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The best thing about Close and Personal is the way it interacts with other extra-attack perks. Rapid Fire is the obvious one for three shots in one turn, but if you run Training Roulette (everyone should run Training Roulette  ) you might luck into a Bullet Swarm Assault. Close and Personal, plus Bullet Swarm, plus Rapid Fire is four shotgun blasts in one player phase if you set it all up right.
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Feb 25, 2014 08:56
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Changing the topic a little because I can't see a time where this will neatly segue. Jade Star: Do you have any plans to up the difficulty to Impossible mid-LP? I feel like Classic has the most fun early game, like you and Guava said in the first video. You don't have to do that silly tactical-square Overwatch tiptoe bollocks. But lategame Impossible is still easy when you know what you're doing and have some Captain-plus troops; lategame Classic is basically a joke. So I normally start my games on Classic, then bump up to Impossible through the options menu once I hit some pre-planned tech level. As well as you play, I wonder if this might keep things a little fresher once you get to the "More mechtoids? Neat, free Meld" phase of things.
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Feb 25, 2014 18:46
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Training Roulette really does let you create supersoldiers. Here's how it breaks down, in my opinion: Getting an otherwise-good soldier with bad perks is okay. That's just your face-shootin' soldier, everyone needs a grunt or two and only Supports are vulnerable to being totally ruined by useless perks My first Training Roulette run, my first six soldiers all got Overwatch perk combos. Sentinel plus Opportunist, Opportunist plus Covering Fire, Suppression plus Sentinel...it was bonkers. So for the first time ever I played a defense-heavy style, letting aliens run facefirst into six-or-more Overwatch bursts each. Even took Flush - Flush - on one of my heavies to let me use my super-Overwatch on Player Phase.
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Feb 25, 2014 22:54
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That muton is one of the undervalued rewards of Slingshot. You can have really early plasma weapons if you capture and interrogate him, then study his gun.
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Feb 26, 2014 14:04
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As I understand it, the conventional (non-Slingshot) plasma rush doesn't go through a muton's rifle; it goes through a sectoid's plasma pistol or a thin man's LPR. I think it also skips armour altogether [EDIT: Until weapons research is complete], because those super-hardcore weirdos are 100% all in on the "if an alien fires its weapon, you've already hosed up" tip.
Sorites fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 15:37
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Jon Joe posted:If you see an alien, that alien must die before its turn. If you cannot assure that, you must break LoS. If you cannot do that, take your best shots and hope for the best. Pretty much the first two sentences of this, except I'd replace the third option with "go full defence-mode because that works better". Never end a turn with any soldier in view of an alien, so the aliens have to waste most of their turn finding you. Later in the game, this changes to an alpha-strike strategy where you spot a pack and wipe it out all at once. (You can also use various abilities to shut surviving aliens down so they can't fire.) Some people use one or two Assaults as spotters and the whole rest of the squad as Squadsight snipers. Cloaking is just an added bonus; you don't need it. This kind of "never get attacked" playstyle works drat well, but as Jon Joe suggests by aligning it with the stock-standard by-the-numbers satellite rush it's kind of silly and un-dramatic. Sorites fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 16:04
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Felinoid posted:Does anybody have a weapon they always skip? I'm not terribly fond of the laser shotguns, so my assaults always go Shotgun -> Laser Rifle -> LPR -> best shotgun. The other three classes I just climb the tree one branch at a time. I generally skip Heavy Lasers. My heavies are mostly there for suppression and terrain destruction, so they don't reach Mayhem (which cares about weapon tech) until I'm well into plasma research. W.T. Fits posted:
I think that was more an EU thing, before you could get similar survivability and better offence out of a MEC. Still, a MEC-heavy player will be researching at least basic SHIVs anyway to unlock a MEC upgrade. Sorites fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 20:21
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Fascinating. Where does rushing SHIV research factor into this equation? I've heard that's apparently a thing some people do on the higher difficulties.
