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[Joey Ravn]

I think things are finally going my way. I killed the Assassin Chosen today, and the Berserker Queen in the following mission. I have a nice, solid pool of soldiers so they are always in rotation. The amount of events that I'm getting has decreased, so I have enough time to let them heal and rest before each mission.

I probably jinxed it now, though...

 

[FunkyMonk]

I gotta say, I love all the new tools and abilities and everything going on in WotC but if anything all these tools just exacerbated the power creep and effectiveness of alpha strikes in the game. It felt like as soon as I had tier 2 weapons and armor nothing has even stood a chance against me on Commander. Even the Chosen are pretty trivially easy.

I might restart on Legend with Grim Dawn activated. I would like to see if permanent dark events will keep the mid-end game fresh or if it might be too frustrating.

You could go for the beta strike option too, double hp for all...

 

[Mattdaddy]

So I deleted my ironman save last night during a massive rage quit. So uh is there any known trick to restore that or am I shit outta luck.

 

[Poodlestrike]

So I deleted my ironman save last night during a massive rage quit. So uh is there any known trick to restore that or am I shit outta luck.

RIP your dudes.

 

[Mattdaddy]

RIP your dudes.

They deserved better. Salute.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Could you restore a cloud save? Not exactly sure how they're synced though.

 

[Mattdaddy]

Could you restore a cloud save? Not exactly sure how they're synced though.

Possibly... I'm not really sure how. I'll mess around see if I can find anything

 

[Tacitus_]

Last mission was a bit weird. Some of the pods were stacked so you had to deal with 6 aliens at a time. The final corridor was also turned into a loading screen, which reset the crit buff on my Reaper but didn't reload any of my ammo.

 

[Sentenza]

There's a mod that fixes this, but I'm scared to install it after the Resistance fighters helped me deal with all those Berserkers one time.

I don't think it's anything that needs to be "fixed", frankly.

 

[Hupsel]

What are the first building and research you guys usually go for? Resistance Ring and training center? Or the guerrila building that lets you have +1 squad member in combat? So hard to choose...

 

[HKA6A7]

What are the first building and research you guys usually go for? Resistance Ring and training center? Or the guerrila building that lets you have +1 squad member in combat? So hard to choose...

I focus first on infrastructure:
Power, and Workshop. Then, Guerrila and comms.

On research, the same way:
Obtain mag weapons and plated armor ASAP.

 

[TC McQueen]

What are the first building and research you guys usually go for? Resistance Ring and training center? Or the guerrila building that lets you have +1 squad member in combat? So hard to choose...

For WOTC, I'm doing GTS+Power+Resistance Ring, since it unlocks way earlier. Then Infirmary/Resistance Comms+Workshop+Training Center/Infirmary. Not sure where to go from there.

 

[Jintor]

I'm going to go live with LP signups tonight for the fodder, but does anybody he want to take the roles of Tygan and Shen first? Poodle gets to be Bradford.

My lps tend to get a little... Involved

 

[Tacitus_]

For WOTC, I'm doing GTS+Power+Resistance Ring, since it unlocks way earlier. Then Infirmary/Resistance Comms+Workshop+Training Center/Infirmary. Not sure where to go from there.

Well that's 6 out of 9 slots filled so you have very little choices left. Lab for teching up - breakthroughs are great and the speed up is pretty nice, or psi lab for psi ops. Tbh I'd get psi labs before training center, as psi ops are pretty great. Training center only lets you level up bonds, spend XCOM AP on regulars and retrain soldiers.

 

[Sentenza]

Well that's 6 out of 9 slots .

There are actually twelve slots.

 

[Tacitus_]

There are actually twelve slots.

Fuck me, shouldn't post while I'm about to fall asleep. Still, there are very little options outside of those unless you want to rush the plot with Shadow Chamber. There's what, the defence matrix?

 

[Erheller]

I'm going to go live with LP signups tonight for the fodder, but does anybody he want to take the roles of Tygan and Shen first? Poodle gets to be Bradford.

My lps tend to get a little... Involved

I could not have predicted this outcome, but the results are certainly intriguing

Spoiler

I'll be tygan

 

[Sentenza]

Man, with so many good soldiers available after a full campaign (especially since the forced turnover that gave me pretty much a full army of colonels), the pick for the "Best Six" on the final mission was extremely painful this time.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

Man, with so many good soldiers available after a full campaign (especially since the forced turnover that gave me pretty much a full army of colonels), the pick for the "Best Six" on the final mission was extremely painful this time.

Right? I had such a blast with the final mission this time around.

Spoiler

Avatars

are nothing next to chosen.

 

[johancruijff]

I'm going to go live with LP signups tonight for the fodder, but does anybody he want to take the roles of Tygan and Shen first? Poodle gets to be Bradford.

My lps tend to get a little... Involved

i'm not sure what is this? it's like a brainstormed campaign or something that has to do with the gaf character pool?

an explaining link is enough ✌️

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I'm going to go live with LP signups tonight for the fodder, but does anybody he want to take the roles of Tygan and Shen first? Poodle gets to be Bradford.

