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[McNum]

There are patrols, not on all maps, but most crashed UFOs have them. And yes, overextending yourself is a classic newbie error. Unless there's a turn limit on screen, you have all the turns in the world. It's not like in the original where the aliens gained map-wide Squad Sight on turn 20. Fun with the classic "no line of sight needed for Mind Control" Ethereals.

Anyway, the ideal move is you have a scout move ahead first, if he spots something, do an appraisal. "Can I kill these before they get a turn?" That's not always a guarantee, but it is the ideal. If you're overwhelmed, fall back and set up an ambush. Aliens will NOT move out of cover into Overwatch, but that's only if they've seen the Overwatcher go on Overwatch. A Sniper with Squad Sight is a great Overwatcher as it can fire from outside visible range.

By the way, I just gave you a hint to an interesting AI quirk. An alien will not trigger Overwatch if it knows. But an alien will also want to get into cover if it is not. So riddle me this: A flanked Muton is being watched in Overwatch. What does it do?

Spoiler

Nothing at all. It skips turn.

This also works if the aliens are out in the open, so blow you their cover and and go into Overwatch on them. It's a bit of a cheap shot, and some aliens do act differently, like Chryssalids that happily charge into gunfire, but know your foe.

 

[DBT85]

How do you get so many Sats in such a short time? I am on the start of the second month and still have 2 in orbit. My first order of 2 sats is set to come in at the end of the second month, after building a workshop and an uplink.

The key thing for satellites are a) money and b) engineers. I started with 5 engineers as everyone does, then on the mission that comes up where you can choose the reward I picked engineers again which gave me 9. Then something else happened that got me 10 which meant I could build satellites and around then I was able to build a new uplink.

At the end of month 1 I had not managed to get my uplink finished in time so could launch no new satellites. By the end of month 2 I had 8 satellites in orbit.

If you look back in the thread you'll see this is my 5th game, though only the first where I have gone past about the 2nd month.

Game 1 - Tutorial and getting to know the game, ended as soon as I researched the outsider shard.
Game 2 - Meant to be no tutorial, clicked the wrong button like a moron.
Game 3 - No tutorial lots of rages as I was still learning how to play.
Game 4 - Happier with the game, enjoying myself, realised too late that I needed satellites.
Game 5 - Started like a boss and still playing.

Shall be playing a bit more later today too

 

[weekend_warrior]

How do you get so many Sats in such a short time? I am on the start of the second month and still have 2 in orbit. My first order of 2 sats is set to come in at the end of the second month, after building a workshop and an uplink.

Depending on your starting location/difficulty in the first month you can launch at least 2, usually 3, and maybe 4 sats. You just need the first abduction mission to come with at least 26 days left, then take the engineer reward, which gives you enough to build a workshop, which gives you enough to build a uplink. For maximum efficiency start building the sats after you finish the abduction mission, then they'll be cheaper.

 

[The Stig]

steam is saying new dlc is available for xcom.

even though there is nothing new.

 

[Alo81]

steam is saying new dlc is available for xcom.

even though there is nothing new.

Second Wave DLC. It is a free add-on that was patched into the game.

 

[The Stig]

doesnt say it anywhere, to be fair.

edit - and its a patch...

 

[Grimsen]

Man, fuck Red Fog.

 

[Hambone]

Purchased the game day 1, so after 6 games, and 56 hours of playtime... VICTORY!

Finally got my first win on normal. What an awesome game, and I'll have to say watching those Ironman Impossible videos taught me a lot, so I highly recommend anyone struggling with the game to watch 'em.

Going to give the game a rest for a few, but will return to try out Classic, and maybe if I feel brave, some of those second way options.

 

[Alo81]

Purchased the game day 1, so after 6 games, and 56 hours of playtime... VICTORY!

Finally got my first win on normal. What an awesome game, and I'll have to say watching those Ironman Impossible videos taught me a lot, so I highly recommend anyone struggling with the game to watch 'em.

Going to give the game a rest for a few, but will return to try out Classic, and maybe if I feel brave, some of those second way options.

