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[weekend_warrior]

My 3rd Classic attempt was fucking disaster. Started great, took no damage the first 2 missions, was ranking everyone up nicely. Then the first downed UFO mission everything changed. I lost my support on a bullshit alien super-shot, my assault died when I run'n'guned to finish off the Insider and a bunch of Sectoids spawned. To top it off the game decided I needed lots of snipers, so when the council mission came (a VIP escort) the only ranked soldiers I had were 3 snipers. I lost the rook immediately when a Thin Man jumping from the roof didn't trigger an overwatch. Then I spent the next hour crawling across a roof top, which is when my snipers decided to start shooting blindfolded. Missed like 4 85% shots and a handful of overwatches, lost one sniper from a ground level alien supershot, said fuck it and decided I had to get off the roof, which meant walking right into an overwatch, managed to rush the VIP to the ranger and get him away safely, but lost my last sniper to the same fucking Thin Man because full cover might as well be no cover with those asshole. So there you have it, I have 1 ranked soldier left so there's pretty much no point continuing this game.

/rant

 

[Lombax]

So much fun!

 

[TTG]

So much fun!

When did you do it? I'm thinking of starting a new game on classic to make an attempt on it right away. I'm thinking a squaddie, probably a heavy, with a medpac against some sectoids and an outsider is a good match up.

 

[Lombax]

When did you do it? I'm thinking of starting a new game on classic to make an attempt on it right away. I'm thinking a squaddie, probably a heavy, with a medpac against some sectoids and an outsider is a good match up.

I did it on classic on the first UFO crash that came up. Ended up using an Assault w/shotgun and a lot of overwatch and run and gun

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

Getting tired of this game. I've researched and bought everything and am now just grinding different missions to train up my psychic team for the impossible last mission. I want to have a team of all psychics since my last attempt with all colonels went... poorly.

 

[TTG]

That first UFO crash is definitely the way to go with Lone Wolf. I chose a heavy and with only 4 sectoids + an outsider, it was a breeze. A heavy can take a shot and keep trucking and they have 9 points in splash damage to spread around.

Looked at the trophies list, I got most of them, but I don't know if the rest will ever happen. Beat it from all 5 continents, that means 2 more full games. Beat it on impossible, which is the only interesting one left. Some other random stuff like curing 5 poisons and getting everything from the forge... and that's about it.

 

[Miletius]

Impossible Ironman done. I kind of like the balancing on the end game on impossible a bit more, aliens don't die as fast and there are a lot of them so danger is more readily around the corner.

Early game though, f that. Won't do it again.

 

[Rentahamster]

Early game though, f that. Won't do it again.

The most frustrating part, yep.

 

[Grimsen]

I did the lone wolf achievement late-game, against a small ufo. I used a psi-sniper, but the duel at the end with the ethereal was intense!

I agree that early game must be easier.

 

[wastedyears]

The items in the foundry take time to build (10-15 days usually).

I know, this is my second playthrough. I did get the upgrade after a few missions, but it wasn't listed on the schedule and it wasn't listed as complete, it just disappeared for a while.

 

[Impeccable]

Okay well if anyone happens to get the same bug as I did where you reload the last mission and you soldiers are invincible and you can't progress... DON'T move anyone ... just save it.

Then when you reload it all will be back to normal.


(I beat Classic Ironman mode now, HOORAY!!!!!!!!)

 

[Miletius]

Okay well if anyone happens to get the same bug as I did where you reload the last mission and you soldiers are invincible and you can't progress... DON'T move anyone ... just save it.

Then when you reload it all will be back to normal.


(I beat Classic Ironman mode now, HOORAY!!!!!!!!)

Congrats!

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

So I went to install the game on my mac through Steam since its primarily on my PC. When I go to the game it tells me I have been playing for over 34 hours which is about 24 hours above what I have actually played and tells me its not available for download. What is up?

 

[McNum]

So I went to install the game on my mac through Steam since its primarily on my PC. When I go to the game it tells me I have been playing for over 34 hours which is about 24 hours above what I have actually played and tells me its not available for download. What is up?

