..are open at Steam. Go buy!
I've had the deluxe version on pre order with game stop for a couple months. I'm ready to start busting some alien ass. Also hoping we get a Grog multiplayer group going. Really stoked for this one.
They have a pretty unique reward system for pre-orders. Instead of individuals getting something default free, the more people that pre-order increase the level of the rewards you'll get. That seems pretty cool.
For 72 hours only, preorder from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832262102) and get $12 off. Use the code EMCNANC23 at checkout.
Sorry, U.S. residents only.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2012, 10:21:41 AM
For 72 hours only, preorder from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832262102) and get $12 off. Use the code EMCNANC23 at checkout.
Sorry, U.S. residents only.
Do you get physial copy or just steam code from them?
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 07, 2012, 07:05:39 AM
They have a pretty unique reward system for pre-orders. Instead of individuals getting something default free, the more people that pre-order increase the level of the rewards you'll get. That seems pretty cool.
Be interesting to see how well this works... If they only get 90% of the preorders required to get to level 1 rewards then those 90% are gonna be pissed they don't get anything. Might make a lot of people wait to see if the game makes it to level 1 before they pre-order which could cause the "only 90%" case....
I so want to pre-order but I just can't based on the track record of Sid aka Firaxis destroying the games of my youth like Pirates! and that thing called Railroads.
I just hope it doesn't suck.
Onion,
Got to the XCOM Enemy Unknown Facebook page and watch the videos from PAX and other locations. The game looks very good.
The tier 2 incentives are a bunch of Team Fortess thingies? Well yippie.... ::)
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 07, 2012, 01:03:36 PM
The tier 2 incentives are a bunch of Team Fortess thingies? Well yippie.... ::)
Team Fortress can be be something of a way of life. I run hot and cold on it, but some guys live for all the tie-in loot available. I can see the allure. It won't make a difference with regard to my decision to purchase it, but I wouldn't mind the loot next time I go gaming.
It looks quite cool...maybe - before Sleeping Dogs I think
Well, this is interesting.
First time I checked the pre-order page it said it was 48% of the way to Tier 1 rewards.
Later it said 67%. Now it says a mere 33%. So, either it's all bonked up, they decided to up the amount needed,
Or a whole load of people immediately cancelled their pre-orders in a single hour. :P
Also, Gamersgate has the game for pre-order as well, and has no mention of this (despite using Steamworks).
It only says you get the first tier, and you get it for certain (regardless of number of pre-orders).
EDIT: And a second later, it's at 78%. :P
Nope....nope. Not gonna do it! Stay strong. I just about clicked the buy button at GG.
I promised myself that I'd never to another pre-order after the last couple of debacles. I'll let someone else be the guinea pig this time around.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 07, 2012, 02:23:56 PM
Nope....nope. Not gonna do it! Stay strong. I just about clicked the buy button at GG.
I promised myself that I'd never to another pre-order after the last couple of debacles. I'll let someone else be the guinea pig this time around.
+1
Go to your local Game Stop or equal, pre-order and get the hard copy with all the cool extras. The pre-order gets you the Elite Soldier Pack, the PC hard copy version gets you a ton of cool swag as listed below.
Special Edition of XCOM: Enemy Unknown
•Fold out poster of the XCOM base
•Art book detailing the conceptual journey of re-imagining the classic
•Patch of the XCOM "Vigilo/Confido" insignia
•Digital bonus items including multi-monitor desktops, soundtrack, and more
Quote from: Barthheart on September 07, 2012, 02:24:41 PM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 07, 2012, 02:23:56 PM
Nope....nope. Not gonna do it! Stay strong. I just about clicked the buy button at GG.
I promised myself that I'd never to another pre-order after the last couple of debacles. I'll let someone else be the guinea pig this time around.
+1
+2
I was very dissapointed with two recent Frixasis releases (Civ 5 and Pirates).
They do not have the track record to entice me to pre-order anything.
Also, a release this big will have tons of reviews and lots of commentary by players pretty shortly after release. I'm for other people being the beta-testers.
But don't let me stop you from spending your money. Enjoy and hope it is a great game!
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 07, 2012, 10:58:58 AM
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2012, 10:21:41 AM
For 72 hours only, preorder from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832262102) and get $12 off. Use the code EMCNANC23 at checkout.
Sorry, U.S. residents only.
Do you get physial copy or just steam code from them?
Retail boxed.
Quote from: airboy on September 07, 2012, 02:40:38 PM
I was very dissapointed with two recent Frixasis releases (Civ 5 and Pirates).
They do not have the track record to entice me to pre-order anything.
Also, a release this big will have tons of reviews and lots of commentary by players pretty shortly after release. I'm for other people being the beta-testers.
But don't let me stop you from spending your money. Enjoy and hope it is a great game!
Urrr, the 2 most recent releases are the Civ5 series, and Civ4 Colonization.
Pirates was long ago, and that is talking about the remake :P (the original is ancient)
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2012, 03:48:47 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 07, 2012, 10:58:58 AM
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2012, 10:21:41 AM
For 72 hours only, preorder from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832262102) and get $12 off. Use the code EMCNANC23 at checkout.
Sorry, U.S. residents only.
Do you get physial copy or just steam code from them?
Retail boxed.
Thanks...but what I don't understand is their price is $59, then with discount it is $47. Other sites like steam and gamnersgate by default selling at $49. Maybe because a box copy?
In north america the retail is the deluxe addition at $59. The electronic and console versions are $49.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on September 07, 2012, 05:32:52 PM
In north america the retail is the deluxe addition at $59. The electronic and console versions are $49.
Gotcha...thanks for clearing up.
Amazon has it for 44.99
http://www.amazon.com/XCOM-Enemy-Pc/dp/B006WQR3OM/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1347061042&sr=1-1&keywords=xcom (http://www.amazon.com/XCOM-Enemy-Pc/dp/B006WQR3OM/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1347061042&sr=1-1&keywords=xcom)
Tuna,
That price in the PC Download and not the boxed special addition.
Interesting to see amazon has the xbox and ps3 at 60 bucks and they ARE NOT the special addition. Gotta love those consoles having lower game prices since the platform is stable and easier to code for. Fail!
Wow thanks for reminding me about Civ:Colonization, another ruined memory, I was actually thinking of breakign down and pre-ordering.
Haha. Personally I'm waiting for Christmas time. I've no doubt this baby will be on sale and we will know for sure of its quality.
Quickest pre-order for me since Borderlands 2...a week ago. ;D
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2012, 10:21:41 AM
For 72 hours only, preorder from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832262102) and get $12 off. Use the code EMCNANC23 at checkout.
Sorry, U.S. residents only.
Just some info on this.. I checked with their support and no pre-order bonus packs come with it. Not sure that is a big issue or not, but just thought people would like to know.
Pretty good hands on report on Rock Paper Shotgun : http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/13/hands-on-forty-hours-with-xcom/
I need to stop reading these things, because they make me want this right now. And it's still weeks away.
I seldom buy major games at release prices anymore. I always wait for them get old and go on sale.
I buy indie and wargames at full price to show my support though.
I was aghast that the turn-based goodness of the original was being done away with...but looking at the most recent videos, it appears that this was put back in. When did this happen? Does it go to turn-based when an enemy is spotted?
Pretty nice head shot splatters, too, along with the rag doll physics.
Quote from: DennisS on September 20, 2012, 09:00:37 PM
I was aghast that the turn-based goodness of the original was being done away with...but looking at the most recent videos, it appears that this was put back in. When did this happen? Does it go to turn-based when an enemy is spotted?
Pretty nice head shot splatters, too, along with the rag doll physics.
I believe you are confusing this game with another.
Perhaps with the X-COM shooter title for consoles,
Or the UFO: After____ series.
I watched the video preview. Looks like Friaxis turned X-Com into a real-time shooter with minimal team action and a greatly weakened strategic game.
Quote from: airboy on September 21, 2012, 12:19:09 PM
I watched the video preview. Looks like Friaxis turned X-Com into a real-time shooter with minimal team action and a greatly weakened strategic game.
Are you sure you are not all confusing this X-COM game with another?
I would say he is confused. There is XCOM Enemy Unknown, a turn based, squad based game coming October 9th and was shown a number of times at length at PAX a few weeks back and there is a game called xcom which is a FPS type game set in the 50s or so also being worked by a 2K dev group. Two very different animals.
The new XCom out on the 9th of October is completely turn based. They want to show that turn based games can be successful in today's markets. They have added a lot of cut scenes and gun cams to give it a RTS feel, but it is all turn based. Everything I have read has been positive and says it is finally a true successor to the original XCOM.
Guilty as charged. There seem to be three different Xcoms in development.
Frixasis Game is the main discussion of this thread.
The 1950s time era first person shooter xcom like game
The indy development Xcom game that is closest to the original [see http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/69341191/xenonauts]
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that none of these has ever been an RTS.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this one. Should be coming out right about the time I maybe finish Borderlands 2 for the first time and need a change of pace. ;D
I'm also definitely following Xenonauts.
And I'm absolutely baffled by the number of people (not talking about folks here) who seem to need to choose one or the other. We've waited this long for a really good X-Com, people. Both is a viable option. Then again, this is one of a thousand reasons why I increasingly find myself loathing the majority of gamers.
UFO-Afterlight (the one set on Mars, I remember) used a "continuous play" dynamic that allowed for stop-and-pause tactics, but didn't use specific UGO-IGO dynamics. Orders were issued, took a number of Action Points to play out, and then play paused to issue new orders when an Action completed. Basically played like Turn-based.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on September 21, 2012, 01:41:50 PM
I would say he is confused. There is XCOM Enemy Unknown, a turn based, squad based game coming October 9th and was shown a number of times at length at PAX a few weeks back and there is a game called xcom which is a FPS type game set in the 50s or so also being worked by a 2K dev group. Two very different animals.
Yep, that's it. Hooray for being confused!!! The very notion of a real time X-Com makes me want to go into a base attack mode with rocket launchers and alien grenades!
I have no love loss for RTS games in general. When I first saw the words XCOM remake I was all stoked until I saw if was a FPS style game and was pissed they used the XCOM name. Then Firaxis jumped in the the Right and True XCOM and all is good in the world. All of the game play and even the multiplayer looks out-friggin-standing. It's sad to say from a man in his upper 40's that I'm counting the days for a game release, but I secure enough in my man-gaming nature to do it. ;D
17 days and counting...
XCOM demo live on steam now
http://store.steampowered.com/app/200510/
Quote from: eyebiter on September 24, 2012, 10:25:42 AM
XCOM demo live on steam now
http://store.steampowered.com/app/200510/
Is it? I tried it a couple of minutes ago and all I got was the "busy" icon and then nothing.
Me too. I suspect they're overwhelmed at this point. Does that make the Steam server a plucky band of survivors and us the slavering horde? I need work on my slavering technique.
I guess this is what happens when you market through Facebook.
just played demo. i love it. might have to pay full price for this. close to my birthday so i can write it off as an early present!!
Seems pretty good but I did find the interface to be a little clunky. I hope there's an option to remap controls.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 24, 2012, 03:32:33 PM
Seems pretty good but I did find the interface to be a little clunky. I hope there's an option to remap controls.
That was my reaction, although I only played the first mission before I had to quit. Camera controls just didn't feel right, for some reason. I'm still not convinced this is a Day One purchase, unless someone has an amazing sale.
I really quite liked that. :)
I just played the entire demo and completed the second mission with everyone alive (one wounded). I couldn't figure out how to tell how much ammo a soldier had, nor could I find an overhead map of the entire mission, so I ended up running my guys around in circles a lot. I'm still not crazy about camera control, and found movement orders confusing on a 3-D map (is that shield inside the building or out?).
At this point I'm in the "wait for a sale" camp.
How many missions in the new X-Com campaign? What is the replay value? Other than go back and choose the China mission instead of USA? Will there be a mission editor?
And...it's fully downloaded! I'll post some impressions later.
Ammo is shown in the lower right of the screen with the weapon silhouette going empty (dark).
Quote from: eyebiter on September 24, 2012, 05:13:17 PM
How many missions in the new X-Com campaign? What is the replay value? Other than go back and choose the China mission instead of USA? Will there be a mission editor?
Someone posted that both the USA and China missions have the same map. Which makes them essentially the same mission, the only difference being the reward.
Quote from: tgb on September 24, 2012, 05:44:33 PM
Quote from: eyebiter on September 24, 2012, 05:13:17 PM
How many missions in the new X-Com campaign? What is the replay value? Other than go back and choose the China mission instead of USA? Will there be a mission editor?
Someone posted that both the USA and China missions have the same map. Which makes them essentially the same mission, the only difference being the reward.
There are a selection of pre-built maps that will be randomly chosen from for mission based on where they're happening and all that, with most other aspects randomized on the maps. Most likely, they only used 1 or 2 maps for the demo.
Okay, the demo isn't long as I'm back already!
It really doesn't get much in to base building or anything like that besides the absolute basics. Most of the focus is on the tactical side of things.
It seems like you're going to often have to make tough choices about which mission to take, meaning some people are going to be left to the alien menace and raise their national terror rate.
I pretty much got my ass handed to me on the second op. The first is a purely scripted tutorial mission, but the second lets you do what you want after a bit of hand holding suggestion at the start. One of the Floaters blasted my poor sniper in the face before he'd been able to do much of anything. At this point, I figured maybe I'd start to actually check out abilities beyond moving and shooting at things.
Every character fits in to a specific class, and that might give them something (for example, I guess that the sniper gets Headshot). Run and Gun is a solid one that lets your soldier use both of his actions in a round to move (Dashing) and then also snap off a quick burst of fire. And it turned out my troopers had more than just basic guns. Oh look, smoke grenades and frags and first aid kits. Hey, those might be helpful. Also, the Hunker Down ability is pretty nice. Using that lets your guy benefit from full cover when he's behind only partial cover. There's also Overwatch, which is pretty much putting your guy in Op-Fire mode.
In the end, everyone else lived but were all wounded and out at least 4 days. The weird human looking Snakeman replacements spit poison clouds. It sucks. They also burst in to poison clouds if you empty a shotgun in to them. That also sucks. And doing so shattered the Plasma Rifles they were carrying, meaning I could not research said weapons and be able to use them in the future.
All in all, the options seem solid. The interface seems a bit odd, but I'm sure I'll get comfortable with it after running through a few missions. I actually like the 'ant hill' type base view, but there's no way to really know how useful it is until I get a chance to actually play around with it in the full game. Kind of neat to see your various teams of people wandering around the base, though.
I keep hearing how tough that second mission is. I suck, and still made it home with only one wounded soldier and everyone else intact. I took several shots where the to-hit odds were 52-54%, and they all ended up as one-shot kills. Either I'm extremely lucky, or you guys are over-thinking things.
I really miss having a strategic map that shows FOW and LOS. I always found it handy in terms of knowing what area to search next.
Yeah, I don't see it as being tough either. I breezed through with no damage to my squad on the first attempt. I guess the only area where I failed is that I blew up the two human looking aliens with a grenade instead of capturing them.
I enjoyed the very brief demo, but it did leave me with some concerns. One, I'm afraid it may be overly scripted and not as close to being a sandbox as the original. Two, I'm concerned the tactical options are too watered down. For instance, your soldiers automatically dash and take cover and there are no options as to rate of fire, etc. The original title let the player control these details.
I think you fellas have become stuck in the muds in your old age. ;) I enjoyed it a lot! It was a little on the easy side, but the full games has different hardness levels. Lets all try and see this in a positive light........it looks like after a 18 year wait they may have finally produced a title worthy of the name X-Com.
Basic Demo info:
1 tutorial mission, scripted move and die. Gives you a feeling for the move and shoot system used as well as cover.
1 90% hands free mission at the pier. Both the US and China mission are the same layout with the same bad guys. Some of the signs change from US to Chinese. Real game will have a skyrange full of various missions, locations and random enemy start points, etc.
A brief look at the ant farm and a few of its functions. Definately a lot more to deal with here in the real game. You can jump in an change the look of the troops. No weapon load out options or real skills other than the lone survivor of the scripted mission getting a rocket launcher.
Game controls. The mouse/keyboard is rough and the tutorial does not do a good job of telling you how to zoom or rotate. I found the game a whole lot easier, quicker and more natural on the xbox controler. I'm sure mouse and keyboard will be better in the full version when I can map keys and such. If you have an XBOX I highly recommend playing again with the controller. Go get an Afterglow controller wiith the blue leds. Very XCOM.
Sound and Graphics are top notch even on my "work" machine here in my office. I'll have to load the demo on my gaming beast and see how that goes.
The game does have that original terror of the unknown feeling the first game had. The "real" mission could have been a lot tougher if aliens were placed in certain spots at start. Another thing to factor in is that the demo is most likely set to Easy difficulty. So, those of us breezing through the demo may be in for a shock when we go classic or hard in the real deal.
14 days and counting. Color me very stoked!! 8)
Quote from: tgb on September 24, 2012, 07:11:53 PM
I keep hearing how tough that second mission is. I suck, and still made it home with only one wounded soldier and everyone else intact. I took several shots where the to-hit odds were 52-54%, and they all ended up as one-shot kills. Either I'm extremely lucky, or you guys are over-thinking things.
I really miss having a strategic map that shows FOW and LOS. I always found it handy in terms of knowing what area to search next.
NONE of my guys hit on 52-54%. I did replay it and just go blast-a-thon, though. Much easier when you pay attention to the damn briefing and realize collateral damage doesn't matter. ;D
I too found the mission very easy. One guy wounded. I didn't see a miss at all.
Not running forward and thinking about who can cover if one of your boys suddenly discovers an alien seemed the way to go...moving in short bursts
I definitely think it's one to watch...I'm not pre-ordering - and I was initially thinking day one purchase - however - as money is a wee bit tight at present and I've just bought another model, I think I'll hold for a week and see what's being said.
I've managed to hold out on Borderlands 2, F1 2012 and Sleeping Dogs. A Steam Christmas sale will be very welcome :)
wow...didn't think I would like this game, never played the first. But seems like a decent game. Might be on the buying radar....
If you want to try a bit more intense demo go into this file:
?\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown-Demo\Engine\Config\BaseGame.ini (? = location of your steam folder tends to be Program Files (x86) on Win7 machines)
Open the file, wordpad works.
Change the fifth line down: GameDifficulty=+0.0 to +1.0 for Normal mode, +2.0 for Classic, and +3.0 for Impossible.
The missions screen will say Easy, but the aliens will put up a much better fight. I played on classic and lost my first soldier when the floaters popped up and one shot across the board and drilled my sniper how was in cover. The number of missed shoots also goes up.
There is more demo modding info on the 2K XCOM forum.
Happy hunting! 8)
Just played through the demo. I like turnbased so those mechanics were pretty sweet, but I though the camera controls were pretty wonky actually. I'm sure you can tweek them a little and they become easier to manage over time.
Hartford688 posted this link over at Wargamer to some info (based on preview code I believe) which may squash some of the things the demo "misled" us into thinking the game was like
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/25/some-things-you-should-know-about-the-xcom-demo/#more-125588
In there is also a link in that article to a 1 hour video showing preview code I believe with some crazy blokes talking about the game and mechanics as they play through a level...I haven't watched it all yet - but what I did see seemed fun and pretty cool. I may be back on day one purchase.
The video is here
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/29/enemy-yours-watch-an-hour-of-the-xcom-remake/
Sorry if these links are already in this thread - I haven't read all 5 pages!
