Support NeoGAF

[Evolved1]

One major issue that bugs me about X2 is the lack of a typical soldier class... just some grunt with a gun and frags. Idk... the ranger class is boring. I'd prefer a traditional soldier-type class. I miss seeing them on the battlefield.

 

[Sullichin]

Yess I finally beat this game. Got it at launch but took a long break until now. Only on veteran but I'm still happy. At no point was I wishing the game was harder, lol


Some random thoughts

- This game rules.
- I liked the avatar countdown WAY more than the doomsday conditions in the last game.
- I didn't like the timed missions at first, but after a while I appreciated the variety in mission types. I think they did a good job there.
- Psi ops abilities are fun as hell. I don't love how long you have to wait for them / how they are upgraded (I wish you could at least still gain XP in a fight), but I understand because they're really strong.
- Breaking concealment with a chain reaction setup was satisfying every time.
- Last mission was intense. Not sure I ever want to play that again. My entire squad died (besides the commander obviously, but he only had one health tick left), and my last kill on the 3rd avatar was by a mind controlled gatekeeper. Only had a 50% chance to make it too.
- I was not a fan of the specialist hacking abilities. It really never seemed worth the risk. Specialists were probably my least used class overall. I don't think I used medkits enough...
- I didn't use any of the heavy armors or experimental heavy weapons. Probably should have??
- I also didn't use stasis suit/hellweave, seemed like a waste.
- I wish ranger swords were better in late game?? They were fun for a while and bladestorm is cool, but it feels like they fall off a lot.
- Game is less buggy for me now than when it launched, but still some weird stuff. On the second to last mission (network tower), I randomly couldn't move to certain tiles, until I rotated the camera. Then it would work. Seemed to only happen here, but several times. Also, "make utility items/armor available" buttons got all overlapped on the mission loadout screen, I think that one was new.

 

[HotHamBoy]

I was reading the new Kotaku article talking about how the game borrows ideas from Mordor, but this to me seems directly influenced by Darkest Dungeon:

Your soldiers will also grow and change over time. They can pick up procedural traits as well, though they won’t necessarily be positive ones. In War Of The Chosen, Solomon and Firaxis want players to build a large roster of extraterrestrial exterminators—rather than just a few crack squads—so soldiers can get tired from missions and develop quirks. For example, a soldier might get traumatized by psyonic attacks and begin freaking out when they see a Sectoid or a Codex. At that point, it’ll probably be in your best interest to bench them for a little bit.

Das dope, das dope.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

- I was not a fan of the specialist hacking abilities. It really never seemed worth the risk. Specialists were probably my least used class overall. I don't think I used medkits enough...

Did you take that ranged healing drone or the combat one that does guaranteed 2 damage?

About 25-30 missions in, my drone specialist actually leads my squad with 39 kills lol even by best sniper and heavy are around 35 kills.

He's like the ultimately initial damage and clean-up killer between Guardian Covering Fire Overwatch spam and 1-2 Gremlin kills per missions hhh

Never does near the total damage of my best heavy or sniper (unless maybe there's tons of mechs and he lands a great Capacitor Discharge), but despite the median much lower DPS, he lands so many killing blows.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Hopped back into XCOM 2 recently and man, I'm really digging the long war studios mods (not Long War 2) in the base game plus the DLC. It's a nice compromise between LW2's scale and XCOM 2's relative brevity. The wait for the expansion is killer.

I was reading the new Kotaku article talking about how the game borrows ideas from Mordor, but this to me seems directly influenced by Darkest Dungeon:



Das dope, das dope.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun made that comparison. Thought it was a good observation at the time, when the Mordor comparison seemed so obvious. (Everybody mentions Mordor!)

Did you take that ranged healing drone or the combat one that does guaranteed 2 damage?

About 25-30 missions in, my drone specialist actually leads my squad with 39 kills lol even by best sniper and heavy are around 35 kills.

He's like the ultimately initial damage and clean-up killer between Guardian Covering Fire Overwatch spam and 1-2 Gremlin kills per missions hhh

Never does near the total damage of my best heavy or sniper (unless maybe there's tons of mechs and he lands a great Capacitor Discharge), but despite the median much lower DPS, he lands so many killing blows.

