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XCOM: Enemy Unknown |OT| Neo GAF is Under Alien Control
- Thread starter Jintor
- Start date
had my first alien pop out of no where moment..
it was supposed to be a small ufo landing site in Russia
I move forward, 1 turn later. 3 mutons, 3 heavy floaters, 2 muton elite, and a cyberdisc have surround my squad......I have both of my supports toss their smoke grenade for defense, then managed to down the cyberdisc with rocket+sniper shot.
During the alien's turn one of my squaddie support was crit and died, causing the coporal heavy and squaddie support to go panic. However the smoke covering the area saved their ass from floater shots.
In the next few turns my assault, sniper, and remaining heavy managed to take down the mutons and floaters, including 2 muton + 1 elite muton take down by the assault.
This left only the Ethereal roaming, and it managed to mind control my assault and kills the remaining support. Finally my sniper and heavy took it out without further damage.
it was supposed to be a small ufo landing site in Russia
I move forward, 1 turn later. 3 mutons, 3 heavy floaters, 2 muton elite, and a cyberdisc have surround my squad......I have both of my supports toss their smoke grenade for defense, then managed to down the cyberdisc with rocket+sniper shot.
During the alien's turn one of my squaddie support was crit and died, causing the coporal heavy and squaddie support to go panic. However the smoke covering the area saved their ass from floater shots.
In the next few turns my assault, sniper, and remaining heavy managed to take down the mutons and floaters, including 2 muton + 1 elite muton take down by the assault.
This left only the Ethereal roaming, and it managed to mind control my assault and kills the remaining support. Finally my sniper and heavy took it out without further damage.
weekend_warrior
Banned
Hmm, not that I think about it there was a point todat where I had 2 guys perpindicular to an enemies line of cover, one was along the side of the same building, and one was on the corner of a shed. I think I remember seeing the guy on the building getting the flank bonus, but the shed guy didn't. So maybe it has to do with distance, or if you're on the same piece of cover. IDK, someone needs to do some testing.
That doesn't line up with that diagram from reddit that everyone posts about how flanking works. If it were actually half cover, then true because you fire over it. This is full cover, so either the game doesn't calculate it right in the fire screen or it actually doesn't count as a flank - which frankly, is complete BS unless there is a coke can acting as half-cover on that sectoid's side.
Rentahamster could be right. Maybe someone (intentionally or not) didn't tick all the same flags on full cover cars as on full cover buildings. Or a state didn't update correctly.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Maybe it could also be due to having a space between the cars?
Like, a building is one continuous object, but perhaps the car, space, car is causing the calculations to get messed up.
/shrug
That happened to me too. One sectoid was left and it took about 10 shots to finally hit him, led to a couple injuries in an otherwise flawless mission :-/
Just let me leave in this aircraft dammit.
I think this is pretty dumb and wish they didn't do it, makes zero sense. For bombs and terror? Sure, but there's no reason to sweep the area once the VIP is out.
Small wishlist of stuff I want before I'll buy DLC:
1. fix the bugs (duh)
2. no forced clean up after VIP
3. shots not magically passing through major obstructions.
4. revamped equip selection so you don't have to hunt for the guy with the arc thrower
5. sats only take 10 days to build.
6. enemies don't always get the free turn once spotted (only sometimes)
7. can destroy floors / ceilings
8. crashed / landed saucers not always in the wilderness
9. indicator so I know if I'll have vision of an enemy when I move to a spot.
1. fix the bugs (duh)
2. no forced clean up after VIP
3. shots not magically passing through major obstructions.
4. revamped equip selection so you don't have to hunt for the guy with the arc thrower
5. sats only take 10 days to build.
6. enemies don't always get the free turn once spotted (only sometimes)
7. can destroy floors / ceilings
8. crashed / landed saucers not always in the wilderness
9. indicator so I know if I'll have vision of an enemy when I move to a spot.
Riposte
Member
This devastated me once. "Alright, I'm basically done here. That alien didn't overwatch, so I'll just dash everyone into the box". .......FUCK
I'm okay with it being designed like that, but they should have warned you first. Only a problem once though I guess. Then again, I've also seen missions which ended immediately once the hostage was on board. So, w/e...
EDIT: If I could change one thing about this game, it would probably be how you encounter enemies. I don't know how they would do it in a way that doesn't completely unbalance the game, but basically I want to feel like I'm being attacked. Right now it feels like I'm manipulating AI to make my odds better and not in a particularly fun way. Maybe the game is too strongly based on fog of war for its own good.
