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My first terror mission was a clusterfuck due to being primarily an indoor multi-floor building and I forgot people can climb up drain pipes (or zombies climbing DOWN drain pipes)
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Sep 14, 2014 08:02
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That was some very potent panic reduction. Nicely played, that mission.
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Sep 14, 2014 08:08
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I've never seen that army base map before (was it added in EW?) It kinda hits a point that always annoys me in x-com games, though, namely where are all the world's militaries in all this? Now I'm also bummed out that X-Com can't use tanks.
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Sep 14, 2014 15:47
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VKing posted:I've never seen that army base map before (was it added in EW?) That map was in the base game, although Speedball saw more of it than I ever had. Usually all the aliens get cleared out by the tanks as you approach the building. e: And xcom gets better than tanks! They get shivs, which are like tanks, but also adorable! FoolyCharged fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 17:15
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If you lose your entire squad on a terror mission, the regular military eventually comes in and does the job for you rather than having the aliens take over the world immediately. It's just a lot slower at responding than XCOM because apparently there's only one super multi-engine flying brick on the planet.
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Sep 14, 2014 17:15
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scalded schlong posted:If you lose your entire squad on a terror mission, the regular military eventually comes in and does the job for you rather than having the aliens take over the world immediately. It's just a lot slower at responding than XCOM because apparently there's only one super multi-engine flying brick on the planet. I always assumed that the regular military just glasses the entire site if the XCOM squad goes down. Preferable to a spreading Chryssalid/zombie apocalypse, but not exactly a long-term winning strategy, so they let XCOM go in first.
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Sep 14, 2014 18:06
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Funny thing is that I honestly have yet to have major problems with Chryssalids. At least they have to close the gap. I'd rather see 3 or 4 Chryssalids than one Sectoid Commander, personally. 100% (or so it seems) hit rate Mind Control from range is absurd.
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Sep 14, 2014 18:22
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VKing posted:It kinda hits a point that always annoys me in x-com games, though, namely where are all the world's militaries in all this? That's what I like about Xenonauts, at least the local authorities and military actually do things. In that game you can also send the local military in instead of sending in your own guys, which is cool.
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Sep 14, 2014 18:24
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Vicevirtuoso posted:Funny thing is that I honestly have yet to have major problems with Chryssalids. At least they have to close the gap. I'd rather see 3 or 4 Chryssalids than one Sectoid Commander, personally. 100% (or so it seems) hit rate Mind Control from range is absurd. They don't seem to be as terrifying as they were in the original, where (if I recall correctly) they combined absurd movement range with a) not needing to kill targets to convert them, and b) converting them into more Chryssalids rather than into shamblers. I've heard that the hit rates for psionics were tweaked between EU and EW; I played EU and they were patently absurd in that game.
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Sep 14, 2014 19:17
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:They don't seem to be as terrifying as they were in the original, where (if I recall correctly) they combined absurd movement range with a) not needing to kill targets to convert them, and b) converting them into more Chryssalids rather than into shamblers. As I recall they converted your guys into shamblers, but the rub was that killing the shambler would spawn a shiny new chryssalid in its spot. Unless you were ready to put down it down that turn, it would start the pain train all over again.
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Sep 14, 2014 19:21
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Peanut3141 posted:As I recall they converted your guys into shamblers, but the rub was that killing the shambler would spawn a shiny new chryssalid in its spot. Unless you were ready to put down it down that turn, it would start the pain train all over again. It would also spawn the Chryssalid with full Time Units (action points), meaning if you killed one with reaction fire you might just cause it to rocket an evil bug at you like a discarding sabot shell.
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Sep 14, 2014 19:23
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:They don't seem to be as terrifying as they were in the original, where (if I recall correctly) they combined absurd movement range with a) not needing to kill targets to convert them, and b) converting them into more Chryssalids rather than into shamblers. Chryssalid targets are zombified, but the thing about UFO Defense zombies is that they explode into chryssalids if you so much as wing them. They'll do that on their own after a few turns, but the thing about zombie hunting is that instead of ending a threat you would only bring your doom upon yourself.
