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XCOM 2 |OT| Be Aggressive! Be Be Aggressive!
- Thread starter Sober
- Start date
Basileus777
Member
It was. I somehow managed to beat it on Commander, I don't even want to know what it'd be like on Legend.
The teleporting was worse than the reinforcements.
I just moved up from Veteran to Commander, and the same basic tactics I was using are still working. When in concealment, open with a nade, and use close-range shotguns or guaranteed damage (combat protocol, stocks) to finish.
When not in concealment, find out where the enemies are by using a concealment ranger, battle scanners, or scanning protocol, then set up an overwatch trap. If they pop it, they'll be easy targets; if not, just activate normally and apply grenades. I rarely leave any aliens alive to shoot at me.
The key is spotting the enemy before they spot you, and initiating favorably (usually with explosives, or an overwatch trap if they stumble into it).
There's a small period of time between aliens getting new aliens and advanced troopers and getting plasma grenades where it's difficult to 1-turn pods. Suppression and flashbangs go a long way to help your troops survive in those situations.
Thank god I brought along two specialists, was able to pick up all my bleeding out units. Gremlins are MVPs.
That teleporting and multiple mind controls screwed me over so much, reinforcements I dealt with rifts/proximity mines. Not to mention my framerate tanked so hard
That teleporting and multiple mind controls screwed me over so much, reinforcements I dealt with rifts/proximity mines. Not to mention my framerate tanked so hard
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
I never really got a chance to get any kind of advance equipment or loot drops on commander, really. I dont know if it was just tough luck, but after way more than a dozen restarts, it isn't an exaggeration when i tell you that I could count the 4 damage shots and nades i got on one hand probably. I would go to the 2nd mission and just get wrecked because I couldn't kill fast enough, opening up with ambushes and everything. Don't even get me started on the 7hp enemies. Conistently needed 3 attacks to bring them down.
Now, playing on veteran, it is a cakewalk because o set up the same ambush and just kill everything in one turn basically.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
That's pretty much been my approach as well.
However, this is highly dependent on where the objective is placed. I dunno what the lower difficulty levels are like but on Legend, I get 12 turns to reach my objective and a ton of tough enemies in between so you often have to pick and choose.
I recently had a level where I had to knock out the VIP and bring him to the EVAC point. The VIP was pretty far from my starting position and on the second floor of a building. The map was large enough that I had could stealth my way to the building with like three turns left. Ended up capturing the VIP and evacuating with all my soldier except one idiot who panicked after being hit with an overwatch shot.
xChildOfHatex
Member
Firaxis have screwed up the Injury System in this game. In XCOM - EU and EW you didn't get wounded unless the damage was more than what the armour and other accessories were providing your soldier. In this game, it doesn't matter what kind of damage you're taking, if you get hit, you're wounded and that's some bullshit.
What's the point of better armour, if it doesn't enable my top dogs to stay healthy for longer periods of time? The only time that my squad has taken injuries that should have caused them to be laid out for a long time was in the UFO defence mission, but in my case, every mission where my people take a hit (and they don't usually take more than one or two), they get laid out for 4-6 days, at least. It doesn't help that as you progress, critical, earth-shattering events pop up a lot more frequently.
I'm fine with the crippling performance issues, but this injury bullshit needs to be patched ASAP.
Once you get a "Conceal" ranger, plus two grenadiers with Heavy Ordnance and Volatile Mix with that Bigger Booms upgrade from Guerrilla Tactics School, you can pretty much get the drop on almost every pod and wipe 'em with just your grenadiers and sniper. It's so much fun seeing all these big ass scary alien mofos getting their ass handed to 'em without even involving my whole team.
What's the point of better armour, if it doesn't enable my top dogs to stay healthy for longer periods of time? The only time that my squad has taken injuries that should have caused them to be laid out for a long time was in the UFO defence mission, but in my case, every mission where my people take a hit (and they don't usually take more than one or two), they get laid out for 4-6 days, at least. It doesn't help that as you progress, critical, earth-shattering events pop up a lot more frequently.
I'm fine with the crippling performance issues, but this injury bullshit needs to be patched ASAP.
Once you get a "Conceal" ranger, plus two grenadiers with Heavy Ordnance and Volatile Mix with that Bigger Booms upgrade from Guerrilla Tactics School, you can pretty much get the drop on almost every pod and wipe 'em with just your grenadiers and sniper. It's so much fun seeing all these big ass scary alien mofos getting their ass handed to 'em without even involving my whole team.
Whom_Gods_Annoy
Banned
Just beat it too.
