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I think the first Slingshot mission is literally impossible on Impossible. It's always in Month 1 so you have four guys with frag nades and assault rifles (at the very least I had one of every class), you have a VIP to protect, and it's raining Thin Men and in the end you get a Muton.  Even if you aren't hosed by the Thin Men spawning behind you, you will die to the poison clouds. I wound up savescumming the gently caress out of that one because I just wanted the achievement and I don't want to start a new Classic campaign just to check out the DLC.
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Apr 29, 2013 10:17
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I prefer holotargetting personally. The plus ten helps on poo poo. HEAT ammo is amazing for dealing with robits of various sizes and shapes. Cyberdiscs, sectopods, and drones, get annhillated by it. Its not just shooting damage but ALL damage the heavy produces. Rockets, grenades, the bonus damage from that colonel ranked skill. And the most important thing about classic is grenades. They are your best loving friend.
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Apr 29, 2013 10:17
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Heavies and snipers are the only classes that can attack and be almost 100% safe from return fire. Snipers by squad sight and hanging back out of sight, heavies by bullet swarm. Shoot, hunker down. Granted it's terrible accuracy, but if you're stuck and can't flank it's an option.
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Apr 29, 2013 11:14
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A mate of mine just started on classic after doing the tutorial on normal. His first mission was a success and all four of his rookies rolled Heavy. I wouldn't have believed him if not for the screenshot.
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Apr 29, 2013 11:17
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Antti posted:I think the first Slingshot mission is literally impossible on Impossible. It's always in Month 1 so you have four guys with frag nades and assault rifles (at the very least I had one of every class), you have a VIP to protect, and it's raining Thin Men and in the end you get a Muton. The first DLC mission is easy. You're just running through it too quickly. Take it turn by turn and overwatch a lot. Enemies are dropped in based upon how far you move, so keep your moves small and you'll do fine.
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Apr 29, 2013 13:04
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Fangz posted:At the xcom command school, the teacher clears his throat. Addressing the class, he asks: "can you list the things this commander did wrong?" Heh yeah, first thing I thought too. Easy to classic, a pretty punishing progression!
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Apr 29, 2013 13:14
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bobfather posted:The first DLC mission is easy. You're just running through it too quickly. Take it turn by turn and overwatch a lot. Enemies are dropped in based upon how far you move, so keep your moves small and you'll do fine. Oh, poo poo. I was trying to blitz through it because I reasoned the Thin Men spawns were time based.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:00
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Ain't nothing quite like a conga line of overwatched soldiers all opening up on a single Thin Man dropping out of the sky.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:06
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Antti posted:Oh, poo poo. I was trying to blitz through it because I reasoned the Thin Men spawns were time based.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:07
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Antti posted:Oh, poo poo. I was trying to blitz through it because I reasoned the Thin Men spawns were time based. The next slingshot mission is timed, but not this one. The subway can go to hell.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:19
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bobfather posted:The first DLC mission is easy. You're just running through it too quickly. Take it turn by turn and overwatch a lot. Enemies are dropped in based upon how far you move, so keep your moves small and you'll do fine. They also always spawn in the same places, so once you've done it a few times, you can park your soldiers two squares away from where you know they'll spawn. That puts you close enough to be almost guaranteed a hit, without getting poisoned by the cloud when the Thin Man dies. Now, the second DLC mission is legitimately hard. I pretty much always end up putting it off at least a full month, until my snipers have lasers.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:22
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Train mission wasn't too bad, but I postponed it until I had lasers (sniper rifles and ARs), carapace and a team of six. Although it did go to the wire, I made it to the console on literally the last turn.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:45
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Antti posted:Train mission wasn't too bad, but I postponed it until I had lasers (sniper rifles and ARs), carapace and a team of six. Although it did go to the wire, I made it to the console on literally the last turn. I did not know I could postpone it. It was brutal (on Classic). It really felt like it could have used one more turn and things would have gone down differently for me.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:51
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The train mission got a lot easier for me if you use the same-turn switch trick, which lets you turn on those buttons after a dash (as long as you have one guy with a move left). Cuts down a turn or two, depending on the set-up.
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Apr 29, 2013 15:52
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Tae posted:The train mission got a lot easier for me if you use the same-turn switch trick, which lets you turn on those buttons after a dash (as long as you have one guy with a move left). Cuts down a turn or two, depending on the set-up. I wish this bug was usable on the console version of the game.
