Lostconfused
Member
That's not really a big deal since they use that to introduce and explain the concept to the player. And everything they need to do to accomplish a capture.
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown |OT| Neo GAF is Under Alien Control
- Thread starter Jintor
- Start date
Metalmurphy
Member
But during the mission she says "we should really try to capture one alive" and nothing more, you don't know about the arch thrower at that time so you're basically wondering the whole mission, "how the hell do you capture aliens?"
Yeah, they should have phrased that line differently.
Ace Harding
Member
I'm maybe half (?) of my way through my second playthrough, on Normal Ironman. Things are going sort of OK now, though I had a rough start. As I was working to capture an Other I killed up two of them in two separate missions. Then I held off on doing the
mission until I could get more satellites going and some other upgrades, but during that time I lost five countries due to bad panic management.
I lost those five countries, but I now don't have a problem with panic. I have satellites everywhere, starting to upgrade my ships. I get like 1200 credits a month, and I'm working my way through all the weapon/armor/soldier upgrades as I'm doing missions. I generally lose one, maybe two soldiers per mission, but usually lower-tier guys and it doesn't seem to hurt me all that much. I have plasma pistols, rifles, sniper rifle, and heavy. I have one
soldier. I think I've researched all armors but one or two, but don't have enough to build them right now. One thing I'm missing is a high-level Support soldier - I have two top-tier Heavies and a Sniper, then I kind of mix in other lower-level Assault, Support, and Heavy characters. I have the Barracks perks that let you level up faster and start with a class.
I just
.
Am I pretty much in the clear at this point? With five countries gone pretty early on, did I screw myself? I would just hate to have gotten this far (feel like I must be approaching the end) only to find out I was screwed hours ago and should restart.
One other weird thing - in my first replay I got wiped by
on the
mission, but I haven't seen one on this playthrough. Is that weird?
If I succeed on this run I'll give Classic Ironman a shot.
Edit: I also built a
but I'm not sure if its worth upgrading and using. Is it?
Edit 2: I also haven't captured any aliens, except the one you need to trigger the story. I've just been too focused on making sure I don't get everyone killed, and getting in position to capture requires a risk I just haven't been willing to take. Should I get over it? Is the reward worth the risk? At this point in the game should I just finish and try to do it on my next playthrough?
alien base
I lost those five countries, but I now don't have a problem with panic. I have satellites everywhere, starting to upgrade my ships. I get like 1200 credits a month, and I'm working my way through all the weapon/armor/soldier upgrades as I'm doing missions. I generally lose one, maybe two soldiers per mission, but usually lower-tier guys and it doesn't seem to hurt me all that much. I have plasma pistols, rifles, sniper rifle, and heavy. I have one
psi-enabled
I just
built the Hyperwave Relay, did the Overseer ship mission (almost a full wipe!), and found a gifted soldier
Am I pretty much in the clear at this point? With five countries gone pretty early on, did I screw myself? I would just hate to have gotten this far (feel like I must be approaching the end) only to find out I was screwed hours ago and should restart.
One other weird thing - in my first replay I got wiped by
Chrysslids
Alien Base
If I succeed on this run I'll give Classic Ironman a shot.
Edit: I also built a
S.H.I.V.
Edit 2: I also haven't captured any aliens, except the one you need to trigger the story. I've just been too focused on making sure I don't get everyone killed, and getting in position to capture requires a risk I just haven't been willing to take. Should I get over it? Is the reward worth the risk? At this point in the game should I just finish and try to do it on my next playthrough?
The really nice aliens to catch are
or if you're late in the game and haven't caught much,
a Sectoid, a Muton
an Ethereal (difficult, but not impossible.)
Sectoids boost laser research, Mutons boost plasma and Ethereals boost everything. You may already have the plasma boost if you autopsied an Elite Muton.
Ace Harding
Member
Thanks. Do the captures give me more than regular research will? I did already
autopsy an Elite
If all they do is give you earlier access, but I've already researched
lasers and plasmas
I don't intentionally try to lose them but accepted before hand that I would accept any losses in order to get to mid-late game. My previous non-bugged try was so close, I had Titan armor and Plasma Rifles, but lost 1 too many nations.
The next one, I tried to balance things out while acknowledging that if there was a country to lose, I would prefer it to be in North America since the bonus isn't relevant. In the end it was only Mexico.
Africa has the most important bonus that helps out early on since money will be really tight. You really want to churn out those rifles and armors asap, and move supports to triple med-packs and revive. A lot of my initial guys were semi-retired by endgame because of low will, but they managed to train a new batch when they became colonels.
