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

Here's Tip #1

DISORIENT EVERYTHING

Sectoid mind controlling your dude? DISORIENT HIM

Viper chokehold? DISORIENT HER

Stun Lancers running across the map faster than Sonic the Hedgehog to spike you? DISORIENT THEM (their name literally tells you to stun lancers)

Seriously, flashbangs are OP, and turns Sectoids into gibbering wastes of turns since early-game they really, REALLY like to mind control, or raise a zombie if there's an Advent corpse around. Next turn you DISORIENT it and it drops.

From what I understand, disorients
- invoke aim penalty
- invoke severe movement penalty
- disable all abilities except move and attack, and breaks channeling.

I can vouch for this, flashbangs save lives.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Flashbangs are king. Don't throw them: shoot them with a Grenadier.

And to anyone experiencing weird glitches with characters (can't reload, stuck in an animation, teleports around): quick save, quick load. I've found that a lot of skills that require more than one ammo glitch characters. So if you use ability X that costs 3 rounds of ammunition while using a weapon with a fully loaded 3 round magazine, things sometimes go terribly wrong when you use it.
 

Lister

Banned
Sorry if this has been asked already, but what is the consensus on the steam controller in general, and how it pertains to this game? Since it's being bundled at a discount, and it's the only controller that's officially supported.

Ive been using it almost exclusively (used mouse and k for the first hour to see how that felt). Started with the official profile but changed a few things: moved tactical cam from left pad to analog stick, and map rotation as well as floor ascending descending to the left pad. Right grip is the zoom key and the touch menu is set to activate on touch release instead of click.

I prefer this to atleast the default keyboard and mouse controls. With those a simple attack requires hitting 1 then moving the mouse and clicking to confirm or hitting enter on the otherside of the keyboard vs tapping a twice.similarly using other abilities is easy with the touchpad.
 
Came in for Faith No More and to say that now visiting neogaf leads to listening to Angel dust almost daily or at least the song playing in my head..

Also shouldn't it be... Be agressive! B-E agressive?

:p

edit: will return to the topic with 9,99€ GOTY edition..
 
Here's Tip #1

DISORIENT EVERYTHING

Sectoid mind controlling your dude? DISORIENT HIM

Viper chokehold? DISORIENT HER

Stun Lancers running across the map faster than Sonic the Hedgehog to spike you? DISORIENT THEM (their name literally tells you to stun lancers)

Seriously, flashbangs are OP, and turns Sectoids into gibbering wastes of turns since early-game they really, REALLY like to mind control, or raise a zombie if there's an Advent corpse around. Next turn you DISORIENT it and it drops.

From what I understand, disorients
- invoke aim penalty
- invoke severe movement penalty
- disable all abilities except move and attack, and breaks channeling.

Does this also work on
Gatekeepers raising a billion zombies
?
 

Crosseyes

Banned
Man I really wish there was some type of demo or something to see if my aging toaster could run this. I don't care about the solid 60 fps on 1080p or any of that bullshit just want to run on minimum at 20-30 fps. It's a turn based strategy game for crying out loud.
 
N

Noray

Unconfirmed Member
I have never used flashbangs. After a rough early game I haven't lost anyone (or even come close) in at least a dozen hours.

That said, if I knew they were good against Vipers I would definitely have used them early game. They've caused some problems for me.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
And whoa boy to they need to nerf enemy melee. Sorry kids, but you don't get to run 2 full screens and still get an attack off. It's a piss poor attempt to 'balance' melee enemies in a game with guns. Hint: the guns should always win.
 
And whoa boy to they need to nerf enemy melee. Sorry kids, but you don't get to run 2 full screens and still get an attack off. It's a piss poor attempt to 'balance' melee enemies in a game with guns. Hint: the guns should always win.

Rangers can do the same thing. It's kinda the reason melee works at all.

The risk of exposing a soldier so completely has to have a sweet reward attached to it. Especially when there's even a small chance of missing. Otherwise it would be an option that neither side would use at all, inferior to ranged weaponry in every way.
 
N

Noray

Unconfirmed Member
And whoa boy to they need to nerf enemy melee. Sorry kids, but you don't get to run 2 full screens and still get an attack off. It's a piss poor attempt to 'balance' melee enemies in a game with guns. Hint: the guns should always win.

especially since swords are fucking garbage. Have some use early game but late game Rangers are 100% Double-Tap Shotgun Machines.
 

vpance

Member
Snake grabs my guy from across the screen, glitches to another spot then turns invulnerable. Fix these bugs FFS.
 

