies sold in less than a week (3 days ), great!

Well I guess PC gaming is dead /s

 

[Sblargh]

Lost my super duper ironman commander squad in one single fail.
Made 2 critical mistakes in one mission that piled up at once.

Mission start, free VIP from prison and extract. Near the LZ there is a pod (2 mutons and an archon); I try to conceal my way past them. Mistake number 1.

Am at the back of the building, 1 officer and 2 troopers standing on the wall where the vip is imprisoned. My brilliant plan; I ambush them with a grenade; freeing the VIP and killing the pod in one fell swoop. Mistake number 2.

Now the plan is in action. The vip is free, but he activate another pod on the inside; two more advent-somethings and an archon. Also, reinforcement, because he is free.

That first pod decide to activate too. I do kill the original 3 advent pod, but am left with:

2 archons, 2 mutons, 2 advent and the reinforcement near the extraction of another 3 advent.

And in the end we did put up a hell of a fight, but just couldn't make it.

RIP near perfect game.
Now, to download the GAF pool so I can hack more brilliant tactics, but now, with your lives on the line!

 

[Reishiki]

Please don't kill me too hard T.T

 

[Lanrutcon]

My dude made it into GAF Com

 

[Mupod]

Acid grenades are absolutely amazing, especially against popped pods that don't move or tightly clustered enemies like crystallids.

My favorite combo is dropping an acid grenade on an armored mechanical unit then shutting it down with a hacker. So they stand in it and die slowly. Fuck robots!

I started a new game with GAF-COM and look at who showed up!

I look forward to getting all of you killed leveled up to kick some alien butt!

My perfect camouflage and stunning moustache will keep me alive

 

[Miletius]

Submitted my dude to GAF Com. Hope he shows up in the pool sometime soon. I also downloaded GAF Com and have you guys set + my created characters based on friends and family now. Love the work that people put into their guys and it makes the game much more fun to play with fully fleshed out biographies and inferred personalities.

 

[pislit]

Guys is there a mod where you can change flags, or add flags?

 

[Lister]

I really miss the 360 pad controller support. I played Xcom while riding my stationary bike relentlessly. Its a shame as I don't want to drop 50 bucks on a steam controller for this one game and I don't see anything in the UI that would prevent traditional controller support. The old IGN article said controller support would be coming post launch, but that article has since been modified to remove that quote from the devs.

Suspect....

FOr what it's worth, the Stema controller is great investment if you do much PC gaming outside m&k.

That right pad might as well have been crafted by the gods when compared to an analog stick in most situations where you are controlling a camera.

 

[TheCthultist]

A question about the guerrilla missions.

I got warned about two effects: the ufo chasing the avenger and something about reinforcements.

Later I got a message saying that I should do this guerrilla mission to counter the reinforcement's effect. If I do this mission does that mean that I won't be able to counter the UFO effect?

Exactly. If you played EU/EW, it's the same idea as the panic missions. You pick one to lower while the other two get raised. In this, you pick one effect to counter while the other two go through unabated,

 

[King Tubby]

Just started my first game of Commander Ironman, and I've gotten to May 11th with 1 death (to a faceless). My troops have mag weapons and predator armor and the Avatar project is at 7 pips with the first black site mission yet to be done.

I think the best beginning strategy is research-wise start with modular weapons, then alien biotech, then resistance communications, and from there just go through the tree avoiding autopsies except the Officer and the Faceless (for the mimic beacon) as you'll get a few autopsies for free anyway and most of them don't offer anything important really.

Building-wise, the first one has to be the Guerilla Tactics School, which will 1) make it so I never have to bring a rookie ever into a mission and 2) gives you Vulture early on while setting you up for Squad Size as soon as you can get it. The second one is the Advanced Warfare Center, after that you need a power relay, then Resistance Comms and Proving Ground. Proving Ground doesn't help you all that much until you get predator armor anyway.

On the Geoscape I basically just focus on countering really bad Dark Events, like Avatar Project +2 or UFO hunt, and I try to pick up Rookies early on, then prioritize Power upgrades, engineers, and scientists. After getting resistance communications, prioritize making new contacts before scanning. You can delay the Black Site for quite some time, since your only real advantage early on is that the Avatar Project doesn't matter yet.

