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Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!

REQUIRED OP LISTENING:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRJ7eCiWY7M
Somehow this remix ends up being more and more relevant with each XCOM release.

XCOM: Chimera Squad is a surprise entry into the Firaxis XCOM line of games. We knew nothing about this until a week before its release. The release date is April 24th, 2020. Get ready to rock and roll as a brand new squad of XCOPS!

Chimera Squad is set up to be a smaller, more focused game than EU/EW or War of the Chosen. You command a very specific squad of units, each with well defined personalities and backgrounds, as they attempt to bring peace and order to City 31.

The game is set after XCOM 2. Short version? XCOM won. The Ethereals hosed off, and the psychic domination that they exerted on the myriad alien races invading earth was broken. Humanity took back control of our cradle. The predictable happened with all the now-freed alien races - they were integrated into a new, multi-racial Terran society predicated on tolerance, sharing, and mutual growth.

What, you thought we'd purge the xenos? gently caress outta here, son, this ain't the Warhammer 40k thread. We all have wanted Ayyy squad members for years. Tired of being on the receiving end of a Sectoid's Mindspin? Well tire no more, friend, our boy Verge has you covered.



Sick of backing off like a chump whenever a Muton shows up? Ain't no thang no more, pal, peep the battering ram up front of your breach and clear crew:



Yearning for a snake tit of your very own? Well you're in luck, my memehouse buddy. You do, in fact, get a snake tit party member. Try to keep your excitement to yourself in the thread, please.

Unfortunately, not everyone's as on board with this brave new world of cooperation and shared destiny as the XCOPS are. City 31 has a lot of elements trying to keep the war going. That's who we're gonna be kicking in the face with all new BREACH AND CLEAR GAMEPLAY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39fhpegVBQQ

In addition to setting the tone for the entire engagement with your Rainbow Six Siege style insertions, the turn-based standards have been shaken up a bit. Now turn order is determined by individual initiatives that cause a friendly -> enemy -> friendly -> enemy rotation, rather than it being an entire side's turn at once. Are you getting XCOM: Apocalypse vibes yet? You should be, sucker! The entire game's premise looks very much like a testbed for new concepts and mechanics that will go into XCOM 3, while still keeping us all gloriously entertained with an intensely personal story. And this estimated 20-hour game is priced to move at 20 United States Dollars, with a 50% off discount going on at the moment!

If you're not convinced, have some fresh-off-the-presses memes! We're all hyped and gonna have a shitload of fun with this game!

Pectoid buddy cops:


The Chad Viper gamer in her natural environment


The virgin Muton in his now-natural environment



the snake lady drew the team muton:


Yeah, son.

THREAD RULES:
- Talking about XCOM 1 is okay.
- Talking about XCOM 1 mods (like Long War) is okay.
- Talking about the technical aspects of modding XCOM 2 is okay.
- Talking about OpenXCOM is okay.
- Seriously, :justpost:. We are all friends in the XCOM thread.
- Please do not engage in zealotry either for or against your favorite or least favorite mod.
- Just be a reasonable, level-headed adult.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


XCOM 2 is a direct sequel to Firaxis's smash hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown and an immense source of joy to all true neckbeards. Firaxis's last game proved to be a very faithful and quite solid modernization of the original game, so hopes are quite high that the sequel will rock as many faces as the EU did. It is slated for release Februray of 2016, so we don't even really have that long to wait!

The typical narrative is getting up-ended a little bit. At the end of Enemy Unknown, XCOM failed. Do you think that's lame? Well keep it to yourself Ramona, nobody cares. They were defeated, scattered, and the aliens took control of the general human population. We pick up twenty years after this failure. The aliens have erected massive cities and made grand promises of a bright future through cooperation to humanity at large, and, outwardly, they seem to deliver. However, the atmosphere is one of choking totalitarianism underneath the veneer. Enemies of the new order disappear, and only those on the fringes of society dare to think for themselves. Basically, aliens made 1984.

XCOM still exists as an insurgent organization, using a mobile base to launch a guerrilla campaign against the alien order. The fight is desperate and the goal is far, far off. But that goal is nothing less than the obliteration of the alien order and the extermination of every filthy xeno gently caress who thought it was a good idea to enslave Homo Superior.

The Geoscape has changed substantially. Now, instead of deploying ships around the world and building hangars to extend your reach, you are restricted to the Avenger, XCOM's mobile base, and short range drops from the Skyranger.


Time mostly passes in transit on the Avenger, and distance is now important to access various missions. For example, to do the following mission:



One would actually have to BE in Western Europe.

There are also many mission types, varying from urban patrol combat, to full on invasion of a loving black site.

Furthermore, as the aliens are now in control of earth, they have numerous irons in the fire at any one time. These irons come out as "Dark Events", which manifest as projects that make your life harder in various ways. You will be warned about Dark Events as they come up, but don't expect to be able to prevent all of them.



In addition, the aliens have a cryptic win condition known as the "Avatar project." If their progress completes on it, XCOM loses the game outright. You can complete Dark Events and undertake missions to stall the Avatar Project, but the only way to truly stop it is to win the game.

The Battlescape is also very different. Each mission starts out in tactical concealment, during which time XCOM is undetected and can position themselves along the map without worrying about getting shot to pieces the first time a squad slides into view. It also gives you the crucial first shot in most situations.



Concealment can be broken early by a patrol bumbling into your squad, but their viewed squares are clearly marked. Also, once you shoot an enemy, the entire map goes loud. Soldier classes are also much updated from the original EU (and generally seem much better thought out this time around).

DLC GUIDE
XCOM 2 has a good fistful of DLC out, including its outright expansion, the War of the Chosen. If you are completely new to the game, it's generally recommended that you should play Vanilla first. It's not important to beat the game on Vanilla, but War of the Chosen throws a TON of new mechanics at you, and they're mostly frontloaded into the early game. XCOM 2 is a big game even as it is, adding the expansion on top of that for an entirely new player is probably too much.

Anarchy's Children: This is a cosmetic pack giving you road warrior/Mad Max style cosmetics for your soldiers in game. There's nothing you can get in here that you can't get from just loading up some cosmetic mods, so it's difficult to recommend it. Skip unless you want to treat Firaxis to more money.

Alien Hunters: This DLC adds an early game mission to give you a few neat weapons and introduce some extremely powerful 'boss' units known as the Alien Rulers. These are some very nasty and recurring enemies that will haunt you throughout multiple missions, until you manage to kill them. This DLC is very divisive because it fundamentally alters the turn-based nature of the game. Unlike most enemies, the Alien Rulers get an action every time a soldier they see takes an action. If they see you move, fire, use a special ability, whatever, they will immediately get an action. Every action must be placed well, and stunning attacks to deprive the Rulers of their turns are extremely important.

Some folks really like this pack because it fundamentally alters the tenor of a fight when a Ruler shows up and keeps the game interesting. The tactical situation and your priorities will instantly change, and a strong position may very quickly turn out to be a very weak one once a Ruler activates. Others dislike the pack strongly because of the way the turn order is screwed up. If a ruler activates, you can suddenly feel you have no 'good' options and you must lose something.

All in all, I recommend this DLC, but many people disagree.

Shen's Last Gift: This DLC adds an early game mission to take your engineer, Lily Shen, out to an old tower where she rediscovers her father's final project before his death between EU/EW and XCOM 2. It turns out that he made murderous, hulked out versions of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and put them on a steady diet of crack and fury. You get one for free for doing the very long and exhausting mission, and can build more afterward. So yes, you can have a full squad of really pissed off robots shooting fool-rear end aliens for you.

It's very easy to recommend this DLC. It's fun and has no downsides, but it's not crucial if you're on a budget.