Once I had all or close to all countries, I'd have a Fighter or two equipped with Phoenix and then Laser guns, helped with dodge, aim, and the other bonuses until the upgraded alien tech fighters can be built. I never built more than 2 fighters per continent since Plasma was good enough to take down practically everything and I had backup satellites to deploy just in case.
Non-Titan armors are also unneeded to win since everyone had Titan+Chitin plating, except for Snipers who had scopes, and Supports who had Medpack+Chitin. Nanofibre vests are useful in the interim.
Once I got Titan+Plasmas, I moved onto the Alien base.
Essentially, just keep in mind that if you can see the enemy, they can see you so I just rush back if necessary and keep choke points. If there are multiple spawns, I simply don't hold back and rocket where necessary. Also keep in mind that the enemy will move into cover a take a shot on their turn if you don't move back far enough, so move with caution and set up traps. Where able move along the outer rim of the map and trigger external roaming units before converging on buildings and ships interiors.
Beserkers tend not to attack if they are overwatched in line of sight., and one of your guys can pin it in place while you take out its escorts. Sectopods don't attack a single target multiple times but can attack 3 targets that are in its line of sight, so only keep one in high cover to allow snipers to double-tap to death.
The only thing I have a real issue with on Classic Ironman are the bomb disposal missions early on. Terror missions aren't too bad either since I didn't fail any. Just keeping your squad up, alive should help save at least half for a 'Good' result.
I've just realised that in three playthroughs I've still never used any of the SHIVs I've built. Am I actually missing anything?
I don't really like Shivs, they can't benefit from cover and their HP end game is not as good as soldiers in good armor. Mid game they are more worth it though, especially if you hit a bad streak and have a lot of good soldiers wounded.
I can't believe that I beat the game 4 times now. Just Europe left for that achievement. My favorite game in a really long time.
Something that surprised the hell out of me, and took out one of my assaults, is that they can overwatch at least three times in one turn. My assualt, moving closer to get a good shot with her alloy cannon, dodged the first shot (lightning reflexes) and the second shot (just lucky) but the third shot took her out. Ffffuuuuu.
Absolutely required viewing. That along with a good explanation on how flanking works(should work?) and early geospace priorities.
EmCeeGramr
Member
IT BEGINS AGAIN
i was hoping to actually win the giveaway so i could join the rest of you, but the cruel raffle gods laughed at me
i was hoping to actually win the giveaway so i could join the rest of you, but the cruel raffle gods laughed at me
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
A different approach to a map that used to give me trouble on Ironman Impossible made it a lot easier.
First month, second mission, small cemetery map.
Aggro as many sectoids as possible, then hunker down with a heavy. Wait for sectoids to mind merge, then next turn blow up all the mergers with a rocket.
I killed 7 sectoids in one turn, lmao.
First month, second mission, small cemetery map.
Aggro as many sectoids as possible, then hunker down with a heavy. Wait for sectoids to mind merge, then next turn blow up all the mergers with a rocket.
I killed 7 sectoids in one turn, lmao.
crackhead_bob
Member
Aside from satellites, what other investments should be made early on in the game? Satellites are great, but should they come at the expense of upgrading weapons, increasing my squad size beyond 4, upgrading armor, etc.?
Do scopes work in tandem with laser rifles?
Is basic armor a waste of time
Should snipers be in a 4 man squad, or does it needlessly handicap you down to 3 able bodied soldiers?
Do scopes work in tandem with laser rifles?
Is basic armor a waste of time
Should snipers be in a 4 man squad, or does it needlessly handicap you down to 3 able bodied soldiers?
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
It seems we are in community now.
crackhead_bob
Member
I play the game, but tend to start anew by the end of the first game month when things don't go smoothly as I hope.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
If you're playing on Classic or Normal, you should have enough money to both build sats and upgrade your stuff. If you're good at the tactical layer, you can probably delay weapon upgrades and armor upgrades until later and invest more in satellites early on.
If you want to get 4 or 5 sats up in the first month, you need to follow the build order I outlined in a previous post.
Squad size upgrades are some of the most significant upgrades to your capability in the tactical layer.
Scopes work with laser rifles.
I usually skip carapace armor and go straight for skeleton since skeleton costs less to make.
In normal and classic, weapon upgrades aren't that important in the early game since you can one shot aliens well enough with ballistic weapons.
Snipers + squad sight = bad ass. Keep them far away from the action,but within line of sight of everything else.
