X-Com 2 - Announced
- Thread starter elmarko
- Start date
I completed the original over 20 years ago, I cant remember lol only the dam mind control
But this version I think the way to win was to always keep your troops alive on easier missions because they gained so much experience on it made them elite on the harder ones and reduced the random factor ? Was that not the thing but I agree with the point, you couldnt just play it like minesweeper and deduce the aliens position and long range blow them up before they could move and react. They can definitely develop the gameplay
https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/
Shooting explosive ammo at terrain was just one example, btw. UFO gave you several ways to stack the odds in your favour, if you could afford to (early in the game money was tight).
X:EU had a large reliance of the RNG to decide the outcome of battles, but you couldn't stack the odds. Also because of the tiny squad size and dependence on experienced soldiers, losing a single mission often meant you couldn't recover, and would inevitably lose.
X:EU also had more "cheap" tactics, such as dropping alien reinforcements into positions where they were flanking your soldiers, and putting them straight into overwatch mode (for massive hit bonuses and damage against you). You could go from being in a strong position, having aced the primary objective, then watch the game drop in reinforcements and kill your troops in a single round.
That was my main beef with X:EU. UFO let you stack the odds; it let you lose missions but not the war.
X:EU didn't let you stack the odds, ever. It also didn't let you lose a mission, it punished you and made you lose the game if you did.
Now I've watched it, this is looking great.
Nice that theyve done a twist on the series and seems like far more options, perks, equipment etc.
And there's a second video of a much harder mission. suppose I'll watch that now.
When's this game supposed to be out?
Not that O can play any proper games at the moment
, stupid old laptop.
Nice that theyve done a twist on the series and seems like far more options, perks, equipment etc.
And there's a second video of a much harder mission. suppose I'll watch that now.
When's this game supposed to be out?
Not that O can play any proper games at the moment
, stupid old laptop.
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^ Will watch later.
Don't blame you! How many months and what difficulty?
Just finished a long war modded game of xcom, and I never want to see the game again
Don't blame you! How many months and what difficulty?
Christ, it was hard enough on normal. 666 game days in the end, I was using the Not so Long War option. Some of the terror missions toward the end just got silly, I don't know how you'd even think about doing it on Ironman.
Just watching the video TotalBiscuit released a few hrs ago on this, it was already on my radar from the last one, but its looking like i'll end up buying this in the first week or so.
Never got around to running The Long War, only found out about it after completing the DLC, and deciding i'd take a break and try that, so i might just do that and that should last me a while, give me a chance to hear the feedback on XCOM2 and maybe decent deals pop up too.
As im late to the party, has anyone who's had access to these pre-release builds had any negative comments, stuff thats been removed or dumbed down? All the stuff ive seen from TB seems better - tons of customisations, interesting take on the alien attacks on different continents, concealed entry into the mission, new soldier abilities etc
Gonna watch the 2 videos above in a min, as TB is almost done on my end
Never got around to running The Long War, only found out about it after completing the DLC, and deciding i'd take a break and try that, so i might just do that and that should last me a while, give me a chance to hear the feedback on XCOM2 and maybe decent deals pop up too.
As im late to the party, has anyone who's had access to these pre-release builds had any negative comments, stuff thats been removed or dumbed down? All the stuff ive seen from TB seems better - tons of customisations, interesting take on the alien attacks on different continents, concealed entry into the mission, new soldier abilities etc
Gonna watch the 2 videos above in a min, as TB is almost done on my end
yeah, i watched his earlier two, and theres a video (iirc 'ChristopherOdd' channel) showing of the Psi-Ops characters skills in-game.
Ive got the lets-play eps 1-7 downloaded to watch in bed tonight, but im really liking the look of it. Seems like they havent changed the direction of it, they've just added to it and improved upon it.
Ive got the lets-play eps 1-7 downloaded to watch in bed tonight, but im really liking the look of it. Seems like they havent changed the direction of it, they've just added to it and improved upon it.
Randomised maps should have been in the first one (because there were waaay too few unique maps in that game). Good to see it's in the sequel.
But the 4 man squad size still (to my mind) makes it too much about rolling the dice, and little about overall strategy. That was my biggest complaint about the first game. How much was determined through dice rolls. To the point where almost half the missions were won or lost on a couple random numbers.
The Microprose games for sure had a random element, but with larger squads you could take a bit of bad luck on the chin, and it didn't wreck you. In Firaxis' game, a bit of bad luck at the wrong time would literally end your game. That's not what XCom was about.
In XCom, you loved a few of your soldiers, but most of them were canon fodder
And it needed to be that way, given how outclassed your were, esp to start with.
But the 4 man squad size still (to my mind) makes it too much about rolling the dice, and little about overall strategy. That was my biggest complaint about the first game. How much was determined through dice rolls. To the point where almost half the missions were won or lost on a couple random numbers.