EDIT: I wonder what a mod where you double the visibility of the game would be like... or one with no fog of war. lol fun times I bet.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
That's probably because you already killed everything.
If you take too long getting the VIP back, the rain of thin men will trigger regardless.
Had a huge wtf-alien-outta-nowhere moment on an Abductor UFO mission. I'd started the first round by moving my squad behind cover with the intention of using my ghost-support to do a quick scout, but the game glitched out and a goddamn sectopod materialised right next to an assault by the edge of the map. Luckily I had a heavy with heat ammo nearby, and was able to scrap it no problem. Felt kinda bad for its two drone buddies who I found on the other side of the map drifting about all lost-like.
I feel pretty certain that there are plenty of glitches in the game where cover is concerned.
Two examples of my own:
(Note, both cases involve just a single alien in LOS. My chaps ain't being flanked by any alien other than the visible one in each case.)
Here, me and Mrs. Sectoid are simply on adjacent sides of the same crate.
and even more special,
Here, there aren't even any corners involved. We're both stood facing each other.
Just for completion's sake, yes that alien's hard cover above is included in Rookie Ray's shot.
(Apologies for not resizing the pics. Kinda late for work, but just wanted to quickly comment on the cover conversation.)
Two examples of my own:
(Note, both cases involve just a single alien in LOS. My chaps ain't being flanked by any alien other than the visible one in each case.)
Here, me and Mrs. Sectoid are simply on adjacent sides of the same crate.
and even more special,
Here, there aren't even any corners involved. We're both stood facing each other.
Just for completion's sake, yes that alien's hard cover above is included in Rookie Ray's shot.
(Apologies for not resizing the pics. Kinda late for work, but just wanted to quickly comment on the cover conversation.)
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
i wish there was a lets play of someone that really knows what he's doing with a classic ironman playthrough. I'm just not finding the strategy here in the regular classic mode now that everything is mutons. It feels like flanking is impossible now, as moving anywhere just triggers 3-6 more mutons which run up and kill my flankers instantly.
I'm trying to use all my class skills and stuff but I still feel like I'm just relying too much on the dice rolls working out for me and reloading if they don't.
I'm trying to use all my class skills and stuff but I still feel like I'm just relying too much on the dice rolls working out for me and reloading if they don't.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Admittedly I'm not up to mutons yet on Classic, but hunker down and smoke grenades are your friends. Retreating and creating overwatch traps as well. Try to focus down one enemy at a time instead of leaving several injured xrays.
What I do (now, not before when classic was kicking my ass) is to pretty much always plan for missed shots. Never assume even a 90% shot will hit. Means placing your team in such a way that they won't get owned if they all
miss their shots. Still gotta get lucky at the right time but there are ways to minimize the impact luck has on the outcome.
BabeSlayer
Member
How are you guys running the meta game though? I am getting butchered there on classic ironman...Like best starting location, what to focus on first etc etc...
Ironman throws things for a loop, I haven't really figured out a geospace strategy for it, yet. I'm not sure the regular classic strategy I used won't work, but I lost a day's work and now I'm reconsidering. Strategy that made things easy for me on classic:
First priority is satellites and satellite uplinks. That means going after engineers as rewards and spending the bulk of your cash on uplinks and satellites. After an obvious point in the game, it goes from a necessity to something that drives your net income up, but early it's crucial. The rest is split between weapon and armor research. Also, build an officer training school. Stuff like autopsies and foundry projects can wait, same for story related... things.
Last, but not least! Always have a deep bench, double the size of your squad or so.
tldr; satellites first, enough health that you won't get one shotted by ET second.
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
Always play HEAVILY defensive and always plan for everyone of your squad missing. At the start if every game, make 2it satellites immedietly. Forgo autopsies until you have something that isn't a weapon or armor upgrade to research. Don't spend your money until you absolutely have to.
I've beaten.it 3to times on classic Ironman now.
BudokaiMR2
Member
Yeah I feel like the way aliens act and generally the map mechanics work could be more interesting. I mean the fog of war aspect honestly doesn't work well IMO because the size of the maps is so small. It makes sense when it shows up in other RTS and strategy games because usually you are dealing with larger scale battlefields.
