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XCOM 2 (PC/Mac/Linux, Firaxis, November 2015) announced [Up: New info/screens in OP]

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F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I finally gave The Long War a try. It's amazing. I wonder how XCOM will compare to it and what kinds of fresh madness modders are already scheming.
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
http://www.lazygamer.net/genre/strategy-genre/how-xcom-2s-new-mechanics-make-it-even-more-emotional/

I skim article so you don't have to:

We’ve added so much more customization to soldiers this time around. You can change gender, you can change nationality, accent, and we’ve added a ton more visual customization for your soldiers. We’re giving players a much larger set of pieces to play with–more accents, facial props, custom veteran unlocks, and personality poses are a few teasers for what’s new.
Click to expand...

Overwatch fire is sequential. Closest target gets shot by the first soldier, and if it dies, the remaining overwatch shots go towards the next target, and so forth. No more six guys unloading on a Seeker that uncloaks at the start of the alien turn!
Click to expand...
 
A

Anno

Member
Hmm, I kind of hope they do something to make the slow, procedural advance under cover of Overwatch less viable. I never played Enemy Within, but I think I heard they did a few changes towards that end. Did they work?
 
W

WhirlwindMonk

Banned
Anno said:
Hmm, I kind of hope they do something to make the slow, procedural advance under cover of Overwatch less viable. I never played Enemy Within, but I think I heard they did a few changes towards that end. Did they work?
Click to expand...

In EW they added meld, which you had to gather from canisters within a certain number of turns off entering the map. Meld was really nice early game, but I found I gathered enough early on to last through most of the game, and I wasn't making much effort to go for it later game.

In XCOM 2, they are apparently making it so enemy weapons wait a couple turns to explode, so if you can get to them fast enough, you can save them and use them to better equip your soldiers. That should hopefully help encourage a bit more aggressive gameplay, depending on how it's implemented.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
YES GIVE ME DAT SOLDIER CUSTOMIZATION

9pWeBLv.gif
 
K

Kaffeemann

Banned
I started playing XCOM:EU and EW just a week ago. Certainly understand the hype for XCOM 2 now.
PC is lacking in turned-based tactics games but XCOM 2 with full mod support should keep me occupied fur some hundred hours ;)
 
R

RandomSeed

Member
I put 200 hours into XCOM before I just started cheating to give myself meld. It took that long to decide that I hate the way meld dictates where you go on the maps, and I prefer to switch things up and to try attacking from different positions.
 
D

Delta Assault

Member
The only three turn-based tactics games most people know about are XCOM, Valkyria Chronicles, and Fire Emblem. And the last one isn't on PC.

Not really an unusual statement.
 
S

Skunkers

Member
Not to start a problem or anything, but why is it that the "new thread for new news" rule doesn't apply to this game? There's like tens of updates in this thread that I've missed...?
 
S

Sober

Member
Skunkers said:
Not to start a problem or anything, but why is it that the "new thread for new news" rule doesn't apply to this game? There's like tens of updates in this thread that I've missed...?
Click to expand...
sub to the thread

also pc only game, no one on gaf cares about that shit
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Skunkers said:
Not to start a problem or anything, but why is it that the "new thread for new news" rule doesn't apply to this game? There's like tens of updates in this thread that I've missed...?
Click to expand...

No threadworthy news yet. It's XCOM 2, not a new Elder Scrolls game; people aren't that hungry for deets.
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
I mean I guess there aren't a ton of turn-based tactics games, but you could go and buy the following:

Invisible, Inc.
The Banner Saga
XCOM: Long War
Xenonauts
Dragonfall
Valkyria Chronicles

And have a blast for probably 500 hours or more. And they all came out in the last couple of years.

Skunkers said:
Not to start a problem or anything, but why is it that the "new thread for new news" rule doesn't apply to this game? There's like tens of updates in this thread that I've missed...?
Click to expand...
Most of the news is trivial. There'll probably be a new thread when they show more footage.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Shake Appeal said:
I mean I guess there aren't a ton of turn-based tactics games, but you could go and buy the following:

Invisible, Inc.
The Banner Saga
XCOM: Long War
Xenonauts
Dragonfall
Valkyria Chronicles

And have a blast for probably 500 hours or more. And they all came out in the last couple of years.


Most of the news is trivial. There'll probably be a new thread when they show more footage.
Click to expand...

I have all of these besides Banner. I found Invisible Inc. to be hugely overrated; the others are great.
 
D

Delta Assault

Member
I tried to get into Xenonauts, but the "One enemy left, try and find him somewhere on this map" annoyance proved to be way worse in Xeno than in XCOM.

Plus, the aerial combat seemed completely inscrutable.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Delta Assault said:
I tried to get into Xenonauts, but the "One enemy left, try and find him somewhere on this map" annoyance proved to be way worse in Xeno than in XCOM.

Plus, the aerial combat seemed completely inscrutable.
Click to expand...

Agreed on both. I just ended up setting all air combat to Auto, since frankly I consistently did worse and have no idea why.
 
E

Erheller

Member
Delta Assault said:
I tried to get into Xenonauts, but the "One enemy left, try and find him somewhere on this map" annoyance proved to be way worse in Xeno than in XCOM.

