XCOM : Enemy Unknown - by Firaxis Games - Thread

Thanks for the comments fox eye. It's still a great game but it does feel like they have managed to break the difficulty settings a bit! I played a bit more last night and I have found that you really need to stick to the insides of buildings, as soon as you're outside, its too easy for a thinmen to get into heavy cover which you can't flank at which point even if your whole team I'd also in heavy cover, you can guarantee one of them is going to die.

Does anyone know if the percentage to hit indicators are accurate? I.e. does 50% really mean even odds or is there some additional calculation going on in the background.
 
Godammit! Just before the Month 2 report I lost 3 countries. I'm not sure what I could have done to alter this as I have won every mission and chosen the ones with the biggest panic factor. To top it off, 1 day later my 2 satellites were ready. Arrrggghhhh! Still, great fun so far. I've tried out the Mech option and that flamer is awesome on most of the low level aliens! Playing on Classic difficulty btw, gave up with Ironman though as the game keeps crashing and I've got two young kids who keep pestering me so the risk is waaaaay to high that I lose my save :D
 
Aloreth said:
Thanks for the comments fox eye. It's still a great game but it does feel like they have managed to break the difficulty settings a bit! I played a bit more last night and I have found that you really need to stick to the insides of buildings, as soon as you're outside, its too easy for a thinmen to get into heavy cover which you can't flank at which point even if your whole team I'd also in heavy cover, you can guarantee one of them is going to die.

Does anyone know if the percentage to hit indicators are accurate? I.e. does 50% really mean even odds or is there some additional calculation going on in the background.
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There is a difference between "breaking" the difficulty and readjusting it. I don't think anything is broken. Classic is probably harder, and normal is probably slightly easier than it was...but I wouldn't say it's a major issue. You definitely don't have to stick to just inside areas, you'll be fine outside and you don't need to always flank thin men. If you are well spread, you'll have the angle on them quite quickly or snipe them. As for the percentages they are all accurate however on the lower difficulties they get bumped up a bit (though i believe this is represented in the % themselves - so nothing is hidden).
 
Verponian said:
Just playing a new level set in a fishing village in canada. It's like something out of The Thing.
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I lost my best soldier on that mission :( A sniper, 45 kills from 18 missions. He missed the extraction point by one square and got ripped apart by a Chryssalid. I almost started again after losing him, but was determined to avenge his death. It didnt go well, next mission a mech got mind controlled and took out 4 squad members with the flame thrower, at that point I thought it might be time to reevaluate my research choices and start again
 
Ironman Classic mode - I'm finding this pretty much impossible. Thin men are ridiculous in the early game. Even the slingshot DLC which was a hard mission early on during the regular game has been made even harder.

Dropped down to Normal Ironman and it's much more manageable, albeit perhaps too easy.

Shame there isn't a middleground.

Do people really play this on Ironman/Impossible?
 
What do you guys usually research first? Do you have a standard starting game plan? Mine usually revolves around the following:

Try to choose missions with engineers to help build a Satellite Uplink asap

Research Alien Materials to get to Carapace armour, sometimes throw in Weapons Fragments to get Scope for my less accurate guys and gals.

Try to get Squad Size and the one that halves recovery time.
 
I try to think about it as little as possible, and just play it as it comes tbh. Obviously I have certain strategies, such as the two you mentioned (engineers, and carapace armour as soon as possible), but beyond that, I just go with th flow really. I do also try geting to laser/plasma early too.

I just did a disastrous exalt mission.... Lost 4 of my best, and retreated the rest, not completing the objective. There was just too many of them!

Edit- 3 chrysalids appear out of nowhere when on one of the large ships, they all move towards me, but are pretty much in a straight line....I send my mech to meet them, and he uses the flamethrower, which hits all three, instantly killing two of them, and then the most beautiful sight in Xcom- 'panicked' appears above the third one as it skulks off....PAYBACK TIME!:D
 
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Well, that's that then...game over. The mission where you defend the base is a joke! It doesn't even let you choose loadouts(seriously:rolleyes:). I get surrounded by 4 cyberdisc, 3 sectoid mechs and some Chrysalids(the mission started like this!), and it gives me rookies, armed with regular assault rifles and armour, and no items, who basically have a 20% chance to take 4 off of a brute from 4 tiles away:rolleyes:
 
VincentHanna said:
Shame there isn't a middleground.
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Agreed. I really did try with classic but thinmen were absolutely destroying me, mostly on the bomb defuse maps. Once I disabled the bomb three thinmen would appear and it's just too much.

Overall I'm really liking the expansion though. The map variety really spices things up.
 
emergency said:
There is a difference between "breaking" the difficulty and readjusting it. I don't think anything is broken. Classic is probably harder, and normal is probably slightly easier than it was...but I wouldn't say it's a major issue. You definitely don't have to stick to just inside areas, you'll be fine outside and you don't need to always flank thin men. If you are well spread, you'll have the angle on them quite quickly or snipe them. As for the percentages they are all accurate however on the lower difficulties they get bumped up a bit (though i believe this is represented in the % themselves - so nothing is hidden).
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Hello, thanks for the comment. I just want to confirm that you are playing at least ironman classic? I mean being well spread out is a death sentence pure and simple, haven't seen anyone reccomend it. Thinmen are deadly deadly deadly and still struggling with them.
 
