Or the designers could of done a better job spreading out some of the content. I had no problems with classic when the game first came out, I even made it to the final mission in iron man before I lost my save. So yeah I am a little peeved that before classic was a nice challenging setting for me then they decided to make it harder and now it is no longer fun to iron man it anymore. My gaming backlog is too big to spend time replaying the start over and over until i either "just get better" as you said or get a lucky streak going.
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XCOM: Enemy Within |OT| Your Soldiers Never Asked For This
- Thread starter Jintor
- Start date
Or the designers could of done a better job spreading out some of the content. I had no problems with classic when the game first came out, I even made it to the final mission in iron man before I lost my save. So yeah I am a little peeved that before classic was a nice challenging setting for me then they decided to make it harder and now it is no longer fun to iron man it anymore. My gaming backlog is too big to spend time replaying the start over and over until i either "just get better" as you said or get a lucky streak going.
Classic is still pretty manageable so long as you remember that low cover is relatively worthless. The main problem is that Progeny and Slingshot all pile up on one another, plus Newfoundland, so you're going to have thin men up the arse.
But if you rush MECs you'll probably be okay. But that might fuck up your satellite game... idk. But once you get past the hump it's about normal.
Yeah you're right. Thinking about it it's not so much that classic got harder, but they throw those council missions at you a little early and then keep em coming at a fast pace. If you have a few subpar missions before or during that part things can pile up fast.
Anyway I just got finished with a nice tense terror mission. Half my squad bit the dust, but they were rookies so no big loss. All i can say is i thought Chrysalids were a push over back when i played the game at launch, but now I think i was underestimating them. Put them on a map with civies and they become a bitch. Didn't help that I was in a fire fight with a Cyberdisc that kept me pinned down while they roamed the map making zombies.
The worst part is a) that weird explosion AOE thing they do which ignores cover, fuck that shit, b) alien fucking grenades, and c) they're really goddamn hard to hit! They're a floating disk that's just hovering there, fill that goddamn thing with plasma you morons
flying unit defensive bonus I don't get. Should've animated some juking motions to make it clear why they gettin' that defense.
flying unit defensive bonus I don't get. Should've animated some juking motions to make it clear why they gettin' that defense.
Yes the hard to hit part is what made the firefight last a few more turns then i was hoping. Luckily for me I assume all my laser shots were making him blind because he wasn't shooting very well and even luckier is it didn't use any grenades. If it did it would of been pretty bad.
Also I think I need to start working on replacing me lasers and getting some plasma out. I am always slow to capture live aliens. Anyone one know what month it will be when I should absolutely be fielding plasma weapons? Right now it is June in my game.
Thanks for the advice I will get on that. Capturing live aliens has always been my weakness, but when I start up the game tomorrow I will make it my new priority. Since I almost have global satellite coverage and so for not a single lost country. Which is a first for me.
Imperfected
Member
To be honest I usually have enough Scientists and Laboratory bonuses that autopsies and interrogations are essentially instant, anyway. Never found the South America bonus useful compared to just having more assets on deck.
I think I might turn the difficulty up to impossible now that I have access to plasma and late game game armor. I don't know if they tuned(detuned?) some of the difficulty out of it, the alien base and panic missions would seem to suggest that, or whatever skill I had has come back, or I forgot about just how front loaded the difficulty curve is... probably a combination of the 3. Anyway, I don't get shot at for whole missions at a time. Maybe when the heavy floaters show up?
About Newfloundland, due to some poor base management I didn't have the option of building a MEC by then, so that roster spot was taken up by a second sniper. With the vantage spots on that map they cleaned up. Sniping has been such a big part of this campaign anyway, I think I averaged well over 3 kills per with one sniper for about the first 15 missions. That ratio is still hovering at around 3 now even with force feeding other guys and the full 6 man squad.