Lister

Banned
Man I really wish there was some type of demo or something to see if my aging toaster could run this. I don't care about the solid 60 fps on 1080p or any of that bullshit just want to run on minimum at 20-30 fps. It's a turn based strategy game for crying out loud.

Dude, Steam has had refunds for a while now. It's totally fine to purchase the game and try it, if it doesn't run well, get a refund, no questions asked and no fuss so long as it's 2 weeks since purchase and less than 2 hours played. No need for a demo, which is good, those things eat developer time that is better spent on the actual game.
 

Rad-

Member
So is there actually much point with running with anything other than grenadiers and snipers if you want to "minmax" your squad? Not saying the rest of the classes don't have their uses but these classes seem way more powerful than the other two at least up to mid game. Haven't reached end game yet so I can't speak for that.
 
I'm honestly surprised by how easy the game is Commander, once a soldier reaches Lt it seems nearly impossible for me to get them killed

I'm fully expecting the next mission to completely massacre my 6 colonels for saying that

So is there actually much point with running with anything other than grenadiers and snipers if you want to "minmax" your squad? Not saying the rest of the classes don't have their uses but these classes seem way more powerful than the other two at least up to mid game. Haven't reached end game yet so I can't speak for that.

Honestly think the Rangers are the best class, just sprint in on the enemy and chop them all up. Although setting up ambushes with Kill Zone and a rocket launcher is pretty fun
 

Crosseyes

Banned
Dude, Steam has had refunds for a while now. It's totally fine to purchase the game and try it, if it doesn't run well, get a refund, no questions asked and no fuss so long as it's 2 weeks since purchase and less than 2 hours played. No need for a demo, which is good, those things eat developer time that is better spent on the actual game.
Lol shows how much I know about PC gaming right now. Worth a shot then since I loved the first ones on console.
 

Sullichin

Member
Wow, I'm stupid. Did not realize you can evac people one at a time, and that you can evac after dashing. Beat the first turn limited mission finally.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Rangers can do the same thing. It's kinda the reason melee works at all.

The risk of exposing a soldier so completely has to have a sweet reward attached to it. Especially when there's even a small chance of missing. Otherwise it would be an option that neither side would use at all, inferior to ranged weaponry in every way.

I don't know how far you've played, but melee Rangers stop being good as soon as your gun tech goes up, and they completely stop being functional once you get to the highest level enemies and your Ranger reaches max level. Plus the concealment perks are some of the best tactical perks in the game.

Tldr: The player side melee is terrible, as you'll come to see when the big guns roll out.
 
N

Noray

Unconfirmed Member
I don't know how far you've played, but melee Rangers stop being good as soon as your gun tech goes up, and they completely stop being functional once you get to the highest level enemies and your Ranger reaches max level. Plus the concealment perks are some of the best tactical perks in the game.

Tldr: The player side melee is terrible, as you'll come to see when the big guns roll out.

I wonder what the thinking was. I have a sword Ranger and a gun Ranger and the gun Ranger is so much better in every way. Reaper could conceivably be useful to finish off a bunch of low HP enemies I guess but I've never killed more than 2 guys in one go with it.

And the couple of times I've had Bladestorm trigger I think it's missed at least 3/4 times.
 
Fucking sick of the game not showing the interior of a building even when you've moved the camera to the lowest floor, and instead blocking your view by highlighting the roof.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
I wonder what the thinking was. I have a sword Ranger and a gun Ranger and the gun Ranger is so much better in every way. Reaper could conceivably be useful to finish off a bunch of low HP enemies I guess but I've never killed more than 2 guys in one go with it.

Repeatable, reliable concealment pretty much offers a whole bag of advantages.

I would not even begin to know how to play this game without Ranger concealment talents and Grenadier explosives.
 
I have been watching twitch streams of this all weekend. Looks so good. Wish my computer was up to snuff, it meets the minimum but with all the performance issues I dont want to bother
 
N

Noray

Unconfirmed Member
Repeatable, reliable concealment pretty much offers a whole bag of advantages.

I would not even begin to know how to play this game without Ranger concealment talents and Grenadier explosives.

Yeah same. Also Double-Tap is just an insane amount of damage, especially with how high you can get crit chance to go on shotguns.
 

irriadin

Member
New to XCOM, but not new to tactical turn-based games (having played nearly all the Fire Emblem Games, Tactics Ogre, etc), I found the first mission to be surprisingly difficult. Two of my units were grievously wounded, one killed. It was all going well until my units started panicking, a mechanic that the game doesn't warn you about in the slightest. I enjoyed the cover system, but I can't help but feel uneasy at unforeseen game mechanics popping up and ruining my strategy... is this something I'm just going to have to get used to? Is this an XCOM design staple?

