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[epmode]

Very first time I encountered a Sectoid in this game, he mind-controlled Jane Kelly with his first move, she was blown up by her own team on Overwatch, the Sectoid made her a zombie, and then on his next turn he mind-controlled someone else. And at that stage of the game they take a minimum of two turns to kill unless you get lucky with a crit. They also run away!

Jerks.

I think a ranger can take down a sectoid with a single sword hit. Worked for me, anyway. Playing on the second of four difficulty levels, whatever it's called.

Of course, running forward to take down the sectoid activated a second pod of enemies. XCOM, lols.

 

[Hasney]

I'm just going to put this here as I'll never see it again I don't think.

 

[Sub Zero]

Might sound stupid but how they hell do I activate Ironman mode? The setting is non existent in the options

You are presented with the option when you start a new campaign. Don't think you can enable it mid-game

 

[epmode]

You are presented with the option when you start a new campaign. Don't think you can enable it mid-game

Seems glitched to me, then. I didn't get the option and I tried to start a game two separate times.

 

[cripterion]

You are presented with the option when you start a new campaign. Don't think you can enable it mid-game

I've tried that and never got the option. Weird.

 

[Jintor]

One of the thing about the timers is it makes the move economy so much more valuable. Every failed shot hurts me inside even more

 

[Zeliard]

I think a ranger can take down a sectoid with a single sword hit. Worked for me, anyway. Playing on the second of four difficulty levels, whatever it's called.

You're right, and I've had some more success afterwards being more gung-ho, especially with the Ranger's melee attack. I've had to rewire my XCOM brain to play more aggressively and take more risks.

 

[Crackbone]

So yeah, this game is pretty great, performance wonkiness aside.

Classic Firaxis game in that on launch day I managed to only get 3 hours of sleep. :/.

 

[RandomSeed]

Put it this way: if you were the type of XCOM player who went on Overwatch every few steps, you might have a tough time.

So far the turn timers have cut it pretty close. You have very few actual turns to position your guys and move carefully, because it takes a certain number just to get to the objective, another turn to 'activate' it, and then at least a couple or so more to exfil out. Turn limits seem to range anywhere from 8-12 or so.

It's unfortunate to me that the turn timer counts against you when you move around during concealment. Just gives you less time to set up ambushes, and it also doesn't make sense - the aliens don't even know you're there.

Now I'm trying to think if I've seen a 12 timer on commander...I can't recall one past 8, but I may be forgetting an early one.

 

[Mupod]

I think a ranger can take down a sectoid with a single sword hit. Worked for me, anyway. Playing on the second of four difficulty levels, whatever it's called.

Of course, running forward to take down the sectoid activated a second pod of enemies. XCOM, lols.

I had my first Jake Solomon moment in the VIP rescue mission I keep referencing. Missed an 88% (might as well be 100%) sword on a Sectoid, got mind controlled, sworded a rookie the next turn.

I'm thinking I'll put my first mindshield on her...

 

[vpance]

Timers turned this into an optimal solution puzzle game.

J/k, dunno yet. Only played the first mission. Seems hard.

 

[Jintor]

it doesn't seem that long ago that I would spend hours positioning for the perfect setup in Long War but now I gotta go balls out take risks dash into yellow zone and pray to god I don't activate any enemies when not in concealment

 

[Tain]

I think the tutorial is just the first and maybe second mission.
The tutorial and the non-tutorial game's first mission is called operation gatecrasher.

Interesting. I assumed I would eventually get the non tutorial starting mission in my tutorial game but maybe not. I should finish the non tutorial opening mission and see where it places you.

 

[McNum]

Shit I got used to in Long War I wanna see

2) fatiguing? admittedly this is just a preference thing, dunno how it would work for game balance yet

On this point, I'm finding it hard to not end a mission without someone having taken at least a small hit, so I have to rotate my squad out Long War style anyway. Honestly, having enemies do half of a unit's HP in damage on hit is an interesting design choice. You don't instantly lose as many units as in the original, but you get much loner recovery times. I built an Advanced Warfare Center early, just so I could heal faster. And hopefully get some interesting abilities on my units as they promote.