War of the Chosen: Tactical Legacy Pack: This is a somewhat stand-alone DLC that is largely separate from the main game. It consists of Bradford telling Big Fish stories of what he was doing in the 20 years between EU/EW and XCOM 2. There's no strategy layer, simply a sequence of missions that you play out on the Battlescape. Doing particularly well nets you some small bonuses, like customized weapons, that you can use in the main campaign. It's far from required, but watching Bradford obviously bullshit his way through these stories is one of the best instances of straight-faced comedy in the last few years.

It's again very easy to recommend this DLC. It's fun and has no downsides, but again is not crucial if you're on a budget.

WAR OF THE CHOSEN:


The big one. This is the expansion pack to XCOM 2. And yes, it is an expansion pack in the old sense, like Enemy Within was for EU and Brood War was for Starcraft. It completely overhauls many parts of the game and adds in a ton of new challenges and mission types, including the titular Chosen - three very powerful captains of the aliens' will that exist entirely to make your life hell on both the geoscape AND the battlescape. While I do recommend you play a bit of the game without it first, ultimately you are playing half of a game if you don't have War of the Chosen installed.

A couple of things War of the Chosen adds:
- The Chosen themselves. There are three of them, and they oversee parts of the globe that the Elders have entrusted them with. As you sortie into their territory, the will slowly take actions against you to learn about XCOM. As this knowledge grows, they will become more and more dangerous, until they eventually launch a special Avenger intercept mission to take you down for good. They will also interfere in otherwise normal missions, giving you a boss fight when you least want it.
- The Lost. Did you ever wonder what happened to all the luckless bastards that got picked up in the abduction gunk of EU/EW? Well, wonder no longer. They're a zombie horde in the most classic sense, hostile to both you and ADVENT. Not quite a traditional third force, the Lost have a tendency to show up as a wrinkle in missions to make things more complicated - though this doesn't necessarily mean harder for you...
- Advancement Points (AP). Have you ever leveled up a soldier and wished you could take BOTH of the skills on offer? Well now you can, sparky. When you build the new training center facility, you can take a peek at the entire level tree for a soldier, including their hidden skills (which are now impossible to miss thanks to this new system). As a soldier gains ranks, they get a separate pool of AP that they can use to take bonus skills not on their normal advancement path. And in case that pool isn't enough, XCOM as an organization also gets its own pool of AP for performing flanking and ambush kills, defeating the Chosen, and generally doing well in the campaign. Yes, it is finally possible to have a Specialist that is both a hacker AND a medic!
- Fatigue. Will is no longer a static number, but rather something that goes down as your soldier takes actions on a mission. Using a single soldier over and over again will sap their Will and leave them tired. A very tired soldier will panic more easily, and at extreme levels of fatigue could develop negative quirks that hurt their combat efficiency. You can restore will by....letting a cat sleep for a change ya jerk.
- SITREPs. These are one-mission modifiers that change the context of a map. They generally are there to provide spice to what would otherwise be 'another run.' They go from beneficial (all soldiers can conceal once for free during the mission) to problematic (extra pods deploy, or they have better stats) to 'could go either way' (the Lost spawn on the mission, even if they otherwise wouldn't).
- New standard enemies. ADVENT can now field a flamethrower-wielding Purifier unit, and the aliens have gone full Alienware with a unit that's can copy your soldiers using a swarm of nanomachines (son).
- And more, more, more. This expansion is real, strong, and your friend.


With War of the Chosen, there is an incredibly confusingly named "integrate DLC" checkbox when you are starting a new game that affects the Shen's Last Gift and Alien Hunters. This is what that actually does:

If checked: The individual missions (and, consequently, rewards) that introduce Shen's Last Gift and Alien Hunters are disabled. Instead, they become projects you must pay for and complete in the Proving Grounds - and they're not cheap! So, you will not receive the first-tier array of Alien Hunters weapons for free, and you will not receive a free SPARK with DLC integrated. As you cannot undertake the mission that activates the Alien Rulers, they are instead redeployed to guard Avatar Facilities and will only activate when you meet them in those assaults.

If unchecked: The DLCs will behave precisely as they did without WotC installed. As the hooks for both Alien Hunters and Shen's Last Gift occur pretty early into the game, this will lead to a very hectic opening act to your game - and the extreme length of the Shen's Last Gift mission is likely to leave the squad that completes it very tired. Of course, you will be able to obtain the first tier of Alien Hunters weapons for free by investigating a rumor, and you will get a free SPARK for completing Shen's Last Gift. You will also be able to control the activation of the Alien Rulers by simply doing or not doing the Alien Hunters combat mission.

Important: If you do not want to deal with alien rulers AT ALL, you should UNINSTALL the Alien Hunters DLC from the Steam UI. This is the ONLY way to entirely disable the DLC.


XCOM UNITS:
The Ranger: Kind of the Assault adapted to the new guerilla environment. It can either focus on cutting enemies to pieces ala RULES OF NATURE or improving its stealth capabilities ala BE CAREFUL DOWN THERE, BOSS. Reveal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWtntHx74qA
The Sharpshooter: The Sniper from the first game is mostly unchanged, simply improved. Can focus on reactive play focusing on their pistol, where six bullets is more than enough to kill anything that moves, or long range sniping. No, love cannot bloom on a battlefield. Reveal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGh0DECDWB0
The Grenadier: The Heavy from the last game now rocks a loving awesome minigun instead of an LMG and a grenade launcher instead of a rocket launcher. Yes, it's still an improvement. Anyway, they can focus on blowing everything up :torgue: or filling the air with more bullets than God knew existed :dukedog:. Reveal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW8wVFR-fgE
The Specialist: The Support has gotten a totally sweet UAV buddy known as the Gremlin, and his upgrades surround what the Gremlin is best at. He can focus on hacking enemy equipment, or healing and shielding allies. Most everything the Specialist can do is done at a healthy range due to the Gremlin, so they generally seem to work much better than the old Supports did. Reveal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW8wVFR-fgE
The Psi-op: Psionics has finally gotten an equal shot in XCOM 2, after forever being treated as an awkward add-on that made one lucky soldier a deity while relegating everyone else to languishing in the lucky guy's shadow. Skills focus on using psi to either screw up enemies or bolster allies, but the powers are generally much better thought out and much more lethal and effective now that people don't need to worry about these great powers showing up on some jerk who is already a god. Reveal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjE_JSqLt0Y

With War of the Chosen, there are also three new 'third party' soldier styles you can recruit, drawn from the other fractious resistance groups out that have been pestering the aliens while XCOM has been away:
The Reaper: STALKER aesthetic at its finest, the Reaper is a big coat, a gas mask, a low powered sniper rifle, and six shades of trouble for Advent. They freely enter an advanced form of Concealment known as Shadow, which makes them impossible to detect unless they are literally right next to an enemy. As quick as they are quiet, Reapers make ideal scouts and demolitionists for your crew, able to plant explosives on enemy pods before they know your squad is there, or to detonate volatile barrels and vehicles without revealing themselves. They are the epitome of the scout/sniper and hilariously fun to use.
The Skirmisher: ADVENT troopers that have ripped out their own control chips and now fight the order they once served. They are insanely mobile and make heavy use of their grappling hook to make a joke out of vertical areas - when they're not using them to latch on to enemies and zip around for ripjack assaults. Their bullpup rifles are low damage, but natively do not end the turn after they are fired, making Skirmishers great at the hit and fade attacks you'd expect them to be good at, given their name.
The Templar: Human psi users that have developed their own powers through blind tinkering and raw talent, rather than through the careful experimentation of your own psi-ops. Templars focus on melee combat using psionic gauntlets, and get more powerful as they land good hits and kill things. Hard to use but undeniably powerful, Templars bring dicing to your slicing game.


