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~30 hours in semi-blind. I wasn't in the "IGNORE ALL THE PROMO STUFF" camp but didn't really watch any of the longer playthroughs/streams once the game actually came out. It's late June and I have magnetic weapons but nothing beyond basic armor, and I just completed the black site operation albeit at the cost of save scumming a ton and feeling angry at myself for finally succumbing to the temptation. The reinforcements right after you grab the tube killed it for me since I'd slogged through killing everything on the map even though it seems like they wanted you to actually rush towards the end while ignoring half the enemies in a mad dash to grab the thing and ptfo. I re-played a bunch of pods on it and finally found a way to scrape through where no-one died using a variety of bullshit tactics. I feel like I wasted far too much time dicking around and not doing the intended sequence, and wound up with the equivalent of what happens if you wait way too long in EW to do the alien base, but it weird because while I totally did that on my first EW playthrough (never played vanilla EU), it feels like there's even less guidance than there was in EW. You don't get explicit grade rankings from the council on performance though the council dude still tells you "you're loving up" when things are bad. My panic meter/Avatar project actually filled and hit the "YOU WILL DIE IN 20 DAYS GET YOUR poo poo TOGETHER" timer, but at the same time I'm not sure if that was possibly somewhat intentional. There's some points where it's like the game is like "no! really! you do need to focus on this/be able to play like this even if you didn't have to in EW!", but at the same time it's also not entirely clear what they want you to do instead in certain situations because there are a lot of carrots and not many sticks. You can/I have done things really really wrong (similar to how I didn't figure out how to build satellites quite a ways into my first EW playthrough), but at the same time it's often not clear when it's a case of "no, this is X mission type, you need to play it differently," and you can recover from failing to do so in really weird ways, especially if you save scum (forgive me XCOM Gods, for I have sinned). All told though, it's been drat fun, and I think the next playthrough will be much better, and I'll see if I can ironman it successfully second go-round. I was able to with EW albeit on normal rather than classic--ironically I still have never managed Ironman Classic in EW because I'm not cautious enough for EW, but am seemingly too cautious at times in XCOM 2. I've gotten into a bad habit of wanting to have the one A team that always works in EW, but I like that the game seems to be pushing me towards the multiple teams/accept death and/or  moments and move on. It seems that the battlescape is somewhat more forgiving/encouraging of risk, but that the geoscape/strategy parts are much less forgiving, at least for now, which is sort of a flip flop from EW where the strategy was pretty simple after 3 playthroughs, and it was the tactics where you'd kill yourself. Now both are equal-ish, and you have to have multiple tactical styles/understand the needs for different types of teams and tactical styles to succeed, which is great.There are some amusing bugs related to, I think, the AI and generative maps conflicting and/or fighting each other. There have been really large terror mission maps (or whatever the proper name for "save civilians" maps are) where the aliens seem to just get lost and will sit around in a corner for a while, or where there'll be a "protect the relay" a la old Exalt missions where the aliens shoot the relay once at the beginning, but then wander off into your overwatch trap rather than continuing to attack the relay/trap you into running into them to fast. I wonder how much crossover there is with the Civ team, since the Civ AI has always been bad at adapting to certain maps types, namely maps that have lots of water/islands/need the AI to be able to fight naval battles. The UI will sometimes glitch out in dumb ways, but that will certainly be patched. All told, pretty loving good game. 