I think it's really funny that the average battles lost is nearly 0, because everyone probably save-scrums their way through it.

 

[tbhysgb]

I've never been able to get into turn based strategy games except a select few but this one is pretty good. Waiting for the day I lose one of my good crew. Dennis Rodman, Ben Affleck, and Apollo Creed. Next game ill create a new set

 

[DBT85]

Just finished my first full playthrough on Normal.

Most enjoyable though I lost my Assault guy on the final mission about 2 turns before the end.

Will give it a break for a few days and try a Classic Ironman.

 

[The_Monk]

2 of my strong soldiers just got KIA but it was "okay", I could not reload or restart because in war there's always casualities...

That how I play. It was a hard mission for me.

 

[Mazre]

Started making some progress in classic. Into May and have my full squad of 6, a stream of satellites, and only down 3 council members. Then I hit my second terror mission.

Sent off 2 snipers, 2 heavies, an assault and a rookie. Moved up forward and picked off a cyberdisc plus entourage. So far so good I keep moving forward. Somethings picking off survivors on the far side of the map. Nearing a collapsed overpass a zombie stumbles out. Before I can act, it pops into a fresh chrysallid. Which rushes forward and eats my lead assault. My other lead panics as the rest of the unit puts the chrysallid down. Immediately as the next turn begins my panicked units vision reveals two more chrysallids and 4 more zombies right on top of him. I start scrambling and shore up as best I can. My dead assault pops up and walks over and one shots one of my heavies (something like 15 dmg, was surprised as I was used to zombies being much weaker.)

Rest of the squad regroups and goes into hold the line mode. I mop up at least a dozen chrysallids. Finally the onslaught abates and I start to get sound notifications from the far side of the map. I inch forward, moving 1 -2 squares a turn. Further and further I go not finding anything being pulled towards the back corner. Finally uncover a stationary pack of 3 chrysallids but am too close, I lose my last heavy to incubation and manage to down two of the chrysallids. My snipers retreat as my rookie gets eaten. Try as they might they were eventually chased down and killed, my campaign has quickly turned to disaster, as I lose England and send Russia into panic. Onward the fight goes.

 

[d1rtn4p]

What's up with the autosave in this game? It seems to be broken now. It'll autosave prior a mission, but once I'm actually in the mission it doesn't appear to be storing more than one save. Effectively I'm having to start each mission from the start again.

 

[Lumine]

What's up with the autosave in this game? It seems to be broken now. It'll autosave prior a mission, but once I'm actually in the mission it doesn't appear to be storing more than one save. Effectively I'm having to start each mission from the start again.

Yeah, it only seems to make 1 auto-save for me too. I only started the game this week, but considering what people have written about auto-save it does seem to be broken. I decided to shrug it off and just accept that I'm effectively playing ironman mode by not reloading any saves at all.

 

[DBT85]

Started making some progress in classic. Into May and have my full squad of 6, a stream of satellites, and only down 3 council members. Then I hit my second terror mission.

Sent off 2 snipers, 2 heavies, an assault and a rookie. Moved up forward and picked off a cyberdisc plus entourage. So far so good I keep moving forward. Somethings picking off survivors on the far side of the map. Nearing a collapsed overpass a zombie stumbles out. Before I can act, it pops into a fresh chrysallid. Which rushes forward and eats my lead assault. My other lead panics as the rest of the unit puts the chrysallid down. Immediately as the next turn begins my panicked units vision reveals two more chrysallids and 4 more zombies right on top of him. I start scrambling and shore up as best I can. My dead assault pops up and walks over and one shots one of my heavies (something like 15 dmg, was surprised as I was used to zombies being much weaker.)

Rest of the squad regroups and goes into hold the line mode. I mop up at least a dozen chrysallids. Finally the onslaught abates and I start to get sound notifications from the far side of the map. I inch forward, moving 1 -2 squares a turn. Further and further I go not finding anything being pulled towards the back corner. Finally uncover a stationary pack of 3 chrysallids but am too close, I lose my last heavy to incubation and manage to down two of the chrysallids. My snipers retreat as my rookie gets eaten. Try as they might they were eventually chased down and killed, my campaign has quickly turned to disaster, as I lose England and send Russia into panic. Onward the fight goes.