Sort of where I am with them. The Long War studios mod changes them a bit, but it's still basically a decision between combat or healing; and either way, they add a lot of utility to a team. I'd always prefer to take a Specialist if I could.

Like, I had one critical moment in my current campaign where hacking an enemy--disabling it--ensured that my team escaped. Didn't actually outline it in that post, but let's just say that hacking a Sectopod is worth the risk, especially when cornered. I've had it whiff enough times too, but that's XCOM; gotta acknowledge that outcome before you even try.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

Yeah I really love the Combat Specialist... such a great addition to the game.

I have a 'B Team' Healing Specialist guy too that's nice to have on occasion, and plays a lot more like a Support class from XCOM EW.

But my Combat Specialist is basically my 'team leader' he basically controls the flow of battle... a sort of 'battlefield manager.'

I never actually liked the 'style' of drones before in general... (e.g. Ghost Recon Wildlands) ...just a creative/taste thing, I mean. When it was pre-XCOM 2 release, just subjectively I felt like, 'ewwww drones.' Even maybe 5 hours into XCOM, I grudgingly used him (I like the hacking just I disliked the idea of drones).

But damn, 25 missions in, Combat Specialists were an awesome addition to XCOM.

 

[Sullichin]

Did you take that ranged healing drone or the combat one that does guaranteed 2 damage?

About 25-30 missions in, my drone specialist actually leads my squad with 39 kills lol even by best sniper and heavy are around 35 kills.

He's like the ultimately initial damage and clean-up killer between Guardian Covering Fire Overwatch spam and 1-2 Gremlin kills per missions hhh

Never does near the total damage of my best heavy or sniper (unless maybe there's tons of mechs and he lands a great Capacitor Discharge), but despite the median much lower DPS, he lands so many killing blows.

I tried a few different ability loadouts for specialists throughout the campaign. The combat protocol didn't seem as useful as remote medkits. But overall specialists were probably my least used class, I did a lot of missions without any medkits or hacking. Thinking of doing a new campaign and using them more.

 

[Erheller]

Combat specialists saved my butt a few times in my Legendary Ironman run. The guaranteed damage is really useful to get guaranteed kills on low health enemies, especially when letting that enemy live and get a wound will hurt a lot.

Then again, L/I strats for XCOM 2 were basically ALPHA STRIKE EVERYTHING

 

[Sullichin]

I'll keep that in mind for my next run.

How should I use the heavy armor? That's one thing I pretty much totally ignored. What heavy weapons are worth it?

 

[Aureon]

I'll keep that in mind for my next run.

How should I use the heavy armor? That's one thing I pretty much totally ignored. What heavy weapons are worth it?

Shredstorm cannons, and rockets in general, are worth it.

Combat specialists saved my butt a few times in my Legendary Ironman run. The guaranteed damage is really useful to get guaranteed kills on low health enemies, especially when letting that enemy live and get a wound will hurt a lot.

Then again, L/I strats for XCOM 2 were basically ALPHA STRIKE EVERYTHING

The one thing i don't like about Vanilla XCOM2 is how easy it is to blow up cover.
Standard frags will tear down fucking walls, and every single strat is Blow cover -> shoot flanked.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Face Off (the one where they shoot every visible enemy with a pistol) is amazing. Five hostiles dead in one volley; the situation went from deadly, to done.

I kinda like the pistol Sharpshooter more than the sniper Sharpshooter, for versatile situations like that. It's saved my squad's bacon plenty of times now. An extra shot here or there is a huge boon.

 

[jond76]

I got some bad intel on how the deescalation of the Avatar project goes and painted myself into a corner of inevitable doom. I think I'll wait til the expansion drops before I start again.

 

[Staf]

So thinking of replaying this game before the expansions. Is the DLC worth getting? And did they ever fix the loading times on console?

 

[TC McQueen]

So thinking of replaying this game before the expansions. Is the DLC worth getting? And did they ever fix the loading times on console?

Alien Hunters and Shen's Last Gift are solid/great, Anarchy's Children is YMMV.