About Newfloundland, due to some poor base management I didn't have the option of building a MEC by then, so that roster spot was taken up by a second sniper. With the vantage spots on that map they cleaned up. Sniping has been such a big part of this campaign anyway, I think I averaged well over 3 kills per with one sniper for about the first 15 missions. That ratio is still hovering at around 3 now even with force feeding other guys and the full 6 man squad.
Gamer @ Heart
Member
Started a 4 man classic run for the trophy after getting everything else.
5th mission in, the enemy spawn during the abduction went fucking critical. I don't know if I have it in me to endure the amount of reloading I will have to do. Especially considering how long they are on PS3.
5th mission in, the enemy spawn during the abduction went fucking critical. I don't know if I have it in me to endure the amount of reloading I will have to do. Especially considering how long they are on PS3.
TC McQueen
Member
I tried playing the original XCom a few times, but all that micromanagement killed the game for me, especially with the terribad interfaces they had back in the day. The new XCOM feels way better to me across the board, with the exception of the interceptor minigame.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Do MECs "die"?
Yes. I'm not sure what the quotes means though, they're still humans.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I don't know why, but the idea of stabilizing a giant cyborg seems funny to me. Can they even bleed out?! They're robots!
firehawk12
Subete no aware
A mindcontrolled MEC sounds like a really bad deal...
Sathsquatch
Member
I just had an ironman classic game go south on me shortly after I started fighting mechtoids. On a terror mission, nine chyrsalids spawn right next to my skyranger and I my Kinetic strike mec and my Colonel heavy are in the infirmary. If I had these two soldiers, I could have survived. I forgot that I could even abort the mission on that first turn, so 4 out of 6 of my soldiers die after killing like 14 chrysallids. I then aborted the mission and four countries went to 5 alarm panic just before the end of the month, bringing my total number of countries defecting to 7 total.
To make matters worse, I start a new ironman game that keeps on crashing when my guys kill a seeker.
To make matters worse, I start a new ironman game that keeps on crashing when my guys kill a seeker.
TC McQueen
Member
Kinetic Strike is a poor choice for Terror Missions IMO. The flame thrower is far more useful, although it doesn't really come into its own until the Jellied Elerium Foundry project is completed.
Wolfgang Jr
Banned
Just played for a few hours - one thing I noticed is that Drones and Cyberdiscs come WAY later in Within than Unknown - is this random or design? I think it's great - CD's are fucking bastards and they whipped my ass in Unknown.
Wolfgang Jr
Banned
It's great on the 360 & I'm a PC gamer.
They've really ramp up the difficulties. My game:
- Classic Ironman
- Hide Enemy Health
- Not Created Equally
- Hidden Potential
- Aiming Angles
I only lasted 4 months, every soldiers were gravely wounded, budgets in the reds etc.
I love the classic interceptor part too. They should've added it back in.
I think it's by design. Wait till you see sectopods in EW, they surprised me coming from my expectations of them in EU.
Imperfected
Member
Yeah, they've given them a lot of improvements (and nerfed things that worked well against them, like HEAT ammo), so they're treated as higher-tier enemies now. You should usually be encountering Mutons before Cyberdisks, rather than vice-versa, and Sectopods should be one of the last things you run into at or around the Ethereal tier.
A strategy I couldn't pull off right, but should work on most enemies: Battle scanner reveals a pack of whatever but doesn't trigger them, start lobbing proximity mines to that spot while your heavy gets into position. When ready, rocket the pack, which will trigger the mines. Everyone should be dealt with before they are even triggered.
I thought it was kinda cute that they basically used this as the entire theme of the expansion, what with all the genetic modification and turning people into robots and, in case you didn't quite get it, the Fuller quote in the intro that pretty much spells it out with zero ambiguity.
Imperfected
Member
As someone who suffered many deaths starting out due to cars being packed with C4, I take an inordinate amount of pleasure in taking MECs on EXALT missions. Oh, what's that? You want to huddle in the space between two parked cars? No, please, be my guest; we'll see what Collateral Damage has to say about that. I don't need your corpses or leftover weapons for anything, anyway.