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HEAT's still amazing. The indirect buff it received was the game having more, tougher robotic enemies. EU HEAT allowed some silly overkill on Sectopods, but EU Sectopods were easy anyway. EW Sectopods have that half-damage trait, and there are also Mechtoids to worry about mid-game. HEAT's weaker in an absolute sense, but in the context of the game it's even more useful now than it was before. And it's also very satisfying to one-hit-kill a Mechtoid with a HEATed crit. Sorites fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Feb 27, 2014 |
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Feb 27, 2014 06:48
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I have a strong suspicion that Outsiders do that weirdly consistent berserker charge on discovery just to make them easy to capture.
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Feb 27, 2014 07:52
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I wish there was an option to take the quieter path if it's still possible to reach the intended destination. I hate needlessly alerting the whole map to my location.
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Mar 1, 2014 07:56
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FredMSloniker posted:The game doesn't model audio alerting enemies, does it? Or are you thinking of multiplayer or something? There are those tips about kicking doors and breaking windows alerting enemies. And you do tend to get a big wave of "enemy movement!" audio cues immediately after busting through something, even in the middle of your own turn. It seems like making noise influences where patrol groups go next; I'm not sure if it affects already-activated units.
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Mar 1, 2014 09:35
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Iny posted:Last time I checked, the deal was that the game would soft-lock if you threw a battle scanner at seekers who hadn't been seen at all yet. Their "scatter" animation tells them to go invisible, they can't because of the scanner, game pitches a fit. If you've already seen them once, though, it should work fine. And that's why I never use battle scanners under any circumstances. I once lost an Ironman game to that lock-up. Closing out the game without saving corrupted the file.
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Mar 2, 2014 23:37
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I guess I'm the only one who routinely captures drones. If you can get one or two, it completely changes the way you play your MECs because they've got what amounts to unlimited HP. Send 'em out, get the poo poo kicked out of 'em, pull everyone back and burn turns just healing them. Then send them back out to not care about sectopod blasts.
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Mar 3, 2014 06:50
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Brainamp posted:Also, I'm pretty sure the laser rifle cutscene plays after you research it, but since you turned off Beginner VO, you missed out on it. This is right. I can't believe Disable Beginner VO takes away the fun little cutscenes, while still leaving in Bradford's loving minute-long tutorials on how to do the special-objective missions. Even after you've already successfully completed a half-dozen of the same kind before.
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Mar 3, 2014 07:17
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An upgraded Kinetic Strike also lets you bust into a UFO or building like the Kool-Aid Man, shoot someone, and then pile in your whole squad through the new door the aliens didn't prepare for.
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Mar 3, 2014 16:39
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Just to wrap this question up with some confidence: Absolutely Critical quietly increases all melee and flamethrower damage, including from enemies, by 1.5; this is because they're counted as "attacks on exposed targets" and are given a critical damage bonus. This is probably a bug, because melee and flamethrower attacks normally shouldn't critical at all - and because critical hits, even surefire ones, don't affect the displayed damage projection numbers. Interestingly, this makes the flamethrower a much better early- to mid-game option than it usually is (because the KSM is already focused overkill on almost everything until late game). The bonus allows it to one-spray-kill a group of mutons on Classic (and on Impossible, if you also develop Elerium Jelly), which keeps its damage current until about August when heavy floaters become a problem. It's not as good against berserkers, and useless against mechanical enemies, but a reliable instant-kill weapon is super handy for the months when mutons are the staple enemy. For 40 Meld, I usually build a spare flamethrowin' suit just to use during muton season. Sorites fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Mar 5, 2014 |
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Mar 5, 2014 07:57
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Speaking of smoke grenades being underratedly awesome: Smoke doesn't stack with more smoke, and Dense Smoke doesn't stack with more Dense Smoke, and Combat Drugs don't stack with more Combat Drugs. But each type stacks with each other type! In my defensive-style games, I'll run two Supports: One with each upgrade. That's 60 Defence in a bottle.
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Mar 5, 2014 15:26
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DatonKallandor posted:The sniper with HEAT ammo is pretty drat awesome too. I like the assault with Suppression, because we're in yet another video game where shotguns are useless beyond twenty yards. I guess aliens are just terrified of the loud noises.