Overall, this game owns. If you disagree, I want you to consider that this is how you interrogate enemies now:
http://i.imgur.com/nG3KHKL.webm
And then reconsider your entire life.

:siren:GOON SOLDIERS::siren:
One of the coolest parts of this game is the ability to export characters from your game, so they can appear again in subsequent campaigns, or your friends' campaigns!
idonotlikepeas has generously collected goon self-inserts so you can import them to die horribly for your guerilla resistance! Check out this link to get the latest goonpool, and put it into Documents\my games\XCOM2\CharacterPool\Importable. Then you can see the pool in the Character Pool menu item and pull them into your game!

To get your own self-insert put into the pool, email him at (his username)@gmail.com! Please make the pool name the same as your character's name, for his convenience.

Other fun character packs!

Orgophlax posted:

OK, finished my G.I. Joe characters for now. These are based on the original 80s cartoon.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6jq7q0olfywsdd/GI%20Joe.bin?dl=0

Also, requires Capnbubs Accessories Pack for Flint's beret to show up: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=618977388

Coolguye fucked around with this message at 18:45 on May 13, 2020

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Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!
HOT GAMER TIPS ON ODDS AND ENDS

Olive Branch posted:

Had this post kicking around my head during my last playthrough of XCOM 2 WOTC, so I wrote it up to get it out there.

XCOM 2 War of the Chosen - Resistance Orders for Newbies

With Phoenix Point coming out soon (or out already depending on when this is posted), maybe you showed an interest in checking out the new XCOM games too. Or maybe you picked this wonderful series up on a sale, in which case, welcome!

If you are playing XCOM 2 and its expansion, War of the Chosen, you may already be aware of the Resistance Ring and the factions that XCOM has access to. The worth of the special soldiers deserves its own post, but I wanted to focus on the Resistance Orders for each faction or continental relay bonus that you can slot in after each supply drop. How can you make the best use of them, Commander? Which ones are good, which ones are bad, and which ones let you break the game in half over your knee? I'm here to give my take on them, having played this game a little bit too long (over 1000 hours!) in Legend/Ironman settings with Grim Horizon in there too. Be aware this post focuses on the vanilla, unmodded game!

The Mechanics of Resistance Orders

A quick primer on Resistance Orders, just to refresh the way they work: at the start of a WOTC campaign, some orders get randomly selected from each faction's pool to serve as continental bonuses earned by placing enough radio relays on a continent and making contact with each region of that continent. Each faction grants you two orders when you contact them, and two more orders for completing the first two Covert Actions to hunt their adversary Chosen. If you want more than those four orders from the faction, you have to run Resistance Order Covert Actions in the Ring, which may be offered randomly each supply drop cycle.

Your Resistance Ring can hold up to three orders from any faction as wild cards with upgrades to the facility, and each faction can hold up to two of their own orders if your influence with them is high enough after doing Chosen hunts. Every supply drop cycle (about 21 days) lets you assign orders, which are locked in for that cycle, so you can adapt your strategy as you go.

I'll be listing each order for each faction and analyzing their benefit and if they are worth slotting. A TL;DR version with my top order picks is at the bottom.

Resistance Orders - Reapers

* Lightning Strike - Units gain +3 mobility for the first 2 turns of battle while the squad remains concealed.
This order is garbage and should never be slotted unless there is nothing better, but there is little that is worse than this order. The extra mobility only lasts two turns and most players break concealment on the second or third turn of a timed mission. I can understand that this order can help cover ground faster to an objective, but most maps are balanced enough to get you to the end with time to spare.

* Infiltrate - On timed missions, the timer does not begin until the squad has lost concealment.
One of the best orders in the entire game, and some would argue it's the best altogether. Infiltrate completely changes your approach to missions (minus Neutralize Enemy Commander and Protect the Device Guerilla Ops, and non-timed missions). This order lets you get the best position possible to ambush your first pod of aliens, or if you have a Reaper with Target Definition, you can take time to scout out the map, paint all the enemies, and then start it without running the risk of revealing unwanted aliens. A keeper and must-have, in my opinion.

* Popular Support 1 - Supplies collected from each supply drop are increased by 10%.
* Popular Support 2 - Supplies collected from each supply drop are increased by 15%.
These are separate orders, but you can slot both for a total of +25% Supplies each drop. I can think of better orders to slot for the Reapers and wild cards, though. Not a bad mid-game order when Supplies are tight for upgrades, but it won't make or break you.

* Recruiting Centers - New recruits cost only 15 Supplies.
Unless you're trying to recruit a custom pool character you really want from the recruiting tab or are getting soldiers killed every single mission, do not slot this order.

* Munitions Experts - Experimental Ammo projects in the Proving Grounds are completed instantly.
A nice order but very situational. You'll want to save up some Elerium Cores before you slot this order for the one or two supply cycles you'll need it for. Any projects already queued or in progress will instantly complete after slotting in this order.

* Scavengers - All resource rewards from scanned Rumors are doubled.
Personally I never saw the benefit of this order until the late game. It only works for Rumors offering Supplies, Intel, Alien Alloys, and Elerium Crystals. Most of the time you'll want to be scanning at HQs, making Resistance contact, or investigating better Rumors. I'd pass on this one.

* Live Fire Training - Any recruits training in the GTS will achieve the rank of Sergeant.
I think this order is underrated by many Commanders but it is definitely better earlier than later. Turning Rookies into Sergeants after 5 days (10 days on Legend) in your Guerilla Tactics School is a wonderful investment of time and very efficient. Sergeants can also be used for Low Profile Guerilla Ops and most Resistance Ring Covert Actions need at least Sergeants to run. Any Rookie already training in the GTS before you apply this order will come out a Sergeant.

* Guardian Angels - Covert Actions will not be ambushed.
Some people enjoy ambush missions with the Lost. I'm not one of those people, and I want my soldiers to risk nothing more than wounds out there. Guardian Angels also completely cancels out the Spider and Fly Dark Event, for those of you running Grim Horizon campaigns. A keeper for me.

* Resistance Rising 1 - +1 Resistance Contact.
* Resistance Rising 2 - +2 Resistance Contacts.
Separate orders that can be combined for +3 Resistance Contacts. Situational. Good in a pinch when you need to expand your network coverage to a crucial region but don't have a Resistance Comms up or didn't get lucky with a Resistance Contact Rumor. Otherwise, pass on this. You can't unslot these orders if doing so would mean having your current contacts be higher than your max limit.

* Volunteer Army - On every mission, there is a chance that a Resistance soldier will join the XCOM squad.
This can be a fun little order. The soldier won't appear every mission, but when they do it's a soldier with decent aim equipped with an assault rifle at your level of technology and a grenade. They're expendable too, though their deaths count against your stats in the end, if you care about that.

* Rapid Collection - Resistance supply drops are collected instantly.
Saves you 3 days and some hours every supply drop cycle. Not essential and more of a convenience than anything.

* Between the Eyes - Any XCOM shot that hits the Lost is an instant headshot kill.
If you are playing Grim Horizon and got stuck with Lost World, this is a lifesaver. Lost Missions become even easier than they already are, and Sharpshooters get to feel like real badasses popping Lost with their pistols. Other than that, unless you run into Lost who are stronger than your minimum damage rolls, this order is skippable.

* Ballistics Modelling - The speed of all weapons research is increased by 15%.
Situational. A nice timesaver when you are researching the two magnetic weapons techs, or the four beam weapons techs. I like to slot it if I have this order and not enough scientists or anything better by the time I'm teching up.