I'm playing on Ironman classic & finding it a little too easy tbh..., just rush carapace armour & the upgrade for 2 items per man (nanofiber vests all around), that should see you to titan armour & chitin (for that lovely HP boost).

Once your men are rocking enough to take a couple of hits, you can survive pretty well - it's just the first few missions which I lose a few rookies.

I tend to run

x2 MEC's - (Flame + Gren launcher + Mine) - (Powerfist + Gren launcher + Mine)
x1 Sniper (Scope + HP item)
X1 Heavy (scope + HP item)
X1 Assault (Stunner & HP Item) (also take lightening reflexes to use up all those thin men overwatch)
X1 Support (medikit & HP item)

Didn't bother with gene modding as it's pretty crap while I still need meld for MEC's - once I've got them all to level 3 I do a couple of gene mods to upgrade the men with anti mind-control, always bleedout (no instant death)
 
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Pighardia said:
Well, that's that then...game over. The mission where you defend the base is a joke! It doesn't even let you choose loadouts(seriously:rolleyes:). I get surrounded by 4 cyberdisc, 3 sectoid mechs and some Chrysalids(the mission started like this!), and it gives me rookies, armed with regular assault rifles and armour, and no items, who basically have a 20% chance to take 4 off of a brute from 4 tiles away:rolleyes:
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One thing I really miss with this game is the ability to use a full Skyranger full of rookies ;)

I'm sure they could have incorporated this whilst discouraging it as a costly strategy, frowned upon by the Council and likely to cause more panic.

The design decision to limit you to 4 men (early game) to a max of 6 men (late game), I was never happy with.
 
Pighardia said:
Well, that's that then...game over. The mission where you defend the base is a joke! It doesn't even let you choose loadouts(seriously:rolleyes:). I get surrounded by 4 cyberdisc, 3 sectoid mechs and some Chrysalids(the mission started like this!), and it gives me rookies, armed with regular assault rifles and armour, and no items, who basically have a 20% chance to take 4 off of a brute from 4 tiles away:rolleyes:
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Reading between the lines does this mean the base defence mission happens when your skyranger, loaded with your best troops, is off the base?
 
VincentHanna said:
Reading between the lines does this mean the base defence mission happens when your skyranger, loaded with your best troops, is off the base?
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No, not at all. I have no idea where my veterans were!... I also had 4 shivs which I never saw during that mission.

The mission itself is probably the best in the whole game, it is just that you don't get to equip your soldiers, which meant I was stuck with rookies with starting gear and no items against cyberdiscs, muons, Mechs and chrysalis, that can drop in anywhere at anytime!.. Plus a sectoid commander turned up to control my mech, and I had no defense against it, as I had only seen them for the first time two missions before!

Considering that if you fail that mission it is game over, the least they could do is let you equip some of the soldiers.. In fact, in my next game I am going to make sure everyone is always equipped at all times and I shall never use that new button that removes gear for you to use.
 
I'd like to share a warning and some advise. MECH troopers increase their stats slower than normal troops. A noob chap that's converted to Colonel rank isn't as good as the standard Colonel.

You're better off leveling a standard dude up as high as you can before cutting his limbs off. As an example if you operate on a maxed out Sniper you will have a MECH with fantastic Aim :)
 
Decided to throw away a 5 man squad of rookies (complete with red shirts) on Portent, my bogey mission.

Embarrassingly they did incredibly well, scurrying over rooftops and killing 7 thin men in the process. They only came unstuck when a thin man dropped right on top of the VIP. :rolleyes: The outcome was a failed mission but I gained three "thousand yard stare" squaddies. :D
 
Even the frustration of losing like that hasn't dampened my enjoyment... I started a new game almost immediately, and vowed to do better!

Earlier tonight, I did all of the sling host mission, and I thought they were really good. A very nice addition, and the ship assault is nicely done, and gives you lots of resources, a lot of which can be sold tbh.

Quick question- do you make much use of elyrium?... I usually sell most of it tbh, especially early - game.
 
Never finished this game. Aliens continuously sleeping in the field until you wake them up and this happens right up until the very last mission, lol.

More like a turn based Gears of War than a true XCOM game.
 
Pighardia said:
Even the frustration of losing like that hasn't dampened my enjoyment... I started a new game almost immediately, and vowed to do better!

Earlier tonight, I did all of the sling host mission, and I thought they were really good. A very nice addition, and the ship assault is nicely done, and gives you lots of resources, a lot of which can be sold tbh.

Quick question- do you make much use of elyrium?... I usually sell most of it tbh, especially early - game.
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Definitely keep the elyrium, you'll need it to research and upgrade your equipment in the late game. Titan armour, ghost armour, firestorms etc will drain your elyrium stocks significantly.
 
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