Great footage of an outdoor map and down ufo here: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/ns2k61/xcom--enemy-unknown-ufo-walkthrough
Enjoy.
anyone know if this is going to work with teh trackIR headsets?
Not sure, but why would you need it too?
Jake Solomon, the lead designer, was on Three Moves Ahead this week.
http://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/we-will-be-watching-commander (http://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/we-will-be-watching-commander)
The demo didn't do much for me. After listening I am definitely more interested in buying it. Still going to be waiting for first hand reviews, but its now on my radar.
Held out longer than usual....pre ordered....it's a sickness.
I'm pissed my Gamestop is not doing a midnight launch. I'll have wait all Tuesday until afterwork. Sucks! Really, really up for this game. Should be a blast. 8)
Steam is unlocking it 9PM Pacific time Monday, so if you've pre-ordered on line.......................
After watching the Gametrailers video, I broke down and pre-ordered. Anyone know if I can gift Civ V that comes with pre-ordering? I already own it.
Kushan,
It says on the website you can gift the Civ5.
Quote from: Kushan on October 04, 2012, 09:32:46 PM
After watching the Gametrailers video, I broke down and pre-ordered. Anyone know if I can gift Civ V that comes with pre-ordering? I already own it.
Yep, you can gift it. Bring up the Steam client, then press that button in the upper right area that looks like an open envelope (it will be just to the left of the text reading '(your account name)'s account') and select the line reading something about new items in your inventory. Your giftable copy of Civ V will be there. You can either send a link to it to an email address, or choose someone from among your Steam friends list.
I don't know why I'm holding out - I'm having an op on my leg next Tuesday and will be off work the rest of the week...
oh yeah - I remember why - because it's not released in the UK until Thursday so I wouldn't be getting access to it whilst I was off.
Oh well - still holding out
Quote from: Kushan on October 04, 2012, 09:32:46 PM
After watching the Gametrailers video, I broke down and pre-ordered. Anyone know if I can gift Civ V that comes with pre-ordering? I already own it.
Have you registered the code on Steam? If so, you can gift it directly through Steam, and if not just pass the code along.
One thing that concerns me after watching some more videos last night is that it appears base improvements have to be unlocked, as opposed to all the rooms being available from the beginning with money and space being the only constraints, as in the previous games.
Quote from: tgb on October 05, 2012, 05:18:41 AM
Quote from: Kushan on October 04, 2012, 09:32:46 PM
After watching the Gametrailers video, I broke down and pre-ordered. Anyone know if I can gift Civ V that comes with pre-ordering? I already own it.
Have you registered the code on Steam? If so, you can gift it directly through Steam, and if not just pass the code along.
One thing that concerns me after watching some more videos last night is that it appears base improvements have to be unlocked, as opposed to all the rooms being available from the beginning with money and space being the only constraints, as in the previous games.
I obviously don't know if that's in the game or not...but I'm not a huge fan of that kind of mechanic. I guess it's used for balance - but I just get the impressions it's on rails when things are locked "artificially".
I'll still hold out - I'm in no rush - having rediscovered DCS simulations....and for once I'm actually getting into an AGEoD game!
i want the game to be great, i think it will be great, but theres just something that makes me prefer to wait and see what the 'must buy' guys on here say first
The game has big shoes to fill...... Here's hoping!
Quote from: MIGMaster on October 05, 2012, 09:42:05 AM
The game has big shoes to fill...... Here's hoping!
What works for me is this: I found out awhile back that if I take a new game like this completely on its own merits, without comparing it to fond old memories of a game from 15 years ago......it turns out being a much more enjoyable experience. So often I see posted things like, 'this is going to be the next Master of Orion' or 'the next Diablo' or 'the next Xcom', or 'the next Master of Magic'.....for me, just let the old games go and have fun with the new game.
Rayfer, quite right, to me that is about the only fair thing to do. With so many years between the old and new renditions they can't possible be the "SAME" game as before and might not provide the same attraction/attachment. Concepts, stories, & gameplay mechanics may be similar but certainly the graphics, sound, voicing, environments are often quite different.
When I was younger there were way fewer titles and the stand-out ones really tugged at our hearts and remained on our hard drives like forever. The years have sort of dulled my "attachment" meter and I just don't get that weepy eyed over pc games, as I used to. Games are games and should be placed in perspective and among priorities. That's not to say we shouldn't have as much fun and entertainment during our recreational/hobby period (this should be for a healthy balanced life).
Just...don't be disappointed if the new X-Com isn't as "good" for you as the old one. However, I still think it's DANG exciting to have a new X-Com coming.
FC....well put, I couldn't agree more. Game on!
Being reported if you bought from steam, preload is now available....12.3GB
Greenman gaming has it for the preorder price of $44.95. You not only get the same goodies everyone else is offering, (Civ V, etc.) but a $10 credit as well, effectively making the price of the game $35. I got a Steam code immediately after placing my order, and am pre-loading now. The catch is the offer is good in North America only.
http://www.greenmangaming.com/xcom-deal/
Still....holding...out....must...resist!
I don't know why I don't pre-order the damn thing - chances are I'll be buying it on release anyway!
Quote from: tgb on October 05, 2012, 05:23:29 PM
Greenman gaming has it for the preorder price of $44.95. You not only get the same goodies everyone else is offering, (Civ V, etc.) but a $10 credit as well, effectively making the price of the game $35. I got a Steam code immediately after placing my order, and am pre-loading now. The catch is the offer is good in North America only.
http://www.greenmangaming.com/xcom-deal/
Thanks for the heads up...I cancelled my other pre order and got from here....downloading as well.....
Thanks guys, I've never gifted anything on Steam before. Does anyone want a copy of Civ V or Half Life 2? When I check gift page I have 1 extra copy of both.
I'm actually getting more exited for X-Com to release as it gets closer. I listed to some old TMA episodes at work today about both classic X-Com and JA2. Does anyone know if the new X-Com will be moddable?
Quote from: Kushan on October 05, 2012, 09:59:22 PM
Thanks guys, I've never gifted anything on Steam before. Does anyone want a copy of Civ V or Half Life 2? When I check gift page I have 1 extra copy of both.
I'm actually getting more exited for X-Com to release as it gets closer. I listed to some old TMA episodes at work today about both classic X-Com and JA2. Does anyone know if the new X-Com will be moddable?
Hmmm...if you go in to the gifting stuff I told you about before and choose 'Gift to a friend', you can actually scroll through your Steam Friends list and see if anyone has either Civ V or HL2 on their wishlist.
Not sure about modding, but I'm fairly optimistic on that front seeing as people were already modding the demo.
Download finally finished this morning...now just need to wait until 10/9 to give it a try:(
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 06, 2012, 07:05:03 AM
Download finally finished this morning...now just need to wait until 10/9 to give it a try:(
Yep, I'm in the same boat. It sounds like this is actually going to go live sometime on the evening of the 8th, similar to what happened with Borderlands 2.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 06, 2012, 03:57:38 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 06, 2012, 07:05:03 AM
Download finally finished this morning...now just need to wait until 10/9 to give it a try:(
Yep, I'm in the same boat. It sounds like this is actually going to go live sometime on the evening of the 8th, similar to what happened with Borderlands 2.
Oh really, that is great news...thanks for letting me know.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 06, 2012, 04:52:58 PM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 06, 2012, 03:57:38 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 06, 2012, 07:05:03 AM
Download finally finished this morning...now just need to wait until 10/9 to give it a try:(
Yep, I'm in the same boat. It sounds like this is actually going to go live sometime on the evening of the 8th, similar to what happened with Borderlands 2.
Oh really, that is great news...thanks for letting me know.
Too bad it won't go live for non-Americans at that time. :(
In fact, I've been reading they might postpone the release from the 11th (the original promised date) to the 12th.
Ok I just saw some video previews of this game and I've added it to my list. I'll be getting XBOX version however as I am hungry for cheevos and STEAM achievements just don't cut it for me.
Quote from: Tpek on October 06, 2012, 05:47:45 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 06, 2012, 04:52:58 PM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 06, 2012, 03:57:38 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 06, 2012, 07:05:03 AM
Download finally finished this morning...now just need to wait until 10/9 to give it a try:(
Yep, I'm in the same boat. It sounds like this is actually going to go live sometime on the evening of the 8th, similar to what happened with Borderlands 2.
Oh really, that is great news...thanks for letting me know.
Too bad it won't go live for non-Americans at that time. :(
In fact, I've been reading they might postpone the release from the 11th (the original promised date) to the 12th.
Yep - it actually shows 12th now on Steam!
I would've pre-ordered this if it was available on Tuesday - as I said I'm off work for the week - but as it's not released until I'm back - it's kind of put me off - so I will be holding out. I was so so tempted too...but still - I'll wait until all you pre-orderers tell me how awesome it is
the rps '40 hours with xcom' piece sold me
Steam is still showing me it unlocks in 1 day 3 hours.
Quote from: Kushan on October 07, 2012, 08:38:08 PM
Steam is still showing me it unlocks in 1 day 3 hours.
Me too...seems like a midnight release. Wish it would release a few hours early.
That's midnight Eastern time. So figure that in accordingly for your time zone.
That means 10 PM for me. Hell with it, I'm burning some sick days. :)
PC or console? What do you guys think I should get?
17 hours to go, but who's counting... ::)
Quote from: jomni on October 08, 2012, 01:08:21 AM
PC or console? What do you guys think I should get?
This should be a no-brainer. PC dude.
Quote from: jomni on October 08, 2012, 01:08:21 AM
PC or console? What do you guys think I should get?
Believe it or not, I hadn't given it any thought.
I bought it on PC. The game trailer video was made using the x-box version I believe. Looks like it played good.
Considering how quickly people were modding the demo, I'd imagine there's some nice mod potential for the full game. So if stuff like that might interest you, it has to be PC.
It will be interesting to see if the Steam workshop comes into play. And the RPS review has my mouth watering http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/ (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/) I did indeed preorder XCOM, something I almost never do, and I can't wait to tear into it.
Inside 6 hours...
PC version with modding potential is where I'm at. The devs hinted at providing some level of mod support down the road and I expect there will be about a dozen mods my 6am Tuesday morning as those crazy dedicated modders tear into the full structure.
I'm sure I'll look under the hood too at some point. For now I just want to fry aliens.
I took the next 2 days off. Yes, I have entered that realm of geekdom. 8)
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 08, 2012, 05:10:39 PM
I took the next 2 days off. Yes, I have entered that realm of geekdom. 8)
Of course I had the last 4 days off, back to work tomorrow...was really hoping it would get released at least a little early tonight, but looks like midnight for people in the eastern timezone.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 08, 2012, 05:10:39 PM
I took the next 2 days off. Yes, I have entered that realm of geekdom. 8)
You rock.
Quote from: Steelgrave on October 08, 2012, 05:06:05 PM
It will be interesting to see if the Steam workshop comes into play. And the RPS review has my mouth watering http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/ (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/) I did indeed preorder XCOM, something I almost never do, and I can't wait to tear into it.
Wow. That is quite a review.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 08, 2012, 05:51:41 PM
Quote from: Steelgrave on October 08, 2012, 05:06:05 PM
It will be interesting to see if the Steam workshop comes into play. And the RPS review has my mouth watering http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/ (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/) I did indeed preorder XCOM, something I almost never do, and I can't wait to tear into it.
Wow. That is quite a review.
It does make it quite tempting to buy after reading that review.
Its now available to play.
or not...10 minutes in and still waiting...rebooted steam, getting an update...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh, completing install...just run....direct x...@#$%...killing me here... >:(
Trying to resist buying this.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 08, 2012, 11:11:33 PM
or not...10 minutes in and still waiting...rebooted steam, getting an update...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh, completing install...just run....direct x...@#$%...killing me here... >:(
When it went live Steam showed it at 100% and Steam froze, restarted, let it sit for a few minutes and it was good to go.
So even the tutorial missions can be randomized. My second mission is not the same one I got when playing the demo.
bloody thing shows 2 days and 17 hours for me! >:(
So - I know you all want to play but IMPRESSIONS WOULD BE GREAT!
When you've all got some time under your belts I'd like to know things like
- randomisation and replayability of missions
- tactical options
- strategic options
- depth
- variety of missions/locations
Pretty please with sauce on top
Some early thoughts :
-Once your troops rank up past that initial promotion, you get a choice of what tactical ability they add to their repertoire. So you can customize a fair bit. You could field 5 Assault troops and have 5 completely different skill sets on the field. You can also switch up their weapons load outs.
-Research works pretty well. Choose from among many projects, with restrictions laid down on some by whether or not you have pre-requisite materials.
-Production is almost 2 separate parts. On the one hand, you have making Medikits, armour upgrades and other small stuff. This is built immediately and added to your load out options. On the other hand, you have bigger builds. A good chunk of that is base building. In some cases, areas have to be cleared to enable something to be put there. Only then can you actually put a facility there. Also, it gets more and more expensive the deeper you go. The other big type of production is :
-Satellites. you need to build these and launch them in to orbit to both expand your scanning ability and also calm regions of the planet and help keep them funding you. But you can't launch more until you build more Sat Uplink facilities in your base. And that means you aren't expanding other capabilities. And everything requires power, so you keep having to use precious real estate on power production, too.
-Interceptors can be purchased for any region, and are added to pre-existing hangar facilities in those regions. Of course, if you don't have satellites somewhere, it probably isn't worth the purchase and maintenance costs to have 3 fighters sitting there. Interceptions are the one piece of the game that's weak as Hell...you really don't do much of anything. But it isn't like this was a highly developed, feature rich part of the original, so whatever. It does look like you can still research and produce improvements to interceptors.
-You can also spend money at Officer Training School. This is where you expand your unit capabilities, including expansion of your squad from 4 troops up to 5 and then 6. It costs money to unlock squad abilities, and also requires at least one soldier to have achieved a certain rank.
-And yes, you can customize your soldiers to assemble a squad consisting of whoever you want (and they don't end up looking like Team Aryan Pride when they take the field this time, either). In my little test run tonight I had a group of myself and friends, and quickly remembered how hilariously funny it can be when one team member panics and it's your buddy and now you can rag on him a bit for being a pansy.
Only then, he panics a bit more and starts shooting randomly and shoots the guy named after me in the face. Bastard.
Oh, and aliens use Overwatch. A lot. So pay attention to that. Otherwise, you might send someone to go nail one with an Arc Thrower to take it alive, and then watch that guy eat about 17 plasma bolts as he steps out of cover. The bastards also move and flank and drop back to better cover. So don't just sit there like a punk because they sure as Hell won't. This was on Normal difficulty, by the way.
More details tomorrow after I likely spent insane amounts of time playing this. ;D
oooohhhhhhhhhhhh :)
Thanks for that Arctic!
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 09, 2012, 02:00:12 AM
oooohhhhhhhhhhhh :)
Thanks for that Arctic!
No problem.
One more thing that I should mention : the game seems a lot less twitchy than the demo was at times. I haven't had to double click anything or experienced any issues with something not registering the first time. And that did happen to me a bit during the demo.
Also, once you clear the first 2 tutorial missions (and yes, you CAN skip those), the whole base view/options totally opens up. You can look at anything and check out options any time. It doesn't stay as 'locked down' as it is while the tutorials are going on.
Looks deep enough for me. Sadly, X-Com purists say this is not X-Com enough.
Sometimes it's wise not to listen to purists...meh.
For me, I don't recall ever playing the original though a mate of mine raved about it...so I can come to this with a clean mind. Someone said it on this thread I believe - it's best not to compare remakes to the original...take it as it's own game. I know that can be hard if you have played and loved the original and I've found it difficult to do so in the past.
I'm glad I never played the original - that means my thoughts won't be clouded. Besides - I more often than not find trying to "relive" my youth (whatever the activity) often ends in disappointment!
Quote from: jomni on October 09, 2012, 02:39:52 AM
Looks deep enough for me. Sadly, X-Com purists say this is not X-Com enough.
If you have not read the RPS review linked a couple pages back, I strongly recommend you do. A large segment of the review is devoted to the dichotomy of trying to pay homage to the original title, while still trying to create something new.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 09, 2012, 05:57:18 AM
Quote from: jomni on October 09, 2012, 02:39:52 AM
Looks deep enough for me. Sadly, X-Com purists say this is not X-Com enough.
If you have not read the RPS review linked a couple pages back, I strongly recommend you do. A large segment of the review is devoted to the dichotomy of trying to pay homage to the original title, while still trying to create something new.
Yeah I know. What's the point of playing something that is a clone of an old game when you can just get the old game and experience it in all its glory?
Anyway I just bought the game and will see for myself. I like the way the tactical part is done based on the previews.
I like it. I'm playing normal/iron man difficulty and decided to go through the tutorial to how far it extends beyond the demo. Pretty far as it turns out. I'm four missions in, and my squad of John, George, Paul & Ringo is doing pretty well. I'm at the point where there is no hand-holding during a mission, but base improvements are still scripted. Next mission is to bring something back alive, and I think that's where the tutorial ends.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 09, 2012, 01:53:03 AM
Some early thoughts :
-Once your troops rank up past that initial promotion, you get a choice of what tactical ability they add to their repertoire. So you can customize a fair bit. You could field 5 Assault troops and have 5 completely different skill sets on the field. You can also switch up their weapons load outs.
-Research works pretty well. Choose from among many projects, with restrictions laid down on some by whether or not you have pre-requisite materials.
-Production is almost 2 separate parts. On the one hand, you have making Medikits, armour upgrades and other small stuff. This is built immediately and added to your load out options. On the other hand, you have bigger builds. A good chunk of that is base building. In some cases, areas have to be cleared to enable something to be put there. Only then can you actually put a facility there. Also, it gets more and more expensive the deeper you go. The other big type of production is :
-Satellites. you need to build these and launch them in to orbit to both expand your scanning ability and also calm regions of the planet and help keep them funding you. But you can't launch more until you build more Sat Uplink facilities in your base. And that means you aren't expanding other capabilities. And everything requires power, so you keep having to use precious real estate on power production, too.
-Interceptors can be purchased for any region, and are added to pre-existing hangar facilities in those regions. Of course, if you don't have satellites somewhere, it probably isn't worth the purchase and maintenance costs to have 3 fighters sitting there. Interceptions are the one piece of the game that's weak as Hell...you really don't do much of anything. But it isn't like this was a highly developed, feature rich part of the original, so whatever. It does look like you can still research and produce improvements to interceptors.
-You can also spend money at Officer Training School. This is where you expand your unit capabilities, including expansion of your squad from 4 troops up to 5 and then 6. It costs money to unlock squad abilities, and also requires at least one soldier to have achieved a certain rank.
-And yes, you can customize your soldiers to assemble a squad consisting of whoever you want (and they don't end up looking like Team Aryan Pride when they take the field this time, either). In my little test run tonight I had a group of myself and friends, and quickly remembered how hilariously funny it can be when one team member panics and it's your buddy and now you can rag on him a bit for being a pansy.
Only then, he panics a bit more and starts shooting randomly and shoots the guy named after me in the face. Bastard.
Oh, and aliens use Overwatch. A lot. So pay attention to that. Otherwise, you might send someone to go nail one with an Arc Thrower to take it alive, and then watch that guy eat about 17 plasma bolts as he steps out of cover. The bastards also move and flank and drop back to better cover. So don't just sit there like a punk because they sure as Hell won't. This was on Normal difficulty, by the way.
