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[Funky Papa]

The game gets a lot, A LOT less difficult once you equip your soldiers with energy weapons and caparace armour or above. Research those two, kiddos.

Now I'm basically shitting on Elite Mutons and Cyberdisks like no thang. They only become dangerous if you advance too fast and stumble into a couple (or even three) enemy packs (and yet you may have a fighting chance). Improving the taser (or whatever is called) is also a good idea as you can pick up entire enemy weapons after the mission instead of fragments.

 

[patapuf]

Does the retail PC version include the first run bonuses?

mine did. EU version.

 

[Grimsen]

Love this vid, really good play and hilarious commentary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-cBJc38O_k&feature=g-u-u

That was fun to watch. Some lucky breaks, but that's XCOM.

 

[Felix Lighter]

It's funny how disappointed I was when I realized I couldn't customize the colors of my soldiers armor. As far as in game preorder bonuses go, something cosmetic is the least egregious but it's still a shame.

 

[fanboi]

My Classic Ironman journey continues:

http://www.twitch.tv/fanboiGAF

Just

Spoiler

built the hyper wave decoder!

 

[Realyn]

My Classic Ironman journey continues:

http://www.twitch.tv/fanboiGAF

Just

Spoiler

built the hyper wave decoder!

I've clicked on it and saw you googling cosmetics for your gf(?).

 

[epmode]

It's funny how disappointed I was when I realized I couldn't customize the colors of my soldiers armor. As far as in game preorder bonuses go, something cosmetic is the least egregious but it's still a shame.

I dunno, cosmetic stuff is important for a game that is obviously focused on getting you attached to your soldiers, not to mention that it helps with visability. Limiting it to pre-orders is some petty garbage.

 

[Klendathu Club Owner]

Does the retail PC version include the first run bonuses?

Yes, and there also should be a sticker on the box.

 

[Dynamic3]

Yes, and there also should be a sticker on the box.

Thanks, I'll hit up Best Buy this weekend.

Spoiler

Even though I can get it from the comfort of my own home from GMG for less than $35.99.

 

[FStop7]

The game gets a lot, A LOT less difficult once you equip your soldiers with energy weapons and caparace armour or above. Research those two, kiddos.

Now I'm basically shitting on Elite Mutons and Cyberdisks like no thang. They only become dangerous if you advance too fast and stumble into a couple (or even three) enemy packs (and yet you may have a fighting chance). Improving the taser (or whatever is called) is also a good idea as you can pick up entire enemy weapons after the mission instead of fragments.

I've been trying to think of an analogy to explain the way this game's difficulty works.

It's like standing on the edge of a steep, greased incline that descends for 500 feet and then drops into a pit of alligators. By starting a game what is actually happening is that someone is shoving you down the incline. There are a number of handles spread across the surface. Easy difficulty = lots of them. Normal = less. Etc etc. The object of XCOM is to grab one of those handles as you slide past and be able to maintain your grip long enough to stop your fall, and then climb your way back to the top. The difficulty is heavily front loaded. And the higher the difficulty setting the more dumb luck is also a factor.

 

[Noaloha]

I feel the front-loaded difficulty curve is pretty suited towards Ironman. Speaking of which, Firaxis's (assumed) mega-bugfix patch cannot come soon enough. Until then, I've taken to running Ironman-Lite games, with saves relegated to Month End only.

I also just want to add that I enjoy fighting Classic Outsiders early in the game. Nice AI. UFO-1 is pretty consistently fun.

 

[Firebrand]

Hmm, there seems to be a bug with saves, sometimes my latest ones won't show up until I restart the game.

 

[Funky Papa]

Hmm, there seems to be a bug with saves, sometimes my latest ones won't show up until I restart the game.

Yup. I saw that too.

The game is basically a code disaster. I don't know what the fuck they've been doing during the past four years.

 

[McNum]

Started a new game, still on Normal and not Ironman. Just messing about a bit, seeing as I know more or less the margin of error on Normal now. Think I'll try rotating rookies in unless it's a terror or story mission.