* Heavy Equipment - Excavation speed is increased by 50%.
A very good order, and it stacks with the Skirmisher HQ building bonus too. Faster excavation means facilities going up sooner which means a stronger XCOM quicker. The snowball effect of this order cannot be overstated.

* Resistance Network - Contact with new regions is made instantly.
A wonderful order and I love it. No more having to fly to a region and waiting 6-8 days for it to unlock when you could be scanning elsewhere. This order doesn't apply to building radio relays, though. Any regions already being contacted when this order is slotted in will be instantly contacted.

Resistance Orders - Skirmishers

* Vulture - Enemies drop additional loot items.
In vanilla XCOM 2 this order paid for itself in the GTS with extra loot you could sell later in the Black Market. In WOTC this order remains excellent as a source of extra weapon mods, PCSes, and Intel datapads. Just make sure you don't go blowing up every single alien until you get the loot each mission!

* Inside Job I - All Intel rewards increased by 10%.
* Inside Job II - All Intel rewards increased by 15%.
Separate orders that can both be slotted for a +25% Intel bonus. Council missions and sometimes Guerilla Ops offer Intel as a reward, but I don't really care for these orders as Intel is fed to you at a relatively decent drip. There are better orders out there.

* Under the Table I - The Black Market pays an additional 20% for sold items.
* Under the Table II - The Black Market pays an additional 30% for sold items.
Separate orders that can be combined for a +50% sale bonus at the Black Market. If you're going to slot this, stockpile items in advance and take advantage of it during a supply cycle where you're expecting to need a lot of Supplies for upgrades. Otherwise, pass.

* Quid Pro Quo - Black Market Intel costs are reduced by 33%.
If you like buying stuff in the Black Market and have spare Intel, this order can net huge benefits. I like to slot this if I think I'm going to use it but it's situational. If you wait long enough, you can buy all the Superior weapon mods and PCSes you need for cheap, too.

* Bomb Squad - Experimental Grenade and Heavy Weapon projects are completed instantly in the Proving Ground.
Just like the Reapers' Munitions Experts order, save this for when you have a lot of Elerium Cores and want to save time.

* Sabotage - Remove one block of Avatar Project progress at the end of each month.
An excellent order, and gives you a lot of wiggle room and time to manage the Avatar Project. Between this and Reduce Avatar Progress Covert Actions you can literally play the game campaign as long as you want. This order loses a bit of its utility in Grim Horizon as the aliens will stack Dark Events on you, but it still gives you breathing room to access the alien facilities a little later than normal.

* Decoys and Deceptions - All knowledge gained by the Chosen is reduced by 33%.
I like this order to keep the worst of the Chosen actions off me, especially when they create Dark Events in Grim Horizon. This will delay the Avenger Defense mission so you can fight the Chosen more often.

* Private Channel - All mission timers are increased by 2 turns.
Makes timed missions a little more manageable, especially those pesky Neutralize Field Commander ones. Combine this with Infiltrate for even better results!

* Integrated Warfare - All PCS effects are increased.
If you don't have many PCSes, this order won't do much. A good order in the late game when you actually have PCSes, but their effects are icing on the cake.

* Weak Points - Any shredding attack from XCOM does an additional +1 shred to the target.
Early on this order can be useful against MECs and you lack Shredder Grenadiers or higher tier weapons, but otherwise you can pass on this order. There are better combat ones out there.

* Inside Knowledge - The effect of all weapon modifications is increased.
Unlike Integrated Warfare and its PCS bonus, this order is much more useful as it affects weapons that can be slotted with multiple mods and passed around rather than buffing a single soldier, and its effects are felt much earlier. I think this order is a keeper: every single weapon mod gets a +1 bonus to what it does, or a +5% bonus for Scopes.

* Double Agent - On every mission, there is a chance an ADVENT unit will join the XCOM squad.
Just like Volunteer Army for the Reapers, Doube Agent grants you an expendable bonus soldier (an ADVENT Trooper or Lancer) in some missions. If you have a Dark Event that bolsters ADVENT units, though, they also buff your Double Agent! Can actually work quite well with Grim Horizon stacking buffs on ADVENT soldiers. If the ADVENT soldier dies, it counts against your stats.

* Impact Modelling - The speed of all armor research is increased by 15%.
Similar to the Reapers' Ballistic Modeling order. Only really good to research Plated Armor and Powered Armor, so it's extremely situational.

* Modular Construction - Facility construction speed is increased by 25%.
Slightly less useful than the Reapers' Heavy Excavation order but still gives a snowball effect. Stacks with the Skirmisher HQ build speed bonus.

* Information War - The Tech defense of all enemies and hack targets is reduced by 20.
If you like Specialists and buffing their Hacking stat, this is your order. The cool thing about this order is that it weakens not just robotic units' tech defense, but also those of ADVENT sentry towers, hack chest objectives, and locked doors too. This makes getting good rewards much more likely!

* Tactical Analysis - Enemy units lose 1 action on their next turn if discovered on the XCOM turn.
Just like Infiltrate, this order is a game changer and honestly broken in a game full of broken abilities. This makes revealing enemy pods way less punishing and greatly weakens the aliens' ability to defend themselves if they actually get a chance to fight back on their next turn. Take it, slot in, love it.

Resistance Orders - Templars

* Noble Cause - Will recovery in all soldiers is 20% faster.
Will recovery in WOTC is strange. In my experience a soldier can normally go on two missions back-to-back before becoming tired for 8-10 days. This order sometimes lowers the minimum rest time to 6 days, but a weird interaction with the Dark Tower Dark Event with this order makes them tired for 1 day? In any case, there really is no downside to keeping this order slotted if you have it.

* Suit Up - All armor and vest projects in the Proving Ground are completed instantly.
Another Proving Ground order with the same effect as its Reaper and Skirmisher counterpart, so the same effects apply. This order lets you instantly build EXO, War, Spider, and Wraith Suits, as well as the Alien Ruler suits. Situational, of course.

* Trial by Fire - Double the Ability Points gained in combat.
I love this order, it's my favorite Templar one. All those skill events that trigger now and again are doubled, including when you beat up a Chosen or Alien Ruler. The extra Ability Points add up and you will be able to deck out your soldiers with even more abilities in the Training Center!

* Deeper Learning I - Soldier experience gains are increased by 10%.
* Deeper Learning II - Soldier experience gains are increased by 20%.
Separate orders that can be combined for a +30% total. It does what it says on the tin, so you can have more veteran soldiers faster. Not bad when you have nothing better.

* Mental Fortitude - All battle madness (panic, berserk, obsessed, shattered) only lasts one turn.
You won't get panicked regularly outside of Sectoids using Mindspin or if you have a habit of taking tired soldiers out in a mission. A Mindshield completely nullifies these effects anyway. Don't bother with this order if you have access to others.

* Vengeance - When a squadmate dies, the entire squad receives random bonuses for 2 turns.
Don't get your soldiers killed. Don't slot this order.

* Stay With Me - Soldiers are much more likely to bleed out rather than die when their health drops to 0.
Again, don't get your soldiers killed, but there is something to be said about this order and getting unlucky. This order doubles the chances a soldier enters bleedout. The way the bleedout mechanic works is that the game takes the Soldier's will and halves it: that's their percentage chance to enter a bleedout state rather than die outright, but this caps at 50% with a will of 100+. Essentially, the only way to guarantee a soldier enters bleedout is to raise their will to 100+ and have this order slotted. If you want your A-team to be deathproof you have no other option.

* Art of War - Ability Points gained by promotion are increased by 25%.
This order is not retroactive and only gives extra Ability Points when it's slotted in, so if you want more AP for your soldiers to cash in on the Training Center they have to get promoted after this order is active. That said, this is a great order if you like those extra abilities and get it early enough in your soldiers' career.

