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

S

Skab

Member
J

Jintor

Member
Okay, remind me. What's optimal satellite strategy again? Working purely on a responsive basis sucks a bunch. Better to go for continent bonuses right?

Thinking: US Start (Air and Space + 180 p/month), two sats in South America (We Have Ways), expand from there
 
R

Remachinate

Member
Jintor said:
Okay, remind me. What's optimal satellite strategy again? Working purely on a responsive basis sucks a bunch. Better to go for continent bonuses right?

Thinking: US Start (Air and Space + 180 p/month), two sats in South America (We Have Ways), expand from there
Click to expand...

Depends on the difficulty you're playing on. Classic and above, panic is a bigger issue such that Europe offers a better bonus. It gives you more expendable countries in your starting continent, generates an engineer rather than scientist, and gives you a discount on costs you incur earlier (squad size, wet work) as opposed to NA, where the ship discount isn't as relevant until later on.
 
J

Jintor

Member
Remachinate said:
XCOM: Enemy Within |OT| Your Soldiers Never Asked For This
Click to expand...

I'm a fan

Remachinate said:
Depends on the difficulty you're playing on. Classic and above, panic is a bigger issue such that Europe offers a better bonus. It gives you more expendable countries in your starting continent, generates an engineer rather than scientist, and gives you a discount on costs you incur earlier (squad size, wet work) as opposed to NA, where the ship discount isn't as relevant until later on.
Click to expand...

Foundary and training schools are Asia's discount though
 
R

Remachinate

Member
TucoBenedictoPacifico said:
i wish I could be a bit more excited about it, but it seems they are keeping the usual approach of "fixed, plot-driven mission on a predefined map as a key moment in story development" for this, which is a bit underwhelming.
Click to expand...

It'll be disappointing if the map isn't dynamic based on what you've built in your base (and confusing if you don't build a MEC lab but the map still features one), but I really like that there's a mission that can end the game full stop, you can't prepare for, and have to make do with a random, limited selection of your soldiers rather than defending with all superstars. Tension is what XCOM does best, and I'm hoping that this helps capture that feeling even into the endgame.
 
G

GeoGonzo

Member
TucoBenedictoPacifico said:
i wish I could be a bit more excited about it, but it seems they are keeping the usual approach of "fixed, plot-driven mission on a predefined map as a key moment in story development" for this, which is a bit underwhelming.
Click to expand...

There really was no other way of doing this. People seem to forget that the new XCOM doesn't have a flat base. How would defending an ant-farm base even work?
 
S

SuperSonic1305

Member
Ugh this game, I was on my 4th or 5th classic ironman run and things were going superbly. I was always losing because I didn't have the the resources to take on the larger ships and they would destroy my satellites. This time I finally get the firestorm and get hit with a terror attack. Take all my best guys thinking if I just get past this things will get so much easier. BAM 9 chrysallids and all the civilians on their side of the map. I had no chance at all. Wiped my entire team in one shot a piece and all i'm left with are 5 squaddies and one lieutenant. With an abduction mission immediately after. Time to start again.
 
J

Jintor

Member
Posting the OT soon and nothing standout has occured yet. I might end up going with "The New Evolution of Evil" except that has no bearing on Enemy Within and is actually kind of just a terrible throwback joke to TFTD that no-one will get

THINK HARDER, SHEEPLE
 
R

Remachinate

Member
I've posted all my "A" material already (I think they're all gold), but here are my rejects:

XCOM: Enemy Within |OT| The Only XCOM Release This Year

XCOM: Enemy Within |OT| Thin Men Are Still Bullshit

XCOM: Enemy Within |OT| Say Goodbye to Another Week, Commander
 
J

Jintor

Member
I'm thinking some variation on "Never Asked For This"... maybe "We Never Asked For This (But We'll Take It Anyway)"?

Or "Our Vision is Augmented"... idk...
 
R

Remachinate

Member
Jintor said:
I'm thinking some variation on "Never Asked For This"... maybe "We Never Asked For This (But We'll Take It Anyway)"?

Or "Our Vision is Augmented"... idk...
Click to expand...

You don't think my earlier wording works? Try this variation:

"Your Soldiers Never Asked For This, But We Sure Did"

Though I think it works better without the second part.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Ricker said:
Why is Steam downloading a 4 GB patch right now for the regular game,jesus,got to disable those auto update....
Click to expand...

For the expansion. Like Battlefield and other FPS titles or games now a days the expansions are downloaded as part of an "update" to update the main game. Which makes sense since this isn't an "expansion" like Starcraft and just adding stuff into the main engine/EU game.
 
sakipon

sakipon

Member
Downloaded this from EU PS+. The gameplay is great, I like it. However I got interested in customizing the soldiers and now everytime I lose someone, it annoys me more than usual since I know it'll be a bother to customize new ones. But the default soldiers feel so empty. In Valkyria Chronicles and such games characters usually have a couple of lines about their personality or background, and nice art used for their portrait. Here the soldiers have dull, generic names and ugly, generic looks that consist of a few different heads. I suppose someone designed them, but they feel randomized and cheap. Lifeless.

This shouldn't bother me so much, but it does. Kind of ruins the immersion (atleast on the first playthrough when I'm trying to concentrate on the story).
 
V

vicoakland

Member
Some 4th of July weekend XCOM quality time for me (courtesy of my 6 mo. old PS+ account).

