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XCOM 2 |OT| Be Aggressive! Be Be Aggressive!

Jintor

Member
Specialist tree is nuts. Sitting behind cover and getting aid/heals in while overwatching or firing is sick!

Honestly apart from blademaster which might be a wee bit overspecialised the trees are real nice so far. Anybody think shredder or cover destruction are worth it in the Heavy path? Seems situational.
 

Calcium

Banned
Note to self: Mutons can counterattack off of sword attacks! No matter how cool it would seem to style on one of the big green assholes, don't do it, because they'll rip off your Ranger's arms and beat them to death with them!

Haha! My Ranger is by far my favorite squad member right now. I sent her in to chop a Muton in half because she is a total badass and is completely capable of doing such things. My face when the Muton countered was probably pretty damn funny. Luckily it was my first move of the turn and the other squad members were able to take it down before it killed her. Lesson learned.

Are you guys sticking just to one side on the skill tree or mix and matching skills? I mixed and matched a lot in EU/EW because some skills were pretty useless but in XCOM2 I am finding myself sticking to strictly one side for all soldiers so far

I just pick whichever one sounds like it'll be useful no matter which side it is on.
 

Lister

Banned
I was trying to target a snake to dash to it, get cover and use the sword on it in one turn but because the camera was swaying around, I couldn't get my mouse to stay on the enemy with the sword attack icon. So of course it kept changing from a regular move to a sword attack move and when I clicked, the camera sway meant the cursor was changed to a regular move. The turn was now over, my soldier is standing next to the snake doing nothing, another three enemies were revealed and moved to cover and the snake strangled my soldier. All because of a stupid camera issue.

It's like they didn't bother fucking testing this game. As it stands now the game doesn't deserve the reviews it's getting.

How in earth does your camera sway? Have never encountered this.

I think the reason it is getting such great reviews is that its an amazing game and most people arent having these issues. Count me among them, aside from some stuttering for a few seconds after a load, everything has been working well for me.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
im not sure how I feel about the turn limits tbh. I think if I was to modthem I would use some mod to add more, not just take them off. Because of the nature of the procedurally generated maps, sometimes it feels fine, but sometimes it feels way too tight.

Im not gonna lie, everytime a mission with no timers pops up (not a lot so far unfortunately) I have more fun :/
 

Lanrutcon

Member
17 hours played and I just installed the time limit removal mod, and it's amazing. Feels like a tactical game instead of a puzzle game now. Oh, and my sniper actually gets to reposition to a vantage point to use her sniper rifle effectively with the mod. I do not miss sprinting about the place worrying more about the stopwatch than the aliens.

In a freaking Xcom game, no less.
 
Are you guys sticking just to one side on the skill tree or mix and matching skills? I mixed and matched a lot in EU/EW because some skills were pretty useless but in XCOM2 I am sticking to strictly one side for all soldiers so far

Depends. Grenadiers, I always get Shredder, even if I'm otherwise going all-in on grenade abilities. You'd also have to be crazy to pick Deadeye over Lightning Hands, so even mostly-pure Squadsight snipers are gonna have that.

For Rangers and Support it's more clear cut.
 

Tacitus_

Member
This is probably my main worry at this point in the game, I have so many of my soldiers in the infirmary all the time =/

It gets better when you get the Advanced Warfare building and staff an engineer there which halves your injury time. And general gear upgrades as well.

That said, what decides the grade of injury? I had a soldier go to 1 life and they only received regular injuries but I've had guys who didn't dip below half light come down with heavy injuries. The biggest hit received?

Specialist tree is nuts. Sitting behind cover and getting aid/heals in while overwatching or firing is sick!

Honestly apart from blademaster which might be a wee bit overspecialised the trees are real nice so far. Anybody think shredder or cover destruction are worth it in the Heavy path? Seems situational.

Shredding gets extremely relevant lategame when half the enemies seem to have armor and you have only so many grenades.
 
17 hours played and I just installed the time limit removal mod, and it's amazing. Feels like a tactical game instead of a puzzle game now. Oh, and my sniper actually gets to reposition to a vantage point to use her sniper rifle effectively with the mod. I do not miss sprinting about the place worrying more about the stopwatch than the aliens.

