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Jabor posted:I believe soldiers get experience for being part of a mission where no-one dies. It's not a lot (less than getting a single kill, in fact), but it does add up, especially for classes like Heavies that do a lot of softening up for other people to get the kill. Here's the XP table, posted way back by GrumbleGrumble:  For readability's sake I'm not going to spoiler all of this, but if you don't want the veil pulled back on XCOM's unit progression, don't read this post. They obviously hid this system for a good reason: they don't want players having to worry about XP all the time. If you read all this you may no longer have that luxury. All data is pulled from the scripts & ini files and could be incorrectly interpreted. code: The Better Alien BonusThis bonus is awesome, it gives you extra XP for a kill and a 1.5x multiplier at the end of the mission (netting 180 XP on hard missions). Units become eligible for this bonus if their rank is less than Captain, and they kill one of these aliens during the mission: Chryssalid, Sectoid Commander, Muton Elite, Muton Berserker, Sectopod, Ethereal, EtherealUber* Level Up Notification The in game level up alert is only displayed if you get a kill that causes the soldier to meet the next level requirement. XP required for rank code:Use Mind Control (+20 PSI XP) Use Mindfray (+20 PSI XP) Use PSI Panic (+30 PSI XP) Use PSI Inspiration (+30 PSI XP) Use Telekinetic Field (???) Affected by PSI inspiration (+30 PSI XP) PSI XP Required for rank 0 : Level 1 50 : Level 2 120 : Level 3
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May 28, 2013 08:11
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Olive Branch posted:Wow, first turn of a landed UFO mission on I/I and I get four Mutons, two Berserkers, and three Heavy Floaters all up in my face. I just overwatched all my folks after setting up and HELLO THERE EVERYONE. It's the one where you land next to the UFO isn't it. Of course it is.
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May 28, 2013 10:04
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Classic mode, small UFO landed. Walked into three sectoids. Okay, no problem, right? Then a herd of three thin men wander in with full cover. Hit rates are 5%, 5%, and 7%. 
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May 28, 2013 10:27
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I wish there was a way to mod it so that Council missions would be more likely to have some of the other types, such as asset recovery. Or hell, even an escort mission reusing the Slingshot map with someone else to escort would be fine. Just not the same 3 loving scenarios over and over.
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May 28, 2013 17:36
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SeaTard posted:I wish there was a way to mod it so that Council missions would be more likely to have some of the other types, such as asset recovery. Or hell, even an escort mission reusing the Slingshot map with someone else to escort would be fine. Just not the same 3 loving scenarios over and over. The train station map from Slingshot would actually make a pretty cool Terror Mission, I'm thinking.
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May 28, 2013 17:53
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Last time I was at the alien base in my now-abandoned game, it was a bunch of rookies 'cos everyone else had died. They did really well! In the last section through the final door, I activated some chryssalids and my 'damage roulette' made me unable to kill them, they killed 3 of my guys then the final sectoid killed the last 3. This time, I had 5 of my guys before that final door, and all of my dudes were captain/lieutenant. Carapace, laser rifles/sniper/shotguns. I heard something right where that group of cryssalids had been last time, so I sent my assault guy to activate them after setting everyone else up. He activated 2 drones and 2 groups of 3 chrysalids, and then ran the gently caress back. All of them were standing in a neat little bunch but my heavy with 2 rockets, was the guy who'd died. The other heavy had only one rocket and used it up. Thankfully, due to the close combat perk, the suppressing fire on a group perk, and the carapace armour (took 3 cryssalid strikes to kill my assault) I was able to kill them with only losing two guys this time, and finished the mission with 3 left. It makes a massive difference having a 'good' game where things go well, like in this current game (although the extra 3 chrysalids hosed me) The last game I played I was just losing really hard. I think playing slingshot makes the game considerably harder. This time I just refused the slingshot missions.
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May 28, 2013 19:43
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On a side note: Garth DeAngelis asked on Twitter what we were playing last weekend. To which I responded directly to him with the most obvious answer available, but also asking if there were "any new threats in the horizon". He replied yesterday: "the forecast is murky but ominous". I get unreasonably excited with the tiniest hints of future content for XCOM, it's ridiculous.