I sort of cheesed it by mind controlling an Archon that was with the first avatar, who I used to distract both the chryssalids and faceless that come in, blazing pistoning and wiping out both of them.
I was in a super bad position with the last avatar though. One of my rangers was mind controlled and I went full retard and forgot that mutons counterattack melee, so I had my other ranger turn reaper, thinking I could mow through the mutons and close the gap to the avatar that was on the other side of the room.
Luckily my sniper had a high percentage chance to kill the avatar and i finger-crossed hoping that this final boss was like the one in EU where you instantly win. Thankfully that was the case.
I was in a super bad position with the last avatar though. One of my rangers was mind controlled and I went full retard and forgot that mutons counterattack melee, so I had my other ranger turn reaper, thinking I could mow through the mutons and close the gap to the avatar that was on the other side of the room.
Luckily my sniper had a high percentage chance to kill the avatar and i finger-crossed hoping that this final boss was like the one in EU where you instantly win. Thankfully that was the case.
What really got me salty several times were the stun lancers and their fucking dodging.
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
Finally had a mission I've been looking for. Kill/Capture VIP. Set up most of my guys around the evac and had a rookie flank around the map. Was about to actually capture the dude but I ran into an unseen squad and triggered the alert mode.
Rookie on flank got panicked and ran around only to shoot the VIP. After one turn the LZ was clear, and then a flair popped up right on my main squad. I made the hard choice, I had the squad evac and I had to leave the rookie, who promptly died on the next turn.
Things like that are what I want out of missions, quick hits and then bail out.
it keeps their squishy internal organs working so that instead of dying after getting shot by advanced alien weaponry, they chill for a few days.
Rookie on flank got panicked and ran around only to shoot the VIP. After one turn the LZ was clear, and then a flair popped up right on my main squad. I made the hard choice, I had the squad evac and I had to leave the rookie, who promptly died on the next turn.
Things like that are what I want out of missions, quick hits and then bail out.
it keeps their squishy internal organs working so that instead of dying after getting shot by advanced alien weaponry, they chill for a few days.
xChildOfHatex
Member
Hah... I had a VIP mission where my main Phantom/Conceal ranger was out, so had to bring in his sub who hadn't unlocked Conceal yet. So, I start the mission and take the first turn with my ranger (as always), only to find out that 3 squares from my starting position, there's a civilian who was somehow hidden from my squad's view when we started. So, in essence, I had to do that whole mission without any concealment advantage. Fought off like a dozen aliens on that mission due to reinforcements which I'm usually able to avoid by using concealment and going straight for the VIP. Thankfully, only the sub got injured on that mission and my main ranger was back for the next mission which was a Retaliation strike where I had to fight like 3 Mutons, 3 Stun Lancers, a Mech, 2 Vipers and 2 faceless.
Also, the injury system does need a patch. It doesn't make sense that when your soldiers' armour takes damage, they get injured. That's just nuts.
Also it really wasn't an issue for me at least. At the end I had 6 max lvl operatives + 2 well trained psi ops guys. Even if half of them are out of the game due to injury I can easily replace them with a couple lower level dudes without effecting things much. In this game just build a huge roster (and don't be afraid to lose a guy every now and then. I had 10 die during the campaing with 4 of them being the highest or second highest rank when they died).
In the end I think the gear has a way more bigger effect on the characters then levels (a squaddie with W.A.R suite with acid grenades and some nice experimental powered weapon levels out aliens just fine). Grenades/experimental weapons in general are just so strong in this game. Also sharpshooters with full pistol spec + wraith suit. Having someone shred the armour and then having your sharpshooter take 4 shots at the guy with a plasma pistol melts just about anything in one turn.
xChildOfHatex
Member
I get this and I've got 4 guys who're Captain, 2 Lts and 3 Sergeants right now, so I have been building up my rookies along the way, but the thing is, if a suit or armour is supposed to keep your guys healthy for much longer than Kevlar, then it should do just THAT! I barely take any damage most of the times, unless I make a stupid mistake, or some glitchy shit happens (like a truck which has been on fire for 3 turns suddenly explodes for no reason), so to me, the higher tier armours are useless coz whether I wear Kevlar, or EXO suit or Spider suit or Predator armour, I'm getting laid out for the same amount of time. I get that they've got alternative uses (all of them aside from Predator), but an armour should PROTECT, first and foremost. Also, like I said, they followed the same system in EU and EW, where your soldiers only get wounded if they take damage which is more than what the armour and other accessories provide.
Im sure someone already mentioned this, but its very strange having the old CO back despite changing his voice actor. He sounds more like the Spokesperson, and thats who I thought it was originally.