Goals for this one is trying out SHIVs and going for some out of the way achievements. Speaking of which: Dear Firaxis: Ha ha, very funny. I sent out four female soldiers going for the flight of the Valkyries achievement, but didn't get it. I think I know why. It was a hostage rescue, and the hostage was male. Game is trying to be cute.

 

[Sentenza]

I can't really understand what they were trying to accomplish with the "strategic/management" part of the game.
I guess the idea was to make it simpler and more intuitive than the original one, but it simply isn't.
In fact, it's probably more unintuitive and "over-designed" than it was in the past.
If the base building and resource management of the original were "reasonably realistic" and there were clear consequences for everything you did, the same isn't true here.
On top of that, a lot of flexibility and depth were lost in the process. There isn't any real freedom, there is just a right progress line and a lot of wrong choices.
Starting a new campaign feels like repeating the same exact experience.

I'm loving the combat, despise how it hardly remembers the original UFO at its core, but I can't really appreciate what they did with the base building and the geoscape scanning.

 

[Jintor]

I would broadly agree. In X-Com it felt like there was a lot more freedom to move, but XCOM feels more about discovering optimal build pathing and research timing.

 

[Beaulieu]

how come a 50% shot on classic will hit less often than a 50% shot on normal.

 

[epmode]

how come a 50% shot on classic will hit less often than a 50% shot on normal.

Please post your research and I'll let you know!

 

[Izick]

About to go pick this up when I go get the pizza. Any last minute advice? I'm getting it for the 360; I've never messed that much with RTS's, as they're rare on consoles, but I absolutely loved Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on the 360, and I loved Empire Earth: Total War, Sim City and whatnot, but those seem to be almost completely different beasts than this. I did absolutely love the demo though, and I love games that are difficult, but not due to twitch reflexes or boring memorization.

 

[Jintor]

It is far, far more accessible than X-com though. I mean of course. That game was early 90s PC.

 

[NoirVisage]

About to go pick this up when I go get the pizza. Any last minute advice? I'm getting it for the 360; I've never messed that much with RTS's, as they're rare on consoles, but I absolutely loved Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on the 360, and I loved Empire Earth: Total War, Sim City and whatnot, but those seem to be almost completely different beasts than this. I did absolutely love the demo though, and I love games that are difficult, but not due to twitch reflexes or boring memorization.

skip the tutorial it does a lot of things without giving you a choice, and you've played the demo, so you're savvy, also get a lot of SATELLITES/UPLINKS. I'd recommend getting the arc thrower as soon as possible so you can capture enemy rifles by capturing aliens, even if you don't have the containment area built, you can keep weapons more advanced than yours.

 

[Papercuts]

About to go pick this up when I go get the pizza. Any last minute advice? I'm getting it for the 360; I've never messed that much with RTS's, as they're rare on consoles, but I absolutely loved Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on the 360, and I loved Empire Earth: Total War, Sim City and whatnot, but those seem to be almost completely different beasts than this. I did absolutely love the demo though, and I love games that are difficult, but not due to twitch reflexes or boring memorization.

Skip the tutorial, since it leads you down a crappy path.

This is my first XCOM game and I've been doing really well. Normal isn't very hard for me, and I have extremely limited experience with the genre as well.

 

[Izick]

skip the tutorial it does a lot of things without giving you a choice, and you've played the demo, so you're savvy, also get a lot of SATELLITES/UPLINKS. I'd recommend getting the arc thrower as soon as possible so you can capture enemy rifles by capturing aliens, even if you don't have the containment area built, you can keep weapons more advanced than yours.

Would you still suggest this if I skipped every non-gameplay part of the demo? (Did it on purpose so I'd come in without knowing everything.) Thanks for the advice!

 

[FStop7]

I can't really understand what they were trying to accomplish with the "strategic/management" part of the game.
I guess the idea was to make it simpler and more intuitive than the original one, but it simply isn't.
In fact, it's probably more unintuitive and "over-designed" than it was in the past.
If the base building and resource management of the original were "reasonably realistic" and there were clear consequences for everything you did, the same isn't true here.
On top of that, a lot of flexibility and depth were lost in the process. There isn't any real freedom, there is just a right progress line and a lot of wrong choices.
Starting a new campaign feels like repeating the same exact experience.