My lps tend to get a little... Involved

LP's? explain, man.

 

[Baalzebup]

i'm not sure what is this? it's like a brainstormed campaign or something that has to do with the gaf character pool?

an explaining link is enough ✌️

Just take a look. Used to include a fuck-ton of screenshots to accompany the writeups.

 

[Sentenza]

Right? I had such a blast with the final mission this time around.

Spoiler

Avatars

are nothing next to chosen.

Yeah, I made that post when I was selecting my team, now I just finished the mission.

Status update: HOLY SHIT I steamrolled everything.
I already played I think no less of five or six full campaigns with vanilla (one Veteran, three Commander -which is in my opinion the most balanced one and the one I enjoy the most, in the end- and two Legendary) so I'm rather experienced with the game, but I don't remember it ever being as easy as this time.
My guys were really equipped and perked up like beasts this time.

Aside for the effortless stroll until the final room, I really exploded every single avatar as soon as it showed up.

 

[Shake Appeal]

My Templar came from behind to become my first Colonel. Dude was the total MVP of the

Spoiler

Assassin stronghold mission

, just dashing everything and rending.

 

[Gaz_RB]

Just beat it.

Spoiler

i think I know why Templars weren't as featured in the campaign...

 

[Sentenza]

Just beat it.

Spoiler

i think I know why Templars weren't as featured in the campaign...

I wonder if that new final teaser is meant to...

Spoiler

tease another expansion or a full sequel.
When this was announced i thought they reconsidered that "A new menace is coming from the abyss", but they are clearly doubling down on it now.

 

[Gaz_RB]

I wonder if that new final teaser is meant to...

Spoiler

tease another expansion or a full sequel.
When this was announced i thought they reconsidered that "A new menace is coming from the abyss", but they are clearly doubling down on it now.

Spoiler

Hope it's an expansion honestly. I'd like the idea of XCOM3 being another big reinvention of the formula, and I'm not sure it should involve the Avenger/Templars.

But more XCOM is more XCOM. I'm down for whatever they come up with.

 

[King Tubby]

Heading into the late game on my Commander Ironman run. I lost one soldier early on to the Assassin on like my third mission in, which made things feel a bit dicy, but things quickly started to snowball. One of my first resistance orders made it so your GTS promotes your recruits to Sergeant level which is so unbelievably broken it's ridiculous. Add to that a Mag weapons and pistol damage breakthrough in the early going and The Lost became trivial early on. I spent a good chunk of my ability points to get Reaper on a Ranger, and she's saved my ass many times with it. This game is great.

 

[Grimsen]

Fuck, started a C/I game since I was too prone to savescumming on my first Commander+tutorial playthrough.

I checked the alien hunters and shen's last gift boxes to get the vanilla missions, but apparently there's a bug that doesn't include them if you check the boxes with a controller. Had to be done with the mouse.

The snake king showed up out of the blue at some point. Beat him eventually without too much trouble, but now the berserker queen is kicking my ass.

I'll try to finish that playthrough anyway, but I wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Source:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/1474221865200618829/

 

[johancruijff]

Just take a look. Used to include a fuck-ton of screenshots to accompany the writeups.

So a narrative exercise guided by a playthrough, sounds dope

what i don't understand is if we have to actively partecipate in some way (other than follow and post in the thread)

 

[Jintor]

i like comments because it gives me enthusiasm but that's about it

you can tell me dope shit if you want to customise etc. I would let character pool stuff but i can't be stuffed, just tell me what you want.

 

[BrassDragon]

Finished my first playthrough on Commander. Things were going well (mostly because I made a point of stomping the Chosen before they could level up too much) but soldier bonds almost screwed me over in the final mission - having a tight-knit team is all great until one of them gets mind controlled/downed and then your whole cohesion falls apart and everybody gets morale problems. Almost got wiped before I took down the final Avatar.

Good times though. Good times. I like (ending spoiler)

Spoiler

cliffhanger in the Templar vignette. Bring on the terror from the deep!

 

[Pheace]

Training center only lets you level up bonds, spend XCOM AP on regulars and retrain soldiers.

XCOM AP and personal AP on your soldiers can make a massive difference though, not only can you buy abilities you missed levelling up but also the random abilities your soldier was lucky enough to get.

That said, no point it being one of your first few buildings since you need your men to build up some AP before it becomes useful anyway.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

XCOM AP and personal AP on your soldiers can make a massive difference though, not only can you buy abilities you missed levelling up but also the random abilities your soldier was lucky enough to get.

That said, no point it being one of your first few buildings since you need your men to build up some AP before it becomes useful anyway.

My templar got reaper in his pool and he just blazed trough everything in endgame. I recommend getting the ability that make them being invulnerable to an attack if they have focus because it really save him more times than I thought. I don't know its actual % but it does activates. That along parry made him the mvp of the endgame. Ok, maybe not, but he was the most fun to watch.

My reaper on the other hand died at the penultimate mission. Skirmisher didn't get chances to shine unfortunely.