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Feb 6, 2016 21:42
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Holy crap this mission. To recap: Spawn on a rooftop in a city map, escorting a VIP. Throwing battlescanners already reveals 2 pods right next to each other. 2 Shield bearers, 2 advanced officers, heavy lancer and advanced troop. After moving forward to engage them pull both of them at the same time because of course. rear end in a top hat officer shoots my VIP THROUGH A FLOOR, but doesn't kill him. Killzone sharpshooter kills the officer, trooper and shieldbearer left. Working through the pod painfully slow, ANOTHER TWO PODS ACTIVATE, (they were right on top of each other AS WELL...) 2 sectoids, 2 vipers, 2 ARCHONS. Archon #1 immediately goes to bombard the rooftop which was my saving grace, Viper #1 fails to grab my Ranger #1 because of untouchable, archon 2 moves a bit but ends up doing nothing (?!) sectoid 1 revives zombie, sectoid 2 dashes forward. Ranger #2 (using conceal) kills flanked sectoid, entire other squad kills viper and does some damage to Archon #2. Ranger #1 rules of nature's the sectoid, killing the zombie. Alien turn. Rooftop explodes due to Archon #1, Viper #2 charges the ranger... and gets Bladestorm'd and dies. Archon #2 goes for the ranger, untouchable triggers, leaving the ranger unscathed in the midst of the street as he misses the counterattack on the Archon, which at this point looks like an advent mass grave. Then the squad leisurely gangs up on the remaining archon and strolls to the evac zone, with 6 out of 12 turns remaining. And this, folks, is how I came out of pulling 4 pods, 2 at a time, right after another without pause, with only 2 wounded people. Holy poo poo, rangers are amazing.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:44
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I'm praying for a mod that fixes or removes terrain destruction ASAP. Most of the trouble I run in to is when destructed terrain bugs out. As an example, here were my last two turns: Turn 1) All 5 soldiers are on a rooftop fighting a Viper and Stun Lancer below. Two of my soldiers are right next to each other on the rooftop, one takes a shot and hits, but in the process fired through the floor beneath the soldier next to her. Instead of falling down, he took 4 damage then teleported to the next tile over, except it teleported him to the one that wasn't a roof tile, he then fell to the floor and took 4 damage, which killed him. Turn 2) I killed the viper and stun lancer but uncovered another stun lancer and 2 advent soldiers. They grouped up, so I sent my Grenadier over to launch a grenade. He was running past some destructed ground tiles and instead of going around them, he went through them. Across those two tiles he teleported to the ground floor and took 4 damage, he finished running and teleported back up to the roof, ran to the location I moved him to, and then suddenly fell unconscious. I ended my turn and then he teleported back down to the ground floor and took 4 more damage, but was no longer unconscious. Edit: On turn 3, the Grenadier from Turn 2 can shoot through solid building walls.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:45
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How do I not get way behind on intel? My base is now "build faster" instead of gather intel when I wait there so as far as I can tell the only way I have of getting it is to wait around for council missions.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:46
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Zore posted:You should really try out sword rangers. I have had two colonel sword rangers and two colonel stealth rangers because I've been toodling along in a holding pattern at endgame checking out what can pop out of the proving grounds. Conceal is better than Phantom, but Phantom competes with a really mediocre skill while Conceal competes with a really good one.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:46
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Anyone worked out the best build path for the avenger yet? I'm thinking a double + sign based around 2 of the gremlin facilities
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Feb 6, 2016 21:47
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The Moon Monster posted:How do I not get way behind on intel? My base is now "build faster" instead of gather intel when I wait there so as far as I can tell the only way I have of getting it is to wait around for council missions. You can change that bonus every month.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:48
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Broken Cog posted:Is in-game time passed the only variable influencing enemy deployments? (except for a few, like the Codex) Curious about this too. Fighting Advent Troopers is fun and I don't want the game to suddenly become All Muton, All the Time.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:49
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"Alright, two more enemies and one more move to go. Oooh, the enemies are two stories high!" Oh. .....Oh.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:50
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iGestalt posted:Curious about this too. Fighting Advent Troopers is fun and I don't want the game to suddenly become All Muton, All the Time. Mutons are still the exception rather than the rule; the game unleashes Advanced Advent Troopers which are just the regular ones with more health (hope you upgraded your weapons!)