On one of my Terror missions on Normal my team barely moved from the DZ. Most of the aliens came to me or were seen with a snipers vision grenade.

In fact, quite a few missions I did I barely moved for the first 5 turns as we were getting aggro. Fortunately with plasma guns all around and everyone wearing a scope nothing lasted long. Then both my snipers got double tap

 

[Sullichin]

Ok, I knew sattelites were important but I still screwed myself over in my last game with 4 countries on the brink of leaving at once. I didn't even realize you could build more than one at once...started over (3rd game now, normal mode) and have 5 satellites and i'm in the beginning of the second month. I have a lot more breathing room when it comes to panic, and more monthly income, at the expense of missing out on some other upgrades that I had at this point but didn't seem as necessary as satellites. Kinda bummed that I have to re-do the story objectives I've done so far but not really because things are going faster as I get a better handle on the game. Now that I know to get squad sight for all my snipers, are there other crucial upgrades that I shouldn't miss out on?

How the hell am I supposed to beat the first terror mission

 

[DBT85]

Ok, I knew sattelites were important but I still screwed myself over in my last game with 4 countries on the brink of leaving at once. I didn't even realize you could build more than one at once...started over (3rd game now, normal mode) and have 5 satellites and i'm in the beginning of the second month. I have a lot more breathing room when it comes to panic, and more monthly income, at the expense of missing out on some other upgrades that I had at this point but didn't seem as necessary as satellites. Kinda bummed that I have to re-do the story objectives I've done so far but not really because things are going faster as I get a better handle on the game. Now that I know to get squad sight for all my snipers, are there other crucial upgrades that I shouldn't miss out on?

How the hell am I supposed to beat the first terror mission

For the terror mission, ignore the civilians. Beating the mission means killing the aliens, if only 2 civilians survive that's fine. If your sniper has the sight grenades try chucking a few of those, keep your squad together and end the turns on overwatch so that if they come looking for you you might kill them when it isn't your turn.

 

[Fireblend]

Damn, I'm playing on easy and I thought I had everything under control, up to yesterday when I encountered one of my first Ethereals. I'd dispatched the one you find at

Spoiler

The Overseer

quite easily, so I thought nothing of the next one I found... he mind-controlled one of my snipers, single-handedly put 2 of my other agents in critical condition, and forced me to attack with grenades due to its position with the 2 guys I had remaining, one of which I had no way of throwing without inflicting friendly fire and putting one of my remaining 2 guys also in critical condition. It's a miracle they all made it out alive

 

[evangd007]

I've taken to avoiding playing this game unless I am in a certain mood. Normal Ironman is stressful; I don't know how any of you do Classic.

 

[Bizazedo]

Just picked up the game. Was a hardcore fan of the original, naturally, so it was inevitable I got this.

Question, is there a list of what's capturable and what's not? I had a Berserker charge in and forgot to even try to taze him, shotgunned him into oblivion.

Also, going into the Base Assault with lasers and just carapace armor....hurts.

 

[Sullichin]

For the terror mission, ignore the civilians. Beating the mission means killing the aliens, if only 2 civilians survive that's fine. If your sniper has the sight grenades try chucking a few of those, keep your squad together and end the turns on overwatch so that if they come looking for you you might kill them when it isn't your turn.

I really had no chance of beating it. It was very difficult, I got it early on, my only sniper was injured, a bunch of recruits with regular armor against aliens that I've never seen before with 4x as much health as me. Creepy crawly mofos that turned my guys into zombies. Tried 3 times then restarted and just abandoned mission. Oh well, later Australlia..

 

[weekend_warrior]

Just picked up the game. Was a hardcore fan of the original, naturally, so it was inevitable I got this.

Question, is there a list of what's capturable and what's not? I had a Berserker charge in and forgot to even try to taze him, shotgunned him into oblivion.

