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XCOM 2: War of the Chosen |OT| Mario + Rabbids + Autopsies

Templars are pretty heavily loaded towards the endgame. Once you get the Psi Storm thing, + a few Focus gathering enhancers, + parry, you're looking at a really, really dangerous dude. Being outrageously mobile doesn't hurt either. I haven't explored their position swap stuff much, but I could see it being a gamechanger once you get used to including it in your plans.

What they don't do well, though, is fold themselves into existing playstyles as easily as Reaper and Skirmisher do. You can basically build a 4-man squad of the original classes, add a Reaper and a Skirmisher in there, and be good to go. If you want a Templar in that mix, you're looking at subbing out a Blade Ranger (who generally does better damage, and has more flexibility with regards to range).

I gotta spend some time thinking about how to build a team around 'em.
 

Ashtar

Member
So for PS4 I have to have the actual game (which I do) and the dlc? Or if I don't have the dlc do I just not get the spark unit ?
 

Baalzebup

Member
I... forgot that Mutons counter melee.

My Templar's first move ever was to run straight up to a muton and get critted in the face and bleed to death.
Heh, reminds of the time that I ran my Katana-wielding Blade-Ranger to a spot that was to get some reinforcements coming in the next alien turn, figuring she would do some terrible things to them via Bladestorm. Too bad the pod included a Muton, who proceeded to sucker-punch her instead.
Templars are pretty heavily loaded towards the endgame. Once you get the Psi Storm thing, + a few Focus gathering enhancers, + parry, you're looking at a really, really dangerous dude. Being outrageously mobile doesn't hurt either. I haven't explored their position swap stuff much, but I could see it being a gamechanger once you get used to including it in your plans.

What they don't do well, though, is fold themselves into existing playstyles as easily as Reaper and Skirmisher do. You can basically build a 4-man squad of the original classes, add a Reaper and a Skirmisher in there, and be good to go. If you want a Templar in that mix, you're looking at subbing out a Blade Ranger (who generally does better damage, and has more flexibility with regards to range).

I gotta spend some time thinking about how to build a team around 'em.
I've found great success in wielding the Templar in a basic 4-man unit + Reaper, but the Templar did luck into getting Bladestorm as an off-class skill. Upraded focus + Parry + Bladestorm is an insane combination, as the enemies will more or less always try to make space for the first action and there are very few enemies who can survive two Rends in a row. I honestly haven't even considered on how to use her w/o the bladestorm.

And despite the muton incident detailed above, I still tend to solve reinforcement flares by running both my Blade-Ranger and the Templar right into the drop zones. Most fuckers will trigger one or both Bladestorms. gg
 
Heh, reminds of the time that I ran my Katana-wielding Blade-Ranger to a spot that was to get some reinforcements coming in the next alien turn, figuring she would do some terrible things to them via Bladestorm. Too bad the pod included a Muton, who proceeded to sucker-punch her instead.
I've found great success in wielding the Templar in a basic 4-man unit + Reaper, but the Templar did luck into getting Bladestorm as an off-class skill. Upraded focus + Parry + Bladestorm is an insane combination, as the enemies will more or less always try to make space for the first action and there are very few enemies who can survive two Rends in a row. I honestly haven't even considered on how to use her w/o the bladestorm.

And despite the muton incident detailed above, I still tend to solve reinforcement flares by running both my Blade-Ranger and the Templar right into the drop zones. Most fuckers will trigger one or both Bladestorms. gg

Yeah, the lack of a melee reaction in the main trees is a big problem. I got a few Gunslinger traits on one, which was fun, but sorta out of place.

And I honestly didn't know Mutons could melee counter Templars. I use mine on them all the time.
 

SRG01

Member
I've found great success in wielding the Templar in a basic 4-man unit + Reaper, but the Templar did luck into getting Bladestorm as an off-class skill. Upraded focus + Parry + Bladestorm is an insane combination, as the enemies will more or less always try to make space for the first action and there are very few enemies who can survive two Rends in a row. I honestly haven't even considered on how to use her w/o the bladestorm.

How do you get off-class skills in WotC??
 