I'm loving the combat, despise how it hardly remembers the original UFO at its core, but I can't really appreciate what they did with the base building and the geoscape scanning.

It feels constrained in that there seems to be only one correct path to beating the game. Compare that to Civilization, where you can achieve victories through military domination, science, religion, etc. It would have been nice if you could win at XCOM by focusing on building up a brute military force, or building up a team of psionic glass cannons, or a team based heavily on science, etc.

 

[Riposte]

Does cover (or simply obstructions in the way) block enemies more than the hit percentage implies?

 

[NoirVisage]

Would you still suggest this if I skipped every non-gameplay part of the demo? (Did it on purpose so I'd come in without knowing everything.) Thanks for the advice!

at worst, after you go through it, RESTART, and begin the game on your own terms..just don't get attached to your soldiers in that test play.

 

[Noaloha]

About to go pick this up when I go get the pizza. Any last minute advice?

Start the game on Normal if you're the type of gamer who prefers to dominate. Start the game on Classic if you're the type of gamer who prefers to have their back against the wall. Start the game with Ironman if you're cool with restarting and adjusting strategies based on lessons learned (think in terms of roguelikes, the 'Souls games).

Other than that, play with the tutorial first time around and then see how far you get. You'll probably fuck up at some point. It's cool. At that point, begin the game again without tutorial and have another crack.

There's plenty of 'tips', but they should be discovered rather than advised, lest you bypass much of what makes this game memorable for a newcomer.


Fair warning though: the game is buggy as shit currently. Most can be resolved via savereload tech. Ironman mode at the moment is as much a war of attrition against the aliens' dice as it Firaxis's coding.

 

[Papercuts]

Does cover (or simply obstructions in the way) block enemies more than the hit percentage implies?

It doesn't seem like it to me. Overwatch shots trigger at really random times and still have a good hit rate with me even when there's an enemy literally running behind a wall. There are times where I take a shot, miss, and the shot is shown as hitting an obstacle in the way but those shots can still end up passing through and connecting if the dice roll works out.

 

[Jintor]

Does cover (or simply obstructions in the way) block enemies more than the hit percentage implies?

Not really. LOS maybe, but then you can't even see the percentages

 

[Corky]

Also, I keep hearing people talk about this but I didn't catch/see the reference to

Spoiler

Terror from the Deep

in the ending

Anyone ?

 

[NoirVisage]

It doesn't seem like it to me. Overwatch shots trigger at really random times and still have a good hit rate with me even when there's an enemy literally running behind a wall. There are times where I take a shot, miss, and the shot is shown as hitting an obstacle in the way but those shots can still end up passing through and connecting if the dice roll works out.

thats the only part of the game that actually bothers me. i just allow myself to think the weapons i'm using shoot through matter due to alien advancements.

 

[Izick]

I'm confused, is Iron Man just a harder difficulty, or is there something special about it? Is there save states?

 

[Noaloha]

Iron Man has no save states other than your current state. It's the 'no reload' option. It saves after each action. Enormously heightened consequences to each and every choice, etc.

It's fucking fun.

 

[Rufus]

I'm confused, is Iron Man just a harder difficulty, or is there something special about it? Is there save states?

You can't save scum. It saves after every action (or significant action) and that's your only save. You can apply the option to every difficulty level, of which there are four (easy, normal, classic and impossible).

 

[Izick]

Iron Man has no save states other than your current state. It's the 'no reload' option. It saves after each action. Enormously heightened consequences to each and every choice, etc.

It's fucking fun.

You can't save scum. It saves after every action (or significant action) and that's your only save. You can apply the option to every difficulty level, of which there are four (easy, normal, classic and impossible).

So what do you guys suggest as a first playthrough? Classic?

 

[Miletius]

I think the idea behind basebuilding is that it ties into what kind of overall victory strategy you are going for overall. A flaw is that early on you are mostly responding to abduction requests to fend off panic, which doesn't really allow you to choose which reward you want.

