Had a "great" moment like that last night. I was having trouble enough taking down three mutons when 6 floaters suddenly appeared between us and the mutons. :| Two of my guys managed to get back to the Skyranger for an evac.
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown |OT| Neo GAF is Under Alien Control
- Thread starter Jintor
- Start date
I set aside my Normal playthrough because I was getting close to the end and not feeling like I had really been challenged. So I stopped and started a new Classic playthrough.
My butthole stings right now. In Classic it's so much tougher to get that critical, initial foothold. I had a VIP escort mission that was literally a no win situation through entirely no fault of my own. They spawned a thin man into a spot where my VIP was after I had already moved my troops. I could literally do nothing but watch the VIP die.
My butthole stings right now. In Classic it's so much tougher to get that critical, initial foothold. I had a VIP escort mission that was literally a no win situation through entirely no fault of my own. They spawned a thin man into a spot where my VIP was after I had already moved my troops. I could literally do nothing but watch the VIP die.
IblisGinjo
Member
Separate second rocket.
Really? So you can basically have 4 rockets if you spec for the additional one? Hm. Hmhmhm. Might be useful having a heavy with that spec.
Haven't used one in a while. It does not replace the skill, that I know for sure. But it probably works like Revive/Heal, Arc Thrower Repair/Capture, in that using one function counts for both functions, i.e. if you revive someone your Medikit's empty (or at 2 out of 3 uses, depending). edit: disregard, because ^
That's better than sending them out into reaction fire like a dumbass, which I did. Twice.
Man I loved Chaos Gate so much. It's a shame that I can't get my disk to work with Windows 7. The cultists yelling out "Come to Chaos" still freaks me out.
Wonder Cheese
Banned
I haven't played the game yet, but autosave is definitely in the game. I believe it is turned off by default, so you just need to enable it.
Early game on classic is brutally difficult as you struggle to get a decent squad built up and are starving for resources. Its a race to see how quickly you can get early satellite coverage without neglecting everything. Having to replace all of your starting troops because they only have 4 base health doesn't help the early money situation either... but its the best decision you can make from a long term investment standpoint.
For the escort missions you really need people on overwatch at all times to properly
defend the VIP. The ai doesn't screw around
in this game and goes right for vulnerable targets. Just wait for later terror missions where mutons will pot shot civilians almost as if they're taunting you.
I haven't played the game yet, but autosave is definitely in the game. I believe it is turned off by default, so you just need to enable it.
Autosave is SHIT. DO NOT USE.
I used it in the beginning and it screwed me. It only uses up only 4 slots and overwrites them every few turns. I wasn't even able to do manual saves when they were on, not sure if bugged. But after i turned it off, i was able to save as much as i wanted.
Mutons. I wish I were so lucky. Last one was all Chrysalids. The only reason I stayed until the bitter end was morbid fascination (pulling out wouldn't have made a difference for that game).
slaughterking
Member
Beat the game. Good stuff, but I really need to figure out why it ran so poorly on PS3. Is the PS3 version kinda busted or is my console or disc not working right. Don't want to go for another playthrough until I know what's up.
So good.
ii Stryker
Banned
Are there only 3 tiers to the psionic abilities? When do you get the black psionic armor that I've seen in gameplay videos?
unlocked later in the game and must be built in Engineering.
It's story-locked. You have to do a certain mission to unlock it. Where a certain enemy type will be introduced to you.
I'm curious as well. Also going to pass on a second play through till patched.
Sorry, my Heavy Colonel insists I spam this screenshot again.
He was so, so proud. It actually was well timed, I had screwed up my initial squad orientation after the first move and my sniper was dangerously exposed.
So, continuing my Classic Ironman journey...
http://www.twitch.tv/fanboiGAF
Now raiding a supply ship with my new
!
http://www.twitch.tv/fanboiGAF
Now raiding a supply ship with my new
titan armour
Incendiary
Banned
Once I found that out I never looked back. Shredder Rockets for all my Heavies.
Snipers are awesome! I used two on my team. And yea, they have great upgrades
electricpirate
Member
Snipers are BEASTS, but you have to get them up to Sargeant, where they can get squadsite. SquadSite may be the best ability in the game, especially once you start layering other sniper awesomeness on top.
whalleywhat
Member
Snipers are OP once you've leveled them.
Noisepurge
Member
mmm, gotta love those UI glitches on the PS3 
Snipers become deadly with upgrades. Probably the most consistent big damage you'll get. Squad Sight gives them range. A Squad Sight sniper perched somewhere with a decent view is awesome. With double Tap, there really isn't any enemy unit in the game that a sniper can't potentially take down in one turn. Although some require two critical hits, but you can til the odds in your favor with Ghost Armor and a Headshot.