Maybe its on me for literally just finished a game of XCOM EW
anyway, just starting Xcom 2 and Im excited. I already love the new variety in the environments.
I dont love starting off with bullet guns. I mean, cmon, really?
Maybe its on me for literally just finished a game of XCOM EW
anyway, just starting Xcom 2 and Im excited. I already love the new variety in the environments.
I dont love starting off with bullet guns. I mean, cmon, really?
Slackbladder
Member
I don't have many criticisms of the game but this is one. The armour should'nt add health. It should add pips and then any damage that is done gets through that first. It should'nt add health pips. Health should only come from level and certain add ons like Vests.
My only other complaint are the Chryssalids. Now jumping out of the ground is fine but not attack straight away. That's a cheap shot.
Lanrutcon
Member
The grapple hook seems a tiny bit OP. Sometimes I grapple up to an area while concealed, into a 'red' square and the concealment doesn't break.
As long as you have an AWC staffed the wounds are OK. I like how it incentivizes a large pool with multiple people who can use grenades very effectively (hahahaha). Seriously I had 4 Grenadiers and went down to 1. Times were hard. Luckily Mobility Rangers are strong as fuck and plasma nades carry new recruits. Also went from 4 Specialist down to 1, then bought 2 Majors. Seriously the currency was mainly to buy people at mid-late game.
Not looking forward to the last mission on Commander right now. Amount of enemies:
You gotta pickoff them one by one and stay in high ground cover as much as possible. It's not so bad. Using one to flank at max range is good too. For the early Advent stuff there's a good amount of high ground to use as well. If you are using half cover it might as well be nothing if you weren't aware.
Not looking forward to the last mission on Commander right now. Amount of enemies:
34
This is so annoying. You have to crawl forward very carefully with 2 or 3 guys in overwatch covering the guy moving foward. story spoiler:
especially annoying in the story mission where you have to secure the psionic gate. I blazed trough it quite fast and then spent like 10 turns crawling trough the end with one of them bastards popping up after every inch moved forward.
On the health/armour thing I think they though the UI would get too messy with how actual armour now works (it reduces dmg taken by that many pips until it is shredded away. W.A.R armour makes you so much more sturdy due to that. -2 dmg on every shot taken)
milkham
Member
Anyone have a problem with grappling hooks? I'll tell a guy to hook up somewhere and the game kinda freezes, when it lets me do something again, the guy doesn't appear to have moved but then I try to move him and he sort of slides across the map to where I told him to grapple to and then runs to where I clicked for him to run to. The same sort of thing happens when the snakes do the tongue grab
I'm trying to think about what mods would mitigate annoyance issues without completely wrecking the game balance. I haven't found stuff too bad but I'm just playing on Vet and I'm only beginning June now so I haven't run into everybody's favourite bug friends yet and I've been stomping on Faceless every chance I get, so no insta-swipes for me.
Anyway, some days you're in complete and utter tension every dang second of the mission, and others you wipe the map with pods before they even activate. I just did a mission where I incendiary-grenaded the first pod, the clone teleported behind my sniper who pistol-shot it for free, everybody wiped out the rest. I used some vision orbs to spot a pod and rained nades down on it before it even activated, hacked the device from outside the building, activated a mec + 2 soldiers who climbed onto a roof for some reason, and then blew up the floor with a frag nade and uttery annihilated them.
I'm not sure they managed to get a shot off. I think the only turn they had they wasted making a zombie.
Anyway, some days you're in complete and utter tension every dang second of the mission, and others you wipe the map with pods before they even activate. I just did a mission where I incendiary-grenaded the first pod, the clone teleported behind my sniper who pistol-shot it for free, everybody wiped out the rest. I used some vision orbs to spot a pod and rained nades down on it before it even activated, hacked the device from outside the building, activated a mec + 2 soldiers who climbed onto a roof for some reason, and then blew up the floor with a frag nade and uttery annihilated them.
I'm not sure they managed to get a shot off. I think the only turn they had they wasted making a zombie.
Starting to get my feet under my campaign now at 18 hours in. I have to say it's a pretty gratifying feeling when not every mission is complete and utter despair, although I'm sure that will start coming back again soon.
Moving up the tech tree a bit and constructing the utility items like the scanners and mimics have helped a TON.
Moving up the tech tree a bit and constructing the utility items like the scanners and mimics have helped a TON.
Kaffeemann
Banned
I activated the healing bonus at Resistance HQ. Now I want to go back to gaining intel. How does that work?
You can only change the bonus once a month.