Castor Krieg
Banned
Snipers win the game for you. The sooner you can get them to Squad Sight the better. Remember distance from the target doesn't matter much in this game, a sniper will have the same chance to hit % to the enemy 10 or 20 tiles away.
crackhead_bob
Member
Yeah, but getting them to that point is the challenge. It's really hard to line them up when there's a heavy risk quotient involved -- especially when you're dealing with a flat terrain on classic.
Castor Krieg
Banned
From my experience this is easy and becomes trivial once you get Archangel armor - set up your two snipers high up right where you start, they will be able to see 80% of the map.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
He was talking about when you still only have four soldier slots, which most likely precedes AAA by quite a bit.
Squadsight is the second ability you get, so it's really not much of a challenge. And once they get squadsight, they just hang back, and reposition occasionally for better line of sight.
Snipers really make the game easier.
Nice episode. He is also going into a bit more detail about his tactical decisions, which is a good watch for people who are struggling on the tactics side of things.
Learn something new every day.
I didn't know that dashing reduced the chance of being hit by reaction fire
weekend_warrior
Banned
The first month satellites should be your only priority on the engineering side, alien materials -> weapon fragments -> carapace should be your research. The windfall of money you get from having 4 sats up at the beginning of the second month should go to upgrading your troops equipment, building the soldier school, etc.
Scopes give +10 aim to every weapon.
Is carapace armor a waste of time? Hell no, you'll get torn up by Thin Man and floaters if you try to skip it and wait for skeleton/ titan armor.
Snipers and supports are the backbone of my squad, but you don't want to make an entire squad out of one or the other. I like having 2 snipers, 2 supports, 1 heavy, 1 assault/rookie.
crackhead_bob
Member
Any good survival tips for leveling up snipers in a 4 man team without any armor? It sucks not being able to advance in a map and attack in the same turn. It really handicaps progress.
Grenades.
Give the squaddie sniper a grenade and allow him or her to finish off a couple of aliens. If it's later in the game, an upgraded pistol also works nicely for this.
Pre squad-sight:
have the sniper be the last guy to move.
Use grenades with him.
If a soldier spots an enemy, fall back out of sight and let the alien run into your overwatch.
post squad-sight:
LOL headshot.
weekend_warrior
Banned
^^^ Grenades for a sniper? wtf?
Snipers are probably the fastest ranking units. Give them a scope and keep them in the back, even a squaddie sniper with a scope has 85 aim. Stop using a 4-man sniper squad. It doesn't work. Scout and aggro aliens with your assaults/rookies, leave the snipers on overwatch.
electricpirate
Member
Alternatively, just drag em along as dead weight, they will rank up eventually even without any alien kills.
Most likely though, keep them in high cover, pull back to them, and you'll find them racking up a decent number of kills even as a squaddie.
Most likely though, keep them in high cover, pull back to them, and you'll find them racking up a decent number of kills even as a squaddie.
There's nothing wrong with giving a grenade to a squaddie sniper.
frankthurk
Member
I've won classic ironman twice now, so I switched over to give impossible a shot... I can't get past the second mission. Half the time I die on the first mission and I never get past the second. I didn't think I was that bad but man this is brutal.
Something that has happened to me very frequently on impossible: mind merged Sectoid takes a shot at a rookie behind full cover, rookie dies. One or often two other rookies panic and one of them shoots and kills a buddy.
Game over man, game over.
Something that has happened to me very frequently on impossible: mind merged Sectoid takes a shot at a rookie behind full cover, rookie dies. One or often two other rookies panic and one of them shoots and kills a buddy.
Game over man, game over.
Fixing the camera was useful but the game itself seems to run more janky now after the patch then it did before.
It studders alot now where before it was running very smoothly
Yup. The panic mechanic was not an issue at all until I played on impossible.
Soldier gets shot from full cover. half the squad panics.
Panicked soldiers starts shooting each other, the entire squad panics.
Just go destroyed on rainy highway (the worst map early game, IMO), followed by bomb disposal (butcher shop/warehouse) in the first month. Was doing really well too, almost cleared the disposal but the after disposal x-ray convergence dropped 4 thin men! and I was already down to only 2 men (2 dead already), with only an assault and 1 rookie with 1 HP left.
Was an epic mission, though.
Was an epic mission, though.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
If you can't kill most or all aliens in one turn, hunker down instead. On the first and second mission, any aliens in range of your guys have a really high chance of killing them.
