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[Sblargh]

I have a bug where my specialists can no longer hack mission objectives.
I found nothing online, so I am assuming it is a weird conflict with some mod, that said, the only mod that kinds of affect hacking is gotcha, but since no one is freaking out on its comment section, I have no idea.

Alright this is complete bullshit. So I set up this perfect scenario where I get Elena Teamwork to kill two enemies in one turn but APPARENTLY if you Teamwork someone before they take a shot and they take a shot, your turn just magically ends despite them still having an action left. And of course I'm left out in the middle of no fucking cover and get critted twice and it's just complete and utter stupidity.

And now I lose my high level Reaper to some bullshit teamwork interaction and now I'm resetting cause the blacksite mission just fell apart after that.

Yeah, it's one of those things. Shooting doesn't, like, costs two actions, it acutally ends the turn.
So it will always end the turn. You have to shoot, teamwork, shoot again.
It's just how the system works.

 

[Baalzebup]

Alright this is complete bullshit. So I set up this perfect scenario where I get Elena Teamwork to kill two enemies in one turn but APPARENTLY if you Teamwork someone before they take a shot and they take a shot, your turn just magically ends despite them still having an action left. And of course I'm left out in the middle of no fucking cover and get critted twice and it's just complete and utter stupidity.

And now I lose my high level Reaper to some bullshit teamwork interaction and now I'm resetting cause the blacksite mission just fell apart after that.

The action point you get from teamwork works exactly the same as all other actions and thus:

 

[Jintor]

Just out of curiosity did the creators of both threads conspire to make them as confusing as possible?

Yes

 

[LurkerPrime]

I've had an "invisible object" situation before, I wonder if that hacking problem is similar.

In my case, an enemy couldn't be seen on the map (including a target indicator), but tab targetting revealed them. I only saw it in that one instance and never again... I hope I'm not misremembering anything major.

Alright this is complete bullshit. So I set up this perfect scenario where I get Elena Teamwork to kill two enemies in one turn but APPARENTLY if you Teamwork someone before they take a shot and they take a shot, your turn just magically ends despite them still having an action left. And of course I'm left out in the middle of no fucking cover and get critted twice and it's just complete and utter stupidity.

And now I lose my high level Reaper to some bullshit teamwork interaction and now I'm resetting cause the blacksite mission just fell apart after that.

Unless the character has a special ability that says otherwise, taking a shot will end their turn. If you had passed the action point after they took the shot it would've worked the way you planned.

And I don't actually think it's a bug, but just a reality of how action points work. If you compartmentalise bonus action points (2 + 1 actions instead of 3) you'd run into problems with sniper rifle shots (namely, teamwork could never let you fire one), and potentially have a lot of other small weird situations. It would render teamwork a lot less useful, more fiddly to use, and less intuitive to plan with.

 

[Sblargh]

Oh, teamwork allows for a sniper shot?
I always assume that anything that gives the sharpshooter one action point will just allow for a pistol shot.
-
Also, the Edited Ragdolls and Physics mod was causing invisible enemies.

 

[Baalzebup]

Oh, teamwork allows for a sniper shot?
I always assume that anything that gives the sharpshooter one action point will just allow for a pistol shot.
-
Also, the Edited Ragdolls and Physics mod was causing invisible enemies.

Move once and use teamwork with the tag partner --> Sniper has two actions even after moving once --> snipe a fool.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Oh, teamwork allows for a sniper shot?
I always assume that anything that gives the sharpshooter one action point will just allow for a pistol shot.
-
Also, the Edited Ragdolls and Physics mod was causing invisible enemies.

Only if they already had one action point before teamworking, since sniper rifles require 2 action points to fire.

I mentioned it because that's one situation where having 2 action point is different than having one with a bonus action afterwards. Like, 2 action points in 1 turn vs. having 2 separate, 1-action turns in a row, if that makes more sense.

 

[TheThunder]

Gotta love protect the device missions. They go from being the easiest missions in the early game to the hardest once one those late game aliens start showing up.

There's nothing like a Gatekeeper setting up shop next to the device and pumping 12 damage per shot while you start on the other side of the map and unless you do nothing but dash until you activate it you might as well come to terms to whichever dark event this mission was gonna counter being active for the next month.

 

[Jobbs]

I'm in a weird boat. A defining and super appealing thing to me about XCom is the permanence of your decisions in Iron Man and how this makes the game intense -- But, while I managed well enough in XCom 1, I don't know if I'm good enough to play XCom 2. I tried playing last weekend (I jumped straight in after WOTC, I never really played vanilla XC2) and I lost too many people within the first couple of hours to really seem sustainable.

