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XCOM: Enemy Unknown |OT| Neo GAF is Under Alien Control

Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Zertez said:
I havent played impossible yet, but in Classic and below I dont think Ive seen a bomb disposal in the first month ever. I cant say this works on Impossible, but working the edges of the map running in enough to zap a delay device, instead of going through the middle of bomb disposal mission triggers less packs in my experience. If I go through the middle of the map, I always seem to trigger a couple packs with one move. Are the spawn points and packs laid out differently in Impossible compared to Classic?
Click to expand...

There might be more mobs in Impossible, I'm not sure since it's been a while since I've played the other difficulties.

Just the fact that the thin men have 6 HP in Impossible means that you can only one shot them with a max damage crit. Plus, their increased aim makes them extremely deadly. Oh yeah, and since your guys only have 4HP, one shot of unavoidable poison could mean death, and possibly a panicked soldier.
 
M

Miletius

Member
Rentahamster said:
There might be more mobs in Impossible, I'm not sure since it's been a while since I've played the other difficulties.

Just the fact that the thin men have 6 HP in Impossible means that you can only one shot them with a max damage crit. Plus, their increased aim makes them extremely deadly. Oh yeah, and since your guys only have 4HP, one shot of unavoidable poison could mean death, and possibly a panicked soldier.
Click to expand...

There are more packs on impossible, and on top of that battles are usually not one turn affairs. That's what really kills you in Bomb Disposal Impossible. The usual tactic of "lure enemies into a secure location" just does not work since you are on a strict time limit.

Plus, Thin Men can and will routinely hit you behind full cover in my experience.

zkylon said:
So if I start the game with the tutorial it eventually transitions into normal game, right? I've played like 4 hours already and I have a ton of introductory cutscenes and whatnot...
Click to expand...

Edit: Yes, I think it happens after you get gifted the first sat from the council. Kinda a "my bad" for letting 3 of your soldiers die.
 
F

famousmortimer

Banned
Zertez said:
Keeping your troops in pairs with one guy scouting ahead and the trailing guy on overwatch, has helped me with Thin men. Be sure to keep your troops separated a little instead of grouping them next to one another because they will spray you with a poison cloud, if you have your troops lined up in cover side by side. Thin men love to use overwatch, so I will use Assault soldiers with lightning reflexes when they are hidden in fog of war and I need to locate them.

Dont be afraid to use grenades or missles on them. Outside of a couple pieces of research, an autopsy and an interrogation, you dont have much use for their corpses like other alien corpses. They do carry light plasma rifles, so it is worth stunning a few early on, if you can do so without dying. I will also sacrifice a rookie trying to stun a Thin man, if it means I can get a light plasma rifle out of the death. Replacing a rookie is much cheaper/easier than manufacturing a light plasma rifle.

On VIP rescue missions I keep a few guys back towards the skyranger in overwatch. Thin men always seem to spawn close to the skyranger after you gain control of the VIP. With a few soldiers in overwatch, they can kill or put a huge dent in their hp before they get a chance to react. On my next turn, I can finish them off with my sniper or the soliders who got off an overwatch shot.
Click to expand...

Bolded is what just ruined Classic ironman attempt #7 about 5 minutes ago. My firs three missions were flawless and then I got the rescue mission with the general on the bridge (which i've completed on normal flawlessly atleast 100000000 times) and had everything absolutely perfect including dealing the first round of thin men, but then 2 spawned near the ship and took out my whole squad. Missing a 76% shot in the middle of that massacre was salt in the wound :(


Good tips though, thanks.
 
E

elfinke

Member
blahblah...blah said:
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.
Click to expand...

I was in the same boat, with little background info on whether this was a 'good game' or not. But the demo combined with Jintor's wonderful 'Lets Play', GB incessant chatting about it and the cheap price at GMG was too much. The first thing I did with this pay cheque was grab a copy. Not even one regret. Terrific game; tickles every game playing bone in my body in the way that very few games these days do.
 
F

famousmortimer

Banned
I don't suppose anyone created a difficulty mod that is about halfway between normal and classic, have they? Because one is dead simple and the other is murdering my mind and temper.
 