In a freaking Xcom game, no less.

This is gonna be the big dividing line in the fandom, I can tell already. Pro and anti time limits.

Personally, I like 'em. Forces rapid play and quick adaptations to changing situations. I'd actually say that time-limit-free XCOM is more like a puzzle game, since it's all about picking the perfect approach rather than dealing with what comes up when it does.
 
im not sure how I feel about the turn limits tbh. I think if I was to modthem I would use some mod to add more, not just take them off. Because of the nature of the procedurally generated maps, sometimes it feels fine, but sometimes it feels way too tight.

Im not gonna lie, everytime a mission with no timers pops up (not a lot so far unfortunately) I have more fun :/
There's already a mod that adds a few turns to the timers, depending on the mission.
 

Calcium

Banned
This is gonna be the big dividing line in the fandom, I can tell already. Pro and anti time limits.

I like the time limits, but they really shouldn't be as prevalent as they are. Every once in a while, fine, it adds some tension and excitement. When almost half the missions are timed? Fuck that.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
This is gonna be the big dividing line in the fandom, I can tell already. Pro and anti time limits.

Personally, I like 'em. Forces rapid play and quick adaptations to changing situations. I'd actually say that time-limit-free XCOM is more like a puzzle game, since it's all about picking the perfect approach rather than dealing with what comes up when it does.

I'm in favor of dynamic turn limits that factor in map size, stage of the game, concealment and whether or not the target needs to be evacuated.

Until that gets modded/patched in, I'm in favor of removing the crappy static turn limits.
 
Edit: And Revival Protocols are INVALUABLE. Stuns, panics, and ESPECIALLY unconscious can be absolute squadbreakers. Being able to bring that guy out of panic at JUST the right moment can totally turn things around.

If only my rookies would train up to Specialists. I only have one Specialist who spends more time wounded than on missions. Meanwhile here I am running around with five Grenadiers....
 

Jintor

Member
If only my rookies would train up to Specialists. I only have one Specialist who spends more time wounded than on missions. Meanwhile here I am running around with five Grenadiers....

the guerrilla tactics school not only gets you the squad size upgrade but you can dump a rookie in there to force them to level to a certain spec
 

Nexas

Member
I'm at the end of an Avenger defense mission, and when I give the order to take off Central tells me that not all of my soldiers are in the evac zone. All of the them are in the zone, but one of them just happens to be unconscious and is being carried by another soldier. When I evac at the end the unconscious soldier dies. There seems to be no way around this as my team seems to be too lazy to carry their wounded squad mate 20 ft up a ramp.
 

Zeliard

Member
If only my rookies would train up to Specialists. I only have one Specialist who spends more time wounded than on missions. Meanwhile here I am running around with five Grenadiers....

You should build the Guerilla Tactics School ASAP. Lets you train any rookie to a specific class. Only takes about 5 days as well. You can balance out your squad much more easily.
 
17 hours played and I just installed the time limit removal mod, and it's amazing. Feels like a tactical game instead of a puzzle game now. Oh, and my sniper actually gets to reposition to a vantage point to use her sniper rifle effectively with the mod. I do not miss sprinting about the place worrying more about the stopwatch than the aliens.

In a freaking Xcom game, no less.

I've started not taking snipers on missions I know will have a timer. At least until I have a full gunslinger, because the other three classes are much better suited for time scrambles in early ranks.

the guerrilla tactics school not only gets you the squad size upgrade but you can dump a rookie in there to force them to level to a certain spec

You should build the Guerilla Tactics School ASAP. Lets you train any rookie to a specific class. Only takes about 5 days as well. You can balance out your squad much more easily.

Yeah I just built the GTS. Ended up going for he Proving Ground/Communications first, then needed a Power Relay before I could get to it. First thing I did was pop a rookie in there to get another Specialist.
 

Erheller

Member
If only my rookies would train up to Specialists. I only have one Specialist who spends more time wounded than on missions. Meanwhile here I am running around with five Grenadiers....