More details tomorrow after I likely spent insane amounts of time playing this. ;D
SOLD!!!!!!
loving it so far! got a sniper up to Captain. he is kicking ass. really need to upgrade weapons and armor just short on cash. so ive been doing easy missions when they pop up. caused china to drop from the council though.
When a country drops from the council can you get them to rejoin?
Crap. So tempting. I'm between this and Dishonored right now.
The old X-Com I loved, but played all the way through the campaign and lost. Never picked it up again, though I did by the underwater sequel. Which wasn't as good. :(
Quote from: Kushan on October 09, 2012, 03:05:03 PM
When a country drops from the council can you get them to rejoin?
not sure but i doubt it. when i lost em i got a pop-up that said doomsday counter or something like that. so i think if you lose enough countries you will just lose the game. my guess and im probably wrong!
Give in to the dark side and go XCOM LB! I have two games going right now. One using the mouse and the other using a Xbox controller. Normal difficulty. About 2.5 months of fighting and only one lost soldier. All hail bounding overwatch.
And because I feel the need to post n both XCom threads : pretty funny video found called 'Emergency XCom Meeting'.
http://www.dorkly.com/video/44907/emergency-xcom-meeting
Anyone know if there is a list somewhere of how many scientist and engineers I have on my staff? Doesn't appear under the engineering or research tabs, or under the situation room under fiances. Want to build a satellite up link facility but don't have enough engineers.
Edit: Nevermind, I'm blind....
Edit 2: A sniper with the squad sigh ability is one of the most dangerous weapons on the battlefield lol
Running low on power in the base. With the thermal power plant - where do you build it? In the square directly above a steam vent, or place it on the steam square?
Quote from: eyebiter on October 09, 2012, 09:22:42 PM
Running low on power in the base. With the thermal power plant - where do you build it? In the square directly above a steam vent, or place it on the steam square?
I think you have to build it on a steam vent. You might have to tunnel down deeper by building a lift to that level in order to build on one though.
Whats the best tactic for capturing an alien? Can't seem to get close without exposing my soldier to fire.
Use pistol to get the alien down to 1-3 health, then use the arc gun to subdue them. Use rookies since arc troopers have a high casualty rate.
Or if you have a heavy weapons specialist with the suppressive fire ability, use this to prevent the alien from firing at you. If your lucky your arc trooper will get in close and taze the alien.
Can't...stop...playing...
I especially love the cut scenes, where your troopers are hauling butt from one point to another, or suddenly the aliens see you and whirl around. Adds a lot to the feeling that these are your guys, especially with the customization options which are available. Sweet XCOM goodness!!!
Quote from: eyebiter on October 09, 2012, 10:21:08 PM
Use pistol to get the alien down to 1-3 health, then use the arc gun to subdue them. Use rookies since arc troopers have a high casualty rate.
Or if you have a heavy weapons specialist with the suppressive fire ability, use this to prevent the alien from firing at you. If your lucky your arc trooper will get in close and taze the alien.
high rank sniper can get a disabling shot or you can give the arc to an assault that has run and gun. best that the enemy has taken some damage first though. i just lost my captain sniper. 11 missions 20 kills. got bumrushed by some mutons. lesson learned, i think! almost lost all of asia from the council, japan is left but is close to leaving. building a shiv now and more satellites.just not strong enough for the difficult missions, only doing easy and moderate now. guess i could take a squad of rookies for those hard ones and see what happens!
The higher level difficulty missions seem to be in countries that are close to leaving in my game. Have had a couple of tough fights tonight. Couple veterans KIA and a lot wounded.
My captain sniper is going on 9 missions. 22 kills. I got him seriously wounded, so he just missed out on my last mission. My back up sniper doesn't have squad sight yet. Really could have used it.
Quote from: Kushan on October 10, 2012, 01:25:23 AM
The higher level difficulty missions seem to be in countries that are close to leaving in my game...
That makes sense actually. If you've already refused a mision there, then you'd expect more aliens. I don't know if that's by design - but makes sense
Pre-ordered. What the hell...I would've bought soon after release anyway after reading about it - but I've read enough here
After a long play session here are a few of my random impressions:
The game has great atmosphere. I really like the home base and how you interact with each area, has an old school feel to it. I like the layout and how you go from area to area, I feel that got that very right. Production value feels high, I really enjoy the look and layout.
You get attached to your soldiers very quickly. I find myself placing those guys who have been on several missions and who have ranked and upgraded near the middle of the pack and sending the others ahead. You die more often than you think... you can also be injured which leaves your guys out of action for a number of days, so you really want to mix up your squads and do not go in guns blazing, Redshirts on Point! :-P .
A game of decisions.... this game forces you to make tough decisions and all of them have consequences. Let's face it, you should have limited resources just like the real word and you are presented with them here. There are so many different ways to spend your money and places to put resources that you have to really think about what you want to do, and they all have some fall out to them..... no right or wrong, just a chosen path. What kind of facilities do you want to build, research, more satellites, plane placements, rearm your planes etc..... a lot going on.
Speaking of decisions I had an outbreak in one city and the panic level was already high, and the mission was rated as very difficult.... a couple of my ranked guys were injured so I was left with a decision to make.... 1) Ignore them and let the panic reach full bars and risk losing funding but save what troops I have and preserve my low bank account. 2) Send them, in some hopes they can pull out the mission but if they fail the panic level could still reach max with my failure, and also face replacing my soldiers and depleting most of my funds and gear.....
The ground combat is more fun than I thought, however there are a limited number of maps.... around 80 I think. So on the down side you may replay them several times, however the good thing is the aliens placement and composition are always different. The ai uses their abilities well and will flank you or will hunker down and take up defensive positions that sometimes pose a tricky situation.
I did find that the fighter intercept missions to be somewhat lacking, really almost like an after thought and would like to see that refined to be a little more involved, it feels disconnected at this point.
I have not gone a long way in reseach so I cannot comment too much about that area. I like a lot of options in the research realm, no matter what game it is. So far it is a matter of where you want to spend your money after research.
I like how you can resell the items you collect after missions, however some of those items are used in production. But, if you need some cash you can sell alien equipment, bodies etc..... on the greymarket. Countries will also ask you for certain items from the alien lot or items you have produced, normally at a slightly better rate. Good way to raise quick funds.
Replay value seems very high, I like the fact you have the option to play Ironman, no going back to past saves, you live with your decisions.... the way it should be ;-)
Distructable battlefield... can really suck sometimes :-P, especially when you are hiding beind a tree stump.
Cut scenes is something I oddly like. For example, when you are traveling to a mission it shows inside your jumpcraft with the members of your team and a mission briefing. The team members are bouncing around setting in the back while the briefing is being shown.... a nice load screen.
I like when you jump through a window or getting that head shot from your sniper etc... it breaks to a cut scene or when you are landing at the DZ and your team runs out out the back of the dropship. May annoy some, but I like it and it gives it character.
I am wondering how Steam Workshop will come into play as I can see a lot of good mods coming in.... and I hope a map editor for additional maps.
Overall this year I have only purchased Alea Jacta Est and this on launch day and I do not regret either purchase.
I'll post more later....
PE
Oh man... you all are making it increasingly hard not to buy this game or even wait for a sale in a few months..... :P
Must..... resist..... shiney...... new.....
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 09:31:47 AM
Oh man... you all are making it increasingly hard not to buy this game or even wait for a sale in a few months..... :P
Must..... resist..... shiney...... new.....
I am having the same problem. If I can just make it until the next sale....
I gave in! ;D
Just cross to the dark side!
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 10, 2012, 10:12:50 AM
I gave in! ;D
Just cross to the dark side!
Not until I get my cookies! 8)
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 10:53:37 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 10, 2012, 10:12:50 AM
I gave in! ;D
Just cross to the dark side!
Not until I get my cookies! 8)
Cookies were only given to people who preordered
I caved.....bastards, the lot of you! ;D
(Told myself to wait. Told myself to let the euphoria die down. Let the warts appear and then decide, but NO!, you all had to be all gushing and enthusiastic.....Bloody enablers.)
I can't believe that I'm about to finally get a Steam account, and it's all because of you guys and your praise for this game.
Since the original X-COM is my all-time favorite game, I knew I would cave sooner or later. Looks like it was sooner. ;D
Quote from: LongBlade on October 10, 2012, 12:46:15 PM
Quote from: Kushan on October 10, 2012, 11:02:23 AM
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 10:53:37 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 10, 2012, 10:12:50 AM
I gave in! ;D
Just cross to the dark side!
Not until I get my cookies! 8)
Cookies were only given to people who preordered
Never Lord Vader that offer has made!
Unless he alters the offer. Then pray he alters it no further.
Managing Panic levels with each country can be a real $%$#.... you can't keep it down everywhere so look to help your big financial backers first and the others will just have to accept it. Some of the missions presented to you have good rewards, but panic level will sometimes dictate which one you will choose. Let it get too high and there goes your funding....
Your squad mates panicing can be a real pain... in one instance I had one panic and started shooting another one of his squad mates (and injured him).... in another, one went berserk on the alien. The bad thing here is they are usually under fire and can cause themselves to get killed as you cannot move them during your turn.
As members of your squad gain rank, they also gain abilities.. there are some I really like, however I like to fill out a squad playing off of each others abilities. Also a good idea to take a "Redshirt" soldier with you.... that guy is always out in front.
When opening a door, flank it and press "v" to open.... if you just run in your redshirt could suffer.... Smoke grenades are your friend
Aliens will take up defensive positions and use Overwatch..... just be careful because they will get an extra shot on you if you enter their line of sight while moving your squad around.... I use Overwatch to cover my guys as they are moving and flanking.... as well as surpress.
EXPLODING CARS! If a car is hit and on fire... move away and find cover elsewhere, they could explode the next round and it won't be good for you..... I have also killed aliens this way.
Officer Training... under this area it is a good idea is to use the expand your Squad size to 5 soldiers option as soon as you can.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 10, 2012, 12:48:12 PM
I caved.....bastards, the lot of you! ;D
(Told myself to wait. Told myself to let the euphoria die down. Let the warts appear and then decide, but NO!, you all had to be all gushing and enthusiastic.....Bloody enablers.)
GAH! Another one falls....
.... will power fading......
.... must.... hold out.... for.... cookies.....
:-\
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 01:34:22 PM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 10, 2012, 12:48:12 PM
I caved.....bastards, the lot of you! ;D
(Told myself to wait. Told myself to let the euphoria die down. Let the warts appear and then decide, but NO!, you all had to be all gushing and enthusiastic.....Bloody enablers.)
GAH! Another one falls....
.... will power fading......
.... must.... hold out.... for.... cookies.....
:-\
We can do it, two of us are strong then one... I hope...
Quote from: TheCommandTent on October 10, 2012, 01:36:12 PM
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 01:34:22 PM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 10, 2012, 12:48:12 PM
I caved.....bastards, the lot of you! ;D
(Told myself to wait. Told myself to let the euphoria die down. Let the warts appear and then decide, but NO!, you all had to be all gushing and enthusiastic.....Bloody enablers.)
GAH! Another one falls....
.... will power fading......
.... must.... hold out.... for.... cookies.....
:-\
We can do it, two of us are strong then one... I hope...
I'm holding out. That's three.
Quote from: LongBlade on October 10, 2012, 01:47:52 PM
Quote from: TheCommandTent on October 10, 2012, 01:36:12 PM
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 01:34:22 PM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 10, 2012, 12:48:12 PM
I caved.....bastards, the lot of you! ;D
(Told myself to wait. Told myself to let the euphoria die down. Let the warts appear and then decide, but NO!, you all had to be all gushing and enthusiastic.....Bloody enablers.)
GAH! Another one falls....
.... will power fading......
.... must.... hold out.... for.... cookies.....
:-\
We can do it, two of us are strong then one... I hope...
I'm holding out. That's three.
I'll tell you what though, the first sale that comes along and I am sold. ;D
Panzer, your always going to lose at least a few countries. I don't think it's a bad thing either. Your a government agency with too few resources to do everything.
Just give it guys, you know you want to get it.
Often I'll wait for a sale now - definitely way more than I used to - but sometimes you just get the impression a game is worth it's ticket price. This seems like one of them.
AJE which I pre-ordered was back to my old days of buying on a whim...I know nothing of the era, I know nothing of the units or the politics or the region, I have several AGEoD games sitting gathering dust - and I bought it. And man - is it worth it. A gem of a game.
I'm hoping the same for this. As I said I never played the original - so I have a nice clean head when it comes to playing this. I liked the demo and found out from the hour long RPS video that it was even better - then hearing all these impressions - full price seems a bargain. It may not be. I may get bored with it - but it seems like it might keep me amused.
Sleeping Dogs as an example - I wanted that and held off on release...and now I'm waiting for a sale to pick it up. Sleeping Dogs (with a few twists) is another fps (or tps?) - but X-Com is a different beast altogether for me.
Quote from: Kushan on October 10, 2012, 02:23:09 PM
Panzer, your always going to lose at least a few countries. I don't think it's a bad thing either. Your a government agency with too few resources to do everything.
Just give it guys, you know you want to get it.
Yep, you're going to loose countries... it comes down to which ones you can afford and those you can not. That is what is great about the game, every decision is tough and has consequences.... except for sending that Redshirt to scout out ahead once we reach the DZ ;-P
@JudgeDredd I hope with add-ons and if/when the Steam Workshop opens up for this, the enjoyment will last a long time. For now, I mix my stuff around and feel like this one will continue to get my attention.
PE
The big difference with respect to country funding here, as opposed to in the original X-com, is that by mid-to late game in the original, country funding became unnecessary. You could earn millions selling spare equipment and alien technology recovered from the battlefield. Here, in the new game, recovered gear is much more scarce, so I think its unlikely that there will ever be enough material acquired to fund on-going operations in a consistent manner like in the original title.
Still got 1 day 3 hours to go >:(
After reading Gus's review on Dishonored I got to thinking how immediately blown away most of us here were during our first hour of XCOM vs. Gus's wondering if Dishonored is going to be good or not during his first hour(s) of play.
It has been a long time since I've played a game that right out of the gate has so captured my attention so immediately as XCOM has. I'm not saying that lightly either. I had only played the demo of XCOM: Terror of the Deep back in the day so I'm not talking from a nostalgic viewpoint.
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 10, 2012, 03:13:25 PM
Still got 1 day 3 hours to go >:(
British? European?
I know how you feel. I'm in the same boat.
It's annoying to see Americans buy and immediately play this game right away, while people like me who pre-ordered,
and are not American/Aussies, need to wait until Friday.
British here but I guess it's the same for the Euro zone
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 10, 2012, 03:40:37 PM
British here but I guess it's the same for the Euro zone
Same for everyone who isn't from North America, Australia or New-Zealand, and wants a legal&legit copy.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 10, 2012, 02:33:28 PM
The big difference with respect to country funding here, as opposed to in the original X-com, is that by mid-to late game in the original, country funding became unnecessary. You could earn millions selling spare equipment and alien technology recovered from the battlefield. Here, in the new game, recovered gear is much more scarce, so I think its unlikely that there will ever be enough material acquired to fund on-going operations in a consistent manner like in the original title.
Also, you can't set up a permanent production line pumping out cheap laser weapons for double or triple profit per unit. Money is scarce now.
Quote from: Tpek on October 10, 2012, 03:38:25 PM
It's annoying to see Americans buy and immediately play this game right away, while people like me who pre-ordered,
and are not American/Aussies, need to wait until Friday.
As a consolation, Euro Truck Simulatior 2 gets sold in Europe first when it comes out this month if it matters to you as much as it matters to me.
I woke up 3AM yesterday and today to get the game in, and will probably do it again tomorrow.
Pro tip: Drinking and iron man don't mix.
I'm taking a beating. Every time I start to think that things are finally going my way, I get hammered. Had my B team running a few missions to get the rookies some experience. The blazed through a couple of very hard rated mission. Then this last one, they got hammered. Some sort of robot/drone aliens ripped them apart. One veteran KIA, and everyone else is seriously wounded. The rookies did get promoted though so I guess some good came out of it. These Pyrrhic victories along with high panic amongst more then half the countries really have my on edge. Been a long time since a game a caused me to feel this way.
i lost. saved a bridge in japan for last mission. went to mission control and forwarded a few days and got a cutscene. the shadowy figure guy shut me down!!! i thought it was going well. maybe i needed to advance the storyline and attack the base? not sure. well time to try it again!!!
Is there a secret to killing the flying saucer looking alien drones? I'm not sure of their name. Between their energy grenades and plasma shot they tear through my squad. All of my squad is equipped with laser rifles. Every shot I take at them or the smaller drones the are always with them misses. I'm missing 70-80% shots against these them, and in return them seem to be able to 1 shot kill everything they shoot.
My first complaint against the game. I think it ramps up the difficulty way too quickly. I'm barely making it by and the game is throwing constant do or die fights at me. Sure, it may be realistic but that doesn't necessarily make it fun. I'm barely hold my own as it is and now I feel I should just throw all my rookies at these fights because my whole squad is going to get wiped out no matter what I do.
Kushan -
At what difficulty level are you playing? I've got 20 or so missions under my belt playing Normal/Iron Man and the pacing has not been a problem, other than I don't have the resources for engineering to keep pace with research.
Had my first (Disable the Bomb) mission and was a tricky one. I disabled most of the power nodes to buy me some time, but the aliens put up a good fight... had one poisoned and the other near critical and luckily I had a member of my team with the medic ability, gives the ability to carry 3 med kits which saved 2 lives. I customized him in red armor to distinguish him on the battlefield easily before the mission.
One thing I have noticed is I built 3 laser rifles and have been able to move them around to different team members without have to build more for several missions now. The gift that keeps on giving!
The sniper Battle Scanner ability is very cool. You are equipped with 2 "radar" grenades that shows you where the enemies are hiding in the direction you throw the grenade (limited range and can only use 2 time per battle), very handy ability, especially when approaching a large building.
I was able to stun and capture a Muton.... had him held up by a window in building. Used suppressing fire while I had a team member advance on him. To my shock once he had approached the window, he only had a %20 chance of stunning him.... next round my member who was doing the suppressing would have to reload.... rolled the dice and was lucky that time. Fortune favours the bold!
Not sure at this point what to exactly invest in or do next, so I am winging it the best I can.... and that is half the fun, especially on IronMan....
PE
Quote from: Kushan on October 09, 2012, 09:32:53 PM
....Whats the best tactic for capturing an alien? Can't seem to get close without exposing my soldier to fire.
I don't know if it's the best or not but I used two rookies, the second of which had an arc gun. Using available cover, I ran them as close as I could to an alien to afford them enough movement points to reach it the following turn. Then I ran the rookie without the arc gun just past the alien and waited for the second rookie's approach. The second rookie (with the arc gun) ran right up next to the alien and stunned him. Then they used the same procedure to stun another alien. They went for a third, but the arc gun was out of uses and they had to kill the third alien. They bagged a live thin man and Sectoid for research purposes and I was quite pleased with that.
Quote from: Kushan on October 11, 2012, 01:24:09 AM
My first complaint against the game. I think it ramps up the difficulty way too quickly. I'm barely making it by and the game is throwing constant do or die fights at me. Sure, it may be realistic but that doesn't necessarily make it fun. I'm barely hold my own as it is and now I feel I should just throw all my rookies at these fights because my whole squad is going to get wiped out no matter what I do.