M

MasLegio

Banned
KO Traveling Hobo said:
non-Ironman Classic is pretty fair.
Click to expand...

seems like that is the only way I have to go if I want to enjoy the classic game.

I always get pissed of when I experience that the game is cheating and this always happens on harder difficulties in Fireaxis games.

have tried Ironman Classic way too many times to do it again right now
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
zkylon said:
I really wish the tutorial had explained me that without satellites I'd be doomed...
Click to expand...

actually it did when it said you would have to scan for contacts using sattelites...

I finished the game with only a handful of sats though. I could have gone faster if I had build the
firestorm
before my nexus + sats. Also: proximity bonus is a must, since it gives one free sat per connection.

You could probably finish a normal game in less then 150 days. However,
finding the psi soldier is a real bitch.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Zeitgeister said:
And if you want that 'excellent' achievement? Play on Super Easy & Save 'em all?
Click to expand...

That would be the easiest way, but it can be done on normal or classic, too.

In the zone plasma snipers can take out every chryssalid in sight in one turn, and potentially every heavy floater.

Ghosted alloy assaults can sneak vision without getting aggro, and start off the killing spree.

Heavies can get multiple kills with rockets.

Use those three for great success.

Just don't rocket any civvies.
 
J

Jintor

Member
duckroll said:
Don't move too much from your starting point. Kill aliens as they expose themselves while killing civilians. Don't try too hard saving people. Just stay alive, and kill all aliens. Selfishness wins.
Click to expand...

Point of order: unless you can one-shot chrysallids, they will overrun you on impossible or hard if you try and bunker down.
 
F

Fersis

It is illegal to Tag Fish in Tag Fishing Sanctuaries by law 38.36 of the GAF Wildlife Act
Ok folks im ready to
assault the alien base.
Wish me luck!
 
milkham

milkham

Member
duckroll said:
Don't move too much from your starting point. Kill aliens as they expose themselves while killing civilians. Don't try too hard saving people. Just stay alive, and kill all aliens. Selfishness wins.
Click to expand...

Bonus, once you can kill chrysallids without too much trouble all those tasty civilians could mean more chrysallid corpses to make chitin plating.
 
F

Fersis

It is illegal to Tag Fish in Tag Fishing Sanctuaries by law 38.36 of the GAF Wildlife Act
Well that was quite a disaster, lost 4 soldiers in the last push. =/
Gotta replay it.
 
T

TTG

Member
Fersis said:
Well that was quite a disaster, lost 4 soldiers in the last push. =/
Gotta replay it.
Click to expand...

Take your punches, weenie.
I would probably reload as well

Also, someone was asking for terror mission advice, assuming you're playing on classic or easier:

-Ignore civilians. Don't compromise your squad to get near them, puree however many you want via explosives.

-This is no time to get frisky with strategy. The name of the game is survival. That means everyone sticks together, which means you can take out any one thing in sight in a single turn. Make sure snipers and heavies have a line of sight etc.

-Don't piss your pants. When there are 8 aliens on screen, half of which can one shot you, it will look dire. The good news is that they are likely to get distracted by the civilians. Don't run, don't quit. Running is useless anyway, you can't outrun cryssalids.

-Absolutely throw grenades at soon-to-be-zombies corpses. This kills 2 birds with 1 stone. First, that zombie has almost 15 hp once it gets going, that's gonna take a lot of attention away, why not waste it with a 3 hit point grenade ahead of time? Second, the cryssalid's turn ends right next to the corpse, lob that grenade.

The rest is a matter of situational awareness, normal XCOM rules apply. As for the achievement, it's a matter of getting a friendly roll. It's not at all impossible, you have what, like a 5 civilian death cushion?
 
O

Owensboro

Member
Playing Classic-Ironman and I just had the most insane Terror Mission. I started in a parking lot facing a courthouse looking building with a front door and columns to the left and a small door on the right.