Also, going into the Base Assault with lasers and just carapace armor....hurts.

The wikia is helpful- http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)

The only things that aren't capturable are the cyberdisk, sectopod, chryssalid and ethereal.

 

[Bizazedo]

The wikia is helpful- http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)

The only things that aren't capturable are the cyberdisk, sectopod, chryssalid and ethereal.

Yeah, I was checking that out this morning. Are there any captures that benefit you more than others? That part I couldn't find and the while I assumed those were the only four we couldn't cap, it wasn't 100% explicitly clear.

[edit] Nm, found that place in the wiki. Thanks again.

 

[Hambone]

The wikia is helpful- http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)

The only things that aren't capturable are the cyberdisk, sectopod, chryssalid and ethereal.

You can capture an Ethereal. I know, because I have done it. Here is a screenshot from my past game (linked for possible spoilers):

http://i.imgur.com/HJSC8.jpg

 

[Scirrocco]

Just beat it for the first time on normal last night. It was a pretty intense run. Due to a few screw ups early on, things went poorly and i was shortly only one council confidence away from losing (i accidentally skipped some missions i shouldn't have skipped on accident.) and my first very difficult mission was a total clusterf**k where i lost most of my best soldiers early on. I almost quit and restarted, but decided to keep playing.

but things got better pretty quickly. The only real scare after that was encountering my first sectopod. Somehow the giant bastard snuck up on us and mega cannon'd right into my snipers face. Hunting that bastard down afterwards was pretty damn tense, and although I didn't lose any more people to it, every other time i encountered a sectopod was pretty stressing.

The way it ended was nice too, my volunteer, one of my first snipers and my second colonel popped him in the head twice for kill. Thought it was fitting. Unfortunately, one of my oldest soldiers, my first colonel and the only survivor of the clusterf**k mission, was under mind control, and died when the mission ended. A tragedy, but i figure she would have wanted him to take the shot. She'd just killed another soldier while under mind control, and aliens had killed her brother in an earlier mission, so she'd have been good for revenge if nothing else. Bittersweet, but its a fitting ending for Xcom.

I'm interested in playing again with some mods. Any good ones? Warspace seems popular, and i wouldn't mind the starting weapons being more useful, as i like them. Would anyone recommend it? Does it still even work after second wave got enabled?

 

[O.DOGG]

You can capture an Ethereal. I know, because I have done it. Here is a screenshot from my past game (linked for possible spoilers):

http://i.imgur.com/HJSC8.jpg

Yup. I also did it once.

 

[ShaneB]

Oh I completely forgot about that Warspace mod, thanks for the reminder on that. I think I'll be checking that out.

 

[Chip N Chance]

You can capture an Ethereal. I know, because I have done it. Here is a screenshot from my past game (linked for possible spoilers):

http://i.imgur.com/HJSC8.jpg

I did this and posted it many pages back about how i captured one with a 0% chance of hitting. It was pretty funny. I think there was an achievement for doing it or something.

Edit. Never mind, the achievement was for mind controlling it.

 

[weekend_warrior]

You can capture an Ethereal. I know, because I have done it. Here is a screenshot from my past game (linked for possible spoilers):

http://i.imgur.com/HJSC8.jpg

Yeah you're right, not sure why I thought you couldn't.

 

[weekend_warrior]

Jesus Christ Impossible is stupid. I guess all the health buffs the enemies get wasn't enough, now the game just cheats. I've had more enemy groups drop into the middle of my troops then all my other games combined, groups get aggro'd across the map when I'm nowhere near them, I miss 4 out of every 5 rocket shots, ugh this is fucking annoying.

 

[Miletius]

Jesus Christ Impossible is stupid. I guess all the health buffs the enemies get wasn't enough, now the game just cheats. I've had more enemy groups drop into the middle of my troops then all my other games combined, groups get aggro'd across the map when I'm nowhere near them, I miss 4 out of every 5 rocket shots, ugh this is fucking annoying.

There are more spawns on impossible which makes the "random group dropping into your firefight" happen more often.

