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XCOM: Enemy Unknown |OT| Neo GAF is Under Alien Control
- Thread starter Jintor
- Start date
There are a few, myself included that have completed Impossible Ironman. It's kind of made my next classic Ironman cheevo game feel tame, but it all ends up in the same place.
weekend_warrior
Banned
Oh man they did patch out the hired rookie HP bonus bug. This is ging to make Classic so much more difficult. :\
Metalmurphy
Member
Before the patch, overwatch would trigger even without line of sight when you triggered a spawn. It wasn't exclusive to snipers/squad sight but it was of the most benefit to that class/skill.
ThatStupidLion
Gold Member
Just tried demo. Loved it. I get the feeling its pretty much valkyria chronicles but in space . is that the general gameplay?
I would say the biggest difference is that in valkyria chronicles you have to be very aggressive to get the highest rankings. In XCOM you will play more defensively.
XCOM Should Have Been Free to Play is an interesting thought experiment.
And, you know, completely and utterly misguided
reading that made me sad.
Yeah that was terrible. If you're unsure if you'll like it, there's a demo for that. As for everything else, yeah, no.
I like free to play, but boy would it be dumb to make X-COM a freemium game...
crackhead_bob
Member
What's the minimum amount of soldiers that you should have at base at any given time?
What's the maximum number of soldiers that work best without having to overspend on redundant staff? My base holds 99 people. Is that enough, or should I expect to expand my overall capacity?
What's the maximum number of soldiers that work best without having to overspend on redundant staff? My base holds 99 people. Is that enough, or should I expect to expand my overall capacity?
Since my last session I'm experimenting a visual bug when changing a character's weapon: the selected weapon is not displayed in the shooting animation scene. It doesn't break the game because it seems to just be a visual issue but it's a bit annoying. Wasn't it fixed by a patch?
on normal difficulty overspending on staff is not a possibility in the late game.
I just keep hiring, PSI-checking and then dismissing ungifted soldiers all the time by now
MrCompletely
Member
Woohoo the patch fixed my game crashing bug on the final mission and I finally got to complete the game!! It would just ctd at the same point when encountering the thin men, nothing I could do... Got frustrated and took a break, but I'm back in baby!
Finished Classic Ironman tonight, the last mission was a breeze, as was the last few months just trying to get some final research going. The difficulty is really uneven across the campaign and could really use some tuning. I'm sure impossible is really front loaded as well and with the really limited tactical options and base building I'm probably not going to bother with it.
I think the 360 version got some frame rate improvement from the patch. Playing tonight the game felt really smooth most of the time.
I think the 360 version got some frame rate improvement from the patch. Playing tonight the game felt really smooth most of the time.
Lostconfused
Member
The same thing happened to me. Somehow a Thinman would trigger overwatch die and then the game would crash. Got around it by not using overwatch that turn lol.
this is why I uninstalled this game today. Hoping for patch to fix these issues, but until then this game is a no-go for me
Post-patch I've noticed some end-turn bugs. If there's some interrupt while I'm having my turn (canned voice thing, or an alien does something) and I hit one of the action buttons for my squaddie there's a reasonable chance that after the action's done the game ends my turn. I've had this happen twice now since the patch; one of those I was lucky to survive (the end turn happening on a Bomb Defuse (post defuse, thankfully) while surrounded by Thin Men on the first shot of my sniper's double tap before anyone else had a chance to do anything... gave the Thin Men a free round to shoot/spit with gay abandon)
Any tips for an XCOM noob? I finished my first playthrough day on normal at 10 hours, and by finished I mean failed. The first few missions were pretty easy but after 5-6 hours I lost my vets in a few tough missions and struggled with rookies for the rest of the game. Fun game though even if it is tough.
Defense is the name of the game.
Research armor ASAP. Never walk in the open. And unless you have a very good reason try to avoid splitting up your troops. One guy who walks into an ambush by himself is often going to end up a new marker on your memorial. Assuming you're playing on normal difficulty, don't use explosives. They aren't necessary and you'll end up stalling on your research due to lack of weapon fragments.