Any advice other then "get good"? Should I just press through to failure and keep trying? The idea of playing with Iron Man mode off just doesn't interest me.

 

[Zod the Bear]

I'm in a weird boat. A defining and super appealing thing to me about XCom is the permanence of your decisions in Iron Man and how this makes the game intense -- But, while I managed well enough in XCom 1, I don't know if I'm good enough to play XCom 2. I tried playing last weekend (I jumped straight in after WOTC, I never really played vanilla XC2) and I lost too many people within the first couple of hours to really seem sustainable.

Any advice other then "get good"? Should I just press through to failure and keep trying? The idea of playing with Iron Man mode off just doesn't interest me.

I think there's a definite mental jump from XCOM1 to 2. In one, I was focused on primarily playing a defensive game--activate one group at a time and walk them back into your wall of firepower.

I still try to do the same thing in 2, but there's a good reason the XCOM2 OT was named "be aggressive." Forward positioning and flanking is important. Rather than hunkering down, try to find a balance of moving in to wipe out a pod before they can fire at you... without activating a second pod.

I'm admittedly not great--still playing on Veteran, but working on that helped me a bit with the transition.

 

[King Tubby]

I'm in a weird boat. A defining and super appealing thing to me about XCom is the permanence of your decisions in Iron Man and how this makes the game intense -- But, while I managed well enough in XCom 1, I don't know if I'm good enough to play XCom 2. I tried playing last weekend (I jumped straight in after WOTC, I never really played vanilla XC2) and I lost too many people within the first couple of hours to really seem sustainable.

Any advice other then "get good"? Should I just press through to failure and keep trying? The idea of playing with Iron Man mode off just doesn't interest me.

Set overwatch traps when possible (using stealth units as scouts), always go for the high ground, and most importantly, use your grenades sooner rather than later. You should bring grenades on everyone. In the early going, medkits aren't worth nearly as much as being able to do damage at will. If you can kill a pesky soldier or destroy the cover of a bunch of them and take open shots early in the mission, it buys you time and maneuverability later in the mission for more prolonged exchanges and aggressive maneuvering for flanks. Moving for the flanking shot is a lot riskier early on in a mission because of the possibility of drawing other enemies into the fray.

The strongest classes in the early game are the ranger and the grenadier, while the other classes take a bit more time to come into their own. Also, the very first building you should always build is the Guerilla Tactics School. You can increase your squad size after getting one of your soldiers promoted twice and you can get free promotions on any of your rookies to any class you desire.

 

[TC McQueen]

Here's the WOTC version of the Ranger & Grenadier rebalances I made:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1130220766

You get Implacable and Suppression as a Squaddie abilities, then an AOE Suppression ability on Grenadiers and a detection radius reduction for Rangers at higher ranks:

Now I can finally do my actual first run of WOTC.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I feel like scout Rangers are less useful now that Reapers are a thing. They get most of the Ranger's stealth powerset by default, and some extra goodies besides.

Meanwhile I think that sword Rangers got a buff somewhere, and Bladestorm + Blademaster is just silly vs. Lost.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Huh, my C/I run may be bugged, dozens of hours in. After the

Spoiler

Avenger defense

mission, my Avenger is missing. Like, stuck in the ocean? When I try to go anywhere or scan anything on the strategic layer, the camera pans over to an empty expanse of ocean and the game freezes.

Cool.

 

[King Tubby]

I feel like scout Rangers are less useful now that Reapers are a thing. They get most of the Ranger's stealth powerset by default, and some extra goodies besides.

Meanwhile I think that sword Rangers got a buff somewhere, and Bladestorm + Blademaster is just silly vs. Lost.

The biggest flaw of this expansion IMO is that a lot of the skill trees have boiled down to essentially one way decisions. I don't have a single Ranger in my run who has taken a single perk from the left side of the tree through their first 5 promotions. You just don't need them to fulfill the stealth scouting role when the Reaper is so highly specialized, and the extra sword damage/accuracy makes them that much more valuable as reliable damage dealers in the early game.

 

[bobnowhere]

I just bought the reinforcement pack, I assume I need to restart WotC to integrate them properly?

 

[More_Badass]

Here's the WOTC version of the Ranger & Grenadier rebalances I made:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1130220766

You get Implacable and Suppression as a Squaddie abilities, then an AOE Suppression ability on Grenadiers and a detection radius reduction for Rangers at higher ranks:


Now I can finally do my actual first run of WOTC.

Wow, they completely redid the menus too? Or is that a mod?

 

[Sblargh]

I feel like scout Rangers are less useful now that Reapers are a thing. They get most of the Ranger's stealth powerset by default, and some extra goodies besides.

