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[Vena]

Ive been regularly using 2 Phantom rangers, works pretty well.

I have one, with Conceal and Phantom. They can take a pot-shot and then return to hiding to scout further, making them a great cleaner.

Its a shame, though, since that means they lose the sword damage buff but then you get them Dual Shot later rather than Reaper and it will ultimately balance out.

 

[Kane Zakharov]

I have one, with Conceal and Phantom. They can take a pot-shot and then return to hiding to scout further, making them a great cleaner.

Its a shame, though, since that means they lose the sword damage buff but then you get them Dual Shot later rather than Reaper and it will ultimately balance out.

I think the sword quickly starts to lose relevance as you progress through the game TBH.

Admittedly I don't really use the sword perks for rangers so maybe they're stronger than I'm lead to believe.

 

[Falk]

Now XCOM that's a completely dickish place to put a pod

Although standing on a roof of a building I have two grenadiers in leads to some hilarious results.


edit:

AHAHAHAHA

 

[LurkerPrime]

My concealment nightmare is jumping up onto a roof and landing beside a pod, so yeah...

You seem to have all the luck, Falk.

 

[KingKong]

I was completely unprepared for that pokeball alien, holy crap thats some bullshit

 

[mbpm1]

Please Explode Responsibly

 

[Falk]

Seriously the difference between 2 grenadiers and 1, even before Squad Size I, is massive on Legendary. (go away sharpshooter)

4 long range nades means cover is so much less of a factor.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

I think the sword quickly starts to lose relevance as you progress through the game TBH.

Admittedly I don't really use the sword perks for rangers so maybe they're stronger than I'm lead to believe.

It does get quite weaker. It doesn't gain bonus damage from flanking hits from the GTS upgrade, shotgun from the same range will often be 100% chance to hit but swords retains the regular 80-90% chance to hit, shotgun has a much higher chance to crit and can debuff with ammo bonuses... I guess you can count tier 2 as a stun ammo, and tier 3 as fire ammo.

Also people compare reaper to serial. But serial loses crit chance while reaper loses actual damage. It is a far riskier proposition and only useful for cleaning up already injured enemies.

I haven't had much use of it with the 3rd tier sword though. Rapid fire, on the other hand, is amazing for what it does with no cooldown.

 

[RandomSeed]

Thinking about a new playthrough with larger pods and +1 squad size on commander before making the legendary plunge. I admit that commander has become easy at this point (100% fine with, since the first playthrough was challenging enough), but oh boy do I remember the difference between classic and impossible.

 

[Kaffeemann]

Having played a lot of Long War in Xcom I got the habit of always hide in full cover no matter what, and I started to notice that although the aliens missed a lot, when they hit they would almost always crit and one-shot my guys.
Initially I thought "thats Xcom, baby" but now I came across this reddit thread and discovered that the hit/crit/dodge chance are all in the same roll (much like hacking). And thats some BS, so if you're being crited a lot despite standing in full cover now you know.

That's why this mod is a must have:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=624799134

It also prioritizes crit over dodge, so if you crit something it can't dodge.

 

[General Lee]

Just finished my Legen Ironman run. Like EU/EW, once you get the ball rolling and get a good first month, the rest of the campaign gets a lot easier.

Spoiler

Lost two guys, one grenadier due to a stupid mistake with a chryssalid that poisoned him when I had no medikits, and the second death was my specialist in the last mission who couldn't handle a gatekeeper blast and an avatar shot. That was mostly because I chose my gear poorly for the last mission. Hunting those avatars really requires speed and guaranteed hits, since they always seem to tp to a corner I couldn't reach easily.

 

[LurkerPrime]

The thing about swords is that they're never intended to be a primary weapon. They're always the back-up "I need this damage and I need it NOW"-style of weapon, to take down that one enemy on this turn. And thanks to a ranger's other skills, they can survive these kinds of gambits.

Of course, if you never get into situations like that to begin with, they're largely redundant.

Seriously the difference between 2 grenadiers and 1, even before Squad Size I, is massive on Legendary. (go away sharpshooter)

4 long range nades means cover is so much less of a factor.

If the variables get in the way, get rid of the variables.

Still weirded out that projectiles' miss chance was removed between games.

 

[bonesmccoy]

Final mission.

Grenadiers can only launch grenades 3-4 tiles ahead of them.

Enemies can shoot me even though I can't see them.