Also the initial heading of your soldiers often indicates the general direction of the enemy. Pair that information with paying attention to the borders of the world and you can often get a decent amount of information on trying to figure out how to approach the enemy even if you aren't familiar with the current map.
Also height rocks for absolutely everybody but a sniper with damn good ground in a high location turns into a beast.
Panic management is key to surviving the strategic layer.
When you get a three pronged abduction, cancel back to the situation room and check if any of the counties on the same continent would get to 5 panic, don't just look at the countries themselves.
And build satellites. You want engineers early on. For the first abduction, pick the one with engineers as a reward. Then make a workshop for even more engineers. You always want a satellite under construction until you have one for every country. But don't launch them immediately. Save them for the last 1-2 days before a council report. Launching a satellite lowers panic for that country by 2. So save it in case you need emergency panic management at the end of a month. If not, just send it to a country worth more money, you'll have another satellite or two ready next month.
And finally, there's a plot event that you should probably aim for as quickly as you can.
You'll find an alien base on Earth that you'll then get the option to raid at your leisure.
crackhead_bob
Member
Is it me, or do all soldiers start with the same base stats, unlike the classic where they varied from soldier to soldier?
Finished Classic Ironman on my third try. First save was corrupted, lost the second one just as things were going to stabilize and then won the third time.
The key to everything is to get the satellites up to eliminate abduction missions. After that the game is easy. I only lost Mexico on my winning run.
Just keeping to high cover and only inching your way into the fog at the beginning of the turn only, helps minimize the number of spawns triggered. If necessary, I've spent 30 mins on some maps just edging around the corners instead of meeting the enemy head on.
On occasion it's even better to simply blow open a side entrance to trigger spawns and draw them back into a killzone you've set up.
The worst missions are probably the bomb missions because you can't play it as safe as needed and the Thin Men have ridiculous aim and abilities for early enemies.
The key to everything is to get the satellites up to eliminate abduction missions. After that the game is easy. I only lost Mexico on my winning run.
Just keeping to high cover and only inching your way into the fog at the beginning of the turn only, helps minimize the number of spawns triggered. If necessary, I've spent 30 mins on some maps just edging around the corners instead of meeting the enemy head on.
On occasion it's even better to simply blow open a side entrance to trigger spawns and draw them back into a killzone you've set up.
The worst missions are probably the bomb missions because you can't play it as safe as needed and the Thin Men have ridiculous aim and abilities for early enemies.
Youhavejustmademerage!
I'm on my 24th attempt at classic ironman. WTH is wrong with me?
Thin men and panic kill me the most.
famousmortimer
Banned
Just failed my 15th or so tonight. So i'm with you man. Im with you. Feels bad.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Don't like the visual design on the new floaters or chrysalids. At least the latter are less utterly terrifying now. Muton Berserkers would probably be as scary as those if they didn't come so relatively late - my first encounter with them was one of them charging into a tightly concentrated line of my finest operatives, two of which had the "automatically reaction fire on closing enemies" thing. It didn't end well for the alien.
Biggest thing that is annoying me is the weapon fragment requirement for research, because I didn't notice that it existed until I ran out of fragments and then there were no missions for like 17 days.
Biggest thing that is annoying me is the weapon fragment requirement for research, because I didn't notice that it existed until I ran out of fragments and then there were no missions for like 17 days.
As the poster on this page before stated, you have to manage satellites and panic from the get go. I started in Africa for the money bonus and it took me a while before I got an entire continent covered. I avoided the story portion until I got satellite coverage on everything, so I didn't even build an Arc Thrower.
Basically the order was:
Panic Management
Satellite
Uplink
Engineers
Carapace Armor
Laser
Scope
I never built Laboratories, built 1 workshop to get the last Uplink, I never built a Nexus, and didn't start interrogating till the end. I didn't even move the plotline past the Outsider until all satellites were up.