I think I'm about halfway through my playthrough on normal (or at least getting close to halfway) on Normal and I couldn't go back to not using second wave options. The joy of getting a squaddie sniper with 87 aim is great, and having a heavy with field medic and deep pockets can be really useful.
Not sure if I'll put on the aiming angles choice for the Classic/Ironman run I'll do next but I'm thinking about it.
Not sure if I'll put on the aiming angles choice for the Classic/Ironman run I'll do next but I'm thinking about it.
I switch on "aiming angles" every time, it's much more realistic and fun imo and I don't even understand why it's not default to on.
"Training Roulette" is a mixed bag for me. I get OP supports, assaults and some heavies but rarely do I get a decent sniper, and never get a half decent medic.
Did archangel armor got nerfed by removing it's elevation bonus while flying, or was it never there? My flying snipers are alot more likely to get targeted and hit now in EW, and I have since prefer using Ghost armor or just stay on ground levels behind covers with them.
Also, I enjoy EMP, falcon punch, disabling shot, falcon punch a Sectopod to death.
"Training Roulette" is a mixed bag for me. I get OP supports, assaults and some heavies but rarely do I get a decent sniper, and never get a half decent medic.
Did archangel armor got nerfed by removing it's elevation bonus while flying, or was it never there? My flying snipers are alot more likely to get targeted and hit now in EW, and I have since prefer using Ghost armor or just stay on ground levels behind covers with them.
Also, I enjoy EMP, falcon punch, disabling shot, falcon punch a Sectopod to death.
Original quote puts you into the mindset of meeting aliens.
New quote puts you into the mindset of murdering aliens while gleefully engaging in willful violations of basic ethics and human decency.
Advantage: Fuller.
So upon release of EW I decided to go Ironman Impossible no matter what and finish it. I've finished EU on Classic and attempted numerous I/I back then (mostly after watching Beaglerush), but never finished it on that difficulty. It wasn't so much the difficulty itself (although teleporting enemies could really screw you over), but the endgame starts to feel boring when stuff starts to melt so easily. The beginning was horrendous though, where you got oneshotted left and right and had to re-learn everything. Luckily all those hours trying to get through the first months on EU learned me a few tricks that work very well for me:
-High cover = low cover, low cover = death
-Scout cautiously, expect packs to be within 10 tiles of each other
-Be extremely careful with flanking (see above)
-If enemies get a turn, ppl WILL die
-Shoot first, interrogate later (maybe, fu Vahlen!)
-Assaults <3
Put simply: try to murder the aliens before they get a turn, or expect casualties (and often wipe). Assaults are perfect for this playstyle since you basically always get a chance to put a shotgun to their face with Run and Gun. If aliens fall too far back (chances of activating more if you chase), you can still retreat put your guy on Overwatch to make him useful.
Still though, nothing prepared me for EW I/I, as I was getting my ass handed to me again and again within the first 3 months. The increased research times definitely increase the difficulty a lot, since lasers are "gamebreaking" for dealing with those nasty Thin Men (6hp ftl), which you now encounter a lot more and earlier, in part thanks to Portent (which is REALLY nasty with 3 groups close by).
However, I soon discovered that MECs are my new lasers. They're not that awesome as lasers in their default getup, but they can soak a hit or 2 from Thin Men, destroy their cover and oneshot a group with flamethrower. Now don't get me wrong: I love Kinetic Strike as much as the next guy (even more on tall buildings), but at the early stages flamethrower is so much better. I hardly ever have range issues with it and being able to murder 2-3 Thin Men in 1 move carried my ass in the first months.
