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

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
You would probably see something very similar happen again if there was a new Final Fantasy Tactics on consoles, regardless of the quality of the game itself, just like this.

What about how FF Tactics Advance turned out? I don't think it was that well received, even though many were craving more Tactics.

I'm a huge Tactics and original X-COM fan. Hated Advance. Love new XCOM.
 

ZenaxPure

Member
What about how FF Tactics Advance turned out? I don't think it was that well received, even though many were craving more Tactics.

I'm a huge Tactics and original X-COM fan. Hated Advance. Love new XCOM.

I was talking specifically about a home console FFT. To clarify that a bit further, it's been about 15 years since we had a FFT on non-portables. I think that if SE came out and made a new one with yoshida's art style on the PS4/X1 people would have a really similar reaction to this XCOM, even if said new FFT wasn't as good as other games in the genre.
 
I've been playing the crap out of this game over the last week.

Every mission I feel like I'm learning something new. Every mission I feel like snapping the controller when a "95%" sniper shot misses. And the double-tap "95%" shot misses too.

Did the
Alien Base Assault
mission last night. Really took my time - and apart from a lucky grenade-through-the-floor moment from one of the enemy Mutons which almost took out one of my Heavy guys, I nabbed a perfect result. 22 kills, 0 deaths.

Game is like crack. "Just one more mission", or "Just one more scan - Oooo UFO crash site!" before bed.. Cue 1:30am.
 
Hitting a Sectopod with a Shredder Rocket, then one shotting it with a Sniper from across the map is the best feels.

Moving an Assault in front of another Sectopod and failing to kill it during my turn is the worst. But the RNG gods smiled upon me that day, because the Sectopod missed the Assault at point blank range and allowed my Assault to take it out.

I <3 X-COM. (until RNG screws me over)
 

cjdunn

Member
So I started a new game Friday and ended up playing it most of Sunday ...on my iPad.
I only really miss the shaders. (A bit of lighting, no shadows, etc). Well, that and it doesn't have the killing blow camera angle.

Since I've also played it on both consoles, I guess I should really, finally load it on my PC, huh?
 
I'm on my 4th try. The game refused to give me any opportunities for engineers until May, so now that I finally have laser weapons, all of Asia is 1 abduction away from losing a country. I already gave up South America. So that's neat.
 

xCobalt

Member
Just got this during the xbox sale. I heard the game can be relatively unforgiving, so any tips or things to be aware of before I play the game?
 
This is just a friendly notice to fellow Mac users out there that XCOM's OSX port is now on Steam. If you, like me, had to reboot in Windows every time you wanted to play, this is fantastic news.
 

spekkeh

Banned
Does anyone know if the pc version supports touch?
Seeing it out on iOS suddenly made me want to play this game on my windows convertible in the train.
 
Just downloaded the demo. Guess not :/. When will the devs learn?

Well it ran terribly janky on my hd4000 anyway.

Play it on iOS if you want a touch interface.

Civ 5 (which also will probably run pretty iffy) is touch-enabled, but is targeted for ultrabook hardware.
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Does anyone know if the Support class's deep pocket skill broken?
I have my dudes equipped with medkit and grenades but the grenades can never be selected during combat.
 

bill0527

Member
Does anyone know if the Support class's deep pocket skill broken?
I have my dudes equipped with medkit and grenades but the grenades can never be selected during combat.

I'm LTTP and just started this game Friday on PS3. I think you need really good line of sight for the grenades. It seems rather useless to me early on in the campaign. I am about 12 missions into the game.

I've only lost one soldier, but was a Sgt. Assault class and I died a little inside when I lost him.

I really don't know if I am playing this game the right way. This seems to be my pattern on strategy games. I build things a certain way, complete several missions, think I've got a good feel for the game, and then I hit a mission that just wipes all my shit out.
 

The Stig

Member
Does anyone know if the Support class's deep pocket skill broken?
I have my dudes equipped with medkit and grenades but the grenades can never be selected during combat.

never had that problem

I I think you need really good line of sight for the grenades..

no, quite the opposite.

Really loving this game on ps3 through plus
Might double dip on steam just to get my portable Xcom fix

still waiting on an explanation of this post. does buying the game get you a portable version also?

my guess is no and this post has disappointed me.
 

bill0527

Member
never had that problem



no, quite the opposite.



still waiting on an explanation of this post. does buying the game get you a portable version also?

my guess is no and this post has disappointed me.

He probably means portable as in..Steam on his laptop or notebook
 

Soler

Banned
never had that problem



no, quite the opposite.



still waiting on an explanation of this post. does buying the game get you a portable version also?

my guess is no and this post has disappointed me.
Whoops I thought I posted something to clarify, on my MacBook
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Okay:

Suppression or Shredder Rocket? I've been thinking of leaning toward Suppression since it doesn't destroy things = research and money credits.