* Bonds of War - Soldier Bonds grow 25% faster.
Soldier bonds grow at a decent enough speed that this order is simply unnecessary. Forget it.

* Tithe - Resource rewards on all missions are increased by 15%.
This order works not only for both Supplies and Intel rewards, but also Alien Alloys and Elerium Crystals from Supply Raid and UFO missions. A very decent order!

* Greater Resolve - Lightly wounded soldiers can be sent into combat.
The way wounds are calculated in the game (and now having to worry about Will on top of that) means this order is a bit of a trap. Your soldier could be sent out in a pinch, but they'd probably still be tired, and thus a liability, and even likelier to get shot at. And if they're not lightly wounded? Well, they're just not going anyway. Let your soldier rest and take someone else unless it's a dire emergency.

* Feedback - Psionic attacks on XCOM units deal damage to the caster.
Makes all those Sectoids Mindspinning and Codexes dropping Psionic Bombs on your soldiers pay dearly for their impertinence. This order can be very fun to slot in!

* Pursuit of Knowledge - Laboratory facilities provide an additional 20% boost to research times.
If you have a Laboratory up and running this is the rough equivalent of another research station for a Scientist. Faster research is always nice!

* Hidden Reserves I - Gain an additional +2 power on the Avenger.
* Hidden Reserves II - Gain an additional +3 power on the Avenger.
Separate orders that can be combined for +5 power. If you absolutely need extra power on the Avenger for a crucial facility, these orders can serve as a bandage, but that's all they are. Take them, then build a Power Station later. Don't slot these orders otherwise. You can't unslot these orders if doing so would lower your max power under current power.

* Machine Learning - Research breakthroughs are twice as likely to occur.
If you like breakthroughs, then get this order. I think breakthroughs are a bit of a trap on Legend, as you'll want to be teching to magnetic weapons and armor quickly, and then to beam weapons and armor. There is some spare time after mag weapon and plated armor research that lets you dally about the tech tree a bit when you may be lacking Alien Alloys and Elerium Crystals, and obviously after teching your beam weapons and powered armor, but most of my own breakthroughs were taken from the Resistance Ring Covert Actions when a good one was offered there.

TL;DR, the Best Orders (IMO)

Reapers: Infiltrate, Guardian Angels, Heavy Equipment, Resistance Network

Skirmishers: Vulture, Quid Pro Quo, Sabotage, Inside Knowledge, Information War, Tactical Analysis

Templars: Noble Cause, Trial by Fire, Art of War, Tithe, Feedback

My top orders to slot: Infiltrate, Guardian Angels (Reapers), Tactical Analysis, Inside Knowledge (Skirmishers), Trial by Fire, Noble Cause (Templars), Information War, Vulture, Sabotage (Wild)


MODS AND STUFF

QoL mods
This is a listing of simple mods that do not change the basic experience of the game, but make various things easier or quicker. They are by no means required, but are generally considered improvements to your overall experience.

Carecat posted:

Unofficial XCOM 2 launcher
https://github.com/X2CommunityCore/xcom2-launcher

  • Skips the official XCOM 2 launcher
  • Mod categories and profiles
  • Basic compatibility checks (duplicate ids, class and screenlistener conflicts)
  • Basic steam support (details, changelog, unsubscribe)
  • Cleans old ModOverride entries from XComEngine.ini
  • Can delete unnecessary files to reduce memory footprint
  • Configuration editor, change all of a mod's configs from right in the launcher
  • Configuration saving, save your changes to disk and directly into your settings file for backup
  • Filter on the mod list
  • Profile loader will attempt to create groups if the profile contains groups
  • Launcher can be run on multiple computers (from Dropbox, etc) and carry all settings over (must reapply saved configs)
  • Editable mod descriptions

X2WOTCCommunityHighlander
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1134256495

A Highlander is a XComGame replacement, which replaces the code of the Vanilla game, without requiring any ModClassOverrides to do so. As implied by the name, there can only be one Highlander, so it's important to make a highlander address as many modding use cases as possible, as well as incorporating bug fixes that would require class overrides to implement.

[WotC] Mod Config Menu
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=667104300

This mod (MCM) is a shared settings menu. Some mods require this mod in order for you to use the in-game configuration menus.

Stop Wasting My Time - WotC
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620600092

Speeds up the game by removing pointless pauses and other time-wasters.

[WotC] Gotcha Again
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124288875

This mod improves on the Line of Sight indicators that are shown when previewing moves in the tactical game.

[WOTC] Detailed Soldier Lists
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1128263618

Shows more details in the Soldier List screen, this is now more important than ever due to will and different stats from covert actions.

[WOTC] Additional Icons
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1127409511

Introduces 5 new icons:
- Loot Indicator - Marks an enemy with loot
- Damage Icon - Shows the non-crit damage range on the unit's primary weapon
- Aim Icon - Shows the current aim stat of the unit
- Mobility Icon - Shows the current mobility stat of the unit
- Health Icon - Shows the current and max health of the unit.

Evac All - WotC
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126395106

This mod adds an "Evac All" ability to soldier ability bars when they are in an active evac zone. Clicking this button will evac all soldiers currently in the evac zone instead of needing to click the evac button on each individual soldier.

Row-Based Scrolling Speed Wotc
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131906393

Makes scrolling lists much easier :
- When pointer is on the list : each mousewheel notch scrolls by one row.
- When pointer is on the scrollbar itself : each mousewheel notch scrolls by one page.
(Alternativly you can click on the tiny scrollbar's up/down buttons)

Landed UFOs From Day 1 WOTC
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1134087234

Supply Raids can be UFO landings, whether you completed the Avenger Defense mission or not.
The base game requires you complete the Avenger Defense mission before encountering ANY landed UFOs.

[WOTC] Choose My Class
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1467643380

A lighter alternative to Commander's Choice , Choose My Class lets you choose from a random selection of 3 (# is configurable) classes when a rookie gets promoted, without laying out every single option available. It's a middle-ground between NO choice (base game) and ANY choice (Commanders Choice). It's like the promotion mechanics in EU/EW.

WOTC - Extended Information!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1183444470

The aim of this mod is to provide you with the maximum details and information about what's happening on the battlefield.

[WOTC] New Promotion Screen by Default
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124609091

War of the chosen has two promotion interfaces. The old and trusted two column one and the slick new horizontal one that you get for Resistance Heroes and from the Training Centre. This mod eliminates the use of the old promotion interface for visual consistency.

WotC: robojumper's Squad Select
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1122974240

My personal take on a vanilla Squad Select Screen! Completely built from the ground up! The very basic idea is that all slots are arranged on some kind of ellipse and you can scroll (infinitely in either direction) when you have more than 6 soldiers to send.

-

Fixes

-

[WOTC] Less Overwatch Lock Ups!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1276342555

"Less Overwatch Lock Ups!" is a bugfix mod, to hopefully cut down on "soft locks" during complex overwatch/reaction fire situations, and also when a solider is revealed by enemy movement.
A "soft lock" is when the game doesn't crash as such, but is stuck showing a single moment in "time". If you've experienced this, then you know that sometimes the game "frees" itself after some time, but other times freezes until you give up and quit. If it's the problem with the Reaction Fire Sequencer or the wait on "nothing", then the lock won't happen at all. For the other fixes, the intial freeze will almost certianly still happen, but the game should be more likely to free itself.

[WOTC] Carry Unit Fix
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1378606631

Have you ever got into situation, where your unit went into Bleeding Out state and you could not carry him for some reason? Did you lose a soldier or was about to lose a soldier, because you could not bring him into evac point?

[WOTC] Chosen Weaponry Fix
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1484778143

Each of the Chosen have exceptionally powerful weapons with unique traits that better any soldier using it in battle.