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May 28, 2013 20:47
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I tried to play this game again. Last time I touched it was about a week after release. I never beat it, I think I got bogged down trying to clear supply ships and then just kinda forgot about it. I've found that I just don't have the luck for this game. First mission, I activate group and fall back to full cover. Immediately get one shotted from across the (small) map. It's like Murphy had materialized to deliver a swift kick to the balls himself. All I can do is throw my hands up in defeat. I decided to try and watch some videos of people playing impossible to try and crib some playstyles to not die so fast. This guy is the first result. I don't know how he does it. He has luck I could only dream about. 60% shots might as well be misses outright for me. Is impossible somehow easier than classic in some ways?
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May 28, 2013 21:48
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nacon posted:The train station map from Slingshot would actually make a pretty cool Terror Mission, I'm thinking. Aliens use the train to move and then detonate a plasma warhead? You're charged not with disarming the bomb, but stopping the train from leaving?
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May 28, 2013 21:51
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Broose posted:Is impossible somehow easier than classic in some ways? The ONLY way Impossible is easier is that the alien numbers are so much higher that you'll be swimming in quite a few more corpses and weapon fragments.
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May 28, 2013 21:53
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Broose posted:I tried to play this game again. Last time I touched it was about a week after release. I never beat it, I think I got bogged down trying to clear supply ships and then just kinda forgot about it. I've found that I just don't have the luck for this game. First mission, I activate group and fall back to full cover. Immediately get one shotted from across the (small) map. Broose, listen. This is XCOM. Seriously. There is NOTHING out of the ordinary in what you're reporting here. Getting instantly killed by an alien all the way across the map is not unusual at all. Casualties happen. They happen a lot, really. The beauty of this game lies in taking a deep breath and pushing forward regardless of your luck. Do it and then report back with your stories. Remember, defeat only happens when 8 council members leave the project. The game doesn't end with a status black. The game doesn't end if you run out of soldiers and are left with rookies. The game doesn't end if 7 countries leave the project. You're very far from defeat, from what you're saying. This is XCOM, remember this.
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May 28, 2013 22:06
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Broose posted:I tried to play this game again. Last time I touched it was about a week after release. I never beat it, I think I got bogged down trying to clear supply ships and then just kinda forgot about it. I've found that I just don't have the luck for this game. First mission, I activate group and fall back to full cover. Immediately get one shotted from across the (small) map. 60% shots might as well be misses, full stop. You can't rely on them to hit. It's better to hunker down and make sure your guy lives to maneuver into a better position next turn than take a low percentage shot and hope the other guy dies. A 60% shot is a 40% chance of an alien shooting at you next turn. Also, people will die. Lots of people will die. Don't sweat one death.
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May 28, 2013 22:10
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Dr. Stab posted:60% shots might as well be misses, full stop. You can't rely on them to hit. It's better to hunker down and make sure your guy lives to maneuver into a better position next turn than take a low percentage shot and hope the other guy dies. A 60% shot is a 40% chance of an alien shooting at you next turn. What do you do when there are 3 sectoid commanders and you've used up all of your explosives? With your non-shotgun guys you basically just have to shoot, shoot, shoot. I have no idea why they have such high defense.
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May 28, 2013 22:13
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But won't anyone think of the rookies?!
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May 28, 2013 22:25
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Broose posted:I decided to try and watch some videos of people playing impossible to try and crib some playstyles to not die so fast. This guy is the first result. I don't know how he does it. He has luck I could only dream about. 60% shots might as well be misses outright for me. Is impossible somehow easier than classic in some ways? 60% shots ARE misses in Impossible. At least you should treat them like that. Lots of people save-scumming and posting as if they're playing real Ironman though. Check out Beaglerush's videos if you want to see Impossible tactics. Not so much strategy on the Geoscape though =)
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May 28, 2013 22:27
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redreader posted:What do you do when there are 3 sectoid commanders and you've used up all of your explosives? With your non-shotgun guys you basically just have to shoot, shoot, shoot. I have no idea why they have such high defense. Also, on impossible, if you don't want to get hit, you need to be out of LoS. Simple as that. Sectoids come with 75% aim and 10% crit, which can be boosted to 85% and 35% with mind meld (iirc). They WILL beat your guys in a fair fight. Use grenades to take out their cover, especially of the mind-meld originator.
