The XCOM Thread: HOW DOES SNEK KICK DOOR?!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The XCOM Thread: HOW DOES SNEK KICK DOOR?!

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

CrazyLoon posted:

I thought US capitalism was supposed to be all like: "Competition gets us the best of the best." while in my socialist country there's only a few that just go wherever and whoever calls on them, cause the infrastructure was laid all across the country. But then again, our country is also tiny compared to the wide swathes of the US.

Unfortunately, the advantages of the free market only manifest in the absence of significant market power. It's difficult for new providers to enter the broadband market, and our regulators (FCC) haven't been doing a lot lately to fix that problem. As such, the broadband market in the US is characterized by regional duopolies, and under those conditions there's little incentive for existing companies to provide quality service. Aside from giving a poo poo. And they don't.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2016 22:32

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:50

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

LordNat posted:

Got to love the insane level of corruption that we live under in the USA.

Hey friend, corporations are people, and people have the right to speak their minds*!

*by making massive and essentially unregulated campaign contributions.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2016 22:39

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Josef bugman posted:

I wonder if the devs sent a special "get hosed" copy to beags' house.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck at work today and can't watch the stream. How difficult does legendary seem in the release version?

I'm on the fence about what difficulty to start at, as I eventually enjoyed impossible in EW, but think that getting to know the game at a similar difficulty level would be masochistic. Ideally, I'm looking for a mode that will brutally punish poor decisions, but where success and failure under optimal play isn't just a roll of the dice. Is that legendary?

# ¿ Feb 1, 2016 18:39

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

RIP mid-August ironman commander difficulty run. You died to a secret ethereal weapon: the post-mission loading glitch.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2016 21:16

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Does aim affect sword attacks? Because my ranger routinely misses 90+ swings and I'm thinking of popping in a PCS if it does.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 22:00

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

So I mind-controlled two gatekeepers in my avenger defense, used them to raise a zombie horde, and then clustered the zombies and blew them up for kicks before taking off. Turns out that friendly zombies count as soldiers for mission stats. 22 dead soldiers.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2016 06:03

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Negative on allies under mind control. I found out the hard way when I made a bunch of zombies with a controlled gatekeeper and then mowed them down. No experience, and it added 22 "soldier" deaths to my count.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2016 22:30

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Trast posted:

I would really like labs to be worthwhile. The workshops have a value in the gremlins but nothing so nice for the labs. How about letting labs give your a scanning bonus or further bonus on soldiers healing? A constant stipend of intel from a lab would be nice too.

Something like one intel per day per assigned scientist would be enticing without being broken, I think.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2016 20:49

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

How's the multiplayer in this? I remember Enemy Unknown's as being kind of lackluster, but I have some friends who might enjoy the gameplay.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2017 19:51

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Has there been any official talk recently regarding a potential expansion? It seems like it's been a long time since release to have had nothing from Firaxis but bite-sized DLC.

# ¿ May 16, 2017 18:33

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Exposure posted:

Officially, no.

Unofficially their tie-in novel for it has been put on additional sites and now has a release date tied to it (November 14), plus steamdb activity for XCOM 2 is still pointing towards they're working on something, and something that seems to be in the "we're close to being able to preview this for people".

Take-Two is having an earning call on May 23rd, so if that November 14th date is right for even just the window of when the expansion comes out, teases for it should start appearing in June at least, judging from past behaviour of when Take-Two would mention upcoming content for their series if it was coming in the next couple of fiscal quarters.

I may or may not have a Pepe Silvia-esque chart to help me keep track of all this.

Cool - thanks for this.

# ¿ May 16, 2017 19:54

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Bremen posted:

I get the impression it enhances the vanilla campaign, like Enemy Within did.

I haven't played in a long time. Is it still possible to game the Avatar clock by letting it get to a final countdown and then resetting it over and over? It seems like there's going to be tons to do post-expansion, and I'd like to experience it all in a single campaign, instead of getting railroaded through a storyline I've already completed.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2017 21:12

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Kanos posted:

EXALT were extremely goofy and dumb; fighting against endless legions of 1920s gangster alcohol bootleggers with laser rifles was really silly every time I did it. The Chosen in the preview look dumb in a different way, but equally dumb.

That said, EXALT worked out really well in actual gameplay terms and I have faith in Jake Solomon to make sure that the Chosen do too.

Yeah. I don't doubt that, gameplay-wise, we're in for a treat. I'm just disappointed with the over-the-top goofy tone from the expansion trailer, whereas Enemy Unknown felt kind of creepy at times.

It reminds me a bit of the tonal shift from the original Diablo (dark) to Diablo 3 (lol).

# ¿ Jun 13, 2017 22:20

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Bolow posted:

So Neil Blomkamp released a short film about a successful alien invasion of earth, that's fairly XCOM'ish except you know about a million times darker and hosed up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjQ2t_yNHQs

for you know people exploding and poo poo

This is fantastic.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 20:35

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

AceOfFlames posted:

How is it fun? At least when I play dark souls every time I die I feel like it's my fault. Here, it makes me feel like it's the game being an rear end in a top hat. I feel bad for my soldiers dying. I want to go through the entire game with zero deaths because I am a good commander.