They will turn into absolute killing machines as they level up. Squadsight, a skill you can get after the initial specialization, extends their range to enemies that their squad sees. On some maps, you can basically leave them at or near the starting point and just pick off anything that comes into view as the rest of the team does their thing. They only get better from there. I almost always had one with me.
Snipers are amazing but are a big liability early on. Try to save the killing blow for them, even if you have to use a grenade or pistol to level them up. A good tactic especially when you can use better pistols is to move your sniper, swap guns and use oversight with the pistol since you normally can't after moving.
whalleywhat
Member
You just need to put some thought into positioning. They probably have better aim and more damage than your other units, you just can't move and shoot.
powerful enough right after I get the second upgrade where they can shoot after moving. I might replay the game in Iron Man with only Snipers.
never used Squad Sight. will try that out.
They don't have much range without squadsight to make up for the fact that they can't move and shoot, so they aren't very good before the level up.
InVinoVeritas
Member
I've played (and lost) 4 ironman classic games so far, and I hadn't noticed this. So new troops that I hire have more health than the bunch that they start you with? Does that include the troops in your reserve right from the start- meaning that I would have to buy not just 4 new troops but replace EVERYONE?
Squad site is fantastic saved my ass. I had my squad advancing except my sniper whom I put up in a roost to overwatch. I was too spread out when moving forward and uncovered some elite mutons and a cyber disk with my squad in the middle. Pretty sure without my sniper ranked up with Squad Sight, the tactical height advantage, and the perk to let her shoot again if the target is flanked or in the open.. I would have been decimated. She picked off the first 5 (3 mutons and 2 drones) leaving only the cyberdisk (had too many HP) in a single turn. It was an epic moment.
So yeah... Squad Sight.
Sight. Siiight. [/orthography asshole]
I don't bother with that. Starting out, money's tight enough as it is. They will be replaced, one way or another... Ahem.
Ravensmash
Member
Well erm, I've had my first Ironman moment.
Progressing quite nicely with a few rookie deaths, but building up a couple of good soldiers early game. Got myself into a bad situation in a mission and bang, all dead. So now to start building up soldiers from scratch again.
I am liking the threat of permadeath though, it's making every mission extremely tense right down to specific movements in a turn.
Also, what a brilliant tutorial - slowly introduces you to most of the games mechanics through active play - none of this reading crap
Progressing quite nicely with a few rookie deaths, but building up a couple of good soldiers early game. Got myself into a bad situation in a mission and bang, all dead. So now to start building up soldiers from scratch again.
I am liking the threat of permadeath though, it's making every mission extremely tense right down to specific movements in a turn.
Also, what a brilliant tutorial - slowly introduces you to most of the games mechanics through active play - none of this reading crap
fuzzyreactor
Banned
Shouldn't have bought this game. I should be studying but cant stop playing. There goes my perfect A semester
forgeforsaken
Member
Shouldn't have bought this game. I should be studying but cant stop playing. There goes my perfect A semester
As an older gamer who went through that with the original game..."that's XCOM baby!"
I saw an even more awesome version of this where a shredder rocket inflicted 8 damage to a Cyberdisc and its two drones, killing the drones. The next shot from my assault guy's plasma rifle destroyed the Cyberdisc.
Shredder Rocket + 100% damage to robots (forgot what it was called) is really useful. I'm sure it'll be even more useful when I encounter my first sectopod.
While the possibility to move and shoot is alluring, that aim penality completely took that ability away from any hope of being used, early on Aim is bad enough already and later I don't need to move that much with my snipers because I wusually find a great spot overlooking the entire battlefield.
It would only be useful in the first few turns where you have to move a lot more and sometimes in Battleships, but if the price to pay is no squad sight and possibly not having 100% Hit Chance, I don't think it's worth it.
Haven't had my first wipe yet, but I'm afraid it'll happen sooner or later, Classic is no joke.
I usually never revive rookies, though. Their shattered Will makes them worse than useless.
Incendiary
Banned
Shouldn't have bought this game. I should be studying but cant stop playing. There goes my perfect A semester
I was going to be productive the last week of my life...instead, XCOM. Whoops.
Sorry for the late reply.
The number of missions is not set on stone. It's randomized, in a sense. I have done 34 missions by the end of the game (delayed the final mission by half a month, in which I did perhaps 2 extra missions), but different people have reported different numbers.
I think this Classic normal run took me around 20-25 hours total. Bear in mind I attempted a Classic Ironman run before, which didn't go so well...
Funny, I could say the same thing to the aliens. 3 Mutons taking cover behind a single vehicle + a heavy unit in range with a rocket launcher = Fun times!