I'm experiencing the same frustration as you are. I'm playing on 'Classic' difficulty which is one level below 'Impossible' difficulty. I don't mind the challenge actually because it's fun to try and out maneuver the aliens but what's getting my goat is watching my veterans get 86ed. I played my first deactivate the bomb mission last night. I must have reloaded my save file 6 times before I beat the mission type. Once the bomb was deactivated the guy in the situation room told my squad that there were multiple inbound aliens. I would have to clear them out and then the mission would be over. Much to my frustration two Thin Men appeared out of nowhere killing my 4 mission veteran whom I had just stabilized his injuries. That made me recall the scene in Saving Private Ryan where the medic saved a soldiers life on the beach only to watch a bullet go through his head a moment later.
By the way, I noticed if you reload a save file you will not play the same exact mission as before the reload. I like that actually.
Quote from: Greybriar on October 11, 2012, 07:49:15 AM
Quote from: Kushan on October 09, 2012, 09:32:53 PM
....Whats the best tactic for capturing an alien? Can't seem to get close without exposing my soldier to fire.
I don't know if it's the best or not but I used two rookies, the second of which had an arc gun. Using available cover, I ran them as close as I could to an alien to afford them enough movement points to reach it the following turn. Then I ran the rookie without the arc gun just past the alien and waited for the second rookie's approach. The second rookie (with the arc gun) ran right up next to the alien and stunned him. Then they used the same procedure to stun another alien. They went for a third, but the arc gun was out of uses and they had to kill the third alien. They bagged a live thin man and Sectoid for research purposes and I was quite pleased with that.
I always setup Suppression fire while I have another approach. I believe this reduces the alien aim 30%.... and there is a good chance the alien will target the soldier doing the suppression fire instead of the approaching soldier to stun. I always use a lower rank to approach and stun. I will also try and position my sniper with a good shot incase something goes wrong (if possible).
PE
Quote from: tgb on October 11, 2012, 02:36:24 AM
Kushan -
At what difficulty level are you playing? I've got 20 or so missions under my belt playing Normal/Iron Man and the pacing has not been a problem, other than I don't have the resources for engineering to keep pace with research.
I'm playing on Normal.
I was actually enjoying the challenged level until I ran into the flying saucer drones (see below). They tear through my squad like its nothing, 1-hit dead, 1-hit dead...rinse and repeat. They appeared in the first mission after I captured the alien for the main story mission. Little frustrating watching my operatives get killed one by one without doing any damage.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1076.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw458%2FKushan04%2FX-Com%2FXComGame2012-10-1109-28-32-31_zpsbb9c1c88.png&hash=4fe43cafe366682a1f94841fd84a8b94027adba8)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1076.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw458%2FKushan04%2FX-Com%2FXComGame2012-10-1109-29-46-32_zps47e1c72b.png&hash=0e5e0836bc84c2f403c63ce5b9a3e7b53c4e584d)
Couple screenshots of the aliens I'm talking about. I've tried everything I can think of: Heavies with the Heat round ability, rockets, grenades, laser rifles...everything just bounces off them or misses. Could be I'm just getting really bad dice rolls but I'd like to think my operatives could at least hit something that close. Is this X-Coms version of a Kobayashi Maru scenario?
Quote from: Kushan on October 10, 2012, 11:02:23 AM
Quote from: Barthheart on October 10, 2012, 10:53:37 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 10, 2012, 10:12:50 AM
I gave in! ;D
Just cross to the dark side!
Not until I get my cookies! 8)
Cookies were only given to people who preordered bought from Steam
One of the tracking cookies Steam put on your computer tried to protect itself, but don't worry I fixed it. ;D
Yay!--I have a birthday coming up! Free game!
Boo... middle of next month.
Yay!--XCOM sounds like it'll be worth being the free game! The frogurt isn't cursed!
Wounded aliens are easier to capture than healthy ones. Try to go after the one that only have 1 or 2 hitpoints left.
Thanks for all the info, XCOM preordered 8)
Quote from: Kushan on October 11, 2012, 11:36:39 AM
Quote from: tgb on October 11, 2012, 02:36:24 AM
Kushan -
At what difficulty level are you playing? I've got 20 or so missions under my belt playing Normal/Iron Man and the pacing has not been a problem, other than I don't have the resources for engineering to keep pace with research.
I'm playing on Normal.
I was actually enjoying the challenged level until I ran into the flying saucer drones (see below). They tear through my squad like its nothing, 1-hit dead, 1-hit dead...rinse and repeat. They appeared in the first mission after I captured the alien for the main story mission. Little frustrating watching my operatives get killed one by one without doing any damage.
I've tried everything I can think of: Heavies with the Heat round ability, rockets, grenades, laser rifles...everything just bounces off them or misses. Could be I'm just getting really bad dice rolls but I'd like to think my operatives could at least hit something that close. Is this X-Coms version of a Kobayashi Maru scenario?
There's a Perk that gives special ammo that's a huge bonus vs robots. Maybe try that? I just saw the perk but I'm not far enough yet to see one of those saucer dudes.
Quote from: MuzzyDev on October 11, 2012, 02:09:59 PM
Quote from: Kushan on October 11, 2012, 11:36:39 AM
Quote from: tgb on October 11, 2012, 02:36:24 AM
Kushan -
At what difficulty level are you playing? I've got 20 or so missions under my belt playing Normal/Iron Man and the pacing has not been a problem, other than I don't have the resources for engineering to keep pace with research.
I'm playing on Normal.
I was actually enjoying the challenged level until I ran into the flying saucer drones (see below). They tear through my squad like its nothing, 1-hit dead, 1-hit dead...rinse and repeat. They appeared in the first mission after I captured the alien for the main story mission. Little frustrating watching my operatives get killed one by one without doing any damage.
I've tried everything I can think of: Heavies with the Heat round ability, rockets, grenades, laser rifles...everything just bounces off them or misses. Could be I'm just getting really bad dice rolls but I'd like to think my operatives could at least hit something that close. Is this X-Coms version of a Kobayashi Maru scenario?
There's a Perk that gives special ammo that's a huge bonus vs robots. Maybe try that? I just saw the perk but I'm not far enough yet to see one of those saucer dudes.
Under Heavy AbilitiesHeat Ammo (Lieutenant)Double damage against robotic foes. Extremely useful in the late-game.
Yay, X-Com seems to have started the finishing touches of the Pre-Loading. Soon I too shall enjoy this! :)
EDIT: Frak! This is just a several gigs patch... several more hours to go :(
Mine is all pre-loaded - still says 3 hours until unlock.
I'm not staying up to midnight to get any time in - I'll fire it up tomorrow. It'll be a welcome break from AJE - which I have played exclusively since the weekend!
so is it purchasable as normal tomorrow?
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 11, 2012, 03:13:13 PM
Mine is all pre-loaded - still says 3 hours until unlock.
I'm not staying up to midnight to get any time in - I'll fire it up tomorrow. It'll be a welcome break from AJE - which I have played exclusively since the weekend!
Yepp. 3 More hours at least.
It'll be past midnight then.
It really is a good idea to just go to sleep and wake up early.
Yep UCG
ill buy tomorrow - the weekend plans are all sorted for me then!
I guess you know if you buy now you can pre-download?
is that the only real benefit (i have civ 5)?
yep - of course you could "gift" Civ V ;D
XCom patch notes from the 2K forums :
Quote
Various visibility/hiding optimizations
Multiplayer text chat support (press J to activate)
Mouse button 4/5 will switch soldiers in the Barracks
ESC hides the movement grid, if you do not want to commit to a move while it is activated
Squad Sight ability optimization
Fixed issue when equipping two grenades with Deep Pockets.
Fixed Rapid Fire sometimes consuming too much ammo.
SHIVs that are damaged will no longer become unusable.
Fixed some hangs/soft crashes in tactical combat.
Replaced software cursor with the operating system cursor to reduce lag and framerate dependence.
Fixed rendering bug which causes some soldier's hair to appear as if it is rendering on top of environment fog.
1080p movies are now used at all times on the PC.
I'm getting some weirdness post-patch. I often get phantom enemy sightings now. A red "enemy sighted" skull will appear on the HUD, even though there is no enemy in sight.
My heavy troopers now get incorrect hit percentages displayed over the "enemy sighted" skulls. I often see 1% or 100% listed but when I enter fire mode and place the cursor over the enemy in question, the hit percentages are different shown there are different from what appears over the skulls.
I hope they can hot fix that. Sounds like they broke something with the optimization.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 11, 2012, 04:34:33 PM
I'm getting some weirdness post-patch. I often get phantom enemy sightings now. A red "enemy sighted" skull will appear on the HUD, even though there is no enemy in sight.
My heavy troopers now get incorrect hit percentages displayed over the "enemy sighted" skulls. I often see 1% or 100% listed but when I enter fire mode and place the cursor over the enemy in question, the hit percentages are different shown there are different from what appears over the skulls.
yeah i got the phantom skulls also
I haven't seen that at all
Quote from: PanzersEast on October 11, 2012, 02:48:47 PM
Quote from: MuzzyDev on October 11, 2012, 02:09:59 PM
There's a Perk that gives special ammo that's a huge bonus vs robots. Maybe try that? I just saw the perk but I'm not far enough yet to see one of those saucer dudes.
Under Heavy Abilities
Heat Ammo (Lieutenant)
Double damage against robotic foes. Extremely useful in the late-game.
Both my heavies have that ability, doesn't seem to really help. I think my soldiers are just too low for the mission. I have a save right before I started the mission and have done it 4 times now, each with the same result.
I haven't seen any glitches with the new patch.
Edit: Finally beat the mission. I took two snipers and they cut through the cryberdiscs.
Well...it unlocked and I've had some time with it today.
I'm enjoying it - but I agree with some of the "minor" criticisms out there - one of which (which really sticks out) is map sizes. I am early on - maybe 10 missions or something - but still...they seem quite restrictive.
And it still kind of feels on rails. Yeah there's options for building, research, customising your troopers - but there's not really a great deal there. That may be being a little harsh actually - but I fell that. Is it because I'm early in the game? One of my troopers is a Lieutenant already.
I am also playing on Normal and not really come across anything tough yet.
Happy with the purchase and played it on and off today - it's at least kept me away from AJE.
Oh - and I lost my dad :-(
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 12, 2012, 07:25:57 AM
Well...it unlocked and I've had some time with it today.
I'm enjoying it - but I agree with some of the "minor" criticisms out there - one of which (which really sticks out) is map sizes. I am early on - maybe 10 missions or something - but still...they seem quite restrictive.
And it still kind of feels on rails. Yeah there's options for building, research, customising your troopers - but there's not really a great deal there. That may be being a little harsh actually - but I fell that. Is it because I'm early in the game? One of my troopers is a Lieutenant already.
I am also playing on Normal and not really come across anything tough yet.
Happy with the purchase and played it on and off today - it's at least kept me away from AJE.
The maps open up as you go.... and just wait, your guys will start dropping like flies... it is the calm before the storm ;)
PE
PE - You do know I mean in game?
I mean - he has gone in RL too - in 2000 - but I meant in game.
It might seem silly me checking with you - but the lack of emoticon made me think you thought I meant in RL now! :)
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 12, 2012, 09:25:47 AM
PE - You do know I mean in game?
I mean - he has gone in RL too - in 2000 - but I meant in game.
It might seem silly me checking with you - but the lack of emoticon made me think you thought I meant in RL now! :)
No, I knew what you mean ;)
I lost two of my best guys last night on one of the larger maps.
On the map above my sniper who had over 20+ kills and had Capt level abilities up. My other guy was leveled up and was my medic as he had the 2 specific medic abilities and was carrying 3 medkits (saved 2 guys on last mission). We were outnumber 2 to 1 and we had a knock down drag out fire fight inside the liquor store and just outside. I fought one of the Cyberdisc and one of its repair drones accompanied by 5 Mutons and a pair Floaters and a couple of Sectoids.
Used my heavies to take out the Cyberdisc - the rocket launcher did a lot of damage and my sniper to knock out the repair drone. The Cyberdisc retreated, but I got the drone before it got away.
Funny moment was when I took out 2 Mutons with a rocket launcher to a car...... that was some fireworks.
Seems like this battle they targeted my two best guys, it was touch and go but with playing Ironman, there was no going back. Its do or die Men....
One thing that made me laugh was the Scientist griping about using the rocket and destroying important alien material.... ok men, from here on out you will be known as the Expendables. -Yea right lady -.. That is why I have named one of my guys Hudson -
Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our a#$# kicked, pal! -
Anyway, that was one of the best missions I have had so far, very fun and very close.
PE
I've found myself a couple of times at the beginning of a turn at a door - but V won't open it - I have to move to the other side of the door and press V to open it.
If I move to a door and open it the same turn V works fine.
Anyone else seeing that?
Well...that went south real fast. Took on a very difficult civilian rescue mission with 5 of my vets and all died.
It seemed impossible. Some 4 legged things that seemed to have almost free reign over the map. Anything they attacked they turned into Zombies requiring 8 critical hits to kill...so the number of enemies was growing and growing...and everything needed 8 critical hits!
I was playing on Ironman so no going back. So that's that. I'll leave it for a while now - that bored me as I watched the aliens running all over the map and requiring so many critical hits
What annoys me mostly about it is I was going along on normal thinking everything was fine. The difficulty - for me at that time and at that level - was acceptable to me. I don't know where this came from - but it killed my game.
As a footnote:
1. someone else mentioned the fixed isometric view. I agree whole heartedly - this is 2012 - not 1995. Why a camera would be restricted like this in a game today is beyond me. I dislike it
2. Why can I move and fire but cannot fire and move? Or did I just make that up?
On the plus side the map did open up - but given the speed of those aliens - that's no surprise.
I'll probably be back - but I think if things get that difficult that quick then it might be a while.
Where's my AJE shortcut ;D
Well you did take on a very difficult mission. Chryislids are the bane of X-Com, so don't feel back and quit. Try again and don't do Ironman mode until you get a feel for the game.
So far I'm having a blast and not losing "to many" soldiers. My colonel sniper got her archangel armor last night. WOW. A snipers dream.
Judge,
I've not seen the door opening problem you're seeing, whether I start next to the door at the beginning of a turn or move to it during the turn. I'm playing the console version though so that might be why.
As far as the civilian rescue mission goes. It's pissing me off too for the same reasons you gave. I'm thinking that because I'm not ready yet to take on this kind of mission I might skip it and let Argentina, the country who requested the help, drop out of the council. I need to get carapace armor and lasers before I can take on this kind of mission.
What kind of tactics are you guys using? I've got a squad of colonels and I've only lost two soldiers (besides those that get dropped in the tutorial) so far. I lost one on my very first mission from a Sectoid's lucky headshot and one assault troop a few missions back when he got bum rushed by two cybersiscs.
The only things I keep losing right now are my interceptors. I am obviously at the stage where I need to design new aircraft but I don't have the raw materials to start research.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 12, 2012, 10:56:50 AM
What kind of tactics are you guys using? I've got a squad of colonels and I've only lost two soldiers (besides those that get dropped in the tutorial) so far. I lost one on my very first mission from a Sectoid's lucky headshot and one assault troop a few missions back when he got bum rushed by two cybersiscs.
The only things I keep losing right now are my interceptors. I am obviously at the stage where I need to design new aircraft but I don't have the raw materials to start research.
playing normal mode. second game. chose africa as starting continent this time. i am much more careful with my troops. i have concentrated on satellites to keep panic down. only lost 4 countries so far. i havent found a need to upgrade interceptors yet, still have the two i started with. just built a plasma sniper rifle and have one piece of titan armor. money isnt an issue at the moment just need raw materials to build stuff. havent cleared the alien base yet but did run some rookies through the first couple of rooms. tough with those insects running around! finding it odd i can have up to 99 soldiers in my barracks but only one skyranger, seems silly. should be able to send out 3 teams if i want even if two of em would be poorly geared and inexperienced!
Yeah, I'd like to have more than one Ranger as well. I find that I've leveled up most of the troops as the rookies get to go out when one of the vets is injured or off in psionics testing. I wish I could pick their specialization when they do level up. I've got way too many heavies and only 2 snipers.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 12, 2012, 12:17:27 PM
Yeah, I'd like to have more than one Ranger as well. I find that I've leveled up most of the troops as the rookies get to go out when one of the vets is injured or off in psionics testing. I wish I could pick their specialization when they do level up. I've got way too many heavies and only 2 snipers.
hehe i have like 6 snipers and two heavies!! and i havent gotten to psionics yet.
Quote from: CptHowdy on October 12, 2012, 12:22:36 PM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 12, 2012, 12:17:27 PM
Yeah, I'd like to have more than one Ranger as well. I find that I've leveled up most of the troops as the rookies get to go out when one of the vets is injured or off in psionics testing. I wish I could pick their specialization when they do level up. I've got way too many heavies and only 2 snipers.
hehe i have like 6 snipers and two heavies!! and i havent gotten to psionics yet.
Psionics aren't a class.
Instead, they are additional abilities that you can get by first finding psionic-capable soldiers (they'll need high willpower).
Toughest fight I've had so far was taking a downed alien supply ship. My 6 guys vs. 2 sectoid commanders, 4 mutons, 2 muton berserkers, 6 heavy floaters, and 3 chrysalids.
I managed to get a berserker down to 3 health and stun it, but then his little muton buddy lobbed a grenade into my mob, wounding 3 of my guys and killing off the stunned berserker. Oh well, I was able to capture a sectoid commander but 5 out of my 6 were heavily wounded and I'd burned through both my 3x medkits by the end of it all.
I decided to start again - too much went into that squad to carry on with Rookies. I wouldn't have started afresh if it was one or two - but my whole squad??
I've used that game as a learner.
On the plus side - having started a new campaign it started with a mission location I had never seen before - randomised = welcome replayability!
I don't use the "V" key - I just click on the door with my mouse. Fortunately opening doors doesn't take up a movement pip. Firing a weapon ends the turn for that unit. Period. However, the Assault class gets a perk that allows it to move after firing.
Yeah - I saw the perk. I just don't understand why an alien fighting warrior needs to stay still because he fired - when he can move and then fire. Can his modern wee mind not work it out the other way?
^Maybe the game designers wanted to avoid the 'shoot and scoot' tactic? Yeah it's a little annoying not to be able to at least 'overwatch' after you fire but neither can the aliens. Whenever I see an alien has fired I immediately bum rush him because he then can't opportunity fire me. Unless of course he's got a buddy that I can't see until the last minute who is covering him.
^That's all it is - annoying.
I'm guessing it's for balance or playability - but I just don't like the mechanic being omitted.
Quote from: W8taminute on October 12, 2012, 02:32:43 PM
^Maybe the game designers wanted to avoid the 'shoot and scoot' tactic? Yeah it's a little annoying not to be able to at least 'overwatch' after you fire but neither can the aliens. Whenever I see an alien has fired I immediately bum rush him because he then can't opportunity fire me. Unless of course he's got a buddy that I can't see until the last minute who is covering him.
You can go into overwatch after firing if you have the perk.
Now that I'm fighting inside tighter confines, overwatch doesn't work so well. The first alien comes around a corner and everyone opens up on it at once. Then they get bum rushed by the other aliens that were stacked up right behind the first.
I'm pretty sure heavies have a perk that allows a shoot then move.
Assault has Run and Gun which allows you to dash and still fire.