 

[Sullichin]

Picked up the older DLCs for $10 on steam sale. Glad I waited because I was about to buy them the other day.

 

[Jintor]

oh shit i forgot the dlc was on sale too

/edit oh shit i forgot i already bought the DLC?!?!?!? wtf

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Picked up the older DLCs for $10 on steam sale. Glad I waited because I was about to buy them the other day.

They're not on sale where I am, despite XCOM 2 being discounted to 16 bucks? Was this yesterday or a region thing?

 

[Jintor]

They're not on sale where I am, despite XCOM 2 being discounted to 16 bucks? Was this yesterday or a region thing?

individual dlc isn't discounted but the collection of all 3 is discounted, i checked a few hours ago

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

individual dlc isn't discounted but the collection of all 3 is discounted, i checked a few hours ago

Oh, so that's what that "reinforcement pack" is ! I thought that was just some extra skins and stuff. Only 50% off though. :\ :/ :\

Going to wait for the expansion to include those or something.

 

[Orochinagis]

Started to play this game due being cheap on PS4, any advice?

I think my snipers tends to shoot more with their pistol than the sniper rifle =/

And my squad tends to have like 3 injured and one happy guy alive

 

[TC McQueen]

Oh, so that's what that "reinforcement pack" is ! I thought that was just some extra skins and stuff. Only 50% off though. :\ :/ :\

Going to wait for the expansion to include those or something.

Enemy Within didn't include the previous XCOM: EU DLC. You had to buy it separately.

War of the Chosen will probably be the same.

 

[CrocMother]

Kinda neat that with Vanilla, Modded Vanilla, LW2, and the new expansion, it's like playing 4 different games.

 

[Hubble]

I am playing XCOM 2 and I am at the first mission in the game in snowy New India. Something is really irritating me. I move to the left and I opened a door behind on the black van. I see some tubes in there and one lighting green. I am trying to go inside the van and pick something up probably the green thing? I cannot figure out how I can do this. Is this what I supposed to do? I assumed you opened the door for a reason. I keep clicking inside the van and nothing happens and do not see anything. Thanks for any help. I am enjoying the game more than I thought.

 

[CrocMother]

I am playing XCOM 2 and I am at the first mission in the game in snowy New India. Something is really irritating me. I move to the left and I opened a door behind on the black van. I see some tubes in there and one lighting green. I am trying to go inside the van and pick something up probably the green thing? I cannot figure out how I can do this. Is this what I supposed to do? I assumed you opened the door for a reason. I keep clicking inside the van and nothing happens and do not see anything. Thanks for any help. I am enjoying the game more than I thought.

screenshot?

 

[iosefe]

if you don't have the season pass, i'ts super cheap via Walmart, email delivery

https://www.walmart.com/ip/XCOM-2-Reinforcement-Pack/55806500#about-item

 

[Baalzebup]

I am playing XCOM 2 and I am at the first mission in the game in snowy New India. Something is really irritating me. I move to the left and I opened a door behind on the black van. I see some tubes in there and one lighting green. I am trying to go inside the van and pick something up probably the green thing? I cannot figure out how I can do this. Is this what I supposed to do? I assumed you opened the door for a reason. I keep clicking inside the van and nothing happens and do not see anything. Thanks for any help. I am enjoying the game more than I thought.

Move a soldier to that specially marked green tile and you will have a special command to open/operate/touch/etc that mission objective thingy. If you're out of actions, just wait until the next turn.

Some of those can be partially skipped via using a specialist as they can hack even those mission objectives if they just have a line of sight on them.

 

[hooijdonk17]

I still havent finished this game because I cant play the base game afterbbeing spoiled by LW2 and I cant finish LW2 because L/I kicks my ass.. I might do a LP of myself losing a game I think.

 

[Aureon]

I still havent finished this game because I cant play the base game afterbbeing spoiled by LW2 and I cant finish LW2 because L/I kicks my ass.. I might do a LP of myself losing a game I think.

Play V\I or C\I LW2?

 

[GoodCoffeeJoey]

Achievements for the new expansion are on steam already. Spoiled just in case but I don't think there's anything really new revealed, but they do give a bit of an idea how the new classes and other new mechanics work.