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May 28, 2013 22:37
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I usually have two heavies, two snipers, a support and an assault. If there are three sectoid in a room, my assault can take one out for sure leaving two. My two snipers are positioned so they can usually hit at least one of them so that takes care of one more. Then I hope that my two heavies, holo-targeting and a support with an LPR is enough to take out the last one. In the worse case scenario, I take one hit from a plasma pistol which is no big deal. This is assuming I'm out of explosives even with two heavies. Multiple Ethereals give me nightmares though. Nothing like getting an Alloy Cannon blast reflected into your face. ChronoReverse fucked around with this message at 22:52 on May 28, 2013 |
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May 28, 2013 22:49
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Additionally, playing classic will show you that half cover is effectively no cover. Impossible will eventually bash into your head that full cover is not reliable cover either, unless you are hunkered down. Hunkering down in full cover is extremely useful for getting aliens to burn shots, and thus not be on overwatch, giving you the freedom to move. You have to be very mindful of the number of potential shots the aliens can fire against you, and if your cover is destructible, though. If the aliens can fire enough shots to destroy the cover and take another shot, then hunkering down in full cover is still dangerous. One of beagles live and impossible videos demonstrated this very clearly. To reiterate, though, hunker down is really, really good. Concealment is the best cover in general. You do sometimes still want to leave someone hunkered on a corner to keep tabs on the enemy / burn their shots / prevent them from backing off into the fog. However, in terms of safety, if they can't see you they can't shoot you. For shots, generally assume that any non 100% shot may miss. That absolutely doesn't mean that you don't take shots that are not 100%. Most shots will not be. Just keep it in mind and try to have backup plans for things that aren't guarantees. Grenades are excellent backup plans. As said before, 60% and below shots are almost never going to be worth the risk. However, if its the last enemy and he has less than a grenade's worth of health, you can take the lower percent shots and save the grenade for last. This is a good idea, because sometimes you will hit them on the 60% shot and you get to keep the grenade. On impossible, you may need double grenades to guarantee a kill on a full health sectoid. That said, no one is ever going to have "perfect play." Above is just general guidelines. A lot of situations will force you to take risks and a lot of the fun in the game is dealing with the specifics of each encounter. Also, on impossible, some maps are just murder streets that make it really hard to follow any of the above advice at all and whelp...
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May 28, 2013 22:53
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Does anyone else find themselves wishing they could just fast forward to the mid-game where you start unlocking (not sure if this is actually spoilery) endgame skills and psyonic abilities from the get-go? The early stages of having to play annoyingly conservativly and having to hope you get lucky with abduction timings/locations is just not fun for me. Even if you do everything right you can still lose multiple countries due to panic. I know, I know "that's XCOM" I think I'm just a huge babby that has a hard time coping with (almost) unavoidable failure and hardships. Although now that I think about it I think I could just switch settings from normal to Classic/Impossible mid-way through a playthrough so I'll probably just wuss out and do that from now on 
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May 28, 2013 22:54
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I find the endgame is kinda a slog since I'm just going through the motions now that I've won the game. I'd even shoot down UFOs and not bother to raid them since I have more than enough materials.
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May 28, 2013 23:02
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ChronoReverse posted:I find the endgame is kinda a slog since I'm just going through the motions now that I've won the game. I'd even shoot down UFOs and not bother to raid them since I have more than enough materials. Yeah I can get that. My issue I just wish you had more to choose from early on instead of nothing but your class ability, fire, overwatch and hunker down. I'd find it a lot more engaging (and challenging) if you and your enemies had more abilities at your disposal from the very start of the game. For example every unit in the game having Suppression as an option.