I just reset the game, got to the first ufo mission, hid my sniper behind a tree and the Outsider just shoots through the FULL COVER tree and kills her. How is this fair?

It's not fair, it's :X-COM:.

I say this as someone who beat my head against ironman impossible until it gave in. Apparently I have a high tolerance for bullshit.

But if soldiers dying makes the game not fun for you, there's unfortunately not a solution.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 20:55

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

AceOfFlames posted:

If dead soldiers are inevitable, why is there an achievement for zero deaths in XCOM 2, which is apparently even harder?

Some people like to chase the dream, I guess.

Also, DarkAvenger knows what's up. ^^^

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 21:12

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Iron Crowned posted:

I've had many a mission that looks doomed. All my soldiers are dead or down to critical HP, and only in a last ditch attempt to pull it off, somehow succeed by the skin of their teeth, those really are the best missions.

Something I've always loved about X-Com is that it's so rewarding to pull a successful mission out of the fire. Every action in these games feels consequential.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 21:21

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

RBA Starblade posted:

I play copperman and reload when some sort of los bullshit or that kind of thing happens.

Maybe stuff like this is why I think Enemy Unknown/Within is "dark" and "creepy," and most people don't.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 21:37

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

RBA Starblade posted:

Didn't Beaglerush miss a 100 once somehow?

LOL

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 21:42

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Mr.Pibbleton posted:

I did a mixed MEC/SHIV in late game and it was really amazing not having to worry about cover, especially with SHIV regeneration.

SHIV squads saved my rear end in an ironman impossible run, allowing me to recover from two full squad wipes. Those things are great.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2017 22:24

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Invisible, Inc. is also fantastic, but the emphasis is on stealth rather than combat.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2017 18:37

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

BlazetheInferno posted:

Wow, so uhh, I just had a mission to plant X4 charges on a Psionic transmitter, with the option to delay the timer by shooting little 2hp power relays.

By the time I got a chance to shoot my first relay, I had one turn left.

The extra turn that bought me did NOT give me time to find and shoot another one. Holy poo poo, gently caress these timers. I may just bite the bullet and turn on that "double timers" thing. (but that means sitting through the drat tutorial again... if only because I refuse to have the game bitch at me about it supposedly being my first time every loving time I start a new campaign... when does it stop doing that, anyway?)

How does one turn on double timers? I beat the game over a year ago on ironman commander, and I'm not feeling particularly masochistic right now, so I'm thinking a less bullshitty experience might be what I'm after. But, having uninstalled and now reinstalled since then, I don't see any second wave options.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2017 22:48

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

BlazetheInferno posted:

When you go to start a new game, there should be an option something along the lines of "advanced options" somewhere in the "start new game" setup, and it'll have stuff like choosing which resistance HQ you start at, extending mission and Avatar timers, Beta Strike to dramatically increase everybody's HP (god, that'd make the Lost SUCK, I think), and more.

Seconding this question, by the way.

Awesome - thanks.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2017 23:43

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Is it possible to cheese promotions for your soldiers by just racking up stupid numbers of lost kills?

# ¿ Aug 30, 2017 01:50

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Is it a bad idea fatigue-wise to headshot endless hordes of lost? It's kind of fun to do that and rack up numbers, but I don't want to put key squaddies out of action for too long just for kicks.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2017 21:39

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

SmallpoxJenkins posted:

Why the hell would you want permanent dark events?

It's kind of a neat idea in the sense that ADVENT never stops getting stronger, so the end game wouldn't just be a victory lap anymore. But... yeah it sounds kind of brutal in the middle portions.

Also, I wish there were some way to permanently suspend the Avatar project, so that you could just tool around the Geoscape doing random stuff forever.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2017 04:34

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Is there a way to see phobias on a soldier's stat sheet? One of my veterans ended up phobophobic (afraid of fear itself :P) after a rookie panicked and murdered her friend, but I don't see that listed anywhere.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2017 16:45

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

TK-42-1 posted:

Its not super obvious but they're listed under the stats on the base solider page. At least I think that's where they are. I spent about 10 minutes looking for it and somehow ended up there.

Thanks - I'd actually given up looking.

It's neat that the phobias are tied to specific events rather than random. I had another soldier go demonophobic after a chosen showed up and murdered two squad mates in the middle of a retaliation.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2017 16:50

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

So my proudest gaming moment was successful completion of an impossible ironman run in EW, and I'm trying legendary ironman now for the first time.

It's pretty intense.

My entire A team wiped right before the Avatar timer hit max, and my only sergeant is gravely wounded. So, I can't run either of the reduce Avatar progress operations that are sitting in the covert ops queue. I dropped a full squad of rookies into the Black Site, because they're the only soldiers I have left that aren't wounded. The assassin tried to ruin my day half way through the mission, but the rookie squad dropped her, with two casualties. I have four rookies left, and I'm about to enter the facility.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 10:20

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Verviticus posted:

all of the facility/blacksite stuff can be soloed by a reaper if you're really desperate. facility missions in particular are as free as it gets - end turn on the star, hit the button, double move to the evac that you drop in their range and gtfo. you can be vulnerable to enemies for literally zero turns

This is great advice - thanks.