The Microprose games for sure had a random element, but with larger squads you could take a bit of bad luck on the chin, and it didn't wreck you. In Firaxis' game, a bit of bad luck at the wrong time would literally end your game. That's not what XCom was about.
In XCom, you loved a few of your soldiers, but most of them were canon fodder
And it needed to be that way, given how outclassed your were, esp to start with.The 4-man squad isnt really that big a deal though, it should be one of the first things you look to upgrade to 5 then 6-man squad. Its only the first handful of missions where you'd be forced into that position, and usually those are still guiding you in, introducing a new enemy or element/objective to the mission etc.
I'd certainly be looking to make that a priority, so depending on what unlocks it (cash, xp, research etc) i'd make sure i wasnt spending it elsewhere, i'd be unlocking it ASAP, because the difference of 4 v 5 can be huge. Wiping a bunch of enemy before they've had their turn to attack can keep your squad at full health, rather than taking damage and being injured for the next mission etc.
I'd certainly be looking to make that a priority, so depending on what unlocks it (cash, xp, research etc) i'd make sure i wasnt spending it elsewhere, i'd be unlocking it ASAP, because the difference of 4 v 5 can be huge. Wiping a bunch of enemy before they've had their turn to attack can keep your squad at full health, rather than taking damage and being injured for the next mission etc.
Hmm, I had to restart two or three times before I could win the first mission with 4 men. What happened to me (fairly often), was that a unit would get hit, panic, the actually attempt to shoot one of his squadmates. For me that intentional targetting of your own buddies was a terrible design decision
So anyway, the paniced guy would kill the 2nd guy, and in one go you've lost 50% of your team. 90% of the time at least one of the remaining two would panic in response to either the guy dying or the first guy panicing (sympathetic panicing?)
I remember a couple missions where I lost an entire squad in a chain reaction, starting with a guy panicing from his wounds, friendly fire, the 3rd guy panicing and more friendly fire. I never got control of the two panicing units who ran headlong into the enemy and died.
And all of that was triggered by a single guy dipping below 100% health. Seriously, they would panic at the slightest thing I found. This was "classic" difficulty.
So it's not just the 4-squad limit. It's:
1 The 4 squad limit
2 The low requirements for panic (losing a single bar of health will do it)
3 The intentional programmed friendly fire (why?!?!?!)
4 The lack of free aim
5 The absence/limit of non RNG options (explosives, incendiary, proximity mines)
So anyway, the paniced guy would kill the 2nd guy, and in one go you've lost 50% of your team. 90% of the time at least one of the remaining two would panic in response to either the guy dying or the first guy panicing (sympathetic panicing?)
I remember a couple missions where I lost an entire squad in a chain reaction, starting with a guy panicing from his wounds, friendly fire, the 3rd guy panicing and more friendly fire. I never got control of the two panicing units who ran headlong into the enemy and died.
And all of that was triggered by a single guy dipping below 100% health. Seriously, they would panic at the slightest thing I found. This was "classic" difficulty.
So it's not just the 4-squad limit. It's:
1 The 4 squad limit
2 The low requirements for panic (losing a single bar of health will do it)
3 The intentional programmed friendly fire (why?!?!?!)
4 The lack of free aim
5 The absence/limit of non RNG options (explosives, incendiary, proximity mines)
Was this on the hardest difficulty? I'd occasionally get panicked state but not that often, im just wondering if i was playing on 'Normal' typically i'd play on 1 below the hardest, which i guess probably would be 'Normal' as the iirc 4th (Ironman?) wasnt available till you'd completed the game. But if there was 5 difficulties, i'd go with #4 etc.
Perhaps difficulty and rookie status made it more problematic?
Perhaps difficulty and rookie status made it more problematic?
For first few missions just a matter of going slower slightly. On Classic even few promotions is enough to increase will enough to not cause too many issues.
Ironman was an advanced option whereby you could not reload to a prior save. Impossible was the hardest difficulty. Impossible Ironman mode is a right ****
Ironman was an advanced option whereby you could not reload to a prior save. Impossible was the hardest difficulty. Impossible Ironman mode is a right ****
I played Classic/Ironman. Tried Impossible twice, didn't get past the 1st month either time.
I lost missions on Classic several times, having cleared the whole map without a scratch, only for the very last Thin Man (it was normally them) to set off a panic chain reaction. I think their poison has a massive chance to cause panic regardless of rank. It's even more inexplicable when it comes at the end of a mission, having already killed 20 aliens, for no losses, with one remaining. Morale should be excellent at this point.
One panicing solider on his/her own is not a problem, but they would always start team killing, causing more panic, and then more team killing. To the point where a paniced soldier was always a death sentence for somebody.
And as a game mechanic, realism aside, I thought that sucked.