15 grenades per mission? I'm going to try this out next run. Who needs drops?
 

Sub Zero

his body's cold as ice, but he's got a heart of gold
im not sure how I feel about the turn limits tbh. I think if I was to modthem I would use some mod to add more, not just take them off. Because of the nature of the procedurally generated maps, sometimes it feels fine, but sometimes it feels way too tight.

Im not gonna lie, everytime a mission with no timers pops up (not a lot so far unfortunately) I have more fun :/

Yeah, they could certainly have been more balanced, timers should scale with map size and not be 12 turns for VIP missions and 8 for everything else. I recently played a VIP rescue mission in an extremely small map and I completed it in just 6 turns whereas I almost suffered a squad wipe in another mission that was supposed to be easy because I was placed in a huge ass map and had to rush to the objective in 8 turns.

I liked the bomb defusal missions in EU and even appreciated the Meld collection mechanic in EW because they forced you to play and think differently every once in while but in XCOM 2 it's just too random, overused and gets annoying fast
 
15 grenades per mission? I'm going to try this out next run. Who needs drops?

Yeah I've gotten really familiar with researching Experimental Grenades in the Proving Ground. My Grenadiers are ruthless at this point - Gas, Acid, Flashbangs. I enjoy status effects a lot this game.
 

Jintor

Member
How does the Gunslinger's "Free pistol shot" move work? Since the move after it seems to be "Fire a pistol as your first action without using a turn"?
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Ok.

Right.

tliefMw.jpg


wut
 

Miker

Member
I shill for Invisible Inc a lot, but I think it had the right idea in making a turn timer that counted up and brought in more crap, rather than the hard countdowns in XCOM 2.
 

UnrealEck

Member
How in earth does your camera sway? Have never encountered this.

I think the reason it is getting such great reviews is that its an amazing game and most people arent having these issues. Count me among them, aside from some stuttering for a few seconds after a load, everything has been working well for me.

If I were to guess it'd be either a design decision or a bug. I've only noticed it just there in that instance probably because I needed the cursor precisely.

People have been having issues. The game's reviews have documented bugs and problems with the game.
Speaking of performance, that's terrible too.
 

Jintor

Member
Exactly what it says on the tin. The move has a couple turns of cooldown to balance it out.

Oh, it's an extra move. I thought it applied to all pistol shots for some reason.

The pistol effect is so much more satisfying this game. That fucking magnum sound as an advent soldier's face implodes. Delicious.

I shill for Invisible Inc a lot, but I think it had the right idea in making a turn timer that counted up and brought in more crap, rather than the hard countdowns in XCOM 2.

Man I wonder if it would be possible to mod that kind of thing in. You'd have to design new things around the evac zone though.
 

Mupod

Member
well I lost my first soldier in a long time, to some utter bullshit. One shotted by a disoriented Archon through heavy cover (ranged attack, not melee). Ranger was decently high rank and in an exosuit too. I've got a replacement but this reminded me I've been forgetting to upgrade my guerilla tactics. I just got the continent bonus and bought every upgrade. Hopefully this means the bleed out will actually trigger once in a while, I've yet to see it.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
You should build the Guerilla Tactics School ASAP. Lets you train any rookie to a specific class. Only takes about 5 days as well. You can balance out your squad much more easily.

Its also where you upgrade squad size which is vital

Yeah, they could certainly have been more balanced, timers should scale with map size and not be 12 turns for VIP missions and 8 for everything else. I recently played a VIP rescue mission in an extremely small map and I completed it in just 6 turns whereas I almost suffered a squad wipe in another mission that was supposed to be easy because I was placed in a huge ass map and had to rush to the objective in 8 turns.

I liked the bomb defusal missions in EU and even appreciated the Meld collection mechanic in EW because they forced you to play and think differently every once in while but in XCOM 2 it's just too random, overused and gets annoying fast

Wait is that how it works? Its a fixed number of turns everytime?

I've started not taking snipers on missions I know will have a timer. At least until I have a full gunslinger, because the other three classes are much better suited for time scrambles in early ranks.

How do we know which missions have timers?
 
