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Azzip posted:Great new OP, answers to questions that people ask all the time. I'll go ahead and post this on the first page with a slight addition so its easy to find. Overwatch and You or How You Are loving Up Playing XCOM This post is about Overwatch and using it properly. This is because Overwatching correctly is one of the most fundamentally important parts of playing this game on Classic and Impossible and the aliens will destroy you every single time if you don't do it right. What is Overwatch? Just so we're on the same page, Overwatching is the act of having your soldier reaction fire on any enemy that makes a move action within their field of view. Overwatch shots cannot crit, are made at an Aim penalty, and the Overwatcher must have line-of-sight on the victim. Overwatch shots do not trigger on any action except for movement. Choosing to Overwatch ends your soldier's turn entirely, regardless of how many actions they had left. I'll interchangeably refer to Overwatch shots as reaction fire. I know that and I use it all the time, what's the problem? The using it all the time is the problem. Its a common refrain in this thread that should always end your turn on Overwatch and that's a false statement that will result in the death of a lot of soldiers. This is because of something incredibly, unbelievably important that the game does not directly tell you: An alien that knows it is being Overwatched will not move for any reason (Short of panic). This is for the same reason that you try to avoid moving when you're being Overwatched: the AI doesn't want to give you the free shot and potential kill. However, a human player has the capacity to judge the risk of taking reaction fire against other potential risks, like being flanked or a car about to explode. The AI does not. Again, if the AI knows a unit is being Overwatched, it will not move that unit under any circumstance. Instead, it will fire at one of your units. On unmodded Classic, this is super-bad because the aliens receive bonuses to their Aim and Crit chance, meaning their chances of hitting and killing one of your soldiers is significantly higher. This is why you are loving up using Overwatch. By always choosing to Overwatch if you can't think of anything else, you are essentially forcing the AI to make more shots on your soldiers, significantly increasing the chance of those soldiers dying. So Overwatch is useless then. No, Overwatch still has two primary uses: 1)The AI in XCOM is not omnipotent. If it doesn't have line-of-sight on you, it legitimately does not know where you are and what you are doing (This appears to extend even further than a human player's lack of knowledge in that the AI doesn't seem to cohesively use all of its units' vision, meaning that the AI might move Sectoid A into an Overwatching soldier's LOS even though Sectoid B already had LOS on the Overwatcher). This means the AI will walk into Overwatch fire if the Overwatcher was in the fog of war. This is why, when you are in the initial scouting phase, you should be ending every turn on Overwatch in case an alien pack runs into view. This is also useful for Overwatch traps, where you pull your soldiers back, Overwatch them, then let Muton Berserkers charge in and get hosed up by a criss-crossing plasma disco. 2) The refusal of the AI to move while it is Overwatched is as much as a risk to them as it is a risk to you. This means they won't shift out of half-cover, they won't run from being flanked, and they won't move from an exploding car. Using Overwatch is a way of 'fixing' an alien in place if that alien is in an advantageous place for you or if you are moving soldiers to flank it. Keep in mind that the pinned alien will continue to shoot at your people, so make sure that the potential gain of pinning it is higher than the potential risk of injury or death. Its honestly better to use Suppression for this particular use. An alien ran into my field of view while I was Overwatching and didn't get shot! SOLOMONNNNNNNNN! There's like a one-tile space at the edge of a unit's LOS where you can see them, but Overwatch fire doesn't trigger. This applies for both the player and the AI, but the AI is a lot better at exploiting it. It doesn't happen that often, its just super loving annoying when it does.  Also this: coyo7e posted:That's a lot of words to never mention that when you move forward soldiers while scouting in the beginning of a mission or when opening up new map areas, you shouldn't be overwatching until you've already gained an advantageous field of fire and you're ready to send that final rookie out a few squares ahead into the "risky" area. Overwatching just because you used your first move phase is really a bad habit to get into, until/unless you've moved most/all of your other squadmates halfway or fully as well. I'm a goon, break it down into bullet points - Overwatch when you are scouting and not certain what you'll run into. - Overwatch when you want to keep an alien pinned down to flank it/shoot it/whatever. - Overwatch when you know the AI doesn't have