Turn 1&2: I move up to the cars, see two Mutons inside, and set up snipers to hit them.
Turn 3: A Cyberdisk (CD1) with one drone (D1) spawns. One Muton gets a grenade off on one of the troops, but both Mutons get killed by my snipers. I injure the Cyberdisk, but it gets a grenade into 3 of my troops.
Turn 4: 3 Chryssalids(CHR) and another Cyberdisk(CD2) and drone (D2) spawn. Things are getting bad. Everyone misses their shot, or kills a drone (D1&2 dead). CD1 gets a shot off that downs my only heavy (goodbye heat bullets).
Turn 5: A sniper one shots a CHR. Assault shoots down CD1. ANOTHER Cyberdisk (CD3) spawns. One CHR charges me, the other creates a zombie.
Turn 6: Deciding the CHR are the biggest threat, I take them out , do a little damage to CD3 and pray. CD2 clips through the damn wall and flanks my assualt, killing him. The Zombie shambles towards me. He will be on top of me in two more turns. I have 4 units (Sniper, Sniper, Assault, Support) left, all with low health.
Turn 7: A 4th!!!!! Cyberdisk (CD4) Spawns. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. My Support kills CD3. Sniper 1, Sniper 2, and Assault focus fire CD2 killing it. The Zombie shambles closer, one turn away from murdering my sniper. CD4 throws another grenade and somehow misses everyone. Did the game just glitch in my favor?
Turn 8: Zombie gets crit by a sniper, everyone focuses on CD4. It lives with 2 health left. It takes a shot 4 tiles away from my sniper and misses, but lights a car on fire.
Turn 9: Sniper 1, Sniper 2, and Support ALL MISS their shots on CD4. If my Assault misses, it's two deaths easy (exploding car and CD4's next turn). I say a prayer. He downs the Cyberdisk. I feel like I somehow just won an impossible mission, and pour myself a bourbon. I need something to help with the stress.

Somehow, I escaped that mission with only two casualties, even though they were the two highest ranked people I had. That should have been the mission that wiped me out completely, and I fully realize that that was the "turning point" mission. If I lose it, I'm fucked and it's another Classic-Ironman game down the drain. But I won, and I soldier on. I almost have full satellite coverage. Is this the game (Game 27 BTW) that I finally make it to the alien base?

This game man. Holy god I love this game.
 
A

Astery

Member
duckroll said:
Don't move too much from your starting point. Kill aliens as they expose themselves while killing civilians. Don't try too hard saving people. Just stay alive, and kill all aliens. Selfishness wins.
Click to expand...

NEVAR!

uh I actually came in to check any release date for the DLC, or any new patch that fixes some glitches. It's been a while since I have touched the game, waiting for a patch before I start impossible ironman.
 
R

rakhir

Member
I just build the PSI device, equipped my guy with the suit and wanted to make him use it, but the game's
screaming "There's no turning back from here, man!". Is this the end of the campaign
?
 
M

McNum

Member
There is a very, very, very visible point of no return in the game. In the form of a huge red popup stating explicitly that if you proceed, it's the endgame from then on out. You can't miss it.
 
A

Aaron

Member
Astery said:
NEVAR!

uh I actually came in to check any release date for the DLC, or any new patch that fixes some glitches. It's been a while since I have touched the game, waiting for a patch before I start impossible ironman.
Click to expand...
There is a patch on the way to fix glitches and some balance adjustments. No ETA I know of. I think it'll be held up by cert on consoles.
 
E

elfinke

Member
This game, man, this fucking game. For sure the best $30 I've spent in some time (outside of cricket equipment); I haven't had this much fun having my arse handed to me since Demon's Souls years ago.

And I'm only playing on fucking normal. Christ, I find myself in some positions (particularly in the open forest missions, attacking downed UFO's - all the metro missions like the petrol stations are easy as pie) where I just can't work out how to better play the mission. All those half-shield defences and my weak sauce weapons lead to my occasional crash'n'burn. Once this play through inevitably comes to a dramatic failure I'll reasses base strategy, as it seems I haven't yet got the balance just right between various research/engineering demands.
 