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Sep 14, 2014 19:49
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:They don't seem to be as terrifying as they were in the original, where (if I recall correctly) they combined absurd movement range with a) not needing to kill targets to convert them, and b) converting them into more Chryssalids rather than into shamblers. The thing with Chryssalids in the original, they could poke a human several times in a row. They had a lot of TUs and their attack cost next to nothing. They could keep poking you until you died or turned into a zombie. If you had a group of soldiers in a bad position a Chryssalid could walk in and poke all of them in one action.
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Sep 14, 2014 20:14
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Long War makes local forces a little more of an entity via a defense mechanic that increases a nation's ability to defend against panic as you grant their tech requests. One of those neat little details that I wish the base game had.
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Sep 14, 2014 20:40
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IMJack posted:The thing with Chryssalids in the original, they could poke a human several times in a row. They had a lot of TUs and their attack cost next to nothing. They could keep poking you until you died or turned into a zombie. If you had a group of soldiers in a bad position a Chryssalid could walk in and poke all of them in one action. One hit was a kill on humans. A miss was a kill on humans. They were bullshit. But! Due to their programming, 'lids kept attacking until they'd used up all the soldier's HP. So, heavy armor didn't do anything to defend the soldier wearing it, but it did mean the 'lid had less moves to kill your other guys. Also, Chryssalid AI was glitchy as hell, so they often ran away without doing anything.
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Sep 14, 2014 21:21
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Part 13: Friends in Low Places quote:
quote:
quote:
  Well, today’s our lucky day, we were just planning to put a satellite over Brazil! Tell them I’ll cooperate if they also send us you-know-who. Commander, we have another Council request mission! On-screen!  Commander. A… unique… opportunity to acquire rare alien technology has surfaced. It seems that alien infiltrators were utilizing the criminal underground to smuggle vital components across the globe. One member of the Triads in China has intercepted such a delivery, and has offered to deliver it to us if XCOM gives him asylum. Ooohh…sounds tricky. But even if it’s just an alien hairdryer, I want that tech. As an aside, is this Triad guy likely to be the type who can pull his own weight and earn his keep in battle, or is he a wormy accountant type of mobster in over his head? That is… unclear. Shaojie Zhang’s criminal record has been… purged… from our records. Most likely by his employers. Hmmm… I guess we’ll know more when we get there. Send out the team!  Right, this will be an escort mission, in an urban area. That means we need snipers to cover us, and we need to expect Thin Men, as they are the enemy’s primary infiltration unit. Hong Kong op, huh? Been awhile. What does a German-Brazillian sniper have to do with ops in Hong Kong?! Breaking up an underground…look, I’ll tell you later. It’s messy. Eva, you went back to the helmet? It makes me feel safer. Pfft, the alien weapons go straight through our armor. Helmets are purely decorative. Well, morale boosts should not be discounted. The illusion of safety can bolster confidence and improve performance. And anyway, isn’t this mission in an urban center? If we want to keep our identities secret we should all be wearing helmets! poo poo, you’re right. Let’s do that next time. Hey, I recognize this place…this graveyard was where they filmed the finale of Master of Fists IV. III. You must be my contacts. No one who fears reprisal would make an entrance like THAT. Yeah, we are kind of a motley crew, I admit…but also kind of badass, so it doesn’t matter. There is an alien behind you. What?! Yaaah! Not so different from killing a man. (Oh, my GOD this guy is a stone-cold badass. PLEASE tell me he’s staying for keeps.) Of course, I won’t ask you to trust a stranger to hide behind you while he’s holding a gun, so…I’ll place my life in your hands and disarm. It won’t take long for them to realize I’m missing, especially since I’ve got this thing with me. If you take me with you, it’s all yours. I’m not sure where my boss got this thing, but he was taking offers from a variety of bidders - regardless of their intentions. …what KIND of bidders? Were any of them, by any chance, wearing Action Wada suits? Yes, how did you know? INCOMING THIN MEN! Everyone take cover and establish overwatch!   