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Apr 29, 2013 17:20
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beerinator posted:I did not know I could postpone it. It was brutal (on Classic). It really felt like it could have used one more turn and things would have gone down differently for me. I didn't either, but when it popped up I went "yeah that's not happening", refused it, it went away and came back later on its own. I didn't detect any negative consequences either.
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Apr 29, 2013 17:37
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Antti posted:Oh, poo poo. I was trying to blitz through it because I reasoned the Thin Men spawns were time based. I did an escort mission yesterday without realising this. I'd spread my guys out to provide a safe path for the VIP. The turn after I got him it rained thin men, but everyone was on overwatch and they got slaughtered. It was magnificent.
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Apr 29, 2013 17:38
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The Midniter posted:I wish this bug was usable on the console version of the game. Wait that's a bug? I just assumed it was a convenience thing so you could like, switch a rookie back to their rifle if you forgot to do that before telling them to overwatch since the game doesn't think that takes an action to perform. I can understand the sniper version of that (where you can overwatch with the rifle after moving without snapshot) being considered a bug, but I had assumed that was really the only variation of this which wasn't intended.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:04
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Ernie Muppari posted:Wait that's a bug? I just assumed it was a convenience thing so you could like, switch a rookie back to their rifle if you forgot to do that before telling them to overwatch since the game doesn't think that takes an action to perform. I can understand the sniper version of that (where you can overwatch with the rifle after moving without snapshot) being considered a bug, but I had assumed that was really the only variation of this which wasn't intended. It's almost certainly a bug. If it wasn't, I'd imagine that the game wouldn't auto-end your turn when you're out of moves, but would instead force you to manually end it in case you wanted to change the weapon on the last person you moved or whatever... and, you can't do it in the console versions. Either way, it's not working as intended.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:08
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Antti posted:I think the first Slingshot mission is literally impossible on Impossible. It's always in Month 1 so you have four guys with frag nades and assault rifles (at the very least I had one of every class), you have a VIP to protect, and it's raining Thin Men and in the end you get a Muton. Hoooo... and I thought them throwing a chrysalidiscthing was hard on Classic.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:16
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I decided to go back to single player this weekend because I wanted to play XCOM, but didn't want to put up with the bugs. Then I got 3 failed flanks on one map where I stared aliens in the face, down the side of a truck, and directly across an alley, all laughing at me from their invisible high cover which did not go away when I grenaded them.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:44
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Edgecase posted:I decided to go back to single player this weekend because I wanted to play XCOM, but didn't want to put up with the bugs. Then I got 3 failed flanks on one map where I stared aliens in the face, down the side of a truck, and directly across an alley, all laughing at me from their invisible high cover which did not go away when I grenaded them. Trucks are the worst blocked LOS offenders. This comes from the engine calculating based on actual geometry rather than rules like "parallel tile facing = flank". If you lack a flank due to this bug then there is no reason to expect explosives will fix unless they are adjacent to destructible cover. After all, it is not literally true that the game has an invisible structure that is blocking LOS to the flank side of the target. Rather, the game fails to calculate flank positions accurately if the geometry of structure on the tile is even 1 unit towards the non-flank side OR 1 unit height or depth. You can check for these deformations by running your movement path line directly perpendicular to the expected facing to see if it bends or is completely straight. This is much more difficult to judge when attempting corner flanks.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:54
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Fangz posted:I prefer carapace first. Keeping elite soldiers alive and active for the squad size upgrade is essential in the early game. I've generally consistently managed to hit both carapace and lasers by the first terror mission, anyway. The second rocket is absolutely better than the added damage. While rockets can be great for AOE-ing some things 99% of the time I use them to eliminate cover or walls. When I run two snipers one of them gets in-the-zone. Having a sniper who can take a free shot at anything he flanks and then take a full turn dash to a new flank location can be useful, and more than once in a UFO I've moved my in-the-zone to the side of a bunch of dudes and then blown out a wall with my rocket so that he's actually got line of sight on all of them. My thing about carapace is that on impossible thin men will crit you in full cover from full to dead even with the armor. I play alot of overwatch games and try to set things up so that aliens never get a shot on me unless it's a bait dude hunkered in full cover or something. Try very hard not to get shot. Being able to kill a thin man with one blast from one person is pretty awesome. The game I'm playing now I got to plasma rifles before I was out of skeleton armor. Question. If you hit not now on the DLC council missions do they come up later, or do they start being normal council missions? I actually failed one of the DLC council missions, took too long on the one that's limited to 10 turns, but it came up again the next month. I wish those missions just got offered and you could choose to do them or keep doing other things like when Alien Base pops up and just sits there waiting for you to say yes. Antti posted:I think the first Slingshot mission is literally impossible on Impossible. It's always in Month 1 so you have four guys with frag nades and assault rifles (at the very least I had one of every class), you have a VIP to protect, and it's raining Thin Men and in the end you get a Muton. I had to go into my save folder and copy the save file several times to savescum my way through this on Ironman Impossible. I just completely restarted the mission after losing like 7 times when it finally gave me a gift and put four thin men in range to all get grenaded, which gave me the breathing room I needed to get everyone though. If you hate the mission enough and you're doing well enough you can afford to fail a council mission you can just send the VIP to die and repeat it in month 2 with better equipment. Save your dudes for another fight. TheSpiritFox fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Apr 29, 2013 |