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Feb 6, 2016 21:51
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Wow game you are brutal, huh? Making me sit and watch the empty Skyranger after a total wipe 
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Feb 6, 2016 21:52
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Speedball posted:Mutons are still the exception rather than the rule; the game unleashes Advanced Advent Troopers which are just the regular ones with more health (hope you upgraded your weapons!) They also get a grenade, I think. Although at this point I think I'm seeing more sectoids than anything. Pods of 3 'toids, or 2 and a snakeman.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:52
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Speedball posted:Mutons are still the exception rather than the rule; the game unleashes Advanced Advent Troopers which are just the regular ones with more health (hope you upgraded your weapons!) Ah, rad. Advent Troopers as the general cannon fodder is a nice choice and I hope it'll stick. Not too obnoxious to fight, but dynamic in how they do.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:52
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Is there a short list of base facility adjacency bonuses? I've gathered there's a bonus for the gremlin one but I don't know exactly how it works.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:53
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Kanos posted:I have had two colonel sword rangers and two colonel stealth rangers because I've been toodling along in a holding pattern at endgame checking out what can pop out of the proving grounds. Conceal is better than Phantom, but Phantom competes with a really mediocre skill while Conceal competes with a really good one. Not really? Blademaster is what allows a sword ranger to work and synergizes amazingly with everything about it. Blade Rangers also don't need run and gun because of the sword, while conceal rangers definitely want run and gun instead of conceal because their sword is poo poo. It makes sword rangers better scouts than conceal rangers if you build like that too since you can pop it any time, even between packs, while conceal rangers are stuck doing gently caress all early on or losing scouting later. I honestly think all blade skills plus conceal over rng is the best build for Rangers. Maybe with Rapid Fire over Reaper if the rest of your squad lacks single target damage (Answer to that is always an aim pumped chain gun Grenadier for me though). Zore fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Feb 6, 2016 |
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Feb 6, 2016 21:54
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Taffer posted:Is there a short list of base facility adjacency bonuses? I've gathered there's a bonus for the gremlin one but I don't know exactly how it works. No, because there is no adjacency. Workshops can generate two or four robot engineers to staff the directly adjacent rooms, but besides that there aren't any bonuses.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:55
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Taffer posted:Is there a short list of base facility adjacency bonuses? I've gathered there's a bonus for the gremlin one but I don't know exactly how it works. You put an Engineer in the room and rooms above and next to (Not diagonally) can have a GREMLIN go work there. Can be upgraded to provide 4 GREMLINS, letting you staff all adjacent as if an Engineer was in there, for the cost of 1 Engineer.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:55
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Why the gently caress do faceless get a free turn when they reveal themselves? I just lost my sniper for something completely out of my control.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:57
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I keep scanning and scanning and I am not getting intel
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Feb 6, 2016 21:58
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Gunder posted:I'm having a hard time enjoying this game. I feel like the normal difficulty level (Veteran) is too intense, and the Rookie setting is far too easy. I'd love something in between the two settings. This is coming from someone who's completed XCOM and Enemy Within multiple times on Commander difficulty. I keep coming back, but the losses you take on Veteran are so punishing, especially early on when you only have 4 squad members active. All it takes is one stun stick guy and your team can be totally screwed. I don't think XCOM 1 was nearly this punishing. I've started the campaign over twice now, having had all my decent guys get obliterated on the first retaliation mission (where the aliens attack a resistance camp). You have to save 6 people and kill the attacking aliens, but I can never get more than 3 before my team is obliterated. After that the rookies you're left with are just not good enough to continue the campaign with. Really frustrating. Get better. No, not in the "lol suck less noob" sense. But really, it's your first playthrough. Like me, you're still figuring out the mechanics. I stumbled hard in the early stages but figured out some stuff and started rolling the enemy hard. I'm crushing through the lategame, admittedly with a little dumb luck that got me through some of the nastier surprises. (DONT SKULLJACK AS YOUR LAST ACTION ON A TURN THANK ME LATER) Nobody wins XCOM their first try. It's old school. How many game overs did you get on Super Mario Bros before you beat it?
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Feb 6, 2016 21:58
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iGestalt posted:You put an Engineer in the room and rooms above and next to (Not diagonally) can have a GREMLIN go work there. Can be upgraded to provide 4 GREMLINS, letting you staff all adjacent as if an Engineer was in there, for the cost of 1 Engineer. Thanks, this is useful. So nothing else get benefits from adjacency besides the workshop?