Started a new campaign recently and already have three sharpshooters with Genius combat intelligence. Seems good.
Does anyone know how many bonus ability points each combat intelligent level gives?
 

Syrus

Banned
I wonder what the new build order for buildings is.

This game introduces so many cool choices


GTS - Resistance ring - training center

Power relay - resistance comms - proving ground

Infirmary

You couldpush off training centdr orprovong gdound fpr infirmary
 

Syrus

Banned
Started a new campaign recently and already have three sharpshooters with Genius combat intelligence. Seems good.
Does anyone know how many bonus ability points each combat intelligent level gives?

I think gifted g8ves 1 more per level over one bwfore it
 

Jintor

Member
i get really annoyed at how fucking inconsistent the game is with letting you skip the dialogue though.

i don't mind it for flavour but when it's constantly taking unskippable control of my camera it fucking sucks

what's worse though is dropping out of the research menu to go straight to the bridge, triggering tygan to say something (triggering on returning to the lab menu screen) before central cuts him off (triggered by going to the world map)
 
I fucking hate how poorly explained the skyranger is.

I lost two solders by calling in a skyranger, I had no idea that it would erase the automatic evac zone generated after completing an objective.
 

Jintor

Member
anyway a few things i learned on my non-gaf run (count yourselves lucky, gafcom)

1. timer pauses when chosen spawn onto the field. I didn't need to rush to the objective in a lost-alien-chosen-melee that got two of my soldiers killed when i didn't need to.

2. purifier explosions (well all explosions really) destroy roofs for people above them also. rip sniper who thought they had the high ground.

3. aforementioned muton counter
 
Wow. Two missions in and I have to take a couple rookies to meet the Reapers, Skirmishers, fight the Lost and the Chosen assassin all in the same mission. This expansion comes out fast and hard lol.

Didn't lose anyone but my heavy got wounded by a seemingly uncounterable stealth strike from the assassin. She is immune to overwatch.
 

AlterOdin

Member
tfw your xcom squad finna drop the hottest mixtape of 2017

AiKkFcF.png

Cool pic ;) But is somewhat what irks me with XCOM2 that everybody (including "surgical disaster" Canning Tatum) is trying so hard to be cool, that they are almost/are shiting their pants.

Don't get me wrong, I love playing the tactical layer (macro&micro&mechanics) but the attitude of the protagonists, that we are so cool while a little grungy (but we are"super-good on the inside), while the antagonists (chosen) is so cheesy evil (whit human traits, bickering as a mistrusted family, although they are alien, etc).

Are we supposed to take this, in any way, seriously? Or are they just being "ironic", which does not come across well, at-least in my opinion.

Sorry for the rant, just wanted to get if of my chest.

PS. Nothing to do directly with the "quote", it just in-capsuled the "to cool for school" mentally I dislike. All my "propaganda" pics are like this also :)

PSS, Yes, no NoFunAllowed.gif allowed!!!!

PSSS. Grab another beer ;)
 

AlterOdin

Member
Uhm.. no. This game is tongue in cheek as hell. I thought that was obvious.

But why? This " tongue in cheek" story is insulting, targeting five-years-old's (this might even be insulting for five-year-old's), while the tactical layers is obviously targeted at a more "mature" audience.

I can take "fun/ironical/sarcastic" takes on something, I got a 50's sci-fi vibe from the first Xcom reboot, not super serious but a lot more "tongue in cheek" than this.

Sry, X2-story just rubbes me the wrong way, even though is supposed to be "tongue in cheek" :)
 
So does the Assassin just get guaranteed free hits from stealth? Seems kinda bullshit.

She is immune to overwatch so I can't do anything about it it seems.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
Uhm.. no. This game is tongue in cheek as hell. I thought that was obvious.

My main Specialist successfully hacked an enemy guard post. She proceeded to shout: "HACK THE PLANET!"

How can anyone think this game is trying to be serious or "edgy" is beyond me.
 

AlterOdin

Member
My main Specialist successfully hacked an enemy guard post. She proceeded to shout: "HACK THE PLANET!"