Plus, the aerial combat seemed completely inscrutable.
Click to expand...

In Xenonauts, occupying a cleared UFO for 5 turns will end the mission without having to hunt for that last alien.

I actually really liked the air combat in Xenonauts. The game could have done a much better job of explaining its mechanics, though. There are a ton of things that the game never hints at.

Against small UFO's that can roll, you're supposed to release one missile at a time so the first one forces the UFO to roll while your second missile hits it during the roll cooldown. Alternatively, maneuvering to a UFO's side (3 o'clock or 9 o'clock) and releasing missiles will almost guarantee a hit, since the UFO's roll will carry it along the same axis the missile travels at (you can even land torpedoes using this technique).

The length of an aircraft's roll is also dependent on the speed the aircraft is traveling at - you get the longest rolls when you're using afterburners, which is immensely helpful when trying to get around to a UFO's back. Air combat in Xeno uses a lot of fuel because speed is essential for giving you options against UFO's.

I thought the air combat in Xenonauts was much better than the air combat in XCOM. XCOM's air combat is very RNG-based with little depth. It's not so bad in vanilla and EW, because if you're teching fast enough you can shoot down pretty much whatever the game throws at you. The flaws of the air combat, however, are much more apparent in Long War, where shooting down UFO's can go either way. It works within the context of Long War, where you have many interceptors per continent and a major part of the game is taking losses and recovering. But I infinitely prefer Xenonaut's air combat, because you have complete control over the combat. Once you've learned the mechanics, if you make a mistake, it's your fault, not the RNG's. It also lets you employ a number of different tactics depending on the aircraft you bring - a pair of default interceptors engage mediums much differently than does an interceptor and a Foxtrot.

Oh, and you can actually intercept with more than one aircraft. How cool is that?
 
M

Miker

Member
Shake Appeal said:
http://www.lazygamer.net/genre/strategy-genre/how-xcom-2s-new-mechanics-make-it-even-more-emotional/
Click to expand...

Thank goodness. I've never been fond of generic soldiers, and the lack of customization options in XCOM 1 was one of my biggest complaints. Most male soldiers ended up looking and sounding like Guile, and most women were all minor variants of FemShep. Beyond accessories and stuff, I'd really like different body types - I wouldn't mind somewhat exaggerated body proportions a la TF2 if soldiers just looked unique.
 
T

Taffer

Member
Metro interviewed Garth DeAngelis at E3, here's the bit of information that I hadn't already read elsewhere (the article went up a bit after E3):

GD: We are gonna have more accents in XCOM 2, and we have a focus on British accents!

GC: Well, I hope so. Because he wasn’t exactly top draw, the chap in the demo.

GD: [laughs] We are gonna have various British accents, that is actually an important request that we’re gonna get done.

GC: Really? I was just joking.

GD: No, we’re gonna do that!
Click to expand...

Sorted.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Shake Appeal said:
They should do what LW has done and crowd-source accents to some extent. Ask fans from around the world to send in (good quality) audio.
Click to expand...

Probably gonna leave that to the modding community; that is sort of what it's there for :p

What'd be really nice is a better structure for selecting accents (and other accessories); "option 1, 2, 3, 4" is all well and good when you've only got 5-10 options, but it can get a little hard to keep track after that.
 
A

AlexVu

Neo Member
Erheller said:
In Xenonauts, occupying a cleared UFO for 5 turns will end the mission without having to hunt for that last alien.

I actually really liked the air combat in Xenonauts. The game could have done a much better job of explaining its mechanics, though. There are a ton of things that the game never hints at.

Against small UFO's that can roll, you're supposed to release one missile at a time so the first one forces the UFO to roll while your second missile hits it during the roll cooldown. Alternatively, maneuvering to a UFO's side (3 o'clock or 9 o'clock) and releasing missiles will almost guarantee a hit, since the UFO's roll will carry it along the same axis the missile travels at (you can even land torpedoes using this technique).

The length of an aircraft's roll is also dependent on the speed the aircraft is traveling at - you get the longest rolls when you're using afterburners, which is immensely helpful when trying to get around to a UFO's back. Air combat in Xeno uses a lot of fuel because speed is essential for giving you options against UFO's.

I thought the air combat in Xenonauts was much better than the air combat in XCOM. XCOM's air combat is very RNG-based with little depth. It's not so bad in vanilla and EW, because if you're teching fast enough you can shoot down pretty much whatever the game throws at you. The flaws of the air combat, however, are much more apparent in Long War, where shooting down UFO's can go either way. It works within the context of Long War, where you have many interceptors per continent and a major part of the game is taking losses and recovering. But I infinitely prefer Xenonaut's air combat, because you have complete control over the combat. Once you've learned the mechanics, if you make a mistake, it's your fault, not the RNG's. It also lets you employ a number of different tactics depending on the aircraft you bring - a pair of default interceptors engage mediums much differently than does an interceptor and a Foxtrot.

Oh, and you can actually intercept with more than one aircraft. How cool is that?
Click to expand...

Very well explained sir *slowclaps* NeoGAF XCOM people should really stop talking about Xenonauts like they know it.
 
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