Ahhhhhhh. XCOM. I advise you to—  RAAAAAAAHHHH! AIGH! …I see I chose the right people to contact. There’s one behind us too! Ahh, Dr. Gomez, we meet at last. You should know, we have kidnapped your— Silence. Kidnapped?! If he’s lying, there’s no point in listening to him. If he’s telling the truth…he’s still trying to screw us over. Either way, it is not advisable to negotiate. A woman of pragmatism. Everyone reload and get ready to push forwards. Use the tombstones as cover. I hope the dead forgive us… So, Mr. Zhang, who else was trying to buy from your employers? An underground industrial electronics spy who lost the bid, and a strange man wearing a red bandana over his face. No names were given. And you just decided to turn on your bosses? I’ve crossed many lines during my life, but now we all face a common enemy.  Two more! Let ‘em have it! X-rays down! Christ, lotta poison clouds… I guess when they make BIG leaps they don’t have much control over where they land, or else they’d land in cover. Works for us, we’ll keep blasting them as they hop down. Hilda and Leroy, pull to the right past the poison clouds and move up! You know this is futile, Carol Allen. Eventually one of you will make a mistake, just a single mistake, and die for it. Who will it be THIS time? … You didn’t sign up thinking you would die, and if you did, you thought you’d be the only one. But now you bear the weight of others. One single mistake and every one of them could die. Consider a peaceful alternative. That’s a classic squad leader negotiation trick, Captain; “you have to think about the lives of your men, too!” Er…women in our case, you get the idea. I’ve used this technique myself. Sometimes before receiving the order to kill them anyway. Right. We’re not surrendering, Thin Man! As you wish. EEEK! …I’m fine, I’m fine, the tombstone took it. *pats grave* Sorry… My turn! I have a pink handgun and I know how to use it! Clear? Yeah, I think so, for the moment, anyway. Okay, everyone, take a minute to rest, reload, and wait for the poison to clear. By the way…why, specifically, is this an all-female unit? Got a problem with women, pal? Humph. Guns don’t care if their owners are women. However, old-fashioned militaries traditionally use men, and progressive modern ones use a mix. So all-female units are usually only formed on purpose. Oh. We have male soldiers…they’re just not as good as us. So we went. Ah. I thought there were technical reasons beyond that, such as, aliens only being able to brainwash men. (Think I saw a G.I. Joe episode like that…) Hee hee. One of us used to be a dude. Can you guess which? You? HEY! *snicker* Okay, now that we’ve had our moment of morale-boosting levity, let’s carefully push up. What the hell is THAT?! Holy poo poo, it’s the alien gorilla Dad said he fought! Looks more like an alien GUERRILLA! Look at the size of that gun! It’s got thick armor…take more than one blast to down it. Watkins, I know it’ll be a bitch to try, but try to take that thing alive. We need more samples. Shooting it in the foot isn’t doing much either! Crap, wish I’d brought flashbangs… gently caress! That’s a strong gun! Mimi! I’m fine, but I can’t take another shot like that. One final warning, XCOM. The device within the briefcase is a bomb. A bomb?! It would contaminate a large area, making it unsuitable for our sample acquisition, so we don’t wish it to explode…but if you really insist on taking it back to your base, we would have no problems with XCOM conveniently wiping itself out of existence. Your choice. …that’s a pretty strong bluff, but I know it’s a bluff, or else you would have lead with that. Dr. Gomez, you can shoot him. My pleasure. Cam, hit the dirt! Go for it!  Its cover’s down! Loading the electromagnetic dart…thing’s a little inaccurate, but it’s designed to jam their guns…fingers crossed… Trick shot, yeaaah! He’s down! Eliminate the remaining aliens!  All clear! Perfect. Zhang, move up. Surprisingly effective cooperation for such a…diverse unit. We are the losers who are also winners. Mimi, you hurt yourself AGAIN! Don’t do that! I’m alive…but the life I had is gone now. Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you. Though, be warned, you run the risk of getting unrecognizably mutated if you hang with us. This ain’t hair dye! …eh. I’ve served with worse.  What a mess…but great job, everyone! Bar-Lev, Eva and Gomez, you’re all promoted. Fantastic work, everyone. Beyond the call of duty, and best of all, nobody even got scratched. Plus, more live samples for Vahlen, and a very, VERY big plasma gun for us to disassemble. A new type of alien grenade, too… by the way, Bradford, have we launched the satellite over Brazil? We have, sir! Great. Then, as per our agreement with Brazil, let’s get ready to welcome Dr. Cobra…heh heh heh…Next time: Two months worth of research in a single day! Speedball fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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Sep 14, 2014 21:27
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Yeah this whole sequence is a bunch of awesome gifts, and that Muton is one of the more amazing ones (though it should be noted he's a Chryssalid on Easy/Normal) if you can capture him.