The way the game would work without panic being such a huge issue early game is that you'd pick the scientists or engys if you wanted a quick injection of them while saving space or you'd pick the cash if you had room to grow and wanted more scientists/engineers at a later date, which the benefits of having the labs/workshops. You'd pick the solider if you really needed the guy but at the cost of expansion potential.

Trouble is you are always chasing your panic early game which limits how much you are able to equivalently invest in your chosen path. You either have room to play the base game based on available funds or you don't and you get your technicians from missions.

 

[Shorty11857]

My game has crashed twice on the last mission sigh, I really hope this game gets patched soon

 

[Rufus]

Play normal (regular or ironman), then move up to classic ironman on your next game. Classic might might be too punishing at first.

 

[Noaloha]

So what do you guys suggest as a first playthrough? Classic?

It's too dependent on your own preferences as a person to advise you binarily in all good conscience.

Normal is 'you can fluff your way through with mistakes here and there', where Classic is 'you need to play well for the most part to progress'. Ask yourself if you'r cool with reloading (potentially a new playthrough) and assign Normal/Classic accordingly.

The Ironman issue is solely linked to whether you think you'd enjoy feeling real goddamn motherfucking pressure each and every time you opt for an action.

 

[Rufus]

Normal is 'you can fluff your way through with mistakes here and there', where Classic is 'you need to play well for the most part to progress'. Ask yourself if you'r cool with reloading (potentially a new playthrough) and assign Normal/Classic accordingly.

Actually, yes. Listen to this man.

 

[Riposte]

Classic. Ironman. That's how it should be played.

 

[Noaloha]

Classic. Ironman. That's how it should be played.

I completely agree, from as much of an advisory promontory as I can stomach. Which is why, with the game as it currently is, I would advise playing non-Ironman with one single save on the 1st of each month, overwritten at the end of each following.

The bugs in the current game raise a very real concern over an Ironman play-through's foundation.

 

[Impeccable]

Classic. Ironman. That's how it should be played.

I did that as a first time Xcom player and didn't do too bad.

I'd personally suggest people in a similar position do Normal Ironman. The hardest thing for a noobie is balancing the base (IMO) with the sats.

Ironman is fantastic.

I find the game 'too easy' now but I feel like what I learned in the beginning would make a return to Classic more enjoyable and managable.

 

[Rentahamster]

I'm not going to finish Classic Ironman so I can complete ironman on impossible difficulty. That way both achievements are unlocked at the same time.

Otherwise, there's no other way to prove that you did beat impossible ironman as far as I can tell.

 

[whalleywhat]

So what do you guys suggest as a first playthrough? Classic?

What are your thoughts on restarting a game you're 10 hours into?

 

[Noaloha]

Is the newly-purchased-recruit-with-easymode-health thing an actual bug, or is it a throwback reference to X-Com?

I feel it's a bit of a cheap gag if it's the latter. And from that perspective, hoping it's not the case, I can't help but feel that not many of us have gone through a 'true' Classic, Impossible, hell even Normal, play-through yet.

 

[Dynamic3]

I can't get the PC version to let me select anything other than 'Mouse' in the interface settings. I can select things with my wireless 360 pad but all of the tooltips refer to mkb buttons.

Any fixes?

 

[Rentahamster]

I can't get the PC version to let me select anything other than 'Mouse' in the interface settings. I can select things with my wireless 360 pad but all of the tooltips refer to mkb buttons.

Any fixes?

Are you trying to do that once you are in a game? It won't let you.

Restart the program, and before you load your save or start a new game, change the controls in the options.

 

[Jintor]

Is the newly-purchased-recruit-with-easymode-health thing an actual bug, or is it a throwback reference to X-Com?

I feel it's a bit of a cheap gag if it's the latter. And from that perspective, hoping it's not the case, I can't help but feel that not many of us have gone through a 'true' Classic, Impossible, hell even Normal, play-through yet.

I assume it's a bug

 

[Metalmurphy]

Anyone else noticed these achievements at the bottom?

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/XCOMEnemyUnknown/achievements/

DLC?