Executioner or Opportunist? I'm thinking Opportunist since it seems to be the "better" perk unless you have your squad mates making pot shots on targets to boost the aim chance.

Aggression or Tactical Sense?

And:

Lightning Reflexes or Up Close and Personal?

I'm trying to "Min-Max" my squad to be able to deal with most everything that comes at them, so that's why I'm asking which of these are the better ones to pick.
 

Oppo

Member
Okay:

Suppression or Shredder Rocket? I've been thinking of leaning toward Suppression since it doesn't destroy things = research and money credits.

Both are good, should have 1 of each if you can. Suppression is more for keeping an alien from blowing away a team member who got caught in a bad position (reduces their aim, gives a free shot if they try to move). If you have holo targeting + suppression it's great for everyone else on the team.

Executioner or Opportunist? I'm thinking Opportunist since it seems to be the "better" perk unless you have your squad mates making pot shots on targets to boost the aim chance.

Opportunist.

Aggression or Tactical Sense?

Either is good. One of each is great.

And:

Lightning Reflexes or Up Close and Personal?

ALWAYS Lightning Reflexes.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Shit, you can't stun the Spider-looking aliens that poison you?
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Well, I'll just rush with my squad to try to save as many Civilians as I can. It's not like I can't kill the fuckers, as I can. I was just attempting to stun them since they were "new" aliens. Since I can't, no worries anymore. I'll take on the floaters and them and win it provided I'm quick enough to save the civilians from being killed I should get Excellent from it. >_>
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Okay: Heat Shot or Rapid Reaction? Heatshot seems good but I dunno how many robots I'd run into. Rapid Reaction has a bonus of a second reaction shot if in Overwatch and the first shot hits but I've had too many shots miss in Overwatch to think that's worth it... :/

And: Revive or Rifle Suppression. I'm leaning toward Revive just to make sure my soldiers don't die later but I'm not sure how practical that is in comparison to Suppression.
 

Oppo

Member
Well, I'll just rush with my squad to try to save as many Civilians as I can. It's not like I can't kill the fuckers, as I can. I was just attempting to stun them since they were "new" aliens. Since I can't, no worries anymore. I'll take on the floaters and them and win it provided I'm quick enough to save the civilians from being killed I should get Excellent from it. >_>

Don't mind the civilians, unless they are easy to get next to. Your time is better spent directly dealing with the aliens, otherwise some of them are just going to keep smoking civvys until you roll up, and then some of them will be zombies or chrysalids by then and you really don't want that.

Okay: Heat Shot or Rapid Reaction? Heatshot seems good but I dunno how many robots I'd run into. Rapid Reaction has a bonus of a second reaction shot if in Overwatch and the first shot hits but I've had too many shots miss in Overwatch to think that's worth it... :/

Those are both ok. I usually go HEAT first then RR for a second.

And: Revive or Rifle Suppression. I'm leaning toward Revive just to make sure my soldiers don't die later but I'm not sure how practical that is in comparison to Suppression.
Revive. Definitely.
 

McNum

Member
OK, this game is srsly too much for me. There is SO MUCH stuff to do. Any general advises?
If you're just starting out, you should do the tutorial. It's not the best tutorial ever, but it will show you the basics. Also you get a free Satellite.

As for what to do, the basic flow of the game is somewhat straight forward.

You fight in a tactical battle, get stuff and corpses and live aliens to take home, use that to research and develop new weapons, armor, plot devices and eventually interceptors, and then use your new toys to fight even tougher aliens until you unlock the final part of the game and win.

Of course, this isn't that kind of game that just lets you do all that. What trips up many people new to the game is Panic, and for good reason, it's hard to manage. All paying nations have 1-5 levels of panic.1 is "Um, there are aliens, but we're doing okay." and 5 is "ALIENS EVERYWHERE! XCOM IS USELESS!" If a country is at 5 at the end of the month, they'll stop funding XCOM. If eight countries stop funding XCOM, you lose the game.

So how DO you manage Panic?

Well, the first thing to know is that Abduction missions (those with the three choices) will lower Panic in the country you pick by one, and increase panic in the continents you did pick by one as well as another one in he two countries you didn't pick. In other words, abductions are BAD. UFOs getting away from your interceptors and Terror Missions can also increase panic, the latter will have the country leave outright if you fail o ignore that mission.

