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Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
I don't use grenades once you're out of the rookies v sectoids/thin men phase, because you can generally hit what you want to and can avoid dying (in most cases) in one turn. And grenades get better the more people on your team can use them, so once you start putting other things on people, they stop being useful. 3 or 5 guaranteed damage vs a very good chance of 8+ damage just isn't worth it, and that's on the only class that doesn't have a more attractive damage option. Why would I ever throw a grenade when I could rapid-fire something? One dead thing is much better than two wounded things, in my opinion, so I'd need to have 2+ Mutons (and nothing tougher than Mutons) in a grenadable area with two soldiers using grenades to make it worthwhile.

When I'm going Muton-hunting for my first plasma rifle, though, I'll bring normal grenades just because one stock rocket and one grenade will bring them down to 1 health guaranteed.

edit: Shotgun assaults get chitin carapace, snipers and rifle assaults get scopes, supports get a medkit and scope or mindshield if they're psychic, and heavies usually still hold onto a grenade for cover-destroying stuff. Or a scope if I went bulletstorm.

Ravenfood fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Jan 20, 2013

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Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

RBA Starblade posted:

What do combat stims actually do? I've never bought any.
Boost will, halve damage taken, provides immunity to critical hits, and increases movement speed by 3 spaces. They'd be really good if they were instant-use, but with taking your whole turn, they're kind of limited.

edit: vvvv Wait, really? infinite uses? Holy poo poo, that might actually make them wortwhile.

Ravenfood fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jan 20, 2013

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
I THINK that wandering alien packs do check against sounds and will investigate. I think that call is basically a "more dudes may or may not be coming.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Sashimi posted:

Dr. Vahlens would like to have a word with you. :colbert:
I could never hear Dr. No Fun over all the explosions I was making.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Even the basic XCOM ballistics armor has small powered assistive servos in it reducing the need for physical strength to the point where it isn't a major issue. That's how they adapted the full powered armor technology of the Atlas suit so quickly. Alternatively, all XCOMs are latently psychic and use it to improve their physical ability without knowing it. This is also why they panic so easily, the aliens put off a low-grade psychic field that the soldiers acclimatize to. The ones who show up as psychic are just the ones capable of fully utilizing the powers consciously. :colbert:

Or its a game, and its nice to include women in fighting games sometimes.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
An interesting change to terror missions would be to have aliens keep spawning until either the civilians or XCOM is dead/evacuated. Maybe call them evac missions and have them pop up every so often instead of terror missions. Just a replacement stream that keeps coming forever and slowly ramps UP the difficulty of the aliens, not less. Make it so that if only a few make it out, panic spreads, but higher numbers start giving you rewards after a certain point that increase per civilian. You'd have to balance saving civilians with ever-increasing risks, and it would be one of the few times in normal missions that the vac mechanic ever got used for XCOMs.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

FairGame posted:

3 rookies (well, squaddies given the New Guy research) can't do much of anything in late game impossible beyond "die horribly"
A squaddie with a plasma rifle hits just as hard as a Col Support with one. They don't hit as often, but since heavies only get a total of +10 aim over their entire progression, squaddies honestly aren't too bad.


Ernie Muppari posted:

The only problem there is that that sort of mission sort of suggests that the city's megafucked as soon as XCOM leaves. That's fine as like, a last ditch "can you stop this country from leaving the council by saving at least like, 85% of civilians on the map?" sort of thing, but would be kinda' weird as just a replacement for a generic terror mission.
That's reasonable. Make it smaller town looking areas and I don't have a problem with that town being razed after you leave, its just a small town. I also wouldn't mind that popping up as a way to keep countries in the project. Maybe have it trigger semi-randomly when countries are at 4 or 5 panic?

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Jibo posted:

Considering Normal was made by Firaxis, I'd say it's as official as any other difficulty. Also, I'd say that all the "don't play normal, it will ruin you" talk is kind of silly. It's hard to imagine that +10 aim and a fairly small chance of aliens doing something dumb is going to come into play enough for it to become an invisible crutch.
Its the way the game cheats for you on normal that causes problems. The percentage chance to hit on normal isn't real. The game literally makes the Gambler's Fallacy true. Since its hard enough to break that for most people anyhow, actually making it apply first (but not telling you about it) is going to make it much harder unless you do a lot of reading.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Orgophlax posted:

It's the soldier with the most experience, which is a hidden number (unless you turn it on with Toolboks).
Really? I thought it was always the person you put in the third slot from the left (which puts them in the front of the group)

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Orgophlax posted:

It doesn't say two shots on the same target, just two shots. The only time my support will fire twice is on 2 separate enemies. I highly doubt it's any different for heavies.
From way back, but I've had my sentinel support fire twice on the same target during movement.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Wait, get a UFO, kill some dudes? It won't take too long.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Fair enough. Build a poo poo-ton of SHIVs? :v:

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

wilbur.walsh posted:

Nope, I had some countries leaving the council immediately after beeing on level 5 panic for the first 3rd of the month if I missed/failed a mission in the country/continent.
This difference in behavior is based on the difficulty of the game. I don't know what the actual breakpoints are, but on normal, I am pretty sure a country will never leave until the end of the month, on classic, they'll leave at the end of if you fail a terror mission, and on impossible they'll leave if you ignore them at panic 5. I am not positive on any of those.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

OptimusWang posted:

I haven't even gotten a shot off on the special - I assumed they were like the normal ethereals that can only take one direct shot/turn. The first time I charged straight across and died horribly. The next two times I tried to get as far as I could along the top right before getting noticed...no dice.
In order of importance: Do your snipers have squadsight? Do you have anyone in ghost armor? Do your snipers have scanner drone thingies? Do you have enough troops with enough hitpoints to be able to survive a single round of combat? Combine any of the last three questions with the first one. A little tip that is not immediately clear that should probably change your strategy: Once you kill the special ethereal, you win. Ignore everything else.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Well, that's fun. I/I, blew through the first mission no problem. Second abduction mission is the flooded street, and so far, at least one group of sectoids was activated without the little human eyes are on me! cutscene. So, I move from the starting position, see no aliens, overwatch everyone, then move on my second turn. First guy to move gets cut down by overwatch shots from nowhere. Goddamnit.

edit: next mission had it too. Is this going to be a thing for the rest of the playthrough?

Ravenfood fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Mar 11, 2013

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
So, are the spawns for the Slingshot missions totally scripted? Because that really sucks.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Running in with ghost will activate the aliens. For whatever reason, aliens are activated when they're seen by human eyes, not when they see you. Its weird.


OptimusWang posted:

My snipers don't have squad sight, my only guy in ghost armor is a sniper (the other sniper is the volunteer wearing psionic armor), they both have the scanners, and assuming they don't get mind-controlled the two assaults can tank for quite awhile. Everyone else is in titan armor, the heavy doesn't have shredder rockets, and only 1 dude (an assault) is packing grenades.
Well, this just got a lot harder. Um. Next time, if you play again, pick squadsight. Do the assaults have rapid fire, and do the snipers, preferably the one in ghost armor, have double-tap? If so, run him cloaked to cover, fire from cloak for the 100% crit chance, then pop headshot for another good crit chance. If not, well...focus-fire everything on the Ethereal and hope he dies? Save the Volunteer to be the last one in, with all the mind-control enemies in the room, if you don't nail the ethereal on the first turn or so you're probably going to lose anyhow.

Oh, before you rush the room, have your psychics pop Psi Inspiration. If you're having problems taking out the Ethereal, remember that Combat Drug-boosted supports (if you have them) boost will, crit chance, and have a hidden bonus to hit rate. IIRC, you can throw smoke in, wait a turn, and THEN rush into the smoke. I hope. The will boosts might give you a tiny chance to survive all the Mind Controls you've got coming your way, too.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

areyoucontagious posted:

Normal, I think? The next one up from the easiest. I didn't think jumping to impossible or whatever was a solid strategy. I'm tempted to drop to easy, but that's taking the path of least resistance for sure.
First, never end your turn by opening up new visibility. If you see an alien, the little cutscene that plays puts them into cover. They get to move on their next turn. Aliens should never "activate" without oyu seeing them, but sometimes it bugs out. Basically, never, ever dash into the fog of war, and ideally, never dash at all. If you see something and it doesn't look survivable, you can always move right back to where you were and prepare to fight the new threat.

edit: vvvvv Nah, stay on normal. If you stop dashing, you'll live long enough to learn the rest. Did you do the tutorial? Because the tutorial kind of has terrible, terrible things to tell you, like "dash!". It really isn't a good move at all.

Ravenfood fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Mar 12, 2013

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Alchenar posted:

That's very very difficult. My first terror mission is generally with ballistics and consists of me just accepting the fact that most of the civvies will die and very cautiously setting up long range kill zones.
Not only does having lasers make the first terror mission much easier, lasers also mean that you don't have to rely on snipers, assaults, or rockets to take out thin men on one shot. Bee-line for lasers. Ignore everything until you have lasers. Weapon fragments -> beam weapons, every single time.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Alchenar posted:

And now you find you have trouble capturing all those 3/4 HP aliens because everything one-shots them. I always go capture first. It's a slightly slower start, but I'll actually end up with laser sniper rifles before you do and I'll have armour rolling out faster as well.
Do you not use pistols or something? On classic, having the ability to reliably take down thin men is a godsend. On impossible, I'd pull armor first, just to give my heavies more of a chance to use their rockets. And I really don't tend to capture many sectoids at all, because...eh. What's the point? By the time I can reasonably research plasma pistols, I'm swimming in money and materials, to the point where I can just make them. I'll grab someone when I can for plot purposes (I honestly usually have the Outsider crystal before I interrogate anyone), grab a Muton, and grab a Sectoid Commander. That's pretty much it, capturing is risky as hell. I also skip laser snipers because on classic, they don't really provide enough of a damage increase to help. A ballistic sniper takes down a classic thin man, and a laser sniper won't take down a Muton on a crit, which makes it just as effective as a ballistic one. It is definitely a tech you can safely put off for a long time on classic. On impossible, again, maybe, but I usually feel pretty confident going materials -> scopes -> beams -> containment stuff -> base logistics stuff -> enough researchers to make plasma feasible with a captured Muton. Skeleton armor fits in there somewhere too.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

dud root posted:

I just beat the bomb disposal trainyard map with 0 deaths on classic difficulty. Feeling pretty smug right now, considering the first time I did that map on normal (also a bomb disposal) I squad wiped. I still cant believe that literally 6 thinmints air drop in once the bomb is disabled.

Yes it does on Classic, I've done it twice now. 10 damage on a crit
You sure? I was positive it was 9 damage, but I could be wrong. Wiki, and a few other places online, say 9 too.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Azran posted:

Which are the weapons/armours I should avoid when I start my Classic game? (Holding onto that till I get the DLC - I want helmets). I guess Titan is pretty useless - since the bonus to defence seems way preferable over health.
Titan is useful, but only because armor progression is mostly linear. I prefer skeleton to carapace, but then you have to get Titan before you can get Ghost armor, which is hands-down the best armor in the game. You can make a case for Archangel snipers, but by the time you get them, most crashed UFOs are large enough that you're spending significant amounts of time inside anyhow. Guaranteed crits and guaranteed damage avoidance four times a mission is just too good to pass up, and then on top of it you get +20 defense and +2 (or is it 3?) movespeed.

edit: I would definitely not try to skip to plasma on classic. I did it, but it was painful for a bit. Getting lasers asap is a great strategy.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

immortal flow posted:

Is there a good difficulty mod for something between Normal and Classic? Normal is way too easy and I want to play with 'default' AI, hit% etc., but Classic shits cyberdiscs at me on the second terror mission :psyduck:
Got HEAT rocket-carrying heavies? They'll trivialize them.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Second terror mission is the end of the third month, yeah? Did you have plasma tech yet? Everyone should have at least been in skeleton armor and carrying laser weapons at this point, which should two-shot Cryssalids, and you should have a squad-size of 6. Cyberdiscs are mean, definitely, but not unbeatable, though losing a heavy like that can suck. Also, remember that on terror missions your priority is not rescuing civilians. You need to save one (1) to win the mission, others after that are basically bonuses. Don't put your men in danger to save anybody.

Keep trying, classic is a great difficulty and you'll get it pretty quick.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Orgophlax posted:

On classic, enemies get +10 to base on top of the +10 the light plasma pistols give, which is why the early game with sectoids and thin men is so hard. I edited whichever .ini contained that bonus to remove it, effectively making my own "normic" difficulty. It's a pretty good sweet spot for me.
The aliens don't get a bonus for using LPRs, and plasma pistols don't give a bonus to hit. The aliens do get a +10 to hit from the difficulty, though. The early game is so hard because you have very few abilities, don't locally outnumber the aliens (think about it, on later levels you usually have six guys shooting it out with only a few aliens, at the beginning you usually have 4 rookies shooting it out with 3-6 sectoids at once), and don't have enough health to survive one unlucky crit, or even a hit. Once you get decent armor and your guys get health bonuses from leveling, you can survive so much more.

immortal flow posted:

I only need to save 1? That makes things much easier, I assumed the panic rating would sink me if I let more than half die or something.
Yep! The panic always improves if you win, which requires saving only one. It drops by more the higher your rating goes, and I think gets applied continent-wide if you get an "excellent" rating on civilians saved. Like I said, that risk isn't worth losing someone from your A team.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

nnnotime posted:

* This is a small thing, but I replace the shotgun on my starting assault soldier with a rifle. I don't believe you want to run-and-gun with shotguns until you get Ghost Armor and the Alloy Cannon shotgun.
I disagree. Sometimes you really, really need to take out a Thin Man and don't have two grenades to do it. A shotgunner, on the other hand, will do nicely. Once you get laser rifles, I switch over to rifle-based assaults and then switch back once I get alloy cannons.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Yeah, I'd take Gunslinger over DGG. +10% to hit isn't worth being unable to shoot and move without an accuracy penalty at basically rifle-equivalent damange.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Dr_Amazing posted:

I don't know how you guys are even playing. I want to like this game but I'm constantly losing all my best guys because they're getting injured and just never recovering. Are we really stuck without a patch just because they can't make an x-box one?
I've never heard of this bug. Did you turn on Marathon?