LOS on you and thus doesn't know what you're doing. - DO NOT Overwatch if you will gain nothing from this alien's current position. Either take the shot if its >40% or Hunker Down. - AVOID Overwatching while in half-cover. Half-cover is not hugely useful on Classic and it is almost always better to Hunker Down than doing anything else. People who say you should always end by Overwatching are straight-up wrong. I followed that particular advice and was losing 1+ soldiers every mission. When I learned how the AI responded to Overwatch and began thinking about my use of it in that context, I started using it a lot less while using Hunker Down or taking shots I wouldn't have taken before. Abruptly, I start winning more missions with no casualties. Overwatch is a very powerful ability when used correctly and its is an anchor around your neck if you use it without thought. 1stGear fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Jan 19, 2013 |
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Jan 19, 2013 18:09
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Ulgress posted:I'm about to pop my X-Com cherry. Should I start with the original(s) or Enemy Unknown straight away? Which will allow me to appreciate the other more, basically? The new one is more accessible, the old one has deeper gameplay. They are honestly pretty different games. I would say the new one unless you're the type of person who has the patience to work through the godawful UI. If so, definitely the old one.
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Jan 21, 2013 07:16
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I stopped playing for a few months while I went to other games/other stuff. Before I quit, I was exclusively playing Impossible Ironman because it was just the only thing that could give me my fix. Today, with the game freshly reinstalled, I decide to flip it on Classic Ironman instead Was...was it always this easy? I feel like I could just waltz through the missions without a care, firing in the general direction of sectoids and still getting kills while safely ensconced between the impenetrable wall of full cover. Its unbelievable.
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Aug 4, 2013 06:37
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Fanzay posted:It's been a while since I've played this, but you can ignore landed UFOs and nothing will happen right? Because if so, I threw my A-team down the drain the day before the first terror mission for no reason. On impossible. I love/hate it when this happens. "Oh, its just a small UFO this should be a probOH GOD NO WHY ARE YOU MISSING YOUR SHOTS NO NO NO DON'T LET THE SECTOID FLANK YOU WHO TRIGGERED THE OUTSIDER OH NOOOOOOOOOO"
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Aug 8, 2013 07:08
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I could take or leave Bradshaw and Shen, but Vahlen isn't back in EW I'm not buying it.  It just won't be XCOM without Dr. Lady Goebbels around.
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Aug 11, 2013 20:03
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chiasaur11 posted:But deep down, they respect each other. Vahlen and Shen both provide essential contributions to XCOM. Vahlen has the aforementioned torture fetish that is so delightfully appealing/horrifying and Shen is sort of like XCOM Grandpa who also makes you guns. They both tick off slots on Minority Representation Bingo. Bradford is the white guy who tells things you already know.
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Aug 12, 2013 06:34
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Cream-of-Plenty posted:All this talk about hats is making me realize how useful other people find them. I'm hoping the upcoming DLC will add more hats. A tinfoil wedge cap. I'm pretty sure most people (including myself) bought Slingshot purely for the hats and I would not be surprised if Firaxis took pointers from Gaben and added the hats after the negative response to Slingshot.
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Aug 16, 2013 05:48
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30 new achievements have been added to Steam, so its definitely not another Slingshot or small DLC thing.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:08
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Just started my most recent I/I run and the first map that comes up was the bridge where you only have cars for cover and most of them are only half. Thanks to some aggressive sprinting and a fair helping of luck, I got through. Next map was Murder Street.  Welp, time to start the next I/I run.
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Aug 19, 2013 23:19
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I've finally admitted defeat and am going to give up on trying vanilla Impossible Ironman. There's only so much good tactics and planning can do for you when sectoids can one-shot guys in full cover from across the map at whim. Do Steam achievements still work when mods are installed? I'm going to at least put Implassic on to maintain some of my dignity.
