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XCOM: Enemy Unknown |OT| Neo GAF is Under Alien Control
- Thread starter Jintor
- Start date
Basileus777
Member
No, it's impossible. Even if you gain enough experience for more, you can only gain 1 rank per mission.
It's a random chance as far as I can tell. Sometimes they reflect, sometimes they don't. Not worth worrying about unless your guy is about to die and doesn't have good cover, IMO.
In my experience, they also cannot reflect shots from ghosted soldiers.
That came in quite handy during my Battleship recovery.
weekend_warrior
Banned
So, laser weapons, pretty awesome huh? 
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Posted yet?
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Classy.
Metalmurphy
Member
So, laser weapons, pretty awesome huh?
Wait till you get plasma sniper and double tap.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
It could have just been dumb luck, but I've never seen SHIV shots reflected, either.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
BrainZEROX
Member
I'm well into the campaign now with access to the whole technologies I think and I was wondering: there's no base defense system in the tech tree. Does it mean Aliens can't invade our own base? This threat made me very anxious in XCOM 1994 now it seems it's gone. Is it?
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
And done!
I had a ball with the game and I didn't feel let down by the ending sequence, as much as I'd have liked to
.
What was the supposed reference to Terror from the Deep? I certainly don't recall that.
I had a ball with the game and I didn't feel let down by the ending sequence, as much as I'd have liked to
bring the fight to Mars
What was the supposed reference to Terror from the Deep? I certainly don't recall that.
Base invasions are gone, sadly.
Questions for people who are good at classic ironman.
What is your strategy for squad set up? I've tried always taking the lowest level guys but then people don't level up fast enough, I've tried sticking with a core squad of high level dudes... but then when one dies your F'd. I've tried mixing and matching, but it seems like even that is too weak to stand up once I get to month 3 or 4.
When do you start using medpacks? do you use nano fiber at all? They seem like a waste of a slot when your dudes die from one hit anyway.
I feel like no matter what I try I keep hitting the same wall. wiping squads and then not having enough replacements... always about month 3 or if I'm lucky month 4. Only made it to the alien base once.
What's your research path? Been rushing to laser weapons and alien base... and I always get a good buff when I first get laser rifles, but it's almost immediately followed by loosing the game.
What about base building? I've been basically alternating uplinks and generators, fitting in a workshop when I need engineers to build another uplink. And then alien containment as soon as I can. But I really want the OTS so I can get the squad size upgrades... I just can't fit it in.
What is your strategy for squad set up? I've tried always taking the lowest level guys but then people don't level up fast enough, I've tried sticking with a core squad of high level dudes... but then when one dies your F'd. I've tried mixing and matching, but it seems like even that is too weak to stand up once I get to month 3 or 4.
When do you start using medpacks? do you use nano fiber at all? They seem like a waste of a slot when your dudes die from one hit anyway.
I feel like no matter what I try I keep hitting the same wall. wiping squads and then not having enough replacements... always about month 3 or if I'm lucky month 4. Only made it to the alien base once.
What's your research path? Been rushing to laser weapons and alien base... and I always get a good buff when I first get laser rifles, but it's almost immediately followed by loosing the game.
What about base building? I've been basically alternating uplinks and generators, fitting in a workshop when I need engineers to build another uplink. And then alien containment as soon as I can. But I really want the OTS so I can get the squad size upgrades... I just can't fit it in.
Played the (PS3) demo, absolutely LOVED it. Is the older X-Com like this? I know that one is balls hard, but is it worth playing?
I kinda want to get this on PS3, how is that version in the full game? More of the same from the demo or does it bug/crap out later?
Also how do you capture the aliens in the second mission of the demo? I didn't risk losing people and just fragged them with the frag grenade I had since I had them pinned down.
Game really scratches my SRPG itch that I've been having for a bit. I may actually jump on the Target Buy 2 get 1 deal now that I have at least two games I really want to play this season.
I kinda want to get this on PS3, how is that version in the full game? More of the same from the demo or does it bug/crap out later?
Also how do you capture the aliens in the second mission of the demo? I didn't risk losing people and just fragged them with the frag grenade I had since I had them pinned down.