The reaper is amazing, and is single-handedly responsible for a couple of flawless missions on my run so far. Remote starting hordes of lost into Advent patrols is a really powerful thing to do. Your entire squad maintains concealment while they fight, and you can then break and mop up whatever's left at the end.

Ersatz fucked around with this message at 13:26 on Sep 4, 2017

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 13:19

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Pyromancer posted:

I played through WotC on commander, didn't even bother progressing plot by researching shadow chamber projects until December, after contacting whole world, permakilling all chosen and alien rulers and Avatar was knocked back down to 1 square at that point. With covert ops of WotC it's even easier to manage it.

Yeah, I switched to legendary after progressing a commander run to the point that I realized that what you're describing was basically inevitable. Legendary is a good challenge.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 14:57

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Norns posted:

Whew I was rocking plasma weapons before i ever got preaditor armor. Made some battles mighty sketchy

Yeah, I'm fighting mutons with upgraded mag weapons and the starting armor, because I'm resource starved. It's been interesting.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 15:01

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

babypolis posted:

which one is worse

WITH AN EVEN GREATER PSIONIC POTENTIAL

or

YOU MAY INSTRUCT YOUR MEN TO EXERCISE RESTRAIN WHEN USING EXPLOSIVES

Hey man Vahlen was cool, and I miss her German accented nagging.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 15:04

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

How good are sparks now, and how serious are the resource requirements to build them? The little robots saved my rear end in EW when I was low on soldiers, and I'm wondering if I could run Shen's Last Gift and pull the same trick here.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 15:20

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Kanos posted:

They're extremely powerful if you give them a scope and an auto-loader or extended magazine, and they never get tired so they can be helpful roster filler. The major downside is that they're extremely expensive to get off the ground; excluding the free one(which you don't get if you're running integrated DLC), you're looking at 200 supplies, 2(!) cores, and a boatload of alloys/elerium for each one. Then you need to factor in having to build massively expensive armor and weapon tier upgrades that only apply to SPARKs and it quickly becomes ludicrous to bother with them unless you're planning to build at least two or three of them. The part that hurts the most is the cores. Cores are still so loving hellaciously rare and valuable that despite loving SPARKs I have to think very hard if that SPARK is worth not building two more special grenades/special ammo/heavy weapons/WAR suits. They also tend to take a very long time to "heal" if they get banged up, since their repairs don't benefit from the infirmary bonus recovery speed that makes injuries on normal soldiers trivial.

I think they're worth it if you're willing to commit to them, though.

I think I'm going to give it a go.

The assassin sabotaged the avenger not too long ago, injuring one my three engineers for a month (!) and stealing two cores. The cores only annoyed me at the time since I didn't have a proving ground up yet, but it sucks even worse now that I know that I'll need them for sparks.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 16:15

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Zore posted:

How are people so low on cores? I've gotten like 20 of the drat things so far and all my abortive attempts have had a ton.

Are you just not prioritizing loot or blowing everything up?

I do what I can to ensure that aliens die from bullets rather than bombs, but sometimes blowing them up is the only way to be sure, and I can't afford to leave anything alive on this run.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 16:24

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

RazzleDazzleHour posted:

I decided to rewatch Beagle's WotC playthrough so I could try taking note of some of his strategies, but I am now 5 hours into the stream and he is still at Gatecrasher. Normally when someone yells at the game so much I would have peaced out hours ago, but I have never empathized with a man more than I do now. He just missed two point-blank flanked 85% shots on the same enemy.

Is the issue that he was trying for a flawless run? Because that's a great way to start a campaign, but it's not really necessary, even on legendary.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 19:54

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Are there negative consequences to extracting out of a facility mission, or can they be farmed for experience and drops?

# ¿ Sep 5, 2017 17:12

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

NmareBfly posted:

Yes.

Confirming. I inadvertently set off a failure cascade on one of my runs by marking a crate while stealthed, which caused me to immediately lose the stealthed soldier and another squad member.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2017 20:32

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:50

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Ravenfood posted:

The UI will tell you if an action will reveal you or end your turn. When you select an action but before you confirm that you'll want to do it, look near the button that you'd click to make your soldier do *thing*. If there's a red eye icon to the left of the button, it will reveal the soldier. If there is a >| icon to the right of the button, it will end that soldier's turn.

Some exceptions apply, but always in your favor. A shot that will proc a bonus action (momentum, Implacable, hair trigger, etc) will still show the end turn icon, and a Reaper's shot will still show the "will reveal" icon even if you end up rolling successfully to not reveal (or have the appropriate skills).

Quoting this awesome post, sharing information that I wish I'd known previously.

Along these lines, I noticed in one of Beagle's streams that he sometimes hovers over an enemy, presses a key, and then gets a detailed stat sheet on it. Does anyone know what key he's pressing?

# ¿ Sep 6, 2017 21:41

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