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Sep 14, 2014 21:50
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Is it wrong that my first thought was "please let it be Cobra Commander" when I got to the last line?
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Sep 14, 2014 21:53
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Feinne posted:Yeah this whole sequence is a bunch of awesome gifts, and that Muton is one of the more amazing ones (though it should be noted he's a Chryssalid on Easy/Normal) if you can capture him. that mission was a real pain in my rear end on Impossible, let me tell you. Of course I got that capture...but it definitely took more than one try.
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Sep 14, 2014 22:03
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Capturing a Muton is great, since you instantly get so much poo poo to research. That alien hand grenade is hella handy, especially in the early game. This was my first council mission and man, this was loving brutal.
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Sep 14, 2014 22:05
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SSNeoman posted:Capturing a Muton is great, since you instantly get so much poo poo to research. That alien hand grenade is hella handy, especially in the early game. Yeah, this one as the 'first council mission' is a challenge for altogether different reasons than Portent. Instead of being an exercise in memorizing where Thin Men Rain will occur so you can annihilate them as they spawn, you need to have a solid plan to deal with the Muton at the end.
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Sep 14, 2014 22:07
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xanthan posted:Is it wrong that my first thought was "please let it be Cobra Commander" when I got to the last line? Nope. That'll be later. You will know when the time comes. MAN I love Slingshot. The challenge is nice and the rewards are fan-tastic.
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Sep 14, 2014 23:39
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Speedball posted:
I don't recognize the first one here, should I or is he a reference from outside XCOM? Option C he's not a reference and he's simply a random NPC, alientech black auction ought to draw some attention outside the XCOM direct opponents. Good job on the Muton, so much shiny new tech to play with. Do you have the South America bonus now? If Dr. Cobra is coming to play I'd assume so. One could almost feel sorry for our captives.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:08
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The last time I played and got that terror mission map, I thought I was so clever, using stuff to pop my guys on top of the cargo crates. "There, now the bugs can't get us!  ...Wait a minute, aren't they able to-  " Miraculously, no lives were lost due to my idiocy. That time. It helped that they couldn't jump up if there is no room to stand without circling around to the back first. Since the fat asses of my soldiers were in the way.Oldschool bugs chat. While I'm no "Bah, I want my OLD monsters back" guy since I am a huge baby, I do agree the old Chryslids were much worse, but not for any of the reasons mentioned so far. The reason they scared me was how DURABLE they were, or at least how luck always swung it, the first two I ever saw really stand out to me. "Chrysalid, oh I heard about these I think. High explosive rocket! Haha, direct hit... And he's still alive... FIRE THE LASERS oh god he's not dead. Oh god, he's still not dead. OH GOD OH GOD oh now he's dead." "Another Chrysalid, but it's okay I have a LASER TANK! Laser tank hit! uh, Laser tank hit, the sequl!... . *rookies spamming more laser rifle hits* WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?"As for everyone's favorite Triad, I never quite got the hate for him. I'd assume outside of how melodramatic he loved to be, it was because you're dropping this background written unique snowflake into your game about your randomly named nobodies living or dying on how badass they became naturally. Throwing away his loving gun also probably didn't help, Zhaaaaaaaang!  Difficulty chat. I've heard talk about an Impclassic mod, but what I'd want is "Normal, without the behind the scenes training wheels." Like the whole "each time you miss, a tiny aim buff is applied until you hit" that's supposedly a thing.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:17