After getting wiped on Classic Ironman on the first terror mission...twice in a row. Decided to play a run of Classic with no AutoSave. Just a manual save every couple missions. This has really freed me up to experiment. Which is nice.

Lo and behold, the next time I made it to the first terror mission on Classic, I just took four rookies, no medikit, four frag grenades and default weapons and armor...and they all survived, with 12 civilians to boot.

Rookies also meant default HP and abilities. But, really, on the first terror mission it's almost better to know exactly what your limitations are and play within them. The four moved as a unit, with the rear two moving forward leapfrogging the front line each turn (allowing for balanced reloading, overwatch, strategic retreats) and, because they always kept moving, never once dashed to save a civilian. No medikit is no big deal since...you really can't afford to get hit against Chysalids and zombies anyways. And four grenades (usually tossed as the first action by the squad member with the lowest percentage shot) repeatedly saved my butt.

What a(n imaginary) welcome from my veterans when the four newly promoted squaddies returned to base alive, lol.

Honestly surprised it's possible to do this, but there you go.
 
D

Dr Campino

Member
I've been replaying this recently, too (just on easy, though) and it's so critical to me to roll with two snipers on my team.

This is my second playthrough, and I'm doing much better the second time around now that I know what I need to capture, etc in order to proceed.

Going to be getting Enemy Within this summer to do a new run through, maybe on Classic next time.
 
davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
Just started playing this game yesterday. I checked out the first two of the older games out of curiosity, but couldn't get to a point where I actually was doing any strategy haha.

Seems okay so far, I'm really just kind of wondering what there is that you do that you can spend hundreds of hours playing it at this point.
 
A

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
davepoobond said:
Just started playing this game yesterday. I checked out the first two of the older games out of curiosity, but couldn't get to a point where I actually was doing any strategy haha.

Seems okay so far, I'm really just kind of wondering what there is that you do that you can spend hundreds of hours playing it at this point.
Click to expand...

In terms of the original, you should check out OpenXcom.

It's an all together recreation of the original that provides a bunch of modern features to the game, huge bug fixes, and mod support. It's also available on Android which is slick. It really opens up the game.
 
V

vicoakland

Member
Classic/Ironman run: Anna Sing mission first month left me with a mission FAIL and one remaining veteran squad member, a sniper. Missed a satellite deployment, too!

Barely scraped back into the game w/o weapons or armor upgrades but all countries still on board in month three. Probably my proudest XCOM achievement yet, tbh. Nothing spectacular, just straightforward careful gameplay.

Then I draw the Big Cemetery Bomb Disposal! Haha. I'd never played it, but I'd read about how hard it is.

I pretty much did everything right (team hunkering down, snipers working the angles and a well-placed rocket from my heavy) and even anticipated the surpise at the end by leaving my team in good position.
In my case no fewer than 5 Thin Men teleporting in the moment I defused the bomb
However, once the "surprise" deployed, I made a mistake and did not cycle through my squad members to evaluate shot percentage / position at end of turn and paid the price with two quick deaths in half-cover.

So...always cycle through your available shot percentages and, even then, always ask "can I gain a better percentage shot/cover by destroying enemy cover or moving position?"

[Side note: game doesn't really explain clearly that Will is impacted by getting seriously wounded, both in mission and post mission. Noticed this when a veteran panicked on a mission...and lo and behold...his Will was nowhere near where it should be for his rank.]
 
V

vicoakland

Member
Classic/Ironman run from ^^ continued:

October. Now five countries have left the project (Three to Terror mission fails and two through abduction attrition) and, while the 11 remaining members are all fine with great sky cover, it's...uh...getting truly dire out there on the battlefield.

Basically only have two veteran snipers. Colonel and Lt. With Lasers (which are not good enough for October.) And I've had to abort two Overseer missions and flee mid-way due to squad deaths.

I did so much right this playtrhough (funds, strategic layer, air war, patient, patient gameplay) EXCEPT protecting and developing my ranked up squad members and prioritizing Plasma Sniper rifle. Now I just don't have the juice to take out Elite Muton / Cyberdisc / Sectopod / Heavy Floater / Thin Man armies of late game without wars of attrition where I lose someone I couldn't afford to lose ie. my ranked up team members are underpowered, and my low-ranked team members are panicky.

I've tried it all. Taken my best squad, stuck it out, hunkered down, and still had to abort (panicking...all the way up to Lt. rank!...has completely messed up at least seven missions so far). I've taken a mixed squad and made it through the mission, but at the expense of permanent will-draining injuries. I've taken SHIVs with snipers, made it 1/2 through a large scout playing super cautious...only to have to turn back.

Last night, figuring what the hell, I tried an October terror mission with rookies, thinking, if by some miracle, they made it, I'd get some ranked up troops and precious raw materials. Stayed patient, eliminated Chrysalids, Heavy Floaters galore in the tank yard.

Had three remaining squad members, two at half health...versus a Sectopod...and the Sectopod plays hide and go seek deep in the map. I have it flanked, but it's with rookies playing peekaboo from full cover, and they miss, consecutively three reaction shots.

Sectopod wipes all three in two turns. I should not have set them to overwatch, I guess? Maybe just hunkered down repeatedly until the Sectopod AI...comes out from hiding? What do you do? Just waste hours hoping?

Anyhoo. Just got two Psi power.....rookies. And can afford a couple Alloy Shivs.

I just need a couple completed missions here...
 
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