In XCOM it doesn't really make much sense that my badass sniper can't see a 2+ meter tall pack of 3 Mutons 50 meters down a flat highway.
A little nitpicky but it does bother me in the game.
NemesisPrime
Banned
Hehe... just finished the game. Ghost armor on last mission really fcked up those Etherials.
Amazing game.
Amazing game.
Day 1 of a second attempt at classic ironman finished. It's april 1st, 5 missions are over and I got:
-5 squad members unlocked, along with wet work netting me an extra 25% experience(hey, if you're gonna build in Asia, why not?)
-8 soldiers that are at least squaddies. Only 1 sergant and 2 corporals though. Only 1 soldier dead, but she would have made 9 soldiers with a class.
-Second uplink is being built, I have 2 satellites in the air and another one being built. I've sort of wrote Africa off at this point, I'd rather focus on getting carapace armor and beam weapons up. Speaking of which, still no labs.
-5 squad members unlocked, along with wet work netting me an extra 25% experience(hey, if you're gonna build in Asia, why not?)
-8 soldiers that are at least squaddies. Only 1 sergant and 2 corporals though. Only 1 soldier dead, but she would have made 9 soldiers with a class.
-Second uplink is being built, I have 2 satellites in the air and another one being built. I've sort of wrote Africa off at this point, I'd rather focus on getting carapace armor and beam weapons up. Speaking of which, still no labs.
TetraxShards
Member
I think the tutorial is disabled on Impossible.
I was thinking, wouldn't a heavy with metal storm (shooting doesn't end turn) be overpowered with ghost armour? You'd go invisible and walk up to an alien you want dead then wait. Next turn you shoot then go invis again since it's a free action and retreat/murder a nearby alien next turn.
Africa's probably the best, but I plan on winning the game from all of them for the achievement.
4 sattelites (and one uplink) in the first 2 months has been enough for me to get things under control. Wait until you've got 9-10 engineers (take the first abduction mission that gives them to you as reward) until you start sat production. One at a time, but don't wait more than a week or two before starting another one. Try to time them so you don't have too many lying around before you get the uplink capacity.
Nano fiber vests are a huge help early so I'd research them pretty fast, and scopes shortly after. But besides them I would focus on the priority research. The sooner you can start capturing aliens for research credit the better. Use 2 sattellites for the South America bonus unless you absolutely need them somewhere else.
Wait with foundry and officer school, unless you start in asia. They're too expensive early on, better to have 4 well-equipped guys than 5 badly equipped.
Castor Krieg
Banned
Go EZ mode - get two snipers up to Squad Sight. They will carry the whole team. When you spot an alien try to kill him with the person that needs to lvl up. If it fails finish him with the sniper before your turn is up.
You will lose some countries. The break-even moment comes when you have all the satellites online, abductions stop and slowly the panic will fall from doing terror missions, etc.
I started in Asia, although Africa might've been better. Starting in NA gives you the most amount of money in the first month.
I struggled until July, lost 6/8 countries. I kept building satellites, launched 3 on the second month, and another 2-3 on the third month.
If you cannot grab SA with satellites by the beginning of the second month - don't bother.
Go very quickly with Alien Containment and capture aliens, this will allow you to tech way more quickly. I only had the facility completed in July.
You need to be very careful. Move forward as a group and never send your soldiers out on the 2nd move unless you are sure the area is clear. You need to be able to move them back in case you trigger more spawns. When sending out a unit to scout, place other units on overwatch to cover them. This way if you trigger a group of enemies you can hit them with overwatch on their turn. Snipers are extremely good at this.
The first few months are also extremely critical. After you have a good group of soldiers the game will become a lot easier. Prioritize scopes to bring your aiming up to something much better and research weapons to even the playing field for rookies. The game tells you not to use explosives so you can bring back as much material as possible. This is true in the mid to later stages but very early on you should be prioritizing keeping your men alive above all else. If the enemy puts themselves in a situation where you can take out multiple enemies with explosives you need to take advantage. Recovery times are too long at classic level and losing a ranked soldier is too costly. Heavies are good at this with their rockets and can save your guys from having to carry grenades later on. You also need to ignore low cover. Pretend it is not there at all and keep your guys in high cover. Use hunker down if you feel someone is overextended and will get shot at. Hunker down brings up your cover to a high rating and makes getting hit a low probability and makes you immune to crits.