Heavies have Bullet Swarm which allows them to shoot then move
Snipers have Snap Shot which allows them to fire or overwatch after moving but has a -20 aim penalty
Edit 1: Started a new game with some data changes made to panic reduction. If they work and if there is interest I will upload the file.
Worst month ever in this game.
I had to flee from a mission when 3 of my 4 troops bought it. Two were shot, one was next to a truck that I hadn't noticed was smoking...soon it was exploding.
Then, I died on a mission. That always annoys me.
Finally, we successfully stopped abductions in Rio. Unfortunately, France decided to freak out. And then the UK. And then Russia. And then Mexico. Nigeria had already done so when I chose to go to Quebec over them.
This has disaster written all over it.
^ That was one of the other things I noticed - the panic levels. There are little markers. Now I'd expect if I didn't help out an area once then one of those marks would fill - but on normal, I think 3 of them filled. Whatever the number - I thought they filled up too much and looks like it could be designed to bring the game to a conclusion at some point. Perhaps that changes on Easy - which I think I will try.
But I'm off to paint my P-40 today and I'm going to do A-10C or BS this afternoon.
I think that if you don't have a satellite over a country, there is still alien activity there - you just aren't "seeing" the missions, so panic continues to rise even if you aren't turning missions down. The real death spiral comes if you only have one squad of veterans and it gets wiped out. Try taking on a terror mission with nothing but rookies, lol. That's why I always bring a rookie or two along on every mission (I'm up to six person squads), so I have backup foe every specialty.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 12, 2012, 11:47:42 PM
Worst month ever in this game.
I had to flee from a mission when 3 of my 4 troops bought it. Two were shot, one was next to a truck that I hadn't noticed was smoking...soon it was exploding.
Then, I died on a mission. That always annoys me.
Finally, we successfully stopped abductions in Rio. Unfortunately, France decided to freak out. And then the UK. And then Russia. And then Mexico. Nigeria had already done so when I chose to go to Quebec over them.
This has disaster written all over it.
Isn't this why we have previous saved games? :o
Playing on easy with saves (NO Ironman) is much more enjoyable and less stressful. I'll play like this so it allows me to find out the kinds of aliens you come across
Quote from: Bison on October 13, 2012, 06:31:00 AM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 12, 2012, 11:47:42 PM
Worst month ever in this game.
I had to flee from a mission when 3 of my 4 troops bought it. Two were shot, one was next to a truck that I hadn't noticed was smoking...soon it was exploding.
Then, I died on a mission. That always annoys me.
Finally, we successfully stopped abductions in Rio. Unfortunately, France decided to freak out. And then the UK. And then Russia. And then Mexico. Nigeria had already done so when I chose to go to Quebec over them.
This has disaster written all over it.
Isn't this why we have previous saved games? :o
rewind and reload? - say it aint so Bison
When I have a complete squad wipe, yes I do. After I play the game through and learn the skill trees, tech, aliens and such. I will play an iron man game.
Just had my first game "crash". Aliens activity stage - an alien moves towards a civilian ready to inject him with poison - the civvie turns to face it and the game has stopped. I mean - I can move the camera around, and the graphics are moving (water, alien feet, civvie looking about) but no action...stuck on Alien Activity!
Actually - I can't move the camera about - it's stuck focussed on the Alien that just moved!
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 13, 2012, 08:22:35 AM
Just had my first game "crash". Aliens activity stage - an alien moves towards a civilian ready to inject him with poison - the civvie turns to face it and the game has stopped. I mean - I can move the camera around, and the graphics are moving (water, alien feet, civvie looking about) but no action...stuck on Alien Activity!
Actually - I can't move the camera about - it's stuck focussed on the Alien that just moved!
I had the same thing happen last night....one of those creepy thin men, or whatever they are called, spit poison at two troopers hiding behind a log. The game froze up. Had to alt-ctrl-del out. The one and only time this has happened through about 10 missions.
Quote from: Bison on October 13, 2012, 07:44:27 AM
When I have a complete squad wipe, yes I do. After I play the game through and learn the skill trees, tech, aliens and such. I will play an iron man game.
weak is the multi-lingual prophet of the Empire
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsmartincomeblog.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F01%2FVader_Choke.jpg&hash=aa8604d337b5c7f25c8b6d68a754e3adcc072a14)
I actually just finished a mission that resulted in two KIA. Sad day at the HQ. My Canuck sniper and my Mexican heavy were added to the memorial wall.
I added a dedicated XCOM bug thread. See if we can collect up some reports and then post to the 2K forum.
So, how does one learn all the strategy/building/tactical pieces of this game if you never played the original game before? There does not appear to be a detailed manual, not even electronic. The one on steam basically just identifies the user controls. How do you know what best to build and do, especially in the strategy layer?
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 13, 2012, 02:47:23 AM
^ That was one of the other things I noticed - the panic levels. There are little markers. Now I'd expect if I didn't help out an area once then one of those marks would fill - but on normal, I think 3 of them filled. Whatever the number - I thought they filled up too much and looks like it could be designed to bring the game to a conclusion at some point. Perhaps that changes on Easy - which I think I will try.
I think the campaign is designed that you go through each of the main quest objectives ASAP and beat the game before countries panic gets too high.
There are a number of lines in the core data files that references something called second wave. According to the developers it was a feature they had experimented with but never finished. Not sure if its possible to activate it but just reading the descriptions it could make for an even better game IMO if they were implemented.
Quote
ENABLE_SECOND_WAVE = 0
SW_FLANK_CRIT=100
SW_COVER_INCREASE=1.5f
SW_SATELLITE_INCREASE=1.45f
SW_ELERIUM_HALFLIFE=24
SW_ELERIUM_LOSS=0.05f
SW_ABDUCTION_SITES=4
SW_RARE_PSI=8
SW_MARATHON=2.0f
SW_MORE_POWER=2.0f
Supposedly someone was able to activate second wave by hacking the .exe file and does work, but no word on balance issues, etc.
Reaper, have you played with the tutorial on? (Not the one from the demo - that's just a small slice). It holds you hand through several missions and takes a couple of hours.
Re defusing bombs:
Am I the only idiot who thought that because the power nodes had three arrows around them that you needed thee units in position before they could be turned off? It took two missions before I figured it out.
Quote from: tgb on October 13, 2012, 01:06:34 PM
Supposedly someone was able to activate second wave by hacking the .exe file and does work, but no word on balance issues, etc.
Reaper, have you played with the tutorial on? (Not the one from the demo - that's just a small slice). It holds you hand through several missions and takes a couple of hours.
Re defusing bombs:
Am I the only idiot who thought that because the power nodes had three arrows around them that you needed thee units in position before they could be turned off? It took two missions before I figured it out.
Not fully yet....I did the demo one though. However, does the game tutorial also help you with the strategic part and when/how to build things? I think that is the part of the game that I will need the most help with.
I think the game objectives and cutscenes do try and rush you towards the endgame and try to create a sense of urgency but I think it's better to bide your time. I was tasked with capturing an overseer at the beginning of the game but kept failing at it as one of my guys on overwatch would always waste it (whereas now, none of them seem able to hit anything on overwatch). There didnt seem to be any penalties for killing instead of capruring. I'd get an earful from science lady but that's it. The game just continued on, occasionally recycling the mission for me until I succeeded. No panic penalties that I noticed. As a result, I was able to pad out my squad and didn't seem to run into the difficulties a lot seem to have had with the cybersiscs.
It wasn't until I pressed straight ahead and completed all objectives right away that I started having problems. I got to a stage where I was required to knock down a command ship but couldn't because the starting interceptors just couldn't do it, even with all the bells and whistles. My monthly progress reports went from As to Ds and one F due solely to failed interceptions. Lost France and Argentina and it took forever to build up the resources needed to build the new interceptor.
Lesson learned. Don't rush things.
^Last night I tried that strategy. In other words if a mission that came up looked to be too difficult for what my soldiers could handle I ignored it and went on. Lost France and Brazil because of that but why send all my men to their certain deaths only to lose those countries anyway because of a failed mission.
I'm biding my time until I can get lasers and carapace armour out to my men in quantity. What's killing me is not having satellites covering the planet. I just don't have the real estate to expand.
Quote from: tgb on October 13, 2012, 01:06:34 PM
Re defusing bombs:
Am I the only idiot who thought that because the power nodes had three arrows around them that you needed thee units in position before they could be turned off? It took two missions before I figured it out.
erm...I'm ashamed to admit it - but I can't let you stand alone - I was one of those! I did figure it out in the same mission as I thought it was going to be impossible so tried without all 3 round and saw the icon! But yeah - first couple of turns I was struggling to get 3 people round the nodes!
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 13, 2012, 01:32:36 PM
Quote from: tgb on October 13, 2012, 01:06:34 PM
Supposedly someone was able to activate second wave by hacking the .exe file and does work, but no word on balance issues, etc.
Reaper, have you played with the tutorial on? (Not the one from the demo - that's just a small slice). It holds you hand through several missions and takes a couple of hours.
Re defusing bombs:
Am I the only idiot who thought that because the power nodes had three arrows around them that you needed thee units in position before they could be turned off? It took two missions before I figured it out.
Not fully yet....I did the demo one though. However, does the game tutorial also help you with the strategic part and when/how to build things? I think that is the part of the game that I will need the most help with.
The tutorial doesn't teach the whens and hows, but the ability to access various parts of the game unlocks as you go on, so you get a better understanding of how everything comes together.
I was one of those who thought that the research and missions labeled Prioority mean DO THIS NOW!!!, not do this if you want to move the narrative along. In my current playthrough I'm trying to striked a balance between those and the regular research projects that give better equipment, etc. Do be aware, though, that the aliens still continue to get stronger independent of the speed with which you go through the story missions.
Quote from: Bison on October 13, 2012, 06:31:00 AM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 12, 2012, 11:47:42 PM
Worst month ever in this game.
I had to flee from a mission when 3 of my 4 troops bought it. Two were shot, one was next to a truck that I hadn't noticed was smoking...soon it was exploding.
Then, I died on a mission. That always annoys me.
Finally, we successfully stopped abductions in Rio. Unfortunately, France decided to freak out. And then the UK. And then Russia. And then Mexico. Nigeria had already done so when I chose to go to Quebec over them.
This has disaster written all over it.
Isn't this why we have previous saved games? :o
Good grief, no. You have a bad run, ya suck it up, man up and move on.
Played a bit of the multiplayer this afternoon. It's actually pretty fun. Basically, think of it as the electronic version of a table top minis skirmish game set in the XCom universe. Limited set up options (and only 5 maps), but it's pretty good.
Set up your force however you want, though you'll probably have to tweak at final set up based on what your points limit is for that game. You can use Rookies or any of the 4 classes for soldiers, and you have access to every weapon, special item, armour type and ability that appears through the entire game. Of course, the better they are, the more they cost. I had what would have been an uberbadass Heavy with Titan armour and a Heavy Plasma and some ridiculous Colonel level abilities, but he would have cost almost 7,000 points and the match was going to be for 10,000.
You can ALSO use every single species of alien in the game. And yes, you can mix and match. Take a Sectoid around and use their Mind Power ability to meld with a Sniper and try for a kill shot. Flip and run around the map with Thin Men, spitting poison to your heart's content. Floaters, Chryssalids, Mutons, Cyberdiscs...they're all there. Also a lot of other stuff that I won't mention in case people want to wait until they encounter them in the game. Actually, MP would be HORRIBLE for anyone looking to avoid spoilers.
Then you take turns moving around and firing and using abilities until somebody wins. It's actually pretty well done, and I hope to see some more maps appear for it.
There are a lot of things about the combat system that I do not like very much.
1] Loadout limits are absurd. One grenade? And if you take a grenade you cannot take a scope, or improved armor inserts?
This is just dumb. I went hunting this morning and use guns a lot. A couple of grenades, a scope, and some armor inserts should be a normal load along with your weapons. Limited ammo, rational trade-offs, .... I'm all for it. Stupid limits on weapons - huh????
2] The combat field is too small. You really can't flank much. It is almost always "hey diddle diddle - up the middle" into groups of aliens who immediately scatter and take cover. The tactical combat abilities you have are very limited - especially given the absurd load out limits.
3] The number of things you can do in a turn is also limited to a stupid degree. You reload and can do nothing else? Only one shot per round (pistol, shotgun, rifle, anything......). And you shoot and it is turn over.
I'm 50 and I can reload my shotgun, hit a target, adquire and kill another target, and reload again in less than 60 seconds (I did it this morning duck hunting). This is being stationary. If I had to move I could not do it as fast. But in this version of X-com I reload and buddy that is it for this turn.
The concept of total action points was dropped. Movement points that allow you to do a limited number of things (but more than one thing) is something that X-com did well. Jagged Alliance 2 (with aiming) did it better. This game is a severe regression in turn based squad combat. Lots of nice cut scenes - but I would give them up to have action point (movement point) system.
And the only way to ever, ever capture an alien weapon is to stun the alien? The weapons "fragment" if the alien is killed?
Only one troop carrier in the game - ever - really???????
I hope that Xenonauts gets turn based squad combat better than this game does.
I'm loving this game.
Airboy, you make some great points. I have some thoughts on an article you and I could write together on it. Interested?
Airboy you make some valid points and I agree with you 100%. Since I doubt Firaxis can fix tactical combat to level you refer to we just either cope with limited load outs and movement or drop the game. I'm not willing to let go however because I'm having fun.
I think I've figured out combat. Today I fought an alien abduction mission by inching and creeping my men forward engaging over watch on every soldier every turn. Together with employing the sniper's combat scanner yielded impressive results. I killed 10 aliens including 2 mutons and took no losses. The key is either discovering enemy positions with the scanner or patiently waiting for the enemy to reveal himself on HIS turn. The missions take longer to complete using this method but the result is stellar. I am playing on 'classic' difficulty.
On my last mission I had something interesting happen.
I was going to go for my first stun to nab an alien. Managed to work my way through a crash site and get the three remaining aliens sticking together.
I wounded one. My sniper has the group spotting perk so I aimed at one of the aliens and with one shot took out two.
I think it was because I took out the one that had psychically linked to the other (non-wounded) alien. It as a nice feeling. Anybody else see that?
Quote from: LongBlade on October 13, 2012, 11:06:26 PM
On my last mission I had something interesting happen.
I was going to go for my first stun to nab an alien. Managed to work my way through a crash site and get the three remaining aliens sticking together.
I wounded one. My sniper has the group spotting perk so I aimed at one of the aliens and with one shot took out two.
I think it was because I took out the one that had psychically linked to the other (non-wounded) alien. It as a nice feeling. Anybody else see that?
Yep, if a Sectoid has used his action to mind link and you cap him, both of them die. I was re-taught that lesson harshly in a multi-player game. :o
Can you send more than one interceptor against a UFO? I have four built and I see them able to launch, but I haven't figured out how to send more than one at a time. Is it possible?
I just lost Russia after an abduction that was extremely hard. Lost three team members and retreated back to the LZ with my commander to abort the mission. What a nightmare. I'm thinking I should reload the scenario and try it again...
I also dislike the fire and turn end when you can move then fire. Seems like a ridiculous limit. I don't mind the one shot thing - but not allowing me to determine whether I want to move and shoot or shoor and moves irks me. And yeah - I'm fully aware of the perk - but it isn't available to all members and shouldn't be a perk in the first place. I should be able to choose whether I want to move then shoot or shoot then move.
And why can I not launch more than one interceptor? And why is it so on rails? Would it have been SO much work to give you a cockpit view with the ability to move up and down and left and right to avoid enemy shots and the ability to fire? It seems to me it's not even pot luck. It seems to me as the game advances your ability for your interceptor to take down an alien craft gets reduced more and more.
One other annoyance the Capn Darwin has mentioned is the crazy sensitivity when trying to place a grenade or rocket launcher round!
I still enjoy what's there...but some of the enforced limitations are getting old.
Control of your interceptors is gradually unlocked through the research tree.
Interceptors: You can launch more than one interceptor albeit not simultaneously. When your interceptor becomes heavily damaged abort it and send out another plane if you have one in the area under attack. Provided the UFO does not escape whilst the new interceptor is being launched and heading to the scene you will engage him again.
One thing I dislike is when one of your soldier falls you cannot pick up his gear. There have been quite a few times when one of my 2 medics goes down with an unused medic pack and the surviving medic has already used his medical aid.
I have noticed twitchy but not crazy grenade and sometime movement placement on the console version as well.
The game is less detailed than the original X-Com, Enemy Unknown has been streamlined for console play.
Several items from the original are missing - stun rod, proximity grenade, HE pack, stun ball launcher.
Even with the limits there are many things the game does right.
The action cam during the 3-5 second combat rush. Kicking open a door and finding three aliens waiting in ambush. Watching the squad panic and freak out after taking heavy damage. Satisfaction of vaporize 4 ET with a single heavy rocket blast. Throwing a grenade at a parked car and having the burning wreck explode the next turn taking out the aliens crouching behind it. Or the anxiety of running to save a fallen trooper before they bleed out.. Watching an interceptor take critical damage - will it shoot down the UFO or be destroyed?
Hopefully X-Com Enemy Unknown will bring many new players to the turn based tactical genre.
I just successfully assaulted the alien base. Might be a Pyrrhic victory.
Had a team of six - lost four keeping only my leader and my second most experienced sniper (#1 was injured from a previous adventure).
But we took it.
Lessons learned: probably might want a couple of med packs. Also might have been useful to bring a stun gun or two to take the leader, but I was happy just to cap his ass.
Quote from: LongBlade on October 14, 2012, 06:10:55 PM
I just successfully assaulted the alien base. Might be a Pyrrhic victory.
Had a team of six - lost four keeping only my leader and my second most experienced sniper (#1 was injured from a previous adventure).
But we took it.
Lessons learned: probably might want a couple of med packs. Also might have been useful to bring a stun gun or two to take the leader, but I was happy just to cap his ass.
Was playing a little bit of my first campaign this morning, it was already a loss, but I wanted to see how far I could go. Assaulted an enemy base, got all but 2 of my squad wiped out by some robotic energy cannon that I couldn't even see. 1 shot and 4 of them died instantly. Pulled one of my snipers and a rookie back to the ranger and called it quits.
I just barely scraped out a real nail-biter of a firefight. A choice of 3 Very Difficult abduction missions, and I took the one in Toronto because Canada was on the verge of pulling out, plus I needed the scientists.
Anyway, the best I could come up with was 3 low-ranking officers (Sergeants and Corporals, iirc), 2 rookies, and a SHIV enhanced with alloy armor. Even though I had them advance carefully, they eventually ran into 4 Mutons, 3 Floaters, and 3 Sectoids. I had one rocket, and probably would have been more successful if I had brought grenades along, but I felt mesh underwear and med kits would be necessary. The Mutons, on the other hand, had no such compunctions, and came in loaded for bear.
Long story short, at the end I was down to 1 rookie with 2 health points against a Muton with 4. They were both on opposite sides of the same car staring at each other. The Muton fires first.......and misses! I think my screams of YES! woke the wife from her nap. My rookie takes a shot ......and scores a critical hit for the win.
That's XCOM. baby.
Now I have two Squaddies in the hospital and a roster full of rookies. The odds of this game going well from here are slim, other than it's July, I've only had two countries leave so far, and every one else is no higher than 3, so if I can get some more satellites up, I may have time to regroup.
Quote from: tgb on October 14, 2012, 07:44:29 PM
probably would have been more successful if I had brought grenades along, but I felt mesh underwear and med kits would be necessary. The Mutons, on the other hand, had no such compunctions, and came in loaded for bear.