Tactically I prioritize having grenadiers, and I try to bring at least two on every mission, each with 1 flashbang so that everyone on the squad has an explosive they can use. With only 4 I will always bring my highest level people, usually omitting the Sharpshooter or the Specialist depending on the mission type in favor of an extra grenadier. Once I get Squad Size, I always bring a balanced team + an extra grenadier. Sharpshooters are actually amazing early on as long as you're able to put them on high ground. Give them a rifle with a scope, and they're almost guaranteed to kill or severely injure one enemy unit per turn. With a concealed Phantom Ranger scouting ahead for you, snipers can get a guaranteed flanking shot on every single pod before it even knows you're there or has any opportunity to retaliate, then allowing you to best move the rest of your squad into an advantageous, yet secure position. Then your squadmates should use grenades liberally against any particularly tough or well-covered enemies, unless you have everyone in high cover/high ground and can take high percentage shots at all of your foes. When they get promoted, Rangers always get Phantom, Sharpshooters always get Long Watch, Specialists always get Combat Protocol, Grenadiers 50/50 Shredder and Blast Padding.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

K, story progression question

It won't let me research

Spoiler

Avatar Autopsy

, it says next to it that all other Shadow Chamber projects must be researched first.

But there's nothing else there? =/

 

[Lanrutcon]

K, story progression question

It won't let me research

Spoiler

Avatar Autopsy

, it says next to it that all other Shadow Chamber projects must be researched first.

But there's nothing else there? =/

Means you're missing out on a story mission that gives you a new project.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Means you're missing out on a story mission that gives you a new project.

Right, thanks, thought I had not done a prerequisite research task that I couldn't figure out =/

 

[robotrock]

How long is this game? I just reached

Spoiler

South Africa

 

[Shake Appeal]

Just started my first game of Commander Ironman...

Everything in this post is what I've been doing, right down to squad composition. Are we the same person? 0_0

 

[CecilRousso]

Geez, Firaxis, calm down with the punishment a bit will ya.

If you give me a mission with a tight timer, multiple objectives, 3 vipers and a special hidden enemy, you don't really have to let vipers be able to poison a whole squad through a roof also.

 

[Tangeroo]

How long is this game? I just reached

Spoiler

South Africa

Hmm, that's where I started my game so I'm guessing that starting points are random?

 

[frontieruk]

Say hello to the GAF-COM recruits...

KRECIK

LANRUTCON

REISHIKI

DIG_DOUGLAS

JINTOR

MERCVIPER

BJAELKE

NETE

ZOD THE BEAR

YAMO

WUNDER

POODLESTRIKE

MUPOD

FRONTIERUK

MAZRE

PATAPUF

SOBER

HAZARO

ANNO

SBLARGH

 

[AHA-Lambda]

How long is this game? I just reached

Spoiler

South Africa

I thought that's where you started?

 

[King Tubby]

Everything in this post is what I've been doing, right down to squad composition. Are we the same person? 0_0

Great minds think alike!

Hmm, that's where I started my game so I'm guessing that starting points are random?

Not only are starting points random, Continent bonuses seem to be random too.

 

[pantsmith]

How long is this game? I just reached

Spoiler

South Africa

Better comparison would be month or milestone (like the latest new enemy you ran into)

Start points are randomized.

 

[robotrock]

Hmm, that's where I started my game so I'm guessing that starting points are random?

I thought that's where you started?

I think I started somewhere on the West Coast. Here's my bridge map

Not only are starting points random, Continent bonuses seem to be random too.

Oh wow, that's really cool. Must be made to be super replayable.

Start points are randomized.

Spoiler

June 1st, 2035

 

[AWizardDidIt]

Really really enjoying this game. It's been a complete time vampire to me, sucking away something like 25 hours just over the last 3 days. The only problems I really have at this point are weird technical hitches (some framey-ness at times, weird bugs that mostly seem to happen whenever the floor is blown out from under soldiers) but besides that it's just been a joy... everything I wanted out of a sequel to one of my favorite remakes to one of my favorite games.

Playing on commander and I feel like I'm weirdly experiencing a different difficulty curve than most. The early missions were not terribly difficult but the aliens at higher levels are really giving me fits at times and the crazy abilities my soldiers have been getting feel barely able to compete. That said I haven't been using mimic grenades. I didn't realize how powerful they were until pretty late in my game and once I did I decided to just abstain from them to see how things went. I've also been keeping a really broad field of 15 or so soldiers all leveled mostly together so I wonder if I'd do better with a single group of more high level characters.