It's fine to allow countries to reach 5 panic if you can send a satellite before the council review. Beyond that I focused on Armor, Scopes, and Lasers.
I just take it very slowly and approach the enemy from non-traditional paths, like going around buildings and entering from the back etc. I always used high cover in the beginning and withdrew to set up Overwatch fields. Wherever needed, I used grenades to take out enemies and Nano Fiber vested my guys at the highest ranks since I needed their advanced abilities and their higher willpower.
What I did was use an Assault trooper to scout to his maximum blue range and if something triggers, I'll engage run and gun and run the hell back to the rest of my party who will go into Overwatch.
Finally got my goddamn 5-wins-on-5-continents achievement, so I'm done for now. With so many failed games, and no way to check which continents you won games on, I finished the game on various difficulties 7 times. :/
Gonna put the game aside until DLC arrives. I haven't touched any other game in a month.
Gonna put the game aside until DLC arrives. I haven't touched any other game in a month.
Oops sorry, not panic as in country panic. Panic as in stupid rookies can't hold their shit together.
couple examples off the top of my head.
Sniper gets shot, panics, and shoots support with his pistol, support then panics and SMOKES the sniper with his laser rifle.
VIP gets poisoned and panics, but in his panic he runs out of the cloud into high cover (great!), but then a stupid rookie 20 feet away panics for no reason and blows the VIP away.
Interesting advice about not moving the story forward at all.... you didn't find that by holding it up you were facing much tougher enemies in the alien base and other story missions?
My strategy has been b-line to laser weapons, carapace, and alien base. Trying to beat the base before the like heavy floaters/mutons show up....
but my plans always go to shit at council missions or my first terror missions. Had a terror mission pop up on a lvl 4 panic country once! I didn't even know that could happen, saved 15 of 18 civilians before my entire 5 man squad was wiped by two crysalids.
By the time we get to the 2nd OT, someone had better prepare a survival guide for all difficulties up to impossible on both Ironman and non Ironman play styles.
The number of posters getting wrecked seems to be huge. I failed on my first go around on classic and had to restart ironman classic a couple of times early as well, but some of you have reached a whole other tier of punishment! This kind of stuff is suppose to be reserved for impossible runs.
So yea, start with buying a lot of satellites and never dashing into the fog of war... and go from there?
The number of posters getting wrecked seems to be huge. I failed on my first go around on classic and had to restart ironman classic a couple of times early as well, but some of you have reached a whole other tier of punishment! This kind of stuff is suppose to be reserved for impossible runs.
So yea, start with buying a lot of satellites and never dashing into the fog of war... and go from there?
Tougher enemies are nothing once you unlock Plasma weaponry and lasers can take care of anything up until Muton Elites, Sectopods, and Ethereals. Ethereals won't show up if you don't move the story so it's just Muton Elites and Sectopods.
I armed my Assault's with Rifles instead of Shotguns for increased range as well, at least until Alloy Cannons.
In this way I avoided making Laser Pistols (though I did make one for a sniper), Plasma Pistol and the Scatter Laser Shotgun. I also never equipped Alien Grenades as they pale in comparison to the armor items.
I usually don't run into danger to save civilians in terror missions either as for whatever reason, the aliens tend to prioritize you once they've discovered you. They may run away and kill some more, but more often then not, they'll run back to you.
I just inch up, uncover enemies, destroy them and then move up again. The only issue is when there are a lot of Cyberdiscs which can often one hit kill soldiers in Carapace.
In all my games so far, my heavy hitter combo uses a 2 sniper combo with squad sight and double-tap. It basically wipes out most of the troublesome enemies at extreme range, while 2 heavies bring about 6 rockets and Heat Ammo. I then have 2 supports with Ghost Armor for scouting and healing with. Alternatively, I may have 1 support switch out for an Assault from time to time.