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Apr 29, 2013 20:55
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amanasleep posted:Trucks are the worst blocked LOS offenders. Stairs are even worse. As far as I can tell, stairs in XCOM teleport you to some sort of non-euclidian, 2.5-dimensional hellworld where you can't see anything parallel to the stairs, but can still see up or down them. Or something.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:56
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TheSpiritFox posted:The second rocket is absolutely better than the added damage. The DLC missions work like this: In the first month you have the choice of the DLC or regular council missions. If you do the DLC, you will only get DLC missions until you've finished them. If you choose regular council, you will never see the DLC missions pop up again.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:59
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There's a hilariously infuriating oversight on the second Slingshot mission to watch out for. If you end your turn by moving a guy to the train controls, all the stuff that happens before your next turn happens before it checks to see if you've completed the mission. This means that enemies can still shoot at you, and if you use the very last move to activate it, it shows the mission failure screen over a the train pulling out and Bradford congratulating you.
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Apr 29, 2013 20:59
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Muscle Tracer posted:Stairs are even worse. As far as I can tell, stairs in XCOM teleport you to some sort of non-euclidian, 2.5-dimensional hellworld where you can't see anything parallel to the stairs, but can still see up or down them. Or something. I stand corrected. Stairs are indeed the worst. They are easier to manage in practice because they are consistently hosed up, and do not provide cover 99% of the time. Trucks are a frequent source of high cover, and result in the majority of the flanking bugs that I encounter.
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Apr 29, 2013 21:01
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busb posted:Thin men have 4 on classic and 5 on impossible. I agree with everything this guy posted. But really if a tactic/skillset makes sense and works for you, then try it and see what happens!
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Apr 29, 2013 21:17
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Decided to go for the all research achievement. Which aliens do I need to worry about disappearing completely? Sectoids, Sectoid Commanders, Floaters and Mutons?
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Apr 29, 2013 21:26
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Olive Branch posted:Thin Men have 6 HP on Impossible, actually. They do. This is why I rush lasers. It is possible for a 4 man squad to shoot at one thin man and with ARs they can hit twice and still not kill him. With laser rifles 2 shots will kill a thin man every time and sometimes you get a lucky crit and get them in one. Plus lasers and overwatch traps are funny. It's kinda satisfying to see one thin man and four laser beams tagging his skull. Prison Warden posted:Decided to go for the all research achievement. Which aliens do I need to worry about disappearing completely? Sectoids, Sectoid Commanders, Floaters and Mutons? Sectoid commanders and floaters maybe? I actually was wondering about this. I'm at the Alien Base in my impossible game, Titan and Plasma and moutons and zerkers are regular mission fare, but I've seen sectoid and thin man packs on large abductor shoot downs within the last two missions. Did they change that and start making things continue to show up through the end game so you don't run out of sectoid bodies to make items with and such? I stopped playing for a long time, I think I put xcom down like 3 months after release and just now started playing again, did that get changed in a patch? I never ever used to see sectoids and thin men on abductor shoot downs or landings and never really after mutons showed up unless it was a council mission or a random late game abduction. Hell, it feels like I shouldn't be seeing abductions anymore. No UFOs are escaping me, used to be I just got terror, UFO shoot downs or landings, and council missions by now while I get set up for the Alien Base (I always do it late). But with full sat coverage I still get one once in a while. TheSpiritFox fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Apr 29, 2013 |
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Apr 29, 2013 21:26
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Prison Warden posted:Decided to go for the all research achievement. Which aliens do I need to worry about disappearing completely? Sectoids, Sectoid Commanders, Floaters and Mutons? Yeah, make sure to always bring a stun guy and just collect stunned aliens early and often. Those three are the ones I'd make sure to hit ASAP. Them and thin men just to get TM off the list, but those show up forever on Council missions so it's not a huge deal. I usually brought an assault because lightning reflexes helps get in close or a support with sprinter so I could get up close without having to dash. Good points to stop and make sure you have everything you should are plot missions, i.e. alien base, Overseer ship, that kind of thing. And don't slack off on the endgame. When I went for it I had to page through the entire list of research in one hand and my game in the other to realize I'd forgotten to stun a heavy floater and a berserker. I got regular floaters and just sort of assumed I'd gotten a heavy at some point, but no. Berserkers just triggered my MUST KILL WITH ALLOY CANNON response. Stunning one of those assholes was trickier than it should be since they move after you shoot and have a bucket of hp to burn through but not too much or else you just kill them. Crit snipers!