I got my hacking up to 90% chance to disable turrets so when I'm concealed I can just slip past them. I did a plan where I did that, went to high ground, put 2 proxy nades + acid bomb onto 1.5 pods, rocketed the objective for vision (and also activated a pod), then remotely hacked it. Unfortunately the proxy mines exploded my guys onto the ground floor and the 2nd proxy activated on the Andro turn letting it get a free hit, then more floor gave way and my perfect plan was ruined.
I was going to just evac and 'fail', but realized I had enough firepower and didn't activate the last remaining pokeball somewhere else (Shadow Chamber so good)
No one died though!
You want at least one with Conceal imo.
R&G great for timed, Conceal INVALUABLE for non-timed, and super good otherwise.
JurassicUtility
Member
So, uh. I just learned you can destroy the ground under rooftop turrets and make them fall. I feel a little dumb now since I've just been shooting them this whole time. I think it might even be an instant kill.
It is an instakill. The only question is if you want to spend a valuable grenade on an enemy that doesn't move.
Aaronology
Member
This is one of my biggest annoyances with XCOM2 so far, even more than Snakes grabbing you through objects and walls. There is no way to prevent a good chunk of the civies dying, so you're forced to hear the same shouting every mission. That there is no way to turn off Central during missions is a pain.
mimic beacons are so broken
oh my lord
it's a free turn on the enemy, almost the same as the beaglerush manuever except you can possibly move around to get flanking shots 2 turns in a row as long as you're not getting caught by a pod in the middle of a turn
I love how soldiers get scarred
I removed my specialist's bandana after like 10 hours...and welp she looks like a serial killer's victim lol
oh my lord
it's a free turn on the enemy, almost the same as the beaglerush manuever except you can possibly move around to get flanking shots 2 turns in a row as long as you're not getting caught by a pod in the middle of a turn
I love how soldiers get scarred
I removed my specialist's bandana after like 10 hours...and welp she looks like a serial killer's victim lol
I don't know how you guys do ironman in a game as buggy as this.
I told my Ranger to use his sword on a codex. He sprints up,pulls out his sword,jumps into the air and.....hangs there. And that's it. He hangs in the air for like 20 seconds. Suddenly the game goes "lol alien activity" and the codex walks away and shoots the ranger still hanging in the air dead.
Like,how could you play ironman if that stuff can happen?
That's not your fault at all, there is no reason you should have to take that.
I told my Ranger to use his sword on a codex. He sprints up,pulls out his sword,jumps into the air and.....hangs there. And that's it. He hangs in the air for like 20 seconds. Suddenly the game goes "lol alien activity" and the codex walks away and shoots the ranger still hanging in the air dead.
Like,how could you play ironman if that stuff can happen?
That's not your fault at all, there is no reason you should have to take that.
it's just more fun because the stakes are higher
this isn't a game I really mind replaying anyways
learning from punishing mistakes like not expecting to get flanked or moving in a way that triggers unwanted pods just feels different, and oh so gratifying, when there are no rewinds
No,i mean,i can understand something like a self imposed ironman.
But there is no "punishing mistake" in the game bugging out.
A friend of mine posted this video for example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7TJpdI5RXA&feature=youtu.be&a
Like, how do you "learn" from that?
I'm like 3 pips away from full bar and haven't done it yet either.
with predator armor, magnetic weapons unlocked but only 5 dudes.
the avatar project isn't really much of a threat,honestly.
I lack the discipline to do self imposed ironman xD
and it just feels different when it's "official" ironman
can't explain why, just does.
I just did the first blacksite with the same btw, predator and mag and 5 soldiers on commander ironman
u have no turn limit, so u can play really safely in the blacksite. I definitely think you guys can both get it done.
Oh i know I can,i didn't wait cause i thought it would be hard, there was just no reason for me to do it yet.
The most honest answer I can give you is that I restarted so. Many. Times on UFO Enemy Unknown and X-COM Apocalypse (seriously that game) that I don't particularly mind starting over and over. Getting a better amd better early-game, plus figuring out what every facility and equippable item does.
Really, I'm playing this like a longer roguelike and (re-)learning mechanics. Put another way it's really the journey, not the destination, if that makes sense.
(Not saying the game doesn't need to be fixed. It does)
I'm honestly a bit scared about running into some bug that breaks my game. So far the worst I've had are blue screens and CTD's which doesn't impact the game state of the last save. And ironman saves every turn (maybe the game autosaves at that interval regardless, IDK).
I think I at one point had a bug which set my supplies to 0 (they wouldn't rise even after a successful mission even), but if that was the case it disappeared after I restarted the game. I've been trucking on fine since. Minor setbacks like that I can handle.
But yeah, as I said, it's a bit scary. I partly like that I know there isn't a backup if I fail a mission by my own manner so that's why I'm doing it.