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Section Z posted:The last time I played and got that terror mission map, I thought I was so clever, using stuff to pop my guys on top of the cargo crates. "There, now the bugs can't get us! Well, it's also because the background material said you were hiring the best of the best. SAS, Spetz, Delta, that kinda thing. Sure, it didn't always work out in play, especially at low levels, but the fiction is your rookies were the world's best of the best badasses. Then some random triad guy joins up, and he's got better stats than your guys can ever get (well, until second wave got patched in) and gets to pull rank on all your vets. Plus, you couldn't customize him at all. (Also improved in later patches and DLC) Just didn't mesh.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:41
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I loved using Zhang after I got him in this mission. I think he wound up having the second most kills on my team at the end of the game, behind an Assault that I had from the first mission of the game and who wound up becoming the Volunteer.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:50
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So: Mecha-Zhang or Mutant Zhang (with ridiculous colored hair?) Which do you think I should or might do?
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Sep 15, 2014 01:08
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If it's not a stompy robot you're doing it wrong
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Sep 15, 2014 01:11
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Speedball posted:So: Mecha-Zhang or Mutant Zhang (with ridiculous colored hair?) Which do you think I should or might do? Can you modify his appearance? If so, then mutate the poo poo out of him and make him look as ridiculous as possible.
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Sep 15, 2014 01:13
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Speedball posted:So: Mecha-Zhang or Mutant Zhang (with ridiculous colored hair?) Which do you think I should or might do? Immediately mech him. The punch robot god needs to be sated. Also Zhang is a bastard for throwing away that pistol. It one shot a sectoid which is something xcoms guns tend to not be able to do at that point, we needed that for our armory!
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Sep 15, 2014 01:13
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Speedball posted:So: Mecha-Zhang or Mutant Zhang (with ridiculous colored hair?) Which do you think I should or might do? "Welcome to X-COM. Now, let's amputate your everything."
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Sep 15, 2014 01:14
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Saw that sucker apart. 
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Sep 15, 2014 01:14
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Can you modify his appearance? If so, then mutate the poo poo out of him and make him look as ridiculous as possible. The most you can do to modify his appearance is hair color, which is a step up from no modifications whatsoever in the past. Also armor decorations (every form of armor has different skins; mutants get different types of shoulderpads and leg pads to make what passes for their armor cooler)
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Sep 15, 2014 01:17
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Welcome to XCOM. Please leave your limbs at the door.
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Sep 15, 2014 01:31
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The mod that allows gene modded soldiers to keep using normal armor is a must-download in my opinion
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Sep 15, 2014 01:49
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MEC Zhang. Just because I think he's a punk.
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Sep 15, 2014 01:53
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Mutant Zhang
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Sep 15, 2014 01:55
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He's a Heavy by the way, if that colors anyone's opinion of what to do with him.
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Sep 15, 2014 01:58
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Zhang classic. If you want a practical argument for that, well, it means less money and Meld spent on him  Argument for Mecha Zhang over Mutant Zhang. The awkwardness of having to share MEC combat bodies due to budget and repair times.
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Sep 15, 2014 02:00
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Feinne posted:Yeah, this one as the 'first council mission' is a challenge for altogether different reasons than Portent. Instead of being an exercise in memorizing where Thin Men Rain will occur so you can annihilate them as they spawn, you need to have a solid plan to deal with the Muton at the end. Back before Enemy Within came out, that Muton used to be a Chryssalid. Fun times running into one of those on your first Council Mission.
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Sep 15, 2014 02:04
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