Game really scratches my SRPG itch that I've been having for a bit. I may actually jump on the Target Buy 2 get 1 deal now that I have at least two games I really want to play this season.
Impossible sucks. If you have a PC, better to play Classic Ironman with some of those advanced options.
weekend_warrior
Banned
I haven't been able to get very deep into the full game (playing classic Ironman), but so far it plays just as good as the demo. I haven't run into any bugs yet, and I'm sure I will, but I haven't seen or heard anything that leads me to believe the PS3 version is buggier then the other versions.
You can't. You need a special weapon which you don't get in the demo.
Do it. Fantastic game, unlike anything I've played on consoles.
Metalmurphy
Member
I need to do 2 more playthroughs (one of them on Impossible) to get the "platinum" but I don't remember on which continent I started on my first game -.-
EasyTGT said:
My setup last game was 2 sniper, 2 heavy, 1 assault, one support. Found it worked quite well. Game before that, I ran 2 support and only 1 heavy. That worked fine too. Generally I just try to keep at least one of each class around and then fill up with whatever you have left. The nice thing about supports is that you can give them guns that you capture and not have them feel gimped, so take that for what you will.
EasyTGT said:
I build one medpack right away, after the first mission. You are correct that a lot of the time your guys will not survive one hit. But, there's always the chance that they do, and I'd rather have them run around at full health rather than in one shot territory. I generally prefer grenades to nano fiber, but I find NF useful if you have 1 or 2 badass squadmates and a few rookies, since it helps you keep the rookies alive on those kind of missions.
EasyTGT said:
On classic I just try to research normally. Most people advise going straight for laser weapon or carapace, but I found that that mostly comes as a flow. It's important not to ignore early research, especially since you need alien base level to reduce panic worldwide. You might be losing countries because you delay AB mission for too long at the expense of laser tech
EasyTGT said:
A lot of people advise rushing a workshop to get 10 engineers and a sat uplink ASAP. I've found that uneeded for classic. Start building a sat right away, of course, and medpack, save some in reserve for replacement soldiers if needed. Do the second mission, take engineers as a reward. You might or might not get a UFO at this point, just do the mission and sell of anything you don't need. If you have loads of cash afterwards build a power generator or a workshop.
At this point you'll have less choice on what future missions to take. Just make sure to get a 2nd sat uplink by the end of 2nd month. Buy as many satellites as you can afford, and make sure to get the adjacency bonus. Save deploying sats to the end of the month to manage panic.
Churn our OTS as soon as possible and buy whatever you can -- most of the upgrades in OTS are great, and cost is reasonable.
Generally make sure to build power generators around steam vents, sats next to each other, and everything else out of the way. Try to stick workshops and labs together. A lot of people find labs really useless. I mostly agree, but if you are going to rush tech early on then I feel as though getting 1 lab is worth it.
Thanks for the bitchin advice, I feel like I am getting better with every restart... it's kind of like playing poker (when you're bad at it, like I am) in that you win a couple hands and you're all "hell ya!" so you go all in... and then EVERYONE DIES. Just got to remember that no matter how lucky you're feeling, you are only one card away from loosing everything. How many restarts did you have to do before you beat classic ironman? Ever make it to like the gallop chamber and then loose everything?
Also, does this:
Also, does this:
Mean you are just skipping missions when they come up?
Metalmurphy
Member
That's the thing, my loads are all on the final missions, no way of going back to base and see.
D'argh. Ah well. If you know the other three loads then you're down to fifty-fifty. Besides, this might be your lucky day!
I am so goddamned terrible in Classic. On Normal I felt like a god, but between forgetting what commanding a squad of newbies is like and learning the hard truth about how different Classic is, I've been eating it constantly. Going back to Normal with my tail between my legs.
weekend_warrior
Banned
If any other stat nerds are interested I've been compiling some data on shot hit% and overwatch hit% for allies and enemies. You can take a look here-
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aprtin5-SdoVdGxuaEJOamxFeGZ2RndRT05aQzl6aGc
Obviously this is a pretty small sample size, but I think it still adds some insight in how often shots are going to hit. Also, keep in mind this is on classic.