With this and the performance tanking after the hotfix, I'm done.

I'll come back (this is, when working, an excellent game) once Firaxis has this fixed.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

Final mission.

Grenadiers can only launch grenades 3-4 tiles ahead of them.

Enemies can shoot me even though I can't see them.

With this and the performance tanking after the hotfix, I'm done.

I'll come back (this is, when working, an excellent game) once Firaxis has this fixed.

Yeah, I remember having this issue. I thought it was related to the avatars though I am not sure.

 

[JurassicUtility]

I might actually have to turn off the 'quiet Bradford' mod. I actually do forget to pay attention to the turn timer when Bradford isn't yelling at me.

 

[bonesmccoy]

Yeah, I remember having this issue. I thought it was related to the avatars though I am not sure.

It's a bug. I had one grenadier who could fire normally.

 

[Kaffeemann]

The thing about swords is that they're never intended to be a primary weapon. They're always the back-up "I need this damage and I need it NOW"-style of weapon, to take down that one enemy on this turn. And thanks to a ranger's other skills, they can survive these kinds of gambits.

Of course, if you never get into situations like that to begin with, they're largely redundant.

Of course swords are meant to be primary weapons.
“The Ranger serves as our primary reconnaissance unit, capable of moving independently in concealment while engaging enemies at close range using extensive training in swordsmanship." that's what Bradford says when you get your first Ranger. There's also the perk Blademaster.

What I did to make swords a real alternative to shotguns:
Tier 1 sword: +5 accuracy
Tier 2 sword: +10 accuracy, +1 damage, +1 armor piercing
Tier 3 swords: +10 accuracy, +2 damage, +2 armor piercing

 

[Sblargh]

Just finished my Legen Ironman run. Like EU/EW, once you get the ball rolling and get a good first month, the rest of the campaign gets a lot easier.

Spoiler

Lost two guys, one grenadier due to a stupid mistake with a chryssalid that poisoned him when I had no medikits, and the second death was my specialist in the last mission who couldn't handle a gatekeeper blast and an avatar shot. That was mostly because I chose my gear poorly for the last mission. Hunting those avatars really requires speed and guaranteed hits, since they always seem to tp to a corner I couldn't reach easily.

Very good. general indeed.

 

[Vena]

Of course swords are meant to be primary weapons.
“The Ranger serves as our primary reconnaissance unit, capable of moving independently in concealment while engaging enemies at close range using extensive training in swordsmanship." that's what Bradford says when you get your first Ranger. There's also the perk Blademaster.

What I did to make swords a real alternative to shotguns:
Tier 1 sword: +5 accuracy
Tier 2 sword: +10 accuracy, +1 damage, +1 armor piercing
Tier 3 swords: +10 accuracy, +2 damage, +2 armor piercing

Swords give utility (stun, burning) rather than raw damage, is the idea I think. I honestly think the stun lancer sword is a better end-game item than the thermal blade as the stun is infinitely more useful than burning.

 

[verbatimo]

I was a little disappointed, how late you get contact with the chryssalid and they aren't much of a threat. I was playing on veteran.

In Long War, it was first terror mission and already there is pod of chryssallids.

Maybe Long War has somewhat spoiled me. :/

 

[Falk]

The one enemy type that I actually don't fancy are the new Chryssalids. They aren't even hard, just extremely obnoxious to deal with.

 

[H1PSTER]

Is there anyone I can watch on YouTube to get a better understanding of how not to die during missions?

I'm playing Vet ironman and it isn't going that well!

 

[Erheller]

Is there anyone I can watch on YouTube to get a better understanding of how not to die during missions?

I'm playing Vet ironman and it isn't going that well!

Beaglerush is both entertaining and good at the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlbzFtX3Gtc

 

[King Tubby]

The thing about swords is that they're inferior to the Skulljack, which means often my best melee attackers are my Specialists who equip the Skulljack for the hacking boost. 70% chance of an instant kill is fantastic, but what's more, using a Skulljack for your first action even if it is a dash does not end your turn if you miss. If swords behaved the same way they'd be substantially more viable.

 

[verbatimo]

Mal is also very good XCOM-player. I really enjoy his Long War and XCOM2 let's play.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rGNMal/featured

"High five" PSHPSH

 

[Salty Catfish]

It's a bug. I had one grenadier who could fire normally.