I am finding it a bit tough to balance everything. Like, I still haven't done the Blacksite mission because there's always some other mission popping up. Got a VIP extraction now, for a coveted "free" engineer. Engineers are good stuff. But the more I wait on the Blacksite, the more the Avatar tracker fills. And I have a facility to go after, but I don't have the facilities to make more connections yet.

So much to do, so little I can do at once. As it SHOULD be in XCOM.

 

[Tecnniqe]

I think i am off to a good start

 

[BigTnaples]

So tried to launch the game after subscribing and downloading some mods, would not launch, said missing executable.


Validated game files.


Re-downloading the entire game.



Time for some Lara I guess.

 

[ACE 1991]

What are the difficulty levels offered at start up? I'm not super great at these games so I'm looking to play one of the lower difficulties. How hard is "normal," if that's what it's called?

 

[Dinosur]

One random bug/change I noticed from EU that ticked me off: once you get to the mission loadout screen, you can't back out to your base. You can warp to research rooms, but you can't actually get back far enough to save and quit.

I'm perfectly happy with the performance so far too on a 970. I don't care about 60fps on a turn based strategy game so everything at max except FXAA and no bokeh is completely playable @1440 (vsync and frame smoothing on). UHD rez absolutely murders it though which sucked.

 

[Incendiary]

Very first time I encountered a Sectoid in this game, he mind-controlled Jane Kelly with his first move, she was blown up by her own team on Overwatch, the Sectoid made her a zombie, and then on his next turn he mind-controlled someone else. And at that stage of the game they take a minimum of two turns to kill unless you get lucky with a crit. They also run away!

Jerks.

I've gotten lucky with Sectoids so far I think. The first Sectoid I ran into panicked a rookie then raised a zombie before my ranger cut it to pieces. In the next two missions I cut those fuckers down before they could do any damage. Grenade to destroy cover then flank and destroy the bastards. I nearly wet myself when I had to take on two at once, but I got out with no casualties so far.

Is it 5:30 yet? Can I go home and play XCOM now?

 

[bonesmccoy]

What are the difficulty levels offered at start up? I'm not super great at these games so I'm looking to play one of the lower difficulties. How hard is "normal," if that's what it's called?

You might want to start on the lowest difficulty if you're new to this series. It'll let you get comfortable with the tactical and strategic layers. Higher levels - including the normal setting - will punish you severely for your mistakes.

 

[Corpekata]

One random bug/change I noticed from EU that ticked me off: once you get to the mission loadout screen, you can't back out to your base. You can warp to research rooms, but you can't actually get back far enough to save and quit.

I'm perfectly happy with the performance so far too on a 970. I don't care about 60fps on a turn based strategy game so everything at max except FXAA and no bokeh is completely playable @1440 (vsync and frame smoothing on). UHD rez absolutely murders it though which sucked.

Yeah you can. Hitting Escape works, at least.

 

[Weebos]

Does anybody know how to recruit the scientists mentioned in the monthly report?

 

[AndyMoogle]

http://i.imgur.com/jq6S6S2.jpg[img]

Firaxis pls[/QUOTE]

I'm assuming you want to climb the ladder? You can move the camera between floors. I use the Steam Controller, so I don't know which key it is.

 

[Dinosur]

Yeah you can. Hitting Escape works, at least.

Didn't work for me last night. Maybe it was because I was still in the tutorial part and it's extra strict?

I'm assuming you want to climb the ladder? You can move the camera between floors. I use the Steam Controller, so I don't know which key it is.

Mouse wheel

 

[Metroidvania]

Does anybody know how to recruit the scientists mentioned in the monthly report?

Have to go to Resistance HQ and buy them with supplies.

The having to find/buy Engineer/Scientists disparity (especially with how crucial engineers are for clearing out space and building things) is an interesting change from EU/EW. I'm almost curious to see how much building a laboratory early-on will help the early research race, since there's so many good things that are needed to get past that first difficulty ramp-up.

 

[Incendiary]

I'm just going to put this here as I'll never see it again I don't think.

I got 100% accuracy on my first VIP extraction mission. Two rookies on that run to boot. I guess the stress of world takeover has battle hardened even the greenest rook.

I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop now.

 

[Anno]

Blademaster seems underpowered, at least in the early game. Having Phantom so that your ranger can stay out in front scouting pods and sight ranges is a ton more helpful. Maybe down the road that'll flip.