I still restarted a bunch though, mostly due to panic. Is it just me or are panic lvls super crazy on Impossible? I swear, with every abduction mission you seem guaranteed to lose 2 countries (I've never had those give less than 3 panic). In EU it always seemed to be 2 panic for difficult abductions you "skipped", but not in EW
It's quite sad too when you got a nice game going with some awesome soldiers (Heavy with Bullet Swarm, Low Profile, 80 starting Aim and Mimetic Skin), only to see a game over because every abduction gives you 2 countries in full red
However, I'm now working on my first I/I game where I encountered Sectopods. And boy, do these things want to take revenge for the beatdown they got in EU. It's even worse when they get activated along with a Mechtoid :s Or worse: getting 2 Sectopods and a Mectoid (accompanied by 4 drones and 2 sectoids ofc). My first instinct (ruuuuuunnn!!!!) paid off as I narrowly survived that encounter (in part thanks to a very lucky crit on the Mechtoid and my MEC just having reached proxy mines) with laser tech.
Fast forward a month ingame and I meet 3 Sectopods and a Mechtoid during a terror mission! I would've had to deal with all of them at the same, were it not for my sniper (who just got his plasma rifle) who critted the Mechtoid for 29 damage, insta-gibbing him. Mind you, at this point I still thought I was facing a Sectopod and Mechtoid at the same time, but right after ending my turn, 2 more Sectopods showed up. I was ready to throw my PC out the window, until I noticed my saving grace: Sectopods are afraid of heights (albeit VERY minor height here). I was in the terror map that has a broken highway to the left and many cars laid in front of you. The center of the map in particular had a slightly elevated platform and a big ramp on the right toward some oil containers and a building or something. Anyways, if you know the map I'm talking about: the Sectopods were on that platform near the edge and stopped moving there. The edge is barely enough to grant half cover and there's a small ramp to their left (albeit quite a few steps away), but they seem to have hit a computation error on how to cross this scary (not) height. So ultimately I simply had to keep my Mimetic Heavy perfectly still and snipe away with my SS sniper. It still took ages to kill them and they sometimes decided to use their barrage on my invisible heavy (like wtf?), so it wasn't a perfectly safe situation, but I'm not questioning that lucky break
-High cover = low cover, low cover = death
-Scout cautiously, expect packs to be within 10 tiles of each other
-Be extremely careful with flanking (see above)
-If enemies get a turn, ppl WILL die
-Shoot first, interrogate later (maybe, fu Vahlen!)
-Assaults <3
Put simply: try to murder the aliens before they get a turn, or expect casualties (and often wipe). Assaults are perfect for this playstyle since you basically always get a chance to put a shotgun to their face with Run and Gun. If aliens fall too far back (chances of activating more if you chase), you can still retreat put your guy on Overwatch to make him useful.
Still though, nothing prepared me for EW I/I, as I was getting my ass handed to me again and again within the first 3 months. The increased research times definitely increase the difficulty a lot, since lasers are "gamebreaking" for dealing with those nasty Thin Men (6hp ftl), which you now encounter a lot more and earlier, in part thanks to Portent (which is REALLY nasty with 3 groups close by).
However, I soon discovered that MECs are my new lasers. They're not that awesome as lasers in their default getup, but they can soak a hit or 2 from Thin Men, destroy their cover and oneshot a group with flamethrower. Now don't get me wrong: I love Kinetic Strike as much as the next guy (even more on tall buildings), but at the early stages flamethrower is so much better. I hardly ever have range issues with it and being able to murder 2-3 Thin Men in 1 move carried my ass in the first months.
I still restarted a bunch though, mostly due to panic. Is it just me or are panic lvls super crazy on Impossible? I swear, with every abduction mission you seem guaranteed to lose 2 countries (I've never had those give less than 3 panic). In EU it always seemed to be 2 panic for difficult abductions you "skipped", but not in EW
It's quite sad too when you got a nice game going with some awesome soldiers (Heavy with Bullet Swarm, Low Profile, 80 starting Aim and Mimetic Skin), only to see a game over because every abduction gives you 2 countries in full red However, I'm now working on my first I/I game where I encountered Sectopods. And boy, do these things want to take revenge for the beatdown they got in EU. It's even worse when they get activated along with a Mechtoid :s Or worse: getting 2 Sectopods and a Mectoid (accompanied by 4 drones and 2 sectoids ofc). My first instinct (ruuuuuunnn!!!!) paid off as I narrowly survived that encounter (in part thanks to a very lucky crit on the Mechtoid and my MEC just having reached proxy mines) with laser tech.