The final mission is all kinds of fucked. I had the last Avatar vanish completely -- I soldiered on thinking he was hiding in the fog of war or turned on a cloaking ability and only realized it was a bug when I loaded my quicksave and he suddenly appeared.

 

[RandomSeed]

Swords give utility (stun, burning) rather than raw damage, is the idea I think. I honestly think the stun lancer sword is a better end-game item than the thermal blade as the stun is infinitely more useful than burning.

A 25% chance to stun is not something you can count on at all. The sword with the current balance sucks when compared to the pistol, Gremlin, grenades, or Psi abilities. It's worse. Much worse. Much, much worse. I bet in one of their builds it was too powerful, so they nerfed it, but nerfed it too hard.

 

[mbpm1]

Even if swords had that utility, the positioning post-kill/stun is still often not worth it without the untouchable trait. Even with if two guys want to go after you

 

[JurassicUtility]

The thing about swords is that they're inferior to the Skulljack, which means often my best melee attackers are my Specialists who equip the Skulljack for the hacking boost. 70% chance of an instant kill is fantastic, but what's more, using a Skulljack for your first action even if it is a dash does not end your turn if you miss. If swords behaved the same way they'd be substantially more viable.

Oh definitely. The skulljack is amazing. My 'combat protocol' specialists are basically really versatile assault units now. By contrast, I don't think I've taken a sword based skill for any of my rangers ever. Using the shotgun and flanking is almost always a better option. Especially when paired with 'run n' gun' and 'implacable'.

 

[Croyles]

I posted that after getting my ass handed to me by 2 pods activating at the same time myself.

But yeah, having an indication that you'll activate a pod once you move your soldier would help a metric ton.

Ah fair enough. I read too much into a comment as usual.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

Swords give utility (stun, burning) rather than raw damage, is the idea I think. I honestly think the stun lancer sword is a better end-game item than the thermal blade as the stun is infinitely more useful than burning.

Burning is actually really useful too. For example, burning units cannot use overwatch or reload, and many activated abilities. It is also additional damage. And the thermal blade has +1 damage, +5% crit.

I think the problem with the sword is that it is really niche use. A close range shotgun blast is usually much more damage and aim, especially with bonuses from GTS and utility slots like talon rounds. Where the sword excels is when you're low or out of ammo, or out of range of using shotgun effectively, but in range of sword.

Not sure what if anything about the sword should change. Higher hit chance seems a bit cheesy. Maybe there should be another way to boost it's aim (maybe there is and I am missing it). Maybe +1 damage overall on sword hits would be good, or just +1 damage on arc and thermal blades, and/or higher crit chance.

 

[Falk]

I brainfarted and totally forgot burning disabled abilities and got shot in the face by a Sectoid that I left alone because I thought it would just do scary Psi things.

 

[mbpm1]

I brainfarted and totally forgot burning disabled abilities and got shot in the face by a Sectoid that I left alone because I thought it would just do scary Psi things.

Disorient viper to save a soldier from tongue grab

"Wait, a moment, she'll just shoot him"

 

[Falk]

Usually if that happens the soldier can just 1-shot her from point blank anyway.

Spoiler

who am I kidding it'll get dodged

edit: Oh, I thought you meant ALREADY grabbed.

 

[NIN90]

Fucking lol my grenadier executed the last

Spoiler

Avatar

(at full health) on a 40% shot.
It actually looked like I was gonna lose the mission before that.

That's XCOM, baby.

 

[Sblargh]

I am almost sure that perception pcs boosts sword aim.
I don't get into this sword debate because I honestly don't know how I would fix it. Like Mobius, I think turning it into a 100% hit is too much.
Working like the skulljack would help a bit, but the skulljack has only one use per mission and it only works on advent; these limitations justify a instakill imo. A sword limited live that wouldn't feel right.

I like the sword because I always take concealement, which means I don't have run and gun, which means the sword occupies that function. But that is a funny way to like a skill, as in, it allows me to further ignore its tree.

 

[RandomSeed]

Fucking lol my grenadier executed the last (on full health) on a 40% shot.
It actually looked like I was gonna lose the mission before that.

That's XCOM, baby.

I executed the last one with my grenadier today also, hah. Really, executions were triggering like crazy today

I am almost sure that perception pcs boosts sword aim.
I don't get into this sword debate because I honestly don't know how I would fix it. Like Mobius, I think turning it into a 100% hit is too much.
Working like the skulljack would help a bit, but the skulljack has only one use per mission and it only works on advent; these limitations justify a instakill imo. A sword limited live that wouldn't feel right.