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Mar 7, 2014 02:23
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I always handle the transponder by just sprinting everyone max distance toward the extraction, every turn. I finish the map with four turns on the countdown and bail out without a hitch. It helps to use someone with high mobility as the trigger, but other than that it's pretty risk-free.
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Mar 9, 2014 18:03
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The one good thing about Combat Drugs is it stacks with a Dense Smoke smoke grenade - including the basic defence boost. Two of the same kind of grenade won't stack, but two different ones will.
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Mar 9, 2014 18:22
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Last Transmission posted:Which means two of your 4-6 slots are supports. And one of which has been trained to mainly work in conjunction with the other instead of standing on their own. I run two sniper MECs, two supports, and two heavies. The Dense Smoke support keeps the MECs covered with Smoke and Mirrors, while the Combat Drugs support has Field Medic and one shot of Combat Drugs. The Heavies take both Grenadier and Rocketeer to blow cover. The MECs get four 100% shots per round, with crit bonuses on enemies the Heavies exposed, plus another free shot on enemy phase from their aggressive Colonel ability. In the lategame I replace one of the heavies with a third support, who also takes Smoke and Mirrors and Combat Drugs so I can use the double-smoke defence spike more often. This gets even better once all the non-MECs can take turns using Telekinetic Field. Sorites fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Mar 9, 2014 |
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Mar 9, 2014 19:05
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ulmont posted:I've read this a couple of times now (that just running is enough), but when I try that kind of approach my button-pushers always get eviscerated over by the docks. Are you clearing out the pre-placed chryssalid pack that waits outside the hole in the hull? I've never lost the button-pusher. The trick, I find, is to move them into position, end the turn, then push the button and sprint away in the same move. That's enough of a head-start to get them to safety, provided you always take an efficient diagonal path.
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Mar 10, 2014 02:07
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As someone who got into XCOM through this subforum, I love that Plan 'Jimmy Tango' is now an actual, genuine strategy that has some marginal theoretical value. EDIT: Speaking of that, what's the lowest Will you can get a soldier to have, starting with a coward and getting them critically wounded a lot of times? Sorites fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 20:49
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SeaTard posted:It's supposed to go to (next level - 1) xp. Without the extra bit in Toolbox that lets you see the XP of your guys I can't tell if it still works like that, but pre-EW it did. Anecdotally, it still seems to. I once got something like 10 kills in one mission with one squaddie (Newfoundland with heavy plasmas, heck yeah). She promoted, of course. Then she promoted again next mission without getting a single kill. But from then on she ranked up like normal.
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Mar 10, 2014 23:07
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Sokani posted:You gain experience just for attending a mission, I don't think you need a kill to level with only 1 xp till next. Yeah, that's what I mean. The 30 xp for clearing a mission (well, 40 including the 10 for doing so without casualties) was enough to gain a level all by itself, but the mission-clear xp for the next deployment wasn't enough for another promotion. So I agree that it's still capped at one xp short of the promotion after the immediate next one.
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Mar 11, 2014 00:46
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MadHat posted:What happens is the game locks all Soldiers to one Rank Increase per Mission but keeps track of the excess XP and just counts it the next mission. But it also won't let them bank enough xp for more than the next promotion minus one. So you can't, even if you somehow arranged this, grind three promotions' worth of kills in an easy mission and then coast that unit through the next three in a safe corner. Pvt.Scott posted:So, I'm guessing a sectoid is worth 10/12.5 and it goes up from there? Nope. I just checked, and my memory was wrong earlier: A kill is worth 30 xp, a mission is worth 60, and a plot mission is worth 120. You get a 50% bonus for being a low-ranking soldier who kills a particularly strong alien type. And you get a flat 20 xp bonus for clearing a mission with no deaths.