Fast forward a month ingame and I meet 3 Sectopods and a Mechtoid during a terror mission! I would've had to deal with all of them at the same, were it not for my sniper (who just got his plasma rifle) who critted the Mechtoid for 29 damage, insta-gibbing him. Mind you, at this point I still thought I was facing a Sectopod and Mechtoid at the same time, but right after ending my turn, 2 more Sectopods showed up. I was ready to throw my PC out the window, until I noticed my saving grace: Sectopods are afraid of heights (albeit VERY minor height here). I was in the terror map that has a broken highway to the left and many cars laid in front of you. The center of the map in particular had a slightly elevated platform and a big ramp on the right toward some oil containers and a building or something. Anyways, if you know the map I'm talking about: the Sectopods were on that platform near the edge and stopped moving there. The edge is barely enough to grant half cover and there's a small ramp to their left (albeit quite a few steps away), but they seem to have hit a computation error on how to cross this scary (not) height. So ultimately I simply had to keep my Mimetic Heavy perfectly still and snipe away with my SS sniper. It still took ages to kill them and they sometimes decided to use their barrage on my invisible heavy (like wtf?), so it wasn't a perfectly safe situation, but I'm not questioning that lucky break
masterkajo
Member
I still restarted a bunch though, mostly due to panic. Is it just me or are panic lvls super crazy on Impossible? I swear, with every abduction mission you seem guaranteed to lose 2 countries (I've never had those give less than 3 panic). In EU it always seemed to be 2 panic for difficult abductions you "skipped", but not in EW
I played I/I a lot in EU and it was always 3 for countries you didn't go to. The first abduction mission always lets 2 countries panic. I usually lose 3 countries in the first month, though I managed to make it through the first month without losing a single country once. Perfect alignment of missions, I guess.
Anyway, you are right about EW I/I. It feels so much harder than EU. Mechs help a lot though. I just finished Portent but had only 2 out 5 soldiers survive. And the best part, the VIP died. I had my Assault die due to poison (1st soldier dead) which let the VIP panic and run in the open (VIP dead), then my Sniper on the roof was flanked by a gymnast jumping 2 stories high (2nd soldier dead) which lead to my Mech panicing, even though he had the medal for not panicking when an ally is shot or killed, and ran into another aliens line of sight (3rd Soldier bleeding out). I took an extreme risk to save him with my last two soldiers and they both managed to hit ~50% shots to kill the last enemy. However, he was still dead after the mission which I assume is because I got a mission failed screen due to the VIP dying. So sad now
Next up will be Terror mission I'd reckon and without a Mech and 2 of my best soldiers dead (sniper and assault) I surely won't stand a chance. But we'll see.Fragamemnon
Member
Portent on Impossible is really rough IF you don't know the exact spots of the spawns and don't know the trigger points on the map that will cause the enemy drop downs. If you do know it the mission is actually quite easy, provided that you have a Heavy in your squad and at least have the first squad size OTS upgrade (makes things easier, but not required).
You can rocket down one of the first two Thin Men spawns from the roof so you'll only face two thin men and not four once you get through the first building. Then you can use the roof and explosives to deal with the other two spawns. Then it's just moving the VIP forward inch by inch and knowing exactly where the reinforcements drop and overwatch killing them. A good video detailing the mission is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONirX_bTO4Q
Confounding Light (the 2nd mission in the Slingshot sequence) is similarly much, much easier with preemptive rockets and knowing the points that trigger the spawns.