 

[ISee]

Am I supposed to get supplies monthly? Because I get a status report but no income.

 

[InsaneElite]

Am I supposed to get supplies monthly? Because I get a status report but no income.

The supplies appear on the Geoscape as a scan location.

 

[Lanrutcon]

So my forward Grenadier gets suppressed and grenaded, panicks, tries to relocate, gets shot by the suppression reaction, gets shot by the overwatch, runs into a poison cloud...and then misses his shot.

Then my Sharpshooter scores a 12% hit from across the map.

 

[Dhruv_hanom]

Blademaster seems underpowered, at least in the early game. Having Phantom so that your ranger can stay out in front scouting pods and sight ranges is a ton more helpful. Maybe down the road that'll flip.

I've got two blademasters and they're both live savers and dish out huge amounts of damage

 

[RandomSeed]

OK, can someone link me a post or video that explains how ambushing and being detected works in this game? I'm moving my squad in concealment, 4 yellow moves and one overwatch, my turn ends, two enemies (not activated or spotted by yet) walk in on us, and immediately shoots my guy he had flanked. In XCOM 1, they would have spotted us, then took some form of cover, but...?

 

[Metroidvania]

Am I supposed to get supplies monthly? Because I get a status report but no income.

Should be a short-research (2-5 day) supply drop which has your accumulated supplies showing up either on or shortly after the monthly status report.

Blademaster seems underpowered, at least in the early game. Having Phantom so that your ranger can stay out in front scouting pods and sight ranges is a ton more helpful. Maybe down the road that'll flip.

The sword not getting the benefits of the modular weaponry really seems like it has the potential to nerf blademaster to a sizeable degree. Especially once enemies start getting more dodge.

I have a blademaster with the auto-reaction swing in melee range, and it's only helped in one retaliation mission.

On the other hand, the shotgun perk at the same level, to allow you to move after a kill, lets you scramble and then get back to cover. Granted, haven't gotten to the rest of the tree, though.

 

[Mupod]

OK, can someone link me a post or video that explains how ambushing and being detected works in this game? I'm moving my squad in concealment, 4 yellow moves and one overwatch, my turn ends, two enemies (not activated or spotted by yet) walk in on us, and immediately shoots my guy he had flanked. In XCOM 1, they would have spotted us, then took some form of cover, but...?

they did this specifically to discourage people from setting up overwatch ambushes in concealment and waiting for the enemies to walk into them. Then your turn would begin and you'd get another full turn of shots.

blame beaglerush for abusing it on streams

 

[Lanrutcon]

Should be a short-research (2-5 day) supply drop which has your accumulated supplies showing up either on or shortly after the monthly status report.



The sword not getting the benefits of the modular weaponry really seems like it has the potential to nerf blademaster to a sizeable degree. Especially once enemies start getting more dodge.

I have a blademaster with the auto-reaction swing in melee range, and it's only helped in one retaliation mission.

On the other hand, the shotgun perk at the same level, to allow you to move after a kill, lets you scramble and then get back to cover

This.

Shotgun + scope. So tasty.

 

[AnthonypUK]

It's unfortunate to me that the turn timer counts against you when you move around during concealment. Just gives you less time to set up ambushes, and it also doesn't make sense - the aliens don't even know you're there.

I want this Mod..would be perfect.

But I'll probably adjust how i play by the time it comes around.

 

[McNum]

OK, can someone link me a post or video that explains how ambushing and being detected works in this game? I'm moving my squad in concealment, 4 yellow moves and one overwatch, my turn ends, two enemies (not activated or spotted by yet) walk in on us, and immediately shoots my guy he had flanked. In XCOM 1, they would have spotted us, then took some form of cover, but...?

Due to a tactic that was discovered during the preview, enemy soldiers will now either scamper into cover or take a shot if they discover someone flanked or out of cover on their turn.

Because, if you can get the aliens to activate on their turn, they lose their own turn. Combine that with an ambush and a bait soldier and you could have two retaliation free turns to kill them in. One from Overwatch on their turn, and then your regular turn.

So, aliens now have the equivalent of the Itchy Trigger Tentacle Second Wave option if they spot you on their turn out of cover. They may run, they may shoot.