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

amanasleep posted:

Yes, I don't really understand the fascination with Alloy Cannons. Plasma Rifle Assaults with Aggression, Bring 'Em On, and Killer Instinct do insane damage from any range. With Combat Drugs or Archangel boosted aim, they are like snipers.
That's nice. Do you want to kill a Sectopod with one unit? Feel free with your crit-immune, run-forever, guaranteed-first-crit, almost guaranteed second crit shotgunner! That's got a defense of 40 pretty much all the time!

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
How frequently does that heavy hit the sectopod, though? Mine generally have poo poo accuracy, whereas that Alloy assault almost always has a 100% hit chance and a much higher native crit chance. You CAN kill a sectopod in one turn with some units (especially double-tap snipers). The assault, like the sniper, will.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Orgophlax posted:

You can already customize the colors of soldiers by default. The Elite Soldier & Slingshot DLCs add new hair styles which include helmets/head gear.
Not unless you edit an ini you can't. Did you preorder? I think you basically got the elite soldier pack as your preorder bonus, which is why you think you can.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
If the damage is enough that you'll kill it with a hit from either the pistol or the rifle, you might as well save the rifle ammo and not have to reload later. Or he's weakening it for a arc capture, I guess.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
I can check it, but I am reasonably sure that movement IS affected. Something like 1-2 spaces either way, iirc. Will definitely is randomized with random rookie stats.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

the glow posted:

No, not at all. IIRC it's 35% on Impossible for a sectoid to hit you in full cover, and if you hunker down your cover bonus of 40% doubles to 80%, meaning the sectoid's chance to hit is now -5% (though the game fudges this number to 1% so there is always an extremely slim chance you will be hit). You're safe enough while hunkered down that you can use this tactic to draw fire, while if you're simply standing behind full cover you're just asking to die.
I thought the tooltip for hunker down was wrong and doesn't double your defensive bonus. Instead, it gives you a +20.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Antti posted:

Oh, poo poo. I was trying to blitz through it because I reasoned the Thin Men spawns were time based.
None of the escort missions are time-based, and all have that same mechanic. It makes it a lot easier once you figure this out.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

Erm, I still don't see it, I don't see the cover bug in effect in that screenshot. The selected soldier is not flanking that sectoid. Are you saying that if you select the other soldier in that screenshot, it shows the sectoid as not flanked? If so, why didn't you screenshot that?
That selected soldier is also being flanked by the sectoid directly in front of him, it looks like.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

vulgey posted:

Lost a full 6 man team of almost all Colonels to a double Sectopod beatdown. Then proceeded to lose my B team on the next mission. Thought I'd manage to battle through with all the equipment I had but no. Super kitted out Rookies against the Overseer ship didn't work out in my favour. Another two Sectopods and a squad of Elite Mutons made sure of that.
:psyduck: HEAT rockets, man.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Muscle Tracer posted:

Yes. I also started on normal, and savescummed my way to completion the first time after making many, many terrible mistakes. I did not start on Ironman Classic, which is what I'm actually against here. I'm a huge proponent of blind runs, but not the "harder is better" mindset that dominates this thread.
I feel like classic without ironman, trying to remove savescumming, is probably the best way to go. Mostly because that's how I started, and really liked it.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

fennesz posted:

Hello. I'm terrible at this game.

I feel like I can handle myself in missions well enough but I keep getting my poo poo rocked when it comes to interceptors and panic ratings. Should I be prioritizing satellites as soon as I finish the tutorial?
Do you think you have a handle on the battlescape? If so, you should restart and not do the tutorial, it doesn't really put you in a good place base management-wise. The key to managing panic is to have satellites ready to launch at the end of every month, prioritizing covering high-money areas in shared continents. Feel free to let South America burn, if you have to. It provides almost no money and gives a worthless bonus. Two points that might not be immediately noticeable: You can build satellites even if you don't have the Nexus capability to launch them, and you can build multiple satellites at once. As for interceptors, two basic interceptors will handle themselves fairly well, though upgrading to Phoenix cannons on both acts as an okay stopgap. If you build one or two boosts for some of the bigger ships, you'll greatly increase the survivability of your ships. When you can build a new type of fighter, you should, because one with upgraded weaponry will hold its own against pretty much all comers.

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Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011

Brainamp posted:

Um, no they won't. Classic sectoids have 4 hp. Grenades deal 3.
Classic sectoids have 4 hp when mindmelded, 3 when not. Classic early game is incredibly easy if you abuse the fact that one grenade will take out two sectoids most of the time. The jump to 4 base health on impossible is one reason impossible is so much harder.

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