XCOM isn't Steamplay? I don't see an Apple logo on the store page, so there probably isn't a Mac version. That would explain it, I'd imagine. The boxed version is PC only, too.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

XCOM isn't Steamplay? I don't see an Apple logo on the store page, so there probably isn't a Mac version. That would explain it, I'd imagine. The boxed version is PC only, too.

Ahh yeah I think your right.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

Okay well if anyone happens to get the same bug as I did where you reload the last mission and you soldiers are invincible and you can't progress... DON'T move anyone ... just save it.

Then when you reload it all will be back to normal.


(I beat Classic Ironman mode now, HOORAY!!!!!!!!)

Interesting. I wonder if that'd work for the "Alien Activity" lockup.

 

[Bamihap]

Just started playing without ANY knowledge before hand. I'm super impressed.

 

[Castor Krieg]

Getting tired of this game. I've researched and bought everything and am now just grinding different missions to train up my psychic team for the impossible last mission. I want to have a team of all psychics since my last attempt with all colonels went... poorly.

No reason for that really. Only one person receives the final PSI ability, and all others are inferior to good plasma shot.

 

[McNum]

I learned something about Sectopods today...

If a Sectopod seemingly does nothing apart from emitting a red glow from its nose and the camera then moves somewhere, take note of where the camera moved to. Then run away from that area! Fast! Next alien turn that area is getting shelled. Also, suppress the thing. And do whatever it takes to increase your defense.

Going to ge my first Blaster Launcher soon. But first! That pesky purple UFO just hit the ground... I wonder if I can catch you know what alive. Could be funny.

 

[SapientWolf]

My 3rd Classic attempt was fucking disaster. Started great, took no damage the first 2 missions, was ranking everyone up nicely. Then the first downed UFO mission everything changed. I lost my support on a bullshit alien super-shot, my assault died when I run'n'guned to finish off the Insider and a bunch of Sectoids spawned. To top it off the game decided I needed lots of snipers, so when the council mission came (a VIP escort) the only ranked soldiers I had were 3 snipers. I lost the rook immediately when a Thin Man jumping from the roof didn't trigger an overwatch. Then I spent the next hour crawling across a roof top, which is when my snipers decided to start shooting blindfolded. Missed like 4 85% shots and a handful of overwatches, lost one sniper from a ground level alien supershot, said fuck it and decided I had to get off the roof, which meant walking right into an overwatch, managed to rush the VIP to the ranger and get him away safely, but lost my last sniper to the same fucking Thin Man because full cover might as well be no cover with those asshole. So there you have it, I have 1 ranked soldier left so there's pretty much no point continuing this game.

/rant

On my first VIP escort mission the rookie gets hit by poison, and starts dropping health. I didn't care until a few turns later when he panics, then turns around and shoots the VIP in the face. He wasn't even next to him. He was like 10 spaces away. WTF?

 

[Grimsen]

Started a muliplayer match to get the achievement, and ended up playing it all day. I didn't think I'd like it that much, but it's fucking great!

 

[Funky Papa]

I honestly think that reveling in the grief of other people is part of the XCOM experience.

Man, some stories.

 

[TTG]

Now that Dishonored is actually in my hands, I thought I'd sum up some thoughts about this strange game that I've completed 3 times consecutively.

It's a game that, more than any other I remember playing(and yea, I don't have a lot of experience with civ or sim city or turn based strategy), is driven by the player's decisions. That philosophy is not only in the driver's seat, it permeates every square inch of the game, never is an opportunity missed or something taken for granted. But that, by itself, would not have made XCOM a great game. What makes it a great game is that it's deep, smart, well paced and completely unafraid in making the player pay for the consequences of a bad decision. It's also full of bugs that really hurt the experience in a game that's so dependent on a rule set... but anyway. One of my favorite games on this generation of hardware. I might even go back for impossible at some point in the future.

 

[pringles]

Started a muliplayer match to get the achievement, and ended up playing it all day. I didn't think I'd like it that much, but it's fucking great!

Yeah it's pretty fun.