You need to think 1-2 steps ahead of your move. Always take the safe route. Do not risk your troops. Do not be afraid to retreat and make the AI play on your terms.
NemesisPrime
Banned
You can only go invisble a few times (6?).
I didn't try that... I just like to go invisible with my squad, get close and release hell the next turn.
Restarted about 9 hours in when I realised I hadn't invested in things I should have. Now a lot more than 9 hours in on my second normal run, and I'm still discovering stuff too late that I wish was a bit more obvious for first-timers. I've only lost one country, but I wouldn't have lost them if I had certain research done before (had the money, just didn't know what I needed to be doing). Hopefully this stuff will help for my eventual classic run. Right after losing that country, I got a request from another country for, I think, 9 light plasma rifles. Gave me more than 2K for them! It was like christmas came early.
4 times, maybe more with upgrades? But that's still 3 free shots at 90+%. With HEAT ammo you could probably solo a sectopod.
The only class who couldn't solo a sectopod at all would be support. What you're describing is a huge advantage, but so are the other configurations. Actually, even with plasma, heavies are still lumbering around and have a short range weapon. Speaking of support guys, I remember someone combining ghost armor and combat stims, with the huge range they claimed you could scout a whole map in a couple of turns without being seen.
Classes are well balanced throughout the campaign, IMO. It's a pain to level up the snipers, but there's a huge payoff in the end. Heavies and assault are great right off the bat, but you need ghost armor to really put assault over the top and the rocket launcher loses its value later. Still, 2 assaults with run and gun and lightning reflexes means if you make someone a priority, they're dead in a turn. Support hits its stride towards the middle of the game, I've gone through all 3 medpacs a number of times.
Basileus777
Member
No, it doesn't. The blaster launcher is great and does excellent damage when paired with Heat Ammo (which every Heavy should have), and rockets would have value even if they didn't do much damage thanks to their cover destroying ability. Try using an In the Zone Sniper with an explosives heavy, and then tell me rockets aren't incredibly useful late game.
I agree with you, but I'd just like to say that saying the blaster launcher is a good reason to use Heavies is like recommending the chicago typewriter to someone playing RE4. By the time you get it, you don't need it. Although that'll change with the DLC apparently.
I'm definitely gonna be using in the zone/shredder rockets on my next playthrough. In fact I want to try all the abilities that I ignored before.
But yeah on my classic ironman I had 3 bullet swarm psionic heavies with ghost armor. Pretty much everything was a joke at that point.
Basileus777
Member
You don't need the blaster launcher, that's why I added that sentence about how they'd be useful even if the only thing they did was destroy cover. Though they do more than that, they do enough damage to help other units (especially Snipers) kill off enemies.
TheRagnCajun
Member
These are all great.
I think my main greif with this game though is the mmo-style mob spawning/aggroing of enemies. I think it hinders tactical planning. It is generally never wise to try and seek out multiple entry points to a building/ship. You will always end up aggroing a mob of mutons or chrysalids and have to take them on alone. I can understand running into maybe one unexpected enemy at the back of the building, but running into three, and giving them a free movement turn, is brutal.
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
A lesson is learned: never skim on interceptors, specially once you get the hyperwave thang.
As a side note, science lady can be a real pain in the ass. Girfriend must be bored she has nothing else to research ATM.
As a side note, science lady can be a real pain in the ass. Girfriend must be bored she has nothing else to research ATM.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Can't you just move your team to the extraction zone after the VIP is safe and "abort" the mission to end early?
You didn't mention the "soldier hair falling off after being killed". Then again, I'm not sure if I want that fixed or not
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
That seems a bit silly. How can you call the mission a success when there are aliens still running around the city?
Basileus777
Member
Because it's supposed to be a mission about extracting a VIP, not wiping out aliens. VIP missions are pretty lame, they're just normal missions with predictable spawn points and an extremely limited number of maps.
NemesisPrime
Banned
BTW has anyone used a totally upgraded SHIV?? I wonder how good they are in late game... never really used them myself.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
But if you don't kill the aliens then they'll just go and nab some other people while you're farting about in the skyranger.
I agree that they're pretty lame, though.
Castor Krieg
Banned
By that time you should be flying Firestorms with plasma.
No, that will fail the mission. Not to mention moving everyone to the beginning of the map will take longer than killing all the remaining aliens.
Those people are expendable and army can handle them. I was supposed only to save a high value personnel for the council.