X-Com 2 - Announced

[elmarko]

The second in the series to the excellent X-Com enemy unknown is currently in development & due out at the end of this year.

http://xcom.com/

Key notes.

PC Excusive (means no **** UI or graphical downgrading).
Generated maps (more variety)

It seems they have gone to the half/comic style graphics of the first in the series & developed it into a quite nice style.,

 

[elmarko]

I re-visited it recently, and I think there was a lot of rose-tinting going on in my head. Finding the final terrified alien on those awful cruise ship maps was a massive pain.

No kidding.

Must have spent at least a couple of hours trying to find a single alien hiding in a toilet on a huge multi-floor map (game ran badly back then, was young!), after checking every single cabin on the map, I then had to check every single mini room within each cabin if I recall correctly.

After that I skipped every single cruise mission until I eventually failed the game because of it, never finished it purely for that reason.

Completed the original & apocalypse many times through on the harder difficulties - but those ship missions....

. The difficulty was also far more random (luck of the draw) & far less balanced as UFO Enemy unknown.

Saying that a modern remake of Terror from the deep would be very nice, the deep sea environment was very atmospheric & the music amazing.

 

[elmarko]

Long war is too long imo, I edited the research ratio to being a little less slow.

Later on it's fine, as once you get a few laboratories & scientists it pulls ahead - but until that happens you have to go months & months before you even get lasers & basic armour.

I had a fully upgraded base (almost all slots done with x4 bonus) well before I had any tech, this meant that as soon as the research credits came in I ended up moving from lasers->plasma in no time at all.

I toned down the early research requirements (by a fair bit) & increased the later ones (but about half) - this provided a far more satisfying experience. I also reduced the injury/rest timers by about 50% - as those 35 day injury's really start to add up).

 

[elmarko]

Getting closer to the release date now, happy with it being delayed if it's for a good reason. Besides, the first was pretty bug free & well polished - I assume they just want to repeat that.

I'm personally glad it's a PC exclusive, they can cater better to the mouse controls & ramp up the complexity due to the more mature audience.

 

[elmarko]

A really in-depth preview for X-Com 2.

Loads of parts, loads of missions, class breakdowns - everything. So far I'm very impressed with some of the tactical elements of the game.

 

[elmarko]

I changed the ini file to increase the pace of long war, i like the harder difficulty but I can't stand having to do 50 missions per R&D cycle.

I've edited my ini to create a difficult & about tripple the length of the game game - with all the additional tech tree stuff.

I've removed the base aim bonuses on all difficulties but kept them fight the higher rank enemies, it makes the progression feel smoother - I've also heavily reduced the repair/rearm interceptor speed & increase the fighter health for those early skirmishes.

Fatigue shouldn't last more than 5 days & I've reduced injury timers to a 30d max for critical.

 

[elmarko]

Soo, just finished it on Veteran - started on commander difficulty but had a fair amount of grief from the first few missions.

Oddly the game gets easier, not harder as you progress - something I'd like to see changed with mods. Once you get a full squad of max rank troops with top tier weapons + armour you can take a full volly in the face from any enemy point blank.

This you can never do early one, hence it getting easier.

 

[elmarko]

Plated armour, squad size & skulljack upgrade are my key upgrades.

Weapons are nice, but being able to survive a single flanked shot early on is incredibly important on harder difficulties - I also tend to use nano vests to give that HP buffer for all my troops.

Doing this I was able to make it to the later game when the skills of the high ranked troops help you out. Also predator armour gives you and extra slot (amazing for the previously mentioned nano vests).

I'd strongly recommend taking the blackmarket plated armour research rush, along with supplies & alloys to allow you to get it very early - keeping those first few alive is key to victory.

 

[elmarko]

Ok, I was bored earlier so just finished making an Alan Partridge voice pack for XCOM 2. I'm not sure if it was a stroke of genius or stupidly but hey ho.

It's on the workshop .

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=628062265

 

[elmarko]

The performance issues are related to just a few settings, if you drop the AA, SSAO, shadows to med & one other setting you pretty much double the FPS.

High to medium shadows is something stupid like 25% performance diff apparently - I'm running it fine @ 4k on my 980ti machine @ 1080p on my 970 machine with little problems.

 

[elmarko]

I agree the performance isn't great, but a few setting changes makes the game perfectly playable. The annoying pauses in the tactical game can be pretty much removed easily with a few mods & most gripes are easily adjustable. Due to it being a turn based game anyway the issues are not that severe as it doesn't impact on the actual gameplay.

It's nowhere near as bad as people are making out tbh.

 

[elmarko]

No, it's certainly not unplayable, and mostly fixable with either tweaks or mods. But this is the internet damn it, and I'm going to complain

Good point, I'm just glad they opened the game up so much for modding, I've been testing the unreal editor & the toolkit & it's the best on release modding kit I've ever seen.

Pretty impressive, also a great way to get games fixed quicker than the devs can!.

 

[elmarko]

advanced armour is the mid tier armour, predator & the standard power armour - the others class as heavy & light.

You can only get 2 slots for the WAR suits using mods I'm fairly certain.

 

[elmarko]

It's not a 'timer', there is no rush

You can spend 24 hours playing one level if you want. It's a limited number of turns designed to get people to try tactics other than moving your squad 5 squares and then going in to overwatch.

Not once did I not have enough turns left to complete a mission, and I've completed it twice - Once on Ironman/Commander difficulty.

This tbh.

I've completed it twice on the same settings & had no trouble with timers, only on a single mission ever did I get to the last turn - ever.

Not only this but it's instantly fixable with the single click of a mouse for a mod if that's what people want. The amount of whining about this 'issue' is getting ridiculous now.

 

[elmarko]

I've found if you get two rangers with the stealth skills (concealment being a key one) you can push forward very quickly - spot the pods, move up with the others & gun them down.

It's actually easier than the original & you can push faster (you can snipe them from overwatch with concealed scouts, with being just as safe. It forces you to make sure you have a plan B for each move "what would I do if I pop a pod with this move?" is what you should ask for each move.

Not pushing with the last unit, opening a door when you've already activated a pod - not spreading too thing when engaging - all key tactics to staying alive & working within the system presented.