However, only the Assassin appears to benefit from her Katana's unique trait - the ability to always hit and pierce 5 armor with sword attacks. The Hunter can't pierce any armor with his Darkclaw, and the Warlock can't guarantee critical hits on Psionic units with his Disruptor Rifle.
This mod fixes that by giving 5 pierce to all versions of the Darkclaw and granting guaranteed critical hits against Psionic units with all versions of the Disruptor Rifle. All Chosen weapons will also slowly scale up to the damage level of XCOM Chosen weapons, maxing out once the Chosen wielder reaches their final form.

[WOTC] Helmet Glass Fix Complete Edition
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541079127

All the glass materials in WOTC were replaced with a more performance-optimized version which uses dithering. This is real noticeable, at least for me if I don't use FXAA antialiasing, and it looks very ugly... You can tell the dithering happens in the before photos. You may want to open this page in a web browser to be able to zoom into the photos and see the effect. This mod replaces the glass material of most of the Upper Face Prop and Helmet / Hat items with the vanilla XCOM 2 version of the glass material.

[WotC] Better Grappling!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1486607466

Have you ever had that annoyance of grappling points highlighting but not being able to select them with the mouse? This is particularly prevalent in the final mission, but there are occurances on other maps. Controller users don't have this problem, and now, neither do mouse users! Associated with this fix, jumpers like Sparks and the Icarus Armor can also correctly jump to these areas, and if you have a reason to, grenades etc. can also now target them.


[WOTC] Cinematic Rapid Fire (and other abilities)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124794449

Gives Rapid Fire, and it's ugly sister Chain Shot, their cinematic camera back! Also, with WotC, shows the reaper Banish ablity the love too. By default, the soldier also comments on each shot if appropriate.


[WOTC] Ability Interaction Fixes
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1129878719

"Ability Interaction Fixes" primarily fixes several "Ability Interactions" which are in some way bugged, Itemized below.
Not neccessarily a "fix" because it depends on your view of intended, there is also an optional change to how implacable's action point is handled. This keeps the "flavour" that Implacable allows the soldier to move to cover when finished, whether the kill was the last action or not.

-

Gameplay

-

[WotC] Bronzeman Mode
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1125184617

Adds "Bronzeman" mode, sort of like Ironman lite. No saves during a mission, but you can save all you want back on the Avenger. This means you can't repeat a turn, but you can restart the whole mission. Gives you that Ironman feel with 100% less campaign-ending squad wipes.

[WOTC] Stabilize Me
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1380625450

Allows stabilization of a soldier that's bleeding out by any other soldier, provided that the soldier that's bleeding out has a Medkit.

[WOTC] Hero Armor Equality
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1561823087

This mod gives the plated/powered versions of the faction hero armors an additional utility slot. Moreover, Tactical Rigging has been revamped to function like Deep Pockets from XCOM: Enemy Within, granting the soldier an extra use of every utility item in their inventory.

Hopefully, this should prevent your Reapers from being unable to use utility items for the entire duration of the game as result of a poor random ability deck roll, and should allow Templars to compete with Skirmishers in terms of battlefield utility.

[WOTC] Fair Lost Targeting
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1123260291

A very simple mod that makes the Lost's chance to attack XCOM instead of ADVENT 50%, rather than the base game's 70%. Because those dang Lost just won't play fair! I think they're in cahoots with the ayys...

[WotC] Useful Autopsies - Complete Collection
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1448121702

The complete collection of Useful Autopsies - modifying autopsies to be worth the research time and to make more sense as well. For once, Tygan can expect these results... and they are intriguing.

[WOTC] Peek From Concealment
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1123555539

This mod makes concealment more reasonable and forgiving in situations where you can't get clear sight-lines.
Peeking ("stepping-out") from behind high cover does not break concealment. Blind corners are safe to approach and even to retreat from.
Approaching the edge of a rooftop, or peeking into a skylight, is now safe.
Close-range ambushes are easier and more flexible when you have access to doors, windows, and other high cover.

[WOTC] Iridar's Autopistol Overhaul
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1513282047

In the base game, Autopistols are absolutely identical to normal Pistols, and it always seemed to me like a missed opportunity to add more diversity in soldier loadouts and give more options to the commander.

[WOTC] Mechatronic Warfare: Total SPARK Overhaul
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1499767042

MW is a total overhaul to the SPARK class and everything involving it. MW has three primary objectives: turn the SPARK into a unit that feels and plays uniquely from the other classes, make SPARKs economically viable whether you build one or ten of them, and unify the dozen piecemeal rebalancing mods scattered around the Workshop into one big megamod.

The general philosophy behind MW is that SPARKs cost way too much for what they bring to the table. In addition, making even a single SPARK almost doubled your upgrade costs because of the huge cost to upgrade their weapon and armour. Not only that, but you are discouraged from making too many SPARKs because there's only a single repair slot, and Repair is far up the skill tree. Mechatronic Warfare solves all of these issues.

[WOTC] Proving Ground Overhaul
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1372437219

Proving Ground projects are one time deals that require Elerium Cores to research and unlock the items. Once unlocked, you can build the items in the Engineering Bay. The projects themselves don't give items, they act like the autopsies or Bluescreen Protocol.


Long War 2
:siren: PLEASE NOTE: Long War 2 has not and will not be updated for the expansion pack War of the Chosen! Firaxis declined to pay the team to update the mod, and they in turn decided to focus on their original IP project.
So the same team from XCOM 1 has returned and made another mod with similar ambitions and design to the XCOM 1 mod. If you're not familiar with it, it is a very broad-reaching overhaul that changes a lot about the main game - and it tends to be very controversial on whether or not it is good. So much so that the above chess rules are drafted purely because people get in slapfights with each other about this drat mod so often, with such vehemence, and with such a long history (it's gone on for literal years). Will you enjoy it? That is difficult to say. It is best described, I believe, as an acquired taste.

One of the nice things, however, about the mod is that most things are broken up into .ini files that you can edit to tweak the overhaul to your preferences. Which is legit very nice! However, since they are not native changes to the mod, updates to the mod on the workshop will overwrite your changes. To counteract this, it is actually easier just to make your own preferences mod. Instructions here:

Exposure posted:

I would suggest making a personal mod folder, like go to (wherever XCOM 2 is installed)\steamapps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\mods

Make a folder and call it something like Exposure'sPersonalTweaks

Make a text file, rename its extension to XComMod, add this (I believe this is what's needed for the launchers to detect it as an non-steam mod)

code:
[mod]
publishedFileId=0
Title=
Description=
Then make a config folder inside that folder, put in your customized tweaks to it, and you basically got a place to put all your custom tweaks without having to worry about anything overriding it.

As an added note for this sort of thing, if you're trying to replace config variables with this, it's best practice to set up changes like:

-Variable=OriginalValue
+Variable=NewValue

Only real issue is that some of Long War 2's config variables are defined with const, which makes altering them a bit load order dependent instead of "Is this config properly set up? Merge it with the rest." from what I understand of other mod authors gripping about it.

If you are having difficulty with these instructions or anything else, feel free to ask in the thread.



WHAT THE gently caress IS DOORN NOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOAfHt8QE88

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPFT-zQNxo

THAT DOESN'T loving ANSWER ANYTHING WHAT THE gently caress IS DOORN NOW
Okay okay. So, Van Doorn was an escort target in XCOM 1, who was clearly intended to be a little bit more than a random defenseless VIP. His voice pack made him sound ready to pop off and murder some fool aliens, and despite a high pitched voice, many people liked his moxie. This included the Long War crew, who changed his mission so he joins XCOM after being rescued. The guys at Firaxis, being total ballers, also made some old voice acting available to give him a unique voice pack. Basically, Van Doorn is cool.