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Mar 11, 2014 03:33
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Felinoid posted:While we're talking about XP, how exactly is psi XP awarded? I know you level it by using them, but little details like: No, Mindfray exp is fixed as long as it's actually successful. (You can't just bounce attacks off a drone to grind exp.) Failed attempts give nothing. Second-tier Psi powers give 50% more exp than Mindfray, but again they have to succeed. You also get a pittance of exp for resisting an enemy Psi attack, but only if you're already psionic; you can't bank exp by tanking a bunch of attacks before getting tested. There's no hard cap on exp per mission, but again you can only promote once per deployment. It's trivially easy to get to tier three, though; three Mindfrays get you to Inspiration or Panic, and another three Inspirations or Panics will get you from there to Telekinetic Field (or Mind Control, I guess).
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Mar 11, 2014 07:09
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No, you don't get to move the MC target until your next turn. The reason I don't like MC: By the time you have access to it, only sectopods are tactically relevant and they can't be mind-controlled. My lategame strategies look like this: Not a Sectopod - Kill it. Not "try to kill it" as in "I have a chance at failure", just "kill it" as a direct action.  A Sectopod - Set up double-smoke (Dense Smoke stacks with Combat Drugs for a +60 defense boost) and Telekinetic Field for one round of total invincibility (40+20+40=100; Sectopods have 90 Aim) - Spend next turn firing at it with all units --- That said, Mind Control might be the better option if you're rushing to psionics. I just never do that, so it skews my strategy somewhat. Sorites fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Mar 11, 2014 |
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Mar 11, 2014 15:48
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Nothing stings like mind-controlling an enemy and triggering a bunch of new packs with the target's sight radius.
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Mar 11, 2014 16:34
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You can't punch something in flight mode, even if it isn't at any elevation. Like if you just toggle flight on a set of Archangel Armor but don't actually go up; that unit would be unpunchable. (Not sure if this works on Berserkers and Chryssalids. Haven't had the guts to test.) If a Seeker, or any other flying unit, is "flying" at no elevation you can't punch them. But if they're grounded, you can punch them even if they're cloaked.
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Mar 11, 2014 22:41
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Kasrkin posted:Cover mechanic in this game seems pretty good thought out, but then there are these random occurrences like the cash register, i guess that's the Protective Power of Money? 
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Mar 12, 2014 00:38
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I could see a "Quality Maintenance" option working, but it would have to scale with income. Having any amount between 25% and 75% of one month's income in reserve would have no effect. Having below 25% would reduce your damage and accuracy, as important equipment maintenance wasn't being done. And having above 75% might offer bonuses, because there's enough to spare for extra quality. I'd also imagine that ballistic weapons would be exempt from the 25%-and-under penalty, both for early-game difficulty balance and also because how much does it really cost to make a Mossberg not break?
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Mar 12, 2014 03:02
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It's definitely possible to clear Impossible without fielding any elerium-based tech (with one plot-mandated exception). This blocks plasma weapons and advanced armour.
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Mar 13, 2014 21:54
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goatface posted:Hmm, if you have arc throwers without a containment facility, do you still get to keep the un-exploded weapons? Yes. And this plays into: Pvt.Scott posted:Is it possible to have plasma pistols/light plasma researched in time for the first terror mission? I imagine you'd have to start in South America and build a lab first thing at the bare minimum. Yep! You have to sacrifice a lot, though: - Disable Operation Progeny so Slingshot triggers ASAP - Start in South America - Take scientists from every abduction that offers them (This will cause you to lose as many as three countries in the first month, maybe four with bad abduction placement) - Spam laboratories and power as quickly as you can; always be excavating and building generators so you have available power, and build another lab whenever you're able to - Rush to Arc Throwers - Capture a lot of aliens, even if you don't have a containment facility; their weapons are valuable. - Capture a Thin Man and a Muton during Friends in Low Places - Interrogate the Muton for research credit - Study the intact weapons I once performed this rush. For a long time, my Gunslinger Snipers hit harder than anyone else in the team (because my one and only LPR was consumed in order to research it and I couldn't afford to build more). Sorites fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Mar 14, 2014 |
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Mar 14, 2014 00:01
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:So I get the feeling that Jade Star's start is kinda like an early expo in an RTS? He delayed other investments early in the game for revenue generating satellites in order to have more resources when averaged over the entire game. It doesn't seem to have hurt him much, though maybe that's more a consequence of his conservative and careful play. That, but it also goes directly to the goal of keeping countries from leaving the project. If you lose even one country (except from your home continent), that's a continent-coverage bonus you can never ever unlock. In RTS terms, satellites are more like rushing to establish control over a finite map resource. Early economy boost, yes, but it's also about making sure you don't fall behind in a way that can never be made up. You'll always max out research before winning the game, or at least you'll max out all the research you care about. You may fall behind, but you'll never see the bridge burned. And even soldiers are replaceable. But countries don't come back once they're gone.