Spoiler

A New Alliance
Complete the Lost and Abandoned mission

A Rival Silenced
Permanently defeat one of the Chosen

Zombies in a Barrel
Get 15 Headshots against Lost in a single turn

Born in the Darkness
Get four kills from Shadow mode with a Reaper in a single mission

Circle of Psi
Raise a Templar to maximum Focus level, spend it all, and reach the max again in a single mission

Can't Stop the Fighting
Perform three offensive actions against the same target with a Skirmisher in a single turn

It Takes Two
Form a level 3 bond between two soldiers

Weary Warriors
Complete a mission with all Tired soldiers and no casualties

Fully Operational Resistance
Raise XCOM's influence with all three factions to High in a single game

No One Left Behind
Rescue a soldier who was captured by the Chosen

 

[Hubble]

I am new and really enjoying the game. Love strategy titles and this is perfect. I can't believe I have not played XCOM for so long. It is addicting too.

One thing I am not liking is so far, the game seems to be repetitive grindy always forcing a mission like the retailation strikes, avatar project, etc. Sometimes I just want to chill out, manage my base, or check out the globe and I feel like I never have enough time and am forced to go on a mission. I wish these missions would just slow down and have more base building, globe strategy aspects. Are there any mods that do this?

 

[March of the Crabs]

Am I crazy or is this game way harder than Enemy Unknown?

I had no problem with that one a couple of years ago, but I struggle with easy missions on this thing (but I still love it).

 

[TC McQueen]

Am I crazy or is this game way harder than Enemy Unknown?

It is harder. The bad guys have way more variety and abilities, while you have the same 4 man team limitation in the beginning and leveling up your guys is hard.

That said, there are some minor design mistakes that really make things harder for no real reason (not having Implacable as a secondary starting ability, insisting on having Suppression be a Grenadier only ability when it sucks so bad).

 

[Aureon]

Am I crazy or is this game way harder than Enemy Unknown?

I had no problem with that one a couple of years ago, but I struggle with easy missions on this thing (but I still love it).

Struggling is the point, truly.
Accept loss. Especially on rookie\veteran, loss is fine. Even a total squad wipe is survivable.

The real issue in XCOM is realizing you're not supposed to perfect clear every mission.

It is harder. The bad guys have way more variety and abilities, while you have the same 4 man team limitation in the beginning and leveling up your guys is hard.

That said, there are some minor design mistakes that really make things harder for no real reason (not having Implacable as a secondary starting ability, insisting on having Suppression be a Grenadier only ability when it sucks so bad).

Why would Implacable need to be baseline? You're not supposed to use sword attacks unless you're cleaning up, practically speaking.

 

[Sullichin]

It is harder. The bad guys have way more variety and abilities, while you have the same 4 man team limitation in the beginning and leveling up your guys is hard.

That said, there are some minor design mistakes that really make things harder for no real reason (not having Implacable as a secondary starting ability, insisting on having Suppression be a Grenadier only ability when it sucks so bad).

Ok I thought that was just me. Suppression sucks, waste of ammo that almost never helps me. I feel like it was more useful in EU.

 

[Aureon]

Ok I thought that was just me. Suppression sucks, waste of ammo that almost never helps me. I feel like it was more useful in EU.

Suppresion's real use is disabling abilities for the suppressed alien. (Hi, Vipers, fuck off with that grip.)

 

[TC McQueen]

Ok I thought that was just me. Suppression sucks, waste of ammo that almost never helps me. I feel like it was more useful in EU.

Suppresion's real use is disabling abilities for the suppressed alien. (Hi, Vipers, fuck off with that grip.)

I have a bunch of mods, some made by me and some that aren't, that try to make Suppression more useful, and it still isn't that great.

That said, having Suppression on rifles, SMGs, cannons, and some pistols no matter the soldier's class does open up new tactical options.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Suppression seems OK to me. Its usefulness is largely negated by the desire to wipe out a pod immediately, rather than getting drawn into prolonged firefights. But it's essential when an enemy has a decent (likely fatal) shot on one of your soldiers, and you have little-to-no recourse, save to suppress them.