The Snake Tits reveal of XCOM 2, and the consequent comedy factory produced this gem:


PORN WHEN became DOORN WHEN in the last thread. Well, in the new game he's a cheat soldier, where if you name a soldier Van Doorn, he becomes a demigod of murder. So, Doorn when? DOORN NOW!

Why doesn't EVERYONE play on Ironman?
Because XCOM games have a long and proud history of being humongously buggy and this game is no exception right now. Ironman is not for the faint of heart because of that. You are just as likely to lose your game to a corrupting bug as you are to your own mistakes. I would personally recommend NOT playing on Ironman right now due to this - give the game a few months to iron out the worst of its issues.

i heard there were lots of ways to die up in this poo poo
You better believe it, buddy! So many, in fact, that the thread made an entire alphabet of horrible pain, misery and death! The contributors were many, and much fun was had. Art imitates both life and death in the XCOM thread.

A is for Atlas, erased by an Avatar... B is for Bishop, too close to a car
C is for Clair, became a Chrysalid mother... D is for Darren, chose a gas tank as cover
E is for Esther, hugged by a snake... F is for Franky, caught in the 'Zerker Queen's quake
G is for Gary, soaked in Andromedon's blight... H is for Harry, thrown high as a kite
I is for Ian, under a Sectopod's body... J is for John, blown up by a squaddie
K is for Kaitlyn, fell through a house... L is for Lee, ate a turret's gauss
M is for Maura, who felt a Gatekeeper's glare... N is for Nestor, who punched a Muton on a dare
O is for Oliver, gunned down by MECs... P is for Piper, who didn't one-shot a Codex
Q is for Queefy, caught in poison gas... R is for Robert, Chrysalids too fast
S is for Simon, left on the ground... T is for Timmy, got thrown around
U is for Una, who bled out with no medpack... V is for Vincent, too slow for the evac
W is for Wiley, who wore a red shirt... X is for Xena, put in a world of hurt
Y is for Yoko, flanked by a Lancer... Z is for Zed, left XCOM but got cancer

Coolguye fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Dec 2, 2019

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!
I am here for the murder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome, friend!

witness beaglerush straining the overwatch system to its hyper-violent limit
and again

also have a fine collection of our finest soldiers:

Antti posted:

I'm up to tutorial mission 3 and this is one of the rookies the game randomly spits at me.



GOTY 2016.

Perestroika posted:

Sometimes you just kill a MEC so hard it waves you goodbye :allears:

https://zippy.gfycat.com/FaithfulHighEasteuropeanshepherd.webm




I am here for the snake tits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Okay, friend! Here is your required pre-snake tits viewing of the Rules of Snake Tits, an educational video designed to educate YOU about being a weird deviant!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZwlC4lSID8



Control Volume posted:

code:
       __
      (' <-<
       \ \
        | |8
        | |
 ______/ /
/_______/
god bless

Happy Noodle Boy posted:



Don't kill the snakes.

Michaellaneous posted:

Your opinions are awful and if you think massive guns and rag-tag armors are stupid you should reconsider your life choices.






Captain Invictus posted:

Firaxis has announced its partnership with General Mills and included a free female snake with every purchase of a box of Cheerios.







              GOOD LORD. RUFFIANS.
                       \


              I SAY
                  \

Coolguye fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Apr 20, 2020

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!
XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN

:siren: Before doing anything else, you should enable the Autosave. Go to the Options and look for it. Trust me, when you're learning the game it saves you all sorts of heartache. :siren:

We want to encourage discussion of XCOM 1 for those of you who are just finding the game. It's a great game and it's still very worth playing, even years after its release. To do this, we have a reasonably well populated FAQ. However, in order to not bury this post in a deluge of words that nobody will get any value from, I've moved it to a pastebin.

You can find the XCOM 1 FAQ here: http://pastebin.com/aTBa19MD

MODDING
The Nexus has opened a subsite for Enemy Unknown here. The main mod people talk about, though, is The Long War.
http://web.archive.org/web/20150612103541/http://a.pomf.se/tjmrzr.webm
The Long War - :siren: Be sure to read ALL the instructions on their releases! :siren:

It is difficult to even call this a mod since it changes pretty much everything about the original game. There are now 8 soldier classes, with 8 MEC classes, a swarm of new equipment, a completely overhauled tech tree, and much, much more. Pretty much everything about the base game got changed in Long War, some for weal (larger squad sizes, difficulty curve fixed to make the early game generally harder than the late one, fatigue requirements to encourage the use of more than a half-dozen soldiers) and some for woe (there are now a lot of time sinks and development traps that are almost completely nonfunctional for the overall game, many things are completely inscrutable without a guide).

Will you like the mod? That's hard to say. There are certainly a ton of things to be very excited about with Long War. It gives an experience that's much like the old UFO Defense - the game is asymmetric, and each mission is pretty unique with the sheer amount of content that the developers have installed. You will be unable to go on an eternal victory streak. Just stop trying, it is practically impossible. This makes the game, at its soul, much more interesting than vanilla. The difficulty is also ratcheted up several notches, with each month more harrowing than the last. This is refreshing for those of us that have beaten Impossible/Ironman and are now looking for an even greater challenge. However, the mod is highly unpolished and has a lot of extraneous niches in it. "Fixes" were applied to items that were never broken in the first place. New, kludgy features were added to systems that already worked very well. Other systems that were perfectly functional before have been expanded to the point of being overwrought. The improvements that were added are rarely tested in conjunction with one another, so even if two things are objectively a huge improvement over vanilla, when taken together they can sometimes create a very bad experience.

All that said, if you have beaten the vanilla game an enjoyed it, you owe it to yourself to at least give Long War a try. It's a wild ride and a definite work of love on the part of some extremely devoted developers. It's a free download, so even if you end up hating it, it's a fun way to spend a weekend.

It's worth noting that Long War, like Skyrim, gets better the more you customize it to your taste. Many of the mods for Long War get rid of some of the jank and cruft that drags down the experience. Most mods require PatcherGUI to install. There's also the user-configurable DefaultGameCore.ini with a number of settings you can adjust.

The Iron Rose, a goon modder for Long War, has helpfully compiled a list of recommended mods and settings for a first playthrough of Long War that improve the playing experience.

The Iron Rose posted:

Modding process of XCOM is not that easy. You Unreal Engine Explorer to decompile scripts and then various patching utilities to change them. UPKUtils allow you to get some low-level information about upk objects, but still you need to understand hex codes in order to write your own upk patches. Read this wiki article about editing upk files, which has almost everything you want/need to know: http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Hex_editing_UPK_files

Anyways basically what you're going to be doing is finding a function you want to change in UEExplorer, dumping it with the hextopseudocode command line tool from UPK utils. For example: you might run:

HexToPseudoCode.exe XComStrategyGame.upk XGFundingCouncil.UpdateSlingshotMission > XGFundingCouncil.UpdateSlingshotMission.txt

This will create XGFundingCouncil.UpdateSlingshotMission.txt with decompiled pseudo-code inside. Open it up in notepad++, set up your ALIASes for easy customization, make your changes in the pseudocode, patch with PatcherGUI, and test.

I recommend taking a look at my Assorted Long War Gameplay Modifications, Customize Unique Soldier Stats, and Customize the Air Game to basically deconstruct your average patchergui mod.

Her nexus profile with all her mods is here. If you need advice, help, or just have something you want to change about Long War you can PM her on SA or the nexus.

Her list includes a couple of bugfixes, some UI improvements, and her own re-balance of Long War.

Coolguye fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Jun 21, 2016

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Are we allowed to have one Junpei?