My greatest win came against a dude who had only one bad-ass Assault with ghost armor and alloy cannon. He was tearing my 2 sectoid, 1 thin man, 1 support, 1 assault and 1 plasma squadsight sniper apart. Until a car exploded and killed him. Couldn't stop laughing.

 

[Grimsen]

I had my own rocket rocket blow up one tile from the heavy that launched it in MP today. Lost three of my 6 guys, but still managed a win. My opponent probably got sloppy from laughing so much.

 

[zkylon]

Man this game is hard in classic difficulty.

 

[OmegaDragon]

So I've finished the game on classic in one try, after finishing it on normal (both ironman).

The difficulty bump was very refreshing, although its rather frontloaded. The early game was downright frighting, as everyone can be killed with one shot. I was glad the new recruit HP bug was there to give me a little bit more breathing room. I had difficulties to keep my vets alive to get access to the OTS. The very first terror mission was a nightmare. I was still on normal armour and weapons with a squad of four. Not enough firepower to handle chryssalids before they could strike

By the time mutons started to show up, I already had access to laser rifles and carapace, but not a full squad yet. The first couple of battles with them were very tense and things were going so well on managing the panic levels. Luckily I could assault the alien base just before the end of the month, with a full squad, carapace for everyone and all but heavy lasers. The assault went very well, that was definitely the turning point in my campaign. After that panic become manageable, but battles could turn ugly when I triggered to many enemies. And I had to abort a terror mission after my squad of 4 was confronted 2 cyberdiscs at once after having dealt with 2 packs of chryssalids and 1 cyberdisc.

By the time you get to plasma and titan armour and beyond, the game becomes a bit predictable and safe. Almost everyone could survive at least one critical hit, your troops can dish out a lot of damage rather reliably and you can scout with little punishment due to ghost armour. The entire globe was covered and money wasn't a scarce resource anymore. The final mission becomes easy once you know what enemies spawn where.

 

[xptoxyz]

Can anyone confirm that the boxed version is also "steamworks"? (activation through steam etc.).

 

[McNum]

Can anyone confirm that the boxed version is also "steamworks"? (activation through steam etc.).

Confirmed. The boxed version registers with Steam.

 

[Dynamic3]

Is there a benefit of having aim above 100?

On that note, I've noticed that despite researching the advances scope, I see no indication of increased crit % on my previously built scopes or an option to build an advances scope.

 

[Noema]

A little late to this party, but finally got to play this. I've been a fan of the original ever since it came out (used to play on my old 386@33MHZ). Had to rent the 360 version because I'm broke and I can't afford to purchase any games at the moment.

All I can say is that the game has exceeded all of my expectations. It's just fantastic. It manages to feel like Xcom, but at the same time it's completely new an fresh and not simply a rehash of the old UFO.

 

[weekend_warrior]

Is there a benefit of having aim above 100?

On that note, I've noticed that despite researching the advances scope, I see no indication of increased crit % on my previously built scopes or an option to build an advances scope.

Absolutely. Your AIM rating is just a base number to your potential hit %. So if you have 100 AIM, but your enemy is behind full cover (+40 to defense), your hit % will only be 60%. If you have 120 AIM your hit % will be 80%.

 

[Dire]

Is there a benefit of having aim above 100?

That's 100 before enemy mods like cover, psychic stuff and mysterious undeclared negatives are factored in. The more the merrier.

 

[krakov]

Is it impossible to abandon an escort mission before the vip is dead? Took my last alive member to the extraction zone and abandoned but it didn't work.

 

[McNum]

And beat Normal again. I should spice it up a bit, it's getting a little easy. Even if I messed up a bit in the final room. Was trying to be fancy. The

Spoiler

Uber Etheral

decided to just be very direct. Still, if there's a problem that Blaster Bombs can't solve, I don't want to know of it.

But I don't think I'll be starting a new game until the next patch. got hit with some of the bugs. Invisible, unselectable SHIVs, teleporting aliens. "Did someone order a Sectopod Surprise? No? SURPRISE!" And of course the Abductor roof. So, yeah, I might go for either Normal Ironman or plain Classic next. But I'm not doing any kind of Ironman until the bugs have been addressed.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

for some reason I had a lot of trouble with the last two parts of the last mission. It would appear bringing just the one sniper is pretty much the 'will fail' setup. Should have swapped the assault for another sniper,bringing it two heavies (one psi), two support (3 x medkit for 8 hp heal), and two snipers.