Also while I think the timers on most missions are mostly a good addition and have generally been fair, what I've been really getting screwed over is by missions to protect a device. It seems like at this point that thing is being hit for about 1/8th or its life or so per turn and every pod paths around it so it's impossible to pick them up one at a time while still dealing with it. This leaves me basically rushing to that objective and having every pod trigger within a couple turns as they path into me, many of which containing really rough enemies like sectopods and andromedans.

 

[Whom_Gods_Annoy]

Chryssalids were way, WAY more terrifying in EU than in XCOM 2 imo. Way more terrifying than the shapeshifters, too. They were fucking horrifying, they could cross half the map and melee you to death in one. Now I take out entire packs with one grenade or some other OP ability.

I'm on the other side of the fence, Chryssalids became kind of a joke in EU after your first terror mission against them. All they were was annoying after that on terror missions because they just ran around turning civilians into zombies. Now that they can dodge all your shots and can burst out of the ground and attack you at the same time they are a real threat.

And they also seem to have a WAY farther movement than in EU too, but that's just what I observed.

 

[iosefe]

Recruited Zod the Bear from the BM as a sniper. Pretty good so far

 

[Baalzebup]

I'm on the other side of the fence, Chryssalids became kind of a joke in EU after your first terror mission against them. All they were was annoying after that on terror missions because they just ran around turning civilians into zombies. Now that they can dodge all your shots and can burst out of the ground and attack you at the same time they are a real threat.

And they also seem to have a WAY farther movement than in EU too, but that's just what I observed.

They are a bit random. First mission with them: early contact with a normal 3-pod, they all just sprinted into a neat little pile that begged for some explosives and I obliged. A few turns later one simply sprints across the map from an area I've never seen before (and never activated on my turn), moving about 2 fulls screens worth and claws my flanking Grenadier up pretty bad. Lucky I had a Medic specialist somewhat nearby.

The burrow surprise attacks are quite trivial if you happen to have a few scanners or a specialist with his scanning ability available. Especially the specialists ability has such a wide range of detection that I've never had my troops faces stuffed with Chryssalid-wong since that first encounter.

I also loved my initial reaction being how it was bullshit that one could attack after clearly doing a sprint move, but then I considered that my rangers are able to do the exact same thing. Why the fuck would I be able to do it but not them?

Spoiler

Well, the Colonel one is actually able to do much, much more.

 

[MonorailCat]

. A few turns later one simply sprints across the map from an area I've never seen before (and never activated on my turn), moving about 2 fulls screens worth and claws my flanking Grenadier up pretty bad. Lucky I had a Medic specialist somewhat nearby.

That happenend to me too.
Chryssalid sprinted across the whole map, without being activated by me, and hit my sniper in the face. Thought it was a rare bug.

Maybe there is something wrong with the activation radius?

 

[Nete]

Say hello to the GAF-COM recruits...

Welp. I thought I fixed (AKA deleted ) Dig Douglas bio as he kept the default one. For the next version.

 

[DEO3]

Hi,

I had to restart my first play through due to a bug that caused the game to get stuck on the geoscape, but it was still relatively early on and I was still learning the game, so whatever.

But now I've put in 15 hours on my second play through, and while another bug caused me to loose half of my main squad earlier on during this play through, I was still able to make a comeback. feelsgoodman.jpg. But now my highest ranked soldier is stuck in a rock, and since this is a mission without a timer, I'm unable to end the mission as they are unable to extract.

At this point I'm willing to sacrifice her, like I did with those I lost earlier to game bugs, but I can't figure out how to force the mission to end so I can leave her behind. Is this even possible? Or is my game stuck (again)?

EDIT: I forgot to mention I'm playing on Ironman, so loading an earlier save isn't an option.

 

[see5harp]

I really miss the 360 pad controller support. I played Xcom while riding my stationary bike relentlessly. Its a shame as I don't want to drop 50 bucks on a steam controller for this one game and I don't see anything in the UI that would prevent traditional controller support. The old IGN article said controller support would be coming post launch, but that article has since been modified to remove that quote from the devs.

Suspect....

Pretty obvious that they have a deal with Valve at the moment.

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

Everytime i finish a session with this game i just think to myself "this is god dam fun", i really have to pull myself off and resist " one more mission".

 

[roadrunn3r]

Holy shit! My sharpshooter just killed 4 elites and finished a sectopod in a single turn. (serial + extended magazine) They were a bit soften up with explosives but still that was insane. Only in XCOM.

 

[epmode]

I really miss the 360 pad controller support. I played Xcom while riding my stationary bike relentlessly. Its a shame as I don't want to drop 50 bucks on a steam controller for this one game and I don't see anything in the UI that would prevent traditional controller support.