Never bring mesh underwear to an alien fight.
QuoteLong story short, at the end I was down to 1 rookie with 2 health points against a Muton with 4. They were both on opposite sides of the same car staring at each other. The Muton fires first.......and misses! I think my screams of YES! woke the wife from her nap. My rookie takes a shot ......and scores a critical hit for the win.
That's XCOM. baby.
Well put.
After my successful Alien Base attack. Things are going downhill. My vets are getting killed left and right and funding is scarce. Default guns and armor are useless already and I need to use more advanced stuff.
Gah. What a pisser! I'm on the final mission of the game and I've run into a bug that won't let me progress. Apparently it's a common issue. Bloody annoying.
I just had a whole squad wiped out in the first 2 turns. Terror Mission, had one truck between 2 buildings, no other cover. Chryssalids come out of one building and kill the soldiers I had along side, cyberdics grenades the rest, mission done.
The game is MUCH more fun on Easy.
I took on a Very Difficult mission yesterday. Had 3 BIG buggers, 5 skinnies, 3 robots and 3 sectoids(?). 4 squad members (3 experienced and 1 rookie). Lost all 3 experienced members!
Had a total fail where I had no idea the enemy had grenades (first mission ever seeing an alien throw a grenade) and took out 2 of my most experienced members...managed to kill the last mutant with my last trooper
It just makes it do-able - and I think someone mentioned much earlier in this thread - it seems on Normal it ramps up the difficulty quite fast...Easy = not so much...or at least the Difficult and Very Difficult missions are actually do-able.
Hehe we're having a hard time as it is yet there are some people who want more detailed stuff from the first XCOM in the game to make it even harder. :)
I must say you get much more sensible comments on a game over here than back there!! there are people on that other forum that complain about almost every new game and that's without playing them!!!!!
If you want to disable the various logos when Xcom starts
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?150666-Here-is-how-to-disable-intro-movies-for-Xcom
I want the damned end game bug fixed. I'm on ironman so there's no going back. Not going to be happy if I've played all the way up to this point, lost only 2 guys in the whole process and now can't finish the game.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 15, 2012, 05:55:28 AM
I want the damned end game bug fixed. I'm on ironman so there's no going back. Not going to be happy if I've played all the way up to this point, lost only 2 guys in the whole process and now can't finish the game.
I for one wish to thank my Grognard
overfellowlords, for volunteering to find the game killing bugs before my birthday next month. ;D
(If I have to wait a month+ to play it, I might as well look on the bright side. ;))
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 15, 2012, 07:02:36 AM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 15, 2012, 05:55:28 AM
I want the damned end game bug fixed. I'm on ironman so there's no going back. Not going to be happy if I've played all the way up to this point, lost only 2 guys in the whole process and now can't finish the game.
I for one wish to thank my Grognard overfellowlords, for volunteering to find the game killing bugs before my birthday next month. ;D
(If I have to wait a month+ to play it, I might as well look on the bright side. ;))
I like you way of thinking.
Whereas I have an urge to give you both atomic wedgies.
Anyway, here are some threads on the bug.
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?157711-Mission-Operation-Avenger-(Temple-Ship-Assault) (http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?157711-Mission-Operation-Avenger-(Temple-Ship-Assault))
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?154761-Unable-to-advance-on-the-last-mission (http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?154761-Unable-to-advance-on-the-last-mission)
I regret purchasing X-Com for full price. I'm probably going to resell it on Amazon or Ebay this week. I may rebuy when it is $10 or less.
This is a very poor tactical turn based combat simulator. There are no action points. You do one thing (fire once, reload, etc.....) and you are done. In a good tactical turn based game you have limited action points but you can do more than one thing in a turn.
I hunt. Had a successful duck hunt last weekend. I can acquire a target, fire, kill, acquire another target, fire, kill and reload all within 60 seconds (and I'm 50). In the current X-com you don't have action points and your combat choices are very limited.
You cannot choose the people to take on missions (it is done for you). Your load-out choices are absurdly limited. I can't take a scope and a grenade? Huh? I also cannot pick up equipment from dead or wounded team members.
Every alien weapon shatters when they are killed if you do not tazer them. Huh??? A decision on whether or not to use an area attack to preserve alien weapons is now gone. The weapons will shatter anyway so I might as well hit them with a rocket or grenade. I have to get within kissing range to subdue an alien.
Facing is irrelevant. There is no "check 6." You don't have to cover your rear or face outward. You have perfect situational awareness if they are in a specific diameter. All of the decisions on facings are basically gone.
The thought process of who to take on missions, the equipment to take, etc.... is severely limited. You have only one base so base placement and how you build the base to handle counter-attacks is also gone.
Because your load outs are so stupidly limited you cannot use indirect fire to clear a line of sight for other squad members to fire. Your laser and plasma weapons do not blow away obsticles because you cannot fire multiple times.
You don't have the really difficult combat choices of how to use your action points. Snap shots? Aimed shots? Save action points for opportunity fire? Automatic burst? All of those choices are gone. Your load outs are also totally limited by the predefined characters that are (selected for you by the AI) going on a mission.
Combat maps are tiny. No real decisions can be made on flanking, covering fire, etc..... because of the small maps and discarding action points.
The strategic choices are even worse. No decisions on placing multiple bases. No multiple skyrangers. Not even the small number of decisions for aerial combat.
So few turn based tactical combat games have been released in the last decade that the reviewers don't even notice their absence. If you compare this game to the original X-Com or the vastly improved combat system of Jagged Alliance 2 - you will see that the tactical and strategic choices you have are just weaker.
Aliens also don't panic and drop their weapons. Your troops panic but the aliens are fearless.
I could go on (really) but you get my drift. What I'm irritated about is the totally crap reviews (85%+) that did not warn me about the crap tactical combat. It is totally move within a reaction zone and the aliens scatter and go to ground - every single time. I read the reviews before buying but they were next to useless for anyone who actually has played tactical combat games.
airboy:
Some of your gripes are valid (facing, loadout issues). Some are so far off the mark I wonder how much time you spent actually playing the game instead of bitching about it. For example:
"This is a very poor tactical turn based combat simulator." - Neither 2K nor Firaxis ever claimed that this was going to be a "combat simulator". Unless you are from the future and have boots on the ground experience fighting alien invaders, no one can say how much of a simulation this is. Are you from the future?
"There are no action points. You do one thing (fire once, reload, etc.....) and you are done."- True, but this was hardly a secret prior to release. Did you read or view any of the dozens of preview articles or videos that were made available in the last 3 months? Or was this a complete shock to you when looking at Steam one day and you said "There's a new XCOM? Here's my money".
"You cannot choose the people to take on missions." Yes, you can.
" you cannot use indirect fire to clear a line of sight for other squad members to fire.". Again, wrong. Perhaps since you never bothered to find out how to choose your own squad members to take on a mission, you never brought a Heavy along.
"Combat maps are tiny. " - In the beginning, perhaps. Since you apparently didn't play for more than half an hour, you never encountered bigger maps.
"No real decisions can be made on flanking, covering fire, etc." - Wrong again. Flanking, covering fire, and suppression are all in the game, the latter two as abilities squad members earn as they earn promotions.
" Not even the small number of decisions for aerial combat." - Bzzzt. Wrong. Tactics for interceptors are unlocked through research. In fact, one (AIM) appears pretty early on, which further convinces me that you played for half an hour at the most.
"Your troops panic but the aliens are fearless." - At least you're consistent in your ignorance about the game. Aliens may not drop weapons (your squad members don't drop them either, but you may not have played enough to see someone panic), and it may not say "Panic!", but aliens certainly lose morale and retreat.
" I read the reviews before buying" - I call bullshit on this one. Just about every review/preview I read mentioned at least one of the points you are justified in criticizing, which is why most are in the 85% range (your number) and not 95-100%.
Look -XCOM is not perfect. No game is, other than something almost 20 years old seen through rose-colored glasses. You know the saying "Everyone is entitled to an opinion"? No. Everyone is entitled to an INFORMED opinion, which yours is not in many ways.
Regarding action points, there are action points. Just two for each turn. :)
You can track-shoot-track-shoot-move in real life. But at what time intervals? Maybe XCOM time intervals are so short that you can only have limited actions.
Or maybe because you're a skilled shooter. Well skilled shooters in the game do get to shoot more than once or do other actions during the turn.
Also these limitations actually make the game more challenging yet streamlined. This does not make a bad tactical game in my books as it actually makes you think about things more than before. It makes your choice of action doubly important. I guess Airboy is the type who wants flexibility in load out and spending action points. He doesn't want to be stuck with only a few options which is understandable.
I think this simplification is crucial to the game franchise. If they were to make a hard-core turn-based tactical game, then it would only have a smaller audience as compared to what we have now. It will just get a limited following like the previous XCOM sequels and derivatives which I never did bother getting.
Quote from: jomniIf they were to make a hard-core turn-based tactical game, then it would only have a smaller audience as compared to what we have now.
jomni I agree with you 100%.
I appreciate a complex strategy game as much as the next grognard however I'm also perfectly happy with relaxing with a simpler tactical game like XCOM. Once in a while time just doesn't permit sitting in front of a computer for 3 hours just to plot one turn.
For sheer entertainment value and moderate brainpower challenge XCOM: Enemy Unknown is scoring very high points for me. I understand it might not be WitP: Admirals Edition and I'm fine with that. When I'm ready to play something more complex I'll happily play Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin. (If only I could get it to run on Vista).
Quote from: eyebiter on October 15, 2012, 05:46:57 AM
If you want to disable the various logos when Xcom starts
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?150666-Here-is-how-to-disable-intro-movies-for-Xcom
Thank you. Most devs give you a get-out-of-jail-card but I was too lazy to look for it.
Quote from: tgb on October 15, 2012, 09:04:44 AM
airboy:
Some of your gripes are valid (facing, loadout issues). Some are so far off the mark I wonder how much time you spent actually playing the game instead of bitching about it. For example:
"This is a very poor tactical turn based combat simulator." - Neither 2K nor Firaxis ever claimed that this was going to be a "combat simulator". Unless you are from the future and have boots on the ground experience fighting alien invaders, no one can say how much of a simulation this is. Are you from the future?
Let's slow this roll a bit.
Airboy is a highly experienced gamer and reviewer.
He genuinely does not like Xcom and that's fine. I agree it's not a tactical simulator nor a good predictor of future alien combat, but I think we can agree to disagree without getting personal about it.
My reply perhaps was a little heated, but it annoys me when half of his argument is made up of non-facts.
Quote from: tgb on October 15, 2012, 10:24:03 AM
My reply perhaps was a little heated, but it annoys me when half of his argument is made up of non-facts.
I read every review that had been posted on the review list from www.gamefaqs.com prior to purchase. I searched around and read additional reviews (gamespot was not on the gamefaq list).
I have played the game for about 10 hours. I also read the manual (such as it is). Also read many of the board posts prior to purchasing.
You can agree or disagree with my opinions - but they are not flippant.
I also agree with Longblade that if it was a decent tactical combat game or if the strategic game had any significance that the game would have a smaller audience.
If you really like turn-based, squad level tactical combat AND you really like earlier games such as the original X-Com or Jagged Alliance then this game will probably be a disappointment to you.
I'm not really sure why so many people are upset that its not EXACTLY like the original X-Com. When I want to play the original X-Com, guess what I play? The original X-Com. It is such a good game, and was so far ahead of its time, that I think it has aged very well and is still a very enjoyable game. The new XCOM is a different game, and while there are good things about it and some not so good things about it, overall, I am enjoying the experience. I'm glad we have two games to play now, that actually play out differently, rather than two games that play out more or less the same.
Quote from: airboy on October 15, 2012, 11:21:32 AM
Quote from: tgb on October 15, 2012, 10:24:03 AM
My reply perhaps was a little heated, but it annoys me when half of his argument is made up of non-facts.
If you really like turn-based, squad level tactical combat AND you really like earlier games such as the original X-Com or Jagged Alliance then this game will probably be a disappointment to you.
Those are two of my favourite games of all time AND I've been having a tonne of fun playing the new XCOM (at least until the end game bug. I read on some forums that their might be an alien stuck in a roof beam that I can't see so I'm just going to go and psi blast the map, bit by bit).
I'd love to see a deep, turn based tactical combat game. If they could smooth out some of the rough edges and late game play balance of 7.62mm and use that engine in a game with a decent story and overlay, I'd probably never stop playing it. Having said that, I played the XCOM demo, knew what I was getting from then full game going in, and feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of it. It may not been a deep tactical TBS but it's still lots of fun to play.
Quote from: airboy on October 15, 2012, 11:21:32 AM
Quote from: tgb on October 15, 2012, 10:24:03 AM
My reply perhaps was a little heated, but it annoys me when half of his argument is made up of non-facts.
I read every review that had been posted on the review list from www.gamefaqs.com prior to purchase. I searched around and read additional reviews (gamespot was not on the gamefaq list).
I have played the game for about 10 hours. I also read the manual (such as it is). Also read many of the board posts prior to purchasing.
You can agree or disagree with my opinions - but they are not flippant.
I also agree with Longblade that if it was a decent tactical combat game or if the strategic game had any significance that the game would have a smaller audience.
If you really like turn-based, squad level tactical combat AND you really like earlier games such as the original X-Com or Jagged Alliance then this game will probably be a disappointment to you.
How do you account for the fact that half of your opinions are based on "issues" that don't really exist?
tgb:
I don't think that a loadout that gives me one grenade and one or two rockets is sufficient for suppression fire or to remove terrain obstacles for fire by team members. With so few area of effect weapons, it is unwise to use them to open up field of fire lanes.
In the original X-Com and in JA2 and other games you have enough action points and loadouts to use fire to suppress or to destroy terrain options. With the highly limited loadout wasting a grenade or rocket to blow up terrain is (in my opinion) unwise.
You largely agreed with my other observations.
If you know how one can select specific team members for away drops I would appreciate the insights. I read the manual twice looking for it. I tried other logical control options and could not get the team members to change.
I'm glad you are enjoying the game - but I'm not for reasons I mentioned.
Quote from: airboy on October 15, 2012, 08:28:26 AM
I could go on (really) but you get my drift. What I'm irritated about is the totally crap reviews (85%+) that did not warn me about the crap tactical combat. It is totally move within a reaction zone and the aliens scatter and go to ground - every single time. I read the reviews before buying but they were next to useless for anyone who actually has played tactical combat games.
You're disappointed by the game, and that's perfectly fine. No game is going to be for everyone. But here's the problem...you seem to think that every review that disagrees with you is magically crap. So the opinions of the reviewers (and reviews really do in large part boil down to opinion) are apparently wrong because they don't mesh with your own. That's a fairly silly conclusion to draw. Hell, after I play about 10 hours in to Fallout 3 or New Vegas, I get completely bored and stop. Doesn't mean that the reviews praising those games were wrong, it just means my own opinion differs.
Beyond that, this game isn't a hard core tactical simulator. It isn't trying to be. What it really feels like, at least to me, is a computer approximation of a tactical minis table top skirmish game. And it nails that pretty effectively. I certainly understand a lot of the issues you have with it, and I share a few of them (I'd love to see the possibility of adding a 2nd Skyranger, for example), but a fair number of them do simply seem to be rehashes of things from the first game. For example :
Quote...Your load outs are also totally limited by the predefined characters that are (selected for you by the AI) going on a mission.
Which differs in what way from the original, where their randomly determined stats at arrival at your base pretty much determined what sort of gear you were going to equip them with? You didn't have any control over the type of trooper who would arrive in that game, either.
QuoteIf you really like turn-based, squad level tactical combat AND you really like earlier games such as the original X-Com or Jagged Alliance then this game will probably be a disappointment to you.
And this couldn't be more wrong if you tried. This isn't a black or white issue. I am fully capable of enjoying both the original XCom and Jagged Alliance (as I do) AND enjoying this game (again, as I do).
"If you know how one can select specific team members for away drops I would appreciate the insights"
when you get the view of your team, you have two choices, edit unit and clear unit. obviously you have clicked edit unit since you know about the loadouts. clicking clear unit opens that spot and lets you add a different unit
I agree a little bit with airboy in that I think some of the things he points out suggest it pretty shallow i.e. not deep.
It's fine in so much as it's just about enough for me...a few little things I would like to have changed already mentioned...but from a "game" perspective, it's fun and pretty challenging - if mostly because of the enforced lack of tactical depth.
I didn't have the original to compare this to - nor did I do much reading about it outside the RPS insight and video along with what I read here...I'm not disappointed - I just don't like some of the enforced gameplay decisions.
I just took out the Alien base. That's a pretty big map - lost my super sniper.
I have to say the game is a huge challenge on Easy. I mean, my squads aren't dropping like flies, but they are more often than not ALL coming back wounded if not having one or 2 killed. Easy is challenge enough for me whilst keeping the fun there. I don't think I'll be rushing back to normal anytime soon.
The grenade chucking crazy mouse cursor is driving me nuts. I have found it's easier to aim if you zoom out - but that doesn't work well on multi level arenas.
I've got lots of hours on this so most definitely couldn't complain about the price or the gameplay...just a few niggles and they are just imo really.
Quote from: CptHowdy on October 15, 2012, 01:37:14 PM
"If you know how one can select specific team members for away drops I would appreciate the insights"
when you get the view of your team, you have two choices, edit unit and clear unit. obviously you have clicked edit unit since you know about the loadouts. clicking clear unit opens that spot and lets you add a different unit
Thanks - I for some reason thought that "clear" meant "erase." I'm also used to checking off or selecting people from a drop-down menu. Just one of those "duh " moments.
Quote from: airboy on October 15, 2012, 03:59:09 PM
Quote from: CptHowdy on October 15, 2012, 01:37:14 PM
"If you know how one can select specific team members for away drops I would appreciate the insights"
when you get the view of your team, you have two choices, edit unit and clear unit. obviously you have clicked edit unit since you know about the loadouts. clicking clear unit opens that spot and lets you add a different unit
Thanks - I for some reason thought that "clear" meant "erase." I'm also used to checking off or selecting people from a drop-down menu. Just one of those "duh " moments.
"Clear" is not the best choice of word.
Quote from: LongBlade on October 15, 2012, 04:14:55 PM
Quote from: airboy on October 15, 2012, 03:59:09 PM
Quote from: CptHowdy on October 15, 2012, 01:37:14 PM
"If you know how one can select specific team members for away drops I would appreciate the insights"
when you get the view of your team, you have two choices, edit unit and clear unit. obviously you have clicked edit unit since you know about the loadouts. clicking clear unit opens that spot and lets you add a different unit
Thanks - I for some reason thought that "clear" meant "erase." I'm also used to checking off or selecting people from a drop-down menu. Just one of those "duh " moments.
"Clear" is not the best choice of word.
Swap or Switch Soldier would have been better for sure. I also thought some of the loadout amounts changed with class advancements. This is at least the case with support units and medical packs.
Quote from: airboy on October 15, 2012, 03:59:09 PM
Quote from: CptHowdy on October 15, 2012, 01:37:14 PM
"If you know how one can select specific team members for away drops I would appreciate the insights"
when you get the view of your team, you have two choices, edit unit and clear unit. obviously you have clicked edit unit since you know about the loadouts. clicking clear unit opens that spot and lets you add a different unit
Thanks - I for some reason thought that "clear" meant "erase." I'm also used to checking off or selecting people from a drop-down menu. Just one of those "duh " moments.
hehe yeah i was leery to click on that at first as well. thought it meant get rid of unit for good! as others stated swap or switch would have been a better word. just got an upgrade for my rocket launcher!! love how it curves now.