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Aug 20, 2013 04:48
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Andre Banzai posted:Also they have posted the super plot twist there and... it's a twist, for sure. But I don't think I'd actually want to consider it canon. Sad feelings. But at least we have EW being announced tomorrow. I suspect if the Bureau had been a success or even just well-received, Firaxis would have included references and allusions to it in future XCOM games. As it isn't being well-received and probably isn't going to be a success (2K releasing it against SR4 and Blacklist tells me they either knew they had a dud or were hilariously overoptimistic), I don't think you need to worry about the Bureau being "canon" any time soon.
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Aug 20, 2013 14:43
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Revener posted:So after reading the Bureau spoiler: There's basically no doubt left that this'll be a human vs human expansion. That kinda sucks, I wanted more aliens, plus base invasions don't see as likely now for whatever reason. There's not really any indication that Firaxis is taking story cues from The Bureau. I'm pretty sure Jake Solomon understands XCOM well enough to not make Enemy Within purely human vs. human.
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Aug 20, 2013 20:32
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Andre Banzai posted:Guys, the soldiers are holding freaking PISTOLS in that banner, the world seems to have gone up in flames, the XCOM insignia has changed and you're not conjecturing? C'mon, c'mon! There's not really anything to conjecture on yet. ^  ^ Besides, we'll find out the answers tomorrow so its not like there's a long wait or anything.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:23
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USMC_Karl posted:This right here. I don't care about any bonuses when doing anything other than grandma crawling through the map will result in a total wipe because you just aggroed 6 Chrysalids. Get a Support with Sprinter and a Squadsight Sniper. Put the Sniper on the roof of the train, put the Support in charge of placing transponders. Run like hell and pray to the RNG.
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Aug 21, 2013 00:02
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Rinkles posted:Wonder how the new stuff will integrate into the current tech progression. Will they shuffle in bits and pieces throughout, or is this mostly (excluding maps and cosmetic) late game content. I'm kinda hoping its just a sequel campaign basically. So at the menu, you can choose Enemy Unknown and go through the current game or start an Enemy Within campaign and do all of their stuff with new aliens and tech. Also, you should be able to export your soldiers and tech from the end of an EU campaign into an EW one. And if you research absolutely everything in EU, you can start on the EW tech tree. And maps will be universal through both campaigns. And a pony.
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Aug 21, 2013 02:26
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 "We don't want to go dark, but we're okay with cyborgs and torturing aliens to death.  "
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Aug 21, 2013 17:12
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^^^ GotY The biggest advantage of Squadsight is that its a free shot with absolutely no risk to the shooter. Snap Shot can't compare to that.
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Aug 21, 2013 22:48
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quote:Each MEC unit remembers fragments of its previous life as a sniper or support or whoever So MEC's are going to be less Adam Jensen and more Robocop. That's a little, uh, grim.
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Aug 22, 2013 23:43
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Uncle Jam posted:Before today I've never played the Murder Street map, and always wondered what map it referred to. I don't think Murder Street spawns for terror missions? If it does, holy poo poo.
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Aug 23, 2013 03:43
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peak debt posted:I just saw this bridge in Norway and had a bout of PTSD Its cool, all those lampposts are going to give you full cover.
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Aug 25, 2013 20:38
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With all these journals, now we just need posters to start having their fanfics gently caress each other and summon ghosts and we'll have the X-COM LP remade.
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Aug 28, 2013 15:31
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Handsome Ralph posted:Just wanted to say that effort post you made in the first thread (about using hunker down and to stop over-watching all the time) has really saved my rear end and helped me play much better in Classic IM. Thanks! You're welcome! Although I was playing a game the other day where an Overwatched Sectoid that didn't appear to be panicking stood up and ran. My entire world came crashing down.
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Aug 29, 2013 01:03
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counterfeitsaint posted:Cool, thanks. Vahlen gets to blow off steam after work.
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Aug 29, 2013 02:58
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