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May 28, 2013 23:06
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re: 3 sectoid commanders I had 2 assaults without rapid fire, with laser shotguns. I had 2 heavies with no rockets left (5-6 mutons and a cyberdisk spawned at the same time, it was a small ufo!!! ) and heavy lasers I had one sniper at max rank with a plasma sniper rifle, and one support with a normal plasma rifle (didn't take light because his aim was 85+) The sectoids were in a small UFO that had many of its walls (entire front wall) destroyed so they took no cover, but I had a REALLY low chance to hit them. Somehow they weren't flanked when they were standing next to the destroyed walls in the open. My assaults came in from the side and activated the sectoids which split up to a certain extent and ran away from my assaults but towards everyone else. My sniper missed his 46% shot. Both heavies had a 25% chance to hit, one of them used suppression and the other shot and missed. The plasma rifle missed, the chance to hit was also around 50. One of my assaults hit while the other moved closer from a bad position, so no sectoids were dead. Next turn: sectoids mind frayed then mind controlled the assault, the third sectoid shot at or shot one of my guys. I killed one sectoid, the one mindcontrolling my assault. next turn: they mindfrayed then controlled my heavy (who cares, he was out of ammo), Then I killed them. Thankfully none of my guys died but it looked super loving dicey until I had one of them killed.
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May 28, 2013 23:13
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redreader posted:Somehow they weren't flanked when they were standing next to the destroyed walls in the open. Units with no cover can't be flanked, but for all intents and purposes they are flanked by everyone since the penalty for being out of cover is the same as the penalty for being flanked (ie. a flanked alien and an out of cover alien are exactly as easy to hit and crit as each other.).
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May 29, 2013 03:42
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Your sniper had a 46% chance to hit a Sectoid Commander in the open? Are you playing with any of the second wave options (specifically Red Fog) on? Or was your sniper just really close to them? Actually, I have no idea why all your percentage chances are so low, do you happen to have a screenshot?
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May 29, 2013 04:04
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Amazon's running some xcom sales. XCOM for $10... X-COM the collection for $3.75. All three x-com games, plus interceptor and enforcer.
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May 29, 2013 04:25
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I already have the first two, and I know the last two were turds, but Apocalypse has been giving me the tinglies for a while. And I'd just bought War for the Overworld, too!
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May 29, 2013 04:29
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Ravenfood posted:Your sniper had a 46% chance to hit a Sectoid Commander in the open? Are you playing with any of the second wave options (specifically Red Fog) on? Or was your sniper just really close to them? Actually, I have no idea why all your percentage chances are so low, do you happen to have a screenshot? I'm playing with a bunch of them on, but red fog is not one of them and the sniper hadn't been wounded anyway. I didn't take a ss. I do have 'not created equal' on but I tried to get rid of the terrible team members.
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May 29, 2013 04:29
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Sniper rifles get a big aim penalty when you're too close, how close were you?
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May 29, 2013 04:30
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If you're breaching a UFO, of course your sniper will be point blank. That's why I always give my Snipers the best pistols I have so they can unload point blank.
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May 29, 2013 04:39
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Phobophilia posted:If you're breaching a UFO, of course your sniper will be point blank. That's why I always give my Snipers the best pistols I have so they can unload point blank. I always popped mine onto the roof and covered the opposite opening for the smaller ships, or just hung outside the door to wait until the aliens reacted into cover. Open door, flank, oneshot.
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May 29, 2013 06:11
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Anyone had luck splitting your forces on small UFOs, where your breach from opposite ends at once? Open the door away from your sniper first, so they react to that direction, and then your sniper hopefully gets a flank shot in the distance. I'm always scared of doing such a thing unless I'm absolutely certain all outside aliens have been taken care of, as you need to go the long way around a ship (unless you have a skeleton suits) to avoid accidentally activating the commanders from a hole in the wall. Though there is a UFO map where you can walk straight onto the roof because it lands adjacent to a cliff. Abductors are the worse because the aliens run into hard cover and they have room to retreat. And you have to chase them because they normally appear when sectoid commanders are present, and you can not leave them alone or else your troops are getting MC'ed.