This is very important. More generally, you should engage only when you have a good plan to kill everything that is an immediate threat in one turn. Of course, sometimes shit happens and you have to improvise, but you should never pur yourself in a position where you are just trading shots with aliens behind cover hoping they die, because they have a better chance to land the shot, or they will surprise you and kill you some other way.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Yep. Move in groups a little at a time. Try to ensure that your first encounter is during the alien turn so that you get both the overwatch shot, and then your turn next.
Get an idea for where an enemy spawn or patrol might be so that you can aggro it in the safest way possible.
Once aggroed, if in a bad or neutral position, fall back so that you don't accidentally aggro more aliens.
Use your grenades wisely. If you can use one grenade to kill two sectoids, that is a good trade. Even one grenade (and sometimes two grenades) to kill one sectoid is a good trade if that one sectoid is in a position to do harm to your guys next turn.
Use grenades to blow up cover and give your guys a higher percentage shot against aliens.
If two aliens are hiding behind destructible cover, blow it up with a grenade, and have two of your guys shoot at them with pistols to finish. If one or both of the pistol shots miss, use your fourth guy to grenade the rest, or take a chance with another pistol shot.
Take advantage of mind merge's weakness. Kill the mind merger for a two for one special.
Use consecutive high cover to sneak around. Remember, if your soldier is in the middle of a block of 3 high covers in a row, he is invisible to everything else on the other side of the cover.
Get an idea for where an enemy spawn or patrol might be so that you can aggro it in the safest way possible.
Once aggroed, if in a bad or neutral position, fall back so that you don't accidentally aggro more aliens.
Use your grenades wisely. If you can use one grenade to kill two sectoids, that is a good trade. Even one grenade (and sometimes two grenades) to kill one sectoid is a good trade if that one sectoid is in a position to do harm to your guys next turn.
Use grenades to blow up cover and give your guys a higher percentage shot against aliens.
If two aliens are hiding behind destructible cover, blow it up with a grenade, and have two of your guys shoot at them with pistols to finish. If one or both of the pistol shots miss, use your fourth guy to grenade the rest, or take a chance with another pistol shot.
Take advantage of mind merge's weakness. Kill the mind merger for a two for one special.
Use consecutive high cover to sneak around. Remember, if your soldier is in the middle of a block of 3 high covers in a row, he is invisible to everything else on the other side of the cover.
weekend_warrior
Banned
Oh my Lord. Terror mission, just agrroed a group of 7 Chryssalids. O.O
edit: OMG, Cyberdisk just appeared out of no where!
edit: OMG, Cyberdisk just appeared out of no where!
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Hopefully you have an In The Zone plasma rifle sniper. One turn, 7 kills.
milkham
Member
I agree with this. before they have squad site, grenades can make for guaranteed kills to level up.
Nuke' em. Nades, missiles, throw everything at 'em.
weekend_warrior
Banned
Awwwwwwww, yeah. They were all bunched up so my heavy with heat ammo did some serious damage and my group was able to clean up without taken much damage.
edit: Punk ass aliens no match for my super star squad. Only damage I took was 6 points to my assault.
Nice. Gotta love heavies. Lately I've been just bringing in two heavies and abusing my four missilesAwwwwwwww, yeah. They were all bunched up so my heavy with heat ammo did some serious damage and my group was able to clean up without taken much damage.
edit: Punk ass aliens no match for my super star squad. Only damage I took was 6 points to my assault.
Ace Harding
Member
I almost never used grenades and rockets because I was so afraid of losing the materials, and/or I just forgot about them. I'm almost through a Normal/Ironman playthrough, but when I bump up to Classic I am going to use those much more frequently.
I don't think I've used one smoke grenade either - I really need to remember those are in my arsenal.
Also don't think I used hunker down more than a couple times. I'm now seeing how that can be a better decision than overwatch or an attack in some cases.
Watching the Beaglerush videos taught me a LOT about XCOM. I feel like I will be unstoppable on my Classic Ironman playthrough.
I don't think I've used one smoke grenade either - I really need to remember those are in my arsenal.
Also don't think I used hunker down more than a couple times. I'm now seeing how that can be a better decision than overwatch or an attack in some cases.
Watching the Beaglerush videos taught me a LOT about XCOM. I feel like I will be unstoppable on my Classic Ironman playthrough.
My enthusiastic optimism will inevitably be crushed.
not true, i like them a lot when i do riskier manoeuvers or i fucked up somewhere, especially upgraded they provide a lot of bonus to defence/offence.
They are not 100 percent foolproof of course.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
With the Dense Smoke skill or whatever, smoke grenades are equivalent to full cover. That's pretty useful.