 

[datruth29]

OK, can someone link me a post or video that explains how ambushing and being detected works in this game? I'm moving my squad in concealment, 4 yellow moves and one overwatch, my turn ends, two enemies (not activated or spotted by yet) walk in on us, and immediately shoots my guy he had flanked. In XCOM 1, they would have spotted us, then took some form of cover, but...?

Enemies will shoot you as their first move if they spot you via a flank during concealment. This was done as a way to get around the "Beagle Maneuver". You would position your guys during concealment and leave one out in the open so when a patrol spots you, it would run into cover, but got shot by all the soldiers in overwatch. You essentially got a free turn.

To stop this, now enemies will shoot you when they spot you out of cover or flanked during concealment.

 

[Mupod]

how exactly do you expand your capacity for resistance contacts? I'm not sure that was made clear to me. Do I need to build something or just research?

 

[RandomSeed]

they did this specifically to discourage people from setting up overwatch ambushes in concealment and waiting for the enemies to walk into them. Then your turn would begin and you'd get another full turn of shots.

blame beaglerush for abusing it on streams

It kinda seems like fucking bullshit to be honest. I'm doing OK in straight up fights, but I feel like a moron with the concealment stuff.

I'm not playing ironman, so I'm using this mission I'm on just to test things and practice. I set all my guys in overwatch, a group walks right up to us, and somehow they don't see us? I'm standing right on red tiles. So I overwatch again, figure next move things will go ape shit, but they just walk away and nothing happens. It's just so strange. I guess I need one guy to take a shot to wake them up, but I don't understand why they don't trigger when they obviously see me (standing on red tile).

Enemies will shoot you as their first move if they spot you via a flank during concealment. This was done as a way to get around the "Beagle Maneuver". You would position your guys during concealment and leave one out in the open so when a patrol spots you, it would run into cover, but got shot by all the soldiers in overwatch. You essentially got a free turn.

To stop this, now enemies will shoot you when they spot you out of cover or flanked during concealment.

OK, if it was because of the flank, that makes more sense. I don't like it, but I understand it at least now.

 

[Khoryos]

I think if you're in at least half cover, they won't spot you?

Don't quote me on that, though.

 

[Palmer_v1]

It kinda seems like fucking bullshit to be honest. I'm doing OK in straight up fights, but I feel like a moron with the concealment stuff.

I'm not playing ironman, so I'm using this mission I'm on just to test things and practice. I set all my guys in overwatch, a group walks right up to us, and somehow they don't see us? I'm standing right on red tiles. So I overwatch again, figure next move things will go ape shit, but they just walk away and nothing happens. It's just so strange. I guess I need one guy to take a shot to wake them up, but I don't understand why they don't trigger when they obviously see me (standing on red tile).



OK, if it was because of the flank, that makes more sense. I don't like it, but I understand it at least now.

Yeah, it seems like enemies won't see you once you're in cover, unless they flank you. Usually what gets you spotted is the running through their sight to get to cover.

I got wrecked on a mission. I was up to the point where they want me to investigate the western US. Instead I went down to Mexico for shits and giggles and did a few missions. Got magnetic weapons, a few troops to level 3, etc.

Then I got to the Western US mission for finding the

Spoiler

sample?

I was clearing the compound decently. Lost 1 of 5 troops on the approach to some RNG, but no big deal. Then I got to the objective.

Spoiler

Then the damn mechanized alien got me. I wasn't expecting it at all, and of course I trigger him with my last move of the turn. He immediately launches a grenade at two people and kills one outright. Then his buddies kill the person that triggered the patrol. It's down to two snipers and a support now, and I haven't even picked up the sample yet.

My pistoleer moves to higher ground and wings the mechanoid for 2 damage. Other sniper has range on the advent troops but misses. Support guy retreats to better cover and uses his bot to protect the pistoleer.

Mechanoid moves and shoots at my pistoleer, but misses! His perk kicks in and he takes a free reaction shot, scoring another 3 damage! Support guy moves to flank an advent and kills him. Sniper kills other advent. Pistoleer tries to finish Mech but misses.

Mech says fuck this guy with the handcannon and jumps through a hole in the roof so that he's flanking my support. R.I.P... oh, he missed! Sniper finishes mech, and everyone reloads.