Basically, there's no reason for me to rush the ending. I spent months in game just leveling up secondary characters to Colonel before going into the final mission because by that time, most of my original guys had steep hits to their will power from wounds.
I also didn't go crazy on spending with the officers academy. I opened it a bit later than on normal due to satellite making but then opted to get the 5th and 6th soldier upgrade. I next went for the quick healing upgrade. The rest came when I had more money than materials to make things.
Oh and a good way to manage money is to go the the Grey market and sell things you don't need right now, especially from crashed alien space ships. You may need them in the future but until the research is an option, there will always be more parts and alien bodies.
The only exceptions are Alloys and Elerium. You also don't want to sell too many weapon fragments as you'll need them later for Plasma weapons.
Proximity matters. If you're in the habit of bunching your people up, I mean within half a dozen tiles from each other, it may become a problem. I've only had a couple of chain panics on my classic playthrough.
My only good sniper was a pain in the ass until I leveled him to squad sight(he would almost always be trailing far enough back after I unlocked that). His will was in the 50s as a Colonel, if memory serves. Always shit his pants... eh.
crackhead_bob
Member
What advice can you offer for those interested in leveling up rookies later on in the game. With improved weapons and armor, does leveling up become easier, or is there an unspoken point of no return, where leveling up new soldiers is no longer an option?
it's easier.
perks from officer school: promotion to squaddie is free, 25% more exp for kills.
Better armor/weapons help survivability, Squad of 6 means you can put in a rookie without loosing too much firepower (though it's still noticeable).
Just do it one guy at a time and not 3 or more at once if you can help it.
I like to bring them around (two at most) with a couple grenades and just let them get the kills, using grenades to secure the kills if needed and if I don't care about losing the drops.
Just bring them on scout ships or council missions, so you don't run into too many sectopods and other such monstruosities.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
I can't remember who it was, but someone here said that instead of scrambling to keep panic completely balanced across the board, they surrender certain countries so that they have more breathing room and don't have to worry about constantly teetering on the edge of the abyss. It's only going to potentially affect your money in the endgame, and at that point money is mostly a non-issue.
Personally, I have too much gamer-OCD to intentionally "screw up" like that, but it seems like a really great way to manage panic levels.
This is probably a holdover from the old X-com games, but I wished that EXP was awarded for damage dealt, not kills made because then you get Fire Emblem mindset of weakening guys with your vets than making the killing blow with the rookie. If I were to change it it would be EXP on damage proportional to alien's rank, then finishing blow awards a bonus amount.
frankthurk
Member
Focus on getting out satellites. As part of that make sure you are getting engineers so you can build more satellite control. Launch the satellites right at the end of the month to make any red nations calm down. You should launch 1 satellite the first month and 3 the second, keep going from there, that worked for me at least.
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Okay so I just encountered the little hovering guilty spark looking guys and after getting it down to one health and even if I am right next to them it won't let me stun them. What gives?
Metalmurphy
Member
You mean a drone? They're not capturable.
But you can convert them with an upgraded arch
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Okay cool thanks. I spent the last half hour cornering the bastard cause the engineer said something like "I would love to get my hands on one of those"
Metalmurphy
Member
Yeah, they really should have thought those voice overs through more carefully.
The scientist also says that we should capture an alien before we actually can.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Yeah, you have to try to launch 3-4 satellites before the first month is over. Usually doable on Classic, 3 sats usually doable on Impossible, 4 sats on Impossible require luck.
First abduction mission, choose engineers. Hopefully you get this mission before March 7th otherwise this won't work.
Finish mission, build workshop. Takes 10 days. Need to do this at least 24 days before council meeting.
Build 3-4 satellites at least 20 days before council meeting. Sell stuff if you have to.
Shoot down UFO and sell all your spoils, or if you have enough time in the month, ignore the first small scout UFO, then shoot down the medium UFO that comes later to kill your satellite.
Build Satellite Uplink at least 14 days or more before the council meeting. Takes 14 days to complete.
Launch sats when ready.