Was going to pull the trigger on this game but I wanted the elite soldier pack dlc. Since this only exists in the physical copy and wanting to get an Xcode fix right away I went and got the demo.
Now after playing the demo I don't feel as jazzed about the game as I was reading the reviews. I can't quite put my finger on it but might be due to lack of individual tactical options crouch hide etc for the individual troops.
So my question is does the demo do the game justice or if you were unsatisfied with the demo does that feeling still persist in the full game
Thanks
Con
I guess it depends on what your expectations are to be honest. If you don't like the combat decisions in the demo, I'm not sure your mind would be changed with the complete game. Sure as your units develop you get more tactical options, but the basic controls remain the same: move, shoot, reload, overwatch and hunker down. Personally it's hit a nice sweet spot for me so far, but I wasn't looking for an overly deep tactical game either.
Quote from: eyebiter on October 15, 2012, 05:46:57 AM
If you want to disable the various logos when Xcom starts
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?150666-Here-is-how-to-disable-intro-movies-for-Xcom
Thanks for the link!
I am nowhere near the end of my first game, but one thing I am concerned about is that even though a wounded soldier recovers, his/her will is permanently reduced. I am just now getting into missions with aliens using mind control and I shudder to think that my most experienced troopers will be more vulnerable to this form of attack due to having been wounded.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown isn't perfect, but I feel it is well worth the money I paid for it. Had I to do it over again, I would still buy this game.
Quote from: Greybriar on October 15, 2012, 08:43:11 PM
Quote from: eyebiter on October 15, 2012, 05:46:57 AM
If you want to disable the various logos when Xcom starts
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?150666-Here-is-how-to-disable-intro-movies-for-Xcom
Thanks for the link!
I am nowhere near the end of my first game, but one thing I am concerned about is that even though a wounded soldier recovers, his/her will is permanently reduced. I am just now getting into missions with aliens using mind control and I shudder to think that my most experienced troopers will be more vulnerable to this form of attack due to having been wounded.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown isn't perfect, but I feel it is well worth the money I paid for it. Had I to do it over again, I would still buy this game.
I like that wounded units have their will reduced. Battle fatigue. It give you more incentive to keep them from getting wounded.
I lost my second game again, in another death spiral resulting from losing a couple of squads. I'm starting to think iron man isn't for me.
So, I ended up abandoning my game. Terror mission ended in 5 man squad wipe. By the time I found the Chryssalids, there were 3 of them and 2 zombies. Then they killed my best soldier and turned him. It went downhill from there. The end of the month saw me BARELY manage to stay in business, but 4 countries had bailed by then and 4 others were already in the red for next month. That's a downward spiral there's no recovering from.
So I start anew. This time, I've lost one guy total (sent a Sniper to the roof not expecting a Sectoid to be up there). Unlocked 5 man squads and Wet Work (25% XP bonus for kills) from the Officer Training School. When the Terror Mission rolled around this time, my Heavy was 4th rank, the high end Sniper I'd earned as a reward for an Abduction mission was bad ass enough to drop Chryssalids with one shot, and the other 3 were packing laser rifles. Finished it clean, and with 15/18 civvies rescued. I've now got everyone in Carapace armor, 6 people have earned high enough rank to get a Nickname, everyone has laser rifles, and laser sniper rifles and heavy weapons are on the way.
XCom taketh and XCom giveth.
And I'm terrified, because I see doom around every goddamn corner. ;D
Victory! (Although I had to change difficulty to fix the stupid bug I was having. And I had to reload about 20 times before the event trigger worked properly. Lost a guy over and over and over again trying to find the invisible alien stuck on the roof which is why I have 7 deaths listed on one screen and 5 soldiers lost on the other.)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv320%2Fbogaty%2FXComGame2012-10-1521-38-12-08.jpg&hash=a1640a917dfbbca8069fe5b366a52ed018a3ff57)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv320%2Fbogaty%2FXComGame2012-10-1521-37-31-83.jpg&hash=bd9ecf9fa1234a1122bb5fb1b754eee32f36117d)
The whole xcom release and the reactions have intrigued me. Wherever you go it seems people are comparing to the old version which I understand. But to the level people are digging in and saying they won't buy it because it isn't as close to the original makes me scratch my head, especially for a game that was released so long ago. What if there never was an original xcom? How would these same folks think of this game without comparing it to the past? I am guessing more than not would have rushed out and bought it. But instead seems more are concerned about what it is not versus comparing on its own merits of what it truly is. Maybe the only mistake the developer might have made was referencing the original in its marketing, but personally I don't see that as a big deal. Now I am a person that never played the original so maybe tougher for me to understand. But I would like to think I wouldn't be stuck in comparing two products that were released 20 years apart to different generations of gamers.
Enjoy or dont enjoy it based on what it is today!!
Quote from: tgb on October 15, 2012, 09:44:52 PM
I like that wounded units have their will reduced. Battle fatigue. It give you more incentive to keep them from getting wounded....
I would prefer that over time a unit would recover most or all of his or her will instead of losing it permanently, thus making him or her seriously vulnerable to aliens attempting mind control. The reason I feel this way is that it is virtually impossible on a normal gameplay setting to prevent the wounding of a player's green soldiers early on, before adequate armor and weaponry are available. This aspect of the game makes me feel like making kamikazes out of all my weak-willed soldiers.
Quote from: Greybriar on October 16, 2012, 06:50:07 AMThis aspect of the game makes me feel like making kamikazes out of all my weak-willed soldiers.
So, it's like real life in that regard, then!
;D
SDR pretty impressive numbers. Only had to hire one soldier and you only lost 5 all with an average mission turns played of 10.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 16, 2012, 04:59:02 AM
But to the level people are digging in and saying they won't buy it because it isn't as close to the original makes me scratch my head, especially for a game that was released so long ago. What if there never was an original xcom? How would these same folks think of this game without comparing it to the past?
This is an interesting question and gets to the dissatisfaction that Airboy expressed.
Let me pause before going further and say that I am *loving* the new X-com.
But, let's look at this game in the cold reality of modern gaming. Set aside the great graphics. The combat is turn-based, not based upon action points. Most of the time I move one impulse and then set Overwatch for the next. This often makes for long pauses in the action on larger maps.
Now I'll suggest that those long pauses add to the suspense.
But I do wonder how the gameplay would be perceived if the hype of the old title weren't there. I'm curious to know how younger gamers who never heard of the original game are reacting. I'd like to think a great game is a great game. Maybe this will cause a resurgence in turn-based gaming. I'm not so sure. Maybe only Firaxis can pull off an incredible feat like this.
I just don't know. The proof is in the sales figures, I guess.
Quote from: W8taminute on October 16, 2012, 07:49:35 AM
SDR pretty impressive numbers. Only had to hire one soldier and you only lost 5 all with an average mission turns played of 10.
Three of the five losses were from the tutorial mission where their deaths are a foregone conclusion. I did lose my psyhic guy over and over and over again on the last mission where I had to resort to gamey play and lots of save/reloads just to find a hidden (stuck) enemy floater in order to get the game to progress. The floater was up inside a beam and we couldn't see him but he could see us and as the game always uses the same roll results, it took forever to find a spot where I could use the psychic blast power to take him out yet not get killed from opp fire as I moved up to do so.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 16, 2012, 09:54:32 AM
Quote from: W8taminute on October 16, 2012, 07:49:35 AM
SDR pretty impressive numbers. Only had to hire one soldier and you only lost 5 all with an average mission turns played of 10.
Three of the five losses were from the tutorial mission where their deaths are a foregone conclusion. I did lose my psyhic guy over and over and over again on the last mission where I had to resort to gamey play and lots of save/reloads just to find a hidden (stuck) enemy floater in order to get the game to progress. The floater was up inside a beam and we couldn't see him but he could see us and as the game always uses the same roll results, it took forever to find a spot where I could use the psychic blast power to take him out yet not get killed from opp fire as I moved up to do so.
Nice job, SDR. Bummer about that bug.
Last night I played an alien abduction mission that was rated very difficult on 'Classic'. After 4 reloads I finally beat the mission with 10 alien kills for no losses. I'm absolutely convinced that to beat these missions you must inch and creep and overwatch. Sometimes I move only 1 or 2 tiles max. Makes for a very long mission (actually about 45 minutes) but again I'm happy with the results.
This next tip might seem a bit gamey but I'll share a tactic I use. If you have a 4 man squad and one of your men are being 'scanned' (i.e. that red wave pattern that is directed at your soldier to which he comments, 'shhh, did you hear that?') have 3 of your guys on overwatch covering suspected areas of alien presence. Send the 4th guy in 2 to 4 tiles in order to trigger a reaction from the yet unseen enemy. Most of the time the bogies scramble for cover while your 3 soldiers on overwatch take pot shots. Hopefully at least one of the bad guys will go down after which you must immediately withdraw the 4th man to safety.
Definitely loads of overwatch and small moves. I seldom move someone in Dashing unless I have to get them the hell out of there.
Snipers stay at a distance and keep them reloaded. Two per mission is good - as long as the map dictates snipers as feasible. One medic with 3 meidkits and the other two (support/assault) with frags - for those "holy crap" moments
I took out the enemy base last night with one loss - and that was careless...I should've first aided him but didn't realise until it was too late.
What is the point of that alien scanner thing? Just letting you know where suspect aliens are?
Quote from: eyebiter on October 15, 2012, 05:46:57 AM
If you want to disable the various logos when Xcom starts
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?150666-Here-is-how-to-disable-intro-movies-for-Xcom
I just implemented this fix. The movies are gone and the game fires up almost immediately. w00t!
LB, did that to the demo and also my current game. I also set mouse smoothing to true and that appears to reduce twitchy grenade targeting.
@Dredd, the waves are a bearing to a sound beyond visual range. It's a nice touch.
Thx - I didn't know if it had other effects, like unnerving your troopers
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 16, 2012, 04:53:43 PM
Thx - I didn't know if it had other effects, like unnerving your troopers
IIRC in the old game the sound increased fear in your troops. I don't know if there's an effect today.
it would make sense if it did - it send sthe old shivers up my back!
A sad day today. Lost 4 veterans in a mission. :'(
^I feel for you. I lost 2 veterans yesterday, one named after me. Sad to let him go but I had to complete the mission as is in order to reduce India's panic level. It was a particularly difficult mission and I just didn't have the stomach to reload it again for the 5th time.
My Sniper who is a Major couldn't hit the broad side of a barn last night even though he's got the Laser Rifle with an optical scope together with all his abilities.
Quote from: W8taminute on October 18, 2012, 08:59:57 AM
^I feel for you. I lost 2 veterans yesterday, one named after me. Sad to let him go but I had to complete the mission as is in order to reduce India's panic level. It was a particularly difficult mission and I just didn't have the stomach to reload it again for the 5th time.
My Sniper who is a Major couldn't hit the broad side of a barn last night even though he's got the Laser Rifle with an optical scope together with all his abilities.
I just discovered that you can heal guys in the middle of a mission. They still need time to recover afterward, but they get several hit points back in the middle so you can keep them going without being in complete danger of dying. Good to know!
^Yeah and wait until you get the medic ability that is available later that increases the heal amount from 1x to 3x. I had 1 of my guys with that medic ability with me last night as well as one other soldier (the one named after me) in my 4 man squad with a regular medic kit. Guess who died first and who died second?
I have been noticing that whether it be a sniper with the best gun and gear or a medic with 3x healing powers and carapace armor, the first casualty is usually the medic no matter how careful you are with him.
Yeah, I found that in my game too. My medic could heal 10 hp per shot but she was a plasma sponge. I think she was injured in about 90% of my battles. I always brought 2 support guys along in Titan armour and usually went through 4-6 heals per mission.
Defeated the enemy base, only to lose an entire 6 man team on a big UFO. I was down to 3 troopers, and we came across 3 Sectoid Commanders at the end. It didn't end well. :(
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 18, 2012, 01:56:05 PM
Defeated the enemy base, only to lose an entire 6 man team on a big UFO. I was down to 3 troopers, and we came across 3 Sectoid Commanders at the end. It didn't end well. :(
Reload!
Quote from: Bison on October 18, 2012, 10:12:32 PM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 18, 2012, 01:56:05 PM
Defeated the enemy base, only to lose an entire 6 man team on a big UFO. I was down to 3 troopers, and we came across 3 Sectoid Commanders at the end. It didn't end well. :(
Reload!
No thanks, I don't have a vagina. ;D
Also, I'm playing Ironman.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 18, 2012, 11:18:35 PM
Quote from: Bison on October 18, 2012, 10:12:32 PM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 18, 2012, 01:56:05 PM
Defeated the enemy base, only to lose an entire 6 man team on a big UFO. I was down to 3 troopers, and we came across 3 Sectoid Commanders at the end. It didn't end well. :(
Reload!
No thanks, I don't have a vagina. ;D
Also, I'm playing Ironman.
I suspect not for long, but I'm sure you'll remember your failings when you start over again. :)
I managed to take out an Overseer vessel, which crash landed nearby. But having played the scenario about half a dozen times I'm finding I'm simply under-equipped to take on the big mechs. They've got a rocket barrage that I simply cannot deal with.
I'm thinking I need to start making armor and my own mech.
Was browsing mods on X-Com nexus this morning and saw this: http://xcom.nexusmods.com/mods/18/ (http://xcom.nexusmods.com/mods/18/)
It makes a number of changes, but one of the biggest is that it allows 2 accessory slots. I haven't tried it out myself, so I don't know how the other game play changes affect the balance of the game.
The only mod I have loaded right now is the one that amps the graphics setting for the PC. I like to go through the game a few times as written before hitting the mods that change stuff and make it more "playable". 8)
Interesting article about the "dumbing down" of XCOM:UE...
http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/xcom-enemy-unknown/1226388p1.html
I had to restart my campaign this morning due to a fresh install. It needed to happen anyway, because I was to the point of being out gunned, out teched and no means to remedy the situation. PVTs are never a match when it's 5 of them against a hord of greys and their bio-tech enhancements.
This time I'm going tactically slow and steady. Move to cover, overwatch, buddy aid, shoot and repeat. I had been going in hard and fast, while that is an ideal technique in certain situations - its not in XCOM.
Quote from: Bison on October 21, 2012, 09:50:32 AM
This time I'm going tactically slow and steady. Move to cover, overwatch, buddy aid, shoot and repeat. I had been going in hard and fast, while that is an ideal technique in certain situations - its not in XCOM.
It's good with the Assault class when they have the Run and Gun perk. Even then, I like to keep the rest of the squad held back in cover with supporting fire.
Even more useful is to pull the Saving Private Ryan "rabbit" when you send a redshirt out to find the aliens, then rush back to the rest of the squad pulling them in.
Only rarely will I rush an entire squad into combat.
Quote from: Bison on October 21, 2012, 09:50:32 AM
This time I'm going tactically slow and steady. Move to cover, overwatch, buddy aid, shoot and repeat. I had been going in hard and fast, while that is an ideal technique in certain situations - its not in XCOM.
I never use dash, except on the first turn of some maps where there is no immediate cover. It also helps if you cycle through1 turn on all of your soldiers, in case one of them uncovers something you can take the shot or move them back.
The real struggle I'm having is keeping a good number of troops advancing up the experience totem. It's easy to rely on a few crack units and add in a single rookie every mission or two, but if they aren't getting the kills they don't advance. So I've taken a slightly different approach this time, but running the first several missions with all rookie squads. Losses have less impact, but I feel it's setting up a nice stable of experienced troops to start pulling for missions.
Something else that worked for me was using lower-ranked officers when I had more than one of a class to choose from. Also, all other things being equal, take missions that reward you with an officer whenever you can. I picked up 3 or 4 Colonels that way that stayed with me through the game.
This whole thing about letting the rookies gain experience reminds me of the differences in doctrine between the Luftwaffe and the USAAF during WWII.
Luftwaffe aces tended to be worked to death until after establishing an impressive number of kills then to die with nothing but rookies with no training to replace them. Meanwhile, aces in the USAAF would get rotated out of combat and train the new rookies so that the experience was evenly spread throughout the team. Yes, each pilot gets a smaller kill tally but most of them got to return home alive.
Dumb question..how do you get the turn to end if you only want some soldiers to expend 1 action point versus both points? Seems I always have to make everyone do two.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 21, 2012, 03:55:32 PM
Dumb question..how do you get the turn to end if you only want some soldiers to expend 1 action point versus both points? Seems I always have to make everyone do two.
There should be an "X" on the left side of the UI, next to the buttons the scroll through your soldiers. Should be right above your soldiers name.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 21, 2012, 03:55:32 PM
Dumb question..how do you get the turn to end if you only want some soldiers to expend 1 action point versus both points? Seems I always have to make everyone do two.
You can hit the backspace button to end your turn and that will end your turn for all if you are ready to end.
PE
Thanks guys
Quote from: W8taminute on October 21, 2012, 03:26:51 PM
This whole thing about letting the rookies gain experience reminds me of the differences in doctrine between the Luftwaffe and the USAAF during WWII.
Luftwaffe aces tended to be worked to death until after establishing an impressive number of kills then to die with nothing but rookies with no training to replace them. Meanwhile, aces in the USAAF would get rotated out of combat and train the new rookies so that the experience was evenly spread throughout the team. Yes, each pilot gets a smaller kill tally but most of them got to return home alive.
That's a good observation.
I always just reload, overwatch or hunker down if I only use a single action.
Quote from: Bison on October 21, 2012, 07:09:28 PM
I always just reload, overwatch or hunker down if I only use a single action.
I'll generally use it only if I'm on the second round of reloads. Generally I don't reload everyone at once - half overwatch and half reload. If I go through a round of that without further contact, then I may fast forward the others after issuing reloads to the rest of the team.
My current "A" squad about to embark on their first very hard rated mission.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1076.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw458%2FKushan04%2FX-Com%2FXComGame2012-10-2121-30-21-69_zpsc39b5c24.png&hash=6664c4e05148274c7cf32a63b3418f59d898ff1e)
^Good luck Kushan! I see you've modded the game to have each squad member carry two items. Let us know if that makes the mission any easier.
Last night it took me 8 reloads before I finally beat a very hard UFO landing mission. I lost one man out of my 5 man squad but I captured the Outsider. The lesson that I learned in this mission was 'don't rush up the middle'. Our soldiers are not WH40K Space Marines, they're just regular men and women. The UFO that landed was huge! The tactic that worked in the end was when I went up the left side and entered her from the rear where I proceeded to methodically eliminate the tangos one by one.
Having built up a powerful squad I became complacent, and started thinking "Normal really IS too easy". Then came the mission where you have to raid the alien base. Damn. First time I got wiped out. I'm doing somewhat better the second time (although I lost my best sniper), but a lot of good men and women are going to have to spend some time in the hospital.
Your squad only has one support class medic? Once the aliens start doing 9 or 10 points damage with every attack, deployed three medics on the higher level missions.
Quote from: tgb on October 22, 2012, 06:17:36 AM
Having built up a powerful squad I became complacent, and started thinking "Normal really IS too easy". Then came the mission where you have to raid the alien base. Damn. First time I got wiped out. I'm doing somewhat better the second time (although I lost my best sniper), but a lot of good men and women are going to have to spend some time in the hospital.