I honestly can't tell why XInput support is missing. The UI is incredibly similar to the last two games, just with smaller fonts and other minor aesthetic changes.

Pretty obvious that they have a deal with Valve at the moment.

I don't want to get all conspiracy theory but that controller bundle is pretty crazy.

 

[Calcium]

I managed to pull the Avatar Project back 3 squares, but of course one was added back almost instantly. Still better off than I was, I suppose. Most of my squad was injured so I had to ignore a Guerilla mission. That'll probably be something I regret. When I left off

Spoiler

the damn aliens shot down the Avenger now I have to protect it or something. Sounds intense.

Hopefully I can salvage my playthrough. If not, I'll just start over with the knowledge that communication and power should be a priority in the Avenger. Gotta get to those facilities ASAP.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

I'm not far in but it tells me to build radio towers cause I researched them yet see no way to build them.

And these boxes of supplies on the map that take days to collect when do I get the supplies they are offering me? I am constantly broke.

 

[Baalzebup]

I'm not far in but it tells me to build radio towers cause I researched them yet see no way to build them.

And these boxes of supplies on the map that take days to collect when do I get the supplies they are offering me? I am constantly broke.

Lulz. Those *are* the supplies you are being offered. The resistance can't just airmail you that shit.

And you build the towers by clicking the radio tower icon in the Geoscape map on a region where you a) have made contact with the resistance already and b) don't have a tower already.

 

[Bombless]

Hi,

I had to restart my first play through due to a bug that caused the game to get stuck on the geoscape, but it was still relatively early on and I was still learning the game, so whatever.

But now I've put in 15 hours on my second play through, and while another bug caused me to loose half of my main squad earlier on during this play through, I was still able to make a comeback. feelsgoodman.jpg. But now my highest ranked soldier is stuck in a rock, and since this is a mission without a timer, I'm unable to end the mission as they are unable to extract.

At this point I'm willing to sacrifice her, like I did with those I lost earlier to game bugs, but I can't figure out how to force the mission to end so I can leave her behind. Is this even possible? Or is my game stuck (again)?

EDIT: I forgot to mention I'm playing on Ironman, so loading an earlier save isn't an option.

I had a similar situation earlier. I managed to unstuck my operative by throwing a grenade that destroyed scenery next to her (without hurting her). Was my best sniper too.

Tbh shit like this is why I refuse to play Ironman anymore.

 

[Sblargh]

I like the geoscape game almost as much as the battles. I kind of get it why people don't like it, but I really enjoy this constant feeling that nothing is free. That decisions matter because you are always kind of short on supplies.

 

[StrikeFirst117]

Everytime i finish a session with this game i just think to myself "this is god dam fun", i really have to pull myself off and resist " one more mission".

That is exactly how I feel all the time with this game, I've put 36 hours in already, just did that

Spoiler

Avenger defense

mission and it was so damn tense. Ended up with everyone surviving with two of my best soldiers down to 1 hp each, I was so lucky in finishing it, thought I were fucked to be honest.

 

[Random17]

Warning: I found this on Xcom 2's subreddit.

Burrowed lids will bork your saves. Be careful during retaliation missions, never quit the game during the mission, play it to completion.

Includes ironman.

This is what was causing my issues earlier.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Omg my avatar bar went up like 4 blocks at once, come on!

And stfu Bradford you don't need to tell me and take away control each time! >_<

 

[Sober]

Recruited Zod the Bear from the BM as a sniper. Pretty good so far

Damn you need to join GAF-COM!

 

[OverturePT]

Everytime i finish a session with this game i just think to myself "this is god dam fun", i really have to pull myself off and resist " one more mission".

100% this. It has been crazy fun, even with all the contained rage at my soldiers for some incredibly missed shots. My days have been resumed to work and XCOM 2...


And I regret nothing.

 

[iosefe]

Damn you need to join GAF-COM!

I haven't figured myself out yet

 

[Jintor]

I miss Dr. Vahlen a lot.

Yeah, Dr Tygen is kinda rubbish. His enunciation is also kinda blah. And really slow.

Shen's kid is alright. Wish she didn't have such a heavy American accent to emphasise her Taiwaneseness, but whatever.

I like Punished Bradford a lot since he's still the same goofy dumbass Bradford who got an entire team slaughtered back in XCOM:EU's tutorial. But for fuck's sake shut up during retaliation missions, please.