Actually, I kind of like it because it's one of the things that keeps the game challenging once you get over the initial hump. I also like it because you get tons of mats which makes you get rich fast.

 

[Mazre]

I've taken to avoiding playing this game unless I am in a certain mood. Normal Ironman is stressful; I don't know how any of you do Classic.

I just assume that I've already lost and am pleasantly surprised whenever I prove myself wrong. Classic really forces you to improve and consider plan B/C/D in ways that normal doesn't as well, so satisfying as you advance and make progress through subsequent campaigns.

Jesus Christ Impossible is stupid. I guess all the health buffs the enemies get wasn't enough, now the game just cheats. I've had more enemy groups drop into the middle of my troops then all my other games combined, groups get aggro'd across the map when I'm nowhere near them, I miss 4 out of every 5 rocket shots, ugh this is fucking annoying.

I've seen the same strange mystery groups and random aggros in my classic playthroughs as well, didn't see it once in a 40 odd mission normal campaign, have seen it several times since. Could just be a random bug or maybe one tied to an AI/pathing issue that becomes more prevalent as difficulty level is increased, hard to say.

 

[weekend_warrior]

XCOM Impossible, where this

and this

are not flanked shots... I guess... for some reason... unbeknownst to me... sigh...

 

[evangd007]

That's a bug that I've heard can be rectified by simply saving and reloading.

I just assume that I've already lost and am pleasantly surprised whenever I prove myself wrong. Classic really forces you to improve and consider plan B/C/D in ways that normal doesn't as well, so satisfying as you advance and make progress through subsequent campaigns.

I think I can swallow that kind of mentality when I'm playing FTL because games only last about an hour at most. Starting over in X-Com is a much bigger investment.

 

[Fireblend]

Finally beat my first

Spoiler

easy

game! Guess now I should try to up the challenge

Spoiler

to normal

and see if I don't eventually quit the game out of frustration.

 

[ShaneB]

Finally beat my first

Spoiler

easy

game! Guess now I should try to up the challenge

Spoiler

to normal

and see if I don't eventually quit the game out of frustration.

No shame That's what I did. lol

 

[McNum]

You can capture an Ethereal. I know, because I have done it. Here is a screenshot from my past game (linked for possible spoilers):

http://i.imgur.com/HJSC8.jpg

Capturing Ethereals has an added benefit. They don't

Spoiler

explode

when captured.

 

[DBT85]

XCOM Impossible, where this


and this


are not flanked shots... I guess... for some reason... unbeknownst to me... sigh...

On my Normal complete run through I always worked on the basis that i needed to be "behind" them as that way you always get the flank.

EG: you did this C = cover, A = alien, U = you x = empty

C U X
C A X
C X X

I would have aimed for any of these

C X U
C A U
C X U

 

[Dyni Crippler]

I have no idea how you're supposed to beat Ironman Impossible. Despite 100+ hours played of experience, I get destroyed by the third mission.

 

[Lumine]

Damnit Russia!

So... is it possible to get a country back in after they have withdrawn from the xcom project? If not, how bad is losing one country?

 

[McNum]

Damnit Russia!

So... is it possible to get a country back in after they have withdrawn from the xcom project? If not, how bad is losing one country?

No, they're gone for good. As for how bad it is to lose one country, it's not so bad. If you go to the Situation room, you'll see that there one red light in the Doom Tracker. You can lose up to seven countries and still win the game. Eight lost countries is game over.

 

[Lumine]

Alright, thanks! Too bad you can't regain countries though, seemed like it would be a fun option if you'd be doing well enough. I knew that losing 8 countries is game over, but I was wondering if there were any other penalties too, like less income at the end of the month maybe?
Also, can you lose a country at any given point or only at the end of the month when you get your report? That's when I lost Russia, wondering if it was just a coincidence.

 

[McNum]

Alright, thanks! Too bad you can't regain countries though, seemed like it would be a fun option if you'd be doing well enough. I knew that losing 8 countries is game over, but I was wondering if there were any other penalties too, like less income at the end of the month maybe?
Also, can you lose a country at any given point or only at the end of the month when you get your report? That's when I lost Russia, wondering if it was just a coincidence.