C

crackhead_bob

Member
Im playing on classic difficulty and the computer is playing cheap. Shots tend to be inaccurate. With a four man team Im not making much progress. Difficult labeled missions are not an option it seems. What is a sound strategy for those beginning on classic? Between aliens outflanking my four soldiers and crappy accuracy rating, im losing all the time. Im very frustrated:-(
 
D

duckroll

Member
crackhead_bob said:
Im playing on classic difficulty and the computer is playing cheap. Shots tend to be inaccurate. With a four man team Im not making much progress. Difficult labeled missions are not an option it seems. What is a sound strategy for those beginning on classic? Between aliens outflanking my four soldiers and crappy accuracy rating, im losing all the time. Im very frustrated:-(
Click to expand...

Early game, one option you have is to spam grenades. Grenades will never miss, and hit an area of impact. A normal grenade should be enough to kill early aliens in a single blast, or at least destroy the cover they're hiding behind. Using 4 grenades earlier on can clear an initial wave of enemies quickly, and also do enough damage to the environment to limit the approach of the remaining enemies. Something to consider instead of saving the grenades as "last ditch" options.
 
S

scytheavatar

Member
crackhead_bob said:
Im playing on classic difficulty and the computer is playing cheap. Shots tend to be inaccurate. With a four man team Im not making much progress. Difficult labeled missions are not an option it seems. What is a sound strategy for those beginning on classic? Between aliens outflanking my four soldiers and crappy accuracy rating, im losing all the time. Im very frustrated:-(
Click to expand...

Understand that the aliens haven't become stronger, instead they are just starting in areas of good cover and you are starting in areas with terrible cover. If you rush head first you WILL be bodied because of that. What you need to do at the start of combat is to rush your units to the flanks and attempt to sneak up into areas of good cover. This evens the odds and makes classic/impossible a lot easier.
 
P

patapuf

Member
crackhead_bob said:
Im playing on classic difficulty and the computer is playing cheap. Shots tend to be inaccurate. With a four man team Im not making much progress. Difficult labeled missions are not an option it seems. What is a sound strategy for those beginning on classic? Between aliens outflanking my four soldiers and crappy accuracy rating, im losing all the time. Im very frustrated:-(
Click to expand...

-Spamming explosives is great at the beginning, you don't have to worry about rescources yet

-only scout at the beginning of a turn and never dash unless you use run&gun. This gives you enough time to react to discoveries

-retreat if you are overwhelmed, set up a defence outside of the range of the aliens and let them come to you, smoke helps a lot in such cases.

-holo targeting is also useful at the beinning of the turn

-scopes work well with all classes, esp. heavies can benefit from it.
 
Vol5

Vol5

Member
Hover SHIV now working, ethereal alien captured, ethereal device captured and a sectopod finished off with a run-of-the-mill pistol as a last ditch action. Got back to base to have 2 squad members achieve Col. status and assigned my Assault Col. with psi-armor.

I fucking love this game!
 
The Stig

The Stig

Member
love this game.

made a hover shiv and it seems to work fine. amid all these posts regarding glitches I am happy to report my PC version is perfectly fine and stable.
 
M

MasLegio

Banned
should I rename all the soldiers to "uselass bastard #" at the beginning of the game and hire and play with fresh rookies?

only problem is it is that I might need the money for something else

maybe add one "useless bastard" per mission and see them as cannon fodder
 
W

weekend_warrior

Banned
MasLegio said:
should I rename all the soldiers to "uselass bastard #" at the beginning of the game and hire and play with fresh rookies?

only problem is it is that I might need the money for something else

maybe add one "useless bastard" per mission and see them as cannon fodder
Click to expand...

I use the 4+1 rookies for the first 2 missions since you'll only face sectiods, then I switch to using only hired 6+1 rookies afterwards. If I get any supports or heavies from the first 2 missions I 'll use them too but only after equipping the vest or carapace armor.
 
F

Fersis

It is illegal to Tag Fish in Tag Fishing Sanctuaries by law 38.36 of the GAF Wildlife Act
So i researched the Firestorm but it doesnt show on my hangar. =/
 
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