How do we know which missions have timers?

Supply raids, black site missions, retaliations (although that's a different kind of timer I guess) all don't have timers. Any other objectives (rescue VIP, stop transmission, etc) usually have timers. It's pretty easy to guess from the mission objective as to whether you're going to be facing a timer.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
These 'Capture or Kill the VIP' missions are torture. First one I just got annihilated and I took the cowards way out on one just now. I'm sure this is all a learning experience and I'm building up a mental buffer of what to do when and where (saying that been caught too spread out a few times and paid dearly for it) but I'm at the point of encountering more error than trial.
 
O__O

Is it the last boss??
I think that's just a Sectopod.

Had quite a few fun missions on Veteran difficulty. Had one where 6 turned up at once; 3 Mutons including the modded Centurion, and Archon and two Vipers. But took them down fairly well with mag weapons and Acid and Gas rounds. It can be tricky at times but very rewarding.
Those Andromedons (?) that look like diving suits? Fuckers at first but now fairly easy though their Acid grenade is a fucker.
 

wrongway

Member
Here's an odd bug. I thought I had researched the Skulljack thing a while back. Given that my objective list updated to 'use the thingy' from 'research the thingy,' I must have. I realized I'd never actually built it after researching it though, so I went to engineering... but it wasn't available to build.

Went back to the Proving Grounds and both the Skulljack and its upgrade were available to research. Wat? So I tried to key in its upgrade, but it didn't change anything in the UI. Then I tried to key in the original Skulljack again, and it didn't change anything. Tried again, and the selections went red. Weird.

Then I went to the map and discovered that not only is my Skulljack upgrade actually in progress, but I also have two instances of the original queued up, due for completion in 24 and 38 days respectively. It also burned up ~200 supplies. Wat???


Pretty weird, dood.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Does the "official" modded muton look different?

Kinda feel like restarting the game with mods, the "official" mods, a timer extension mod (not removal tho) and whatever else out there that adds to the experience. Anyone done this?
 

iosefe

Member
Does the "official" modded muton look different?

Kinda feel like restarting the game with mods, the "official" mods, a timer extension mod (not removal tho) and whatever else out there that adds to the experience. Anyone done this?

get the free cam mod
 
Welp, so much for that run. Damned UFO finally caught up to me, and everybody (I mean EVERYBODY) except one dude was still in the infirmary. Got butchered, Avenger boarded, game over.
 

dumbo

Member
These 'Capture or Kill the VIP' missions are torture.

Those are probably the hardest missions in the game, you need to be aggressive without being too aggressive.

But, if you want torture, get the dark event that adds faceless to your VIP mission... that was unpleasant.
 
I think... top wishes for gameplay change mods atm are: less frantic Geoscape pace (atm it's just stressful), smarter Sectoids, and choice of starting regions. Like, the NA bonus is only really useful after you've got a decent stockpile of weapon mods.

Also, should I be pushing for Proving Grounds early? Atm my build order is GTS->AWS->Power Relay -> Workshop, and only then start working on proving grounds and/or Resistance Communications.
 

VLEXP

Member
I have been saving the game at the beginning of the missions and once again when I have a feeling things are going smoothly to revert back once I mess up.

Fun game, I should have probably played part 1 first.
 

Reishiki

Banned
Here's an odd bug. I thought I had researched the Skulljack thing a while back. Given that my objective list updated to 'use the thingy' from 'research the thingy,' I must have. I realized I'd never actually built it after researching it though, so I went to engineering... but it wasn't available to build.

Went back to the Proving Grounds and both the Skulljack and its upgrade were available to research. Wat? So I tried to key in its upgrade, but it didn't change anything in the UI. Then I tried to key in the original Skulljack again, and it didn't change anything. Tried again, and the selections went red. Weird.

Then I went to the map and discovered that not only is my Skulljack upgrade actually in progress, but I also have two instances of the original queued up, due for completion in 24 and 38 days respectively. It also burned up ~200 supplies. Wat???



Pretty weird, dood.

The stuff in the Proving Grounds isn't research, you're building multiple Skulljacks.
 
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