 

[Sentenza]

Just in case anyone was curious: I tested a little dirty trick and I can sadly confirm that characters saved in your character pool do NOT keep their combat intelligence in a new campaign.

Makes sense, but I dreamed of an army of combat geniuses for a minute.

 

[Onivulk]

Is there a way to just have every rookie be a Templar? It might be OP but I think it would be a lot of fun.

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

Nah, you only get Templar rookies when you recruit templars. Made Cora Harper from Mass Effect in the game, and saved a badass templar chick I got at random In my character pool.

 

[johancruijff]

i like comments because it gives me enthusiasm but that's about it

you can tell me dope shit if you want to customise etc. I would let character pool stuff but i can't be stuffed, just tell me what you want.

gotcha

sure why not, throw me in the cannon fodder group, i'll sub the thread

 

[Zareth]

Oh boy... I just hit major on my grenadier and between his xcom skills and his class skills he now has rapid fire, Chain shot and serial... pretty crazy when you factor in giving him extra actions with my skirmisher and his bond mate. So much possible damage in a single turn.... its so broken. I love it! haha

 

[Jintor]

LP's up. I screenshotted a mission tonight, I'll post it up tomorrow.

Soldier ranks have filled out, but I'll be doing some extra stuff to incentivise waitlisting.

 

[Sblargh]

Legend actually difficult now. It's taking longer than I thought.

I'm a bit trigger happy with restarts because I like to test build orders and stuff, but man, the mid to end game is brutal now.

Pods are bigger, there seems to be more of them, too.
By the time Andromedon starts appearing, pods like 4 codex or 4 spectres start, too.
Also, by this time, multiple pods of 2 enemies start appearing, too.
The "4 big enemies" pod would only appear after Sectopods, iirc. And while the patroling pods of 2 units was a thing before, now they seem to actively run at you after concealement is broken. Either that or pod density is different. Anyway, thing is hard.

I actually think the whole "reverse difficulty" no longer applies on Legend.
Mutons take longer to appear, for example. They used to appear before I got mag weapons, now they appear sometime after.
Otoh, by the time you are nearing plasma weapons, the difficulty crank up way harder than it was before. I do believe a victory lap still awaits me at the tail end of the campaign, but the game is harder for longer now.

It used to be that by the time you got your first mimic beacon (which was around the time volatile mix and plasma grenades were also a thing), that was it, game was won.
Now it is relentless.

 

[Baalzebup]

^^^
That is to be expected, really. While most of the baseline numbers remain the same, the ultimate cap for XCOM power creep is quite the bit higher in this version, especially if the stars align to grant you favorable extra abilities and high combat intelligence for a few choice troops. The LW mechanic of having to rotate your roster does keep it at bay, but the potential of building up a truly murderous A-team is bigger than ever before.

 

[schadenfood]

Haven't encountered any of the old DLC bosses yet (

Spoiler

Viper, Berserker and Archon

)--I've been putting it off since they were so tough in my last (non-WOTC) playthrough. Do they still

Spoiler

get a reaction action every time someone attacks them?

Having already taken down one of the Chosen they seem like they'd still be the toughest foe in the game. Were they nerfed a bit when they were integrated into the expansion?

 

[johancruijff]

against rulers always use DoT (poison and fire), damage every reaction

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

Haven't encountered any of the old DLC bosses yet (

Spoiler

Viper, Berserker and Archon

)--I've been putting it off since they were so tough in my last (non-WOTC) playthrough. Do they still

Spoiler

get a reaction action every time someone attacks them?

Having already taken down one of the Chosen they seem like they'd still be the toughest foe in the game. Were they nerfed a bit when they were integrated into the expansion?

I only fought one in my campaign

Spoiler

(berserker)

and I didn't notice any of those changes they were supposed to be.

Spoiler

He got a free move for every action point used by one of my units.

 

[BrassDragon]

Haven't encountered any of the old DLC bosses yet (

Spoiler

Viper, Berserker and Archon

)--I've been putting it off since they were so tough in my last (non-WOTC) playthrough. Do they still

Spoiler

get a reaction action every time someone attacks them?

Having already taken down one of the Chosen they seem like they'd still be the toughest foe in the game. Were they nerfed a bit when they were integrated into the expansion?

I didn't notice any change but the action point grants from bonds and Skirmisher tree make them a lot more manageable.

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

It's annoying when you have cosmetic mods and upgrading armor messes everyone's armor up. It's a pain having to reselect them all the time.

 

[Sblargh]

It's annoying when you have cosmetic mods and upgrading armor messes everyone's armor up. It's a pain having to reselect them all the time.

There was a mod for this on vanilla, so hang in there.

 

[Shake Appeal]

There was a mod for this on vanilla, so hang in there.

What was it called? I missed out on this one.

 

[Sblargh]

What was it called? I missed out on this one.

Cross tier arms and shoulders, though it seems to only work with arms and shoulders, lol.
Maybe using it in conjunction with progressive armor options (that unlock all armors looks for all tiers), as the modder suggests, do the trick.