However, you have ways to lower panic. The primary one is launching a Satellite over the country. -2 Panic AND a lockout on abduction missions happening there. The other way is through doing missions, do especially well on a Terror mission or a Council mission and you'll decrease panic. But you can't really pick those on your own. There's one more way to lower panic, but you only get one of those in the entire game, and it's a story mission. It's a delicious -2 Panic worldwide, so it's awesome.

So, the basic idea of containing panic is to spam Satellites. Fill out a continent and you're almost safe. Get past the mentioned story mission and panic becomes much less of an issue.

As for the tactical combat part. Cover is good. High cover is better. Try to flank the aliens if you can. Never expose new areas with your last move. If you cannot se any aliens when you end turn, you'll be safe since they have to spend their turn getting into cover if they spot you. A Sniper with Squad Sight is nice. So is an Assault with Run and gun and Rapid Fire. Also don't underestimate the power of a well paced rocket or smoke grenade. And finally: Don't pet Chryssalids.
 
The problem with managing panic with satellites is that sometimes the game just will not give you engineers at the start. I figured I would get some soon enough on this run, but no, I was stuck at 9 engineers for nearly 2 months.
 

McNum

Member
The problem with managing panic with satellites is that sometimes the game just will not give you engineers at the start. I figured I would get some soon enough on this run, but no, I was stuck at 9 engineers for nearly 2 months.
You can end up at the mercy of the RNG, yes. It's XCOM, after all. But building a Workshop adds Engineers to your team. So you can do that if all else fails. Or do it anyway to have even more Engineers.
 

Oppo

Member
You can end up at the mercy of the RNG, yes. It's XCOM, after all. But building a Workshop adds Engineers to your team. So you can do that if all else fails. Or do it anyway to have even more Engineers.

Can't build a workshop till you have 10 engineers. ;)

I always opt for whatever mission comes up first that offers engineers as the reward.
 

McNum

Member
Can't build a workshop till you have 10 engineers. ;)

I always opt for whatever mission comes up first that offers engineers as the reward.
Ah, oops. I forgot that requirement. And with so few engineers, you can't build more Uplinks, and without more Uplinks you can't send a Satellite to a country that gives Engineers... Yup. That's trouble.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Well, I lost Mexico from the X-com council. But that's okay, no one loves you anyway Mexico!

I'm still stuck with the basic primary guns. I got the laser pistol and laser assault rifle and I think the laser sniper rifle, but the problem is I'm running out of cash and don't have engineers. Same with building Sat installations. I have the 4x Sat building but I can't build it because I'm out of resources. Any tips for boosting my economy?
 

Thrakier

Member
If you're just starting out, you should do the tutorial. It's not the best tutorial ever, but it will show you the basics. Also you get a free Satellite.

As for what to do, the basic flow of the game is somewhat straight forward.

You fight in a tactical battle, get stuff and corpses and live aliens to take home, use that to research and develop new weapons, armor, plot devices and eventually interceptors, and then use your new toys to fight even tougher aliens until you unlock the final part of the game and win.

Of course, this isn't that kind of game that just lets you do all that. What trips up many people new to the game is Panic, and for good reason, it's hard to manage. All paying nations have 1-5 levels of panic.1 is "Um, there are aliens, but we're doing okay." and 5 is "ALIENS EVERYWHERE! XCOM IS USELESS!" If a country is at 5 at the end of the month, they'll stop funding XCOM. If eight countries stop funding XCOM, you lose the game.

So how DO you manage Panic?

Well, the first thing to know is that Abduction missions (those with the three choices) will lower Panic in the country you pick by one, and increase panic in the continents you did pick by one as well as another one in he two countries you didn't pick. In other words, abductions are BAD. UFOs getting away from your interceptors and Terror Missions can also increase panic, the latter will have the country leave outright if you fail o ignore that mission.

However, you have ways to lower panic. The primary one is launching a Satellite over the country. -2 Panic AND a lockout on abduction missions happening there. The other way is through doing missions, do especially well on a Terror mission or a Council mission and you'll decrease panic. But you can't really pick those on your own. There's one more way to lower panic, but you only get one of those in the entire game, and it's a story mission. It's a delicious -2 Panic worldwide, so it's awesome.

So, the basic idea of containing panic is to spam Satellites. Fill out a continent and you're almost safe. Get past the mentioned story mission and panic becomes much less of an issue.

As for the tactical combat part. Cover is good. High cover is better. Try to flank the aliens if you can. Never expose new areas with your last move. If you cannot se any aliens when you end turn, you'll be safe since they have to spend their turn getting into cover if they spot you. A Sniper with Squad Sight is nice. So is an Assault with Run and gun and Rapid Fire. Also don't underestimate the power of a well paced rocket or smoke grenade. And finally: Don't pet Chryssalids.

Thanks. How do I get satellites?
 
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