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Apr 29, 2013 21:31
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Prison Warden posted:Decided to go for the all research achievement. Which aliens do I need to worry about disappearing completely? Sectoids, Sectoid Commanders, Floaters and Mutons? The low tier enemies will still show up during some council and panic missions even during late game, but it's still best to get the ones you listed out of the way early on, if only for the handy plasma weaponry.
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Apr 29, 2013 21:37
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I used to abuse the overwatch flank bug to capture enemies, but I find it way more satisfying to leave one enemy standing, chip away at him with pistols/frags, use Disabling Shot with Snipers (especially since Battle Scanner bugs the hell out of alien patrols) and then dash in while it reloads.
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Apr 29, 2013 21:39
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If Arc Throwers didn't have limited ammunition, I would play every single non-chryssalid/robot encounter like a miniature, high-stakes game of Pokemon. Disabling Shot, mind control, suppression, and the occasional emergency medkit take me back to trying to catch a Zapdos 
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Apr 29, 2013 21:44
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amanasleep posted:I stand corrected. Stairs are indeed the worst. They are easier to manage in practice because they are consistently hosed up, and do not provide cover 99% of the time. Trucks are a frequent source of high cover, and result in the majority of the flanking bugs that I encounter. Trucks and stairs are both bad, for sure. Still, only one was on a truck. The other was a point-blank corner flank around a roof vent, and one of them was a sectoid standing like a deer in the headlights against the outside wall of a building, giving me the finger from his invisible full cover. Some day, I look forward to actually being able to play this game by its own rules instead of its apparently lack thereof.
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Apr 29, 2013 21:51
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Edgecase posted:Trucks and stairs are both bad, for sure. Still, only one was on a truck. The other was a point-blank corner flank around a roof vent, and one of them was a sectoid standing like a deer in the headlights against the outside wall of a building, giving me the finger from his invisible full cover. Technically, the game is following its own rules. They are just stupid ones.
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Apr 29, 2013 22:01
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Id loving kill to make arc throwers have infinite uses and longer range. Or so that they could be used after run and gunning.
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Apr 29, 2013 22:10
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The discussion has changed now, but Slingshot mission 2 is easy, even on Impossible. 1. Rush all your guys along the right side of the screen, up to the first area that you can climb up to. Keep everyone close to the ladder. 2. At the beginning of your next turn, move a guy up the ladder to an edge and have him activate the baddies. Should be 2-4 thin men. Now waste them using your elevation aim advantage. Also kill the muton that drops right next to the raised area. 3. Once they're all dead, leave one guy on that roof area (like a SS sniper), and run everyone else ahead. That guy is responsible for activating the first node, but DON'T DO IT YET. 4. Run ahead until you get to the next area with a roof. I like to position a heavy in full cover at the right-most edge of the building. This will activate some thin men, so bring your other dudes up onto the roof and waste them like you did with the other thin men. This may activate 2 more thin men, so you can try to kill them, or just hunker down and pray nobody gets critted. 5. Rocket the last two thin men, or take them out with your dudes from the roof. 6. Now, move each of your squad members to a node. If you were smart and rushed squad size 1, you can put 4 people on a node and 1 guy in the train and end the mission right then and there. You won't have to deal with the bad guys that activate when you start activating the nodes.
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Apr 29, 2013 22:17
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SpookyLizard posted:Id loving kill to make arc throwers have infinite uses and longer range. Or so that they could be used after run and gunning. Yeah, why can't the arc thrower be used after running/gunning anyway? It seems like such a no-brainer way to use that skill.
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Apr 29, 2013 22:27
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Ernie Muppari posted:Yeah, why can't the arc thrower be used after running/gunning anyway? It seems like such a no-brainer way to use that skill. Because it's an item. The same reason you can't run and grenade or run and medkit. 
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Apr 29, 2013 22:34
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