Probably should have bought and brought one ghost armor, but I figured I wouldn't need it. Which I didn't, until the last mission.

I had hoped the game would continue past that mission though. The game seemed a little short for me on this first normal run. 172 days, everything researched, everything captured (that 'all technology credit' is just cheating)

I didn't even have global satellite coverage.

edit: what on earth is a 'blaster bomb' though?
Oh, it's the blaster cannon... hmm, brb.

 

[McNum]

Blaster Bombs are what the guided Fusion Launcher aka Blaster Launcher fires. Heavies DO get an upgrade for the rocket, and it's a good one. It can't misfire and

Spoiler

it shoots around corners

.

You get to make them if you raid a Battleship.

 

[blahblah...blah]

So this game is good, right? I'm watching TotalBiscut's WTF on it, and it looks pretty fun. If there's a demo I might try it out.

 

[Dynamic3]

My turn just started with a random 21dmg shit from the sky, no enemies present, killing my fully covered sniper. Wtf?

 

[demidar]

I used to bring 2 snipers to missions, but then supports became too good with two inventory slots. Tanky, utility, fast movement for flanking and dense smoke grenades are just too good.

edit: ^^ That's probably a sectopod artilliry bombardment.

 

[Hargenx]

So this game is good, right? I'm watching TotalBiscut's WTF on it, and it looks pretty fun. If there's a demo I might try it out.

Is pure awesome!

But try-out the demo!

 

[Dynamic3]

edit: ^^ That's probably a sectopod artilliry bombardment.

What?

Where's the strategy in having your team randomly nuked with no warning?

 

[Lostconfused]

What?

Where's the strategy in having your team randomly nuked with no warning?

Strategy is kill the sectopod before it turns your soldiers into a pile of hamburger.

 

[demidar]

Strategy is kill the sectopod before it turns your soldiers into a pile of hamburger.

"Protip: Kill the enemy before they kill you!"

 

[Dynamic3]

Strategy is kill the sectopod before it turns your soldiers into a pile of hamburger.

It killed me at the start of my third turn, even if I dashed for two turns I literally could not have even gotten in shooting range of where it ultimately was. I'm even more pissed than my when my support just randomly disappeared before I even made my first move and ended up KIA...at least that was a bug.

 

[Lostconfused]

Don't think I ever saw AI fire area of effect weapons blindly. But you don't need a line of sight to use them. You just happened to be lucky enough to run into an AI clever enough to do that. Or maybe it had line of sight on you for some reason or other.

 

[taoofjord]

Any word on if Firaxis will tweak the difficulties at all? I'm kinda holding out for something in between normal and classic (and I'm not interested in ironman just yet).

 

[demidar]

Don't think I ever saw AI fire area of effect weapons blindly. But you don't need a line of sight to use them. You just happened to be lucky enough to run into an AI clever enough to do that. Or maybe it had line of sight on you for some reason or other.

Even if you had 2 entire turns to take potshots at a sectopod with your entire team, you still won't kill it because it has a thin film of bullshit protecting it on top of the innate 30% shot reduction armour.

 

[Ronok]

Finished my first play on normal. Had a lot of fun, but it was a bit easy. Only 2 of my people died all game, and one of them was a new guy who came in because of injury. The final level was a lot easier then some of the regular missions with cover constantly nicely placed for you and aliens in a load of easy to see spots. The final room was especially disappointing as I just snipped the main guy and it was over.

Still, I'll play again on classic and experience the real game next.

 

[TTG]

Even if you had 2 entire turns to take potshots at a sectopod with your entire team, you still won't kill it because it has a thin film of bullshit protecting it on top of the innate 30% shot reduction armour.

If you got your guys in range, sectopods by themselves are just a nuisance. Rocket from a heavy with a +100% robot damage and either a crit or a double tap from a sniper, it's that easy.