Meanwhile I think that sword Rangers got a buff somewhere, and Bladestorm + Blademaster is just silly vs. Lost.

As it turns out, the only difference between my blademaster buidld and my scout build is just blademaster. So I start with phantom, do my build as usual (shadowstrike, conceal, bladestorm, untouchable, rapid fire) and then buy blademaster in the training center.

Shadowstrike is the real deal of a ranger even if you are not scouting. It allows you to have high 80s shots with very good critical chances against enemies who are in cover. Concealment + shadowstrike = "use a free action that gives you +25 aim +25 crit for the next shot"

 

[Pikelet]

I'm in a weird boat. A defining and super appealing thing to me about XCom is the permanence of your decisions in Iron Man and how this makes the game intense -- But, while I managed well enough in XCom 1, I don't know if I'm good enough to play XCom 2. I tried playing last weekend (I jumped straight in after WOTC, I never really played vanilla XC2) and I lost too many people within the first couple of hours to really seem sustainable.

Any advice other then "get good"? Should I just press through to failure and keep trying? The idea of playing with Iron Man mode off just doesn't interest me.

If you're the kind of person who likes iron man mode, then I think you should play iron man mode. Just don't expect to win on your first run through.

It's very painful to put in 6 hours into a campaign and then have it all go to shit after one disastrous mission(happened to me), but savescumming and breezing through the campaign robs the game of it's teeth. With all the extra variety they have added, restarting less of a big deal anyways.


I'm no pro player, but here are some tips anyway:

- Same old XCOM tactics apply: Half cover is awful, don't rely on it. Don't explore new territory on the last move of your turn, you're just asking for trouble.

- Grenades are still amazing because they offer guaranteed damage and can remove cover. Sure you lose the chance to pick up weapon mods, but if there's even a moderate chance that a turn could go to shit if i don't use a nade, always use the nade.

- Reapers appear to be the standout new class because they are amazing at scouting. They can walk right in front of enemies without being seen. The #1 thing that (probably) gets squad members killed is accidentally activating pods of enemies. Scouting counters this.

- Rangers are your DPS class because they can consistently run right up to enemies and score critical hits. Now that reapers are better at scouting than rangers, you're probably better off ignoring the conceal skill-track and going straight for the blade abilities.

- Prioritise mag weapons and armour in research

- Cycle in a few squaddies in earlier missions to get some depth in your roster, otherwise you'll be up shit creek once you hit the inevitable squad wipe. There are a few extra mechanics that make it even more important to not just run your A-team every single mission. The Covert Ops offer very powerful rewards but requires some high ranking team mates to be out of action for a large amount of time. Other things that take more time out of active duty include tiredness and removing negative traits etc.

- Don't be afraid to evac. The moment it becomes clear that you aren't going to complete the mission objectives, get the hell out of there!

- The new covert ops are very good!

- The lost are fun to play against, but are generally the easiest missions in the game. Use some lower-ranking soldiers against them to farm xp.

 

[FunkyMonk]

It would help but I'd get all the plasma weapons done first then on to the power armour and get a war suit asap (preferably while getting an experimental heavy weapon out quickly). Getting Bluescreen rounds for the Sectopods is a must as well as a good Specialist for hacking. I always take two in the late game - a healer and a hacker.

With the training ring you can have one specialist as both a hacker and a healer slacky.

 

[Randomizer123454444]

In other news taking templar + two sword rangers vs warlock stronghold who is "immune to melee" was a GRAND idea. Lucky I got two psi-soldiers with me and they eventually bombarded him down with rifts, null lances and the like.

It does last forever sadly, longer than it's supposed to. You need to do another map with the Lost World sitrep and then it'll go away. Avoid it like the plague after that (Counter the Dark event if you can)

That said, my first half of the campaign had that bug and it wasn't too bad, I'm not really sure if it was a negative thing in retrospect, it probably helped as often as it was a bother, it just became a burden after a while, and as you said, it limits your options.

THANK YOU! I did that, and the dark event DID go away! I feel so relieved, I can continue my gameplay normally now.

 

[Stoze]

Wow, they completely redid the menus too? Or is that a mod?

It's part of WotC. You don't have to pick only between one perk or the other anymore, and can acquire extra random perks, all by spending ability points.

The old menu is still there for whatever reason.

 

[Facism]

I'm still confused as to how I get the dlc story missions to pop in the game. Do I uncheck integrate dlc and individually enable them, or do I unchecked everything?

 

[Randomizer123454444]

I'm still confused as to how I get the dlc story missions to pop in the game. Do I uncheck integrate dlc and individually enable them, or do I unchecked everything?