Other question: I'm not entirely positive I understand how the turn system works. Once concealment is broken, is it based on a units individual speed, or is it "player turn - enemy turn"?
 
So is there actually much point with running with anything other than grenadiers and snipers if you want to "minmax" your squad? Not saying the rest of the classes don't have their uses but these classes seem way more powerful than the other two at least up to mid game. Haven't reached end game yet so I can't speak for that.

Depends on how you play really, I wouldn't go anywhere without my 2 rangers. Run and gun alone has saved my ass so many times or should we talk about Untouchable? That's the definition of OP. Reaper is not so effective late game I guess, a bit too situational but workable. (hint: soften them up with explosives first)

I prefer this to atleast the default keyboard and mouse controls. With those a simple attack requires hitting 1 then moving the mouse and clicking to confirm or hitting enter on the otherside of the keyboard vs tapping a twice.similarly using other abilities is easy with the touchpad.

Nope just hit 1 twice.
 
I started out so well but I'm fairly sure I completely screwed up my base building terribly. I was just fumbling around because I assumed I would need to restart sooner. However, I was doing great flawless mission after flawless mission, then a wall suddenly. This is a genre I enjoy but I rarely play due to the constant tension. I need to spend some time to understand the what's available for the base building aspect so I don't play myself into a corner again.
 

Lister

Banned
I have been watching twitch streams of this all weekend. Looks so good. Wish my computer was up to snuff, it meets the minimum but with all the performance issues I dont want to bother

Don't let the people screaming about performance issues bother you. Yes, the frame rate tanks during cutscnes after a load... at such CRITICAL points of the gameplay... oh wait no. It needs to be fixed, but most of the serious performance issues aren't tied to the gameplay.

This also a turn based strategy game, while 60 FPS is nice and makes for a responsive UI even if it's not tied directly to game actions, it's not a deal breaker for this type of game, IMHO.
 

Lister

Banned
Depends on how you play really, I wouldn't go anywhere without my 2 rangers. Run and gun alone has saved my ass so many times or should we talk about Untouchable? That's the definition of OP. Reaper is not so effective late game I guess, a bit too situational but workable. (hint: soften them up with explosives first)



Nope just hit 1 twice.

Hmm, that's not indicated by the UI, but good, the other ways were one of the reasons I found the keyboard interface a bit unoptimized.
 
I don't know how far you've played, but melee Rangers stop being good as soon as your gun tech goes up, and they completely stop being functional once you get to the highest level enemies and your Ranger reaches max level. Plus the concealment perks are some of the best tactical perks in the game.

Tldr: The player side melee is terrible, as you'll come to see when the big guns roll out.

Yeah, I think Swords will definetely be buffed in a balance patch. More damage and accuracy. Maybe shotguns will be nerfed.

Grenade Launcher will get nerfed hard. At least the damage radius. It's just too large. Later on you can literally level a whole house with one grenade - obliterating all cover - shredding armor and do crit damage .. for free. Because the skill perk let's you shoot a grenade for free. Way too good.
 

Zeliard

Member
Fucking sick of the game not showing the interior of a building even when you've moved the camera to the lowest floor, and instead blocking your view by highlighting the roof.

Yeah I'm loving the game but it's really unfortunate how they didn't manage to make UI navigation smoother, both in combat and in the management layer. Navigating floors is still really cumbersome, as is trying to launch pinpoint grenades and rockets.
 
Don't let the people screaming about performance issues bother you. Yes, the frame rate tanks during cutscnes after a load... at such CRITICAL points of the gameplay... oh wait no. It needs to be fixed, but most of the serious performance issues aren't tied to the gameplay.

This also a turn based strategy game, while 60 FPS is nice and makes for a responsive UI even if it's not tied directly to game actions, it's not a deal breaker for this type of game, IMHO.

Although there are people who are having real performance problems and that sucks for them, a lot of the others refuse to disable a couple of stupid effects or worse call for unplayable game cause they got some dips. (these type of people cry against even the most optimized game ever usually) So yea I agree, he could buy and refund if it doesn't run well.


Hmm, that's not indicated by the UI, but good, the other ways were one of the reasons I found the keyboard interface a bit unoptimized.