Although I didn't realise it disabled abilities. I need to step up my XCOM game.

 

[Sullichin]

So, even if I uncheck the DLC boxes when starting a new campaign, there will still be new enemies from the DLCs in my campaign? Kind of annoying if so, there's no way to go back and play vanilla?

 

[Aureon]

So, even if I uncheck the DLC boxes when starting a new campaign, there will still be new enemies from the DLCs in my campaign? Kind of annoying if so, there's no way to go back and play vanilla?

Disable the DLC directly from Steam.

 

[Hubble]

Move a soldier to that specially marked green tile and you will have a special command to open/operate/touch/etc that mission objective thingy. If you're out of actions, just wait until the next turn.

Some of those can be partially skipped via using a specialist as they can hack even those mission objectives if they just have a line of sight on them.

Thanks. I found out it was just an explisive crate.

 

[Sullichin]

Disable the DLC directly from Steam.

Oh yeah, duh

Wanted to do just one enabled at a time.

 

[Sarcastic Poster]

Is it worth doing a Long War save now or just doing a vanilla + DLC & expansion when it's out?

 

[Hubble]

How is the current DLC? Is it worth it? Is it fun or just a little more content and not necessarily story stuff?

 

[March of the Crabs]

I just did a mission where I hacked the chest, but the timer still kept going and I failed. Is this a known bug? Or did I do something wrong?

 

[LurkerPrime]

How is the current DLC? Is it worth it? Is it fun or just a little more content and not necessarily story stuff?

There are two DLCs worth getting, with the others being 100% skippable:

• Shen's Last Gift adds SPARKs--mechs--which are giant targets, but give a lot of utility and added firepower. They're really cool.
  
• Alien Hunters adds some dastardly new enemies. They take a "reaction turn" after every turn your soldiers take, meaning they move around the map and attack much faster than you, and it requires completely changing how you approach them vs. normal enemies to even survive. They are super durable and will retreat, meaning it takes multiple skirmishes throughout the campaign to take them down, generally.

So the first is mainly a new class and the second makes the game a lot harder. They both add a story mission, and a little more story, which is how the new mechanics are introduced into a campaign. I'd recommend them both, but only during a sale.

...Unfortunately only the Season Pass (aka Reinforcement Pack) is on sale on Steam right now, so it's better--and cheaper--to just get it all.

 

[Grimsen]

First look at the Reapers.

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


Shadow Concealment looks great. Reapers have a % chance to stay hidden after taking actions like a shot.

Claymores can be shot by any XCOM soldier, and with an abilitym, they can be (stealthily) attached to enemies.

Their tech tree looks different from regular soldiers, unless all tech trees have been reworked.

 

[SRG01]

A little late, but yeah, suppression is useful when not enough shots connect to take out every enemy inside a pod. I'd personally use Flashbangs or other disabling skills, but suppression has its place.

First look at the Reapers.

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


Shadow Concealment looks great. Reapers have a % chance to stay hidden after taking actions like a shot.

Claymores can be shot by any XCOM soldier, and with an abilitym, they can be (stealthily) attached to enemies.

Their tech tree looks different from regular soldiers, unless all tech trees have been reworked.

It looks like a UI tweak to me.

 

[Sblargh]

Reaper.
So many skills.
Jeez.

 

[TheThunder]

I love this game so much but man the bugs are really frustrating.

Decided to start another L/I campaign before the expansion and from the start something felt "off", some elements of the UI in the avenger would be really small or jumbled together (like the "build items/make armor available" tabs during deployment screen) but the biggest fuck up was wasting an Elerium core to get experimental ammo and by the time its done the UI would fuck up again and would show me the list of projects I can choose at the proving grounds with the ammo nowhere to be found in either my soldiers inventory or the inventory tab in engineering, then I tried it again but got the exact same result...

Gonna uninstall the game and reinstall it later to see if it can be fixed (or at least not fuck up more).

I'm still using the same mods from my older playthroughs, the only thing different is I bought the season pass on sale to get Shen's last gift and that costume pack that looks terrible (previously I only had the alien hunters DLC).

 

[Grimsen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUW2a3yoUHM

Skirmishers are gonna be fun as hell.