How can anyone think this game is trying to be serious or "edgy" is beyond me.

Hi :)

Not that I ever took the game "seriously", I'm just not sure the "writers" did. It feels like "Hello fellow kids" to the extreme.

I am probably overreacting, but the presentation (how serious/unserious they were) was just such a "turn off" for me. (Even for "tongue in check")

I'm just a old cynical bastard, I guess.
 

mbpm1

Member
So does the Assassin just get guaranteed free hits from stealth? Seems kinda bullshit.

She is immune to overwatch so I can't do anything about it it seems.

yeah she's tough in early game.

I just put my highest hp people on the edges of the mass of soldiers to tank her hits and tried to chase her down after
 

Jintor

Member
But why? This " tongue in cheek" story is insulting, targeting five-years-old's (this might even be insulting for five-year-old's), while the tactical layers is obviously targeted at a more "mature" audience.

I can take "fun/ironical/sarcastic" takes on something, I got a 50's sci-fi vibe from the first Xcom reboot, not super serious but a lot more "tongue in cheek" than this.

Sry, X2-story just rubbes me the wrong way, even though is supposed to be "tongue in cheek" :)

64723D062631BCA48BB12662C8116C5DAC3B8DE5


og x-com's aesthetic is *chef kiss*
 
yeah she's tough in early game.

I just put my highest hp people on the edges of the mass of soldiers to tank her hits and tried to chase her down after


Well good news is my Grenadier got right back up from being dazed and crit her so hard the mission went to the next phase.
 

low-G

Member
If we're talking about story, I miss when the xenos were mysterious, unknowable. Now it's an episode of Star Trek or something. Every alien is a human stand in speaking things with understand with human emotions.

I miss the X-Files like vibe you got out of previous entries.
 
Dumb question, but how does controller support work on PC? I remember giving it a shot a while back, and the only issue was that there was no way to access the 'action bar.' Like, you know how on consoles you can hit RT/R2, and then the bar of all possible actions comes up (like fire, overwatch, reload, etc.)? It seemed like when I used a controller on PC, there was still no other way to perform actions than dragging the cursor over the appropriate button, which was super tedious.

Has this been fixed/updated?
 

AlterOdin

Member
Dumb question, but how does controller support work on PC? I remember giving it a shot a while back, and the only issue was that there was no way to access the 'action bar.' Like, you know how on consoles you can hit RT/R2, and then the bar of all possible actions comes up (like fire, overwatch, reload, etc.)? It seemed like when I used a controller on PC, there was still no other way to perform actions than dragging the cursor over the appropriate button, which was super tedious.

Has this been fixed/updated?

Works great, only issues I have encountered are icon selecting on the home base, that is icons floating on the avenger base. Such as bond-upgrades and serious afflicted soldiers.

You can access these by the the "training ground" (bonds) or the "medical bay" (afflictions)
 

Pilgrimzero

Member
I played Xcom 2 when it first came out and found the overworld map stuff hard to figure out. Which having a timer till bad things happened only added to frustration.

Is it "better" now?
 
Works great, only issues I have encountered are icon selecting on the home base, that is icons floating on the avenger base. Such as bond-upgrades and serious afflicted soldiers.

You can access these by the the "training ground" (bonds) or the "medical bay" (afflictions)

I must be missing something, because I just fired it up and the same problem exists as far as I can tell. I can bind specific actions to the triggers, but the 'action bar' function seems exclusive to consoles.
 
I must be missing something, because I just fired it up and the same problem exists as far as I can tell. I can bind specific actions to the triggers, but the 'action bar' function seems exclusive to consoles.

I'm using an xbox one controller with the wireless adapter - using the default controls and R trigger activates the action bar. Once its activated you use left/right on the dpad to select individual actions. Some actions have their own default assigned key as well, like X is reload and Y is overwatch.
 
I'm using an xbox one controller with the wireless adapter - using the default controls and R trigger activates the action bar. Once its activated you use left/right on the dpad to select individual actions. Some actions have their own default assigned key as well, like X is reload and Y is overwatch.