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May 29, 2013 06:45
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Almost every time I try to be clever and split up my force, I end up in a terrible situation that I could have resolved if I had simply stuck together. As in DnD, never split the party =/
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May 29, 2013 07:10
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All I did was change his first name, everything else was from the RNG.
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May 29, 2013 07:18
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AMERICA! #1!
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May 29, 2013 07:54
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Phobophilia posted:Anyone had luck splitting your forces on small UFOs, where your breach from opposite ends at once? Open the door away from your sniper first, so they react to that direction, and then your sniper hopefully gets a flank shot in the distance. Isn't that kind of redundant? There's rarely even a single pack inside scout UFOs, so I just clear the outdoors, stack up on the front door and then clear the UFO by sections until I've surrounded both doors leading to the bridge where the commander is. Then breach, from both directions, SWAT4 style 
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May 29, 2013 09:08
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fennesz posted:Does anyone else find themselves wishing they could just fast forward to the mid-game where you start unlocking (not sure if this is actually spoilery) endgame skills and psyonic abilities from the get-go? This is actually related to what I came here to ask: I'm going through the priority missions as fast as I can, and having unlocked Psionics so late in the game my first victory through, I wanna get them as early as possible because they sound really fun to play around with but hosed if I wanna Psi-duel a goddamn Ethereal. What kind of opposition am I gonna face in the Skeleton Key Base assault, and will rushing story missions (not necessarily weapons tech, but I'm prioritizing armor tech because I read early armors will delay the stronger aliens) just hard-introduce enemies into the spawn pool or will I still just run into regular Mutons if I unlock Psionics by the third month?
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May 29, 2013 10:08
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The White Dragon posted:This is actually related to what I came here to ask: I'm going through the priority missions as fast as I can, and having unlocked Psionics so late in the game my first victory through, I wanna get them as early as possible because they sound really fun to play around with but hosed if I wanna Psi-duel a goddamn Ethereal. What kind of opposition am I gonna face in the Skeleton Key Base assault, and will rushing story missions (not necessarily weapons tech, but I'm prioritizing armor tech because I read early armors will delay the stronger aliens) just hard-introduce enemies into the spawn pool or will I still just run into regular Mutons if I unlock Psionics by the third month? Outsider->Sectiod commander->Etheral is triggered by storyline progression, all the other alien lifeforms only depend on no# months passed. What you research won't change when Mutons, Muton elites etc show up. In fact it's easier to do Alien base early, in the months before Mutons show up. You're gimping yourself with the armor-research.
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May 29, 2013 10:43
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Is it just me, or does Classic/Ironman always feel like a baby-cakewalk after beating I/I? 
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May 29, 2013 12:17
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wilbur.walsh posted:Is it just me, or does Classic/Ironman always feel like a baby-cakewalk after beating I/I? This is why we have Second Wave options! Classic is great with: New Economy (Randomised council funding so you don't just start US and rush Africa), Not Created Equally (so soldier screening for stats is actually a thing!), Hidden Potential (arguably cheaty/game breaking, but keeps things interesting), Marathon (So the early game lasts longer and Labs actually have a purpose), and then start with the handicaps. I really like taking Diminishing Returns (Sats increase in cost), More Than Human (psi-soldiers are super rare), War Weariness (funding diminishes over time), and Alternate Sources (So you actually have to plan your base building, especially if you're on marathon and need labs). Makes the geoscape actually interesting for most of the game rather than trivial. Most of these choices are to even out the power curve in the game. You stay behind for way longer, and even once you do get some traction you're never in a situation where you just sit back and go 'whelp, I have unlimited money and full sat coverage'.
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May 29, 2013 12:32
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One of my favorite things to do with toolbox is to turn on the "abduction even with sat coverage" or what ever it's called. Basically puts a big ticking clock on the table since all panic reduction is even more important.
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May 29, 2013 14:02
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