I got used to m&k since the first game so I'm not having any issues with it. It's just a preference thing.
 
Yeah, atm swords are really only worthwhile if you go all-in on Blademaster, plus get the sword upgrades, and even then it only just outpaces the shotty damage. Not always worth the risk.
 

zchen

Member
I keeping feeling like while I'm doing decent on the tactical side (only lost the 2 soldiers in the scripted tutorial) on commander difficulty, I'm lagging on the strategy layer a bit. Only did one black site mission so far and the Avatar project is 2 pips from being filled. I'm on the avenger defense mission now and still haven't skull jacked an advent officer yet.
 

Corpekata

Banned
You don't really have to worry that much about Avatar progress provided you're making your way toward accessing all the alien facilities / story missions that have popped up so you have access to one at all times in case of emergency.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Turn 30: The one last enemy I have to kill to finish the map is still running away from me, as he has been for the last 24 turns. There is no way to catch him. So there is no way to finish the stage.
 

lionpants

Member
The Avatar countdown just started and I don't have enough intel to communicate with the local resistance. Am I screwed? :(

Anyone have tips on getting 15 intel stat?! I can't change my scanning bonus to intel.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Is Cone of Fire broken or am I just completely misunderstanding the skill? I just set it on a group of three enemies who I ambushed and my sniper only fired at one of them. I was under the impression he'd fire at everyone who moved in the cone's area.

Check your ammo. Your sniper will only keep firing as long as there is ammo in the chamber, which makes the ammo upgrades on his weapon very attractive.

I just put two and two together here. Two times in a mission, I set up the ambush, and it only shot once, out of a sniper with 5 rounds. Except he actually did fire at all of them - damage, burning (ammo type) and ammo count were consistent with having shot at all enemies that went into bullet time, even if the animation only played once. I actually was laughing prior because my sniper was on a rooftop shooting down at a lower rooftop, and a survivor appeared to have fallen for 10 damage and somehow been lit on fire while running for cover.

Granted, this game as it is is buggy enough that there might be two separate bugs - one just a display like mine, and another where it actually isn't triggering. But that's my anecdotal experience with the ability anyway.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Encircle him and overwatch?

Tried that, it just burrowed out of my sight ranges to escape the net.

Finally got it by splitting my troops up and not overwatching. Then it stopped running and approached. Took some damage, but it was better than spending an eternity on that map.
 
The Avatar countdown just started and I don't have enough intel to communicate with the local resistance. Am I screwed? :(

Anyone have tips on getting 15 intel stat?! I can't change my scanning bonus to intel.
Missions will pop up offering intel as a reward. You can also get it if your HQ has Intel as a resource. This varies and can be changed once a month I believe.
 

Mupod

Member
Flashbangs are OP.
But meme beacons are OPOP.

can vouch for the ridiculousness of holodukes but late game enemies kill them really fast. Still, better than that being one of your soldiers.

Kind of odd that they drop whatever they are doing to go after it, maybe bugged but if they didn't then nobody would use that item.
 

Salsa

Member
where are the save files?

gonna re-download on the SSD. performance is already bad but I dont wanna have to deal with load times too

bye witcher 3 for a while
 

peakish

Member
I thought I would have some breathing room after getting a veteran squad, but the game is still throwing a lot of missions on me at once. It's tempting to let story missions lie for a bit and power up, but at the same time the enemy is powering up on their own and are now fielding minions with a shitload of health.

I need to get to plasma weapons ASAP.


Also had my first BSOD in like seven years. Fun times. Luckily ironman saves every turn in combat.


Edit: Just remembered that what is best in life is grenading a roof and seing the enemies fall to their death.
 

lionpants

Member
Missions will pop up offering intel as a reward. You can also get it if your HQ has Intel as a resource. This varies and can be changed once a month I believe.
Phew, the month just ended just as I posted and I was able to swap my HQ bonus and scan for intel. I should be in the clear now - it'll be a close one though.
 
Kind of odd that they drop whatever they are doing to go after it, maybe bugged but if they didn't then nobody would use that item.

I think they attack it, because you normally throw it to a place near the enemies without cover, so they have the best chance to hit. If you throw your beacon behind full cover, they would probably chose someone else.
 

Tacitus_

Member
Hah, got thrown off, but yeah, it says security tower, has a security tower in the background, but those aren't typical security tower bonuses.

No I was hacking a tower. I was comparing the percentages. 0% on a tower (which completed) and 100% on objective (which completed) is weird.
 
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