Things to take away-
My average shot selection is 83%, and my shots have hit for an average of 71%. Again- small sample size, but some people have suggested that on classic and impossible the enemies get extra hidden bonuses that fudge the predicted % by up to 20%. Can't tell yet if that's true from just this sample, but it is showing a 10% difference.
My overwatch rate is about 50%, for an average of 3.25 damage. Most of those were taken with the starting weapons, so a safe assumption would be that overwatch almost never grants crits. The enemy sample is not nearly big enough to deduce if their hit rate is the same.
Most important thing to take away is probably the enemies hit rate vs my cover during the shot. When I averaged +36 (almost the equivalent of a full shield), the enemies still hit me 56% of the time, which mean they probably average a base of 90 for accuracy. This are also the early enemies, mostly sectoids, thin man and floaters. It's also worth noting that enemies very rarely hit for less then their base damage. I'll have to do a little more math to figure out how much more they hit for over base.
So, there you have it. Not a thorough test by any means, but food for thought as you're playing.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aprtin5-SdoVdGxuaEJOamxFeGZ2RndRT05aQzl6aGc
Obviously this is a pretty small sample size, but I think it still adds some insight in how often shots are going to hit. Also, keep in mind this is on classic.
Things to take away-
My average shot selection is 83%, and my shots have hit for an average of 71%. Again- small sample size, but some people have suggested that on classic and impossible the enemies get extra hidden bonuses that fudge the predicted % by up to 20%. Can't tell yet if that's true from just this sample, but it is showing a 10% difference.
My overwatch rate is about 50%, for an average of 3.25 damage. Most of those were taken with the starting weapons, so a safe assumption would be that overwatch almost never grants crits. The enemy sample is not nearly big enough to deduce if their hit rate is the same.
Most important thing to take away is probably the enemies hit rate vs my cover during the shot. When I averaged +36 (almost the equivalent of a full shield), the enemies still hit me 56% of the time, which mean they probably average a base of 90 for accuracy. This are also the early enemies, mostly sectoids, thin man and floaters. It's also worth noting that enemies very rarely hit for less then their base damage. I'll have to do a little more math to figure out how much more they hit for over base.
So, there you have it. Not a thorough test by any means, but food for thought as you're playing.
for the sample size that 10% discrepancy is not that big, I bet in a longer test it goes away.
I got to an abduction mission i cant win without losing some solders.
5/6 green mutons + red muton + 2 floaters
Its my first mission against a red muton and my only sniper is wounder.
Have you considered retreating back to the sky ranger? Depending on who you're going to loose and how well you're doing in the game, the lives of your vets might be worth the increased panic levels if you can compensate in the strategy layer.
Early on, before alien base, you are pretty much picking missions based on panic levels. You don't really have much of a choice on which reward to take because depending on panic distro you are just picking based on what continents really need to be less panicked.
I don't think you can afford to skip missions early on, maybe one or two at most.
It took me a fair number of tries, I feel like once you get past the hump of lasers/carapace armor you are in really good shape for the endgame. I don't think I've ever lost after I've gotten those and a leveled squad.
Overwatch never grants crits unless you have a sniper with the opportunist skill.
Do you put much careful thought into who you're leveling? Like do you try to always pick your best guys? or always try to fill a spot with a rookie or lowbie? Once you end up with like 3 or 4 go to guys, do you just fill in only when you have to?
I did a foolish thing with my second-longest serving man on ironman classic and he was incapacitated.
Then, as he was bleeding out, I just managed to discover and kill the last four (!) aliens before he died.
Feels good
It's looking like I'll have to restart this IM Classic run though, as I still haven't captured an alien and I think I'll lose at least four countries in the next month as I'm running out of soldiers and cash.
This second attempt is a little further though, so hopefully third time's the charm.
Then, as he was bleeding out, I just managed to discover and kill the last four (!) aliens before he died.
Feels good
It's looking like I'll have to restart this IM Classic run though, as I still haven't captured an alien and I think I'll lose at least four countries in the next month as I'm running out of soldiers and cash.