Cuntellectual
Aug 6, 2010
The Dark Events are kinda like a mechanic from that XCOM board game.


I'm a little disappointed that the 5th class was just psionics instead of something new. As much as I want MECs back I will be let down if that's the 6th class that's in the DLC they announced.

The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8GDLy9K2Fk

CrazyLoon
Aug 10, 2015

"..."

gently caress YES! Bradford been doin' this for 19 years! You gonna fight him, fight these tears?!

Anime Schoolgirl
Nov 28, 2002

I still want a compilation of those Kelly comic edits.

Vodos
Jul 17, 2009

And how do we do that? We hurt a lot of people...

What are the chances that decrypting a 45 gig preload is gonna take longer than just downloading it once it's unlocked?

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!

Anime Schoolgirl posted:

I still want a compilation of those Kelly comic edits.

Post 'em? I've been stupid busy the last couple of weeks so I basically didn't see the last dozen pages of the last thread.

I'd also ideally like more badass webms to put in the OP (in the place of the existing images) to provide a better experience for those doing their civic duty and listening to XCOM Gon Give It To Ya

Wizard Styles
Aug 6, 2014

level 15 disillusionist

Anatharon posted:

I'm a little disappointed that the 5th class was just psionics instead of something new.
It should have been dogs.

Anime Schoolgirl
Nov 28, 2002

Coolguye posted:

Post 'em? I've been stupid busy the last couple of weeks so I basically didn't see the last dozen pages of the last thread.
I might have to do the ol' image skim with DTA on that thread and then sift through the mess of snake tit pictures that were posted concurrently for the solid gold of right-wing pro-ADVENT punditry :unsmigghh:

The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:

Vodos posted:

What are the chances that decrypting a 45 gig preload is gonna take longer than just downloading it once it's unlocked?

Oh totally. One of the perverse downsides of downloading 17 mb/s is that it almost always takes longer to decrypt the game than it does to download it!

This is textbook firstworldproblems though.

Coolguye posted:

Post 'em? I've been stupid busy the last couple of weeks so I basically didn't see the last dozen pages of the last thread.

I'd also ideally like more badass webms to put in the OP (in the place of the existing images) to provide a better experience for those doing their civic duty and listening to XCOM Gon Give It To Ya

Besides the Long War Thin Man.gif I hope that there is footage of xcom blowing up buildings and collaborators.

On the other hand people should download gooncam and record their own gifs.

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!

The Iron Rose posted:

Besides the Long War Thin Man.gif I hope that there is footage of xcom blowing up buildings and collaborators.

On the other hand people should download gooncam and record their own gifs.
Yeah that's going to be the banner for the Long War post I'm currently editing, presuming I can find your goddamn line back from our Steam conversation.

Thyrork
Apr 21, 2010

"COME PLAY MECHS M'LANCER."

Or at least use Retrograde Mini's to make cool mechs and fantasy stuff.

:awesomelon:
Slippery Tilde

Coolguye posted:

Post 'em? I've been stupid busy the last couple of weeks so I basically didn't see the last dozen pages of the last thread.

I'd also ideally like more badass webms to put in the OP (in the place of the existing images) to provide a better experience for those doing their civic duty and listening to XCOM Gon Give It To Ya

Linked that skulljacking one to someone, was replied with "OH MY loving GOD YOU CAN DO THAT?!" a few moments later. :allears:

Was I insane in remembering that one of the interviews/streams mentioned that xcom 2's modding assets will have xcom 1's features in it? I cant... find it anywhere online. :raise:

Ziji
Oct 20, 2010
Yossarian lives!
Going to love downloading XCOM 2 on 200kb/s max internet in the desert

Sheen Sheen
Nov 18, 2002
Is there a demo? I feel like I was able to download a demo of the first one to confirm that it would run reasonably well on my lovely ancient laptop (it did), and I would like to be able to do the same for this one if possible.

RandallODim
Dec 30, 2010

Another 1? Aww man...
Yeah I'm making my peace right now with either camping out at work to leech campus wifi to make the download more bearable, or just not playing for a couple days. Oh well! Just gives me more time to plan out my Character Pool of stupid pop culture references. I can't wait for the arrival of a standard voice pack modding tool.

Liquid Penguins
Feb 18, 2006

by Cowcaster
Grimey Drawer
Take me down to the xcom city where the grass is green and the snakes have tittay

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!

Liquid Penguins posted:

Take me down to the xcom city where the grass is green and the snakes have tittay

Berious
Nov 13, 2005
Not sure I should admit this but I bought a 2nd SSD because of XCOM2. Couldn't decide which Steam game to move to the platter HD and just thought gently caress it...

I'm hyped.

Any news of a preload yet?

CrazyLoon
Aug 10, 2015

"..."

Wizard Styles posted:

It should have been dogs.

:agreed:

DrManiac
Feb 29, 2012

Let's start that faux kelly collection

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!
holy poo poo

e:

in other news i have completed the OP migrations and there's officially more screen space devoted to cool screenshots, fun movies, and jokes than there is to stupid walls of text that less than 1% of anyone will ever read

this makes this thread better than That Other Thread (you know the one I'm talking about) (no you don't) (because i don't know the one I'm talking about)

Coolguye fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Jan 28, 2016

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007

DrManiac posted:

Let's start that faux kelly collection



oh my god, who did that and are there more?

Deuce
Jun 18, 2004
Mile High Club

devtesla
Jan 2, 2012


Grimey Drawer

Wizard Styles posted:

It should have been dogs.

But then I'd gently caress up and get a dog killed :(

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!

now in the second post

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007

The Devil Tesla posted:

But then I'd gently caress up and get a dog killed :(

Combat dogs would be a really sweet mod if implemented properly

Zoran
Aug 19, 2008

I lost to you once, monster. I shall not lose again! Die now, that our future can live!
I am so ready to do the terrorism fight for freedom.

Berious
Nov 13, 2005

DrManiac posted:

Let's start that faux kelly collection



That thin man is not the only one who is "tit"-illated :awesome:

Zaphod42
Sep 13, 2012

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.
You know, I only just now put my finger on it, but XCOM2's setting actually reminds me kinda of the original Syndicate. And that's really cool. I wasn't sure how I felt about the whole "aliens occupy the world and you fight to win it back" setting, I wanted something more like literal TFTD continuing the X-COM feel of being a military superpower base, but I've warmed up to the idea since then.

Gimmegimmegimme

DrManiac posted:

Let's start that faux kelly collection



Wow that's perfect

I want more xcom kelly

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007
I can't wait, and I also cannot express how happy I am that I no longer have to worry about satellites or interceptors. I really disliked that part of EU/EW

Gamerofthegame
Oct 28, 2010

Could at least flip one or two, maybe.
x-com: pyf memes


kelly is good tho

Buller
Nov 6, 2010
I unlocked the phy stuff in X:COM one and then quit because the game got too repetitive and the terror missions ridicolous.

dyzzy
Dec 22, 2009

argh
I am excited to play this game y'all

ZearothK
Aug 25, 2008

I've lost twice, I've failed twice and I've gotten two dishonorable mentions within 7 weeks. But I keep coming back. I am The Trooper!

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2021


I am sad that the game will be released the same week my classes start.

Anime Schoolgirl
Nov 28, 2002

DrManiac posted:

Let's start that faux kelly collection


:hellyeah:

There are a lot fewer of these than I thought :ohdear: or I saw them in other places with less robust image and post archiving (rip)


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CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



I just finished Enemy Within savescumming, I want XCOM2 to be a new beginning where I can play like a real human being.

I would turn on Ironman because I want to have losing be part of my learning curve and also legitimately see the game over screen, but I am worried about stability issues with a new game.

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