I took 2 snipers on that mission and basically stuck them on overwatch. When I needed to move them, I moved them one at a time each turn.
I did play it on easy and lost one guy. Medic was busy
Again, I got complacent, and again I got wiped out. Every time I think I must have killed off everything, here come a few more Berserkers and Flying Discs. I was down to one Support guy, and he got mind-controlled for the loss. I think I'm going to go back and try a different squad makeup - see if having a SHIV along helps.
Quote from: eyebiter on October 22, 2012, 06:27:22 AM
Your squad only has one support class medic? Once the aliens start doing 9 or 10 points damage with every attack, deployed three medics on the higher level missions.
The mod I'm using give soldiers starting health. So when a rookie takes a hit unless its a crit, they wont immediately get killed. Because of that, and because my other medic was in the hospital for 30 days, I only used 1 medic. I'm also playing on normal instead of the mod authors suggested of classic.
Quote from: W8taminute on October 22, 2012, 05:09:44 AM
^Good luck Kushan! I see you've modded the game to have each squad member carry two items. Let us know if that makes the mission any easier.
So far there are things with the mod I'm using I really like and things I don't. I like how you don't start off with 2 accessory slots, you don't get it until you get carapace armor. It doesn't feel unbalancing, yet. I just got that ability right before the mission I posted. And I like how rookies start out with more health. I don't like what he did to panic. Panic now only goes up in the countries you don't do a mission in, not that entire continent. Since doing a mission now lowers an entire continents panic the game loses the feel of having too many fires with too few resources. I'm going to finish out my current campaign, then go in and do some personal changes to the files.
Quote from: W8taminute on October 22, 2012, 05:09:44 AM
Last night it took me 8 reloads before I finally beat a very hard UFO landing mission. I lost one man out of my 5 man squad but I captured the Outsider. The lesson that I learned in this mission was 'don't rush up the middle'. Our soldiers are not WH40K Space Marines, they're just regular men and women. The UFO that landed was huge! The tactic that worked in the end was when I went up the left side and entered her from the rear where I proceeded to methodically eliminate the tangos one by one.
I did a mission at an observatory last night. Most of my team was pinned down. I sent my medic up to the top of the main building to flank and she discovered two mutons on the top. She got blasted, then my team were the ones who got flanked. Lost 3 of my squad that mission all because I got over confident. Every time I get complacent and start thinking how good things are going, something like that always seems to happen.
^Thanks for sharing Kushan. One of the reasons that make this game great is the fact that just when you think a mission is going stellar, out comes a nasty surprise to test your skill.
Can anyone give me some advice on raiding the enemy base? I just discovered the alien base and need to build the key to gain access to it. Although I have some really good squad members I feel like raiding the base is going to be like the Kursk offensive. Even though I've got the best panzers I feel like I'm gonna get shredded by T-34 hordes. I'm scared! :-[
Quote from: W8taminute on October 23, 2012, 07:47:00 AM
^Thanks for sharing Kushan. One of the reasons that make this game great is the fact that just when you think a mission is going stellar, out comes a nasty surprise to test your skill.
Can anyone give me some advice on raiding the enemy base? I just discovered the alien base and need to build the key to gain access to it. Although I have some really good squad members I feel like raiding the base is going to be like the Kursk offensive. Even though I've got the best panzers I feel like I'm gonna get shredded by T-34 hordes. I'm scared! :-[
I'm playing on normal difficulty and didn't have nearly as much trouble as I thought. Sound tactics - a reasonably well-prepared squad. That's the key to success. Just be careful going through it. *Always* move one move, then set to overwatch. You should be good to go.
As I said above - I had a medic, 1 support and 2 snipers.
Take grenades - much more useful than armour unless your member is low on points. I had a rookie with level 6 health - so I put extra armour on her to make her 9 in total. The rest of my squad were all around 9 or 10.
3 people had grenades, the medic had health. keep your medic mid ground and send the other two forward - NEVER going into dash unless to run away...and don't be afraid to head backwards to bring the aliens back into the los of the snipers. Keep your snipers at the rear moving forward when clear or to a better LOS. Obvious traits for the snipers like enhanced accuracy and shooting AFTER moving are handy.
If you've got good snipers, even better. They do alot of damage. If there is more than 2 or 3 - it's worth a grenade. Thos things with the legs that make zombies out of you - I'd rather run than risk damaging one only to have it kill me and zombiefy me anyway.
Slow - cover and move is the best way. You'll normally get attacked with at least 3 aliens at a time.
I found it stressful but not overly difficult - but I was playing on Easy. Having said that I had a rookie Assault class and a rookie sniper. I lost my best sniper. He was hit and I didn't actually know (it was the first time I saw it) he was bleeding out each turn. By the time I'd realised - he was toast.
I took another stab at the base, and while it wasn't a piece of cake, it was a lot easier. This time I waited until I could afford Titan armor and Plasma weapons for everyone, and dropped one of my Assault squad members in favor of a Goliath (fortunately I have yet to be hit with the SHIV bug). No deaths and minimal injuries.
All good advice guys. Sounds like I might want to hold off bringing my SHIV with me on this mission though. Not sure if the bug is affecting the XBOX version of the game but I don't want to take any chances being so close to finishing this game.
I just produced my first SHIV but I'm so happy with my current crop of Humans that I didn't deploy it. Looked over my squad and decided, "Nope, I'm good."
Well the SHIV bug got me so I'm using humans now.
What is the "SHIV bug"?
There was a bunch of unused code in the game called "Second Wave". Modders have accessed it and rolled it into a mod that you can get from Nexus.
http://xcom.nexusmods.com/mods/7 (http://xcom.nexusmods.com/mods/7)
While going through the files I found the second wave options and after a little bit of testing with them enabled they appear to work BUT I can't vouch they will all work perfectly. The menu with the options works just fine. You will have to complete the game before these options will show up.
To access the new options you need to first beat the game and then start a new game, you'll notice the options will be there where you pick the difficulty for the game. The new options for second wave are:
WORKS Damage Roulette: Weapons have a much wider range of damage
WORKS New Economy: The funding offered by individual council members is randomized
WORKS Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats
Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, their stats will increase randomly
BUGGED Red Fog: Any wounds taken in combat will degrade a soldier's stats for that mission
Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot will guarantee a critical hit
WORKS The Greater Good: The secret of psionics can only be learned by interrogating a psionic alien
WORKS Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete
Results Driven: A country will offer less funding as it's panic level increases
WORKS High Stakes: The rewards granted for stopping alien abductions are randomized
WORKS Diminishing Returns: The cost of satellites increases with every one that is built
WORKS The Blitz: The aliens will target a larger number of cities every time they launch an abduction attack
More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare
The Nexus has a number of cool mods. Only one I have running is the graphics mod. It does a great job upping the looks of everything. I will try some of the game balance mods once I finish my current game. I'm also waiting for the next patch to fix a few of the game altering bugs.
The DLC for the elite soldier was released today. How the hell do I claim them in game?
Rolled my SHIV out for my first party. Worked OK. It's a bit fragile. Troopers with armor take a little damage and aren't wounded and out of the fight for a few days. The SHIV OTOH took three or four points of damage and is out for three days of repair. Fortunately the aliens don't attack more than every few days right now.
Quote from: LongBlade on October 23, 2012, 06:54:25 PM
Rolled my SHIV out for my first party. Worked OK. It's a bit fragile. Troopers with armor take a little damage and aren't wounded and out of the fight for a few days. The SHIV OTOH took three or four points of damage and is out for three days of repair. Fortunately the aliens don't attack more than every few days right now.
You really want to wait until you can build the Goliath (Ally SHIV). It's like Timex. (Kids, ask your parents)
So anyone use these supposed elite troopers I got with the pre-order?
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 23, 2012, 11:02:44 AM
What is the "SHIV bug"?
You will not be able to deploy SHIVs into battle after the first one. So now it's just waste of money.
Holy crap. Am I the only one tracking the DLC was released today? I mean it might be possible that I've been using it the whole time. However I don't recall getting an elite troop.
Bison, there aren't any elite soldiers in the DLC. What you get is the Old XCOM hair style, and a variant armour style for most of the armours in game. You also get the ability to set the color of the armour. Useful for puting your rookies in red so they stand out during play.
There is new DLC on the horizon with little 3-5 mission "side quests" where your team deploys to a location to do some things, get some friends/bling and then jet back to base to continue on the good fight. Cool thing is new region specific art and maybe some new toys.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 23, 2012, 08:42:12 PM
Bison, there aren't any elite soldiers in the DLC. What you get is the Old XCOM hair style, and a variant armour style for most of the armours in game. You also get the ability to set the color of the armour. Useful for puting your rookies in red so they stand out during play.
Hmm...lame. I have been using it the whole time and it certainly didn't make my trooper more elite no matter what color of suit they were wearing!
Thanks for the heads up Capt.
Quote from: jomni on October 23, 2012, 08:33:13 PM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 23, 2012, 11:02:44 AM
What is the "SHIV bug"?
You will not be able to deploy SHIVs into battle after the first one. So now it's just waste of money.
Well, that would suck. Let me see if that bug is in my game. BRB
Quote from: LongBlade on October 23, 2012, 08:45:35 PM
Quote from: jomni on October 23, 2012, 08:33:13 PM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 23, 2012, 11:02:44 AM
What is the "SHIV bug"?
You will not be able to deploy SHIVs into battle after the first one. So now it's just waste of money.
Well, that would suck. Let me see if that bug is in my game. BRB
OK, I'm good.
I did notice the sound cuts out a little.
Also, I fully upgraded my SHIV before making one, so it levitates and has a plasma cannon on the mark 1 issue. Maybe that helps?
Yeah maybe the upgrade helps. Any SHIVs destroye in battle in your game? Mike was destroyed and the replacement refuses to deploy. And to think these robots should not have morale issues. Lol
Anyone else having a low alloy supply problem? There just never seems to be enough...
Never seems to be enough money or resources most of the time. Hitting the base and large ufos will get you good amounts of alloy. And other things too.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 24, 2012, 08:16:45 AM
Never seems to be enough money or resources most of the time. Hitting the base and large ufos will get you good amounts of alloy. And other things too.
I've been avoiding hitting the base...is that what triggers the end game? I have a very experienced and fairly well equipped team of 6 commandos. I'm thinking I could take it down, but I don't want the game to end.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 24, 2012, 08:21:48 AM
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 24, 2012, 08:16:45 AM
Never seems to be enough money or resources most of the time. Hitting the base and large ufos will get you good amounts of alloy. And other things too.
I've been avoiding hitting the base...is that what triggers the end game? I have a very experienced and fairly well equipped team of 6 commandos. I'm thinking I could take it down, but I don't want the game to end.
Attacking the base is just the beginning.
There are lots of useless stuff from crashed ships that you can sell. But still money is hard to come by and spending them is easy. This leads to lots of tough choices.
Quote from: jomni on October 24, 2012, 08:38:03 AM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 24, 2012, 08:21:48 AM
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 24, 2012, 08:16:45 AM
Never seems to be enough money or resources most of the time. Hitting the base and large ufos will get you good amounts of alloy. And other things too.
I've been avoiding hitting the base...is that what triggers the end game? I have a very experienced and fairly well equipped team of 6 commandos. I'm thinking I could take it down, but I don't want the game to end.
There are lots of useless stuff from crashed ships that you can sell. But still money is hard to come by and spending them is easy. This leads to lots of tough choices.
Yeah...my problem isn't money, its alloy. I sell plenty of crap in the grey market. Wish there was a way to manufacture or convert money into alloy. UFO landings and crashes seem too far and few between.
I read at another site that you want to assault that base earlier rather than later. The game adjusts the alien types you encounter based on how developed your tech and troops are. Last night I decided not to wait anymore and launched the attack. Everyone died but that was my own doing. Basically this mission looks easy enough and now that I'm familiar with the layout of the battlefield and retry the mission tonight but more carefully.
I don't have any alloy problems. At last count I believe I have 148 units. My problem is the lack of chyrsallid corpses so I can make chitin armour plates.
I haven't used chitin armor at all.
What benefits does it give you and who do you assign it to?
Quote from: jomni on October 24, 2012, 05:04:47 PM
I haven't used chitin armor at all.
What benefits does it give you and who do you assign it to?
supposed to reduce melee damage. only two units that do melee. berserker and chrysalid. i have found no need for it. on my 2nd playthrough on normal difficulty, perhaps you might find a use for it on classic or impossible. i have only used archangel once and that was to get the achievement for killing an enemy while airborne. i stick with carapace until i get titan and ghost.
Titan is very useful.
I've developed the tech for Ghost but not made any yet.
I now have psyonic armor. Is that any good?
Is thet a defense from psyonic attacks? [Update: Psyonic protection is a separate accessory]
Chitan plate is good to have on one or more of your forward assault units who you use to open doors or to scout forward to find bad guys.
A word to the wise: Battleships are mega tough.
I took my elite-ist team into one and still lost two senior, senior members (one or both colonels - not exactly sure). Three others took damage. It was u-g-l-y. But I won.
I'm still weighing the cost on that because now I'm toting around my SHIV and two n00bs who can't hit squat on these uber uparmored aliens. Fortunately I have accelerated healing. It can't come fast enough.
Battleships must be like bases in size and content I would suspect. I need to get my B-Team upped a bit so I'm ready. I have a few vets who could use some serious R&R before hitting the overseerers and battleships. I also need to crank out a suit or two of ghost for my snipers. Too many wants and not enough cash...
Not sure if anyone noticed, but in case you missed the pre order special of getting the elite soldier dlc, looks like now available for purchase.
Does anybody know what triggers the aliens to scale up and get tougher during the game? Is it number of missions you have run, the tech advances you have made, or the highest rank of one of your soldiers?
Want to figure out if there is a way to slow down how tough the opponents are or otherwise control it by the pace the player sets.
Quote from: W.S. Hancock on October 28, 2012, 02:21:40 PM
Does anybody know what triggers the aliens to scale up and get tougher during the game? Is it number of missions you have run, the tech advances you have made, or the highest rank of one of your soldiers?
Want to figure out if there is a way to slow down how tough the opponents are or otherwise control it by the pace the player sets.
It depends on the level at which you are playing. On normal they scale with your techs, which means if you do the base raid as soon as it comes up you may not encounter anything stronger than a Berzerker or Chrysalid. On Classic they advance on their own timetable.
Speaking of increasing toughness of the aliens, my current game on Classic is now at an end. Because I made some terrible mistakes in the beginning which ultimately led to my extremely limited income I just can't field the necessary weaponry to fight the mechanised aliens or the armored mutons. I'm going to have to start all over again and try to do better with the lessons I've learned.
Unfortunately I'm so burnt out from having to play each and every mission over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again until I win that I'm not going to be touching XCOM for quite a while. The beginning missions where challenging but could be completed on the first try. The later missions are just life draining events that I have no stomach for anymore. I mean when your top level snipers and assault class soldiers are equipped with plasma weapons and can't hit the broadside of a barn it's time to give up. It's getting old to have 4 men in perfect position all miss a beserker at medium range and then to lose those soldiers one by one on subsequent turns.
I'm not going to step down the difficulty on my next playthrough as I think I've figured out how the pattern of battle works in this game but damn it if none of your troops can hit anything because the computer is dead set on killing your elites I just want to reach out and choke Sid Meier. You gotta give me a chance to do some damage, I mean really.
Finished the game on Normal Ironman. It was a very satisfying experience. Overall, there is a decent amount of challenge (I loose some battles, and had a lot of soldiers killed) but not frustrating since I can still continue with what troops I have left. It seems that my performance was worse compared to the rest (it shows your stats vs. the world in the end). It took me more time, and lost more men. But I guess the other players don't play Ironman and just do the story objectives as soon as they are available.
I may be moving to Classic but the though of it is dreadful. At least I learned some lessons in my Normal game. I spent 30 hours on Normal so it will be a while for me to start another game.
I think it took me 31 hours to finish on Normal Ironman, but I had to resort to an .ini file hack to pull the game out of Ironman at the end as the final assault was bugged and I couldn't progress.
Quote from: tgb on October 28, 2012, 03:40:25 PM
Quote from: W.S. Hancock on October 28, 2012, 02:21:40 PM
Does anybody know what triggers the aliens to scale up and get tougher during the game? Is it number of missions you have run, the tech advances you have made, or the highest rank of one of your soldiers?
Want to figure out if there is a way to slow down how tough the opponents are or otherwise control it by the pace the player sets.
It depends on the level at which you are playing. On normal they scale with your techs, which means if you do the base raid as soon as it comes up you may not encounter anything stronger than a Berzerker or Chrysalid. On Classic they advance on their own timetable.
So a strategy of not researching any/few techs, while trying to get one soldier quickly up to Major to buy the bonus willpower increase at each promotion, while keeping most of the rest of the squad as undeveloped as possible (so they can benefit from the bigger willpower increase at each rank promotion) would be valid? Or would it get shredded as my weapons and armor would not be able to hold up at original techs during the 7-8 missions that would be necessary to rush someone up to Major?
Quote from: W.S. Hancock on October 28, 2012, 07:43:28 PM
Quote from: tgb on October 28, 2012, 03:40:25 PM
Quote from: W.S. Hancock on October 28, 2012, 02:21:40 PM
Does anybody know what triggers the aliens to scale up and get tougher during the game? Is it number of missions you have run, the tech advances you have made, or the highest rank of one of your soldiers?
Want to figure out if there is a way to slow down how tough the opponents are or otherwise control it by the pace the player sets.
It depends on the level at which you are playing. On normal they scale with your techs, which means if you do the base raid as soon as it comes up you may not encounter anything stronger than a Berzerker or Chrysalid. On Classic they advance on their own timetable.
So a strategy of not researching any/few techs, while trying to get one soldier quickly up to Major to buy the bonus willpower increase at each promotion, while keeping most of the rest of the squad as undeveloped as possible (so they can benefit from the bigger willpower increase at each rank promotion) would be valid? Or would it get shredded as my weapons and armor would not be able to hold up at original techs during the 7-8 missions that would be necessary to rush someone up to Major?
I upgraded my guys gradually, trying to spread the development around. If I was winning on the ground, I tried to remember to upgrade my air units before they were entirely outclassed. I think I'm finally at the end game.
Finally beat the game. w00t!
Way to go Zabek-san. I'm close to jumping off on the final mission. Working my Psi troops a bit and smoking aliens with blaster bombs. Good times. My main heavy is 2-3 kills from the century mark.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 30, 2012, 07:03:51 PM
Way to go Zabek-san. I'm close to jumping off on the final mission. Working my Psi troops a bit and smoking aliens with blaster bombs. Good times. My main heavy is 2-3 kills from the century mark.
Cool. Unfortunately my game locked up as I was looking over the final stats.
That blows. There is a patch in the works.
Quote from: Capn Darwin on October 31, 2012, 07:18:34 AM
That blows. There is a patch in the works.
It could be my machine, too. My video card works great until it doesn't. I'm just hanging on until I can consistently point to failure for a trip to the shop.
I beat it tonight. I had taken a week off from it to play other stuff, then jumped back in to finish it off. Nice end game. My stats looked good overall, but it is clear from looking at the stats vs. others that there is more than one way to play. Snipers at the Colonel level....damn. I had two and they were slaughterhouses. Good game which I will play again. And I'm bad about not finishing a game, so kudos to XCom for hooking me and for a job well done.