Well, that wasn't as bad as I expected, so let's grab the objective and bail!

Spoiler

Or we could just spawn 3 advent basically right where I need to go! Whatever, it's advent. I snipe 2, and overwatch the last in a bad spot. He runs backwards, I miss, I move to flank from two angles, kill him. Yay, time to evac!

Nope, here's another dropship full of advent, in a slightly different spot, and my people aren't in very good positions. Oh, they have the stun guys this time. They just rush my support and kill him, knock out my pistoleer, though he tags one with an overwatch, but leave my sniper alone.

Few rounds later, my sniper stands triumphant. I quickly grab my unconscious teammate and bail out of there. 3 dead, 2 gravely wounded.

That whole mission felt kinda shitty in hindsight. Too many traps that I had no real way to avoid, and the enemy drops felt particularly cheap when they are right on top of me.

 

[Hasney]

I got 100% accuracy on my first VIP extraction mission. Two rookies on that run to boot. I guess the stress of world takeover has battle hardened even the greenest rook.

I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop now.

Yeah, I mostly uploaded it so I could look at it when I inevitably start missing 80+ shots.

 

[Lanrutcon]

how exactly do you expand your capacity for resistance contacts? I'm not sure that was made clear to me. Do I need to build something or just research?

Think of it like the satellites of old:

- Build a radio room to raise capacity for contacts.
- Spend days in new countries to establish contacts.

Do not fall behind on your contacts. You can essentially make your game unwinnable if you fall behind too far.

 

[Kaffeemann]

Holy moly. Lost three people on the first mission where you have to hack a terminal.

Maybe commander difficulty is too hard for me :/

 

[Metroidvania]

I think if you're in at least half cover, they won't spot you?

Don't quote me on that, though.

IIRC If the aliens flank you at all no matter what cover, you're exposed - and I think their sight line goes up significantly if you stop a turn in no cover.

I'm not playing ironman, so I'm using this mission I'm on just to test things and practice. I set all my guys in overwatch, a group walks right up to us, and somehow they don't see us? I'm standing right on red tiles. So I overwatch again, figure next move things will go ape shit, but they just walk away and nothing happens. It's just so strange. I guess I need one guy to take a shot to wake them up, but I don't understand why they don't trigger when they obviously see me (standing on red tile).

You can be 'hiding' in red/sight tiles if you were already there on a previous turn, and the aliens just moved into range. As long as you're not flanked, you won't get exposed. At that point, you have to start the ambush yourself to get the ball rolling, otherwise they'll continue their pattern.

 

[Tecnniqe]

This game is kicking my ass, holy moly.

First 2 missions alone. Aii

 

[studyguy]

I feel like this game starts slower in general compared to older titles.
It's fun as a motherfucker though and the customization is out of this world.

Faceless are creeping me the fuck out now that they've got a chance to pop in any mission with the current warning I got.

 

[Mupod]

Think of it like the satellites of old:

- Build a radio room to raise capacity for contacts.
- Spend days in new countries to establish contacts.

Do not fall behind on your contacts. You can essentially make your game unwinnable if you fall behind too far.

yeah this is why I'm restarting tonight (and also for steam integration consistency since I was playing on VPN until I went to bed at 12).

I didn't realize I'd need a radio room and rushed to the training school building. Which ended up being useless because I had no Sergeant (he was my sniper who was 1 square short of evac).

I just didn't have a lot of time last night and didn't read building and research descriptions thoroughly. I thought maybe just researching would expand my capacity but I guess it really is just an analogue of satellite coverage.

in other news this is a real slow work day

I feel like this game starts slower in general compared to older titles.
It's fun as a motherfucker though and the customization is out of this world.

Faceless are creeping me the fuck out now that they've got a chance to pop in any mission with the current warning I got.

slower!?

with the tutorial off I was getting missions so fast that even with a couple flawless missions I was forced to run two rookies every time due to wound recovery. It was barraging me so fast I was like 5-6 missions in before I even got my wounded guys back from when they took single hits on Gatecrasher.

 

[SplitYourInfinities]

Damn, this game is slooooooow. It takes around 1 minute in the briefing to start a mission.