This second attempt is a little further though, so hopefully third time's the charm.
milkham
Member
does anyone else sometimes spawn with no skyranger only to find it off in an area of the map you've never been to?
At the start I try to rotate in guys to serve as backups, but I feel as though your guys get wounded enough anyways that you have backups usually either way. If by some chance you are getting your same squad time and time again, then sure, go ahead and rotate, but I think the natural pace of the early game prevents a full squad of badasses early in the game. Later on, I don't worry about it, the wait time for wounded is usually less if you have the OTS upgrade plus you sometimes get free guys as a mission reward who can be rotated right in usually.
Edit: One game I did try to put a lot of rookies in but that's only because I had like 6 snipers -- and I didn't want a team of all snipers. So I rotated in rookies until I got some other classes.
Squad rotation. Important.
Had to do a difficult mission with rookies because the decent soldiers were all wounded. Wipded. Panic Across North America and in Australia.
Great.
On the other hand: I can make carapace armour and laser weapons. Satellite coverage is going well so far.
Had to do a difficult mission with rookies because the decent soldiers were all wounded. Wipded. Panic Across North America and in Australia.
Great.
On the other hand: I can make carapace armour and laser weapons. Satellite coverage is going well so far.
Canis lupus
Member
Played the demo today. Can't believe how good it is. This reminds me so much of Valkyria Chronicles and other games.
Impeccable
Member
I could have sworn I've leveled up twice after a mission before.
Then again it probably was when I was a noob and got the solider from a reward mission.
Noob tips? Don't build laboratories at first. Engineers are nice to have as 10 build a Satellite Uplink which is very nice to have. A Satellite Nexus is even better. More uplinks, means more satellites means more money.
You want to take good care of at least one of your soldiers so he or she can gain ranks so you can unlock the Squad Size unlocks in the Officer Training School. Two more troops on the battlefield is handy.
Interrogations and autopsies have direct benefits in the game. Interrogating a Sectoid halves all laser weapon research time, for example. Autopsying a thing Man leads to a Medikit upgrade and so on.
Building similar facilities next to each other, be it horizontally or vertically gives a bonus. Like an Uplink can handle 2 satellites, but two next to each other will handle 2+2+1.
You know those wrecked cars in highway/bridge maps? The ones that are already on fire when the mission starts? They still blow up if they get shot by plasma rifles!
The good news is the car explosion only took out 2 of the 3 soldiers I still had left. The bad news is the other guy panicked and got his head blown off on the next turn. The VIP was fine and dandy (and maybe could've made a run for it to the skyranger on the next turn), but it was "mission failed" all the same.
The good news is the car explosion only took out 2 of the 3 soldiers I still had left. The bad news is the other guy panicked and got his head blown off on the next turn. The VIP was fine and dandy (and maybe could've made a run for it to the skyranger on the next turn), but it was "mission failed" all the same.
Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
Is there anything after the credits?
Also after all that talk about the final room it was decidedly less threatening than I expected.
Also after all that talk about the final room it was decidedly less threatening than I expected.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
I think the difficulty of the final room mostly comes down to your team makeup and whether your dudes are in good positions.
Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
I expected a lot of mind control and had my sniper pop that mind shield on everyone before going into the room.
Also one blaster bomb completely decimated the central area.
Also one blaster bomb completely decimated the central area.
Time to attack the alien base on classic ironman! I don't have the perfect roster, but who ever does? An assault that's been on every mission so far, 1 support with 3 medpac ability, a fully leveled sniper with a shitty stock sniper rifle... and 3 heavies I also had to cancel out of plasma research to get the mission in before the end of the month, but these negligible issues aside, I'm ready to go.
Plan is to move at a snail's pace and rocket everything in the face, since I have 4 at my disposal.
I also had to cancel out of plasma research to get the mission in before the end of the month, but these negligible issues aside, I'm ready to go.Plan is to move at a snail's pace and rocket everything in the face, since I have 4 at my disposal.
Just so we're all on the same page for the last room:
You only need to take out the main, super ethereal guy. As you may have noticed, the enemies in the entire level, apart from the sectopods, are his projections. You only need to retain enough firepower to take him out in one round. 2 Assaults in ghost armor should do it.