Working on I/I full second wave now. Itchy trigger tentacle and damage roulette are a bitch, but aiming angles and always critical actually help with the tactical layer a lot. Diminishing Returns and Marathon is almost overwhelming because you can't really launch any sats until you finish the last Slingshot mission (gangplank) so you can buy all you need in one fell swoop, and then either have to be able to keep from getting KO'd that month or do the alien base (which is easy!), which has consequences (base defense, very fucking hard w/o carapace/lasers).
You can rocket down one of the first two Thin Men spawns from the roof so you'll only face two thin men and not four once you get through the first building. Then you can use the roof and explosives to deal with the other two spawns. Then it's just moving the VIP forward inch by inch and knowing exactly where the reinforcements drop and overwatch killing them. A good video detailing the mission is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONirX_bTO4Q
Confounding Light (the 2nd mission in the Slingshot sequence) is similarly much, much easier with preemptive rockets and knowing the points that trigger the spawns.
Working on I/I full second wave now. Itchy trigger tentacle and damage roulette are a bitch, but aiming angles and always critical actually help with the tactical layer a lot. Diminishing Returns and Marathon is almost overwhelming because you can't really launch any sats until you finish the last Slingshot mission (gangplank) so you can buy all you need in one fell swoop, and then either have to be able to keep from getting KO'd that month or do the alien base (which is easy!), which has consequences (base defense, very fucking hard w/o carapace/lasers).
Sathsquatch
Member
I just had an operative go down in a data extraction mission. My medic stabilized her, but I now I obviously cannot hack the terminals without her. I really do not want to abort the mission because I also have a colonel who went down and is stabilized. What do I do?
Mopping up on Classic right now, getting the achievements and farming MELD.
Sectopods are no joke anymore, and are pretty much everywhere.
My strat is to bait the overwatch with an assault, then move in my MEC for an EMP. It gives you that extra turn that you need to kill them.
I'd have to compare with EU but I think they also have more defense, because my hit% against them is rarely great.
Beagle has a new vid on youtube, where he plays Portent. Some good info in there I didn't know, like the importance of Support MECs giving extra defense to other troops, and the (obvious to everyone but me) power of Collateral Damage.
My next game is either going to be impossible, or Classic Marathon
I also need a 4-man classic game for that achievement.
Sectopods are no joke anymore, and are pretty much everywhere.
My strat is to bait the overwatch with an assault, then move in my MEC for an EMP. It gives you that extra turn that you need to kill them.
I'd have to compare with EU but I think they also have more defense, because my hit% against them is rarely great.
Beagle has a new vid on youtube, where he plays Portent. Some good info in there I didn't know, like the importance of Support MECs giving extra defense to other troops, and the (obvious to everyone but me) power of Collateral Damage.
My next game is either going to be impossible, or Classic Marathon
I also need a 4-man classic game for that achievement.
ABSOLUTELY
As soon as I found that Sectopods and Mechtoids only fire twice if they stand still (same as MECs), I made a habit of moving my squad back just enough to force them to move. Ofc I only do this when I can't finish them off in 1 turn (always with these new sectopods :s), but it really helps. 1 shot my MEC can survive (especially since enemies tend to target the closest target with minimal cover) and it's often a miss thanks to 3x Dense Smoke and the Heavy MEC passive
As far as Portent goes: since I tend to get it in the first month almost always, it only took me a few restarts to remember the spawn points and make it easy xp. The first 3 packs on the map are always a "oh shit, let's not fuck this up" moment for me, but the drop-ins are easy. I already figured out in EU that escort missions trigger drop-ins by moving the VIP to specific places, so I first clear the regular spawns and put my guys in tactical spots before moving the VIP. That way I always get free Overwatch shots and never have to reload while some fresh aliens come knocking. In new maps I already made a habit of moving VIPs very slowly (moving him without dashing usually only triggers 1 group, while dashing often triggers 2, that's how close most triggerpoints are).
Btw, in my current game I haven't had Newfoundland mission yet and I already got the Hyperwave and most research done. What's the trigger? I remember it being quite early in previous games, but I can't recall if it also gets triggered if Canada has left (they left me in the first month now)...
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