You can lose a country in two ways.

First is, as you guessed, 5/5 panic at the end of a month. You may not lose a country that's 5/5, but you should expect that you do.

Second is if you ignore or lose a Terror Mission. The country just quits outright if you do. Or is eaten by Chryssalids. Either way, they stop sending money.

 

[Sullichin]

My god. I am so unprepared for this fight and it's my only save (I used the save option instead of pressing F10 and stupidly overwrote my normal save)... first time I am encountering an enemy that looks like a UFO. I don't have HEAT ammo or anything like that. This is early in the game, I haven't even built the alien containment area on this playthrough yet. The bastard can kill one of my guys in one or two hits and it looks like he's doing a super move in a fighting game or some shit. Not to mention the Thin men who just poison my shit up. If I abandon the fight I've got 4 countries in the red. If I don't I still have 3 countries in the red. Is it normal to have so many countries on the brink of leaving?! I've been making satellites and uplinks like crazy. I really don't want to start over again.. I thought I was doing well this time

 

[McNum]

My god. I am so unprepared for this fight and it's my only save (I used the save option instead of pressing F10 and stupidly overwrote my normal save)... first time I am encountering an enemy that looks like a UFO. I don't have HEAT ammo or anything like that. This is early in the game, I haven't even built the alien containment area on this playthrough yet. The bastard can kill one of my guys in one or two hits and it looks like he's doing a super move in a fighting game or some shit. Not to mention the Thin men who just poison my shit up. If I abandon the fight I've got 4 countries in the red. If I don't I still have 3 countries in the red. Is it normal to have so many countries on the brink of leaving?! I've been making satellites and uplinks like crazy. I really don't want to start over again.. I thought I was doing well this time

Ooh, you got the Cyberdisk to do a Death Blossom? They are so hard to coax into that on purpose. Congrats!

I mean, how terrible. *ahem* Cyberdisks are quite powerful, but they have a weak spot, so to speak. When they're closed they're hard to hit, but when they open up into the insect-like shape, they're vulnerable for one hit. Of if you have a Sniper with Headshot, this is the time to blast it. A rocket is good, too. About the ultra combo move, it only does that if it's surrounded by your men. You may want to fall back when you meet one until you get weapons and skills that can take one out fast.

But Cyberdisks are always a danger, even at the endgame they can ruin your day. Watch out for its grenades, too.

 

[TimeEffect]

Decide against buying this at EB because the game is $60, while $40 on Ebay.

May as well get it on Ebay

 

[cackhyena]

I'm sure this is an old as the hills problem by now, but just having installed this, I'm having trouble. The lag is so bad just at the starting screen, I can't get anywhere. It makes no sense considering I'm running a rig well equipped to handle it. 3570k, 8gb RAM with a GTX 670. Any ideas?

 

[Sleeplessnights]

What did the last patch do on the Xbox? You can no longer see when you're dashing and it doesn't light up the possible lose in health meter.

 

[Sullichin]

Ooh, you got the Cyberdisk to do a Death Blossom? They are so hard to coax into that on purpose. Congrats!

I mean, how terrible. *ahem* Cyberdisks are quite powerful, but they have a weak spot, so to speak. When they're closed they're hard to hit, but when they open up into the insect-like shape, they're vulnerable for one hit. Of if you have a Sniper with Headshot, this is the time to blast it. A rocket is good, too. About the ultra combo move, it only does that if it's surrounded by your men. You may want to fall back when you meet one until you get weapons and skills that can take one out fast.

But Cyberdisks are always a danger, even at the endgame they can ruin your day. Watch out for its grenades, too.

I just beat the mission... lost a captain in the progress. I still have a save from the beginning of the battle in case I want to try it again. But that's a much better result than last time I tried where we all died. Headshot on the cyberdisk was key, thanks. This game is fucking relentless. I immediately get hit with another very difficult terror mission.