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Feb 6, 2016 21:58
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The Moon Monster posted:How do I not get way behind on intel? My base is now "build faster" instead of gather intel when I wait there so as far as I can tell the only way I have of getting it is to wait around for council missions.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:59
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Notorious QIG posted:Welp, literally the day after my first ever blacksite operation I get my first ever UFO shootdown. Same thing happened to me but Bradford isn't a lazy poo poo now and he will send EVERYONE available.
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Feb 6, 2016 21:59
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Is there a list of things that turn off the Avatar timer once it goes off? Anything besides black site missions, I mean.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:00
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I really would like some intel game
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Feb 6, 2016 22:01
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Wizard Styles posted:The one bizarre bug that forced a restart that I have encountered so far was when I was equipping soldiers before a mission and I couldn't leave the loadout screen anymore. I could change items, switch between soldiers, but nothing but that worked. Couldn't even pull up the menu to save. Were you being made by plot to equip a medpac or other item? I had the exact same thing and it took half an hour and a second person to spot it, oops! Minor ui bug: using keyboard return button on second name of soldier causes the text box to revert to the original name, though the new one entered has been applied.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:03
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You can change your home region to intel by bringing up the menu that let's you buy scientists from there every month or so.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:06
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Tae posted:Is there a list of things that turn off the Avatar timer once it goes off? Anything besides black site missions, I mean. Best I can tell it's literally every story objective. Some even go two or three points.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:07
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Zore posted:Not really? I literally never want to sword a dude versus shooting them, though, even with Blademaster at range 1. Shotgun is more accurate and crits more and has special ammo(talon rounds on shotgun  ). You can't run and gun every turn, but you've got a ranged weapon and probably a grappling hook, mobility armor, and a mobility PCS and a ranged weapon. You really, really don't need to run and gun every turn.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:07
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I got my first crash after 30 hours of play.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:07
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Elliotw2 posted:I got my first crash after 30 hours of play. My first crash was on the title menu when I turned all the settings to maximum and even my SLI GTX 970 went LOLNOPE.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:08
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Anyone know how to add an extra item slot to the starting armors? It used to be a defaultgamecore.ini edit, but I can't find it now.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:12
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So is there anything about this game that would stop it coming to PS4?
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Feb 6, 2016 22:12
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jfood posted:Anyone know how to add an extra item slot to the starting armors? It used to be a defaultgamecore.ini edit, but I can't find it now. As far as I can tell, defaultgamecore is just old xcom 1 stuff, everything that actually has an effect that I've seen is in defaultgamedata, no idea if that one is in there but take a look!
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Feb 6, 2016 22:13
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Fulchrum posted:So is there anything about this game that would stop it coming to PS4? You mean besides the fact that they have said explicitly time and time again that it's not coming to consoles?
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Feb 6, 2016 22:14
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What's the hot take on medical vs combat protocol?
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Feb 6, 2016 22:17
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Am I going to need more than one power coil? I put it on an exposed power thing so I've got 25 power, I just have no idea what I can staff where and what space I'll need to save for. Basically, any tips for planning for lategame building? I'm pretty flush with engineers ATM, got 5 and I'm in mostly t2 gear. Need a psi lab and radio center. Haven't built any labs or workshops.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:18
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Oh, a creature that can teleport to negate all cover, that's pretty neat. Also fun that I caught a Codex in the open and 3 squares away from a ranger, and it dodged a shotgun blast.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:19
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Stormgale posted:What's the hot take on medical vs combat protocol? have you faced the codex yet? because drat i wish i had a combat protocol when that rear end in a top hat showed up.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:19
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Stormgale posted:What's the hot take on medical vs combat protocol? They are both good so the only solution is to take two specialists, one who has each. No, really. Combat Protocol ignores armor and does extra damage to machines. An Upgraded Gremlin can one-shot a heavily-armored turret with a simple Combat Protocol. And the ability to heal guys at a distance is too good too, especially since Healing Gremlins give you an extra healing charge anyway.
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Feb 6, 2016 22:19
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