If you have integrated CHECKED:
- Rules will be guarding alien facilities, and will start appearing in random missions after 1st encounter @ an alien facility
- You can build SPARK from the start. Or maybe do some research to unlock them, don't remember exactly
- No dedicated story missions for the DLC's

If you have integrated UNCHECKED & other boxes CHECKED:
- You need to go trough the dlc story missions like in vanilla Xcom 2

 

[Joey Ravn]

If you have integrated UNCHECKED & other boxes CHECKED:
- You need to go trough the dlc story missions like in vanilla Xcom 2

Ah. That explains why I was able to build SPARKs after researching them and got the Steam Achievement, but never had the DLC mission pop up in the map.

I don't know why they made it that way. It would have been much easier to just integrate everything into the main game and not bother with any differentiation.

 

[hotcyder]

Forgot how much of an absolute pain it is at the chryssalid stage of the game

 

[Facism]

If you have integrated CHECKED:
- Rules will be guarding alien facilities, and will start appearing in random missions after 1st encounter @ an alien facility
- You can build SPARK from the start. Or maybe do some research to unlock them, don't remember exactly
- No dedicated story missions for the DLC's

If you have integrated UNCHECKED & other boxes CHECKED:
- You need to go trough the dlc story missions like in vanilla Xcom 2

legend. Cheers

 

[Slackbladder]

With the training ring you can have one specialist as both a hacker and a healer slacky.

Yeah, but it takes time and I tend to put the bonus points on other classes first. That said it does free up a space. I actually was almost halfway through my first WotC playthrough when I realised I could add bonus points to my soldiers!

I do want to say there is a glaring oversight in this game since day one that I've never been happy with. Enemy AI can see your entire squad even when they can only see one soldier. Example. Base infiltration and I have one soldier on the roof and 4 near the two doors on the bottom left. Doors are shut and they're not near windows. I see a Mec and take a shot. It survives. I put aid protocol on the soldier and leave the rest on overwatch. When the Mec moves it ignores the soldier it can see and instead fires its missile at the four outside the doors, even though it can not know they are there. The game has the AI of the Mec always fire its missile if there are enough of your soldiers grouped together, regardless of line of sight and regardless of seeing anyone move to a location. It's very annoying and ultimately, after finishing my first playthrough I've made some changes to the games .ini and now the Mec has no missiles.

 

[Tacitus_]

Forgot how much of an absolute pain it is at the chryssalid stage of the game

10 damage melee + Bladestorm (or equivalent) =

 

[Kaffeemann]

Late game soldiers in WotC are absolutely, completely broken OP.
Sharpshooter with relevant perks in both trees + Icarus Armor + Hunter Weapons = GOD

 

[prudislav]

Anyone knows how are Alien Hunters im,plemented in WoTC?

 

[Anfang]

So I just got Xcom 2 and all the dlc, at what point does Shens last gift become active? Its been a few months but nothing yet.

 

[BrassDragon]

Anyone knows how are Alien Hunters im,plemented in WoTC?

Scroll up a few posts up, it's discussed there. If you chose 'integrated DLC' at the start of a game, Shen's Last Gift and Alien Hunters don't lead to story missions - you just get the encounters in other WOTC missions and the equipment/SPARK can be researched and engineered.

Meanwhile I'm really enjoying small tweaks to the mission structure, like the more involved retaliation missions where the resistance is actually in the fight and the quasi-stealth of the jailbreak missions with the security escalation.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Late game soldiers in WotC are absolutely, completely broken OP.
Sharpshooter with relevant perks in both trees + Icarus Armor + Hunter Weapons = GOD

Yeah it's kinda great.

 

[hotcyder]

10 damage melee + Bladestorm (or equivalent) =

My blade boy did clean them up pretty well - but I lost a decent sniper - not to mention my psychic man

 

[Diancecht]

Played it for about 10 hours and got my ass handed to me so I am restarting. Should I focus on one faction to improve relations or should I spread the love? So far I am loving the Reapers.

 

[Randomizer123454444]

Played it for about 10 hours and got my ass handed to me so I am restarting. Should I focus on one faction to improve relations or should I spread the love? So far I am loving the Reapers.

Ops priority for me:
- Covert ops you absolutely need ASAP
- Unlock each hero type
- Hunt #1 and Hunt #2 for each chosen relatively fast so you can unlock influence slot bonuses. They can make or break your game.

Beyond that choose what rewards you need.

 

[Poodlestrike]

As it turns out, the only difference between my blademaster buidld and my scout build is just blademaster. So I start with phantom, do my build as usual (shadowstrike, conceal, bladestorm, untouchable, rapid fire) and then buy blademaster in the training center.