Dang, super weird....when you pull up the controller configuration, what does it call that action? Like, what does it say you have bound to RT?
 

AlterOdin

Member
I must be missing something, because I just fired it up and the same problem exists as far as I can tell. I can bind specific actions to the triggers, but the 'action bar' function seems exclusive to consoles.

Hmm, really don't know the problem you are encountering, you mention cursors when selecting actions, etc. If a cursor it present you are not in "controller" mode.

1. You sure you selected controller input from the game-play menu.
2. You have not "enabled" in-steam controller support in the steam (now supports xbox, ps, steam-controller), this can sometimes f***-up controller supported games.

To clarify, when I am using a controller and controlling a soldier, I press right-trigger and can circle abilities with d-pad, and targets with right- and left-bumber.
 
Well, I'm going to start over. All my high level troops are dead and I'm now on a consistent roll of failing every mission now.

Any tips on my next new game (commander ironman)? I didn't build a Guerrilla Tactics School until much later, that was probably a huge mistake.
 
I don't even have the option to edit the controller config as far as I can tell. This is what it looks like in game for me:
Config screen


Controller Map:

Maybe I'm getting closer to the problem. I realized that I was messing around with the DualShock settings for Steam, not within XCOM itself. So I'm in the config menu from the main XCOM menu and it allows me to change the input to controller, but once I make the change, there's not way for me to save and exit. Every time I try to leave, I get the option to either discard my changes and back out or stay where I am and make more changes. I can't seem to figure out how to make the change and then back out with it taking effect.
 

Jintor

Member
Well, I'm going to start over. All my high level troops are dead and I'm now on a consistent roll of failing every mission now.

Any tips on my next new game (commander ironman)? I didn't build a Guerrilla Tactics School until much later, that was probably a huge mistake.

Squad size is basically mandatory
 
Maybe I'm getting closer to the problem. I realized that I was messing around with the DualShock settings for Steam, not within XCOM itself. So I'm in the config menu from the main XCOM menu and it allows me to change the input to controller, but once I make the change, there's not way for me to save and exit. Every time I try to leave, I get the option to either discard my changes and back out or stay where I am and make more changes. I can't seem to figure out how to make the change and then back out with it taking effect.

By default the save changes button in the config is X on an xbox controller which would be square on a DS. Does that not do anything once you change the input to controller?
 
Squad size is basically mandatory

This.

Also, THIS.

In conclusion, THIIIIS.

GTS also makes it so you never ever have to send a Rookie out into the field, and that's pretty great. Especially if you get the Resistance Order that lets 'em skip straight to Sergeant.

Thinking about it, I'd say best build order is...

-GTS
-Resistance Ring
-Power
-Workshop*
-Training Center
-Proving Ground
-Infirmary

Then play it by ear. You'll probably blow up your first power station when you get to the bottom levels, so think about that when you're doing layout stuff. Resistance Radio is a LOT less valuable now that you can get extra contacts through Covert Ops, which, btw, you should ALWAYS BE DOING.

Like, ALWAYS.

*If you have a ton of engineers, skip this. You mostly just want to make sure you can stretch that first power station as far as you can.
 

Sblargh

Banned
You start with more power than in vanilla.
It used to be that power had to be your third facility, but now it can be the fourth.
So my build order is (for legend):
GTS (don't rush, it will finish around the time you have your first sergeant without rushing)
Ring (rush) -> Proving grounds (rush), then I stop rushing buildings and focus my engineer into excavation and I juggle one of them between the proving ground and the ring.
Then it is power -> resistance comms -> training facility.

If you have the rulers DLC, an early proving grounds means an early bolt, frost bomb and axe which all helps so very much. If you don't, I would probably do GTS -> ring -> training -> power -> comms -> proving grounds.
 
Weird, hope you get it figured out.

Thanks. I think I'm making progress of a kind. If I turn off all Steam configurations, I can get a Pro Controller working. It allows me to hit X and save the input device as a controller. But for some reason, when I open up an old campaign, right trigger ends the turn and clicking in the right stick brings up the action bar.

Which is great, but is it just too much to ask to play the game with the regular control scheme?
 
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