I like the sword because I always take concealement, which means I don't have run and gun, which means the sword occupies that function. But that is a funny way to like a skill, as in, it allows me to further ignore its tree.

Are you sure you weren't just in concealment with the ability that boosts aim when seeing a higher aim percentage? I believe it drops before you hit, since you get revealed during the run to attack.

 

[Sblargh]

Use spoiler tags, lovers. Game ain't that old.

 

[NIN90]

I call it karma since the hair trigger... triggered on my mind-controlled JC Denton Psi Op who then proceeded to crit my favorite sharpshooter to death.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I am almost sure that perception pcs boosts sword aim.
I don't get into this sword debate because I honestly don't know how I would fix it. Like Mobius, I think turning it into a 100% hit is too much.
Working like the skulljack would help a bit, but the skulljack has only one use per mission and it only works on advent; these limitations justify a instakill imo. A sword limited live that wouldn't feel right.

I like the sword because I always take concealement, which means I don't have run and gun, which means the sword occupies that function. But that is a funny way to like a skill, as in, it allows me to further ignore its tree.

Primary weapon mods affect the secondary, yeah. Maybe not for grenadiers.

I suppose an easy fix would be for swords to ignore dodge and have an innate bleed proc (all tiers). This way it would remain a reliable weapon that remains useful throughout the campaign. Where other weapons falter, the sword perseveres.

Changing its accuracy or damage is too much, I think. It is a risky weapon that should pay off somehow, because the sheer act of displacing oneself is such a disadantage over ranged weapons. And reliability is it.

 

[bucknuticus]

So as someone who really liked xcom 1 ive been excited about this game. Been reading around and sounds like its a mess? Am i better off waiting for some patches?

 

[LurkerPrime]

So as someone who really liked xcom 1 ive been excited about this game. Been reading around and sounds like its a mess? Am i better off waiting for some patches?

There's definite technical issues, but also definite fun to be had. In true XCOM fashion, the best way to decide is by rolling a die.

The one exception is if you're barely skating by on the hardware requirements, in which case wait for a patch or two. The performance only gets worse from the outset.

 

[Shake Appeal]

The shotgun should probably be less accurate anyway. Tone down shotgun accuracy (and maybe damage), and, I dunno, make the sword ignore armor. High-risk, high-reward.

 

[Vena]

I am wondering if I should just sell these data pads to the black market, I'm being offered 150supply per each because its "in season" for the month.

Do you lose anything other than some intel?

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

Holy shit, had a mission where I had to destroy a relay and it was swarming with aliens. There was no way I could kill them all without some deaths or a complete squad wipe so I snuck around all the aliens and brought my squad up to a rooftop above the relay, blew a hole in it and started shooting the relay from above, where all hell broke loose. I thank RNG that nobody died, I had several squad members who were barely clinging on to life. I planted an evac point on the roof where my squad was, and got the hell out of there after blowing the relay up. An ADVENT trooper missed an overwatch shot, otherwise one of my best troops would have had a guaranteed death. I had to expose a couple of squad members to take that relay down, I'm amazed that nobody died, my back line did an amazing job at overwatching and doing serious damage to whoever climbed on the roof with me, so after weathering their attacks I could finish off a Muton and a Viper who were flanking our position. If that Viper dodged I would be so screwed lol

 

[Berzerkiymc]

Finally beat this on veteran.

Oh my freaking word that last stage was hellish!!!!


extremely satisfying game tho. Firaxis u do great work.

 

[Jintor]

What if implacable procced from successful sword strike? Could run in and run out again

 

[Rentahamster]

What if implacable procced from successful sword strike? Could run in and run out again

That might be interesting. Or maybe if sword kills don't break concealment, or some sort of synergistic gameplay via concealment.

 

[facelike]

What if implacable procced from successful sword strike? Could run in and run out again

Iirc, this is what is was for. Sgoing for the kill them run for safety. I could be wrong but don't think I am.

 

[Jintor]

That might be interesting. Or maybe if sword kills don't break concealment, or some sort of synergistic gameplay via concealment.

I wish concealment were a more dynamic system, like enemies didn't magically know where all your troopers are if they get los on one guy. Maybe units that radioed in your position, or the possibility of killing all witnesses so they didn't know your precise location