Shadowstrike is the real deal of a ranger even if you are not scouting. It allows you to have high 80s shots with very good critical chances against enemies who are in cover. Concealment + shadowstrike = "use a free action that gives you +25 aim +25 crit for the next shot"

Shadowstrike is cool, but if you ever get stuck in a firefight and can't kill your way out of it in one turn Shadowstep is incredible for letting you take people out of Overwatch at will without spending a Combat Protocol charge.

 

[MrCompletely]

The biggest flaw of this expansion IMO is that a lot of the skill trees have boiled down to essentially one way decisions. I don't have a single Ranger in my run who has taken a single perk from the left side of the tree through their first 5 promotions. You just don't need them to fulfill the stealth scouting role when the Reaper is so highly specialized, and the extra sword damage/accuracy makes them that much more valuable as reliable damage dealers in the early game.

I don't agree with this. Your reaper won't be able to go on every mission, due to injuries and fatigue. You only get the opportunity to have a few reapers through an entire campaign, so you could very possibly be without a reaper if shit goes south. The reaper and a phantom ranger can work very well together, especially in timer based missions where you can stealth close to the objective. Ranger can back up reaper on flanking shots, run and gun, and the connection becomes even more powerful if you bond a ranger and reaper - bond level 2+ you can remove negative mental effects just by standing in an adjacent tile.

 

[Grimsen]

I do want to say there is a glaring oversight in this game since day one that I've never been happy with. Enemy AI can see your entire squad even when they can only see one soldier.

It's not an oversight lol. It's simply a design decision you don't like.

Just tell yourself that your team isn't that good at hiding, and that they get spotted once the enemy pays attention.

Don't forget that it's essential for your squad to be revealed if you want to set up an ambush on your opponent's turn.

If you're hell-bent on staying concealed, look for rangers with the phantom ability. It can also appear as a random ability in other classes.

 

[RedlineRonin]

I just realized, reading the above chryssalid comment, that I did not see the chryssalid queen or w/e it's called the entire playthrough. The really big one?

Did they take it out?

 

[TC McQueen]

I just realized, reading the above chryssalid comment, that I did not see the chryssalid queen or w/e it's called the entire playthrough. The really big one?

Did they take it out?

That's a Long War Studios mod.

 

[Baalzebup]

I just realized, reading the above chryssalid comment, that I did not see the chryssalid queen or w/e it's called the entire playthrough. The really big one?

Did they take it out?

That is something from the Long War. It has never been a part of any official XCOM content

Beaten like lids by a Katana wielding blade-ranger.

 

[RedlineRonin]

Really?

Was it bundled in with some of their weapon packs or something? I never downloaded any extra enemies, but I think i may have downloaded some classes and weapons.

Interesting.

 

[Jintor]

it's just a giant lid with changed stats and scaling. You wouldn't have had to download anything except an ini change.

 

[RedlineRonin]

it's just a giant lid with changed stats and scaling. You wouldn't have had to download anything except an ini change.

Huh.

Totally thought that was OC.

Testament to the quality of work those guys do I guess

 

[Shake Appeal]

Shadowstrike is cool, but if you ever get stuck in a firefight and can't kill your way out of it in one turn Shadowstep is incredible for letting you take people out of Overwatch at will without spending a Combat Protocol charge.

I could be forgetting, but I don't think Shadowstep burns Overwatch. It just causes Overwatch not to trigger. I.e., they don't fire on you at all.

Anyway, I rage uninstalled this game yesterday after my save bugged. I will probably play it again in 2018.

 

[Baalzebup]

I could be forgetting, but I don't think Shadowstep burns Overwatch. It just causes Overwatch not to trigger. I.e., they don't fire on you at all.

Anyway, I rage uninstalled this game yesterday after my save bugged. I will probably play it again in 2018.

It doesn't burn it straight out, but the ranger can go and do violence on the overwatching entities and that *will* burn it.

 

[Kaffeemann]

My current plans for generally more challenge and a more balanced late game:

- I like the length of Commander and think Legendary would be too long so I'll stick with that
- A Better AI: WotC for less stupid AI
- Beta Strike for less alpha striking
- Alien Hunters disabled in steam for fewer overpowered weapons and armors
- I won't permanently kill the Chosen so they can still annoy me and I won't get their OP weapons
- disabled all instant research in the ini to slow it down overall

Is that enough?

 

[Baalzebup]

I won't permanently kill the Chosen so they can still annoy me and I won't get their OP weapons

Having all 3 active and constantly gaining new perks and acting with 100% XCOM knowledge seems like a genuine pain in the ass.