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Mar 14, 2014 02:51
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Peanut3141 posted:That and having the spot to the right of the first lift pre-excavated were HUGE. Saving those 5 days can be enormous if you're trying to get 4 more satellites up in the first month. (And you should be) There's actually JUST enough time to excavate that spot, build a workshop, and start satellite construction with extra engineers. Even if you don't get the workshop up immediately, you're fine as long as you start it by Day 12 so you can start an uplink by Day 17. You're not even cutting it close as long as you start building quickly after excavation. Brainamp posted:It mostly comes down to the steam vent placement and personal taste. The only part of most bases that stays roughly the same in the uplink square. Higher vents mean less money and energy spent trying to use them. Generally there's a square of workshops to the right of the elevator shaft, at least if you're hustling satellite production. Or, alternatively, a square of laboratories if you're tech rushing instead of satellite rushing. But in general, base build doesn't matter too much as long as you don't completely ignore one branch of your development. Unless you're doing some crazy Impossible-mode optimization, just do what you like however you like. Sorites fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Mar 14, 2014 |
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Mar 14, 2014 03:45
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Peanut3141 posted:I'm not sure where you're getting your power from then. Day 1: Excavate right of the elevator shaft. Also excavate leftward to the top-left corner. Day 6: Excavation completes. Build power in the top-left corner. Optionally excavate further to the right for later use, if the right isn't fully open by now. Day 11: Generator completes. You now have enough for a workshop and an uplink. Build a workshop right of the elevator. Also begin satellite construction. Day 16: Build your uplink. Day 30: Uplink complete. Day 31: Satellites complete. Launch. Sorites fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Mar 14, 2014 |
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Mar 14, 2014 04:01
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Peanut3141 posted:The problem I generally run into is that it's going to take forever to excavate to the far left on level 2 for the power adjacency bonus, as messing with the holy square of uplinks is a Bad Idea (tm). This usually puts me behind the curve for getting enough power to supply month 2's workshop and uplink. My set-up for the top layers is always: P-U-U-E-W-W-P P-U-U-E-W-W-P If I see steam I'll build a thermo there, unless it's under an uplink tile in which case gently caress the steam. Below the top layers I have no organization, I just build poo poo wherever's convenient. But having power running down the sides gets me along until I have either thermo or elerium generators, especially because I always excavate every tile the moment I reach it and can afford to.
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Mar 14, 2014 05:56
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Peanut3141 posted:Using this strategy when do you usually get MECs or the OTS for squad size upgrades? I usually try to have one of those for the first Progeny mission to make life easier. Month two, usually. Once I have the cash from a four-satellite March, I find I can do whatever I like. Honestly, early-game XCOM is easier with a small squad of organics. It's easier to make the available cover go around, and you don't have a big guy with a "kill me" sign on his back walking around sucking plasma. I often take the Foundry before any other upgrade facility. I refuse to field a MEC until I have Advanced Medikits, and Tactical Rigging is the best single upgrade in the game by a pretty huge margin.
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Mar 14, 2014 08:48
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:28 |
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The way the math works out, Damage Roulette averages out to a -33% damage modifier to everyone. It stretches damage ranges down further than it stretches them up, you see.
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Mar 14, 2014 16:39
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